How to explain Dom3 to a 5 year old?

[Knai]

Originally Posted by Chazar

Yeah, but it is nowhere near the size difference between a Tarrasque and a Hoburg in Dom3, which is just a little bit more up to scale.

Also, last time I played Wesnoth, the archers had to be adjacent to the unit they were attacking. Quite unintuitive, too.

Wesnoth is a good game, but I believe it is way too abstract from the perspective of a pre-schooler, who tends to take everything literally. His ideas about knights needing to get close while arrows are fired from a safe distance are from real world experiences at renaissance fairs and medieval tournaments involving jousting and archery, and him having first hand experience with the versions for the children.

None of the units in Wesnoth outpower eachother to the point of Tarrasque-Hoburg. Even the level 4 Archmage, Shyde, and Sylph can be brought down with a bunch of level 1s. Whereas bringing tarrasques down with hoburgs is going to require an absurd amount of hoburgs on the defense (and even then, its the fifty turn limit), or intensive magical support.

As for archers being adjacent to the unit they were attacking, considering the scale of the game that makes perfect sense. If one hex has a forest, and the one next to it a mountain, then they are probably miles across - and the whole melee counter attacks melee, ranged counter attacks ranged, attack on your turn at the range you want (assuming you have options, some units don't) thing makes perfect sense.

It might be a bit too abstract. However, at the basic end it is very simple, and it might be worth a shot. I have taught it to seven year olds, who could play even the easier campaigns, though not well. I've taught it to a nine year old, who actually plays pretty well. It seems a lot harder to understand than it is when you understand a lot of it. Plus, the tutorial does do a decent job of explaining things.