What do you like most about Dominions (top 5 list)

[MythicalMino]

Here is my "Top 5" list of what I do like about Dominions II. I haven't really played enough to really know what I dislike about it yet....but I do know some things I DO like....

1. Shrapnel published it...hey, I really like how these guys do busines...thanks Annette for the help with upgrading my delivery option!!

2. An EPIC turn-based FANTASY strategy game....not a "party adventure" strat game....this game is epic in feeling...

3. The complexity, yet simplicity of the design....this game just "fits" together. The whole design does actually...from the spells, to the religion, to the fantasy themed nations....Illwinter I think did an outstanding job...and, oh....how I hate spiders...

4. The maps...I do think the maps are beautiful...really, I do...They really have that "fantasy" feeling to them...

5. The "2 M's"....The "2 M's" you ask? The Music and the Manual :-) I really love the music...superb (I know, we heard it in the demo...). Also, the manual is something I think is worth noting. The manual is also great...a VERY good reference book for spells, items, and just tables and charts for stuff...kudos to the person(s) who put the manual together. If only other companies would follow this example and put out manuals like this....you know what we need now, Shrapel? We need an "Dominions II Official Strategy Guide"....go one, I would buy it....

There are plenty more that I like about this game....I read that some spells are unbalanced...possibly they are...but I haven't noticed so far....The AI is weak? Again, I really haven't seen the AI's armies really being weak....Man by turn 12 in a game earlier had 50+ Longbowmen/Heavy Infantry in just one province. Manchaka had several Spider Knights and a couple Hunter Spiders, mixed with other troops in that same game...and all this by turn 15....all I know is, I do like the game....even if it does have faults....

So, go on...don't be shy...talk about the things you do like!!

[Particle]

I like the complexity of it. I also love the lot of spells and units.

[tka]

The most important thing IMHO is difference between nations.

[georgevtucker]

All the items. All the spells. All the units. It's as if half a dozen average strategy games as been crammed into one package. How can you not love it?

[licker]

Its hard to say what I like most about Dom2, it comes quite close to being my 'holy grail' for a TBS. Rather than singleing out what it does that I like I feel I'm better off leaving it all as a package, as the elements come together so well, I'm not sure how well they'd do seperately.

However, ...

I do not like the manual (blasphemy! )

Oh yes, its fine as manuals go, and its packed with information, but I find the information to be poorly organized and that there is not enough redundancy on the pages (am I looking at Evocation 3 or 4?) Also some information that I'd like to see is missing, like gem costs for items...

There is also not alot of game mechanic information which while not strictly necessary, is nice.

Its merely 'ok' in my book, certainly not 'great'.

[LordArioch]

I don't have the manual myself, so I can't say. It still sounds nice to have even if it isn't setting any standards in manual writing.
But gem costs for items directly follow from required skill level
lvl 1 5 gems
lvl 2 10 gems
lvl 3 20 gems
and so on, IIRC

[Taqwus]

Forge costs, if memory serves, are based entirely on the path/level requirements.
Level 1 = 5 gems, each level thereafter doubles (thus an item which requires level 5 in some path needs 80 units of that magical resource. A level 3/3 two-path item would require 20 units of each of the two corresponding resources, etc.)
Certain units (Master Smiths, and the new Ulm Iron Faith priest/mages) get innate forge bonuses (25% generally), certain items give forge bonuses (25% for dwarven hammer, 50% ea. for Hammer of the Forge Lord, Hammer of the Cyclops IIRC), spells might as well (never tried Forge of the Ancients, but description suggests it would help.).

[Saber Cherry]

My favorite part is, as mentioned by Jasper Phillips on the IBM strategic games forum, the adult treatment of mythology. The spell descriptions are wonderful, the battle wounds are annoying, nasty, and realistic, items have amazingly cool effects and imaginative descriptions - no Swords of +3 here!

Things have drawbacks - spells cause fatigue, armor adds encumbrance an lowers evasion, long weapons are unwieldy. Crossbows pierce armor, but destroy your own valuable heavy troops. Single, vast armies starve and get hammered by spells, small armies get defeated en detail, and blood hunting destroys your tax base.

Well, those are all nice. But what I really like is the epic, realistic feel, where a lone soldier is just a lone soldier, and all units risk death... not cute death by falling of the screen or being cartoon-flattened like mushrooms in Super Mario Brothers, but horrible, bloody death, the kind you read about in non-childrenized mythology, and non-super-happy fantasy or SF books.

There're no good guys or bad guys - religiously zealous Marginon can pillage as effectively as Ash Ermor or Pangea, and paladins can rack up as many human kills as undead unkills.

I think that as a mythology simulation, Dominions is ideal. If some improvements could be made to the strategic/tactical and economic components to make them deeper (without adding MM), and of course AI, I think it could be much better... to be specific, I think it is already the best strategy game ever, but it has the potential to become the perfect fantasy strategy game, rendering all others obsolete.

-Cherry

[ November 17, 2003, 20:50: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]

[RadiantFleet]

Choices, choices

1. Depth of customization between nations. I love how their are literally features available to each nation that no other nation has. No cheesy little stat rotation (though a little cheese on top is nice!), but honestly unique abilities and attributes.

2. Depth of economics. Blood, gold, magic, dominion, summoning, and more. Each impacts the other but is not wholy dependent on another economy.

3. A real strategic feel to combat. You can specify strategy and tactics but not actual choices on the battlefield. This is great! Almost no other game gives you a true feel of being the general for a military. You are not constrained to use whatever bargain basement salad shooter got through procurement as a standard weapon, you can choose to search out find the military mix that _you_ want for your armies. In fact, you may decide that salad shooters are good weapons, especially against vine men and treelords

4. The gee wiz/that's cool factor you get from the random independents and special sites. I love finding some really cool site and changing my grand strategy because of some plum/lemon that just dropped into my lap (Hmmm, mount chaining, maybe I _will_ persue summoned troops this game).

5. The exciting pace of the game. I get the fun of building up an uber empire, but I get to have fun along the way. One of the problems I have with games like Civ III is the tendancy to make it so you have to churn out the bare minimum of improvements while trying to maximize military and scientific production. In Dom you can ignore spell research if you want to, you can minimize military production (but don't do it too much, or you'll be singing someone else's hymns soon enough), you can build a really cool empire without constantly monitoring your progress versus an optimization curve to determine whether you are still competitive.

[licker]

Originally posted by Taqwus:
Forge costs, if memory serves, are based entirely on the path/level requirements.
Level 1 = 5 gems, each level thereafter doubles (thus an item which requires level 5 in some path needs 80 units of that magical resource. A level 3/3 two-path item would require 20 units of each of the two corresponding resources, etc.)
Certain units (Master Smiths, and the new Ulm Iron Faith priest/mages) get innate forge bonuses (25% generally), certain items give forge bonuses (25% for dwarven hammer, 50% ea. for Hammer of the Forge Lord, Hammer of the Cyclops IIRC), spells might as well (never tried Forge of the Ancients, but description suggests it would help.).

Actually I know this... I'd just rather it be explicit in the description. Saves me a small amount of mental power