General Dominions 3 comparison...

[Saxon]

You can play CIV without thinking. You won’t win all the time or do that well, but you can do it. It is a pretty simplified version of the world we know and it is not that deep.

You MUST think playing Dom. You simply can not play without applying your brain to the game. It is very deep, makes magic and fantasy “real” and does not use the same laws of nature we use. You will be challenged by the game.

I happen to think this is a good thing, but you have to make your own mind up. Sorry, more thinking!

[Sombre]

Warhammer dark elves, or d and d drow, or something else, theenemy?

[theenemy]

Yea, I was thinking of a "drow" nation. It's gonna be a nation of drow who awakenend three vampire lords and are now their slaves. In LA they will break free from the vampires and evolve in another direction.

[Zonso]

I play all 3 regularly, and definitely from a SP perspective I think your friend would enjoy Dom3 as a strategy title. However, there are some differences as Dom3 isn't a 4X game like Civ or GalCiv.

IMO some quick Dom3/GalCiv/Civ SP comparisons:

SP gameplay in Dom3 is the weaker of the three, still fun but not as challenging after the initial early game 'hump'.

Dom3's AI is just horrible, even when set on Impossible. It isn't in the same league as the others. Dom3 is touted as being easy to Mod and I checked into it briefly, but with a full-time job/family, my free-time is spent playing not modding the AI. I asked for examples awhile ago but received no response so I guess nobody has bothered. The Better Independents Mod helps the AI a little.

The UI in Dom3 could be a lot better! It can get tedious hunting/keeping track of all your troops/leaders.

Graphically it was probably not cutting edge 10 years ago and is a distant 3rd here.

So what's the allure then after the less than positive points above? Well Dom3 has strategy and lots of it. Whether from the initial Pretender design, the magic research paths, the Army composition for enemy 'X' or scripting/equiping your Leaders, the game offers many distinct and workable strategies for each of several playable nations in three different 'Ages'. (I only wish it offered compelling and challenging gameplay to go with it!)

So your friend can't go wrong really with Dom3, especially if he/she plays MP. It is a worthwhile purchase.

[llamabeast]

I asked for examples awhile ago but received no response so I guess nobody has bothered.

Have you looked in the Mods & Maps forum? Check out the modlist! There are heaps of exceptionally good mods there. Modding in Dom3 has really been thriving.

I only wish it offered compelling and challenging gameplay to go with it!

I can't really comment on SP (since I never play it), but there is certainly no shortage of gameplay in MP.

[Drudge]

Well, I've only recently started playing myself though I've had the game for awhile. But I'm pretty much as new as they come. I'm still on my first game with the AI. Kind of disappointing to hear about the AI or the lack thereof but, oh well. My friend may not be interested then as he prefers single player. I may also pickup CIV 4 myself for a good single player challenge then too.

As far as multiplayer goes, how and what do most people play? Is there a good population playing multi where it wouldn't be hard to find a game? I'm married with kids so it's not really always convenient for me to sit down hours at a time in a multiplayer game. Therefore I do have the need for a good singleplayer strategy game as well.

Regards

[Endoperez]

llamabeast said:

Have you looked in the Mods & Maps forum? Check out the modlist! There are heaps of exceptionally good mods there. Modding in Dom3 has really been thriving.

Checking the six posts he has posted here, he posted in the "AI pretender design is insane" thread about help with designing maps that give AI predefined pretender or scales.

SemiRandom, a third-party tool, can create better pretenders for AI IIRC. It doesn't change actual AI, it just changes stuff in the map.
Also, if you're still interested in doing it yourself, the commands in question are in mapediting, not modding, pdf. Points 5.13 to 5.15 set pretender type, dominion strength and scales, and 6.5 to 6.11 can be used to give the pretender magic, experience, units, bodyguards, magic items etc. It seems the mapedit manual hasn't been upgraded in patches, so it doesn't list nation numbers of nations added in patches.