15 Things that make the Dominion Powerful
posted on April 26th, 2009, 9:59 pm
I’ve been playing the Dominion for a while now, and I’ve really enjoyed playing them. But I’ve noticed a trend in most online games, lately. Usually, people either play as Romulan or the Federation. A few play as Borg or even Klingon, but there really aren’t that many Dominion players. So I wanted to post my thoughts on Dominion play. This is an eclectic mix of describing some of the vessels, which ships work very well together, and even a few strategies you may wish to consider. I play mostly as Puretech, so most of this comes from I’d like to see more Dominion players out there. I hope this helps.
1. Dominion Bugs. I see this ship as a cross between a b’rel and a saber. With a defense of 10, they are the mosts vunerable of the destroyers. To keep these ships alive, you must constantly keep them moving. With Puretech, they can be created en masse, and are great at harrasment. Collison allows them to become useful, even near death, which makes them especially nasty against low shielded mining ships. At the very least, a small fleet of destroyers will take out a mining vessel or two through kamakazie attacks.
2. S-2 Escort Cruiser. In many ways, this ship seems to act more as a support vessel. By increasing the firing rate of your other ships by 45%, it can make your fleet incredibly powerful for fleets of bugs, bombers, T-15s and V-13s, etc; whatever happens to be your main assault force. Always make sure you have a few of these in your fleet.
3. The Dominion construction ship is best in the game. That it doubles as the mining vessel allows the Dominion incredible expansion capabilities. Not being limited by the two construction ships you receive in the beginning, or wasting time with building new ones makes Dominion construction very flexible. This is easily seen on larger maps with a lot of resources spread apart.
4. This unique construction capability makes the Dominion incredible at recovering from losing a base. For example, I recently played a 3vs3, where each player had 2 pairs of moons, so 6 pairs on each side of the map. In the large battle that ensued, every player lost their base, but each side also had a large fleet that would eventually meet for one last battle. But no one attacked right away. The few mining ships I had evacuated before I lost my base went off to what used to be the enemies’ side of the map, and began to build mining facilities. Within minutes I had control of 6 moon pairs, which gave me the resources to rebuild my dreadnoughts, and mine enough resources to let our Borg player create another tactical cube before my operation was discovered and destroyed. What made this rebuilding so effective was the ability to replicate constructers without the need for a starbase.
5. Supply. Many people see how Dominion supply works as more of a burden, but I find it to be more of an opportunity. Dominion supply is very flexible, with a unique station, the Ketracel Synthesizer, giving them a constant, steady flow. There are few wrong ways to place supply stations. You could put 1 in between a moon pair, sharing it between the dilithium and tritanium moons. Or could have one tritanium moon have up to 4 supply stations at it, constantly giving you supply in one, secure location, like your starbase. Another idea if you don’t want it near your dilithium moons is to have it share a space with each tritanium moon. 2 supply miners and 1 tritanium miner per moon works as well, since oftentimes there is an excess of tritanium that tends to build up for the Dominion. Also, since the first 2-3 supply purchases are rather cheap, you can forgo supply for a time, giving you an advantage in cheap ships that build quickly. When your destroyer costs less than 150 dilithium, 750/850 for a supply purchase doesn’t break the bank.
6. The C-11 Interception Destroyer. This ship has incredible uses, and will be fixed in the patch to become a must have for any Dominion player. The special energy recharge ability is incredibly useful for so many ships because it is an area of effect, so having several C-11’s spamming this ability can fully replenish almost any fleet. Once the patch hits, their cascade feedback will be an Area of Effect weapons shutdown, and a particularly good one against support ships like the Norway. This will give bugs some breathing room in the early game against others who have powerful effects that hit multiple vessels.
7. Without a doubt, the Dominion have the best mixed tech in the game. There really isn’t a pairing that is horrible for them. At the very least, you get access to Dreadnoughts. Dreadnoughts are THE frontline meatshields for any fleet, with one of the best special abilities with the game. They have the shielding to fly right into the middle of an enemy fleet and stop it cold for 8 seconds, and then have the ability to do it again soon after. This allows the Dominion player and his allies to attack with impunity in the opening seconds.
