Re: Question before buying!
 

I've played solo since DomPPP and keep returning. I love exploration and experiment far more than competition, and Dominions SP with its countless amount of units, spells and items is a heaven for that. MP with its obsession with efficiency demanding a production of whatever same 2 units with same 3 items are most cost-efficient for this or that nation is a waste of opportunity for me. Like using a Faberge egg to play soccer.

Of course, if overcoming a challenging opposition is your primary interest in gaming, you might be better suited for MP.

Re: Question before buying!
 

I agree that MP can get monotonous. Novel approaches don't always pay off in MP (I'm tempted to say rarely pay off, but you can get some done early and mid-game I think). You can successfully use them SP.

Re: Question before buying!
 

Solo play also has a much greater range for changing the game. Where MP seeks balance so that the winner can be decided by their strategy and tactics, solo play thrills to extremes. Both the high and low ranges can explored. I suppose an example of that would be that the chaos games on my server still get regular play. :)

Edit: for those who havent tried them the chaos games tries to give every province completely randomly selected extra units with random equipment. You starting army might include a Horror commander leading dragons, but then the independent province next to you might include a monolith guarded by angels. There are also extra castles, 3 AIs that are allied with each other, and 2 special AIs representing the independents (BIG surprise to have the independents attack your province from next door with a mixture of independents units). NOT recommended for new players. Its an extreme and sometimes unplayably rough game for the jaded oldtimers.
http://www.Dom3Minions.com

Re: Question before buying!
 

I played SP for about 40 hours before I started to feel comfortable with the game's most complex aspects. It's a very high entertainment per dollar value even if you just play SP.

Re: Question before buying!
 

Yeah, the thing about Dominions is it is so deep you can play many times without ever doing the same thing (particularly at the beginner level). There are an absurd number of nations who all (mostly) play noticably different...and you can even play the same nation several different ways and be competitive. SP is not gonna hold your interest too long if you're interested in MP...but if you're a SP guy Dom SP will give you more bang for the buck than any other SP game I know of.

Re: Question before buying!
 

I love KO and JK too and want them to make lots of markkas, euros, dollars or whatever.

but anyone who says that Dom 3 SP is good bang for bang is being deliberately exclusive and uncritical

not with FREE games like Dwarf Fortress or cheap ones like Mount and Blade around.

Just being honest. IMHO, if you are only going to play SP then dominions is a waste of money, or at least there are better ways to spend your money and time.

Re: Question before buying!
 

Im confused. You say the alternative is free or cheap games. You dont say they are better AIs. Even GalCiv which is famous in Artificial Intelligence forums is something I would only consider barely higher for AI.

Re: Question before buying!
 

I play single player exclusively, and can still recommend the purchase.

I don't want a game I HAVE to tend to every night, and my attention span/memory just arn't up to games lasting weeks or months -- i'll get bored and start doing stupid stuff just to entertain myself which is not at all fair to the other players.

Single player has its well-documented limitations, but for a more casual gamer who just wants to kill an afternoon every now and then, the challenge level of single player is more than sufficient. By the time i've worked out my national summons, which troops are good for what, remembered all the critical artifacts, and got a couple of thugs kitted out and start to expose the weaknesses of the AI, i've spent more time on the game than i outght to have anyhoo.

This is one of those games i keep coming back to, and is certainly one of the best "$/hour" entertainment "investments" i've ever made.

Honestly, even if you are only interested in multiplayer, you will likely still spend more time in single player learning the ropes than you would on most other games total.

There are WAY worse ways to blow $60

Re: Question before buying!
 

It all comes down to whether you're willing to spend $60 on a game with a very predictable and occasionally suicidal AI. If you're more into sandboxing and fooling around then that's great, this is a good game for it. If you want an actual competent opponent(s) then there are better ways to spend that much money. I personally can't stand playing more than maybe 15 turns of SP anymore, it just has no thrill for me.

Re: Question before buying!
 

I didn't even mention GalCiv so stop pulling strawmen out of your ***.

I hate GalCiv, for the record.