SA is a mostly different group from these boards. They tend to play more fastpaced games without CBM, with mods that just add more stuff. (Some would say unbalanced). Going AI is allowed there.
This board and the invisionfree one (The latter contains all the guys banned from the main shrapnel forum, for various reasons, mostly disrupting and disagreeing with shrapnel. Not the dom community per se), contain mostly the same people. Who tend to be a bit more serious about playing MP games. (Some would say, A LOT more serious, Almost anal even). Going AI without proper discussion first is not liked, and might even get you banned from games. Almost all games play with CBM here. Which is a more balanced mod, and it gives most nations a fighting chance, and it removes certain tactics that are totally overpowered.
There is a lot more drama here than in the SA forums. (Apart from general SA drama, which just costs money).
So there are two different styles. And the invision forum cannot be merged back into this one as the people that are currently banned do not want to be back as long as this forum stays under its current management. (The same **** would just happen again, and they would get banned again etc).
So sadly, you will have to do with two forums at the same time. (Or one if you decide to go for SA).
To make things even more complicated, there are also 2 game servers. And one functional wiki (
http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Main_Page), and one retarded one.