"How it started."

[Zen]

I thought since there seems to be more activity with the lure of Dominions 3 coming out in the foreseeable future and the tidbits that Kristoffer has given out to the changes that I would start this thread.

I was thinking back and wanted to ask other people who are currently playing or at the least are still very much are interested in playing the game Dominions and anticipate it's newest incarnation a question.

Do you remember when you realized that you really enjoyed playing Dominions (1 or 2)? If you do, do you remember how it started and will you relate it?

I myself decided to think back and I wanted to relate to everyone my own, since it would be unfair to ask what I myself wouldn't do.

For me the moment I thought Dom2 was one of the best TBS games I had played in a long, long time was back before the final release of Dom2.

I was still playing the limited demo before the release of Dominions with it's limited selection of Nations and Research. I had a hell of a time figuring out what exactly everything ment. I understood the concepts that were presented to me but I had no real idea how they all worked together to make the game. I had played a few game as different nations, they all sounded interesting and it felt as if each one held it's own mythology that I was creating. I was crushed quickly in those first few games. I had learned over the past few games to keep my Pretender, no matter what he was the hell away from combat. I had finally started looking in depth at the commands on my units as I was playing a game with C'tis. I was sneaking around with my empoisoners and actually killing most of the independants I was dealing with. My Pretender was at the head of the greatest C'tis army I had ever known composed of a few Lizard Kings, a Sauromancer and what I thought was a ton of troops, snakes, undead, poison slingers, animals that no army could destroy.

I was at the hind end of the magic, I had spent most of my money on building up my fortresses and amassing my huge army of destruction. It was on a big map with only 2 other AI, I had learned I was immediately in trouble with more than 4 or 5 opponents, since I didn't know what was going on and got smashed to bits. It was about turn 35 of the Demo so I knew it was soon over.

I wasn't ready when Abysia came in and declared war on me. He attacked with some lame force initially in a corner of my provinces, I drove over my superarmy and was about to smash into this force. I didn't notice that there was a huge block of enemies ready to reinforce because the province lines were hard to read. I sent in my army and it came to meet with a massive Abysian firefest of destruction. The AI had tons of Salamanders, Summer Lions, heavy black infantry with smoke drifting off them and smack in the middle was a red dragon. He had nearly as many troops as I did between all his own, plus he had some Warlocks and heroes.

I watched the battle and I saw my huge masses of troops get decimated by these salamanders. My lizard kings were keeping my troops moving forward and they just got crushed in the middle. When the Salamanders broke my units were fighting Summer Lions they didn't seem to be able to hit. The dragon was buffing and casting spells but the Warlocks, AnaSalamanders, and demon-bred were casting fireballs all over the place, imps coming out of everywhere as blood slaves were sacrificed.

Needless to say my army didn't last long after that point and not many escaped that day due to the Lizard King's insistant Fantatisim. My God had bit the dust too, not looking too damn impressive as he went down. His equipment of trinkets and some heavy armor didn't last long since he was very encumbered and fatigued, though I didn't know that at the time. The stragglers I did have were all over provinces and that enemy block looked huge and my capital wasn't very far away from it. I knew I had just been schooled I was pretty stunned. In a fog I clicked on my Lizard King , who had the sense to flee at the end, to see what I had left and my eye caught the command "Call God". I suddenly knew I had to be able to play this game more than 40 turns.
That is also when I knew that this game was awesome.

Any takers?

[OG_Gleep]

I remember how I heard about Dom2. I was actually really pissed. I read the last article in CGW, the one where they go head to head. That month, think it was last October, they played Dom2. It souned so cool, I went straight to EBGames.com and looked it up. Nada. Finally found the homepage and ordered it. I found out it had been out for months when I hit the forums. I had been fed up about the computer magazines for a while (I subscribe to 3), and their lack of proper coverage. Its often months before you see a review, even on big name releases.

At first I was lost, only after a settling on Ulm did I begin to make sense of the game. Half of the fun for me is smithing items and decking out commanders. The fact that Ulm has solid core troops helps out a lot also.

[ceremony]

OG_Gleep said:
I remember how I heard about Dom2. I was actually really pissed. I read the last article in CGW, the one where they go head to head. That month, think it was last October, they played Dom2. It souned so cool, I went straight to EBGames.com and looked it up. Nada. Finally found the homepage and ordered it. I found out it had been out for months when I hit the forums. I had been fed up about the computer magazines for a while (I subscribe to 3), and their lack of proper coverage. Its often months before you see a review, even on big name releases.

Dom2 was released in the middle of November 2003. The review of Dom2 in CGW and the head-to-head article were both in the issue that shipped to subscribers in December. That's very fast coverage, especially for a small game from an independent publisher, and considering that the magazine has to be put together a month before readers can even see it.

[OG_Gleep]

Thats right I got my months wrong. When I came to the boards, I asked someone when it was released when I first came to the forum. I am pretty sure I was told October, though I can't be sure.

Although I can't check, my wife made me throw out every magazine older than 1 year, I did a search cuz I remember participating in one of the magazine threads.

Heres a quote from it:

Yes, Computer Games (aka CG), and Computer Gaming World (aka CGW) are similar magazines, both excellent, and often confused for each other. The CGW review (4.5 stars, by Bruce Geryk) is on page 67 of their Feb 04 issue (and a game between Bruce and Tom Chick is on pages 120-122 of the same issue), the CG review (4.5 stars, by Tom Chick) is on pages 82-83 of their Feb 04 issue. The CGW articles are what prompted me to download the demo, fall in love with the game almost instantly, order it a week ago, receive it 3 days ago and lose much sleep ever since.

It doesn't help confusion-avoidance that Tom Chick, who's reviews I think are great, writes for both. He also lurks in these forums.


Cheers!

I am one of those types of guys that likes to get things on the day its released. Very seldom will you see a computer game reviewed prior to release, while for Console games, they are reviewed often weeks before release. Honestly the only reason I subscribe to computer magazines is for the previews. If that quote is right, which I assume it is because I came to the forums right after I read the article, Nov 03 - Feb 04 is a long time to wait to see if a game is worth buying or not. At the time I wasn't subscribing to magazines, but even so, its not uncommon to see a 5 month old game reviewed, and even some big releases can be 2-3 months in the wind.

Edit: One interesting note...I just got my Xbox 360 tonight...and after the intial buzz wore off, I found myself back at my computer playing just one more turn.

[Fate]

I am still playing the demo, can I qualify?

I know how I first saw this game. I am what you could call a game junkie. I love to look at them all, computer games, board games, word games, socking your friend, whatever (what can I say, I'm 15). Anyway, I know what I like in game (sort of). The thing that always tickles me pink is listening to people talk about strategies and interesting facts, like in history books. But they are always long and, of course, they don't really involve you (it has already happened).

So I find games provide the same story telling plus interaction, so you can find out if a different set-up would really make a difference. Board games are one thing I have looked into, but it has nothing to do with Dominions, I will leave that aside.

I have learned the hard way what kind of game I like. I have many different kinds (mostly strategies, though. I knew that from the start). I have a lot of big-shot games, too. And I have played them a good deal, for a while. But there a couple small name games that just bring me back everytime. One is nemesis of the roman empire, great game, rts, look it up. The other wasn't really Dominions until recently.

I have a hobby that I like to do if I got bored, and that is to drift around downloading demos for any game I can find (it doesn't really work anymore, as I have played all the demos I can find that look even remotely interesting). One day I downloaded the Dominions II demo (note: this is how I have gotten every one of my favorite games. All the worst ones were bought before playing the demo.)

