Sell me without saying "more"

[jaif]

Hey all, I've been reading a bit about Dominions III and comparing to Dominions II, and I am on the fence.

Can someone give me a reason to buy this game without using "more"? What I mean by that is that things like "more spells, more units, more nations" is not a big selling point to me. Has the game been tweaked in other ways?

One bonus question - does either dominions or dominions 2 come with a "no underwater" option? I know I can choose not to include underwater races, but I want to turn off all underwater activities. Is this possible?

-Jeff

[Sandman]

Unfortunately no. I too would be interested in a 'dead oceans' version of the game.

[Gandalf Parker]

Actually you can by using the "hosting switches". You can create an icon on your desk that creates a game of whatever parameters you want so that you arent putting the same ones in over and over. You can also get a really simple mod that would take the water nations out of the game. Or it can be part of the map commands for a certain map. Or you can generate playing maps that have no water (I think, I havent actually tried that). Maybe later I will post something specific on one of those if someone else doesnt do it first.

[Gandalf Parker]

As to the original question:
If you are looking for a very DIFFERENT game than Dom2 but just called Dominions then Dom3 isnt going to do it for you.

But it does have a much improved interface which has saved many of the complaints we had from Dom2.

Also a fantastic manual (almost 300 pages) which took care of many of the other complaints.

The AI was extensively rewritten which provides an opponent far later into the game. This was very needed since the many added nations means that the initial learning time is much longer before you choose the nation you feel is your best bet for multiplayer play.

The built-in random map generator is a big addition. It makes very playable maps of up to huge sizes.

The game now allows you to have multiple created gods for each nation. Also a major complaint in Dom2.

The hosting options have pretty much filled our needs for enough servers I think.

[jaif]

Gandalf,

Thanks much for your response. A random map generator and an improved interface would make me very, very happy. I think I may look into this.

Note that with the bonus question, I don't want to simply leave underwater races out. I want to remove everything to do with water breathing, water npcs, and so on. The water should be dead, as the other poster said. I want sailing ships to be the height of water usage.

-Jeff

[Gandalf Parker]

Well I think that generating a map with no water would be the best bet.
Anything else would be "impossible". *see sig

Gandalf Parker
--
The word "impossible" is a technical term which means
"it can be done but its probably more time and effort than its worth".

[Saxon]

Dom III is deeper than Dom II. You have to think things through to a greater degree than before. I also held off buying for some time, but eventually did and have been very pleased.

The random map generators are very nice and you have new options regarding the setting of victory conditions. This allows you to customize how your game runs.

The pretender design function is also really, really nice. You can set up a pretender for a nation, then save it. This allows you to experiment and fiddle with your pretenders in a way you could not before.

The game has been finished to a higher polish than Dom II, the little touches are evident.

Finally, I will use the dreaded “more” word, as there is one area which you should consider. The three ages system and the large number of nations really does qualitatively change the way the game is experienced over time. It is not like some games where “more” means the same unit with a different graphic or “more” similar missions that have different names. These additional nations play differently and require you to truly adjust your mindset and approach.

[tibbs]

Stealth commanders are now represented with a triangle icon at the province they are at.

[Sombre]

tibbs said:
Stealth commanders are now represented with a triangle icon at the province they are at.

I've never noticed that.

[B0rsuk]

Nations are now quite a bit more diverse. For example instead of Sorcery/Elemental/Everything randoms you now have arbitrary random magic. In addition, all independent mages got nerfed, so your initial choice of nation matters much more.
Many nations now have nation-specific spells. Pythium and Marignon can summon angels, Mictlan got variety of crazy demon summons.

No nation/variant is now required to have specific scales. You don't have to take Turmoil as Spring&Autumn.

Random map generator creates very enjoyable maps, and they even look decent.

About 2x more gold and reasources = much bigger conventional armies. Magic research 2x harder.

AI now builds castles.