Anybody else dislike the endgame?

[Taqwus]

If memory serves, the Gateway Stone now casts Astral Travel, which is basically the Dom I-style Gateway -- unlike Dom II Gateway, the destination does not have to be a friendly province with a lab.

[Endoperez]

Also, there is Death spell Stygian Abyss, a portal with some risks, and Nature spell Faery Trod that takes an army and lets the mage and all troops in his command to move through hidden, magical paths to a forest province of his choice. Also, there is Earth-Astral + Construction route for the Gate Stone, which also all-troops-on-my-command effect. What else did you want? Oh, there is a (nature-air?) flying ship too.

[Saxon]

The comment that the end game is busy work is pretty accurate. The solution, from my point of view, is to ignore a lot of it. I stop worrying about every little thing, push the big things, and rush through turns. Sure, I win on turn 100 instead of 95, but I finish about three hours earlier. Once you reach the end game and you know you will win, either call it a night or rush through. If you are really strong enough, cutting corners will not matter. Your grand plan is in place and usually just needs a few more turns to work, rather than more fine tuning.

I resisted this for some time, but gave in Saturday night and raced through five turns in the time of one. Lo and behold my dominion based strategy crushed Vanheim, even though I had ignored the strategy, only moving the big armies against Ulm. I took a few minutes longer on the next turn to snap up the now empty provinces, then fast forward again. I pumped in all the cash I was not spending into overly high provincial defenses, it was quick and protected me.

I guess what I am suggesting is that if you really want to play the game to the end, change your approach. It is fun and fast.

[tinkthank]

Originally posted by Saxon:

I guess what I am suggesting is that if you really want to play the game to the end, change your approach. It is fun and fast.

Sure.
But I think our tastes may differ. I like this game because of the depth to it. I don't "really" play to win, but to unfold my plans at various levels and see how they flourish -- or perish. I think some of the suggestions made here and other places could really be helpful. I can only imagine what UI coding is like, but who knows -- if I gather correctly, Dominions II is not something the people at Illwinter are doing in their spare time, but is a commercial enterprise complete with post-sale support, client binding and customer relations management -- well, it is at least a commercial enterprise (hence: us paying for their services), and although I hope UI coding isnt all that awful, I really do hope too that some of the less pleasant work will also get accomplished. It would be great for their excellent game and great for a lot of customers who think like I do.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
I can only imagine what UI coding is like, but who knows -- if I gather correctly, Dominions II is not something the people at Illwinter are doing in their spare time, but is a commercial enterprise complete with post-sale support, client binding and customer relations management

Then you would gather incorrectly, since I don't think anyone has ever said anything other than that the two programmers do it all in their spare time.

[tinkthank]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:

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Originally posted by tinkthank:
I can only imagine what UI coding is like, but who knows -- if I gather correctly, Dominions II is not something the people at Illwinter are doing in their spare time, but is a commercial enterprise complete with post-sale support, client binding and customer relations management

Then you would gather incorrectly, since I don't think anyone has ever said anything other than that the two programmers do it all in their spare time.

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Are you serious?

[Arralen]

He is !