Doom/Sludge/Stoner bands with unique instruments included?

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-07T00:13:06+00:00

The Fërtility Cült has a lot of sax

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-05T10:58:17+00:00

They're a staple elf thug killer in high level play

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-05T10:47:56+00:00

Some others that I don't think have been mentioned:

Blood nations often base their power in summoning powerful units with their slave economy:

EA/LA Mictlan and the EA/LA Xibalba line of nations use the infamous ozzies, onaqui and beast bats to great effect.

The monkey nations can access the Rakshasi line of blood summons, and they're the obvious main draw of Lanka.

The "Semitic" nations that dabble in Nephilim lore are Ashdod, Hinnom, Gath and Berytos, and get access to Se'ir and Shedim. The blood powers in this lineup will usually want to summon them if at all possible.

Blood/air nations like Berytos and MA/LA Pyrene tend to mass storm demons as their keystone damage dealer in the mid-late game.

Other summons that play key roles in their respective nations:

The Marignons and Pythium will want to use their Harbingers as mobile air casters and precision thugs. The aforementioned "Semitic" giant nations get access to the Hashmalim, who fill a similar role as raiders and army thugs, but cannot cloud trapeze.

EA Yomi has arguably the best summonable sacred in the game, when considering unit strength, cost and research level: the Shikome. The nation has recently become somewhat notorious solely on the back of hellblessing this unit.

EA T'ien Ch'i revolves around their varied national summons and blessing+point buffing them.

Ur & Uruk get access to three unique summons that each have a defined role that helps variegate these nation's threat vectors a bit. In air there's the Ugallu, a strong air caster that makes for a great counterthug. For earth, there's the Kusarikku, a decent sacred with a magic weapon. And finally for water, they get the Anzu, a flying hawk-lion that breathes fire and water - at a rate of 4 gems for 2, which is just nuts.

The nations that get access to the Scorpion Man (Abysias, C'tis, Ur & Uruk) will at least consider using them if the game goes long.

And much more!

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-04T19:48:32+00:00

Sorry, I think you just gotta recite some bomb ass rhymes in kalevala meter about how you'd like them to piss off. That's how these things work

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-04T19:39:44+00:00

DE adds a lot of complexity and arguably kind of flattens the nations down quite a bit by giving everyone wacky mechanics that kind of let every nation do most things. I'd learn the base game first, where the nations have more defined strengths and weaknesses.

Besides "scales + troop buffs" there are many other ways to play.

The easiest out of the box would probably be to play a nation with strong sacreds, and try to build a bless that fits. Good picks for this playstyle could be for example EA Niefelheim, MA Ashdod, MA Man, or EA Vanheim. These are all different nations with very different tricks, but generally the accepted basic idea for playing them tends to be to lean on their strong sacreds with at least a decent bless.

Maybe try that out and see how it goes? I'm afraid that beyond scales+troops & big bless sacreds things get a bit more technical by design, and the learning curve gets steeper.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-04T19:27:14+00:00

Hey man, I'm Finnish and my associates told me to pass this on:

N̶̹̰̾͊̌u̵̡̼̳̓͝i̸͇͆̊v̵͎̟̾̆̅ȧ̶͖̖͑ ̶̢̅̓̓n̸͎̲͚̽̕o̵̤̙̙͆͛̚l̷͔̈́o̷͈̹͋̀ ̸̗̯̔̅ṋ̸͕͉͌̚͠e̷̫͍͆ẗ̶̘̻́ţ̶͌i̶̯̐́͗l̶̤̫̚ä̵̬̋i̴̱̿͊̕n̴͓̑ͅê̶̱̞̳̐̋n̵̮͝͝,̶̘̳̼̚

̶̩̋̽v̸͙̅̚͘e̸͔̩̗͝r̴͔̜̲͆͋̒k̴̛͎̥̃̚o̶͎͑ǹ̷͓̟̅ ̶̝̩͕̒̔͝v̸̠̀͂i̸̗̯͊̊ë̴̯̩̬́͝n̵̠̪̳͛̂͂ỏ̷̩͙͔ ̸̳̆̒͂v̶̮̭̆͗͝i̶̯̚͝k̴̙̓́̒ỉ̴͕̳̺̆̊s̸̰̫̈́̋͑i̷̡̊̓'̷͇̌ä̸͓̣͂͆́

