What it will take for me to purchase Dom III

[Arralen]

You're right.
This is a very accurate analysis and critcism of Dom2.

It might help somewhat to try a game with

• very difficult research
• map with 10..14 prov/players
• indies 6 or 7
• sites <45% *i forgot to mention*

That way it should take some time for the summons to show up. Nations like Vanheim with a Fire9-Water9 bless could get away without any summons for quite some time. But, o.c., in the long run they are inevitable.

Unless you use some mods.
E.g. you may mod the scales and the production settings so you get more growth, more supplies and more gold - all this will strengthen the conventional units somewhat.

And if I ever find the time before Dom3 arrives (or maybe even afterwards), I'll finish my mod which roughly doubles the gems costs of summons and will make most of them require upkeep. This is a huge task, so I can't promise I'll ever finish it, sadly.

A.

edit: added sites setting