Some Questions -- making up my mind, advice needed

[PvK]

I play both SP and MP, and I find single-player very improved compared to Dom 2, where I also enjoyed it.

[onomastikon]

Thanks very much!

My confusion with Agartha wasn't so much a balance issue but a flavor one: Since there were no poor amphibians at all, I didnt really see the difference between "wet ones" and the others, so I miss their raison d'etre. Also, the intro info screen in the demo lists them as "poor amphibians". I just didnt see a difference between them and Atlantis, Ryleh or Oceana (those from dom2 at least), except that Agartha was even *more* flexible. Normally, "land" nations that are highly water-compatible can't build PD in water, but even Agartha can do that, so it just seems weird.
But it is no big deal.

And that's the change isn't it. It's now twice the level.

Thanks jeff. Since I don't have the manual, that was what I was missing. I think this is a nice change to priests.

Path requirements and item costs are still linked.

Ah pity, but I think this all makes sense. Looks like some nice changes were implemented. Can't really see in the demo, but what you say makes sense.

The black screen is a bug, then. Feel free to report your OS, graphic card and details of the bug in the bug thread.

OK I could do so, but since it was only the demo I don't think anyone will really care.
Notice that it happens when I hit "e" to some extent too: I played a game of five humans vs. each other, me playing all the nations, just so I could see who was what in the demo, and when I hit "e" to get me to the screen to select the nation, it doesn't black out but it does freeze and take about 8-10 seconds to get to that screen. If this doesn't happen for everyone, that's good, because I found it painful in comparison to Dom2, but it sure is strange since I havent had any problems with my machine otherwise.
Specs are: 1.86Ghz Pentium Mobile, 1gig RAM, ATI Radeon Mobility with 128MB (I think, cant see a way to see that right now), Windows XP Home w/ latest updates.
Are issues with ATI cards "normal"?

I play both SP and MP, and I find single-player very improved compared to Dom 2, where I also enjoyed it.

In which way?

[Archonsod]

You can check your graphics card through dxdiag. Start -> run -> dxdiag. It should be listed under Display. Wouldn't say issues with ATI cards are normal, though I think there's an identified bug with them & Doms 3.

As for the improvements in SP : The AI is much improved. Kind of. When it's good, it's very, very good. When it's bad it's pathetic (Monolith pretender, imprisoned and maximum bad scales. Dominion suicide by turn 3...)
Another improvement that hasn't been talked about much (although it goes for MP too) is that there are in effect more nations, hence a lot more variety. Even with the extensions of nations in later era's - MA Ulm feels a lot different to play or face than EA Ulm for example.
The ability to randomise the AI nations is handy, especially in combination with the random map generator. You can start a game not knowing precisely what you'll be up against, adding some interesting challenges (like suddenly finding out you have AE Ermor to go up against in turn 200...)
Most of the other improvements go for either SP or MP equally - new mechanics, more choice in the kind of game you play and similar.
The only real criticism I could make of the SP game at the moment is the flaky AI, but hopefully that will be sorted out in a patch. As I said, when it works right, it can be quite a challenge. However, it can suffer from bouts of stupidity, such as the already mentioned two turn dominion death.