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September 8th, 2007, 08:58 PM
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Lieutenant General
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Join Date: Dec 2003
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Re: To buy, or not to buy...
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HolyFire said:
1) Are there any changes between the demo and the current full version which help cope with those issues?
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Not particularly.
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2) Are such changes planned for, or are likely to appear in, the near future?
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Major overhauls are extremely unlikely, but small extra features are always a possibility.
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3) Is there any workaround to alleviate these difficulties?
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In the area of battle scripting, there are a large number of tricks for getting mages and units to do as you want. It's still far from perfect, but clever scripting still plays an extremely important part in dominions. And yes, there were formerly attack commander commands in dominions 1, but they were disabled due to their power.
As to the issue of researchers/commander recruiting, it can be a bit of an annoyance, but I find it rare that recruiting mages each turn rarely takes more than a few seconds.
EDIT: It is certainly true that 'n' is invaluable in managing researching and recruitment.
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4) Is there any other reason why those issues are not as consequential as I currently believe?
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Part of the reason these issues may stand out to someone learning the game, is that it takes time to get a good enough feel for it to strategize properly. Someone just learning may spend a lot of time hitting end turn and just trying stuff out, as opposed to later on playing more competitively and spending more time thinking how to get the most out of their turn than running through the actual mechanics of executing it.
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September 8th, 2007, 10:07 PM
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Second Lieutenant
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Durham, NC
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Re: To buy, or not to buy...
I feel exactly the same way that you do about every aspect of the game. $55 is a lot to pay for this game, but at the same time if you're the type of person that enjoys hardcore TBS games then it is definitely worth it. If graphics are what appeal to you, then this game should be about $19.99. Your mind is definitely rewarded more than your eyes.
The most important thing to learn is how to run your nation with a minimal amount of tedium. The automation in this game is lacking compared to other games, so learning how to deploy research centers and recruit in an efficient manner is just as important as knowing what the best spells are and what the magic path boosting items are. If you can't sort out the best way to search for magic sites and give battle order then you'll quickly get tired of the game.
The battle orders are the same in the full version. I find them severely limiting too, and when you're not using thugs and SCs, it barely makes any difference what orders you give to your standard troops.
Having bought the game, I'd definitely buy it again. But the game is very multiplayer oriented, so if you don't have any plans to play with a friend or try one of the public games here on the forums, it has a smaller shelf life. You sound like the kind of person that can make a logical decision as to whether this game is "worth it" or not to you, basically the full version grants you 45ish new nations, full research trees and the ability to play a game from start to finish. It's a lot of content, but if you're frustrated with the fundamentals, the full version won't address those issues.
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September 8th, 2007, 10:37 PM
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Major
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Union, SC
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Re: To buy, or not to buy...
Every couple of weeks, if you think, "Man, I want to get Dominions 3!" Put $10 in a jar. You can get it in less than three months, most likely.
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Caduceus
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September 8th, 2007, 10:45 PM
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Major General
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Columbus, OH
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Re: To buy, or not to buy...
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sector24 said:
The battle orders are the same in the full version. I find them severely limiting too, and when you're not using thugs and SCs, it barely makes any difference what orders you give to your standard troops.
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This is extremely untrue. Battlefield position and placement of normal units is crucial in larger battles. even beyond the "flankers at the top and bottom."
Jazzepi
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September 8th, 2007, 10:59 PM
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First Lieutenant
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Honolulu HI
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Re: To buy, or not to buy...
I am a cheapskate. I almost never buy a game new. I almost never buy a game for more than $10. I say almost never because I bought Dominions 2 and 3 new at full price I I dont regret a thing.
Buy the game. Its worth it. If you don't like the AI there are plenty of real world player who will open a can for you.
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Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
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September 8th, 2007, 11:29 PM
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Lieutenant Colonel
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Join Date: May 2007
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Re: To buy, or not to buy...
I believe its possible to get used to the GUI to such an extent most of the issues become irrelevant, especially if you ever played Master of Magic without a keyboard. Also, in multiplayer, these interface issues are much less pronounced than in singleplayer. If you're doing a turn every 12 or 48 hours, in three very different games, you're going to be checking over most of your empire anyways. In singleplayer, though, you'll will feel the lack of automation.
I believe there is some key to hide researchers, but I'm afraid I don't use it or remember what it is.
Also, the developers aren't afraid to make signficant changes such as new content, but they have mentioned how the dominions engine has become unwieldy, so it's not likely you'll see huge changes into interface and the like.
The empire overview screen isn't as effective as what you might find in some 4x space conquest games, but it will do a lot for reducing some of those problems for you. Try looking at it every turn in the demo, for ten or twenty turns early and late game, and see whether frequent use is enough to reduce your issues to an acceptable level.
I think shift+? can bring up a list of hotkeys, many easy to remember that can assist in play. As well, the virtually undocumented but simple control grouping can help you manage armies.
The manual covers quite a few timesavers at the end, but there are a few shortcuts I don't even know how I learned about, that I haven't seen in the shift-? or the list of hotkeys back in the manual, though I will admit I don't have my manual on hand to doublecheck right now.
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September 8th, 2007, 11:52 PM
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BANNED USER
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Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: To buy, or not to buy...
I won't address your list of points, because other people have that in hand.
I just thought I'd say on the subject of 'getting bang for your buck' that Dominions 3 has a pretty active modding community which has produced well over 20 new nations (I've lost count) of varying quality and content. There are also balance mods, pretender mods, some minor graphical mods,...
Modding dom3 I have found both easy to learn and very rewarding. I spend more time tinkering and building new nations than playing the game most of the time. I also leave 3 mods on every time I play the game, namely...
Conceptual Balance Mod (A huge balancing mod)
Streamers and Standards (Spruces up the Dom3 flag graphics)
Worthy Heroes (Adds more heroes to the game and increases their power / utility)
Anyway, as with games like Half Life and Total Annihilation and whanot, you get a lot of customisation and user made mods for your money, on top of what comes in the box.
It's also worth mentioning that these forums, for the most part, kick ***. Useful information, helpful people and very active. They beat using the manual by a mile most of the time.
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September 9th, 2007, 03:49 AM
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Major General
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Join Date: Sep 2006
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Re: To buy, or not to buy...
Best $55 I have ever spent.
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