Dominions 3 FAQ
This document is a FAQ or Frequently asked Questions list for Dominions 3: The Awakening. It contains a slew of questions that are commonly asked by new players and endeavours to give (relatively) short, coherent and clear answers to them. It is divided into sections, each section dealing with questions related to a particular aspect of the game. This is something I threw up without really consulting anyone, so if there are more questions worthy of being included in the FAQ, those can be added later. Like the Bug Shortlist, this thread is going to stay locked to avoid clutter and mods will add the new FAQ questions later. Any new submissions should be made in the
FAQ commentary thread.
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DOMINIONS 3 FORUMS
THE DOMINIONS 3 IRC CHANNEL
If you want to play blitz games and/or organize games on a short notice or just chat about the game, there is a Dominions 3 IRC channel on the Gamesurge server.
server = irc.gamesurge.net
port = 6667
channel = #dominions
For those who do not know what IRC is and how to use it, here is a brief summary:
IRC is an acronym for Internet Relay Chat, a form of instant messaging. It requires you to use an IRC client program to connect to an IRC server and then join a channel. There are several different IRC clients. Some browsers have embedded browser clients.
Below is a list of some browser based options:
- You can see if this link works for you: Mibbit #Dominions chat This does not require installing anything and you can try it out with just an internet browser like IE, Firefox or Opera.
- It is also possible to use a Java-based IRC webclient by browser at http://gamesurge.net/chat/ Depending on what kind of Java Runtime your browser has already installed (most browsers do), this can also work right off the bat without needing to install anything.
- Chatzilla for Mozilla Firefox, accessed from Tools > Chatzilla
- Opera also has a built-in IRC client, which is okay for chatting, but other functionality is very limited
For actual client programs, these are some options:
- One of the most common IRC client programs and usually the first one suggested is called mIRC. It is recommended that you do NOT use this client, because the program has serious unpatched security holes in it that leave your computer open to malware infections.
- HydraIRC is stable, lightweight and very fast and the user interface is highly configurable.
- Trillian, a multiprotocol client that can also connect to ICQ, AIM, Jabber and other services in addition to IRC servers.
- Gaim, a multiprotocol client that can also connect to ICQ, AIM, Jabber and other services in addition to IRC servers.
- Miranda, a multiprotocol client that can also connect to ICQ, AIM, Jabber and other services in addition to IRC servers.
- Linux and Mac users should check their operating system first for any preinstalled IRC clients, e.g. XChat2. One good client for Mac is Colloquy
Following are some more details about HydraIRC, because it is the client I am most familiar with:
HydraIRC has very good help documentation accessible from the Help menu, with instructions on how to set up command profiles, join a channel and do other necessary things so that you only need to do the setup once. Once you have configured HydraIRC, you can copy the HydraIRC application data folder from the C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\folder and make a backup of it, so you can copy that to another computer if you like so you won't have to go through the configuration process again (which would be a pain in the backside).
For reference, at my workplace IRC is used for work purposes in internal communication and mIRC was ditched in favor of HydraIRC for precisely the security and usability reasons and the data security requirements for ISPs in Finland are very strict.
The old Dominions 3 IRC Channel thread is here.