The ages of Dominion.
 

I've been playing this a fair amount lately, and I've found that there are distinct ages in it.

The first age is the age of the army.

The second is the age of evocation.

The third is the battlefield enchantment.

The fourth is the age of the super-combatant.

The fifth is the age of summoning province attacking spells.

Any comments on this?

I'm not quite certain on the order of this, but I'm playing against some of the most fearsome players that have played the game, and they are schooling me... ;)

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

Micah is playing again?

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

No, not that I'm aware of... Some locals...

I'll see if there's interest in a pbm challenge...

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

So either there is a small hidden society of Dominion 3 experts lurking somewhere completely off-interweb, and who have somehow never posted or played in any games on any forums ever (else they'd be known and could be named), yet also somehow know of each others existence to the extent that they have managed to arrange to play a MP game together. (maybe they send a USB stick by snail mail?), or.....

.....it's a bunch of semi-newbs, a few of who think they know everything about the game because they are able to regularly win games in a small community of crap players, and so think they are 'IT' as a result.

For some reason the phrase big fishes and small (micro) ponds comes to mind. (and why do my instincts lead me to think that someone along the likes of ChrisP, K, etc. would be instantly drawn towards such a community and the 'hero worship' playing environment it would offer)


Edit:
Ah, so it's a local village community of Dom 3 experts is it. My humble apologies for the above then. As several Dom 3 experts living in a small enough area for it to be called 'local' seems not only very probable, but also likely to be a statisical certainty. (indeed in real life Micah is my neighbour, Calmon is living opposite, and Kissblade is just down the road from me. In fact now that I think about it more, it really is a small isn't it :re:)

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

Five ages? Have I lost it or have you?

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

He is not talking about EA, MA and LA. He is talking about the inevitable phases of multiplayer. Armies rule from the get go, then research takes you through various other phases where armies become less important and different kinds of spells dictate the course of the game.

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

When the manual talks about EA being "stronger" on magic through to LA being "stronger" on armies, is it just that LA armies are stronger/cheaper, little difference on magic but just being relatively less important? Or are the LA mages actually weaker/less interesting. I haven't ever played a LA game as a consequence, since the idea of magic seems more fun.

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

While there are some trends - armies are less useful in the end game, mages becomes better with time and so on. There are no such things as "ages" of the game - SC gods are powerful since turn 1, Magic could be game changing at turn 5 and armies could be good at the end game.

The best strategy depends on so many things that there is no silver bullet.

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

But I'm asking about the difference from EA to LA?

Re: The ages of Dominion.
 

The differences between EA, MA and LA is one of theme more than of magic.

EA is the Age of Legends, were you seemingly can find a gnome under every rock and giants on every hill. No one is very organized and most people rely on natural ability rather than scholastic ability. Most nations are also very capitol-centric.

MA is the Age of Empires. Magic has been fading a bit but no one is noticing because people are much better organized and can benefit from each others knowledge to a greater extent. Humans replace mythical creatures and nations thus become less about recruitable SC and more about mages and communions.

LA is the Age of the End times. Magic is definitively disappearing and the big empires are all crumbling. And what is worse is that Cthulhu is awakening, Zombie Jesus is returning, the hells are preparing to invade unless sated with blood and many other lesser apocalypses are just around the corner. People turn to death and blood to make up for the lack of other magic. Nations are very decentralized and have few cap only units. Magic potency is decreasing but most nations make up for this by having better diversity.