Scope: this is a planning framework for Middle Age nations, not a universal turn-by-turn script. Spell names, schools, levels, and base path requirements cited below were checked against Illwinter's official Dominions 6 manual, revision 2.
Ruleset boundary: the core routes assume the unmodded game. Dominions Enhanced, Divinitus, and other mods can alter schools, spells, items, nations, and Pretenders; the adaptation process is covered separately.
What a research build actually is
Research should resolve a problem. A nation might need to keep its line troops alive, break armour, stop a rush, turn Astral mages into a communion, open a forging economy, or prepare one decisive global enchantment. Finishing a school for its own sake is rarely the point.
The useful unit of planning is the breakpoint: the first level that produces a package the nation can cast and employ immediately. Every proposed breakpoint has four gates.
Build a research portfolio
A complete plan normally serves several jobs, but it should still have one lead target at a time. Spreading research across too many schools delays every answer and produces a collection of nearly finished ideas.
- Survival: protection, resistance, morale, mobility, or control needed to survive the next war.
- Battlefield conversion: a repeatable package that turns available mages and troops into won battles.
- Infrastructure: forging, site searching, summons, laboratories, and other tools that increase future capacity.
- Path access: communions, battlefield path boosts, boosters, summons, or a Pretender that opens otherwise unreachable magic.
- Endgame: one realistic global, ritual, army enchantment, or strategic movement tool that can alter the campaign.
Practical rule: keep one primary research target and one declared branch condition. A branch exists for a reason—an early war, armour-heavy enemy, massed undead, a critical site, or a newly available path—not because another school looks interesting.
Count mage turns, not only research points
The manual calculates a mage's research ability as 5 + twice the mage's total magic levels, modified by research bonuses or penalties, with a minimum of 1. The research speed shown in the laboratory is the combined output of commanders currently ordered to research.
That total is not permanent. A mage usually performs one major job in a month: research, search, forge, cast a ritual, move, fight, build a laboratory, Blood Hunt, or carry out another special order. Every reassignment therefore has a research cost.
- Read the current monthly total on the Research screen.
- Check the points remaining to the next usable breakpoint.
- Divide the remaining cost by realistic monthly output, not the best total the nation has ever displayed.
- Subtract researchers that must search, forge, move, or join the next battle.
- Compare the resulting completion month with the expected war or ritual window.
A nominal six-month target can easily become an eight-month target when several key mages leave the laboratory. That delay is part of the build, not an accounting error.
The build sheet
Before committing to a line, record the following in one place:
- Ruleset: game version, enabled mods, and load order.
- Nation and mage pool: reliable paths, random paths, capital-only mages, recruitment limits, and research output.
- Immediate problem: what the next breakpoint must defeat or enable.
- Research route: each stop and the package gained there.
- Delivery: named caster type, path boosts, script, gems, supporting troops, and expected fatigue.
- Timing: points remaining, realistic monthly output, and expected completion month.
- Branch condition: the event that changes the route.
- End state: the global, ritual economy, army enchantment, battlefield package, or mobility tool the nation is building toward.
Six useful build families
These are starting structures. Only the stops that match the nation's real mage paths should be kept.
Generalist stabilisation — the safe first-war line
Typical route: Construction 2 → Alteration 3 → Enchantment 3 → Evocation 4 or 5 → Construction 4.
Best fit: mixed-path nations that have useful troops but no single magical engine ready on turn one.
- Construction 2: opens early utility items and, for Earth mages, Temper Armors.
- Alteration 3: can supply Body Ethereal, Barkskin, and Group Blur where Astral, Nature, or Glamour paths are present.
- Enchantment 3: adds options such as Gift of Giant Strength and other path-specific support.
- Evocation 4–5: becomes worthwhile only when the roster has a repeatable damage spell and enough field mages to cast it.
- Construction 4: deepens the item pool and gives strong Earth casters access to Soldiers of Steel.
Branch early when: the first war demands communions, elementals, mass resistance, or a specific armour answer. The line is safe because it is broad, not because every nation should complete every stop.
Heavy-line enhancement — make armour and bodies matter
Typical route: Enchantment 1 → Construction 2 → Alteration 4 or 5 → Construction 4 → Enchantment 5 or Construction 6.
