To purchase or not to purchase
 

Hello all,
Perused the forums.

Downloaded the demo.

Tooled around for a little bit.

I'm intrigued by the game, but have two questions. I like complex, stat driven mess (think FootballManager) to rage inducing B.S. (see Dwarf Fortress) and a few things in between (Civ 4 mods, pathalogic, HOMM3, Hearts of Iron).

#1) From the initial play through, dosent seem overly complex. Queue-up armies (apes anyone?), invade territories, watch battles, and some magic. Where does it fall in the involved, complex, thinking arena?

#2) It seems their is an active online community...Is this game a better fit for that and the single player game weak? I have limited time outside of work and simply cant sit for a few hours waiting on people to take 118 turns...

Good Day Friends.

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

Mmm, you'll get biased answers because most of the dome communities are half there to organize MP games, but for me at least a lot of the complexity comes from scripting armies and mages(there are some truly mean tricks you can play), ritual spells, and pitting your mind against another human foe. Once the opponent can also do research the game becomes an incredibly complex game of using limited scouting information to anticipate what your opponent is going to throw at you and trying to figure out counters to it(that they don't anticipate or can't counter, which makes it a lot harder).

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

Multiplayer is normally not played like that. They work on a play-by-mail timescale--24 hours per turn or even longer.

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

Dominions 3 is definitely more of a multiplayer game. While A.I. does manage to come up with some resistance early on, later it will fall behind due to it's lack of understanding in magic and thugs/supercombatants. Still fun though every now and then.

As for time it takes to play games, most games are played via email so you just send your orders around once a day (varies) to the server and when everyone has sent theirs, turn is processed. There's plenty of time to do things at your own pace.

More fast paced Blitzes are played too if that's what you prefer, though they're more along the lines of what you thought it might be.
I haven't participated in these myself though, so not much to say here.

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

Oh I see...PBM. Now that could get interesting.

I'm sure its easy finding games?

This came out in 2006 and I only accidentally stumbled across it a week ago...that is why I ask.

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

It is pretty easy, yes. Just go over to the multiplayer forum on here or here and look for any games that might be starting. If there aren't any looking for players, you can always start your own game and it shouldn't be too hard to fill up. It's pretty easy to start up a game, but if you're not quite sure you're up to it you can usually find someone willing to set games up for you.

As far as complexity goes, the AI really isn't capable of providing that. It pretty much only has one strategy, and what works against it isn't the same as what works against humans. You can still use it as a training tool though to figure out how the game works. There's a huge level of complexity and decision making in this game, starting from your choice of pretender. Your pretender choice can significantly effect how your nation looks later in the game and what it's capable of doing. What magic paths you research at what point in the game also is a pretty big thing, and something you need to think hard about. I think the more you play, the more complex you'll understand the game to be :) Especially in multiplayer where diplomacy becomes a significant matter to consider.

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

Dominions is the game of power. You could do crazy things and all opponents could do crazy things. AI is bad in this so single player isn't that good (testing, some fun yes, challenge - only if you restrict yourself somehow).

There are many source of power in this game - armies, mages, SC and thugs (single units powerful enough to wipe out whole army - you could use in demo Wyrm with dominion scale 10 - this god will take provinces alone), summons and rituals. You will need to understand the game deep if you want to win MP games.

Biggest minuses of dominions - micromanagement (even with mods turn could take 30 minutes or more easily) unpredictability - you could lose a game even if you do all right - but these is always the case for games of 5+ players.

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

If you like complex games, Dominions is the game for you. Tho I wouldn't advise you to purchase for SP only as it doesn't really offer much.

MP is where Dominions really shine, the game itself has endless options and re-playability and a very good modding community which keeps the game alive and constantly refreshed. I think there are as much mod nation as there are vanila for example.

As for the MP itself the time table for games is very flexible as are the players. No matter what kind of oyu game you're looking for, extra fast, extra slow, you're bound to find a game to join.

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

It sounds like Dom3 is right up your alley.

Re: To purchase or not to purchase
 

I only started multiplayer a couple months ago and I'm into my second PBEM game. It was easy enough to get started, I just kept an eye on the forum. There still seems to be a steady stream of noobs and I've not felt too far out of my depth.

I loved dwarf fort and civ4 but single player games always feel tired once they become predictable. Dom3 multiplayer works great with the simultaneous turns and scripted armies. Compared to civ4 the map regions are larger and there are a lot more options to consider in any given turn with all the forging & casting possibilities. Add role playing and diplomacy and a turn a day doesn't seem so slow.