Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

I'd play with CBM on from the very beginning. I can't really see any reason not to. That way you never have to go through an adjustment period when you do pick it up. It's used in a lot of MP games.

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

Here's some advice which hasn't been mentioned:

1) 98% of the time ignore the arena death match because anyone you send has a good chance of dying, afflictions, curse, etc., . The arena death match is a great idea from the developers, but unfortunately the prize rarely makes it worth risking the life of a good commander/mage.

2) Never summon eater of the dead. This is another great idea from the developers, but unfortunately this creature has many disadvantages thus never worthwhile.

3) When playing with AI opponents use the map edit commands to provide AI opponents with a growth scale and luck scale... otherwise they might end up with death and/or unluck causing them to slowly suffocate.

4) During multiplayer games you'll find Diplomacy as the greatest means of attack and defense.

5) Practice building and using SCs(supercombatants)... when you find combintations which seem unbeatable then using map edit commands give those to one powerful AI opponent which starts on the opposite side of the map as you. Now you must find ways to kill these SCs because you will be facing them and others in multiplayer. A supercombatant is a single unit equipped with items which can kill hundreds of troops for multiple battles.

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

The game has arrived!! I am now an official apprentice in the Dominions world! :)

What a wonderfully written manual. by the way! Great job!

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

They took a suggestion.
Instead of the developers writing the manual, it was written by a player. And a NEW player at that. Devs are too deep in the game to write manuals for newbie players IMHO. Someone learning it fresh will find the questions that need to be asked, and the answers that most helped.

Even as thick as it is, it still only touches the surface. Each nation is so different that discussions of tactics and strategy would fill a book for each one. I also highly appreciate the game company providing us this forum to fill past the manual.

There is also a great new player-created wiki out there.

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

Yeah well it does suit my newbie needs for now, just fine it seems.
However some pages on the manual have spots on them where the text is faded up to the point where it's unreadable.
Is this a common thing with all manuals?

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

Mine has no faded text ...

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

Mine doesn't have either. If it's a big issue (ie. lot's of important text unreadable, such as forging/spell references), I'd contact customer support. The strategies and such given in the manual are not much when compared to what you can find on the forums (namely Baalz' and others guides, discussion about game mechanics) and so on, but still they are fun to read through. And the Pretender design thoughts on page 53 should be learned thoroughly ;)

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

I haven't gone through the whole manual yet (unsurprisingly! ;) ), but so far every other few pages have white spots in the text. Some are still readable, others aren't.
I shall go through the whole manual tomorrow and see if I should contact customer support. Its good to know that other manuals don't have this issue and it looks like a problem with printing/copying my manual.

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

Ok the grimoire seems to be free of faded text, luckily.
The biggest spots are on the following pages:

p119 - Description of Man, Tower of Avalon
p99 - Description of Agartha
p79 - Example box 'Duration'

Then there are several smaller spots throughout the manual with faded parts of words, however these can still be read.

Re: Preparing for game delivery
 

You still might want to report that to Shrapnel. They should know there is a problem with their latest printing. They would probably be grateful