A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Now and then, I use the Silent Seas (no wrapabout) map for a quick head on collision with 3 Medium Random AI factions without much magic consideration (save for quick level 2 rush of Construction and evocation for combat blastage)

I see many people talking about massive scale magic R&D and SC equipping bonanza. Do you play huge maps? Doesn't it take too much time and clicks? There are so many multi sphere spells and artifacts that it takes ages to develop them. I think a well built human wave rush to the other dude's keep is far more fulfilling(finding a Lion tribe is a forest-mountain province is orgasmic), but then this may be due to my love of large scale fighting. Though I love how many spells blast away an army, but in small maps, it is not worth developing Wish or Star Focus spell, much less gather the skill and pearls for it.

So, what floats your boats?

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I like winning games without armies. Always have.
Therefore, I like to hide in my territory, stockpile gems, and research away. Eventually, I can zap people without actually needng to bring my legions of shambling horros from the deeps of time into play.

Now, that's not to say that there aren't any shambling horrors, just that they are not the cornerstone, or even integral to, my plots.

Maybe that's why I lose.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

So you like being an insidious spell wrecking, conspiring man.

Stay away from world politics. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Well, I love armies and wars, so I like massing a group of units with a super heavy armored fist core, huge group of sustained fire able skirmisher ranged units(sling armed Mictlan warriors being an example) and a sufficient spellcaster artillery set.

Pangaea only needs gold for an Early age Minotaur Tsunami though.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Something like wish is indeed only the domain of big maps, but most spells have their uses even on small maps. It's not really either or, if you want to make best use of your nation, you usually want to use armies _and_ invest in research/site searching for some big guns later. Think about it this way, gem income is basically part of the total income of your provinces, if you aren't making use of it, an equal sized nation might have the same gold to work with as you, on top of whatever they use the gems for. Even small map games usually go past turn 30, plenty of time to do some very useful things with gems.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I like long games and big maps. I find I am constantly looking for the next great spell to research, magic item combos to try out. I invariably fall in love with a particular strategy/tactic, use it a short while, then move on to a completely different strategy. My empires often comprise of lots of mad, half completed, half baked ideas some of which are awesome but the majority are so and so.

I can still defeat SP easily playing this way but in MP it costs me. If I could focus my genius, I would be awesome but I am often overtaken by mounting chaos... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Sounds like you're a first rate Meglobob! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I tend to play high bless, low scales nations, so I end up with a relative few units, and I have to make the most of what I've got. That often means equipping them to cure their weaknesses or maximizing their strengths. I can get a huge selection of decent equipment out of just Const 2.

It may not always be the best strategy to have just a few super-units, but it's fun, and they make for excellent support for independents, etc. That strategy is also fairly versatile. There isn't much an Agarthan Oracle or a Niefel Jarl can't do, by themselves or with a minimum of support.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I tend to subscribe to the Red Queen theory. Which is drawn from a part in Alice in Wonderland where she's running from the Red Queen but can't get away no matter how fast she runs.

So the idea is that everyone is racing, everyone is trying to compete with each other. Every action that you take must improve your position in the race more so than the next strongest person in the game. If you don't, then when you meet that person, they'll conquer you because they've been running relatively faster than you the whole time and slowly pulled out ahead.

So, I tend to be very aggressive. I always have a plot or a scheme wrapped within another. Nations that sit around and do nothing aren't advancing fast enough to keep up with the race. When I build a race, I *always* have an early game plan. Being strong in the beginning means being strong in the end.

I'm also an addict to good scales and lots of income. I love production and order. I almost always get misfortune 2, drain 2. My theory is that by not wasting points to get from Drain 2 to Magic 1, you're saving yourself 3 ticks worth of another good scale. The extra money from a growth scale should translate into more mages in the long term. These extra mages should eventually translate into more in the long term.

Jazzepi

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I like stealth, and large tactics. So I like to play extremely large maps.

