Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

I will make a mod for doms 3 for sure, mostly unit and terrain gfx. I am very good in it.

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

I think that the devs should focus on Doms 3 with all power now, fixing the Doms 2 bugs -> implent those fixes in Doms 3, like the AI fixes and so on. :-) .. btw I am very happy that IW is fixing the AI [we know that they gonna fix castle building at this point].

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

By the way, for Dom2 I provided space for many of us on my server to aid in supporting the game as did a number of other people. The www.dom2minions.com is abit old and not very impressive but it supported the private directories and emails for a number of people here. And hosted a nubmer of their MP games too.

I also have www.Dom3Minions.com registered (for a year now) but dont have much to put there yet http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif It will be moving to a massively upgraded server next week in preparation for the new load Im expecting to hit it when we get Dom3 things to put up.

Just thought Id mention that in case someone wants to support the game with webpages or files, but not quite eager to put up a domain for it.

You can reach me as gandalf on the dom2minions.com server, or PM me here if you have any questions on that.

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

Nice :-)

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

My lovely, intelligent, computer-game-playing wife Lace has generously translated the first page of the article Tyrian posted. The second page is illegible. Her French is a little rusty, but she's gotten the main points.

[The first question and answer boil down to "Why another Dom?" "It's fun and the fan support has inspired us."]

Cyber: Can you tell us quickly what are the main changes and innovations of Dom3?

KO: Dom3 will be called "The Awakening".

Cyber: Awakening?

KO: When you make your pretender, it will be asleep, imprisoned by the previous Almighty. With the departure of this predecessor, the demigods and spirits of the world awaken to take its place. When you define your pretender, you chose if you god is also awakened or if it's still asleep [at the beginning of the game?].

The game allows new pretenders, new kinds of objects, and around 1,500 units (Editor: vs. 1,000 in Dom2). The new magics are specific to certain nations. There will be a generator for random maps which gives pretty maps with chains of mountains and special sites. Some nations will now have their cities underground. The mods will be easier to make, and more elements of the game will be modifible: the nations, the recruitment lists, the effects of dominion, etc.

The graphics will be better with prettier battlefields. The AI will be able to build forts. Supercombatants have been weakened, or rather, drain life has been. The economy is more generous, to allow maintainance of larger armies. We have also tried to reduce micromanagement and make the interface more accessible.

Cyber: We'd like you to tell us about the new nations, and the concept of "eras" that replace the themes of Dom2. What are these new concepts, and how do these eras work?

The nations and themes have been remade and organized in three eras. The first era is the most mythological, with weaker technology and richer magic. The themes of the old nations have been organized in these eras. For example, Jotunheim has been transformed into three nations: Niefelhiem, Jotunheim, and Utgaard. Not a big change there. But other nations don't exist in all eras: Marignon doesn't emerge until the intermedia era. Another nation called Maverni could be considered its predcessor. The Maverni are a nation of scheming tribes of druids and vergobrets (editor: Gallic chiefs!). This nation is inspired by the Celts, as described in Caesar's _Commentaries on the Gallic War_. First era Ermor is not at all what it has developed into [in later eras]: it's a nation before its fall, with pontifs, flammen, and augurers. (editor: Roman priests and diviners). There are also nations inspired by the history, myths, and folklore [illegible] Japanese or Hindus. We presently envision twenty nations for each era.


----

Merci beaucoup a Tyrian pour la texte originale, et les apologies pour le Francais pauvre de Lace. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif (Many thanks to Tyrian for the original text, and apologies for Lace's poor French.)

Also thanks to Tim Brooks for the tantalizing tidbit! That really helps keep my interest up for Dom3.

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

Thx for the translation Evil Dave! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

i LOVE you lace http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif but seriously thanks a bunch for translating that

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

Wow. 20 nations for each era? That is crazy. 500 additional units....thats potentially a lot of new nations.

It seems though that now themes are going to be seperated into full fledged nations, which is cool. I wonder how that is going to work for MP? Are games going to be decided based on era? The sense I got however was that era would define which way a nation leaned on the magic scale. Does anyone have any more detail on this area?

As for buzz. Buzz is created in a couple ways. By the press, and by word of mouth. Word of mouth however is fed by a number of sources, but the biggest is probably printed and online media. There are some pretty big dominions fans at CGW and I am pretty sure I remember reading positive comments in PCG as well. There are a couple different preview phases that are in each magazine.

On a related note, when did the Ads first start appearing in magazines? Ad campaigns can start up to a year before release however (longer if the game gets delayed). But it is a good sign that the release is getting closer.

PS. I thought it was funny, the French Magazine linked in this thread has a forum. On that forum is a Dom III thread, much like this one from what I gathered. In that thread, they link to this thread. Its a small world after all. =)

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

Thanks for the translation. Intresting stuff.

Re: What the hell is up with Dominions 3???
 

The thing I was wondering about is, why had Shrapnel not officially announced its involvement in Dominions III? While a full blown section may not be feasible at the moment, a mention in a press release (or the Release Schedule) would have been enough to make sure that Dominions III *is* going to be a Shrapnel game (alternatively, a post on the forums like Tim's below, or a mention at Illwinter's site). Or did I miss an official announcement from Shrapnel prior to this thread?

I know I care quite a lot about the publishing part, even more than about the developers for sequels. It was Shrapnel's publishing Dominions II that made me hear about the game again (even though I already knew the game), and a change in publishers could have made me drop Dominions altogether. And of course, the publishing area should never be taken for granted: Stars Supernova comes to mind here.

With Shrapnel's involvement in the game officially known, I will sleep tight now; additional information can always come from Illwinter or third party websites. Then again, perhaps I'm in the minority who actually cares about who the publisher is, and who will drop a game solely because it is published by, say, [Insert your most disliked publisher here] (Ubisoft, EA, you name them).