[Nick_K]

Dominions is a massively complex game and it would therefore be very difficult indeed to write an AI that can take all the possible tactics into account.

Because of this an experienced player can easily beat the AI using tactics that it is unable to deal with. Sometimes this is very obvious and hinders gameplay (e.g. LE ermor) and sometimes it is very much the player's choice whether to use exploits (e.g. supercombatants).

The AI has strategic weaknesses and is generally not a match for a player 1-on-1. It also tends to have poor pretender design. Its use of magic was very poor in Doms2 but this seems to have improved a bit, although obviously not to the level of a human.

That said, it is easy to criticise the AI. If you visit boards for almost any strategy game you'll find such criticism. This is generally misplaced, a product of naive expectations that want a human-level challenge. After all, it is not realistic to code an AI that will equal an experienced, intelligent player.

For a new player the dominions AI can be very challenging. It has a simple aggressive attitude and it is easy for players to get crushed by multiple AIs early on. The AI does not target human players as such, but most new players need time to learn how to discourage attacks. On higher difficulty levels the AI has more gold and thus larger armies. This gives it an edge, but is unlikely to give it victory against an experienced player after the early game.


If you feel that you want an AI that will seriously challenge you at first then dominions is fine. If you want one that will challenge you after you have become skilled at the game then it is not; but I have trouble thinking of a strategy game to recommend in this case.

I play single-player exclusively and I enjoy dominions. I generally expect to win, but I do occasionally have difficulty, generally when playing a nation that does not match my play-style. The Ai is not a strong point of the game, but I don't find it distressingly weak. When you start playing you can expect to have difficulty even if you are used to playing strategy games.


As for dominions in general... The graphics are, of course, poor, but no doubt you have already seen screenshots. The key selling point is the massive variety of spells, units and items. This gives it a huge amount of replay value - it will take many games before you've tried most of the spells, nations and so on.
I find the gmae very fun, although I don't consider challenge as the key element in my enjoyment of a game. For me immersion is most important.
The user-interface and level of micromanagement is much improved over the previous game, but there is still improvement to be made IMO. The demo is fine for seeing what you think about the interface.


I recommend that you try the demo and see if you find the interface ok, and whether you find the game world interesting. If you find yourself eager to try advanced magics and so on then I think the game is well worth buying. It is immersive, fun, and has significant replay value. The AI is not a match for a human, but I can't think of a highly challenging strategy game AI for a complex game so I don't consider this to be a huge problem for Dominions.