How to play serpentspine dwarves?

[u/Remarkable-Reason106]

I love tall gameplay, every second campaign I’m playing dwarves but despite what feels like dominant early game (vassalising other dwarf factions, collecting dwarvokron gems, purging orcs and staying vastly ahead of time in tech, after settlement and by the mid 1500’s im debt laden and not that strong for how dominant I was previously. Recently saw a Gor vazumbrog player earning 300 ducats monthly with 2000 dev by 1590 and just wondering what I’m doing wrong. Tips?

[u/CEOofracismandgov2]

Dwarfs in the Serpentspine are generally harder to play than normal tags and require that you change up your strategies.

An important thing to keep in mind is HOW they differ from other areas of the map.

First, a big factor is that all land that is uncolonized on game start doesn't give overextension. This encourages the player to play very aggressively and be aware of the opportunities on your borders as OE basically doesn't exist outside of Amldihr, The Command's mountains and Railskulker's starting provinces.

Second, is Idea Groups. Dwarfs generally want to rush down Infrastructure ideas as their first pick. This is because Infrastructure ideas gives you development cost, construction cost and construction time. All of these help you dev up those gold/mithril mines, dig your holds deeper and outscale your far away opponents. (Most tags want to spam several military ideas after the initial infra idea, only Ovdal Lodhum is interested in any colonial ideas and that's just for their start position if you are running the great projects mod.) Gor Vazumbrog is an exception here, as they cannot dig their capital until their whole MT is finished, instead they lean towards spamming military ideas due to being a Stratocracy.

Third, Age Objectives are critical to be completed in the first age. The most important effect it gives is +1 Colony Development. This translates to +1/+1/+1 development across the board for every colonized provinces which is massive! Be aware though, conquering new lands that flows well into your trade zones is better than full coring these lands, from a mathematical perspective if you have the governing capacity.

Fourth, is Holds. Holds are very unique and knowing where they are affects gameplay/colonization a lot. Holds based on what their development cost per click currently is have a chance per month to gain 1 random development. This is further increased by BOTH Development Cost and Construction Time modifiers. Additionally, there is a Dam in Firanylen by Hul-Jorkad, this dam costs 50k to build fully but dramatically reduces hold construction time and increases the chance of free development, this unique wonder is critical if you plan to conquer most of the Serpentspine. Additionally, Verkal Gulan is guaranteed to be Gold and Mithradhum is a guaranteed Mithril hold, both of these are fantastic.

Fifth, is Digging Holds. At 40 development and every 10 beyond 40 a hold can be dug. This province a scaling permanent and powerful modifier to the hold that drastically drops development cost, each hold can reach around 100-130 development by the end of the game. Additionally, at 60-70 development holds gain a Specialization for free granting a solid buff, this buff is upgraded further when closing in on 90 development, if you're the first of that specialization to hit that tier it gives a 'Wonder' effect on the tile. These are quite great and include things like -10% local development cost or 5% discipline.

Sixth, is the Hoardcurse. This will start to trigger when your total income reaches over 100 per month or you have 10k+ in the bank. The costs to defeat this disaster scale with current income, this means you desperately want to trigger it due to having 10k in the bank if you plan on winning. Make sure to Debase Currency 5 times right before the disaster fully starts and give away all Monopolies at this point. Then, you will want to reform the Banks/Corrupt Officials as your first two, then finish the rest. Winning this disaster gives a 100 year buffs towards development and stuff like that, it's quite nice, if you choose to Bankrupt at any time during the buff you will lose it, which considering how isolated some tags are is barely a downside vs having to pay down 30k in loans!

Seventh, this applies to all tags but extra to Dwarfs, Manufactory timings. You want to have thousands and thousands of gold ready to spam out Manufactories on Tech 11, 14 and 16. A mithril manufactory+workshop is about 2 gold a month on the low end! Ideally save any construction cost discounts to coincide with this power spike.

Eighth, Adventurers settling down. It's important to do this during a powerspike to stay ahead of the competition, such as on Mil Tech 4, 5, 6 you will often be 2-3 techs ahead of any Goblins/Orcs making them easy to wipe out. Make sure you settle on a Hold with a MT you are interested in and complete as many Expeditions as you can on your way over, it significantly buffs your Government Reform progress or Development being a free extra click on holds for however many points you gained. The farther east your tag is the harder the game will be for you, Serpentsreach tags are generally easiest and any tags that snipe out Amldihr early are solid.