My copy came in the mail!
 

I'm happy! :D

So any suggestions on what would make for a fun game for a newbie player? I did play the demo a bit, and I learn fast, so it doesn't need to be too easy. I don't mind if I lose, or if things are random and chaotic-that's a good thing, but as long as I have a fighting chance...

Anyway, hooray! I've been looking forward to this!

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Congrats then! EA or MA Ulm are fairly good ones for learning the ropes, as is EA Ermor. MA Man likewise. Skim the manual, read the FAQ and give it a spin. IF you want to jump off at the deep end, see the strategy index.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Its generally good advice for newer players to play the more basic nations. Nations that have strong military and uncomplicated magic. Abysia is usually a good choice. Marignon, as well.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I'd say it could be fun for you trying with a couple of nations at once in the same game against some AIs, so you can see the differences and "give a hand to the other you" in case you're in trouble with one nation ^^ Also, you can try 2 pretenders at once, let's say a more magic-oriented one (crone, great enchantress, master lich... the ones who can have several paths easily) and one more combat-oriented (like a Great Wyrm or a Prince of Death, without much magic so you don't mind having him killed, as every death = -1 at all paths when recalled to life) so you can see which ones bring you more fun and fit your playstyle better ;)

Oh, and of course... Welcome!! ^^

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

PS for everybody: Don't worry, I'm not gonna put that giant signature everywhere, just where there is new fresh cannonfod... forum users ^^, to let them know (and you remember, maybe ^^) some of the nicer threads of the past ^^

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

An early mistake that many make is to turn the independents down in a game in order to make it easier. That has an opposite affect. It allows the AIs to swarm you early in the game. Set the indepts abit higher and it will slow down the AIs.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

If you'd like the feeling of a nice, epic struggle between good and evil, play in the late age with Ermor as one of your enemies. Just make sure to recruit lots of priests.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Yes I think playing late age with ermor involved as a fun idea.

I would also advise avoiding having any sea based nations (Atlantis, Oceania, Rlyeh) in your games for the time being.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

So, since I couldn't wait to play, I rushed off and started a game without before any comments. I started early age Tir Na n'Og, and they seem pretty cool. The stealth on their heavy infantry is really nice, and they have javelins and high precision, too, for getting the first strike.

Definitely have had fun playing them so far, after I had gotten things up and running and having my prophet (he was a national hero too :( ) get trounced, I decided to make some elite archers to take them down, so over several turns I equipped ten of the sidhe champions with thunder bows and boots of giant strength, and sent them with a small squad of soldiers each to take on the baddies. It worked pretty well, but despite setting the commanders to cast eagle eye and attack largest, they seemed more interested in buffing their men than shooting. Though the one time they did was totally awesome, and it wiped out the enemy troll hero instantly.

It's gotten to the point, though, where I am dominating the computers enough (they're on easy) that it's a foregone victory. Managing to get the level 9 nature enchantment cast that makes ducks fat and mustard tasty (I don't remember what it is called) caused my cashflow to go through the roof--I'm spending a ton and still am gaining money, so I think that the AIs are totally outmatched in unit production, so I think I'm going to try something new.

The late era Ermor opponent sounds like fun...

And thanks for the suggestions!

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Congratulations!
Just don't forget to sleep and eat occasionally. :)

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

If you start thinking that the AI is too easy,Edratman's mod will take care of that. It's in MA only and also incorporates Better Independents mod, also worth a look if the AI doesn't challenge you.


If you don't think you're not having fun with your current game, don't feel afraid to start a new one. If you want that feeling of satisfaction for actually winning and not just dominating, enable Victory Point victory condition on game creation and make the game end once you've conquered all (or most) capital provinces.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Yeah, it's the best advice you can receive when you get the game :D Wish someone told so to me too... :doh:

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Thats why I dont wish for faster turn processing. If it wasnt for that Id have died a long time ago from starvation.
No probably dehydration first.
No probably exploded bladder first.
No actually my wife would have killed me before that.

(please read my sig)
Gandalf Parker

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Pick one that appeals to you in style & mythology. If you like vikings or saxons, go with Vanheim, if you like english knights and longbows, go with Man.

Have fun!

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Heheh. So for my second game I decided to try fighting late age Ermor--I chose Caelum since having flying units seemed kinda cool, and I started with a dormant angel pretender, the one with the hood and the big flaming sword. Anyway, I proceed to totally fail at conquering the surrounding independents, and once I finally get up the forces to do so, I find that a) I am right next to Ermor, and b) being now on normal difficulty they actually conquer provinces, and have almost surrounded me. Luckily I invested in many priests against such an eventuality. Still, I am getting mobbed by undead and fighting a losing battle, managing to hold on to maybe 3 provinces at a time while being mobbed by undeads, and watching my forces slowly dwindle. I manage to find their capital, which is only 3 squares away from mine, and then next turn, my pretender awakens.

