Domination 1914 No Man’s Land is a WWI-themed custom map. It uses the same rules as Anniversary Edition. It’s an immensely fun map to play, and gives you the feel of WWI.
The Big Picture
The Centrals begin the game with significantly weaker income, and significantly weaker Total Unit Value (TUV), than the Entente. To correct this problem, the Centrals should seek to conquer minor Entente powers, such as Serbia and Arabia. In addition, the Centrals should launch a massive land grab against some major Entente power, such as Russia.
Central powers consist of Germany, Austria, Turkey, and the communists. Germany is the strongest Central, has fleets all over the map, and starts with a factory in east Africa and another in the Pacific. The remaining three Centrals are local powers. Austria is almost as strong as Germany. The communists are initially the weakest of the Central powers. The communist capital is in eastern Russia–a red territory amidst a sea of white. Russian nationalists and communists are at war against each other from the very beginning.
Entente powers consist of France, Serbia, Italy, Arabia, Britain, Russia (nationalists), and the United States. The minor Entente powers–Serbia, Italy, and Arabia–should seek to hold out as long as possible. France’s main responsibility is to wage land war against Germany. It can also help wage land war in north Africa, or send units to help bail out Arabia or Serbia. Britain’s three main responsibilities are naval war against Germany, land war in western Europe, and anti-Turkish spending. In addition, Britain has primary responsibility for countering Germany’s moves in Africa and the Pacific. Russia is often faced with a three or even four front land war. Communists in the east, Turks in the south, Germans and Austrians in the west, and Germans in the north (Scandinavia). The U.S. begins the game as a somewhat smaller, weaker power than France or Russia. But it can grow in strength over time due to neutral farming. It isn’t a particularly useful nation early game. Late game it can be a good counter to the Austrians or the communists.
Land Units
Land units consist of infantry, field guns, heavy guns, trenches, cavalry, poison gas, and aa guns. Infantry cost 3, attack on a 1, defend on a 2. Whereas cavalry cost 4, attack and defend on a 1, and move 2. Both infantry and cavalry can receive support from artillery. Field guns are the artillery you know and love. They cost 4, attack and defend on a 2. If you’re attacking field guns provide artillery support. Heavy guns are also artillery. They cost 5, attack on a 2, defend on a 4. If you’re attacking they provide artillery support. Heavy guns provide more defensive firepower for the money than infantry! Heavy guns should absolutely be part of your unit mix if you’re on defense. They’re also not a bad unit for offense, though of course field guns are better for offense than heavy guns. Trenches cost 3, defend on a 0, and take 2 hits to kill. They provide twice as much cannon fodder for the money as infantry! You can place up to three trenches per territory per turn. You don’t need a factory to place trenches. If you happen to have a factory there anyway, trench placement doesn’t count against the factory’s overall unit placement capacity. Trenches cannot be used as casualties in poison gas attacks.
Poison gas costs 4, attacks on a 4, and moves 3. It is a suicide unit. It can be used on offense only. Poison gas attacks happen at the very beginning of combat, before anything else fires. Units killed by poison gas don’t get casualty shots. The only land units with a movement of 2 or better are cavalry and poison gas. Poison gas is useful as the “finishing touch” of your effort to overwhelm someone else’s defenses. Also, poison gas can be useful if you notice an enemy has a lot of trenches and not many units providing firepower to those trenches. If you could use poison gas to get rid of, say, half his defensive firepower, then getting rid of the trenches + the other half of the defensive firepower will be much less painful for your infantry/cavalry/artillery force.
AA guns cost 6. One aa gun can fire at an unlimited number of air units. Aa guns are captured, not destroyed.
In addition to the units I’ve mentioned, there are also some nation-specific units. Britain and France can build Colonials, and Germany can build Stormtruppen. Colonials and Stormtruppen are like infantry: they cost 3 and defend on a 2. However these units also attack on a 2. With a unit this good, what’s the catch? The catch is unit placement restrictions. French Colonials can only be placed in its starting factories in North Africa. British Colonials can only be placed in its starting factories in Canada or Australia. And German Stormtruppen can only be placed in its starting factory in Berlin. Germany’s main land front is against France, and Berlin is well to the east of that land front. So the reward of a better unit for the money is balanced by the punishment of inconvenient unit placement.
Both the (white) Russian nationalists and the (red) Soviet communists can build every land unit on the normal tech tree, including normal infantry. In addition to that stuff, they also have the option of building the conscript. Conscripts are an infantry-type unit, and can receive support from artillery. However, they are cheaper and weaker than infantry. They cost 2, attack on a 0, and defend on a 1. They provide less firepower for the money than infantry, whether you’re on offense or defense. But they make up for that by providing better cannon fodder value for the money than infantry. Because conscripts aren’t a great source of firepower, you should always resist the temptation to buy straight-up conscripts. You should add plenty of field guns to your unit mix if you’re on offense, and plenty of heavy guns if you’re on defense. And of course plenty of air for back-and-forth battles.
