Newbie's first impressions

[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

[quantum_mechani]

Ed Kolis said:
I prefer angband as well; I just thought nethack would be a bit more recognizable

Meh, Nethack is obviously superior. Or ADOM. Or anything that remembers levels and has a non-insane combat system.

[Zooko]

Illwinter recommended Dungeon Crawl on their web site one time, and I got hooked on it. I really prefer it to the others that I have briefly tried, because

a. It has balance.
b. It has a consistent world (not a myriad of independently developed levels, each one attempting to be sillier than the last).
c. It has a pleasurable skill system.

Also I've written several patches to Dungeon Crawl, mostly to re-invent the personality of the god Xom.

[PDF]

PCarrol, did you try something like Combat Mission (if anything else exists that is "like" CM ) ?
Games are rather short and fast paced compared to Dom2 et al., and it requires some "battlefield tactics" sense more than analytical brains - surely that's why I suck at it, I was able to make strategy articles on it then get blasted by one of my readers that managed to apply it, while I couldn't !! .
Also it's graphically more rewarding than top-view 2D strat game as it's in full 3D with free camera, even if now it's not really up to date graphic-wise ...