Now my forces are now almost totally in my capital. Luckily they all have tactical speed of 3 and can fly, so not really seeing any other option, I just do an all out attack on their fort.. and it works magnificently! The flying guys manage to take the walls down quickly before my forces can get worn down too much by Ermor trying to retake the province, and I storm the castle. Turns out I caught them with their pants down and only their pretender, a dragon, is home. My guys fly in and take him out more or less instantly. Now, under siege in both provinces, I manage to survive long enough for Ermor's dominion to go away, and poof! I suddenly have gone from 2 embattled provinces to having vast swaths of land free for the taking, 2 forts, and tons of death gem income. Good times, heheh.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Just note that those "Swaths of land" are probably quite free of working-class people, meaning there's no income or resources at all, and not even food for your hungry, hungry birds. They eat twice as much as normal infantry, because they're size 3 instead of 2.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Ha, WolfHati, that is awesome! Well played!

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

One strategy particular to Caelum is something I call "checkers strategy". Use mercs and elephants to claim the areas that connect to your castle in order to increase production there. But then scout for weak independents. Create a large flying army (or stealth if you find the right indepts). Skip over the hard indepts and take the weak ones. Force an enemy to fight you, then an indept, then you, then an indept if they want to reach you. Strike back at him just after he as hit a strong indept province.

Of course this is an early to mid-game strategy up until you and he can both create armies that make the indepts left on the board to be no defense anymore. And it works better on larger maps with more space between you and them.

Keep trying all the nations. You want to find one where its individual abilities matches your individual playing style.

Gandalf Parker

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Interesting strategy mr Gandalf, I've always used Elephants+Temple Guards (note I just play EA for now) for expansion but this "checkers" tactic could pay. I will try. Thanks! ;)

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I suspect when Gandalf says larger maps, he means LARGE maps. I think he's talked about 1000+ province maps.

In MP with a more normal number of provinces per nation it would probably be perceived as an attempt to stake out too much territory and cut off your neighbors from expansion, thus leading to war on all fronts.

And with normal indy strengths, only the strongest indy provinces will be more than a speed bump to an aggressor by the end of the first year. Before that to anyone planning a rush.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Well so far he seems to be playing solo games.

And if he ever wants to continue down that line I can gladly provide giant maps (1500 provinces) with independents which are far more than just speed bumps. :)

Gandalf Parker

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I really am just a sp player for now ^^ and I've just tried Caelum 2 or 3 times for now, so my experience is limited and I found your strategy challenging.

Anyway I'll soon enter the MP, I just need some more practice ;)

Oh btw I mostly use random large maps with all the nations (except when I just want to give a try to some recruitable or short term strategy of course), which usually take me months to finish (with my old pc sometimes a turn processing may take up to 5 minutes sometimes!! :cold:)

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

See, that's the best thing about Dominions 3. If you ever manage to get bored with all of the built-in content, there are always user-created maps & mods to try.

(Pssst ... Gandalf ... Do you make any small maps? I don't have the patience for 1500+ provinces.)

Not to mention the (free!) patches that keep adding new Dev-created content! Dominions 3 is the gift that keeps on giving. :up:

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I keep meaning to update the "Daily Map Generations" from Dom2 with Dom3 versions and sizes. But every time I start to play with it, I end up PLAYING with it! $#!^ )@#^ game! :)

You can check out some of the efforts here...
http://www.dom3minions.com/downloads.htm

By the way, for solo play I find that turning the mountains up to 50% scattered all over the map gives you many strategic chokepoints. If you add it to your icon for starting Dom3 you can even set it as the default for the random maps that the game generates for you. As you will see I also like to set water smaller than default, and change the color of plains to something abit greener but thats just me.

Gandalf Parker

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Wait, how do you change the color? O.o

I got one that was all snow/tundra looking, but mostly all of my random maps look like desert or savanna, it's very bleak. :o

I am pretty sure that my Random Map Creator doesn't say anything about color. >.>

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Its in the command-line switches. You can add it to the Dom3 icon to change the defaults. There are many cool switches.
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/CommandLine.txt

My dom3 shortcut includes
--mapgcol 50 100 50 250
which is Map Ground Color red-green-blue-transparency. Thats a mostly green (but not TOO green) and only alittle bit transparent which allows the background woodgran image to add some texture when you are in the game. The number ranges are 0-255 in each one.

