X xxxxxxx xx xxx xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx, Xxx.
FYI, the extension requests are coming to me from the games admin, GreatAtlantic. Since he’s the admin, I just do whatever he asks in terms of timer resets, timer changes, etc. If it’s a reset due to technical issue, I will generally post about it in this thread.
I’ll let you pester GreatAtlantic if you want explanations for all his timer reset requests :)
I don’t need explanations - but it would sure be nice if he’d pop in and tell us when he expects to return to a regular schedule, or tell us that these delays are likely to continue indefinitely so we can decide how best to proceed.
Meanwhile, a new patch came out today
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/DOM3/DOM3_page.html
Some bugfixes, improved automation of remote site searching spells, a bunch of changes to LA Jomon.
AND: Hovering over an equipped item and pressing ‘l’ sends it directly to the lab.
(no more scrolling all the way to the bottom of the list of 50 commanders, no more worry about throwing away by mistake!)
(no more scrolling all the way to the bottom of the list of 50 commanders, no more worry about throwing away by mistake!)
Actually, there’s always been the ‘L’ hot key on that scrolling screen. I too was going crazy a while back until I decided to test out if there were any hotkeys on that screen and lo and behold found it. Strange that their patch notes said that they ‘added’ this since its always been there. Most people probably never noticed it. The hover-over is new though.
Monthly site searching with spells stopped targeting when no more prime suspects were available. Now it will go through the less likely locations as well after the good once are searched.
Hopefully it also stops trying to search home provinces!
Yes, yes it was me requesting the recent delays. There are two reasons for this.
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Time. Last week I had a major work project that took me through the weekend. The most recent delay was requested because my stopped working on I had to get to the autoshop. Beyond that, I have been pretty busy on a regular basis (hence if anyone has not gotten a reply from a PM, thats almost certainly why).
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Motivation. I get the feeling this game has gotten rather long in the tooth, and there is no easy end in sight. I’m at the stage of the game where doing well means scripting hundreds of commanders (yes, that many), which is perhaps the most boring aspect of dominions. When I was relatively at peace it was easy to show up, fill out some recruiting orders, maybe forge or summon some things, send it the turn. Now, I have to put a couple hours of labor every time I want to submit a turn when I have other games (fans of Grim Fandango need to check out Vampyre Story) I want to spend my time with, to say nothing of having to do algebra to make sure my communions come out fine.
Of course, these two things go together. I delay my turn to the last day, and if something comes up I can’t get it in, so I request an extension. Mea Culpa.
Anyways, I was wondering if players in Pax Ermor felt the same way about getting this game over with? I can think of two ways this can happenwhile making the game interesting: either play sudden death with the next player to successfully taken another VP (including the fortress) wins. Or, play another 5 rounds (which is still over two weeks worth of turns, and whoever has the lead in VPs, wins. When we’re done, I’ll start some smaller more manageable games (I think I figured out how to host without the middlemen). Anyone interested?
I’m at the stage of the game where doing well means scripting hundreds of commanders (yes, that many), which is perhaps the most boring aspect of dominions
I agree that it can be a pain especially when astral or blood is involved. It is very easy to become obsessed with moves and spend hours on them! When this happens to me I try to play my turn quickly, treating the game as if I was playing against AI. Although your moves won’t be as technically perfect, this does not always matter as you can’t predict what your opponent will do anyway.
either play sudden death with the next player to successfully taken another VP (including the fortress) wins. Or, play another 5 rounds (which is still over two weeks worth of turns, and whoever has the lead in VPs, wins. When we’re done, I’ll start some smaller more manageable games (I think I figured out how to host without the middlemen). Anyone interested?
Neither of those would feel like a real win. I think we either quit completely or go the whole way. But I’m the new player, what does everyone else think? The map/game is pretty big and it will probably take another 4+ months to finish even if everyone gets their turn in on time. Smaller more manageable games in the future is a good thing :)
I’m not in this game, but I can offer some advice. If you find yourself having to script hundreds of things every turn just . . stop. There’s no need for that, outside of a few specific strategies that aren’t even great strategies as far as I’m concerned.