8. Obviously the best mixed tech matchup in the game is the Federation/Dominion one. Both sides get incredible ships. The federation of course gets the Miranda II, the long range cruiser that can pull its pants up and become a battleship when it needs to. Also, the Federation gets an improved mining vessel. Due to the time it takes to get mixed tech going, most people argue that the miners aren’t worth it. That’s because they don’t see them from a Dominion perspective. Remember what I wrote about the Dominion not needing to rely on the starbase as much as other races when they lose theirs? Putting a miner on the mixed tech yard allows the Federation player to have a taste of the rebuild capabilities by producing extra miners where mining bases are being established, provided the federation still has a few construction ships. Also, in multiplayer, mining ships are going to be destroyed. This gives a good alternative to producing them from the starbase. The Federation may even thank you for getting rid of those obsolete miners!
9. What the Dominion also gets from the Federation matchup are improved siege cruisers. Siege cruisers by themselves are useful. If you’re looking for a place to drop off some tritanium, here it is. With a decent offense of 28, but a pitiful defense of 20, you definitely need to watch these when you have large numbers of them. To counter their low defense, they come equipped with the phase shield ability, which increases their defensive value by 100, making them almost invulnerable for 10 seconds. This is long enough to get away from a larger fleet, or break through the lines of an attacker while doing damage to their ships. Their Em blast ability is what makes the feds a worthy ally. Not only does it slow the enemy’s fire rate by 100%, but the federation mixed tech makes this ability shut down those ships’ engines, making them sitting ducks for about 12 seconds.
10. The other races offer great mixed tech options as well. The klingons give the Dominion bomber compound tetrion photon torpedoes, which fires 2 special torpedoes, at half the price. While you lose the ability to target where you want to fire, more things are fired more often, which more than makes up for it. The borg give the dreadnought the largest stats in the game with 15 to each stat. Also, they give the S-2 an improved special, making their ketrecel white ability last 10 seconds longer, and crew casualties no longer happen. Then there’s the Romulans. They give the c-11 the shield recharge ability, again, an incredible ability, allowing your dreadnoughts and v-13s to be fully protected against the onslaught of other races.
11. Hyperspace Artillary. The ultimate weapon for the Dominion. Remember what I said about how good having a federation ally is? Well, this is it. 2 Hyperspace Artillaries will decimate nearly any fleet out there. The only catch is that it takes 5 seconds to fire, and plenty of warning is given for the enemy to evacuate his ships from that area. But what if they are unable to move? What then? The Em Blast from the mixed tech siege cruiser allows the hyperspace artillery to lock onto the unmoving fleet. As Ivanova would say, “Boom!”. This is also why I like the federation style Dreadnought, because the increased defensive value allows the dreadnought to the same function. By shutting down the enemy fleet with its ability, the hyperspace artilleries can fire, and if need be, even hit the dreadnoughts, who will still be around when the dust settles, even if they lose some shields in the process. Having about 4 C-11s near your Artillaries will instantly recharge their ability, allowing you to fire your main guns quickly if you need another blast.
12. Even without mixed tech, it is possible to keep a fleet immobile with the help of the B-8 War Frigate. It’s IS lasts 18 seconds, and does some damage. It’s not as pretty as the other two ships at stopping fleets, because it has a short range and a 4 second fuse before it goes off. But it’s still an option.
13. Hyperspace Sensor. Now that the Romulan Intelligence center requires officer level to get the spy ability, the Hyperspace Sensor has in my eyes become the dominant intelligence gathering ability in the game, maybe next to the Borg sensor relay. Probably the best use of this station is to check ahead of your fleet that is headed on an attack, or to scout other ways to your base to see if your enemy is headed to attack your base as you leave. This is great for your allies as well, giving them scouting abilities the never would have had otherwise.
14. Bombers. While they aren’t useful against destroyers, bombers are great against what they were intended for: Buildings. With a full group, they can hit mining facilities with impunity with their tetrion photon torpedoes. Just fire and move away before anything can respond. And since bombers move at destroyer speed, there are few ships that can catch up to them. This is the first class of ship that really benefits from having 3 c-11’s around. After the first torpedo barrage, the c-11s can recharge the bombers in seconds, allowing them to continue hit and run assaults before the enemy can recover from the last one.
