"Master of Magic" Mod

[Foodstamp]

I felt the same way as Aku666, but as I mod more and more nations into Dom3 from Master of Magic, it is easy to see how much more complex and how deep the Dominions series really is compared to Master of Magic.

It is also worth pointing out that Dominions 3 and Master of Magic are so different, that a comparison of the two really does not do them justice.


Here are the main differences as I see them-----------------

Dominions 3 is an army building game where the goal of the player is to create varied armies of different shapes and sizes to put against the AI or other players creations.

Dominions 3's only area of advancement is magic. This magic is used to augment the armies being fielded or to make the travel of those armies easier by weakening the enemies ability to field armies.

Master of Magic on the otherhand is a game of advancement, Hero progression and to a much smaller extent than Dominions 3, army construction.

Master of Magic becomes so personal to the player because your wizard progresses in his power, as well as your heroes. In Dominions 3 a bit of this is lost, the commander leveling and Pretender progression is there, but it is alot less personal and indepth.

After working on this mod, I have really gained an appreciation of just how different these two games really are, although they did not seem it to me when I first started working on the project.

Therefore, Dominions3 is my favorite strategy/army building game of all time, and Master of Magic is my favorite strategy/Hero/wizard development game of all time

[Zarkon]

Another one of the big differences is that Master of Magic has city building and development. Sure, it might not seem like a big deal now, when, if you're like me, you've played through as every race several times, but I remember quite well the first time I built that pegasus stable... In Master of Magic, with good planning you can locate a city by an adamantium vein and create an army with which no one can compete!

Originally I played Master of Magic on a 486sx and I also remember quite well the first time I played it on a pentium, watching that same pegasus' head bob up and down at hyper speed......

Heh heh, Dominions also has working multiplayer.

[aku666]

Yes, you're right. But I wasn't comparing these two great games. I was merely saying, that I had more fun playing MoM years ago, than I have playing Dom right now (it doesn't mean I don't have fun with Dom, I love it ).
I didn't try modding it but maybe later, when the exams are over and I'll have some more time, I'll try.
Ps. I don't like multiplayer games, the only one I've played is Quake and that was a long time ago ;P

[Zarkon]

Y'know I have to agree with you, I had more fun with Master of Magic than any other game...with the possible exceptions of XCOM UFO defence, the original HOMM & Masters of Orion 2. For Dominions 3 to be in their exalted company is quite the honor.

[HoneyBadger]

I've got an idea as following along the line of thinking that Dom3 does not give the same "personalized experience" as MoM (where your wizard progresses in power, along with your heroes).

First of all: can someone confirm for me the theory that it's possible to mod in spells which cost from 10-15 path levels in the 8 paths of magic to cast them? As far as I know, no spell requires 10 or more Paths currently, but it's possible to Empower up to level 15 in any given Path.

If this can be confirmed, you could then use Empowerment in a heavily modified mod (it'd have to be heavily modified for the sake of balance, and because many spells should to be added to retain interest in gameplay) wherein your Pretender (or potentially others, but mainly your Pretender) could cast spells requiring said Pretender to be Empowered to Path levels 11-15. In order to do this, you'd probably want to eliminate or move the Wish spell and other high-level spells, and possibly make less accessible path level enhancing magic items, as well as adding to, and adjusting, the current spell-list so that spells go from Level 1-15 in Path Power instead of the current 1-9.

This would feasably enable Pretender "progression" in a meaningful way and potentially make Empowerment an integral and vital part of the game.

[Taqwus]

...but if you make it harder to boost paths with items, and remove Wish... how do you expect anybody to justify the cost to reach level *15* ?

The number of design points to reach the upper magic levels tends to be pretty harsh, at least in the vanilla game with no base magic level of 4+. The number of gems for empowerment at that level might be better thrown into summons or globals.

[Manuk]

I don't think the pretender as an AD&D character that has to lvl up.
Having lvl 15 in a path can make the casting of a lvl 9 spell in battle cost less fatigue and adds penetration because of the exceeding difference.

[lch]

Foodstamp said:
Here are the main differences as I see them-----------------

Dominions 3 is an army building game where the goal of the player is to create varied armies of different shapes and sizes to put against the AI or other players creations.

I tend to disagree, unless you count building up SCs as "armies", too.

The biggest difference I see is the city building, yes, and the ability to move your units yourself during the combat turns. Some people heavily depended on that: One cheap tactic of players with the Troll nation was to hit+run in battle, waiting until the units are completely regenerated. Would have been too boring to me, but there are some other situations where the order in which your units attacked or control you had over your heroes in combat was essential - you could still hand the fighting over to the AI after you were pretty much done.

HoneyBadger, I don't think your "pretenders have to empower/wish" idea is feasible in any way, because those strategies would be too costly to have a heavy influence on the game. The research needed till you reach level 15 alone would kill the idea, but you'd better be off to sink the gems into summons and items for SCs, too, instead of empowering so much.

Dom3 and MoM are similar, but just too different - I have to agree that I liked playing MoM more, too, because I am a die-hard fan of the original Civilization, too.

[Sombre]

I wouldn't worry too much about making a total conversion of Dom3. It's close enough just to have only mom nations, modify a couple of maps to use mom-unit poptypes (like only the basic units of halflings and whatnot) and to add in mom spells (maybe eventually you could remove some Dom3 spells entirely, leaving you with basically the mom selection).

Even just adding in mom nations would be cool, of course.

[Foodstamp]

@Ich

I would consider building super combatants part of the army building process. I still believe that this game is about army structuring and movement more than anything else, while Master of Magic was about hero progression, city development and gaining power with your wizard.

There are a bit of these elements in both games, but really I still think the games are too different to compare side by side.

@Sombre

I don't intend to convert dominions 3. My plans are to add the races from master of magic, add the heroes (Although I will not be able to assign them fixed names), add a few wizard pretenders, and add as many of the spells as I can that will translate over decently.

I will not be taking anything out of dominions 3 to accommodate this mod beyond a few middle era or late era nations. (The mod will be set in the early era.) Basically I plan on making Master of Magic a part of the current game.

Eventually I plan to incorporate all my favorite fantasy strategy games into Dominions, doing away with the middle and late era, and having 79 nations in the early era .