I also like to make the borders semitransparent green lines, and the sea borders semitransparent blue lines. like this...
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMap...test900_11.jpg
see? lots of choke points to strategically hold.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Well holy mackerel, that's neat! Your example map is far more visually appealing than most of the ones that I get..... I do find it confusing that I occasionally get snowy looking worlds, or maps with other color schemes on occasion. Does that overlay onto each map, regardless of the base color that you specify? Seems like it could be interesting. Also, tweaking the farm/swamp/forest %s could yield some intriguing maps I'd bet. Thanks! :D

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

No if you set the colors then they seem to be set all the time. When I get bored Ive got a program that randomizes all of the color settings. That can be fun to play in a jungle, or a lava world, or another planet.

There is also Harbringers mapgen which is kinda kewl because it creates wrappable maps (they wrap and connect top to bottom and side to side) like this..
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/Cor/Cor_000.jpg
That means no "back wall" to be safe against.

Gandalf Parker

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Wrap-around maps are definitely interesting. Lately I've played most of my SP stuff on Pasha's Alexander, since I can keep a spacing and pacing similar to most of the MP games that I join.

I just really like playing with the MapGen sometimes, especially when just typing in the forums or whatnot..... always hoping for that magical gem of a map that I really like. ;)

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Thats why I run generator scripts on my server. It gives me a batch of maps each day that I can look thru to find the gems. Im going to pick one and do things like selected names so that all the provinces are named unique and fitting to their geography. Then I will make it available as a "base map" and with many MANY variable .map files to play on it.

Here are some that I like.
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMap...rs/Keepers.htm
Click on one to see the larger version.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Those are some nicely laid out maps. Too bad they're 1500 province. ;)

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I love 1500 province maps, so thanks Gandalf.

I have never finished a game on one, but still love them. Why????

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Because it's big. Real big. Texas big.

Yep.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I like them because of what they add to the game. Its a very different feel if you arent pressed right up against each other. You have time to explore, expand, develop, etc. Plus the nations that I like to play benefit greatly from having some wilderness between the nations. Many of the specialized nations with stealth, assassins, seducers, fliers, etc dont play as well on head-to-head blitz type games.

You dont have to finish the map in order to finish a game. But I am looking into some changes that will allow such maps to play better on limited machines. Apparently some of my maps get carried away and crash smaller computers.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

The reason I don't finish the game is that my turn times take tooooooooo long. Whenever I set aside an entire evening to play and only get 2 turns in, I hear the "Start New Game" music in my head.

It doesn't bother me. I am happy and keep going back to massive maps so it is no issue. Just a statment of fact.

Although when I stop short I do deprive myself of experiencing the spectacular graphic display you get when the computer acknowledges an extremely skillfully and well played game.

I think I like the fact that I can start 10, 20 or even 30 games and each time the location is so remote from the previous starts that every game is a new experience.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I'm just not sure what the point is of playing on a map so big you don't ever even see half the nations on it before you give up because turns take so long. Or hit the victory conditions you set up.

If you like lots of elbow room before wars start, you can play on a smaller map with less nations. 500 provinces with 10 nations rather than 1000 with 20.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

The great thing is that the game supports so many different types of players. I have no problem that most people dont play the way I do.

But for me it works great. I work from home. I do jobs on the net, mostly watchdogging systems, moderating forums, email support, etc. I also take care of my handicapped son. So for me its an advantage to have a game that I cannot get lost in for hours and hours. Having to break from the game often makes it easy to switch to my other computer screens, and check on Gandy, and do some chores, etc which helps to make me a good worker and parent.

I dont think there is a need for many maps that are 1500 provinces packed with specials. But apparently (from the download logs on my server) there seems to be a reason to have a few. :)

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

It's not the time it takes to run the turns that bothers me, but the time it takes to play them.

Maneuver dozens of armies, rescript as necessary, try to figure out which battles were critical and what happened, what can I afford to summon, what gear do I need to forge for it, etc, etc.
You get so bogged down in the minutia, it's hard to remember what the larger plans were. You have to, and I like to, plan at least 4-5 turns ahead, but if it's going to be several days before I see how the plans going and how it needs to change, I've got little to hold my interest. I get to the point of, it's going to take another 10 turns or so to actually finish off the current enemy and I don't want to start another war till then, and lose interest.

