Dominions 3: The Awakening/Nations/Fomoria

Fomoria is a land settled by enormous cyclopean seafaring giants and their deformed offspring.

This nation was added in the Dominions 3.10 patch.



Overview
A mix of giant Fomorians and their more normal-sized Nemedian and Fir Bolg subjects. Due to their raiding and disloyalty, the gods cursed the Fomorians with deformities; as a result, the midsized "Fomorian" troops have a chance of being recruited with Afflictions.

Unit Comparison

 * Fir Bolg Slinger: Gold 11, Resources 2
 * Ye basic slinger. Better stats than the average human; on the other hand, slings suck.


 * Fir Bolg Warrior (axe): Gold 13, Resources 9
 * Basic offensive infantry. Lacks a helmet, so tends to get its block knocked off.


 * Fir Bolg Warrior (spear + javelin): Gold 13, Resources 10
 * Basic defensive infantry. Continues to lack a helmet.


 * Fomorian Militia: Gold 15, Resources 3
 * A militia version of Fomorian troops. Lacks armor.


 * Fomorian Javelinist: Gold 20, Resources 15
 * Typical spear + javelin infantry, save for being size 4 and having the HP to back it up.


 * Fomorian Spearman: Gold 20, Resources 17
 * Swaps the Javelinist's javelin for a shield.


 * Fomorian Warrior: Gold 30, Resources 27
 * Gains a stat upgrade and significantly better armor compared to the Spearman.


 * Unmarked: Gold 60, Resources 27
 * A Fomorian Warrior with a further stat boost, and Sacredness. Capital only.


 * Fomorian Giant: Gold 110, Resources 37
 * Sacred, Poor Amphibian, and Cold Resistance 50. Just in case you wanted Niefel-like troops. Capital only.


 * Nemedian Warrior: Gold 30, Resources 22
 * A solid equipment fit backed up by Stealth, Glamour, and Darkvision 50. Capital only.

Commanders

 * Fir Bolg Scout: Gold 25, Resources 10
 * Ye basic stealthy scout. Slight stat advantage over the basic human version.


 * Fir Bolg Champion: Gold 45, Resources 12
 * Ye basic infantry commander. Does not come with a default helmet, and only has leadership 40.


 * Fomorian Scout: Gold 50, Resources 19
 * 'Cuz, y'know, giants would be really good at that stealth thing. Save money and go for the Fir Bolg version instead.


 * Fomorian Champion: Gold 60, Resources 29
 * Still only leadership 40, but at least he's hoping to lead squads of giants, not swarms of humans.


 * Unmarked Champion: Gold 120, Resources 29
 * Magic: H1
 * Leadership 80 and basic priestly powers make this your go-to leader.


 * Fomorian Druid: Gold 150, Resources 3
 * Magic: A1H1 + 100% random (AWDN)
 * A versatile, if weak, spellslinger.


 * Fomorian King: Gold 500, Resources 37
 * Magic: A3D2H2 + 100% random (AWD) + 10% random (AWD)
 * Poor Amphibian, Cold Resistance 50, and Sailing, in addition to being a true size-6 giant. The Fomorian King can easily become a one-man army. Capital only.


 * Nemedian Champion: Gold 140, Resources 25
 * Magic: A1D1H1
 * Stealth, Glamour, and Darkvision 50. Capital only.


 * Nemedian Sorceress: Gold 270, Resources 1
 * Magic: A2D2 + 100% random (AWDN)
 * Stealth, Glamour, and Darkvision 50. Expensive, but you do get what you pay for. Capital only.

Tuan the Last Partholonian

 * Traits
 * Sacred, Immortal, Stealthy +25, Glamour, Darkvision 50, +5 RP

''Tuan is an ancient sage and the last surviving Partholonian. When the Fomorian plague struck his people, he alone managed to survive. When his proud race fell to extinction, he hid in the shapes of stag, bear, eagle and salmon. Through the ages he has found the means to fully cheat death and lives to tell of the fate of the Partholonians and the Fomorians. A humble man, he serves the kings that be and avoids the burden of leadership in favor of scholastic tasks.''

Basically an upgraded Nemedian Sorceress, Tuan packs a big magical punch into a well-defended frame. Sadly, his total uninterest in leadership means you can't even give him a bodyguard.

