Aside from writing a nice tutorial or manual, which is always helpful, it is not obvious to me Dominions needs fixing. Sometimes the bugs really are features.
It’s not just that I’m given so many choices as a player, it’s that if I’m playing against humans they have so many choices too. Maybe I’ve learned some safe, conventional strategies to use as Ulm, but then I run into an enemy who uses the undead or human sacrifice and I have no idea how to respond.
And then you lose. Which is okay. And then you ask them what they did, or ask someone else for advice, and figure some stuff out, and then you get better. Also, Dominions is very much one of those deals where the newcomer sees many possibilities but the veteran sees few. Talking to or reading stuff written by veterans can get you up to snuff fast.
Yeah, the community was pretty supportive to me. And with better combat logs in Dom 5 I’ll have a better idea of exactly what my opponent is up to and why I’m losing.
Opponents can and will be right pricks during a game - but are usually pretty happy to enthusiastically and cordially tell you exactly how they executed their prickishness post-game! :D
They are obvious things like a tutorial integrated into the game. Most people are just not grognard enough to go read a manual in this age, and even less having to alt-tab between manual and game to do it (nor they are going to print it). And yes, this includes lots of people that otherwise would be interested in the game.
And ideally speaking, the tutorial shouldn’t show just the super basics (how to recruit, move, cast a ritual), but show how to truly play the game. Scouting, efficient expansion, site searching, research priorities depending on the nation, etc. I liked how the tutorial was structured in Chaos Reborn, with playable challenges between lessons to make sure the player has learned the concepts. Was one of the creators a teacher? He should know the importance of properly explaining concepts, and then exercising what was learned…
There were always several grievances in the UI for me as a new player. Some of them are being fixed in Dominions 5, like ‘hidden’ actions that are possible by keyboard shortcut but not using the UI (like monthly rituals), and being able to see the Dominion in a more visual way, with colored borders. Speaking of, they should use that technology that is already done, to be able to see province ownership in the same way. Maybe a button to switch between showing dominion (dominion colored border, hides candle icons) and ownership (provinces colored with Nation color, hides flag icon). Now that he game ‘knows’ what shapes are the provinces should be possible.
A ‘Dominionspedia’ integrated in the game. If the player see in a neutral province that there are barbarians, slinger and whatever else, it would help to see before attacking what they are capable of.
Others UI things are expected because they are standards in the genre now, like ‘move to location’ (armies remembering the final destination and moving across turns). It would reduce the micro, too. Or a way to compare units or at least see a summary of stats of all the units in a fort, because remember a noob won’t know by memory every unit, and having to click open a modal window to see the unit’s detail, coming back and forth between units, it’s a pain in the ass.
Speaking of, same with the items, clicking each one a dozen times to compare them is a pain in the ass. Maybe putting a filter by type would help things?
New players also expect to ‘click & drag’ work in things where common sense say it should work. Like in the army setup screen. But it doesn’t.
And well, I think I could add 20 points like this or more, of UI stuff, but I haven’t played in more than a year to Dominions.
Game design wise, the game has a ‘flaw’, for new players. It’s strategically very front-loaded. The pretender design is super important to the game, it decides so much, and the player has to decide all that even before starting turn 1. As a minimum, the game should include 3 preset Pretender for each Nation, so players have an idea of what it’s synergistic for a nation.
I would suggest an extended tutorial that becomes an actual let’s play (not let’s watch someone play lol) where an obvious, easy choice is given to the player.
Yes, hand holding in some regards. Basically that newb friendly mp game but done for singleplayer in the form of a tutorial.
That said, I can’t help but think part of the appeal is figuring stuff out for yourself. I mean my very first game, I was getting live instructions from a friend on Steam because the UI…well…es lo que hay (it is what it is!)
But by game 5 I was experimenting and losing
By game 10 I had 2 or 3 set strategies that seemed to work against 1 or 2 AI.
Anyway, another UI issue is that there is a lot going on, and it’s hard to keep track off.
I would love to see the Dominions 4 mod inspector was integrated into the game.
