Hi, I'm Jim. I'm a Dominions Addict.

Amhazair · #1 May 19th, 2008, 07:43 AM

Settings are quite often standard, with the most likely to change site frequency (often increased to 40 or even 50 in the later ages) and independents (sometimes to 6 or 7) Research, gold, resources, supply are rarely changed from the standard settings. 15 provinces/player seems to be the average, though there are enough games with more or less.

All of the above is obviously an average. From time to time you'll see games with wildly different settings being organized. (I've seen independents 0 with easy research for example, for quick & early wars)

I think that there are somewhat less games being started right now because the mega-game is sucking in a lot of players (62 to be precise) and because others might be planning their hollidays. Even so, new games start up fairly regularly, so while I can imagine you're just about ready to chew through a wall wanting to start out on a MP game (I know I did when I started out) you should be able to find one starting relatively soon.

JimMorrison · #2 May 19th, 2008, 08:21 AM

Interesting. I've been reading a lot of strats in the last couple of days to push my game to the next level, and I was actually struck by the thought that MP games must generally use similar settings (assumed probably near default, but who can know?).

The reason was that I had started playing with independants at 9, and it seemed to me that this had a bias to a much slower start, rather than the typically proscribed "attack on second turn and don't stop".

To be terribly honest, part of the reason I wanted to know about trends, was so I could start another game with somewhat "typical" settings and layout, to refine my own starting tactics.

In any case, much appreciation for the help you've given. 8 ) You're right about the chewing, I hope one opens soon!

LDiCesare · #3 May 19th, 2008, 08:31 AM

llamabeast has a FAQ about technicalities for pbem that he hosts. It's on this forum, but actually the easiest way to find it is through www.llamaserver.net and follow the link from there.
Victory conditions seem to often be standard, with some vp thrown in.

chrispedersen · #4 May 19th, 2008, 01:53 PM

Jim, I like indeps set to strength 9, but that rarely occurs. People think it gives bless nations too much advantage. I think it helps awake gods more, personally.

Playing mp.. you have to push expansion hard. I was doing what I thought was pretty good in a game.. I had 7 territories on turn 5. Turns out 7 nations out of 20 had more than that.

Early starts matter.. a lot.