Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith

Ah, thank you for reminding me! I knew i was missing something…

Re: WyldeRyde

Oh, almost forgot, for all those i had treaties with or understandings with, yada yada and such, consider all these things to be effectively cancelled as of this turn, or notice of intent to cancel given, or…well, you get the point…Marignon has decided it wants to play.

better put in in the right thread then! ;)

SHHH…you. that’s all part of the plan! I told them i’d tell them, i just never said where i’d tell them.

my crackly old lips are sealed :)

@BrianRubin, I strongly recommend you buy this game.

@Akaoni is spot on with the summation of MP Dominions.

I’ve been playing Dominions now for 7 years! Ever since I moved to where I currently live pretty much. I still remember when I had downloaded Dominions 3 on a shaky internet connection while residing in a motel room and learning to play by alt-tabbing between manual and screen constantly. Having spent a little bit of time learning Dominions against AI, I took part in my first multiplayer game that included @Kelan. I was MA Abysia, running a Moloch Pretender, he was MA T’ien C’hi, and just like in the current Wyld Ride game here on the forums, I started off nice and peaceful before attacking Kelan suddenly. I’m sure history will repeat and I’ll get hammered in time, and part of that comes down to how different MP and SP Dominions is. 7 years, playing against some of the same individuals and it doesn’t feel old.

SIngle player Dominions I’ve come to accept is a completely different beast. There’s not much of a time pressure unless I make it so. The AI doesn’t care that 100 turns have elapsed and the game is still going. The AI doesn’t suffer game fatigue. I alone set the game pace. Dominions against the AI is being able to run carefully managed army formations against their hordes. The AI doesn’t care about army organisation or higher order tactics involving complex spell scripting. But I do. In a game I have going currently, it feels good to run down another horde with my army. It isn’t like bashing a stupid opponent for some sort of sick pleasure. But it does give room to experiment.

Experimentation is the other benefit of SP Dominions. Rarely will I see a real life MP opponent equipping their commanders with items like an Enchanted Spear or a Fire Sword. There’s go-to gear that we all get in a MP game, and I’ve found a large number of items go by the wayside. Plus gems are a precious resource. But I can build those items in SP Dominions. And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter. Similarly with spells, I can start thinking about maybe utilising lower level spells and just playing around with the game. There is a lot to explore, and one marvellous strength of the game is the possibility of following some nations from early age through middle, then late age and seeing the shift in gameplay as they go.

Multiplayer games keep me fit. As Akaoni pointed out, it is in a sense a deeply involved game of working out counters and counter counters to the opposition. To that end, I’ll go for a think run; turn over a Dominions problem in my head while running 5-10 km and be surprised at some of the strange ideas that pop in. Multiplayer is a much different environment, and to get the most out of Dominions involves multiplayer because then an opponent can use some carefully crafted strategies, army compositions and surprises against you. Single player is competent, don’t expect miracles from the AI, but it will put up a respectable fight.

Fiiinneee, added to the list of games to buy during this sale.

By the way, are we every going to get any improvements to the multiplayer system, or is everything just going to be play by by email forever?
I would love to have a decent server that I can connect to without having to jump through hopes or go through a third party.

There has always been an option to connect to a server. I’ve never tried it myself however I am aware that certain game types (blitz games I think) do have users connect to a private server and resolve a fast game that way.

Llamaserver (play by email) works because it doesn’t care about timezones.

Yeah, server support has always been there. I ran a server for a Qt3 game of Dom2 about 15 years ago. The issue was when connections would go down, etc. - in those days it was tough to get a fixed IP address, the networks weren’t as stable, and email was technically easier. But you could do it then, and can still do it now. Instructions are in the game manual on p. 19.

I think SA forums uses an automated sever with some scripts, instead of PBEM.

PBEM does suit the game though. the conspiring between turns is a lot of fun, and you usually only wait about 48 hours.

what i like about DOM5 that is so simple, yet enhancing, is the new dominion ‘influence’ map: it really helps define what you think is yours, and should be yours, dammit

So, I am liking some of the changes, but I have not noticed a ton of changes from Dominions 4.

I still avoid all blood nation’s because I am not a fan of the single focus school or the necessary micro, I still find the LA Jomon both intriguing and flawed, and I still prefer the (non blood) nations of the Late Era, but the magic of the Middle Era.

I got this game in the summer sale and I’d be interested in doing a game with or folks who are not that great at dominions. I played a fair amt of Dom 3 and a little Dom 4 and haven’t made it to turn 12 of a Dom 5 game yet.

I haven’t played MP since Dominions 3, so I am in.

New patch, new nation, LA Phlegra.

They have some cool stuff like Helote Warriors that once gained enough xp, will transform in labs in better versions (similar to their Iron Guard cap unit), and cute Moufflons Cataphracts! (giant sheep riders),

They also have cyclops as their elite giant unit, with limited recruitment

However, the big thing is that they have a volcano in the capital that will explored after ~24 months, killing people and causing unrest. And from the volcano, this MOFO will appear:

who also enables recruiting more giants similar to him (but with less paths I believe). They have 8 simultaneous attacks!

Hasn’t multiple attacks been nerfed in this version? I believe multiple attack weapons must all target the same units.

I think there is some rule like that yeah, that or ‘all attacks have to go to the same square’.

http://pretenders5.testingmagic.ovh/

Have you tried the new pretender design app? It’s been really helpful, though not 100% accurate. A few pretenders are missing paths, but I’m not sure how to comment on it.