"How it started."

[atul]

A friend of mine had been asking me to join him and his friends in playing various games online. UO was one of them, some space strategy game (VGAPlanets? Some SE? Can't remembet) the other. I had told him I've got better things to do with my life than play computer games several times when he brought up Dominions. "Okay, how bad can it get?" I asked myself and joined their PBEM MP of demo version of Dominions1.

...If I only had known...

Every one of us was a total newb and if I remember correctly I hardly had played even a test game before creating my MP pretender. Okay, Marignon, those flagellants probably have a proper attitude. Hm, I'll pick a pretender who can kick ***... that flaming head looks like a tough one. I'll probably beat everyone up with him easily.

One of my first lessons was that the Baphomet is immobile and such units can't move. D-oh. Learning happened on the fly, we had six or seven players on the Urgaia map so there was quite a lot of action. On turn 2 C'tis had conquered the sole province separating our capitals. That time we agreed for a peace to last all ages, but as by turn 10 all the indies had been conquered I and Abysian player agreed to fight each other "just to find out how it is done".

While I was happily sieging Abysian capital, Caelum declared a "peace keeping" mission and landed on my capital (our capitals were a flight's distance apart). When my Baphomet swept the floor with the winged blue berets a cease fire was made with Abysia and I proceeded to drive the flying menace to the sea. Immediately after Caelum was purged from the map by the Righteous the treacherous saurolich of C'tis led his army on my capital and renewed Abysian forces blocked my army's way back home.

By turn 25 or so the skin of the slain saurolich decorated some public loo in Marignon, nearly all the mages of Abysia were kille by the lucky flagellants and we had to agree that none had any standing army to speak of anymore. So, we'd be better off starting a new game. Properly this time.

Those were the times. Hooked from the first try, several of us ordered the game right away.

We played, what, two or three games with that group. Then came Dom2, and as I was the only one of us to buy it, the move to international circles was an obligatory one. I was first put off by the graphics (what, no more possible for a chessboard view of the provinces?), but I've grown to like them. It just takes a bit time. (In other words, where are all the promo pics of Dom3?!?!?!!1 ;p) Besides, now it's even easier to order the game as I've got my visa, no more hassles with international money transactions (really, cheques. How... 70s...).

My first encounter was, what, in the early 2002? And it's 2006 now... geez.