D2 vs Aow:SM

[Wendigo]

Originally posted by NTJedi:
Dominions_II is like Civilization_III with fantasy elements but much more evolved.

I do not think this is a good comparison. They are both 4x games but have little more in common.

City building is a core part of Civ, while it's simplified a lot in Dom. Battles in Civ are a joke because of the huge abstraction & weird results like spearmen killing battleships, battles are one of the core elements of Dominions & have been treated with great care.

second: the artificial intelligence of computer opponents makes it easy to predict some army movement actions. I also have yet to see the AI opponents to try and assassinate one of my commanders. The largest topic on this forum is about improving the AI... but that's the way it is with most strategy games. [/QB]

Disagree. The AI doesn't do worse that the AIs from similar games, and I have played most of them.

Half of the thread you are referring to consist of 4 or so posters quoting each other's post entirely to add 'I agree' (deep thoughts indeed) & say how much they rock the AI.

Yet I have never faced any of them in MP to gauge how much of that is real skill & how much of it is ego stroking or taking advantage of extreme designs+tailored settings to get an easy win.

Others have said it previously, but I will do it also...
Dom II has 2 big strenghts: It's depth & its replayability: the game promised hours & hours of gameplay because it's without challenge the deepest game in the genre: Over 1,000 units, hudreds of spells, 17 nations...all of them different with their particular background & mythologically/historically inspired (instead of stock elves & orcs).

The game accounts for fatigue in battle, supplies, morale, experience, battle aflictions...the scope is epic with battles of even 1,000+ troopers and the way the tactical engine receives orders first & fights the battle on its own afterwards allows for this to be manageable.

If you want a prettier game, a game for the masses you should try AoW.

If you want a better game, a game for hardcore gamers that have played tons of different comp/board/miniatures games & know quality when they see it, then go for Dom II.

-edit grammar

[ November 25, 2003, 14:02: Message edited by: Wendigo ]