"How it started."

[djo]

It's a lot simpler for me. There aren't many turn-based strategy games one can play on OS X on a 5-yr old iMac (400Mhz G3).

I downloaded the demo and had great fun as Machaka, marching my spider armies up the "Iberian" peninsula on the Aran map. I had no idea what I was doing, and I remember being surprised and delighted every time my mages starting casting a new evocation spell on the battlefield.

On turn 39 (last demo turn), I figured I would see what a god could do in combat. So I sent my Ghost King against a big enemy army only to find...he sneaked!

Of course, by then the check was already in the mail for the full game.

[Gandalf Parker]

Started with "Conquest of Elysium"
Grabbed Dominions (one) early on and became a fanatical "fanboi" in the usenet newsgroups about it. Kindof strange actually since its not really "my kind of game". But that meant I explored facets of it that the main gaming group didnt.

Fought the changes in Dominions 2 for a long time. But finally developed a trust of the programmers even though I still wish some of the original features had been kept and builtup more rather than removed. Became just as fanatical about Dom2. Especially scripting random maps.

I will probably fight the changes in Dom3 but it will most likely be a shorter "battle" this time.

Gandalf Parker

[Truper]

I knew Dominions was cool before I played it. Really. I used to read the comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic newsgroup a lot, back before it became mostly porn spam. Dominions generated the most interesting discussion I'd ever read. People debated which troops had an edge against which others, which Pretenders made sense for a particular strategy, discussed the merits of the various nations (which there seemed to be an amazing number of), chortled with joy over a particular spell combo they'd discovered - and I was hooked. It was apparent that the game had a lot of detail, and what's more, a lot of depth. Some games have a lot of complexity that doesn't add to variety, but not this game. I've been playing it for years, and it still surprises me. Then there's the premise - design a pretender god and battle it out, physically, magically, and dominionally (see! we even need new words to talk about it!).

[Nerfix]

I remember that I read a short strategy guide to Dom I in the local gaming mag.

I downloaded the demo, started a game as C'tis on the Old World map and I was sold.

I was pretty confused at start of course but I had an expectionally low age for a Dominions player anyway.

[Endoperez]

Gandalf Parker said:
Started with "Conquest of Elysium"
Grabbed Dominions (one) early on and became a fanatical "fanboi" in the usenet newsgroups about it. Kindof strange actually since its not really "my kind of game". But that meant I explored facets of it that the main gaming group didnt.

Fought the changes in Dominions 2 for a long time. But finally developed a trust of the programmers even though I still wish some of the original features had been kept and builtup more rather than removed. Became just as fanatical about Dom2. Especially scripting random maps.

I will probably fight the changes in Dom3 but it will most likely be a shorter "battle" this time.

Gandalf Parker

Almost the same for me. Except that I was maybe 14 years old when I played Conquest of Elysium, and never ordered it. It was still fun...

I was really into fantasy at that point, and Dominions was "cool". I had no close friends with which I could really talk about fantasy, I spent too much time on my computer, and then used too lot of time playing Dominions.

I haven't felt the same kind of exploring feeling with DomII, because I already knew the nations and units so well. But I never thought it wasn't worth the price I payed, or the wait of half a year. I didn't even notice the fact that maps were static at first, but it's understandable, and the news maps were beautiful. I miss the old "story" maps much more. The Coven is much better than the Eye, IMO.