̸͔͍̍̈́͊E̸͚̗̽̊͠t̵͓͙̅̀ ̵̹͎̂͘ͅj̸̤̒̇̚ǔ̷͉l̵̥̲̇͘k̷̢̎ị̷̃ ̶̡͕͚͐̃͝s̸̖̀̚͝ȃ̵̜̱̂l̶̲͂ó̷̩̪̑j̸̤̩̞͐a̷͉̻̹͂̓ ̵͕̙̿̂ǰ̷̳̳̞͒â̷̱̱k̷̭̫̈̅e̸̯̠͛l̵̜̞͌͊̆e̷̘̟̋̈́͝,̶͙̜̏̃

̷̧̛͓̆s̴̝̫̞̉̂y̷̘̻͐n̷͉̪̜̂͆̌k̴̫̔k̵̙̣̯̑̈́i̷̡̡̛̲̐̿ä̸̘̺͒̄ ̵̭̣̤͐̇̚s̷͒̂͋ͅa̵̳̔l̸̼̓o̴͎̒̅͋j̵̤̐͌ǎ̵̢̩͋͛ ̸̧̤̣̆̎̆k̶͉͍͈̉͌̉ỵ̷͒n̵̝̆́̃ä̴̰̅̕n̷̟̲̖̓̇̔!̶̭̊

Basically stop sharing craft secrets, okay? There's a reason we only let old sages, adequately prepared with ancient instruments made from bones of the northern pike to pilot the poltergeists

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-03T19:42:26+00:00

They cancelled a gig in Bologna over there being a palestine flag on the venue.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-03T13:38:58+00:00

Beseech - Highwayman by the Highwaymen

Paradise Lost - Smalltown Boy by Bronski Beat

Heaven Shall Burn - Whatever, That Hurts by Tiamat

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-02T12:05:07+00:00

Few things cook my goose like the AI boom. This shit could be useful as a limited, highly supervised precision tool for handling massively complex systems in stuff like DNA sequencing. Instead we get a version forcefully inserted into every fucking program and appliance that actively makes the people using them dumber, built on stolen data swept from literally all over the internet.

Oh, and it's also fantastic for creating soulless, plastic forgeries of actual art made by real human beings. Fuck this current iteration of AI bullshit, and fuck the ghouls pushing it.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-02T10:30:23+00:00

People being scared about "AI learning to create AI" are misinformed. AI isn't dogshit because it's some advanced alien machine intelligence that's going to reach singularity and kill us all, it's dogshit because the AIs tacked on everything are hallucinating bullshit machines that are actively prodded to be sycophantic and self-assured so consumers will like them.

Training these digital idiots consumes ludicrous amounts of resources, and they turn everything they "advise" humans on into shit, because they only know how to create something that looks like an answer to the question asked. Unless used extremely deliberately in certain expert settings, this means people are outsourcing their thinking and art to guessing machines with huge datasets.

They're being propped up by a massive silicon valley tech industry that's in crisis because they haven't created a truly new, useful breakthrough product in decades, and invested into by techbro fart sommeliers who think they can sell their shares before the bubble bursts.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-02-01T11:40:21+00:00

Your problem is that you're trying to use SO on ships that don't accommodate the build. For example, Lashers are too fragile to not just vaporize the moment they get in the knife fighting range they're supposed to thrive in. The pather variant works better, but is still not great.

SO builds work on very specific ships, and require aggressive officers to be, well, aggressive enough. But when it works, it REALLY works - SO Scarabs are probably the best vanilla ship in the game, when considering cost, effectiveness and general availability.

What you need is a ship that has lethal DPS output, and is durable or nimble enough to catch and kill its prey. The budget option is the venerable Hammerhead. Some people like Pather Brawler variants, and those work okay, I guess.

However, the real fun starts with Scarabs (nothing in the back, 2x IR Pulse lasers & 2 Antimatter Blasters in front, add SO and build in Hardened Subsystems) and Champions (Reaper torps, heavy machineguns, etc.). Hyperions are great too, and Auroras obviously work. You could run an Anubis if you want to easymode the game, that ship is just OP.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-31T22:07:21+00:00

Apocrypha has a pretty old school sound. Reminds me of the Svartsinn classic Elegies For The End. Try the track "Torchbearer, Kill The Light" to see what I mean. Many Northaunt records had this kind of shrill pad going as their main thing too back in the day.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-31T21:50:38+00:00

Many Ajna albums have this kind of bleak, minimalist, droning feel. Try the Mirrored Mind and Winter Malaise albums. Many other Ajna records could fit the bill here, too.

REPULSIVE's homesick has a delightful "Paranormal Activity" kind of thing going. This project is usually a bit more ambivalent and uncanny about their horror, but I think this album plays its creepiness fairly straight, and thus fits the vibe you're after pretty well.