15. In many ways, the V- 13 is the excelsior II of the dominion fleet. It’s free extra stats make it incredibly powerful for its cost, and it’s excessive strike is incredibly powerful. In a large engagement, this ability can be spammed, then replenished with a few C-11s in tow, which will thin your enemies numbers quickly.
I hope my take on the Dominion helps you. I’ll see all of you online!
1. Dominion Bugs. I see this ship as a cross between a b’rel and a saber. With a defense of 10, they are the mosts vunerable of the destroyers. To keep these ships alive, you must constantly keep them moving. With Puretech, they can be created en masse, and are great at harrasment. Collison allows them to become useful, even near death, which makes them especially nasty against low shielded mining ships. At the very least, a small fleet of destroyers will take out a mining vessel or two through kamakazie attacks.
2. S-2 Escort Cruiser. In many ways, this ship seems to act more as a support vessel. By increasing the firing rate of your other ships by 45%, it can make your fleet incredibly powerful for fleets of bugs, bombers, T-15s and V-13s, etc; whatever happens to be your main assault force. Always make sure you have a few of these in your fleet.
3. The Dominion construction ship is best in the game. That it doubles as the mining vessel allows the Dominion incredible expansion capabilities. Not being limited by the two construction ships you receive in the beginning, or wasting time with building new ones makes Dominion construction very flexible. This is easily seen on larger maps with a lot of resources spread apart.
4. This unique construction capability makes the Dominion incredible at recovering from losing a base. For example, I recently played a 3vs3, where each player had 2 pairs of moons, so 6 pairs on each side of the map. In the large battle that ensued, every player lost their base, but each side also had a large fleet that would eventually meet for one last battle. But no one attacked right away. The few mining ships I had evacuated before I lost my base went off to what used to be the enemies’ side of the map, and began to build mining facilities. Within minutes I had control of 6 moon pairs, which gave me the resources to rebuild my dreadnoughts, and mine enough resources to let our Borg player create another tactical cube before my operation was discovered and destroyed. What made this rebuilding so effective was the ability to replicate constructers without the need for a starbase.
5. Supply. Many people see how Dominion supply works as more of a burden, but I find it to be more of an opportunity. Dominion supply is very flexible, with a unique station, the Ketracel Synthesizer, giving them a constant, steady flow. There are few wrong ways to place supply stations. You could put 1 in between a moon pair, sharing it between the dilithium and tritanium moons. Or could have one tritanium moon have up to 4 supply stations at it, constantly giving you supply in one, secure location, like your starbase. Another idea if you don’t want it near your dilithium moons is to have it share a space with each tritanium moon. 2 supply miners and 1 tritanium miner per moon works as well, since oftentimes there is an excess of tritanium that tends to build up for the Dominion. Also, since the first 2-3 supply purchases are rather cheap, you can forgo supply for a time, giving you an advantage in cheap ships that build quickly. When your destroyer costs less than 150 dilithium, 750/850 for a supply purchase doesn’t break the bank.
6. The C-11 Interception Destroyer. This ship has incredible uses, and will be fixed in the patch to become a must have for any Dominion player. The special energy recharge ability is incredibly useful for so many ships because it is an area of effect, so having several C-11’s spamming this ability can fully replenish almost any fleet. Once the patch hits, their cascade feedback will be an Area of Effect weapons shutdown, and a particularly good one against support ships like the Norway. This will give bugs some breathing room in the early game against others who have powerful effects that hit multiple vessels.
7. Without a doubt, the Dominion have the best mixed tech in the game. There really isn’t a pairing that is horrible for them. At the very least, you get access to Dreadnoughts. Dreadnoughts are THE frontline meatshields for any fleet, with one of the best special abilities with the game. They have the shielding to fly right into the middle of an enemy fleet and stop it cold for 8 seconds, and then have the ability to do it again soon after. This allows the Dominion player and his allies to attack with impunity in the opening seconds.
