[Cainehill]

Boron said:
have you ever played age of wonders 2 shadow magic cainehill ?

Trust me, I've played more computer games than you can imagine under heaven and hell. Yes, I've played AoW, AoW2, AoW2SM. The first one was the best, SM was seriously flawed right down to the campaign system. Worst of all, like the Disciples series of games, units had to _kill_ an opponent to really gain experience, making you play stupid arse games (in the game) to get the good units / heroes to get the kills. In this, it was rather like several of the Final Fantasy video games, where even if you could kill a group of enemies right away, you had to dick around and swap in each character if you wanted them to advance / get experience.

i played it seriously for about 1/2 year and enjoyed it .
the only problem is that you have only about 200 units and 200 spells and know all too quick .
but it was really well balanced .

No it wasn't. Certain races and heroes were definately better than the others. The campaign mode helped to disguise this by _forcing_ you to use certain races.

You point out that you only played it for 1/2 a year, because you know it all too quick.

So - why do you want to dumb down Dominions2? Yes, it gets frustrating seeing your carefully crafted army get toasted by an SC or a couple of mages. So _LEARN_ from it. I'd like to think that at this point I'm a solid intermediate Dom2 player; there's still a lot of things I _know_ I don't do well enough, and personally, I like that.

My SCs don't match up well against the really good players yet - I don't forge enough items. Oh well - solution, forge more. I didn't scout enough - solution, build more scouts. I didn't use summoned troops well enough - solved.

Proper use of summoned troops, of SCs, of powerful spells (not counting Wish (half-joke) , is a huge part of being a good Dominions2 player. I've been playing _very_ steadily for over half a year, and there's still a lot to learn and improve on.

So, again - why do you want to cripple the parts of the game that give it such a long lifespan?

i just wonder why you are so reluctant against small changes cainehill where the majority agrees that they would strengthen the dominion experience even more .
esben agreed to me , panther agreed , cohen will agree .

Okay. Now I'm going to give voice to my inner feelings based on this. Is your nickname "Boron the Moron" by any chance?

My reason for this is: "The majority agrees"???? You gave three names - Tauren is certainly a 4th. This is a bleeding majority?

Second - you're an idiot if you think that what you, Tauren, and even Panther (no moron there) propose are "small changes". You obviously aren't a programmer, aren't a grognard, aren't an analyst or anything close. "Small" changes have big ripples, especially in a game with such widely varying factions as Dom2 has. And what y'all propose aren't small changes.

You propose having reduced upkeep for national troops. Why? I've served in my nations military. They don't get paid any _less_ as the years go on. Why do you think knights would take 1/4 salary as they got better at their trade?

And you want _upkeep_ for all summoned troops? Where in Dog's name is this justified? If I summon ... undead, I slit a throat, and I have zombies. Why would they cost upkeep? If I conjure sea monkeys, I enticed them with the gems I offered in the casting. Demons, I offer some souls up front - I don't offer them "20 souls, plus 5 souls a month amortized and averaged over the per diem cost per soul in Ulm."

the aow / MoM approach here is just more righteous .

And you're on bad drugs. MoM's approach was totally different, as was AoW's. They have different game systems, different mechanics. If you want a MoM style game that's better - write it. Two amateurs (programming wise) did a damn fine job with Dominions and Dominions 2. Why can't you do the same? Especially since "the majority" agrees with you.

( Note : I just spent 3 hours on the phone before I completed this message, so it might not have the overall coherency I usually prefer. Then again, I'm not debating coherent people. )