Feeling a bit ... so so / All of my thoughts

[Argitoth]

Wow, that's an honor!

Actually I realize something. Because you guys didn't spend so much time on revolutionizing graphical aspects (or any others) you are able to put in so much more content instead. There is really going to be around 50 nations? Seriously? Well, I think Dominions 3 is in the right direction. A lot of what Dominions 3 is has never been done before. I'd buy Dominions 3 over spore any day.

[Kristoffer O]

> There is really going to be around 50 nations?

Yes, but some are oldies remade. Niefelheim is more or less what it was before, but they got some skinshifters and a new Niefel Jarl Hero, Tjatse with the eagle cloak, abductor of Idun and the apples of longevity.

TC S&A has new sacred warriors of the five elements.

Other nations have more or less new unit setups. Ermor in the early age has less modern legionaries, augurs, pontifices and equites of the sacred shroud.

Some nations are entirely new such as Marverni, Agartha of three different ages, Sauromatia & Yomi/Shinuyama/Jomon.

All in all there are about seven nations wich dont resemble old ones or new ones (counting agartha as one), twelve or so nations with some resemblance to old or new nations (early ermor, agartha of other eras), and a lot of nations and old themes with some changes to units or balance (niefelheim).

[NTJedi]

Sounds great... I'm sure most of us wouldn't mind if one or two nations were setup as extremely powerful compared with the rest. It would allow SP gamers to have a great challenge without making modifications and it would allow new MP gamers a chance to experience the game without getting squashed early.

[Gillissie]

Come on, people. I don't know exactly what Johan and Kristoffer have up their sleeves, but I can guarantee that they didn't spend the last couple of years making new units and spells. Even if the content is 75% the same, the game can be 200% better if the gameplay is streamlined, and that is what matters most.

[Nerfix]

But does S&A have Chariot troopers? Please say the have.

And for some reason I thought that Agarta would be early Ulm.

[Edi]

It looks like I'm going to have the work cut out for me to produce a comprehensive Unit, equipment and Magic Site DB for Dom3. Might as well throw in spells too. And I'll be buggered if I'll be doing that with a spreadsheet. Right now the plan is that it'll be SQL database all the way, with the queries set up so that you can get useful lists out of it.

Never mind producing a Faerun map, and that'll be a headache in itself with all the different Eras, because they'll require different vesions. Well, at least the graphics are more or less ready, but the map will be less than 300 provinces for Dom3, since I've come to the conclusion that both the large and small Faerun maps currently in circulation are too fatally flawed in to many ways to make it worth fixing them.

Free time...what the hell is that?

Edi

[Daynarr]

Edi said:
Never mind producing a Faerun map, and that'll be a headache in itself with all the different Eras, because they'll require different vesions.

I for one think Faerun map is one of the greates maps out there.

Shouldn't be to hard to make one for each era as it should (ok I'm guessing a bit here) require you only to set starting locations for each. The rest can be the same for each era.

Not sure what you mean by fatally flawed - I think they are great (I like big one most ).

[Edi]

Thanks for the praise.

The big one is, all things considered, somewhat too big. The smaller one has some rather big design issues in some regions, and both of them need some toning down for some of the province guardians (the Earthmother in the Moonshaes is especially nasty).

I've been working on a new version with only 281 provinces (it really will not go any smaller without losing the thematic feel and even then I had to cut a couple of places I wanted to keep but could afford to remove), which should be more workable. When it's ready, that is, but I won't be making it public immediately. This one also won't feature all nations. Mictlan has been cut, and so will Ermor, in all probability. It just doesn't fit too well on the map.

The problem with different versions for different eras isn't in the picture file, it'll be fixing the map files to reflect each era, which is more work than appears at first glance. And I need a working Unit DB and Site DB to really make it good.

I've still got a dream of getting to do a full Toril (Faerun & Kara-Tur) map someday, but that's another story...

Edi

[Boron]

Edi said:
Thanks for the praise.

The big one is, all things considered, somewhat too big. The smaller one has some rather big design issues in some regions, and both of them need some toning down for some of the province guardians (the Earthmother in the Moonshaes is especially nasty).

It was only too big for Dom 2 because of the low unit limit and the scouting bug.
But remember Illwinter said the maximum number of provinces for Dom3 will be 1500 .
So this means that the unit limit is hopefully not an issue anymore neither .
So you could also make a 500 province Faerun map for Dom3 imho .
Iirc there are 20 Nations for Dom3, so 500:20 would be 25 provinces for each nation, exactly right for an epic MP game .

Already looking forward to your Dom3 Faerun Maps

[Gandalf Parker]

And you know that I will be making those 1500 province maps available. (not real pretty, but available). My old classifications were...

TINY less than 5 each, or less than 85 total provinces. Best done as 45 land and 8 water.

SMALL 5 each, or 85 total provinces. Best done as 75 land and 10 water.

MEDIUM 10 each, or 170 total provinces. Best done as 150 land and 20 water.

LARGE 15 each, or 255 total provinces. Best done as 225 land and 30 water.

HUGE 20 each, or 340 total provinces. Best done as 300 land and 40 water.

EPIC 25 or more each, maybe to the maximum 500 total provinces. Something like 450 land and 50 water.


CHAOS a run of completely randomized maps which might provide something interesting by accident.

I guess I will have to add one for Xtreme.
And new groupings to include the Dom3 map generator if it will work for it.
Hmmmm with added nations I will have to redo the others abit also in order to match the "xx each player for xxx total provinces".