Various questions about Dom II

[Johan K]

Originally posted by TomWChick:

3) I'm not clear on how merc bidding works now. For instance, why are Hector's Heavy Horsemen going for 412 pounds of gold, but in parentheses, I'm informed that he only asks 220 pounds of gold "for employment by most other nations"? Huh? What did I do that I get charged extra?

The different pricing is very similar to how it was in Dominions I. However the price difference was secret in the previous game. If you feel badly treated then I suspect you are playing Pangaea or Ermor as they are the nations who are most disliked by the mercs.

[TomWChick]

Whoa, that was quick! Thanks, guys!

Johan was right about the Merc prices. I was playing Pangaea, so they were more expensive. Actually, I think this makes perfect sense and I'm glad there was some indicator that they didn't like me as much.

BTW, I hope all these side-specific bonuses such as more expensive mercs, cheaper temples, and whatnot are listed somewhere! I haven't studied the nation descriptions closely and I don't have a final draft of the manual, but I'd hate to think those sort of important details are kept under the hood. On the whole, you guys did a fantastic job with the tool tips and I think it'll make the game a *lot* more accessible to new players.

Ah, I thought there was a separate spy symbol. Thanks for pointing that out. I knew the little brown cloak meant scout, so it makes sense there's a separate one for spies.

Good point on mixing morale levels, Kristoffer! I hadn't thought of that.

As for the battle replay speed, I can understand you guys are using a completely different routine this time around. It might be a real pain in the butt to deal with variable speeds. But there are times I just want to see what spells are being used, how a particular squad is faring, or who killed one of my commanders. But sometimes it takes waaaaaay too long for this when I have to wait for every arrow volley to arc across the screen. In Dom I, I just tapped a number key to crank up the speed and watch for what I needed to see. I miss that.

And to answer cpbeller, yep, that's me. Send all complaints to my editor.

-Tom

[MythicalMino]

lol....no complaints....i actually look forward to your "Three Finger Salute" every month...

I hope you are the one doing the review for dom2....

you know, since you are playing it and all....asking questions....replying to me

[Saber Cherry]

Along the same lines of speeding up battles - can you exit battles?

I accidentally pushed a button during a battle replay that froze the battle, and I could still scroll, but there was no way (I could find) to resume the battle, or exit from it. I had to alt-tab out, kill DomII, and reload it. So. Is there an exit battle key?

[Kristoffer O]

'space' - pause/unpause battles

arrow keys and pg up/d to move perspective and zoom

'q' - quit battle


Use '?' when in the main menu to view all keyboard shortcuts.

[Nerfix]

Space pauses the batle, Q exits the batle.

Edit-K.O was faster...

[ October 27, 2003, 18:34: Message edited by: Nerfix ]

[PvK]

I think it can help to have several smaller squads under different commanders, sometimes. One consideration is that when the leader dies or routs, their troops usually do too. So if a huge number of men are under one leader, there is the risk of a mass retreat. The same is true of ordinary casualties - there is still some chance of a huge group routing - all eggs in one basket.

With units in smaller Groups, you can also get an effect where a small group that has been fighting routs, but other fresh Groups have no morale check at all, and fill in the gap. Since the routed units are likely to be wounded, this can actually reduce your overall casualties from a battle - sometimes fleeing to fight another day is a good thing - sticking around while nearly dead often isn't a good idea.

PvK