8. Obviously the best mixed tech matchup in the game is the Federation/Dominion one. Both sides get incredible ships. The federation of course gets the Miranda II, the long range cruiser that can pull its pants up and become a battleship when it needs to. Also, the Federation gets an improved mining vessel. Due to the time it takes to get mixed tech going, most people argue that the miners aren’t worth it. That’s because they don’t see them from a Dominion perspective. Remember what I wrote about the Dominion not needing to rely on the starbase as much as other races when they lose theirs? Putting a miner on the mixed tech yard allows the Federation player to have a taste of the rebuild capabilities by producing extra miners where mining bases are being established, provided the federation still has a few construction ships. Also, in multiplayer, mining ships are going to be destroyed. This gives a good alternative to producing them from the starbase. The Federation may even thank you for getting rid of those obsolete miners!
9. What the Dominion also gets from the Federation matchup are improved siege cruisers. Siege cruisers by themselves are useful. If you’re looking for a place to drop off some tritanium, here it is. With a decent offense of 28, but a pitiful defense of 20, you definitely need to watch these when you have large numbers of them. To counter their low defense, they come equipped with the phase shield ability, which increases their defensive value by 100, making them almost invulnerable for 10 seconds. This is long enough to get away from a larger fleet, or break through the lines of an attacker while doing damage to their ships. Their Em blast ability is what makes the feds a worthy ally. Not only does it slow the enemy’s fire rate by 100%, but the federation mixed tech makes this ability shut down those ships’ engines, making them sitting ducks for about 12 seconds.
10. The other races offer great mixed tech options as well. The klingons give the Dominion bomber compound tetrion photon torpedoes, which fires 2 special torpedoes, at half the price. While you lose the ability to target where you want to fire, more things are fired more often, which more than makes up for it. The borg give the dreadnought the largest stats in the game with 15 to each stat. Also, they give the S-2 an improved special, making their ketrecel white ability last 10 seconds longer, and crew casualties no longer happen. Then there’s the Romulans. They give the c-11 the shield recharge ability, again, an incredible ability, allowing your dreadnoughts and v-13s to be fully protected against the onslaught of other races.
11. Hyperspace Artillary. The ultimate weapon for the Dominion. Remember what I said about how good having a federation ally is? Well, this is it. 2 Hyperspace Artillaries will decimate nearly any fleet out there. The only catch is that it takes 5 seconds to fire, and plenty of warning is given for the enemy to evacuate his ships from that area. But what if they are unable to move? What then? The Em Blast from the mixed tech siege cruiser allows the hyperspace artillery to lock onto the unmoving fleet. As Ivanova would say, “Boom!”. This is also why I like the federation style Dreadnought, because the increased defensive value allows the dreadnought to the same function. By shutting down the enemy fleet with its ability, the hyperspace artilleries can fire, and if need be, even hit the dreadnoughts, who will still be around when the dust settles, even if they lose some shields in the process. Having about 4 C-11s near your Artillaries will instantly recharge their ability, allowing you to fire your main guns quickly if you need another blast.
12. Even without mixed tech, it is possible to keep a fleet immobile with the help of the B-8 War Frigate. It’s IS lasts 18 seconds, and does some damage. It’s not as pretty as the other two ships at stopping fleets, because it has a short range and a 4 second fuse before it goes off. But it’s still an option.
13. Hyperspace Sensor. Now that the Romulan Intelligence center requires officer level to get the spy ability, the Hyperspace Sensor has in my eyes become the dominant intelligence gathering ability in the game, maybe next to the Borg sensor relay. Probably the best use of this station is to check ahead of your fleet that is headed on an attack, or to scout other ways to your base to see if your enemy is headed to attack your base as you leave. This is great for your allies as well, giving them scouting abilities the never would have had otherwise.
14. Bombers. While they aren’t useful against destroyers, bombers are great against what they were intended for: Buildings. With a full group, they can hit mining facilities with impunity with their tetrion photon torpedoes. Just fire and move away before anything can respond. And since bombers move at destroyer speed, there are few ships that can catch up to them. This is the first class of ship that really benefits from having 3 c-11’s around. After the first torpedo barrage, the c-11s can recharge the bombers in seconds, allowing them to continue hit and run assaults before the enemy can recover from the last one.
