Those limited paths though.
Yeah. You gotta win quick.
EA usually has stronger paths but worse diversity than other magic ages.
There are exceptions. Ulm actually has better diversity in EA, but still horrible paths.
I just not a fan of EA in general.
So, starting next week, I’ll take a look at all the people playing, and start assigning teams. This would be a good time to announce whether you feel you are a -
- Completely new player with only some Single Player Experience
- New player with a lot of single player experience or 1/2 MP games
- A player with a mix of Single Player and MP game Experience
- Have played a decent amount of MP games
- Godly
Also, I just learned that Ctrl-M shows the movement costs of a province. Pretty cool.
I would say 3,4 for me. Started out Single Player only with Dom 2/3, and started MP with Dom 3 and played over the years since. I believe my knowledge and ability was maybe better during the Dom 3 era, but I still know the game fairly well. Any high end knowledge and play has definitely went down in the past years due to lack of play and practice with the newer versions, and just getting old and forgetting. I would say I never reached the high end play the best MP players have. I can have small moments of good play, and even won one game here, but nowhere near consistent enough to be considered a great player.
I should probably look up how the disciple rules may have changed for Dom 5. I did a ton of research and planning for a Dom 4 disciple game we had here, but not really too prepared for that yet this time around! There are some things to consider when selecting nations for a team and selecting pretenders/disciples, scales, and blesses. You can definitely spend a lot of time in the planning stage!
I’m jealous of you guys who are really able to get into this game/series. I did have some fun with it on my last playthrough which was a first for me with this series, but it just falls apart for me due to UI and what feels like a lot of busywork/micromanagement. Here’s to hoping for continued improvements in Dominions 6. :)
I guess the negative points of the series weight it down the same for everybody. It’s the positive points, whose value is more subjective, what it can be more or less value. For some people they are super high and totally overcome the negative points.
I can’t play more then 12 to 24 turns in single player without just giving up in boredom. The AI provides no challenge after a while, and the new toys you can summon or create only keep me involved for so long. It’s too much effort to set up scripts and armies and strategies against an AI opponent.
I don’t seem to have that problem against other people, when decisions actually matter, and I can’t just hit end turn to see what happens next. Every turn is something interesting and I can take my time to go through it.
In our current game, I got jump by a monolith. The AI has yet to do that.
The UI is a lot less frustrating when you have 24 hours to complete your turn.
Sign me up for a team game.
I did play SP a lot, but under Dominions 2, and never any MP so I suppose I qualify for 1.
Okay, I will consider you at level 1, but try out some Dominions 5 SP. You might be surprised and consider yourself at the low end of Level 2 rather quickly.
Then again, Kelan refuses to put himself at 4 or 5, so maybe I just have really high opinions of people on this forum.
Don’t forget to check out the mods. Those small differences do add up.
Dominions has a lot of great ideas but the UI is clunky at best, the micromanagement aspects are exceedingly tedious by modern standards, and it goes without saying that the graphics are not remotely on par with comparably priced games.
When mages cast a spell or forge an item, why do they default back to Defend rather Research? Why would anyone ever assign a mage to defend rather than research if there is a lab available? These are not problems that should haunt a game on its 5th iteration. This is just an example to indicate the sort of issues that bother me. There are a number.
But if you can get past that there is an amazing amount of things that Dominions does right, and the depth and creativity are impressive. It’s a series I have a lot of mixed feelings about.
I realize that comes off a bit harsh, but I really do admire a lot about the game. But I’m on board with you in not being incredibly enamored of it. I truthfully mostly track the thread because I hope one day to be surprised to learn that a overhauled version with a new engine and graphics is forthcoming. But they probably would have done a kickstarter or something and someone indicated to me that they aren’t particularly interested in modernizing the game.
I can’t believe something that happened this week in my 15 AI Impossible game. We are on like turn 35 and I am at war with two nations, one far ahead of everyone in provinces, and a nation throws this up as the first global! I am playing MA Abysia too and about to ramp up my blood hunting, heh. Damn!
Granted, it is a huge game with many nations so maybe I will hardly get hit if there is only one attack per Erinya per turn, but the blood hunting ones I will be vulnerable to and a Conj 8 spell already?!!! Ugh!
I have found that the secret to Dominions 5 is the N key and W. N cycles through every unit that doesn’t have an order beyond hide or defend, while the W key makes the Wait (or wait while hidden) so they don’t show up while you cycle through commanders.
W is really important when you have a ton of scouts because without it, you would have to cycle through all your scouts over and over again, rather then have then set to Hide and Wait (forever or until you change it).
Seems like you and I have similar feelings about the game. I’m with you, I’m really impressed by some things but really turned off by others. I was able to play it enough this time to see what it has to offer and how people could really get into it, but the act of playing the game just grinds me down over time and I run out of steam. @Legowarrior mentions something similar when he plays too many turns in a day, but I just can’t get into async MP where I’m only doing a turn a day. That would drive me nuts.
I want to like it more than I do. I really am jealous of the people who are able to get into it, because it has a lot to offer that I would absolutely love. The act of playing the game just feels like too much of a chore, though, and I burn out. So much could be streamlined and smoothed out without losing the complexity, it’s just kind of frustrating that it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. At the end of the day, I just follow the thread and try to enjoy the game vicariously. :) And, of course, continue to buy sequels in the hope that maybe this time…
The key to playing async MP games it to play dozens, no hundreds of them That way, by the time you have finished all your turns, a new turn has come in.
Hrm, if micromanaging one game of dominions past turn 15 seems taxing, try doing it in 15 games simultaneously! Hehe.
Yeah, I think that would be even worse for me, unfortunately. :)
I’m looking forward to following the upcoming MP game, though!
That’s me!
I’m a 2.
I don’t think I’ve been in a SP or MP game long enough to learn late game stuff. I’ve fared well in MP for the early turns, and did well against human opponents up until they start pulling out all their dirty tricks. Hell, I usually play Late Age SP, because I mostly like playing general, and am really sloppy about magic and diving into the 100s of spells this game has.