Air units consist of the fighter and the Zeppelin. Fighters attack on 2, defend on 3, and provide artillery support. They cost 9, and can move 3. As the game progresses you will unlock the ability to build the “late fighter” unit. Late fighters cost 10, attack on a 3, defend on a 4, and provide artillery support. They have a range of 4. You have to love that increased range for late fighters!
You don’t need any special technology for Zeppelins. These units attack on a 1, defend on a 2, have a range of 5, and can strategically bomb. They cost 16. No one starts with any aa guns on the map, so building a Zeppelin or two can be a good way to force your enemies to spend a lot of cash on aa guns.
Naval Units
Naval units consist of subs, transports, destroyers, cruisers, battlecruisers, and battleships. A sub costs 7, attacks on a 2, defends on a 1. It can submerge before the battle begins unless there is an enemy destroyer present. Only destroyers can block the movement of subs. Destroyers cost 9, are anti-sub, attack and defend on a 2. Cruisers cost 10, attack and defend on a 3. Battlecruisers cost 16, and attack and defend on a 4. Battlecruisers can bombard. Battleships cost 22, attack and defend on a 4, can bombard, and take 2 hits to kill. Injured battleships heal immediately after the battle. Offshore bombardment is limited to the number of units you drop off. Let’s say that you have 10 battleships but only 2 units attacking amphibiously. You’ll get 2 bombardment shots, not 10.
Technology
Technology is an absolutely essential part of this map. This map is normally played low luck, and low luck for tech. To research technology, purchase tech tokens. Tokens only disappear once you research a new tech. Whatever tech tokens you happen to have, you keep rolling them over and over until you eventually discover something new. If you buy one tech token a turn, you are guaranteed (at worst) one tech advance every six turns. Buying two tokens a turn guarantees you one tech advance every three turns (worst case). You don’t get to choose which particular technologies you get. But you do get to pick the category of tech you’re researching. There are three categories of tech research: industrial, land, and naval. There are six techs within each category, for a total of eighteen technologies. Normally I like to research industrial tech first, regardless of nation. Once I have all the key industrial techs, I’ll move to land or naval.
Industrial tech consists of the following advances:
Working women: reduces the cost of field guns and heavy guns by 0.5, the cost of poison gas by 1, the cost of fighters by 2.
Industry: adds +3 to the unit placement capacity of all your factories. Only works if the territory is worth at least 2. If for example you could place 2 units on a factory before this tech, you can now place 5.
Late fighter: unlocks the late fighter unit.
Propaganda: each turn you get 3 free infantry, placed on your capital.
Victory bonds: each turn roll 2 d6 dice. Add the rolls together. Whatever number that comes out to, add it to your income.
Science: one free tech token a turn.
Land techs
Creeping barrage. Your field guns now attack on a 3. Very, very good for offense!
Rail guns. Your heavy guns now defend on a 5. A solid tech for improved defense.
Bunkers. Your trenches now defend on a 1. Another solid defensive tech.
Mobile warfare. Your cavalry move at 3. Useful for offense–especially for getting cavalry to distant targets you want to take.
Mustard gas. Poison gas attacks on a 5. A good offense tech.
Tank. Unlocks the tank unit. Tanks cost 6, attack on a 4, defend on a 1, move 2, provide artillery support. The tank is a pure offense unit, obviously. But once you have working women and creeping barrage, field guns will provide you with even more offensive firepower for the money than tanks! So buy tanks only when you need more mobility than field guns provide.
Naval techs
Sub warfare: subs attack at 3, defend at 2.
Convoys: destroyers defend at 3, cruisers at 4.
Dockyards: reduces cost of battlecruisers and battleships by 2, all other ships by 1.
Fleet action: battlecruisers and battleships attack at 5.
Merchant marine: transports, destroyers and cruisers move at 4. A very useful tech!
Aircraft carrier. Unlocks the aircraft carrier unit. Attacks on a 2, defends on a 3, cost 13. Can land 2 air units. Fighters and late fighters can land on carriers.
Neutral farming.
Neutrals can be attacked without declaring war, and without any diplomatic consequences whatever. Most neutral territories are potentially income-producing. The Entente is better-positioned to farm most neutrals than the Centrals. However, Germany can grab Scandinavia. Also, it can use its Pacific fleet to grab a territory adjacent to Mexico City. Next turn, it can march into Mexico City. You’d think that this would be a relatively easy problem for the United States to solve. But no. Mexico City can produce 4 units a turn, plus three trenches. If Germany max builds there, the U.S. will have to spend a number of turns throwing its full weight against the problem before Mexico City ultimately falls to the Americans. Granted, this will also suck up a noticeable portion of Germany’s income.
Japan is a very tempting place to neutral farm, because it’s less well-defended for the income than most other neutrals. Normally the Entente gets to neutral farm Japan. Other places the Entente can neutral farm include Spain, South America, and China. (Though if the communists are strong enough, they might do some Chinese neutral farming themselves.)