15. In many ways, the V- 13 is the excelsior II of the dominion fleet. It’s free extra stats make it incredibly powerful for its cost, and it’s excessive strike is incredibly powerful. In a large engagement, this ability can be spammed, then replenished with a few C-11s in tow, which will thin your enemies numbers quickly.
I hope my take on the Dominion helps you. I’ll see all of you online!
posted on April 26th, 2009, 10:29 pm
Very good point on Dominion's hyperspace artillery, I haven't considered before that how powerful pair hyperspace artillery and dreadnought can be.
posted on April 26th, 2009, 10:30 pm
Uf, some nice points in there.
1 point I would argue however is the con/mining ship. While its true that this has amazing potencial for expansion and survival (hell they dont call them bugs for nothing apparently
), it also has a downside - its cost. You need to build a lot of these early on and because they cost more than other races miners (obivously) you will be a little short on stuff early on. But as the game progresses, they really do rock 
1 point I would argue however is the con/mining ship. While its true that this has amazing potencial for expansion and survival (hell they dont call them bugs for nothing apparently
), it also has a downside - its cost. You need to build a lot of these early on and because they cost more than other races miners (obivously) you will be a little short on stuff early on. But as the game progresses, they really do rock posted on April 27th, 2009, 2:22 am
posted on April 27th, 2009, 8:30 am
Im really happy for your ray, not only because you had won but also because you didnt react like the last time you won, saying Dom is shit basically 
It must have been a real cracking game though, Im a little suprised they didnt finish you off when they had the chance, but oh well, I guess luck was on your side in that game
Honestly I thought that the dilithium cost difference was bigger, oh well, I guess I was wrong
Then I see no problems with your original post
It must have been a real cracking game though, Im a little suprised they didnt finish you off when they had the chance, but oh well, I guess luck was on your side in that game
It’s true that they’re more expensive, but most of that extra cost ends up being supply. You got me curious, so I started digging to see just how their costs compare to the alpha quadrant races. Here’s both the cost of the miner and the mining station for those races.
* Dominion Mining ship 159/111/19 Mining station 359/211/19
*
* Federation Mining ship 141/98/9 Mining station 341/198
*
* Klingon Mining ship 200/145/8 Mining station 400/245
*
* Romulan Mining ship 144/101/8 Mining station 344/201
Honestly I thought that the dilithium cost difference was bigger, oh well, I guess I was wrong
Then I see no problems with your original post
posted on April 27th, 2009, 8:40 am
posted on April 27th, 2009, 8:48 am
Of course someone from the losers must post about how the game played out in their eyes, but you had said that you only had 1 mining for quite some time, while they were left intact. I dunno, but I think they should have you very much outnumbered and just swarm you with ships.
But as I said, the other 2 must post first, so we know the whole story
Oh and about bashing on Dom, thats not the way I heared (that you were kidding).
But as I said, the other 2 must post first, so we know the whole story
Oh and about bashing on Dom, thats not the way I heared (that you were kidding).
posted on April 27th, 2009, 6:42 pm
RAY! You've Hijacked my thread! >:(
Seriously, if you're going to post about a game that happened weeks and weeks ago, you need to start your own thread and not hijack other people's. Especially the only player who even touches Dominion right now, thus giving you your precious Miranda IIs. I am quite cabable of playing the other races just as well.
So let's stay on topic and talk about how awesome the Dominion are!
Seriously, if you're going to post about a game that happened weeks and weeks ago, you need to start your own thread and not hijack other people's. Especially the only player who even touches Dominion right now, thus giving you your precious Miranda IIs. I am quite cabable of playing the other races just as well.
So let's stay on topic and talk about how awesome the Dominion are!
posted on April 27th, 2009, 6:48 pm
it seems strange that most people see the Dominion and the Federation as the best allies. If it was cannon, it would be the Feds and the Klingons. Great work tho Mal sofat all the advice you have given me personally has helped lots of people.
posted on April 28th, 2009, 6:00 am
posted on April 28th, 2009, 7:01 am
Indeed that was a very intense game, and I'm glad you had fun. I'd still like you to edit out the post you made here though, since it is quite long and you've already reposted it in a new thread.
I'd still like you to edit out the post you made here though, since it is quite long and you've already reposted it in a new thread.Who is online
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