One of the best reasons Dominions is an awesome game!

[PvK]

Why am I hooked on Dominions? Why is it such an awesome game?

One of the best reasons is that not only does it have thousands and thousands of units and spells and all sorts of other stuff to discover, but that practically all of the things in it are interesting, creative, and well-done. There are not only many different units, but many different game systems at work (things like effects of heat, morale, supply, different kinds of undead, equipment effects, experience, battle afflictions, etc), and those game systems all work together very well. Maybe not always perfectly, but generally in ways that make sense, and are in good and interesting proportion to each other, for the most part.

The result of all those systems working well together, is a game world where things happen for a reason, and the reasons make sense, and can be surprising and interesting, leading to an interesting game because you always have a different and often new set of toys to play with, and all sorts of ways to try putting them to use.

A great example just inspired me to write all this gushy praise:

I have been playing my first game as Mictlan against the AI, which I described a bit on Keir's half-hijacked Mictlan thread. I set myself up on a small map with many Difficult AI opponents - enough that I had two within three barren provinces of my start position, leaving me with only a few very poor provinces to capture, and I was at war with both of them by about turn 6, IIRC. So it's been a tough game so far. C'tis has a miasma dominion, which causes disease on most regular units who come near it.

I been trying to make good use of my blood magic, and doing pretty well at that. I started using flying demons and blessed flying Eagle Warriors as a rear-striking air force, which let me at least fight off my enemies effectively. I had a great stroke of luck (I took a positive Luck scale) when someone found a Soul Contract, which is a very costly item which damns one loyal subject's eternal soul forever, in exchange for a loyal Devil showing up each turn. Devils are powerful flying creatures which emit heat around them. They work rather well with my Demon/Eagle Warrior air force, although I do make sure to start them out in different parts of a battlefield, so the Devils don't fatigue the Eagle Warriors with their aura of heat before the battle begins.

Why am I rambling on about all these details? Because they all are actually important to the remarkable story that just unfolded in my game, which could happen in no other game, but which makes sense in this one, and inspired me to gush about how wonderful this game is!

(Mictan spoiler - those who like to play to discover things, and don't want to know things they'd rather learn by playing, might not want to read the following.)

Story? Yes, this is about a story that is just one logical part of this one play of this game. Enter the main character. Mictlipoctli the King of Legends. He's a wonderful Mictlani hero, who brings some very unique abilities to Mictlan. He's a mummified ancient Mictlani king during the Era when Mictlan sacrificed the most people, and therefore he has some very unique abilities, which includes the ability to lead a large number of undead, or demons. Also, like all undead, he can't be diseased. Thus he was a natural choice to lead my army of demons, devils, and undead (all of which are immune to disease), to try to finish off miasmatic C'tis. Isn't it great when a plan comes together and suddenly a solution to a difficult problem emerges from an ancient crypt?

All was going well. I won a couple of major battles against the hordes of C'tis, losing almost none of the devils or demons. I was proceeding to what would probably be an easy battle, with Mictlipoctli leading an army of about 50 undead, some diseased volunteers, a force of about half a dozen demons and Eagle Warriors in one corner, and about sixteen demons in the other corner, when I got too clever for my own good, and made a tragic mistake.

I decided to protect Mictlipoctli against unexpected attacks my starting him out amidst the devils' starting corner. Since he's undead, he need not worry about fatigue from the heat from the devils auras. The battle was joined, against a handful of C'tisan lizard men, and I was watching the front. My devils and demons swooped in and devastated all but a couple of the lizards... and then my flying corps flew away, my irregulars ran, and my undead stood around and were chopped up by the remaining two lizard warriors. Defeat! What had happened?

No doubt some of you veterans have guessed. My Mictlipoctli is no more. Yes, he is immune to fatigue (I think), but standing amongst the sixteen devils, the weakness I had overlooked, proved fatal. He spontaneously combusted! Mummies are susceptible to fire, and all that heat was too much for him, and he caught on fire, collapsed, and burned to cinders! ARGH!!! So heartbreaking, but so comical too! My own darn fault. This game is wonderful. I already have a plan B... I'll get those miasmatic C'tis yet!

PvK