I used to be the same way and it ruined the end game fun of Dominions for me. Then one day, despairing at ever completing a game, I just decided to abandon my micro-heavy ways in favor of strategies that involved less casting, less forging per turn, and no scripting for my commanders outside of one or two special purpose ones. Instead I split my mega armies into small raiding forces and went wild invading.
The rapid attrition, both to me and my opponent, from this strategy quickly reduced my forces to more manageable levels and the raiding strategy was wildly successful. I won that game even. Since then I’ve come to realize that there is really no need to play Dominions in a micro heavy way. It isn’t more effective.
Welcome to my world. I can certainly understand, though you’ll find me seriously lacking in sympathy. Why? My war with Shin, which merged smoothly into the giant war with Bandar, started back on turn 30 - October 1st. So I’ve been living that life for the past 5 1/2 months.
By the way - I’ve really got to hand it to Baruk. Not just because has he kept me from finishing him off (which he has done quite well), but because he kept plugging away and has only missed a small handful of turns.
either play sudden death with the next player to successfully taken another VP (including the fortress) wins. Or, play another 5 rounds (which is still over two weeks worth of turns, and whoever has the lead in VPs, wins.
I’m with DA - both of these ideas are non-starters.
As unsatisfying as it would be to have the game just die after all this time, the prospect of another 4 months is mighty daunting. Then again, the way R’lyeh has blitzed you so far, you could be toast in another 5-10 turns. If R’lyeh does squash you with trivial losses, his already huge gem advantage would make him awfully hard to stop. Quite a contrast to the very steep price I have paid for my success against Bandar Log.
My vote now would be either to declare Hetzer the winner (with an assist from DA), or else play out another 10 turns and see where we are then.
I’m still hoping to get more opinions on my suggestions for forcing an endgame. I do not share others opinions that it will be anti-climatic, as it would encourage and force some big decisive battles and have a lot of tense moments as players race to for more points.
Anyways, I’ve asked Kraaze to patch the server, please do not submit a turn until after the update. If you do, it will probably get cleaned.
I hope we play 10+ more turns. I can cast some nifty shizzle that would likely turn the tide against whomever we all agree is winning the game and needing some comeuppance!
Pax Ermor:
server patched. I think some erroneous turn notifications may have gone out as I was fiddling around, sorry about that. I think there’s only been one turn advancement in the last few days, any notifications beyond that are phantoms.
There was a real turn advancement this afternoon, from 73 to 74. So if you don’t have turn 74, you’re behind.
Marcin
5974
5th of November
Server patched to 3.23b.
I’ve put a lot into this game (I don’t think I’ve missed a single turn this whole game, except the recent one when the server was unreachable), but with this morning’s server reset I’ve just about hit my limit. We’ve played only 4 turns in the past month and we’re on track for a 9-day turn this time around.
Last week I suggested that we play at least 10 more turns - but it looks like to get even that far will take us into the June travel/vacation season. If the plan was to slow the game down so much so that someone else becomes the bad guy who quits, the plan may be about to succeed.
This timer reset was my desicion, though I did get my turn in on time, barely. I noticed Van and Ulm had not. Admittedly, this might be a conscious desicion on their part. If Van thinks he’s done for, he should go AI, and Ulm is in a pretty safe spot for the moment where he can “phone” a turn in.
Still cost’s $54.95! Jeebus!
And still worth every penny.
First, Shrapnel Games is actually having a sale right now through March 29th, with percents off based on how much you spend. If I read right, Dom3 would be 9.5% off.
As for whether its “worth” it, from a strict value sense no. The interface is awful, the AI largely incapable, the graphics straight out of Dos (except the game is originally programmed in Linux, but you get the idea). So, comparing these production values with almost any other commercial title, or most indepent titles for that matter, the high price tag is not justified. Yet, value has never determined price. For what it does, its the only game out there. I wasn’t happy about paying $55 (since I was led to believe sales rarely if ever happen), but I did and thats done and now I can just enjoy the game.
And from the creators standpoint, the game is still being “worked” on. A quick count in my head puts 8 new nations added since the game’s release. Plenty of other improvements patched into the game. Ergo, the game has better now then at release, and cutting price because just doesn’t make sense.