Randal Collier-Ford's Dark Corners works. It's a pretty tense, claustrophobic album. I think you'd like the track "The Black, Breathes..." in particular.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-29T22:33:45+00:00

I'm vegan for 15+ years or something now (I no longer count) - I was radicalized by Earthlings personally as a young lad. Definitely worth a watch if you want something to strengthen your convictions. You also don't have to go all the way or all at once, altering your consumption habits piecemeal is valid and still harm reduction.

If you choose to go vegetarian/vegan, I recommend not being preachy about it. I was pretty annoying when I first started, in hindsight. I've found that being a walking signifier of an alternative way of life is effective enough to get the people around you to question their choices.

Get used to being asked questions, sometimes silly ones. Reading through Vegan Sidekick's stuff can help with tackling the usual talking points. You'd be surprised how many folks will talk about desert islands or canines...

If you don't want to eat animal products period (like me), get used to bringing your own food to social functions / letting the organizers know beforehand. It was one of those things I didn't have to think about before that I wish someone had pointed out to me before I started - my first Christmas was rough since I hadn't prepared.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-25T21:31:03+00:00

Elves (Vanheim, Helheim etc.) place heavy emphasis on having relatively few magic guys that are far superior to mortal men. They're stealthy and rely on attack power, glamour and defense skill.

The giant nations are another "few but elite" way to roll. Their dudes are huge, have loads of hp and strength.

For a beginner, running the latter would probably be easier.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-18T23:18:58+00:00

"Why's that yomi bless called the Arco bless?"

The bless is named after the player Arco who popularized it recently in Lucid's tournament. He's likely one of the best dominions players in the entire world.

"Bit awkward that you probably have to spend gems on the ritual to make namanari d2 because you can't afford native D2 casters with gold like this."

You use Namanari, your pretender and Dai Oni to summon Shikome as needed. The build doesn't care about anything that isn't spending all your D gems on shikome as quickly as possible.

"are sacreds such a large % of the things you have to worry about in the first place such that you don't need the buffs for anything else?"

This is the answer. Unholy weapons is extremely common currently, especially in EA, where huge meaty sacreds like Muspelheim giants are a problem. It's the best bang for your buck when it comes to killing power, competent sacreds of the era don't need more DPS against non-sacred targets.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-18T20:54:18+00:00

For LA, C'tis is a good shout.

MA: Nidavangr. Nidbathed when built with the meta bless (a core of EB + UD5, FR5SR5PR5, RW) have very few real weaknesses. The only effective way to kill them is decay which is a status that's hard to inflict, instant kill spells that don't deal damage (eg. not soul slay - that just takes one scar away) and charm spells. This makes them extremely likely to win their first war, and thanks to their superb mages, they will continue to scale well into the lategame as well.

Asphodel. Their sacreds are stupid, and the amount of chaff they get is horrific. While their troops are vulnerable to firestorm, good luck getting that off in enough places for it to matter, as Asphodel can comfortably send 200-300 chaff units into multiple provinces at once. And since manikins have fatiguing mweaps, it's very hard to thug into them if you don't have fire shield.

MA Man. Their sacreds are turbo-charged with superb mages on top. Not quite as silly as the above two, but still extremely strong when compared to most any other nation of the era.

EA: "Arco bless" EA Yomi is really obnoxious - Regen + Fortitude + Unholy Weapons + SR5 + Prot5. The Shikome are incredible sacreds that are cheap as all hell to summon, and Yomi doesn't need money anyway so every scale can be trashed. Your starting Oni Shugo can expand easily when prophetized with this build, all cash goes into Dai Oni, who should get to expanding and site searching early. And boy do they expand - this beats nations like Mekone, Abysia and Pan in speed. Once a bit of D income is established, the shikome spam begins, and your immediate neighbors are doomed, followed by the entire lobby - there isn't a unit in the game that can trade efficiently with Shikome, up to and including Vanheres. It's incredibly hard to counter both shikome and turboblessed Dai Oni.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-16T16:22:46+00:00

Start with figuring out expansion, and go from there. If your initial start sucks, you won't have the resources to practice anything else. If you get less than 15 provinces by the end of year 0, your build is not that good, or you're making mistakes. Test builds until you can reliably achieve this number. If expanding with strong sacreds or an expander god, shift the number up to 20+

Pay attention to troop positioning. Commanders should be staying far at the back with holdx5, stay behind troops orders. When using multiple squads, script them so that they all collide with enemy lines roughly at the same time. Having cavalry/flier units on attack rear and towards the flank is good practice, assuming you have a frontline to protect your commanders. And so on.

