Anybody else dislike the endgame?

Arryn · #1 February 7th, 2004, 03:29 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mcv:
I've read somewhere that you can do that with rituals, but it's not obvious from the UI, and I don't understand why they didn't add the same feature for forging.

Mouse over the caster and press SHIFT-M to cast a monthly ritual.

The short answer to why the folks at IW haven't done various UI-related things is they (by their own admission) dislike UI coding, and prefer to code AI or do other gameplay-related stuff. The aVersion to UI coding may be a perversely Swedish thing, because Paradox (another Swedish outfit, which also began with 2 programmers) has had ongoing UI issues (for years) with EU, EU2, HOI, and Victoria. But unlike Paradox, IW actually has produced a good AI. If the HOI AI was half as good as Dom's, I'd still be playing HOI.

Quote:

Cloud Trapeze and Teleport work only on the caster, and not on an entire army (I think they arrive too early in the game for that), and Stygian Paths kills your army. (I'm sure there are more, but I had to search to find even these.)

Gateway (page 117) works on the caster and all troops assigned to him. The L8 Construction magic item Gate Stone (page 61) works just like the Gateway spell.

Taqwus · #2 February 7th, 2004, 08:15 PM

If memory serves, the Gateway Stone now casts Astral Travel, which is basically the Dom I-style Gateway -- unlike Dom II Gateway, the destination does not have to be a friendly province with a lab.

Endoperez · #3 February 7th, 2004, 08:36 PM

Also, there is Death spell Stygian Abyss, a portal with some risks, and Nature spell Faery Trod that takes an army and lets the mage and all troops in his command to move through hidden, magical paths to a forest province of his choice. Also, there is Earth-Astral + Construction route for the Gate Stone, which also all-troops-on-my-command effect. What else did you want?

Oh, there is a (nature-air?) flying ship too.

Saxon · #4 February 9th, 2004, 09:57 AM

The comment that the end game is busy work is pretty accurate. The solution, from my point of view, is to ignore a lot of it. I stop worrying about every little thing, push the big things, and rush through turns. Sure, I win on turn 100 instead of 95, but I finish about three hours earlier. Once you reach the end game and you know you will win, either call it a night or rush through. If you are really strong enough, cutting corners will not matter. Your grand plan is in place and usually just needs a few more turns to work, rather than more fine tuning.

I resisted this for some time, but gave in Saturday night and raced through five turns in the time of one. Lo and behold my dominion based strategy crushed Vanheim, even though I had ignored the strategy, only moving the big armies against Ulm. I took a few minutes longer on the next turn to snap up the now empty provinces, then fast forward again. I pumped in all the cash I was not spending into overly high provincial defenses, it was quick and protected me.

I guess what I am suggesting is that if you really want to play the game to the end, change your approach. It is fun and fast.

tinkthank · #5 February 10th, 2004, 02:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Saxon:

I guess what I am suggesting is that if you really want to play the game to the end, change your approach. It is fun and fast.

Sure.
But I think our tastes may differ. I like this game because of the depth to it. I don't "really" play to win, but to unfold my plans at various levels and see how they flourish -- or perish. I think some of the suggestions made here and other places could really be helpful. I can only imagine what UI coding is like, but who knows -- if I gather correctly, Dominions II is not something the people at Illwinter are doing in their spare time, but is a commercial enterprise complete with post-sale support, client binding and customer relations management -- well, it is at least a commercial enterprise (hence: us paying for their services), and although I hope UI coding isnt all that awful, I really do hope too that some of the less pleasant work will also get accomplished. It would be great for their excellent game and great for a lot of customers who think like I do.

Graeme Dice · #6 February 9th, 2004, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by tinkthank:
I can only imagine what UI coding is like, but who knows -- if I gather correctly, Dominions II is not something the people at Illwinter are doing in their spare time, but is a commercial enterprise complete with post-sale support, client binding and customer relations management

Then you would gather incorrectly, since I don't think anyone has ever said anything other than that the two programmers do it all in their spare time.

tinkthank · #7 February 9th, 2004, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:

quote:
Originally posted by tinkthank:
I can only imagine what UI coding is like, but who knows -- if I gather correctly, Dominions II is not something the people at Illwinter are doing in their spare time, but is a commercial enterprise complete with post-sale support, client binding and customer relations management

Then you would gather incorrectly, since I don't think anyone has ever said anything other than that the two programmers do it all in their spare time.

Are you serious?