Why such a high price?

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by izaqyos:
Dominions I is a great game.
But requires a lot of micromanagement and the end game is very tedious.
so much so that I usually stop my single player games at some point when I am sure to win.
I have noticed the same thing happened in most of my PBEM games.

I really hope this was solved in DOM-II.
I have been following the DOM-II progress for almost a year now. needless to say I am very excited about it. I will probably preorder the game

A word about AOW.
I agree it doesn't have an epic feel to it.
But it has it's merits. it has very nice interface (gpx+music), It's very easy to learn and play and it has a large community with tournaments and a (tough) ladder.

Still L liked MOM the best. I still hope to someday see a MOM-II. I do not understand how come it never had a sequel.

Victory conditions have been added. This limits the end game to reasonable times. It is now possible to win by:

* Taking a set number of victory points. VP:s can be edited in the mapfile or randomized. Home provinces can be given VP:s. For example you might give each home province one VP and add two provinces worth three VP:s and set the victorycondition to 12 VP:s. Flight, stealth, farsummons, teleports and fortresses play a greater role in these games.

* Spreading your dominion. Each province is worth 10+domstrength points.

* Research.

* Provinces.

Conditions are set when the game is created.

The VP victory is highly recommended. Especially in MP games.

[MythicalMino]

good idea for MP games....

[Treebeard]

Originally posted by cpbeller:
good idea for MP games....

I must agree! Victory conditions are a tremendous addition to the game.

[Nerfix]

Originally posted by cpbeller:
good idea for MP games....

...as long as it doesn't lead to everybody playing with 11 Dominion Oracles and Manticores...

[Kristoffer O]

If you set victory condition to 8 out of 17 home provinces there is no need for 11 dom Oracles.

[PvK]

Originally posted by Potatoman:
Shadow Magic may lack an "epic" feel, but it has quite a bit going for it. A decent user interface, a minimum of micromanagement, and easily decipherable game mechanics readily come to mind. I've played the Dominions demo for quite some time now (I didn't buy the full Version because my friends weren't interested in playing hotseat) and I myself still don't know exactly the effect of, for instance, a weapon reach of 3 compared to a similiar weapon of reach 2. Does it give you an attack bonus? A defense penalty? Just the ability to stay beyond the range of Abysian/summoned heat/cold auras? It's frustrating because there are dozens of small game mechanics that are not explained (or even hinted at) in any manual, fansite or in-game help bar. AGRh.

The upshot is that, of course, with so many mechanics the game itself is quite complex and strategically deep. There is more stuff in Dom I (sheer volume of units and spells)than any other tbs that I have ever played; it may not look pretty, or be useful, or you may not even know what it does, but it's still there and you may use it if you want to. That's what makes it an outstanding, though imperfect, game IMO.

Right-click a unit ability to see a long description of how it works.

The manual (I think is where I saw it) does mention that reach is used to attack from further away, and also gives a defensive attack as an enemy closes in from outside your reach.

Personally, I much prefer Dom I to AOW2. AOW2 was fun for a bit, but it only took half a game for me to figure out all the systems and realize they were almost all rather generic and simple and that they didn't appeal much at all to my tastes. The AI didn't seem to be very interesting or challenging. I didn't like the combat mechanics. Or the stacking limits. Or the economics. Or the research. I got bored with those kinds of simplified systems back in Master of Magic. I'm sure there are players who will enjoy AOW2 and not appreciate Dominions, but that's the way all games are - everyone likes and dislikes different things about each game. To me though, Doms is worth the $35 for Dom I and $45 for Dom II even within a few months of each other. To me, AOW2 is worth maybe $5-10, and then only really to help a novice get into the genre.

PvK

[Nerfix]

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
If you set victory condition to 8 out of 17 home provinces there is no need for 11 dom Oracles.

Right. But they will help you to accomplish your taks...