Mod: Dominions 3000 v0.81 - lots of new indies, new map (using the brand new map commands)

[Aezeal]

I've released 0.76, it's not much changed, only added the arena reward and lowered the ulm farsummon a bit.

I did it mostly since there where multiple 0.75 versions and that would not be a good idea for MP I think, now everyone will have to play with this one

I'm creating a MP thread in the MP forum now.. all regulars in here are welcome sign up. I'll take R'lyeh since it was said to be the weakest nation.

[Loren]

Ok, an observation on the correct map:

My gripes about being pinned by water are gone.

In SP at least I find the dragons unplayable on this map. My victories in a more normal game have always been based on being able to pin his armies with assassins.

Against the races of this map that doesn't work as well and it's moot anyway--the battle is at knife-fighting range, there's no space to use the strategy that works.

I won an early war that Ulm picked but then I was approaching the limits of what my income could support. The game dissolved into being pecked away at by a combination of Jomon and Ry'leh and there was simply nothing to do about it. I could maintain only two fighting forces and that realistically gave me two provinces and a severe negative cashflow. Furthermore, I was always fighting, I couldn't research my way to summons to help, not that I would have had the gems to summon much of anything anyway.

It's possible the dragons might fare better in MP because a low army strength doesn't result in an automatic gang-up like it does against the AI but I still don't like it. This race needs room or it dies.

[rdonj]

The new map should make that a bit better... with 130 provinces and 7 players, that's 18 provinces a player, versus the current 69/7 = 9.8. The current map is definitely crowded for 7 races, it will be very hard to expand much with so few provinces. Just curious, what difficulty were you playing on?

I think for dom3k the bonebiters are actually probably not an optimal choice, you'd probably have better luck with ghost dragons. Fighting in space is probably also a good idea, since most races are weaker in space. Unfortunately jomon is not one of those races, and R'lyeh is a terrible enemy for the dragons to have to fight period, because of mind blasting.

[Loren]

Originally Posted by rdonj

The new map should make that a bit better... with 130 provinces and 7 players, that's 18 provinces a player, versus the current 69/7 = 9.8. The current map is definitely crowded for 7 races, it will be very hard to expand much with so few provinces. Just curious, what difficulty were you playing on?

Normal.

The ghosts can't take out many of the more powerful leaders and the ability to control the enemy with the ghosts is essential for the dragons.

I think for dom3k the bonebiters are actually probably not an optimal choice, you'd probably have better luck with ghost dragons. Fighting in space is probably also a good idea, since most races are weaker in space. Unfortunately jomon is not one of those races, and R'lyeh is a terrible enemy for the dragons to have to fight period, because of mind blasting.

I wasn't even using them. They're no longer worth it.

[rdonj]

Oops, I wasn't thinking at the time, sorry.

[Aezeal]

Well the MP game now will be relatively short and is mostly to test this sort of thing. R;lyeh is indeed a nasty enemy for every one who uses lower amounts of troops and dragons are one such race. On the otherhand commanders and summons have high MR. Dragons CAN fly and attack rear though so they can bypass the chaff more easily than other nations and just kill the mindblasters faster.

Since there is a lot of flying around all ranged troops need to be supported even more by melee troops else they will be attacked in melee. On the other hand most ranged troops have a better melee ability than most archers and such in the regular game.

[Aezeal]

OK I know what to do.. more AP attacks for the lot of them just like all races here dammit (just for dom 3K though)
Why air 1?
stargazers recruit everywhere: why not and I'll give them one more research bonus. (unless I decide to give them air one since then they will have more magic already)
What was I supposed to fix again in the venemous dragon.

I thought the summons where already pretty low on the research scale for their power. I could maybe lower the weakest ones a bit more so you have early acces.

Also.. they have 3 multi heroes which are the low level summons (but have very good combat magic paths) so think about luck 3... also helpfull for your gems. If you go relatively high on commanders you could go O 3 for commanders, some troops and lots of castles and then save points on the production scale. A pretender with like 3 magic paths to create boosters, some luck and order and low dominion can help with research too.

I'll do this.. before we start the MP game else Loren will have no fun at all.

[rdonj]

Air one so it's easier to get thundercloud dragons partly, but also because that way they could forge amulets of missile protection, since they have very poor missile protection for dom3k that would help them a lot. Or maybe give them 1 air income, so they can get air started more easily with their pretender.

You were going to do something to make the venemous dragons do higher damage... atm they have a 4 ap ranged attack, that makes them slightly better at range than ulmish planetary guards.

The summons are a bit low on research requirements for the power, yes. It's only the conjuration 5 ones that I am suggesting any sort of change to, they probably come early enough, it's just a matter of getting to the summons, having the gems and being able to cast the spell. I think probably your best bet is a sleeping 4F3A4E5S statue of the dragon god, with that you can cast your first level of summons without needing to get a huge amount of construction first and most summons you can't cast are in close reach. But they really need a huge amount of gems to get those dragons, and it's a bit hard to scrape them together in such a crowded map, with slow expansion. Obviously we need a Baalz guide to dom3k dragons :P

It's hard squeezing in all the magic that the dragons need plus scales too. But yeah, both luck and order are very important. With my suggested pretender chassis above, you can get 3 order, 3 luck, and dom 6 with 1 heat and 1 sloth. Taking another sloth or 1 death gets you magic 1, which is almost necessary with the low rp to cost of dragons. Sloth is dangerous though, with 2 sloth I had a second fort in the game I was playing earlier and all surrounding provinces and couldn't build a single commander from it.

Yeah, hopefully this will be enough to make them competetive enough to get somewhere in the mp game. I certainly wouldn't want to try how they are now, it would be painful

[Aezeal]

ok then I'll add 1 air to the stargazer, I think the dragons are getting a lot there though, sacred, good stats for a mage (very very good), reseach bonus, no old age.. they'll be massed. I 'm doubting wether they should be all castle then... one of these/turn is a pretty solid research base.

And the AP weapons and higher damage on the venom...

[Aezeal]

PS I'm thinking for empowering air 1 or 0 makes no difference.. with his magicboost he'll have 2 after empowerment. (and when I go air 1 I'd have to remove that or he'd have 2 automatically.)

I could give him a2 (incl boost).. would make him pretty powerfull more magic than most recruitables, certainly cap only and costing more.. I do think getting some air somewhere would be thematic. and it's either this or a new dragon but that would make it so.. predictable..

let me hear what you think

venom got 8 dmg now.

all recruits now have AP claws, which left the bonebiters a bit equal to all others (especially steels) so I gave him a single AP claw attack but made his whiptail -2 att. (it's non AP so it's not that much of a bonus in dom 3K but might give him advantage over steels (with his higher str and hp etc) for some situations.

anotherthing: do all onebattlespell work properly now?