Re: Favorite games
 

Thanks. I'll save my money then. The new Gal Civ expansion is about to come out. I'll spend it on that.

Re: Favorite games
 

They (Bullfrog) were acquired by the Evil Arts corporation >:(

Re: Favorite games
 

There is a bit of negative discussion about the game on their forum but I enjoy it. I think that the reason I like games like this, Gal Civ, Age of Wonders and Dominions is that each time you play it the parameters shift so a strategy that worked one time may not work a second time. Personally I find Dominions much more difficult to play than Sins. There are choke-points that need to be secured. If you have low resource planets you need to change what you build to compensate. The more you expand the more you need to manage the composition of your fleets etc (although it isn't a micro-manage game by any stretch).

Re: Favorite games
 

In reverse-chronological order, an imperfect view:
Dominions series
Combat Mission (series)
Space Empires III & IV
Myth: The Fallen Lords & Myth II: Soulblighter
Tigers on the Prowl (series)
Cybercon 3 (Atari ST)
Dungeon Master (Atari ST)
Omnitrend's Universe (Atari 8-bit)
Necromancer (Atari 8-bit)
Encounter (Atari 8-bit) <-- holds my record for most joysticks ripped apart during play!
Star Raiders (Atari 8-bit)
Adventure (Atari 2600)

Also:
Roguelikes (various)
Dwarf Fortress
First-Person Shooter games with very lethal weapons, taking cover an important tactic, and no bunny-hopping (various).
Various sims and wargames and adventure games.

Re: Favorite games
 

I like sins of a solar empire less than galactic empires.. I quit it after a few started games.

PS you get less ganged-up upon if you actually start completing a few missions for otehr races. It helps a great deal if 3 races want you to target another race.. DO IT or basicly you'll die from all 4 races http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif and try to stay neutral (relatively, or just defendeing a bit) untill you get such a target.. all my (al be it few) games I saw this happen... usually once you are halfway through destroying that nation they will want you to target another though.. which probably doesn't fit in your plans then.. but hey.. you are way positive in their favor then .

MoM was great.. I've played it a few times on dosbox in the last years but really... it's way to easy.. the idea is great.. 2 worlds

Myth was nice too I'll admit

populous was nice even the latest version

Re: Favorite games
 

Actually, if you are already attacking an enemy, your first mission from the other races will be to continue to attack them. The more AIs there are, the better the results.

MoM too easy? With the latest patch? Without white magic?

Re: Favorite games
 

Why white magic? green magic is broken

Re: Favorite games
 

Doh! Forgot about Myth, it's been so long since I've played. What a great game. I used to love the Dwarven bombadiers.

Re: Favorite games
 

MOM
White magic is greatly overpowered. Heroism, holy weapon (+1 to hit), holy armour, altar of battle, stream of life (max taxes), prosperity, Incarnation, lionheart, righteousness, star fires, endurance...

Actually, I can only think of two green magic spells I really need:
Wall of Stone
Resist Elements (because AI loves shamans and direct damage spells)

What's so broken about green magic ? I think in the long run Black and Blue pay off much more... if you know what you're doing. Black has wonderful Mana Leak which basically halves ammo for enemy shamans and mages. Drain Power lets you to completely empty an opponent before you attack his city. Weakness is a very good, cheap early spell. Summons (except very overpriced ghouls) are just POWERFUL, to the point where I decided not to use them. Dark Rituals for stupidly high power.
Blue has Word of Recall, Counter Magic, later on Magic Immunity.
Red has awesome summons (hellhounds - PRICE), very good buffs, battlefield-wide spells like Flamestrike, Warp Reality (great with Chaos Channels)....

Note that I play either on Hard or Impossible. I don't play:
- halflings
- high men
- elves
- beastmen, draconians, dark elves, trolls, dwarves
because I consider them overpowered and not fun enough. Halflings are the worst offenders by far. Huge food supply, 8 figures, slingers are extremely effective and come from...armory. +1 to hit bonus by default (this is huge). Very high resistance. Halfling swordsmen easily kill gnoll halberdiers, which is very sad, because extra attack power (and wolf riders) is all gnolls have.

I like lizardmen, gnolls, nomads.

Re: Favorite games
 

Hooray for single player games like Master of Magic where balance can take a backseat to variety. Balance has become an obsession of modern gamers, and it makes perfect sense in a multiplayer game, but in a game like Master of Magic what is the point?

As long as the balance is not so skewed as to create only one possible choice, it only serves to create varying levels of difficulty in a game like MoM.

You can create your own settings beyond choosing the difficulty setting, such as you have done with your "these are the only races I play" and "This is the magic I consider overpowered".

The very thing you guys are debating about has extended the life and replayability of Master of Magic.

And honestly, by comparison do you think that Dominions is all that balanced? There are weak blesses, weak magic paths, weak nations, and what people would consider "overpowered" versions of each as well. To the point that the end game strategy in Dominions is fairly uniform with the early to mid game strategy being only the means of getting there.

Of course in single player Dominions we can create our own rules just like we did with Master of Magic http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif