Most commonly used game settings

[Jiggymike]

Just finished my first game of Dominions 3 in about two years (I've started others but can't remember if I actually finished them. Put the game down and forgot to pick it back up but really loved it when I did). So far, I've only played against the computer with the default game settings. With all the changes that have been made to the game, can anyone tell me if there are some 'standard' setting that are now used by most players, either in games vs the CPU or PvP games? Also if these involve mods, please let me know as I don't have any of those either but plan on investigating them. Thanks!

[Jiggymike]

In particular, the victory conditions (total dominion) seemed to be a problem, as victory was a foregone conclusion long before I actually had dominion in every territory. I know there are others but I'm not sure which are considered the 'best.'

[rdonj]

Gandalf is going to tell you that there is no such thing, and that players play on a vast number of settings and they might change depend on map size, and there's pros and cons to each system.

Someone else is going to come in here and tell you that cbm is the most commonly used mod on these forums and that playing against the AI there is no real common setting other than gold/resources and maybe max supply, because only a few people here play against the AI and most regard it only as useful for testing openings for MP. And if you do play against the AI the settings probably don't matter.

I don't really think that there's any particularly great victory conditions you can use against the AI, because it's not really capable of playing against any but the standard. You could try VPs but the AI would be hopeless there. Your best bet imo is either to just play on small maps or quit when you feel like you've won already. I generally stick to mostly normal settings with the increased supply so that the AI can field armies without starving itself quite as badly, play on maps no larger than 80 provinces, and still usually quit before I've completely killed the AI because there really does tend to be a point where you've already won. Maybe going even smaller, like less than 30 provinces would make a more intense game, or you could go the opposite route and play a really huge map that's so big you feel like you can never, ever win it

[Gandalf Parker]

Yeah what he said

[ghoul31]

In multiplayer games, everyone uses the combined balance mod. The latest one is cbm 1.84

[Foodstamp]

Cbm is the most commonly used mod on these forums and playing against the AI there is no real common setting other than gold/resources and maybe max supply, because only a few people here play against the AI and most regard it only as useful for testing openings for MP. And if you do play against the AI the settings probably don't matter.

[rdonj]

Originally Posted by Foodstamp

Cbm is the most commonly used mod on these forums and playing against the AI there is no real common setting other than gold/resources and maybe max supply, because only a few people here play against the AI and most regard it only as useful for testing openings for MP. And if you do play against the AI the settings probably don't matter.

Deathblob - There aren't many prolific posters who openly talk about actually playing SP. Off the top of my head, there's probably no more than 5. And the usual MP player response to that question is "no one plays SP". It's not that I know how many play against the AI, it's that I know how many don't!

The majority of people are probably going to play with the most recent version of CBM, whatever it is at the time. However there are a certain number of people who strongly dislike some of the decisions CBM has made. 1.6 is an important version because after that dwarven hammers became unique. Later versions of CBM also were the beginning of additional new content to the mod, instead of just making changes to the original game, so 1.6 is the best compromise between "enhanced vanilla" and adding new content.

[Deathblob]

Which CBM? I know 1.84 is the latest, but for some reason there's a bunch of new games started with 1.6.

Also, how do you know how many people play against the AI? Was there a poll or something?

[Makinus]

I only play SP (only played a couple of MP games since dominions 2) and i notice that, against the AI i tend to play games with +- 200 provinces, all AIs of a era, CBM latest version, and AIs all on Difficult setting...

I like to use VPs even against the AI and abundant supplies help the AI maintain huge armies better... Independents at 9 also negates a lot of early rush tactics that i can be tempted to use...

If i really want a challenge against the AI i set my dominion with Drain 3, as with this setting it almost catch up to my research curve...

[Gandalf Parker]

The problems with a poll is that Solo players dont tend to create a login, and rarely stop by unless they are looking for something. But creating a login and visiting regularly is almost a requirement for MultiPlay. So asking in this forum tends to skew the numbers. Dom3 has sold many many more copies than the number of players here yet many of those are just as continual in their playing.

The active Solo players here tend to be the people involved in creating some of the most popular addons. Maps, mods, 3rd party programs, informational databases and spreadsheets. Those people create accounts here to make their works available and track threads discussing those works.

My website caters to everyone, and one of the few that carries items for solo play. I see quite abit of soloer traffic there. www.Dom3Minions.com

My site also caters to many different Dom3 groups from many different forums. I agree that CBM is quite popular here (about 50%) but not so much on other forums. And as you said ver 1.6 is quite popular with some groups more than 1.8