Thanks for collating the info dumps @TurinTur
It took me three attempts at Dominions (3) before I really dedicated the time to properly step through the original 20 page tutorial and then throw myself into a MP game. Honestly the best way to get into it is to have someone take you threw it face to face, or failing that a good video tutorial series these days, I suppose, even if they were embedded in the game itself. Illwinter should maybe look at that, actually.
When I brought a local friend on-board I went over and spent a couple of hours taking him through everything up to early mid-game - prodding at units and stats, pretender and bless design, SC’s, spells, rituals, site searching, gems, early game strategy vs indies, etc. It helped him immensely.
Yeah, I was thinking in that when I said ‘Dominionspedia’. Hell you could even do a collecting minigame, with entries indicating ? for indie units, monsters, horrors and special stuff not usually available to the player, that fill out once you find them in a battle.
New tutorial system: Dominions 5 to bring a ‘2 hours lesson’ ticket for a physical tutor! Revolutionary idea!
I totally bounced off Dom3 years ago, and only got it in Dom4, after seeing many recommendations fo the game, I decided to start from zero and read the manual.
I figured. The inspector is good, and it’s a good addition, but if we could get something like the civopedia, that would be great.
Basically, anything that can provide information directly in the game and is easy to access would be great.
Also, maybe a few default builds for new players, like Master of Magic had.
I see they continue their tradition of typos in the descriptions.
My first real experience was a disciples comp-stomp game, which worked well for learning and seeing, etc. still had a lot of learning to do, but it helped.
I added above in the big dump some new stuff I found. In special people should read the new additions to the UI:
Now the game will play like a early 90s strategy game and not like a late 80s strategy game! :P
Others have mentioned much of what I would say:
–in-game tutorial for the basics
–quick start option that limits number of initial choices
–a ‘Dominionspedia’ integrated in the game
But most of all I would think newbs would benefit by two or three deeper in-game tutorials that guide a player who knows the basics into the level of developing a nation-specific strategy.
Specifically what I envision are in-game versions of Bruce’s two essays in the Dom4 manual, “Bogarus: A Step-by-Step Strategy” and “Ulm: Crusaders of the Arcane.” These were very helpful, since they demonstrated, in a detailed manner, how you plan out a Pretender and a strategy based on the units and strengths of a particular nation.
Problem was, they started on page 118 of the manual, so many newbs never found them, and those who did had work through the discussion of real world historical analogies to the nations being discussed. While interesting, I think the academic style of these mini-strategy guides limited their effectiveness.
So I’d love to see something like that in Dom5, and for several nations. If these cannot be offered in-game, I would offer them as stand-alone pdfs, and eliminate academic tone. Make them only, “here’s how you develop a nation-specific strategy” and keep them separate from the manual.
With regards to a basic tutorial, the one in the Dom4 manual was 16 pages. If a tutorial could not be done in-game, I would create a separate pdf that is just the basic “let’s get started” and could be easily printed out.
I realize this is a game where you do really need to RTFBGM. But if you want to increase the player base of the game, recognize that many gamers in 2017 won’t. Offer them something that is built into the game, or at least a pamphlet rather than a tome to get them jumpstarted.
This wouldn’t really be for noobs, but I’d like a guide explaining strategies for each nation the way that Twilight Strategy explains each card. Just a couple of paragraphs would go a long way toward getting me into the head of my opponent.
I agree with @Miguk. Tutorials that show me “Push button to do this, push button to do that” are fine, but learning an interface is much less onerous than learning how to play the game. So many tutorials tell you the HOW and completely neglect the WHY. That works in the more simple games like a first person shooter, but for a strategy game the WHY is far more important, IMO.
Having a couple paragraphs for each nation would be great. I would also like to see 3-4 detailed Pretender setups with in-depth explanations of not only why the combination is a good idea, but how to exploit your strengths in a game and what weaknesses it leaves for yourself.
I would also like a pony, if that can be done.
An interesting decision can be found below
http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=3472&st=0
edit: It should have been ‘discussion’, but autocorrect got me. Still, I will leave my mistake up for all to see.
Can you be more specific with your post? I’m having difficulty finding the interesting decision in that thread.