Best fit: nations already paying for durable infantry, giants, or disciplined formations and able to field Earth or Nature casters.
- Enchantment 1: Strength of Giants gives an Earth caster an immediate single-target strength tool.
- Construction 2: Temper Armors supports small groups without waiting for a high-level army enchantment.
- Alteration 4–5: Stoneskin, Group Stoneskin, and similar path-specific protection can improve the part of the line that matters most.
- Construction 4: Soldiers of Steel protects a larger group when an Earth 3 caster is available.
- Enchantment 5 or Construction 6: Giant Strength Warriors or Legions of Steel can turn the package from local support into formation-wide enhancement.
Failure test: more protection does not solve fatigue, armour-negating damage, battlefield control, or an enemy that refuses the fight. If one of those is the real problem, the route needs a different branch.
Communion scaling — turn many modest mages into a battle engine
Typical route: Thaumaturgy 1 → Conjuration 3 → Alteration 3 → Conjuration 4 → Evocation 5 → the school containing the required high-level effect.
Best fit: Astral nations with numerous recruitable mages and a clear plan for masters, slaves, fatigue, and spell selection.
- Thaumaturgy 1: Communion Master and Communion Slave establish the basic structure.
- Conjuration 3: Power of the Spheres and Summon Earthpower can raise battlefield paths where the caster qualifies.
- Alteration 3: Body Ethereal and other low-level defensive tools keep early packages useful.
- Conjuration 4: Light of the Northern Star raises Astral magic across the battlefield.
- Evocation 5: Stellar Cascades and Gifts from Heaven are examples of strong but very different packages; caster paths decide which one is real.
Audit before battle: count masters, slaves, spell fatigue, encumbrance, gems, and the five scripted rounds. A communion is not complete merely because Thaumaturgy 1 has been researched.
Glamour and stealth pressure — win selected fights
Typical route: Alteration 2 → Alteration 3 → Thaumaturgy 3 → Thaumaturgy 5, with a separate Air or Nature branch where the nation supports it.
Best fit: Glamour nations whose strength lies in concealment, defence, mobility, and choosing where the important battle happens.
- Alteration 2: Mirror Image and Blur provide early Glamour protection.
- Alteration 3: Group Blur begins supporting more than one key unit.
- Thaumaturgy 3: Luck adds another form of protection for important targets.
- Thaumaturgy 5: Group Luck expands that effect when a Glamour 2 caster is available.
Do not confuse stealth with a research plan: hidden movement creates the opportunity; the researched package still needs to win the battle that follows.
Bless-pressure support — reinforce an existing sacred plan
Typical route: Alteration 3 → Enchantment 3 → Conjuration 3 or 5, followed by the school that fixes the sacred force's actual counter.
Best fit: nations whose sacred troops already expand or fight efficiently and need magic to preserve that advantage.
- Alteration 3: Body Ethereal, Barkskin, or Group Blur may provide the first useful layer, depending on national paths.
- Enchantment 3: offers more path-specific strengthening and resistance options.
- Conjuration 3: battlefield path boosts can let modest mages reach the supporting spell package.
- Conjuration 5: full-sized elementals can add a separate tactical threat instead of placing every job on the sacred unit.
Stop condition: when sacred recruitment, gold, or attrition no longer supports the original pressure plan, research should begin serving the wider army instead of trying to rescue a shrinking elite.
Forge and ritual economy — convert research into future capacity
Typical route: Construction 4 → Construction 6 → one declared global or ritual school → level 9 only after the caster and gem plan is credible.
Best fit: nations with broad paths, steady gems, spare mage turns, and enough security to wait for compounding returns.
- Construction 4: creates a practical midgame item pool rather than chasing rare endgame tools immediately.
- Construction 6: opens deeper equipment, Legions of Steel, and Forge of the Ancients for an Earth 5 caster.
- Global branch: the next school should be chosen for a specific reachable target, not from a list of desirable rituals.
- Legendary research: level 9 spells are researched one at a time in Dominions 6, so the first choice must match a real caster, treasury, and strategic purpose.
Return test: every forged item or ritual consumes a mage turn as well as gems. The investment is worthwhile only when it produces more value than the research, searching, or battlefield work displaced.
