Just an idea of mine - the Dom3 Q&A thread

[JaydedOne]

Even with 1.5 gigs of RAM on mine, the processing time on such turns is pretty long. I think it's just to be expected, given the complexity of crunching all those numbers in sequence.

[DominionsFan]

Mortibus said:
I've got 2 GB, it's not like I'm trying to run this on a Commodore 64 or something!

I can increase my page file another 1000MB, I'll do so tonight and report the results.

I see.

[Gandalf Parker]

Hosting time is to keep us from starving or dehydrating or bursting our bladders.

Ive been able to get the hosting time up to ten minutes. But that was 1500 provinces and 79 nations after 50 turns into the game And 20 minutes 70 turns into the game.

[Mortibus]

Wow that's a big game... mine is at 300 provinces or so (the largest included map). How do you get 79 nations, are most of those independent?

I'll increase my page file to 4000 MB and see if I notice any difference.

Okay, another question- is there a limit to how many of those magic places you can find in a province?

For instance, I've found two places of magic in one province, a sunken ship and I think an oyster breeding ground or something. Could I discover more in the future with a mage of superior ability?

[Twan]

4 magic sites maximum.

[Cainehill]

Remember that random events (possibly other things, like scales shifting) get evaluated for _every_ province, so large maps take longer even without extra AIs. Adding in a full quota of nations and it'll get ugly fast. Happened with Dom2 also, was noticed easily on the Forgotten Realms map.

[Gandalf Parker]

Dominions lets you create games of era 1 or era 2 or era 3, and about 23 players in the game. That includes human or computer players.

But the map commands allows you to add AIs. There are 79 nation slots. Some are special monster nations, some are unfinished nations for the modders to work with so they dont overwrite the games nations. Anyway, I go ahead and add them all. All 3 ages, specials, modder slots. Its pretty insane. Its possible altho most players wont be doing it.

[MarcinM]

Noob questions from the tutorial.

Q1. The tutorial has me send my scout all over the place, but as soon as he gets too far from my dominion the provinces go blank. Wouldn't I want to get more scouts to hang out in indie provinces so I can get constant info updates?

Q2. The tutorial javelin bearers and bare-chested warriors seem very similar on the screen (their sprites, I mean). Is there an easier way of managing army squads that doesn't rely on purely visual recognition? I mean they're identical except for a few tiny pixels where the sword/javelin is rendered Am I too old (vision failing) to play Dom3?

Q3. Why would you ever want to play Undead? First Banishment priest you come across, you're screwed.

[JaydedOne]

q1 - Your dominion already gives you some information. The scout is there to extend beyond your dominion's reach and see what's going on in other dominions.

q2 - Well, double-clicking on a unit type highlights all units of that type. That can help.

q3 - Undead nations get spells that bolster resistance to banishment effects. There are other nasty tricks out there as well that help undead overcome banishment. There're also some spells that Death magic gets that can target enemy commanders. That makes those priests think twice about showing up to a fight. Finally, undead multiply much faster than living units. You can only banish so many before they overrun you.

[JaydedOne]

q3.5 - BTW, the other huge benefit undead get is that they don't have to eat. Death nations usually have jacked up Death dominions, meaning they'll destroy your ability to eat within their reach. Your men'll be starving and diseased, easy pickings for Ermor and the like by the time the leftovers reach their capital.

There are of course counters. But that's half the fun. Let's just say that as a lover of all things evil and undead, I don't worry at all about their viability in this game.