Cooperative Play
 

Could any one point me to guidelines for cooperative play? I've tried to search but not found anything. I'm just looking for advice and suggestions as to how to enjoy multiplayer when you aren't against one another. We tried it yesterday and it felt like it was single player without the satisfaction of finishing ai off yourself.

Thanks
turnpike

Re: Cooperative Play
 

Its hard to find the mods, maps, guides, etc for things like solo play, AI improvements, team play, servers supporting those, etc. It gives the opinion that no such things exist. A sticky for such things in the Dominions 3 forum, not the MP forum, would by nice (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION before the sparks fly)

But back to your question:
Some things that come to mind are..

Some of the "weak" nations are particularly good for ally play. Ones that are often tossed out of consideration for head-to-head play. Certain magical paths, god builds, built-in abilities such as seduction and stealth and flight, can be very helpful to an ally who can provide defense for the group.

Some tricks have been laid out in some threads that are specific to ally play. What strategies for dominions scales, and global enchantments, can aid allies or should strongly be avoided because they damage allies. How to give specialists such as mages or fortune tellers or healers to your allies. How to setup a province with a castle to be a "turnstyle" province to allow your allies army to move through your territory without leaving it totally undefended.

Also online "whiteboards" can be fun. Where you can upload the map image then all of you can draw on it to lay out strategies and plans like the big planning boards in war rooms in the movies. :)

Re: Cooperative Play
 

1) Try a map with pre-set starts that cause you to start next to each other, so you have the ability to protect one another.
2) Use map commands to make all the AIs consider each other as allies, so it's your group vs the AI.
3) Try to choose nations and pretenders that can cover each other's weaknesses. You can trade gems, money, and items back and forth as needed, which can make you much more powerful than you would normally be.
4) If this makes it too easy for you, try giving the AI boosts to make it more powerful.

Re: Cooperative Play
 

Stealth troops work particularly good in cooperative play (need to be a bit careful about patrolling though), allowing you to move through friendly territory and so forth. I agree with the above poster regarding paucity of information and help on cooperative play. Communication outside of the game via PM's, e-mail, forums, whiteboards, and so forth really goes along way in giving you that team feeling so that you don't feel like your alone. The in-game messaging and trading system facilitates team play somewhat as well.

Re: Cooperative Play
 

If you're looking for ways to communicate better and faster, the IRC channel is excellent if you and your partners are relatively close time zones.

Re: Cooperative Play
 

True. There is also a CHAT here (part of this forum you can use thru your browser). Both will allow creating private rooms for games.

Re: Cooperative Play
 

Also true. I don't know that I've ever seen more than 2 people maybe in the shrapnel chat, so you'll probably have privacy too. If you're looking for advice there are a bunch of people on IRC that can help you.

Re: Cooperative Play
 

Well there are good reasons for that.
But as I said, both actually do allow creating private rooms so it wouldnt matter which to use for that. IRC is better for help, or the chat here probably easier since you can just use your browser.

Re: Cooperative Play
 

de gustibus non est disputandum

Re: Cooperative Play
 

lupus in fabula