[RedRover]

Dom3 Manual Wishlist

Sidebar with System Requirements/Installation:
It would be nice to have the system requirements and installation notes summarized directly in the manual.

Sidebar with CD Key Location: Just a little boxed note early on that reveals the location of the CD Key number (believe it or not, when I had occasion to look for this in Dominions 2, it took me a considerable amount of time to find it).

Nations/Themes
Please organize the Themes as sub-cases of their Nations. It seems to me that more people start with the question “What nation do I want to play?” and only later ask “What theme do I want to play.” So subordinating the theme to the nation will cut the page-turning time and organize the manual more efficiently.

Spell/Magic Item Sections

Descriptions: Please organize the descriptions in these sections alphabetically. Most of the time I need a reference, it's because I have the name of the spell or item, but don't know what it does. Paging through lists by school or item power is a big timewaster in this case. As the spell list grows, the inefficiency of organization by path grows as well.

Lists: Short lists by path and level for spells, and by power for items, would preserve this aspect of the current manual but, again, please make the actual description sections alphabetical.

I’d also like to see the manual include (in the description sections) the magic path/level requirements for casting/ forging.

Consider an electronic (searchable) manual.

FAQ Appendix
Some issues might be best handled by this format. For example:

1. Pretender Afflictions. Just a list of the game workarounds would be sufficient, IMO—the Gift of Health spell, the Chalice artifact, the Arcoscephale priestess, the queen of the Faerie Court spell.

2. Starting Capital and Scales: note these may not match.

3. Blood Economies: Getting started.

4. Plus a lot of the non-walkthrough elements of the on-line FAQ. The walk-thru elements should get their own section in the manual (or not) rather than appearing in the FAQ.

Unit Mod Appendix
Short intro to the idea of modding units and note where to find the current modding manual (assuming it’s not built into the manual).

Map Mod Appendix
Short intro to idea of map modding and note where to find current map editor manual. (assuming it’s not built into the manual.)

Scenario Building Appendix
Short intro to scenario building and how to coordinate it with mapping mods. IMO this material should be treated as a separate topic from map making. You can get into this easily with just text commands. It's also a difference in focus--scenarios are designed game set-ups with many fixed elements.

IMO a manual needs to be "playtested" the same way a game or scenario does.