Worked example: MA Arcoscephale
Unmodded Middle Age Arcoscephale has repeatable Mystics with Astral 1, two additional random magic levels, and a research bonus. Capital-only Astrologers provide Astral 3 plus one random level. The official manual lists national access to Astral, Fire, Earth, Water, and some Nature.
This makes Arcoscephale a strong example of a research nation whose plan should be built around mage roles and path rolls, not around the assumption that every Mystic can cast every researched spell.
Opening spine
Thaumaturgy 1 → Conjuration 3 → Alteration 3 → Conjuration 4
- Thaumaturgy 1: establishes communion access immediately.
- Conjuration 3: gives Astral Mystics Power of the Spheres and Earth Mystics Summon Earthpower.
- Alteration 3: provides Body Ethereal and several path-specific defensive or control options.
- Conjuration 4: unlocks Light of the Northern Star for an Astral 3 caster, normally an Astrologer or another suitably boosted mage.
This is a platform, not the finished build. The first war determines the next branch.
First-war branches
Mage roles
- Research bench: the largest share of Mystics remains in laboratories until a field package has a named job.
- Field core: path rolls are sorted into communion masters, slaves, Earth support, elemental casters, and specialist counters.
- Capital specialists: Astrologers provide dependable high Astral access and should not be risked without a package that needs them.
- Operations pool: a smaller group handles searching, forging, rituals, and movement without silently consuming the entire research engine.
Late-game destinations
Arcoscephale can research many spectacular effects, but researching them does not create the caster. Each destination needs its own access plan.
- Astral control: Will of the Fates is Alteration 7 and requires Astral 5; Master Enslave is Thaumaturgy 9 and requires Astral 8.
- Astral economy: Arcane Nexus is Enchantment 9 and requires Astral 8; Wish is Alteration 9 and requires Astral 9.
- Earth forging: Forge of the Ancients is Construction 6 and requires Earth 5.
- Nature economy: Gift of Health and Gift of Nature's Bounty require Nature 6 and 7. Native unmodded Arcoscephale does not reach those levels without substantial outside access.
- Death summons: Tartarian Gate is Conjuration 9 and requires Death 7. Death is not listed as native unmodded MA Arcoscephale access in the official manual.
Endgame discipline: Arcane Nexus, Wish, Master Enslave, Forge of the Ancients, Tartarian Gate, Gift of Health, and Gift of Nature's Bounty are not one common package. A viable plan selects the targets that match the Pretender, national mages, boosters, summons, empowerment budget, and actual gem income.
Adapting the build to Dominions Enhanced or Divinitus
Mods can change the answer at every gate. A Pretender may supply new paths, a national mage may gain a different role, or a familiar spell may move school or level. Modded routes should therefore be rebuilt from the active game rather than treated as a footnote to an unmodded plan.
- Record the Dominions version, mod versions, and load order.
- Recheck national mages, random paths, recruitment limits, and research bonuses.
- Recheck every named spell's school, level, path requirement, fatigue, and gem cost.
- Rebuild the Pretender in that exact ruleset instead of reusing historical path and scale numbers.
- Recalculate monthly research after site searching, teaching, forging, and battlefield assignments.
- Label every mod-only breakpoint so it cannot be mistaken for an unmodded option.
Monthly research audit
- What exact problem does the active target solve?
- Which recruited mage casts the first useful spell at that level?
- Are the script, path boosts, gems, and supporting troops ready?
- How many research points remain after field and ritual assignments?
- Will the breakpoint arrive before the battle it is meant to influence?
- Has a new enemy, site, hero, path roll, or captured mage created a better branch?
- Is the late-game target still castable and affordable, or has it become wishful research?
Sources and limits
- Dominions 6 manual, revision 2 — research, communions, magic gems, spells, rituals, items, and the MA Arcoscephale nation entry.
- Illwinter Dominions 6 documentation — official manuals and introductory material.
The mechanics and spell requirements come from the official manual. The routes, stop conditions, and audit method are strategic recommendations rather than official strategy.
Revision 2 — 2 August 2026: replaced the short starter list with breakpoint planning, six build families, mage-turn accounting, a worked MA Arcoscephale example, late-game access checks, and a mod-adaptation process.