MP is different, even when it takes as long, or longer. Since you can negotiate, useful planning can be done even longer term and there is far more reaction to what you do, so you can rarely just go through the motions with one strategy even against a weaker opponent.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I have fun playing that way. What else matters?

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I understand. But for me thats part of the game. Im coming more from the RPG games than from other strategy games. The idea of being "the one god" doesnt role play well if you do it by taking a few provinces. If you cant gain enough area to make administrating it hard then it doesnt feel right to me.

Like I said, the game supports everyone. Some people consider solo play to be just a quick tutorial for mp play. But personally I never found MP play to be much fun. I dont mind really big games with alliances but I dont enjoy cutthroat games. Map and mod work that I do tend to be more toward solo play than mp games.

Gandalf Parker

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Not saying you shouldn't.

I just don't understand.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

The explanation is long and complicated. Here is just a simple stab at an explanation.

I'm much older than the average Dom3 player. (I'm even older than Gandalf.) I'm fairly successful and well off, my boss is a very long way from here and I am the plant manager of a good sized factory. There are many people on the other side of my door who tremble when I frown at them or think they are having a great day after receiving a kind word. The job is tough, 24 hours of stress and quite demanding of every talent I possess. I'm kind of like a pretender with a few small provinces under my dominion.

In other words, the game is of lttle or no real importance to me. All of the real competing I do is at work.

But I'm a gamer, always have been and always will be. The smaller competition the game provides is a pleasant change of pace from the real life penalty competition that is my life outside the game. The game is fun, diverting and no one loses money or their job if I lose in the Dom3 arena.

And Dom3 has "Start New Game", an option I really, really wish was available to me away from the computer.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I know exactly what you mean, Edratman. I don't do the same work that you do, by any means-and I've only got about 10 hours of stress a day-but it's demanding of me in many different ways, and on many different levels, and if I screw up, things go badly in a widening circle around me.

More than a Pretender, I'm like one of those versatile combat mages that don't have a lot of Hp., but you send them out onto the battlefield anyway, because you need their spells.

More than the "Start New Game" button, I'm appreciative of "Break Seige" and Supercombatants :) because I know what it's like to be confronted, surrounded, and confounded by a horde of gibbering demons, when you're just trying to do the magic that you do. Ofcourse, my job is to *help* the gibbering demons get where they're going safely, securely, unafraid and confident--which is a neat trick, when your Nation has an integral fear/fatigue aura.

And I think I play big huge enormous maps because they just feel more roomy. I like the idea of actually playing things out on a world-sized battlefield, where everything is possible, and there's always more going on. I get a lot of entertainment from imagining what's happening *outside* of the scope of the game. If I could, I'd play on 2500 province maps. I might never end a game, but to me it's not about winning, it's just about getting far enough ahead that I can have fun, but not so far enough ahead that my enemies can't have fun too-just not as much fun as I'm having. :)

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

[SPOCK] Fascinating. [/SPOCK] It makes me wonder what you do for a living, HoneyBadger.

I work in IT. If I had to compare my job to Dom3, I'd probably be one of those mages who gets stuck in the lab because you always have three or four tasks for them at the same time.

"Our eastern army is about to engage the enemy in a hot province that will melt their ice armor. We need a Wolven Winter, right away!"

"Hey, can you forge another Skull Mentor? And some Boots of Quickness would be great."

"Water gems are in scarce supply! Can you do some more site searching?"

"Hey, when the heck are we going to see a Catoblepas? The tungaliks haven't been doing all of that research for nothing!"

"We're forming another expeditionary force to conquer the northern seas. Some mage support would be handy. Are you available?"

Sigh....

Fortunately, Dom 3 always allows me to recruit more Angakoks. If only my real-life employer would be so understanding! :re:

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Heehee. Im the old mage that has built up afflictions so now gets to just stay home and research whatever he feels like.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I'm a reservationist for a major airline, so I book flights and get hassled by the general public for a living.

I'm actually pretty good at it, which scares me.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Reservationist??? :shock:

It is obvious what the word means, both by the context of your sentance and by parsing it, but I had neither heard nor seen the word before. It is legit, I looked it up, twice. A little surprised there I admit.

An interesting OT thread would be alternate definitions for "reservationist"; I've got three myself. :angel :D

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

True. I was a reservationist (very different meaning) for abit during my childhood.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

I dated a member of the National Guard for a period of time, when I wasn't too far out of my own childhood. I suspect that's closer to the Gandalf's definition of "reservationist" than my own use of it, as it applies to me. There's nothing quite like a woman in uniform.

Re: My copy came in the mail!
 

Can you get me a cheap flight to Las Vegas, Honey?