Gandalf Parker
-- After years of playing Dominions I have not come up with a winning strategy, but I have found hundreds of ways to lose in creative and interesting ways.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I like assassins.

Which is a problem, since I pretty much always play Caelum.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

well, seraphines with black hearts are assassins.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

And caelums just rolling in blood slaves arent they http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Have to say that I like the small 45 province map (Silent Seas) to test out a nation, and try out some strategies. Afterwards, if I enjoy the playstyle of that nation, I prefer 250-300 province maps, with 10 AI games for a longer game.

I tend to lean towards kitted thugs/SC's over bless/armies.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I mostly play:
small random map - because I like things simple and easily manageable
6 Mighty AI opponents - because I am a masochist type of a person and I enjoy losing the game after a hard fight. I'm also steadily improving and it will be good fun when I'll win.
Always try a different facion - I like variety

I set some my opponents to play human, medieval-type factions because I enjoy fighting humans much more than monsters. I also like to set my opponents to be 'in character' for my faction, for example if I play Utgard then Midgard will be amongst my opponents.

I enjoy using large armies of good troops and experimenting with thugs and SC's. I like to go a different way in every game. In some, I'll be all SC's, in others i'll use chaff+wizards, in others I'll summon trolls.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I play Parganos against 7 impossible AIs in single player. The favorite setup
with my friends is Parganos with 4-5-6 players. (That's how many of us there are)
On here, I look for games with less than 10 players, with no more than 15-20
province per player.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I prefer to come up with the perfect, unbeatable plan, then deviate from it as much as possible until my inevitable defeat.

Failing that, I often enjoy setting little challenges for myself. Like totally forgetting to assign magic to a Pretender, or forgetting that the cool sounding guy I saved in the Pretender Designer was designed to play Ulm in a specific way, and is completely useless for trying to play LA Ermor for example.

If I'm feeling particularly vicious, I sometimes even play a turn for one game while pretending I'm actually playing another game entirely, thus relying on research and items I don't have yet.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

SP Fan of larger maps with as much random/special provinces as popular. Love the mid-late game transition, which unfortunately the AI can't handle too well. Love SCs/thugs/heroes, can almost play like an RPG... favorite unit gets a bit of experience, gets new items, takes on whole armies solo or leads your armies vs nasty specials or huge AI nations. I like to cheat on behalf of the AI when possible, but at the same time i'll restart when a favored SC or God dies stupidly.

In MP I'm finding that I'm not a huge fan of the hour long micro sessions around turn 70+. Still relatively new to it so I think i'll try out some <10 player maps or blitz games.

Don't play SP at all any more except to test stuff, especially new mods/nations.

Still liking MP though, although hate having to wait for my next turn.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I don't MP. I don't have the skill so I am a worthless opponent - there would be little challenge.

I enjoy playing a huge map as random as possible. I find the must fun for me comes from trial and error - playing a nation/age never tried before and making it work. I dislike the graphs so I turn them off, otherwise I become pre-occupied with finding a counter-strategy for the (then) known opponents. i develop my ow (for better or more likely worse) and damn the torp... uhm... black knights.
I haven't touched the full depth of the game so I am not bothered with mods - though I am rather curious about the Greyhawk mod, as I am a GH fan from day one (yes, I am THAT old)

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I think that the real world has a huge impact on how I play the game. I get an hour a night, at most, after baby and wife go to sleep, so I can not mess about much or commit to MP. I tend to play one nation, for good or ill, on a medium map for a couple of weeks, then switch to a new nation. A large map just takes too long and the small maps don�t let me develop the nation beyond the low levels. Victory points are sometimes used to add extra excitment and challenge, but I have found the AI is fairly easily outwitted in that area.

I learn a lot about each nation, but do not become an expert by any means. I just don�t have the time to try out all the different options or ways of playing one race. I also don�t have time to manage the huge empires a large map would bring or to power game a MP match like my competitive spirit would demand.