Balor the High King

 * Traits
 * Sacred, Poor Amphibian, Fear +4, Cold Resistance 50, Sailing, Gluttony 20


 * Special Attack
 * Gaze of Death (15AP damage, 5 AoE)

''Balor is the undisputed ruler of all Fomorians. He ruled the Fomorian Giants when they guarded the realm of the watery dead, he led them when they ravaged the world, he protected them from the invaders and he will lead them once again in conquest of this world. Balor is twice cursed. He is afflicted with a monstrous appearance, a single eye, skin as black as the night and a ravenous hunger. He is also cursed to be slain by his own grandson. This has led him to promptly imprison all of his daughters and their sons in guarded towers. During the conjuration of the plague that was to slay the Nemedians, Balor accidentally looked into the plague cauldron and the vapors lodged themselves in his single eye and turned it to evil. Now the gaze of Balor destroys the flesh of men.''

The Fomorian King after whom all other Fomorian Kings are but pale imitations. If for some reason you don't think the basic Fomorian King is strong enough to make a Super Combatant, well, now you've got a stronger one.

Bres the Uncursed

 * Traits
 * Sacred, Poor Amphibian, Awe +3, Cold Resistance 50, Sailing

''Bres, the Beautiful, is the son of Balor. He is but a century old, but has become the hope of the nation. Untouched by the Curse, he is a living legend. Bres is incredibly handsome and surrounded by an aura of splendour. Regardless of what the Fomorians think of him, he is somewhat of a coward who prefers to live in luxury in the halls of his father.''

Bres isn't quite up to the standards of his dad, but he does provide level-2 Nature magic should you need it.

Starting Sites

 * Isle of Balor
 * Produces 1 Water Gem and 2 Air Gems per turn, and allows the recruitment of Unmarked, Fomorian Giants, and Fomorian Kings.


 * Rath Chimbalth
 * Produces 1 Air Gem and 2 Death Gems per turn, and allows the recruitment of Nemedian Warriors, Champions, and Sorceresses.

National Spells

 * Dance of the Morrigans
 * AoE Battlefield, Fatigue 400-, 4 Death Gems, Conjuration 8, D5A2
 * Unleashes the Morrigans on the battlefield. As with e.g. Mists of Deception, Morrigans will continually spawn from the edges of the battlefield.

National Summons

 * Summon Black Dogs
 * 10 Death Gems, Conjuration 2, D2
 * Summons a pack of 20 Black Dogs. Black Dogs are Animals, stealthy, have Darkvision 100, and Dark Power +2.


 * Summon Barghests
 * 13 Death Gems, Conjuration 4, D2
 * Summons a pack of 9 sacred Barghests. Barghests are Animals, sacred, stealthy, have Darkvision 100, and Dark Power +3.


 * Summon Morrigan
 * 4 Death Gems, Conjuration 6, D2A1
 * Summons a sacred Morrigan. Morrigans are troops with these traits: Sacred, Fear +0, Cold Resistance 100, Poison Resistance 100, Undead, Need not Eat, Flying, Stealthy, Glamour. They carry armor and a shield, and a special spear that drains life and causes decay.

Strategy A
One valid strategy to go for is using a bless strategy in combination with your sacred units. Your sacred units are size 4 and 6 giants with impressive stats among which high hitpoints; this makes it attractive to go for regeneration with a high nature bless. The problem with giants is that they're one to a square, and they can easily get overwhelmed by masses of lower quality units that eventually exhaust their fatigue. Hence if you go for sacreds+bless, you'll need invigoration from a high earth bless.

Scale Design
The better Fomorian units all cost a lot of gold and resources, so productivity and order are a must. Regarding the rest, growth is good but in order to afford the points for pretender design that might mean you have to take misfortune, which isn't great. You can however get away with negative magic; this hinders research but only until you get construction 2 where your average mage can pump out Owl Quills (+3 RP, 5 Air Gems), and construction 4 where they can pump out Skull Mentors (+9 RP, 10 Death Gems).

Pretender Design
If you're going for the bless strategy, with an Earth Mother you can get away with 9 in nature and 9 in earth, but only if you take an imprisoned pretender.

Expansion
The problem with uber-expensive sacred units is that it takes a while to get a sufficient number of them. So start by preaching and converting your scout to prophet and recruiting a few, and after that attack carefully but steadily until you gathered together a second army, shielding your giants with your starting army as chaff.

Research Order
Research is going to be expensive, at least for a while, until you can get the items for bonus RP or a site where you can buy mages with a better research/cost ratio. After getting a level in alteration for the A/W spells, go for construction while you build up your number of mages and income.