Was going to buy the game and then!

[quantum_mechani]

The thing is, thematicly, there should not really be a lot of diplomacy going on anyway. Yes, it would be nice if you could get weak AIs to submit to joining your pantheon, but it really does not hugely detract from the game. And also, why not multi-player?

[Evil Dave]

Even if you figure it's a war with only one victor, there's tons of reasons for allowing diplomacy -- the big one is not everybody wants to fight everybody else all at once.

One player may have a strategy that depends on high-level spells, so he wants to grow quietly until he gets them. Another may believe he's weak against one other race, and wants to concentrate on wiping them out first. Or player A is clobbering B, and then is attacked by C, and would like peace with A (or A and B want to co-operate to fight C).

I'd like the addition of pantheons or alliances, too, but I'm willing to wait for that if it would take a lot of work on the AI.

[Endoperez]

The developers made this game to be a multiplayer game first, and single-player game only after that. It shows, mainly in the shortcomings of the AI. I don't know if this is going to change even for the sequel, because Illwinter team has only one programmer.

[Zooko]

Fine with me if A Ashbery doesn't buy the game. I don't want Illwinter/Shrapnel to spend their time and money trying to improve single-player mode when they could spend it instead trying to improve multi-player.

[Ballbarian]

Don't sell single player short. I just don't have time for more than a little multiplayer. Even then it's only PBEM with a friend of mine. My time to sit down to a game varies and is too inconsistent to make regular turns. That said, it's still a solid game. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Scriptable ai would be a great addition to the game. Don't give up on Dominions Ashbery. Even with the ai's shortcomings, it is still an enjoyable game.