I play with max gems and easy research. I love the magic and turn it up as high as I can. I also have not even touched MA or LA, as they have less magic. With so many different nations to play, I just love the idea that I have been playing for months and have not even looked in on two thirds of the game's options.

I play with the sound off, purely because of the child in the next room. I love the fact that I don�t need to upgrade the computer to play the game, as the household budget does not like the idea of a new computer. I should have taken different scales!

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I laughed hard.

For a Mod, you seems to be very active in forum likewise.

Anyway, you guys are interesting gamers.
Celestial Goblyn's "Roleplaying" style opponent setting is a good one.I do the same, with Playing R'Lyeh against Atlantis and Oceania.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I'm very much like the OP.

Large maps get very tiresome.

On the other hand, small maps are boring, and the AI is very weak on it. You swamp and kill them before they can even do anything.

Medium maps seem to best compromise. I like to play 3-4 opponents medium automap. I wish there was a custom map with about 60-80 land provinces. The automap takes a while to generate.

Silent seas is close with 45 provinces, but a bit too small if i want to play with more opponents.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Archonsod you are a man after my own heart.

There is nothing like the joy of sneaking the infantry while the archers go in for battle. I like to imagine how the archers look around and say "Aw crap, he did it to us again. The infantry is hiding in the woods". The look on their faces as certain victory become total defeat before the first shot.

I like to let the mercs that I built my plans around to go away right before the battle. If they were really loyal I would not have to pay them. The best part is when the other guy hires them and I get to kill the turncoats who were the core of my battle group the turn before.

What brings pleasure like buying shieldless troops knowing Man will attack from the other side in 10 turns. As your troops die in droves to the archers you laugh at how you knew it was going to happen.

SAVING MONEY IS GOOD. You can spend it on big things later. I like to pretend I forgot to buy troops and watch the money build.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Um... What? WHy? Why?

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Seconding Forrest:

"Wait? My flame storm caster is BLIND?"
"Now that I think about it, the forbidden light WASN'T a great choice for my ermorian lich pretender. Ah well.
"Wait... wishing for "death" doesn't give me the angel of death? Wheres my god? D'oh!"

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I know lets equip my destroyer of worlds (19 MR) with the stone sword.

Wow 999 damage, wow, look at him kill everything around him, wow...errr where's my god and all his expensive equipment gone?

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I love that there are so many varieties of gameplay available in Dominions. Each game can be very different from the others, even when playing the same nation and style. Even within one game there are generally different phases with different challenges, which come and go with the situation in ways that make sense.

I like to try different game styles, but my favorite elements tend to involve the battles, and following the lives of the mortal humans in a world that gets increasingly dangerous for them due to growing threats. I enjoy both small maps for quick conflicts, and larger maps, even huge ones. However it is true that on large maps, it starts to take me a long time to enjoy each turn properly. I tend to have several games that I'm still interested in which are large that I pick away at slowly, and I start new ones when I want a faster pace of turns.

PvK

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Also spells are great. Not just an ancient equivalent of artillery.

Fireball = Arcane Rocket
Magic missile = arcane rifle shot
Lightning Bolt = arcane AP round

Sure they have such stuff, but there are also thousands of spells to try out. Some are truly well thought:

*Rush of life : target either dies from heart attack or heals all the way and goes berserk due to sheer life force in him.

*Well of misery : win-win. Caster earns lots of magic gems and the world becomes a happier place.

*A nature spell I forgot its name: Send maggots to eat the dead flesh of the undead.

*An air spell : Send ravens to eat the unburied dead bodies.

Would you be surprised if I make a small map then imprison the enemy God to its keep then explore and develop just to try new spells? I made a map just to try out Lammashtas and Wish...

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif
That was hilarious! Glad I wasn't drinking when I read this one!

I used to build large armies with few leaders as I always played SP games. After some discussions here and trying MP games, I tend to have large armies early, but concentrate more on leaders once I have decent items/spells to use. I'm also experimenting a lot as I do not like using the same strategy to win every time. I like to mix it up and try odd things to spice the game up. You lose some and you win some, hopefully you always learn though, whether you win or lose.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I like a slow but steady approach. When you expand too quickly, you also collapse quickly, especially if you start near another player.

