Well, I'm through with the game

[Kristoffer O]

Tichy said:
KO: I'm not sure I understand your explanation for random scales. Why would the effect of a pretending being's aura on the land be random? Why wouldn't it have something to do with the kind of being that is doing the pretending?

So it'd seem to make more sense, given what you said your aim is, to tie scales thematically to pretender, so any nation led by a PoD would have death scales, Lord of the Hunt growth, Oracle magic, Lady of Fortune luck etc.

My point is that it is the scales that make the pretender into a being of growth or turmoil, not the physical appearence. But I agree that it would feel thematically nice to have a fertility god that looks as one.

In the case of, say an Oracle, or generic titan there is nothing to say what kind of dominion it should have. A titan might very well be a being of storms, thunder, devastation and turmoil. Many middle eastern gods were gods of death and rebirth, and should probably have dominions of growth half of the year (death the other half?) and order, since the change of the seasons is a recurring event. Gods of death might have dominions of growth since they command death and pestilence and keep it from the living. Other gods might be harsh and punishing and combine the worst kind of environment combined with a demand for utter order and servitude. If this god uses death magic, fire or sparingly gives fertility to the few blessed is up to your imagination.

Gods do not follow conventions very much. So totally random scales felt OK and gives greater variation. When you meet the Oracle of death you start to think about what kind of pretending god it is. God of all putrid waters? or perhaps the Thief of Freshness that draws the life from the land in an effort to aid its inhabitants and send destruction upon the enemies of the land.

If I redesigned the game I would perhaps begin with scales and then get a few available chassis from there on, but I'm quite fond of random gods. It sparkles my imagination at least

[PashaDawg]

I love the idea of role-playing in the game. I don't do it enough, and it might be fun to start a MP game where role-playing was emphasized. The yarnspinner games were sort of like that, but I was too lazy to write regularly.

[capnq]

Kristoffer O said: Gods do not follow conventions very much. So totally random scales felt OK and gives greater variation.

The scales only seem random to our mere mortal intellects. The gods' aspects make perfect sense in the light of their ineffible divine wisdom.

Or maybe it's just that the gods must be crazy.

[Aezeal]

Well it's a strategy game too, and strategy gaming sort of demands opponents that put up a fight. No offence KO but SP dominions 3 just isn't as nice to play as in MP (which usually is so IMHO but I mean it's less nice than MP compared to other games (does this make sense?)).

It's your game of course but I think a majority of the people here would think it was a better game if there was some AI behind choosing the scales (or several dozen pre-created pretenders) just becuase it would then put up more of a fight and not kill itself
Other improvemets to AI would also be nice but just the scales would already help a lot.. or the OPTION to select that (as mentioned above).

As MP game I think is a very good game, as SP not so good.


PS I think the original poster of the thread would indeed be best of to forget dominions 3, if you don't want MP (which is great) and don't like the SP (which I can relate to somewhat) then please have fun with other games

[Tichy]

Fantastic.

"FEAR ME! FOR I AM THE THIEF OF FRESHNESS"

"Noooo! All our breads, they are croutons now! We are lost!"

[Kristoffer O]

What's wrong with croutons ? Aren't they nice in soups?

[Tichy]

If what the thief of freshness does to bread doesn't scare you...take a look a the soup.

[moderation]

Does it make the soup undead?

[AstralWanderer]

Aezeal said:
Well it's a strategy game too, and strategy gaming sort of demands opponents that put up a fight...It's your game of course but I think a majority of the people here would think it was a better game if there was some AI behind choosing the scales (or several dozen pre-created pretenders) just becuase it would then put up more of a fight and not kill itself

I'd second this - I personally do not game online (so won't ever try MP for Dominions or anything else) and would suggest that many "anti-social gamers" are less likely to post at forums, hence the MP bias here.

The exploration/role-playing aspects are certainly fine for the initial games, but a competent AI is really necessary for long-term appeal.

In the case of scales, it would seem fairly simple to keep the random generation but to add a sanity check to force a reroll when a clearly unfavourable combination (Turmoil/Death/Misfortune) comes up. Having more specific selection criteria for certain nations (LA Ermor probably doesn't need Growth, the Nordic nations shouldn't choose Heat) would help the AI without decreasing variety.

[Kristoffer O]

I think there are some criteria for national scales. This was the case in dom2 at least. There might have been unintentional changes to this. IIRC Ermor was hardcoded to have other settings than other nations and cold/heat loving nations often took the preffered scale, but with the differentiation into eras and a tripling of nations numbers this might have been screwed up, (probably not the cold/heat stuff, but possibly ermor's preferences).