If you have questions...
 

Remember to look at the stickies at the top of each forum. Those will often lead to FAQs and other helpful collections.

You can Search for forum, and there are special tags which can help you find the correct threads. Such as tags for Guides and Tips.

There is a Wiki for Dominions 3, and an IRC channel, and a CHAT here (its in the menu which appears at the top of this forum).

Gandalf Parker

Re: If you have questions...
 

Hmmm apparently the chat here only works for registered users.

Re: If you have questions...
 

Apparently the chat here isn't very popular either

Re: If you have questions...
 

Ive been told that I "jargoned" (something I try to avoid).

STICKIES are threads that are pinned so that they appear at the top of the forum instead of rolling down from lack of use. We use them to link to important items which would otherwise keep showing up in new posts.

Re: If you have questions...
 

Most of the chat-room (IRC or CHAT) use tends to be hit-n-run question/answer or using it to talk continually during a blitz game. It can be fun to play a blitz (continual turns all day, usually during the weekend) and tie it in to a chat window or a live-voice network.

Re: If you have questions...
 

Daaamnz, you believe me if I say I didn't even see the "Chat" link?? :D

Re: If you have questions...
 

It used to be hidden in "Quick Links" but I asked to have it pulled out to the main menu.

Re: If you have questions...
 

:bump:

Re: If you have questions...
 

For chat, you should see the IRC sticky at the top of this forum. So far as I know, no-one actually uses the forum chat, but the IRC room tends to have a few people in it. Once you log on, you'll get stuck there for hours! It always happens to me when I'm meant to be working.

Re: If you have questions...
 

Hmmm Ive heard it goes for long times with no conversation and lots of bots. Our chat is getting to the same point I guess.

The IRC room of #dominions on GameSurge.net is good for asking questions of the expert players. Quantum_Mechani, Sombre, lch, and others can often be found there. Possibly quietly botting but you can sometimes awaken them by the mention of their name.

And the IRC does seem to have more blitz games (immeadiate fast-play Dom3 games that are finished on the same day). I would like to see more use of our chat to do that also (you can create a seperate room just for the blitz game people to harrass each other without having to wait for one turn to get a message sent in-game). Our chat of course tends to work better for asking questions about any Shrapnel game, not just Dom3. You can also use it to challenge people to one of the games on the other button on the menu here. The one maked "Arcade".

At the left of this screen in the section for Forum NOtices you might also see that Shrapnel is planning some chats involving Staff or Devs so in order not to miss out on one it might benefit people to find that chat button and test it out. No software needs to be downloaded to use it.

Re: If you have questions...
 

There is only one true bot in the IRC channel, or two if you count ChanServ (which is from the network itself), the others are clients AFAIK. People do tend to idle around IRC channels a lot, though, which isn't uncommon if you're on multiple channels and multiple networks at the same time, for things that interest you, and leave the client running even if they're not in front of the keyboard. That's one thing that I like about the IRC chat, that you can use an external program, which I can access through and minimize into the system tray, instead of a browser tab, which I'll have trouble to find again between my 80-120+ tabs that I usually tend to have open.

If you have questions about the Dom3 game then the IRC channel is very helpful, yes.

Re: If you have questions...
 

Not sure where you heard that, Gandalf. IRC channel is usually pretty lively. I mean, occassionally there are quiet spells but you can say that about any communication medium. As far as I've seen its really rare to see a question go unanswered.

Re: If you have questions...
 

I wasnt downplaying it. :)
The chat here goes thru the same things. Long conversations, then quiet.
When Ive moderated (channels, chats, moos, muds, MMOs, etc) bots had a varied level of definition altho the new pre-packaged bots for IRC does tend to clarify things. In many cases we have considered a bot to be anyone not immeadiately attentive to their screen. Especially if it has automated responses. Heck, in the chat here in the forum Im a bot (usually from around 6am-9pm PDT)

Re: If you have questions...
 

I've been to the IRC channel a few times and it depends on the time of day, sometimes there's nothing and sometimes a lot of stuff to talk about. Haven't been doing that regularly, though.

Re: If you have questions...
 

But there is always people there who can answer questions. You might have to wait abit after asking for them to see it and respond which I guess is alot like the forum. But it is usually easier to get some speculation chatter which can be helpful on hard questions.

Re: If you have questions...
 

A bot is usually perceived to be something which automatically performs actions unmaintained all the time, what you talk about is called a bouncer (or BNC), if it is something that's online all the time and allows the user to log on to it, similar to connection to a network, to gain the control again. That's more like a proxy. If it's an IRC program window, even if it has an away script, it's a client.

Re: If you have questions...
 

Yes now its a BNC from the original bnc program. Actually I mostly know BNCs from their use by script kiddies as part of rootkits to flag pwned systems so they could trade them like collection cards. If the #dominions channel treats BNCs as users then thats good to know. Since GameSurge has its own anonymity signup Im surprised they do. But it can be a handy program so some will probably appreciate the into.
Thanks.

Re: If you have questions...
 

Ah, the infamous botnets. The programs do have a very clearly defined and useful purpose though, these botnets are an unrelated side issue.

I didn't mean to imply anything, just wanted to make sure that we're on equal terms about what "bots" are, which initially looked like it would be everything including away-scripts to you. As I said before, I doubt that there's more than one bouncer in the channel, the others frequently talk or at least quit and reconnect from time to time, so they're all clients. Not that it makes any difference or is of any importance. The IRC channel is for talk, and talking there is. If the announced dev chat would be about Illwinter only, Shrapnel Games should hold it there. :)

Re: If you have questions...
 

It is. With some judgement on how many auto-responses there are.

lol. cute.

Re: If you have questions...
 

I still doubt that this is an accurate definition, but in that case there are no bots at all, because there are no auto-responses in the channel. ;)

Re: If you have questions...
 

Accepted. Altho Im not sure why you would want to make that point. Id rather a channel had some bots than to have have them just be afk logins.