When I take a province, it will take great power to get it away from me.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I've been playing Dominions series for a long time now. I think I started with Conquest of Elysium II... Any way, I enjoy the games where I'm in a weak position the most. I like the challenge. Not necessarily the challenge of multiplayer games, but the games where I'm e.g. Mictlan (whose own troops are rather weak, with few exceptions) trying to quickly research Blood to get some summons that would keep me alive against the several AI nations coming my way in a map too small for all of us. As such, especially in SP I usually remember my few defeats better than my many wins. The games never get to the "I've won, now I just have to play the 50 turns to finish this".

Also, I'd like to use victory point condition in all my games so that the games are finished without me having to go and kill everyone everywhere, but that also means that the AI can only win by defeating me, as it doesn't value VP provinces enough.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Awesome ! You're my hero http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

My favourite so far was my cyclops pretender:

"Bwa Hah, Me crush puny flying thing!"
"Ooh look, puny flying thing has shiny eye, me likes shiny things"
<splut>
"Why it all gone dark?"

Then there's the ultimate Caelum anti archer strategy:
"Behold men, with such a storm they won't be able to hit the blind side of a barn! To the skies, death from above! oh, bugger..."

Also fun is annoying your mages prior to battle so all those lovely wide area spells land among your own troops...

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

I have yet to figure out a perfect game situation for myself. I have at best about 2 hours a night to play so I have to figure out what game style works for me.

1. Small maps are too small and the game is over to soon.
2. Medium maps are better, but they still don't allow enough time and/or sources of researchers to get to level 8 or 9 spells.
3. 100+ province maps allow you to research the highest level spells but require too much time to do your turn. By the time I read all the messages, move my major armies, tour the provinces for troop builds than "n" my way through all the leaders I've spent 20 or more minutes on the turn.

I tried faster research speed on medium maps but the rythem of research wasn't right. I had access to far more magic and forging than I could support in gems. (This isn't the usual situation on normal speed where you have to budget gems or certain gems, it was more like "I can't afford anything".)

Right now I'm playing a large map because I've never cast "Wish" or "arcane Nexus". The turn length is killing me, but I figure I'm within 5 or 6 turns of completing the research for both spells. I'll be well short of victory conditions then, but I figure I'll go 2 or 3 more turns just out of curiosity.

(I'm going to wish for "victory" and see what happens.)

Anyway, I am open to suggestions for play style from others who have similar time constraints yet who desire the full experience of the game.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Try 500 provinces with 50% mountains (lots of chokepoints), magic set high, resources and supply set low, indepts set at maximum.
That should get you into higher research levels without getting to the micromanagement stage.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Gandalf, that is an absolutely brilliant suggestion. I can see how that combination provides what I'm looking for.

I've always used high resources because that is the way I always set up my games. Oh woe is us poor creatures of habit.

I've been playing on either random maps or the ones that have been provided with the game, none of which meets the criterion you suggest. I have noticed that you have a site with some Dom2 maps. Would you recommend one of those?

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Lowering the resources seems to remove the AIs ability to create as much indept flak troops. It forces it to create more at castles and you get AI armies with more national units. It greatly improves the game if you can stand to play with lowered resources yourself.

The Dom2 site still generates daily maps. The pros and cons of setting it up for automation. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Ive been meaning to create a Dom3 map site but until recently most of the maps would have been generated by the Dom3 map program which seemed redundant. Soon it looks like there will be enough different map generators offering different features to make it worth having a site that each night generates a new catalog of randomly created maps for people to look thru.

You can check out these...
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/
There are some examples there with a jpg for each one and a zip file to download the full playable map.

Re: A general inquiry about Dom 3 gaming habits.
 

Thanks for the infomation. I made my own based on your information. I actually set mountains at 80 after a few experiments and just started a game.

Time will tell.