1781

I took a nation that has the word “Men” in it, dfs. I don’t see what more I could do!

1782

By the way, I don’t want anyone to feel rushed in picking a nation. If you want to fire up a test game or do a little research before choosing, that’s fine.

1783

Test games are for wusses.

1784

I felt extremely rushed and then cheated by Matt. If I lose this game, that’s why.

1785

For what it’s worth, my pick among the remaining nations would be Abysia. :)

1786

I have a few scattershot questions I’d like to ask… is this the place to do that, or should I use a diff. thread?

1787

This is the place to ask Dominions related questions. Though if you want to ask something that would tip off your strategy you could always just shoot me a pm.

1788

Can I switch to Abysia? ;)

1789

I’ve had a ton of questions, but I never write them down because it’s important that I not be organized or able to remember them, so here’s a few.

  1. Where do I get the maps we are talking about using
  2. Are there attempts at diplomacy? Are there any “unwritten rules” about honoring agreements that might be made? (I know I could read through many, many pages of this thread and deduce the answer, but I am already on Dom consumption overload).
  3. Are there any common mistakes that noobs make that are disasterous, yet easily avoidable? I’ve seen things about starting with dominion too low and getting your pretender randomly killed. Stuff like that.

There’s tons more. This is all I can recall at this exact moment though. Because I suck.

1790

“Kill Dave” jokes detected. Incoming!

1791

Google Llamaserver. Look at the map and mod browser. Note that Scribble has already declared that we will be using some rev of the conceptual balance mod. The mod and the maps can be downloaded from Llamaserver.

You may also want to read this thread http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35160 that talks about the mechanics of using Llamaserver as a player.

Make sure you kill Dave Perkins before anything else.

This forum tends to be diplo-heavy. Players usually get in touch via the PM system at QT3 and often use e-mail or PM’s to communicate instead of the ingame system. If you negotiate a Non-aggression pact (NAP) with your another country, make sure that you find out exactly how the NAP can be broken. Often it’s a matter of wait a number of turns or till a specific turn. Once you are clear on that, don’t break it.

This rule becomes fuzzier the later you go into the game. Casting certain spells can often turn the world against you.

Dominions too low and getting your pretender killed are bad. Remember that dominions has an early/middle and late game. Noobs often get so focused on one section that they never get there. You can’t get to the late game if you don’t have a way to expand during the early game and protect yourself during the middle game. You can’t shortchange ANY of those three goals.

Ask away. Forum will always give advice. Doesn’t mean it’s good advice.

1792

ping!

1793

I’ll take Abysia.

1794

Somebody’s really perked up since his recent victory …

1795

More questions:

  1. What are VPs and how do you earn them?
  2. Are there common Pretender designs in SP that simply don’t work in MP? Like SCs or Rainbow Mages or bless strategies?
  3. Scribble - you sure your up for PMs? I have a free things I w old like to run past a vet to make sure I don’t go wildly afield on anything?
  4. I think CBM changes some spells - is there a way to output a spell list to be viewed outside of the game?

Thats all for now. Back with more soon! :)

1796

Wow…is this a pick the lamest late nations? Not a lot of powerhouses going.

sorry for the Esposito delays. Took a mini vacation due to a wedding. Glad game is still mroe or less rumbling along. Unfortunately, AI ashdod is proving tough. I wish Perkins was playing.

I still get a kick out of this game so much, mostly b/cI’m still on the intermediate scale.

1797

It all depends on the noob.

I’m still engaged in the process of de-noobing, so here’s my two cents from a close-up perspective:

  1. Do not want too much. If your nation does not have a certain path of magic, think twice before filling the gap with your pretender.

Making use of a path requires that you have gems. So if you take a non-national path on your god, know that you will have to send him/her site-searching. In order to make that cost-effective, your god should be at least a semi-rainbow (3 or 4 paths).

Your commitment isn’t over when you get the income however. You need casters for that path as well, or your god will be doing drudgework for most of the game (or more likely not be doing it because he’s got more important stuff to do). So the next question is, are there mage summons within reach who can at least take over site-searching duty?

  1. Getting stuff fast is important. Almost everything in dominions has a half-life. If you’ve found a great early-game spell for which you need to empower, it’s not an early-game spell for you. By the time you get it, people will laugh at you for bringing it to the table. (Okay, they won’t laugh at you here. People on Qt3 are polite to a fault. They’ll still kill you though.)

  2. Early-game strength is huge because if you don’t have it, you need to start a fight in year two just to get on an even footing with everybody else. This sucks because you’d rather be researching, building forts and collecting pretty stones at that stage. It sucks even more because you’ll most likely be the underdog in such a fight.

  3. Early-game strength is huge because defending stuff you have is a lot easier than conquering stuff that somebody else has.

  4. Kill Perkins, but never let Scribble kill Perkins.

1798

Oh golly yes. I can’t count the number of games where I thought I was doing pretty well and then my neighbor put his cards on the table and I realized I had nothing. Real life foes get there a LOT faster than computer players.

1799

Gonna pick Jomon

1800

Picked Nations:
Abysia, Blood of Humans (Nate)
Arcoscephale, Sibylline Guidance (Austen)
Atlantis, Frozen Sea (Brooski)
Bogarus, Age of Heroes (Nikolaj)
C’tis, Desert Tombs (Matt Bowyer)
Jomon, Human Daimyos (pyrhic)
Midgard, Age of Men (Dave Perkins)
Utgard, Well of Urd (farfrael)

Available nations:

Mictlan, Blood and Rain
T’ien Ch’i, Barbarian Kings
Ulm, Black Forest

First to pick: Evil Steve
Next up: sharaleo
Last pick: dfs