The Ages

[Armadi]

I will be buying Dominions 3 this weekend and have never played a Dominions game before (except the demo). I really enjoyed the demo, love the theme, and am close to obsessed with the game. Currently reading up on the game in various threads in this forum and at strategywiki.

Searched for a topic that gave a basic overview of the ages and gave recommendations for new players and was unable to find one.

The wiki, and a few threads express the following opinion on the Ages:

Early Era- magic sites are more common, powerful mages and sacreds are more accessible, heavy armor is rare. The focus is on magic.

Middle Era- balanced.

Late Era- Magic is more rare and there is more emphasis on soldiers/conventional warfare.

I'm currently deciding what age to play my first game in. Middle Era seems like the way to go, but I'd like the opinions of more experienced players on this.

1. What is the most interesting era to play in?

2. What would be the best era for a new player to play in?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Middle age isn't bad.

With late age, you'll have to deal with Ermor, Ashen Empire.
With late age, you'll have to deal with R'lyeh, Dreamlands.

I say start with middle age because thats where I got my multiplayer experience in, not for any real reason. But with late age, you have some very dominion dependent nations you might encounter that'll mix things up.

In middle age, troops tend to be more diversified as well, which will give you some additional flexibility. For instance, EA Ctis has zero scouts. MA has them.

What is the most interesting? No opinion yet, I'm not 'experienced'.

[Armadi]

Thank you, that was exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

More opinions are welcome.

[Warhammer]

I actually prefer the EA to the MA. Haven't tried LA yet.

[RamsHead]

I would say that mages in the early age are generally more powerful but focused in their magic, while late age mages are skilled in more paths but not are as strong in any of the paths. The middle age mages are somewhere in between. This is just generally speaking though and not true for all nations.

[sector24]

EA is good if you want a savegame in which you max out the research tree so you can see all the spells and construction paths for future games. Generally it's easier to learn the ropes of the game in EA because you're exposed to mages with higher spell paths and more magic sites.

I have not played LA yet, but I like MA more than EA now that I have some experience with the game.

[jutetrea]

For me I like EA > LA > MA

None of the nations in MA really resonate with me, while a few of the LA ones are fun and most of the EA nations are fun.

Its all personal opinion of course. I started with EA and worked my way later and was subsequently disappointed with how limiting magic is later. It might actually be more worthwhile to try it the other way around so you have a greater progression on magic

Magic plays such a huge role in late game that once you get used to it... later ages just don't cut it.

YMMV

[iceboy]

You could always play the 62 nation mod and play all three!

[Salamander8]

I find all ages have something to offer, and I have favorites in every era.

EA: I like Yomi, R'Lyeh, Agartha, Abysia, Atlantis, C'Tis and Lanka.
MA: has my all-time favorite nation and version of R'Lyeh, Agartha, Abysia, Atlantis, C'Tis and Shinuyama.
LA: Jomon, Agartha, R'Lyeh, Atlantis, C'Tis and the undead hordes of Ermor.

Even in Late ages I find mages are very important. Early on they don't do a lot in battle in any era, but as you research more and more spells, they slowly but surely become more and more crucial.

[thejeff]

I'd poke around. Play all three.
Pick a nation that grabs your interest and try it in all 3 eras.
Start a lot of games and abandon them to try something else that seems cooler.

I think the differences between the ages are often exaggerated . There are a lot of potent mages even in the late age and while the early ages have less armor, there are still heavy units around and they tend to have stronger sacreds, so armies can't be ignored.

The biggest difference, and easiest to change, is probably the default magic site chance.