Oh boy alot of questions

[Arryn]

Okay. Now I better understand where you're coming from. I don't agree, but that's my own opinion. What you need to accept though is that Dom was designed first and foremost as a multiplayer game, and from what I can tell (again, IMO), single-player is more or less an afterthought. FWIW. Most of us think the game is fine as is (insofar as simultaneity). However, also bear in mind that to rewrite the code to accomodate sequential turns would not be a simple task at all. Trust me. I've been writing code for nearly 30 years. And IW has far better things to do with their time, IMO.

And now we return to our regularly-scheduled obliviousness ...

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Jam3:
The simultaneuos move system, from what I understand, is mainly to accomadate faster gameplay in multiplayer. Every player can take their turn simultaneously as opposed to waiting for previous players to end their turn.

Sequential turns do not work when you have more than about three players in a PBEM game, and usually only are successful with two players. With 17, you'd be waiting close to three weeks for everyone to play their turns as most people only check once a day to see if it's ready.

Insofar as realism is concerned I would think that armies perform recon and determine enemy movements and plan theirs accordingly. I disagree that armies somehow maintain a posistion, choose a destination, with no information except a "best guess" then march out, possibly missing opposing forces entirely.

A "best guess" is exactly what an army works on. You know that your enemy is somewhere out there, but have no real idea where. This is especially true in a medieval world where Messages don't move any faster than a horse, and then only if you have a network of fresh horses for the messenger to switch to every hour or so.

[HJ]

Originally posted by Arryn:
What you need to accept though is that Dom was designed first and foremost as a multiplayer game, and from what I can tell (again, IMO), single-player is more or less an afterthought.

I think the number of times this (counter)argument was used in discussions here is definitely telling.

[ January 21, 2004, 06:50: Message edited by: HJ ]

[Arryn]

Originally posted by HJ:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Arryn:
What you need to accept though is that Dom was designed first and foremost as a multiplayer game, and from what I can tell (again, IMO), single-player is more or less an afterthought.

I think the number of times this (counter)argument was used in discussions here is definitely telling.

---

Perhaps. But what, exactly, is being told is, itself, open to debate.

(Sorry, couldn't resist. This thread needs a wee bit of levity, don't you agree?)

[Saxon]

Just to be clear, there is a chance that armies will meet if they cross each other’s path. I was having a tough time with one game, as we kept going for each other’s province on the same turn. I do not know how the location was chosen, but when I ended up defending, my army did not move, even though I had told it to.

I knew I could win and did so, three times in a row. The problem was, I was defending each time!

You will notice it when you win the battle and then look at the map expecting to be holding the province you attacked. Instead, you are where you started. When you read carefully, you will see what happened.

As for realism, I throw my chips in the corner which holds real movement takes place at the same time and it is hard to tell where someone else is going. Holding on to what you take is hard, so while stopping the rampaging army is hard, it is also tough for them to hold on to what they take. Sure, I hate it when someone gets through my front lines, but that is as it should be.

There are 2 distinct movement phases. The Friendly Movement phase and the Moving into Enemy Territory Phase. The Friendly phase is before the Enemy phase, so if you guess right, you can move an army into a previously undefended position where you opponent thinks you are weak and end up defending it.

The main issue is the fact that the magic phase is before both phases, so you can lay on the magical pain with the full knowledge of where armies are if you have proper scouts/intel.

[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Jam3:


Insofar as realism is concerned I would think that armies perform recon and determine enemy movements and plan theirs accordingly. I disagree that armies somehow maintain a posistion, choose a destination, with no information except a "best guess" then march out, possibly missing opposing forces entirely.

Actually from a "realism" point of view, in a fantasy world, one would think divining spells would be specifically crafted to recon and spy on ones enemy, especially an offensive army in ones own territory.

Well, in the medieval world, armies ran around each other sieging castles, and rarely met - and then only because both parties agreed to meet. Armies were just too small to effectively trap each other, and recon and information was very slow...

Of course, in a fantasy world, spells take care of some of the problems... as they do in Dom2
Did you know that "magical" attacks in Dominions take place before armies move ? You can use a magic to teleport your army on top of theirs, or to try to kill the commander, trapping the men, or summon a magical army. The only thing you can't do is guess where he is going... probably because the other side has its own diviners doing counter spells and looking at your army, to see where you're going so they can alter course accordingly.

Think about it : your diviners tells you he's moving north. You start moving to intercept. His diviners tell the ennemy commander you are moving north. He alters course to ambush you. You alter course to avoid the ambush. He alters course back to his original target... and nobody is going anywhere fast

[ January 21, 2004, 09:49: Message edited by: General Tacticus ]