Two Newb Questions

[Ironhawk]

zepath said:
On the first point, try setting up your game with the "Victory Points" condition for victory. Select the button that assigns one point to each national capital...

Actually if your intent is to keep players in the game then I would recommend not having capital VPs. The capital is the heart of any empire and if you lose yours you are basically out of the game. By not placing a VP in the capital you reduce the incentive to capture it.

[zepath]

Ironhawk is certainly right.

[elxaime]

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

[Endoperez]

There are two kinds of VP in the game now. The normal VP condition is met when someone (anyone) controls the required number of VPs, even if for a turn. Several well-timed stealth-attacks could win the game.

In a cumulative VP game, the number of VPs will increase by one for every VP province controlled in midsummer. The more victorypoints one controls, the more points he gets, but even if he loses some of his VPs he might have a chance ofwinning if he is too far ahead. Surprise attacks in early summer can still win the game, but more often it just gives one player an advantage instead of instant win.


As far as starting locations go:
The game does try to give nations spesific starting provinces. I don't think it can recognize desert areas, though, so starting or neighbouring province(s) of the preferred terrain should be enough. Ulm prefers mountains and/or forests, at least, and Pangaea forests, etc. I'm not sure how often the nations start in provinces of their preferred terrain, but I guess it would be pretty often.

The starting sites can be pre-set as well. this is done by editing the .map file (or copying it and editing the copy). Map editing manual in \Dominions 3\doc has details about the process, but it basically consists of one
#specstart <nation nbr> <province
nbr>
line for every nation. Nation numbers are in the end of the map editing manual, not in the mod manual.

[HoneyBadger]

I like to use huge maps, 1500 provinces are a given. Also setting gold, resources, and supplies to 50, and independent provinces to 9, really slows the game down. It also promotes careful strategy and makes each unit just a tiny bit more personal. If people are playing water nations (my favorite), make sure they're separated into different smaller bodies of water with one very large ocean to compete in. That way you don't get any of that land-vs-water nonsense. Everybody should have their own territory, infact, as that will promote competition in the wider world while reducing land-grabbing-out-of-necessity. If there are specific provinces which earn VP then make sure they are very well-guarded. Learn to create and modify maps, and program VP provinces to be guarded by dragons, cyclopes, krakens, etc. Not 500 krakens, mind you! but a respectible force that will take a dedicated, concerted effort to take, hopefully extending the capturing nation's resources to the point where it becomes interesting to see whether or not that nation can hold on to the province. That way, you may see more bargaining (diplomacy in action) and long-term planning, which should invest peoples' interest more than not, and the more interested everyone is in the outcome of the game, the less chance everyone will end up in front of the television, instead.

[llamabeast]

1500 provinces! Wow. Unless your family are very (very very) keen, that might overwhelm them a bit. Something like 15 provinces each seems to be the norm.