So I looked at the interface. I pride myself in how many games I have played and how quickly I can pick up on the controls to a game, so it only took me one or two play-throughs to understand most of what the buttons did (though I had to read the guide to understand the background equations and why everything mattered). I looked at it and I knew it was a good game. I never really lost, as I played easy AIs. I also did not play it night and day. It just ins't my style, I guess. But it was there, in my mind, for a month or so.

Then I went to a friend's house. We didn't know what to do, so I suggested we play Dominions II demo hotseat. We loved it, fell head over heels for it. By the turn limit, we had just been about to fight our first battles (on the second, wrap around map in the demo, rather big for 2 people). He had an incredibly large battle and I had just resummoned my god (who had died to indys around turn 10-15). But we did hit the limit. Neither of us had money, so that was it, game over.

But I can't forget perfection like that, so I found this forum. I saw the N6's and BN's (I am making the shortenings up) and I knew I had to know what you guys were talking about. Had spent ages reading this, and have finally begun to understand some of it. But I knew there had to be another way.

I found the Dominions 1 demo, no turn limit! I sent my friend an email, and we were lost to it again. Again, we don't play it day and night. We are not organized or whatever else you call it to do that. But we agree that it is one of the best games either of us has ever played, and we plan to get Dominions II asap (we considered delaying for Dom III, but who has that much patience?).

I liked reading your stories, btw.

[ceremony]

OG_Gleep said:If that quote is right, which I assume it is because I came to the forums right after I read the article, Nov 03 - Feb 04 is a long time to wait to see if a game is worth buying or not.

The Feb 04 issue did not come out in February 2004 - it came out in December 2003. The date on a magazine is generally the date the newsstand is supposed to take it off the shelf. Nov to Dec 2003 is a little over one month.

The review was in that particular issue because the magazine waits until they can play the game in its final form. If you would like reviews of unfinished games (betas) so that you can see the review the day the game hits store shelves, that's a preference that has been debated endlessly.

[djo]

It's a lot simpler for me. There aren't many turn-based strategy games one can play on OS X on a 5-yr old iMac (400Mhz G3).

I downloaded the demo and had great fun as Machaka, marching my spider armies up the "Iberian" peninsula on the Aran map. I had no idea what I was doing, and I remember being surprised and delighted every time my mages starting casting a new evocation spell on the battlefield.

On turn 39 (last demo turn), I figured I would see what a god could do in combat. So I sent my Ghost King against a big enemy army only to find...he sneaked!

Of course, by then the check was already in the mail for the full game.

[Gandalf Parker]

Started with "Conquest of Elysium"
Grabbed Dominions (one) early on and became a fanatical "fanboi" in the usenet newsgroups about it. Kindof strange actually since its not really "my kind of game". But that meant I explored facets of it that the main gaming group didnt.

Fought the changes in Dominions 2 for a long time. But finally developed a trust of the programmers even though I still wish some of the original features had been kept and builtup more rather than removed. Became just as fanatical about Dom2. Especially scripting random maps.

I will probably fight the changes in Dom3 but it will most likely be a shorter "battle" this time.

Gandalf Parker

[Truper]

I knew Dominions was cool before I played it. Really. I used to read the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic newsgroup a lot, back before it became mostly porn spam. Dominions generated the most interesting discussion I'd ever read. People debated which troops had an edge against which others, which Pretenders made sense for a particular strategy, discussed the merits of the various nations (which there seemed to be an amazing number of), chortled with joy over a particular spell combo they'd discovered - and I was hooked. It was apparent that the game had a lot of detail, and what's more, a lot of depth. Some games have a lot of complexity that doesn't add to variety, but not this game. I've been playing it for years, and it still surprises me. Then there's the premise - design a pretender god and battle it out, physically, magically, and dominionally (see! we even need new words to talk about it!).

[Nerfix]

I remember that I read a short strategy guide to Dom I in the local gaming mag.

I downloaded the demo, started a game as C'tis on the Old World map and I was sold.

I was pretty confused at start of course but I had an expectionally low age for a Dominions player anyway.