Newbie's first impressions

[PCarroll]

OK, I'm back--and this time I know what I'm talking about. I've read the manual, and yesterday I played (and won) my first full game of Dom2.

At this point, I'm wondering why it was such a hurdle to get used to the UI; actually it's pretty straightforward. I guess I've been away from board games for so many years that I'd forgotten how they're played; I've been spoiled by the blinking units and drag-and-drop features of modern computer games. But now that I've played my way through a whole game, the Dom2 UI makes sense and works just fine (though I'm still annoyed by the extra "Host" click required due to its being geared to multiplayer).

Is it good? Well, it captivated me enough that I spent most of the day yesterday playing it. Furthermore, I played it on our upstairs computer, because my wife had the other one tied up all day. Our upstairs computer is older and slower and evidently needs a new video card. I was unable to view any battles (because they play at a frame rate of less than 1 per second even with resolution set to its lowest), and there were serious delays in scrolling (which made me wish there were a strategic thumbnail map I could click on to quickly see some other part of the world).

I played Caelum, with Mictlan as an "Easy AI" enemy. After reading the manual, I finally found out how to choose a regular map instead of a scenario (my earlier attempts were all scenarios, unbeknownst to me). I chose a map with a "bottleneck," and I made a point of racing to that bottleneck and fortifying it--which left me free for the rest of the game to take my time conquering independent provinces and learning the magic system. The end of the game was anticlimactic; Mictlan was a pushover by then.

So, it's a good game. Kinda long, though. And I'm surprised how tough some of those independent provinces can be to conquer. Some highlights were hiring a mercenary assassin who managed to kill the enemy God; casting Hurricane on enemy provinces; summoning some army-enhancing creatures; and as a sidelight, building a "fish" army to conquer the surrounding oceans.

More later. My wife needs the computer again.

--Patrick

[Edi]

There is not necessarily any problem with the graphics card itself. If you're running Windows XP with native drivers, no wonder you have it slow, because those drivers do not support OpenGL. You need to update the drivers with the manufacturer's own instead of Micro**** ones, and then you also probably need to run a program called Refresh Force to take care of the refresh rate synching. That should fix things.

My own rig is a Celeron 500 one, five years old, and no problems running Dom2 as long as the detail is set to lowest.

You should find the thread where I wrestled with the same problem by running a forum search about display problems. It has all the links you need.

Edi

[Molog]

The AI performs worst with mictlan and best with ermor.

Shame that you couldn't see the battles, I like watching large battles.

[jeffr]

which made me wish there were a strategic thumbnail map I could click on to quickly see some other part of the world

You can use the Insert, Delete, Home, End, Page Up and Page Down keys to zoom the map in and out. Insert will zoom so that the entire map fits on the screen.

[PCarroll]

You can use the Insert, Delete, Home, End, Page Up and Page Down keys to zoom the map in and out. Insert will zoom so that the entire map fits on the screen.

Yeah, if my video drivers (or whatever) would cooperate. But zooming is as slow as scrolling. Maybe I'll try Insert next time and see if the map is too tiny to play on.

Anyhow, it was a pretty good game even with all the computer problems I had. And on our downstairs computer, the game runs perfectly. (Well, except for the time I was viewing a battle and had to switch to the desktop momentarily; when I returned, all the soldiers and commanders on the battlefield had turned to letters of the alphabet!)

Thanks.

[Cainehill]

PCarroll said:
Anyhow, it was a pretty good game even with all the computer problems I had. And on our downstairs computer, the game runs perfectly. (Well, except for the time I was viewing a battle and had to switch to the desktop momentarily; when I returned, all the soldiers and commanders on the battlefield had turned to letters of the alphabet!)

Heh. To avoid that, never run Dominions in full screen mode; instead add "-w" to the command line / short cut, and then resize the window as large as you want it.

[spirokeat]

It sounds like your getting the bug anyway !. I agree with what you said about being spoiled by modern games, many lack gameplay and concept and instead rely on trashy graphics and mouse acrobatics rather than genre gripping themes.

For me DOM2 holds a cherished place alongside games that I can honestly say fired my imagination. The diversity is astounding. I've had the game over a year now and had two significant play periods with a break inbetween. I play pretty much only against the AI (though I wouldnt mind a shot at MP) and usually only on Orania with about 7 nations. Yet i've still only really played Mictlan. I know Machaka would be interesting too, but the play style between them is so different I know I would need to refocus how I'm playing.

Even within a single empire there seems to be loads of ways of playing. Im currently in a devil and fallen angel mood. The last one was a lots of magic bless troops game. The one before, Vine Ogres, Dark vines and Crossbreeding with Vampires swooping around to slay any who entered my domain. I'm gonna give a using Horrors a shot soon too. It's just endless.

If you liked MoM, I'm sure you will like this. The lack of diplomacy is odd initially, but to be honest, once you got good an MoM, you knew it was a sham in that anyway.

I'm looking forward to Dom3. I'm hoping that the the few things that annoy me, which is vastly outweighed by what makes me smile will be lessened.

Spirokeat.

[Ed Kolis]

[quote]
PCarroll said:

(Well, except for the time I was viewing a battle and had to switch to the desktop momentarily; when I returned, all the soldiers and commanders on the battlefield had turned to letters of the alphabet!)

Ah yes, the legendary nethack mode

[Cainehill]

Ed Kolis said:
Ah yes, the legendary nethack mode

Bah! Angband / Moria mode, not Nethack!

[Ed Kolis]

I prefer angband as well; I just thought nethack would be a bit more recognizable