Wish-List for Dominions 4

[J Henry Waugh]

If there is a Dom 4 down the road (developer fatigue may be set in by now, I hope not, as this game is such a gem…), at this juncture, here would be my wish list:

1. F1 screen is almost useless to me and would be of much much greater value if:

A. Could filter commanders/provinces. That is, show ONLY commanders or ONLY provinces.

B. Sort by various column values - income, resources, magic, name, etc...

2. A better post battle breakdown, something like a textual representation of the rounds of battle, at least a report on the commanders who got whacked

3. Integration with a MP server, doesn't have to be snazzy (would be happy with something integrated into the current UI), could also perhaps set up a ranking/rating system for rated games, casual games. If this was done, I bet sales would triple alone on this merit…

[Meglobob]

I would like to see in Dom4 a chance of being able to recruit another nations national units when you conquer there capital. I have outlined a system below:-

When you conquer another races capital, you have a 1 in 3 chance of being able to recruit that races national troop types/leaders. This always excludes that races sacreds.

So for example, I conquer MA Agarthas capital, a one off check then occurs for MA Agarthas national troops as follows:-

Agarthan scout 1 in 3 chance of still being recruitable.
Cave captain 1 in 3 chance of still being recruitable.
Pale one Captain 1 in 3 chance of still being recruitable.
Agarthan light infantry 1 in 3 chance of still being recruitable.
Agarthan infantry 1 in 3 chance of still being recruitable.
Argathan heavy infantry 1 in 3 chance of still being recruitable.
Pale one soldier 1 in 3 chance of still being recruitable.

Ancient one, attendant of oracles, earth reader, golem crafter, ancient lord and oracle of ancients are all sacred so can never be reruitable by another nation. Those units are dedicated to Agartha and there god only.

Should Agartha reconquer his capital all units are recruitable as normal. But should any other nation conquer it after, the original units who made the 1 in 3 are recruitable, another check is not made.

I believe this would stop all nations morphing into one problem but make capitals more tempting targets with a greater reward for the conquerer. It would also open up more tactics/strategies up for individual nations later in the game.

It would also reflect the nation being enslaved/conquered/ruled by the host nation. Its very unrealistic at the moment that a nations entire conquered population refuse to serve there conquerer. The Roman Empire for example had its armies made up more of auxilleries from conquered nations than soldiers from Rome/Italy.

[Caduceus]

I like the idea of "capturing" a capital with a chance of building the units of an occupied country. Perhaps an increase of cost would be a good way to show that you've forced your new peoples to bend themselves to your will, i.e. 150% of the original price.

[HoneyBadger]

For Agartha, I'd suggest just allowing the recruiting of Trogs and Trog captains. That's a nice reward in and of itself, and would be applicable for all 3 eras.

[jutetrea]

An option for larger battle maps, selectable at game creation.

Large game where 400+ unit armies may be seen, large battle map.

Battlefield enchant dispel mechanism

Other past suggestions:
Casting script groups (buff self, buff all, offensive)

Editable spell book - ability edit the "realm" spell book so 0 mages can cast a certain spell, or more granular and change for each mage as scripting.

Battlefield placeables - either stationary summonable or via PD or gain via site; or move with army a la siege engines.
-towers (1 or 2 towers, higher quality towers with higher quality PD)
-Catapult/Ballistae/trebuchet/etc slow single purpose units, probably recruitable. Since there is no provision for breaking down a wall during a combat just having wide AOE single spell affects would work
-stationary archer shields(+prot)/small walls(restrict movement)/raised platforms(+range)

Option selectable at game creation to have max fort #, in conjunction with another build option for a training grounds - recruit but no defense.

improved PD choices beyond 20

[silhouette]

J Henry Waugh said:
1. F1 screen is almost useless to me and would be of much much greater value if:

A. Could filter commanders/provinces. That is, show ONLY commanders or ONLY provinces.

B. Sort by various column values - income, resources, magic, name, etc...

You can already show only provinces in the F1 screen. Use the TAB key to hide/unhide all the commanders. This does make it a lot easier to look at province data.

I would like to see an indicator on this screen that taxes are NOT set to automatic, like make the tax rate a different color. This would make it a lot easier to find provinces where you have set temporary tax rates and forgotten them.

Sill

[HoneyBadger]

Watching the movies is one of my favorite things in the game!

I'm definitely against getting rid of it. It's not like you're forced to watch it, anyway, and by watching it, you can improve your tactics for the next combat.

The merc thing isn't bad, although the way I'd do it is give the commander units the Merc ability, which makes them freespawners for whatever their particular specialty is-elephants, icthys, villains, pirates, whatever, and then you hire the mercenary captain from the merc pool, and you get the captain and whatever starting troops, and the captain freespawns for whoever's paying the bills.

The longer you pay, the more benefit you get.

Here's another idea: the ability to customize forged items, in-game. Have certain abilities, like armor piercing, regeneration, magic resistance, whatever, pop up at certain levels of Construction-1-9, and then when you forge an item, you can design it, and pay for something custom, on the spot, with gold and gems. Kindof/sortof like NWN2. This would go hand in hand with the way forging works now, the custom items would just cost less than the "standard" ones.

I'd get a kick out of customing say an "ice axe" or a "fire trident", and then selling it on the MP open market, or equipping a hero with all custom stuff.
The balancing would be the higher expense and a limitation on what would be possible.

[Endoperez]

HoneyBadger said:The merc thing isn't bad, although the way I'd do it is give the commander units the Merc ability, which makes them freespawners for whatever their particular specialty is-elephants, icthys, villains, pirates, whatever, and then you hire the mercenary captain from the merc pool, and you get the captain and whatever starting troops, and the captain freespawns for whoever's paying the bills.

Excellent idea. I'll have to try it today. Try not to come up with any other great ideas for a few days, okay? I'd want to test them too, and the idea thread has been delayed far too much already.