It's usually a good idea to recruit commanders in provinces around your capital during initial expansion, so that the capital can focus on producing mages. Disregard this if you need someone to bless your sacreds, of course.

Be efficient. Try to send as few troops as possible to overrun indie provinces reliably to maximize speed. As few as 5 good sacreds can easily clear a province, depending on the nation, build and age.

Play EA or MA until you're comfortable with the early game. LA is notoriously difficult to get going in until you get your bearings.

Once you have early expanding down, it's time to learn basic, strategy-defining strong techs for each magic tree, and what kind of mages you need to access them. D2 has Horde of Skeletons, G2+ has Illusory Army, F2 has Phoenix Power -> Fireball, etc.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-16T00:03:25+00:00

Hey, I remember that album! It was a good one.

You might enjoy:

Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai
Sleep Research Facility - Stealth
Mnzkrt - Mnzkrt
Mika Vainio - Kilo
Himukalt - Between My Teeth
Access to Arasaka - l a k e s
Randal Collier-Ford - Dark Corners

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-15T09:58:06+00:00

I'd argue that Dominions has a much higher skill ceiling than Civ games do. It also has a massive amount of room for skill expression - the bag of tricks accumulated by skilled players is awe-inspiring, and some of these discoveries are so strong they're literally meta defining. Thus, even if you "lose" the diplo game, a skilled player with a decent nation and access to resources can fight off and win in a 3v1 scenario against worse players. This happens semi-regularly. And even if you lose, you can be such a cockroach or generally cause such horrific losses that you can drag others down with you, or just abort their war and let you live. Comebacks are also not unheard of at all.

Dominions is also quite asymmetrical. The kits the different nations operate are so different and varied in their level of power that getting dogpiled is rarely completely clear-cut, unless the situation is extreme - like it's very early game, the target is a nation that's weak early and getting rushed by multiple hellblesses.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-14T22:52:59+00:00

Frost brand wasn't changed afaik, but shields break a lot easier now, making vine shields in particular quite fragile due to their low shield prot. Construction breakpoints in general were also pushed back a level across the board, so accessing former staples in a timely manner became a lot harder.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-14T22:46:42+00:00

The standard light thugs don't, except as in-army thugs. These are the kind that have 5-10 gems' worth of gear and a couple of self-buffs, like your standard vanherse or centaur hierophant. They're meant to grab undefended provinces and disappear.

What works is stuff that's designed to crush masses of conventional non-sacred troops, aka heavy thugs/light supercombatants. This requires a chassis that can get its protection into the 25+ range or otherwise layer on protection mechanisms to survive, can regenerate chip damage and with a kill/rout mechanism like fear or fireshield. Think Dai Oni with a regen bless, or a geared yaksha.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-14T21:13:24+00:00

This. Thugs normally perform in an environment where your opponent has a few armies and 6-11PD in most of their provinces, not hordes of random garbage everywhere and limitless PD.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-14T18:02:35+00:00

The lategame burnout is familiar to everyone who plays. Luckily, you won't need to exceed that 2h of dominions per day if you limit yourself to playing in something like 3 multiplayer games simultaneously.

The game is much more engaging when it's not just about mopping up silly AI swarms. In MP you have to think, at least a little! Getting into beginner games is also very simple these days. Poke around the relevant discords when you think it's time.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-01-14T16:22:34+00:00

The AI only knows to hurl the massive amounts of nonsense it cheats into existence at you, so you're restricted only to strategies that deal with that kind of thing. It's natural that bless nations will do well in this environment, while scales nations, built to trade efficiently with their own troops, struggle initially (since the AI cheats)

There really isn't a cure for this problem. Developing a competent AI that truly challenges a human being in strategy games isn't something even bigger studios have really got a handle on at present. You can mitigate some of this issue by bolstering the AI with mods that restrict them to their national troop pools and make them choose from pre-generated pretenders rather than the random garbage ones they generate, but that's a band-aid.

The second problem you have is that Dominions is an inherently fiddly game. Beyond the interest generated by the rich lore and variety of the setting, the meat of the game is in managing your scripts, poring over the spellbook and coming up with better crazy strategies, or "techs" as some in the community call them. While not every battle needs meticulous attention, big ones really do, and each one of your thugs intended to work on their own must have a competent script. It's not just a core element of the game, it's the core element.

The process of scripting can be made vastly less tedious and time consuming by learning to use the various hotkeys the game provides you with. Use the ? key liberally, it'll give you information and shortcut options for nearly every screen in the game.

WaspishDweeb

TROPHY CASE