Cross posted from the What’s up with being unable to buy Dominions 3? thread, in case there are some other new/potential players around not watching both threads.
What follows is content from a PM I sent to a couple of new players here at QT3 as a primer to getting into the game, might as well share my thoughts openly, the TL/DR version of which is - RTFM, play the included tutorial, jump straight into multiplayer.
Couple of caveats:
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[li]Without intending to imply the single player experience is no good (it’s great), I believe Dominions shines as a multiplayer game. You can learn the ropes with single player, but it won’t expose you to the techniques, strategy and diplomacy employed in MP. Some of this I don’t really think you can learn in SP, but once you have, it can make SP a much less rewarding experience - beyond testing MP strategies. YMMV of course and there was a recent post in the main thread about single player, but I can’t for the life of me find it.[/li]> [li]Unbeknownst to me, apparently the Shrapnel forum has been dying a slow death, with a spate of bannings and senior members moving on. See Calahan’s excellent post for additional online discussion/resources. Ignore the, um, politics at the beginning of the post… ;)[/li]> [li]Shrapnel is not the only service offering hosting of games, but it is pretty much the only one I am familiar with.[/li]> [li]We do have a long buried info thread here on QT3 with a bunch more useful information.[/li]> [/ul]
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First up, there is a Dominions 3 manual in the install directory. It is one of the best game manuals ever, written by QT3’s very own Brooski, way back when. There have been many, many patches since then, but the manual is still one of the best resources for understanding various mechanics, as most of the formulae are shown. It’s big, but you don’t necessarily need to read it cover to cover to get started. There is a really nice tutorial in the first 30 pages or so, run through that, then pick and choose other bits that interest you when a situation comes up in game. I think I followed the tutorial, played a couple of SP games, then joined my first MP game here on QT3. Playing SP won’t really prepare you for MP, so you may as well jump right in.
Online Resources
There are a couple of excellent online resources for looking up nations, items, units, spells, strategy guides, etc.
The two best/most popular ones are:
Dominions 3 Wiki
Really good alternative wiki that includes deeper detail and includes the changes that various popular mods make.
The most widely used forum for discussing Dominions 3 is Shrapnel’s, which can be found below. Heaps and heaps of strategy advice here for all sorts of situational stuff you may come up against.
Shrapnel Dominions 3 Forum
Multiplayer
On the note of MP, be prepared to lose a fair bit early on, but like DF, losing can be fun! You will also always learn some new strategy or tactic from being beaten. Players on QT3 will also be more than happy to explain in detail exactly how they beat you post game - they’ll even offer advice on what you could have done to counter if you ask! Being the actual winner of a MP game is a rare event you can cherish and tell your kids about in the years to come. I have yet to come close.
Diplomacy is very important when playing MP, so don’t neglect communicating with your neighbours and negotiating Non-agression pacts (NAPs), trades, intel, joint military strikes, etc. Obviously none of that is in SP, which is why it does not really prepare you for MP.
A good Shrapnel forum link here details some pretty well accepted MP etiquette:
Not bad intro to Multiplayer Etiquette
Most MP games on QT3 tend to be hosted on Llamaserver. This is essentially a scripted linux box that a Shrapnel user (Llamabeast) set up years ago that automatically hosts many Dominions 3 MP games at the same time. Any user can use it to set up and host their own game. Players create their Pretenders then email the Pretender file to Llamaserver, which starts the game when all players have submitted. Players then play their turns and email the resulting file to Llamaserver, which hosts the turn and sends back the next turn. Pretty easy to use once you have done it once and there is a helpful FAQ on the Shrapnel forum.
http://www.llamaserver.net/
Llamaserver FAQ
Mods and Maps
There are quite a few mods and custom maps that commonly used in MP games. Typically the person setting up the game will advise which mods will be used. Most mods and maps can be pretty easily found via search on the Shrapnel forums, but there is also a mod and map browser on Llamaserver which will link you to the various files. Mods can contain lots of files (depending on what the mod does) and are typically copied/extracted into your Dominions 3/mods folder, then activated from the main menu as required. Maps contain two files (.tga and .map) which are copied into your Dominions 3/maps folder. They are then visible when selecting a map in the game creation phase, or just used automatically if you are joining a MP game.
Phew, that’s a lot of info! Take your time with it, no rush. Feel free to ask any questions in the forum, you will get plenty of help. Once you are comfortable, keep an eye out for a new game being started and jump right in.
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