Tip: OT: Bruce Geryk's other choice

[onomastikon]

Hello everyone, it's been some time since I played Dominions, for a number of reasons, but it and the community still have a fond place in my heart.

I shamelessly plugged Dominions over at the GC2 forums after the Brad and the other fine people at Stardock included press releases of the launch of Dominions3 and posted quite prominent links to Shrapnel on their site. Now, in a sort of crypto-plug, I'd like to ask your advice about something which Dominions vet Bruce Geryk loved,

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...er/review.html

a tiny but excellent niche game from a niche designer which came out 5 years ago. In many ways, I think it can be compared favorably to the Dominions series, and might fill a niche here. I would like your opinion, since I think that game could be truly great, but wonder how it goes with the pure TBS crowd.

In many ways, Star Chamber is like Dominions:
- Ostentatious lack of investment in flashy graphics and sound
- Steep learning curve
- Deep strategic choices and high levels of variability between games of identical setup
- Turns are submitted to the server and resolved simultaneously
- Hence great strategic planning, but no immediate tactical control
- Both games excel at, or, perhaps, were "made for" multiplayer

The differences are equally clear:
- Dom's pure TBS vs. SC's TBS/TCG hybrid
- Dom's Fantasy setting vs. SC's space setting
- Dom games can take weeks to complete, SC matches are usually over in less than an hour

In many other aspects, a direct comparison of similarities or differences fails to hold up. I'd be keen on your opinion. One could say that the way that the magic system in Dominions is much like the tech system in SC: one finds and harvests various magic resources in various paths (gems, slaves) in Dominions much like the way that one harvests' various tech paths (cyber, order, life, etc.) in SC, and that the magic spells are cast by having access to research in the correct areas (plus, on occasion, expending gems correspondingly), while in SC, "spells" are cast by playing cards in the right tech paths. Also, Dominions can appear deceptively easy, yet we all know how difficult it is to be good. I think this is even more true of SC; it appears very easy, but yet it seems very difficult to master. Particularly because the way that some "spells" work: in SC, complexity and variability come not in the overwhelming number of different entities and effects which one can conjur, but rather in the exceedingly subtle way these effects are combined with very tricky conditions under which the effects may or may not take place. The aspect of "Dominion" is much like the aspect of "Influence" on the SC map, and offers an exciting twist to the concept of controlling areas. Additionally, SC has various winning conditions (military, political, cultural), each of which can be sneakily achieved with enough guile. I suppose that "guile" sums up a fairly basic skill required to play both SC and Dominions well.

A lot has happened to SC since Geryk wrote his review 5 years ago. It has developed over the course of 6 expansion sets, and has developed for the better.

Has anyone ever heard of this game?
Has anyone ever tried it?
It's so obviously different from Dominions that I think it isn't much in the way of disjunctive competition, but imagine that it could be quite something of a conjunctive enhancement for many here. I'd be keen to know what you think.

[meister_miagi]

I've been playing SC for many years and I would guess a lot of dominions player would enjoy it, but it's hard to recommend spending money on it, because the game is practically dead. I would still adivise anyone to check it out because it is a really unique game and it can be really intense with two evenly matched opponents.
You can download a demo version where you can play unlimited games with a fixed deck of cards, that should give you an idea of what its about. If you like it, most vets can give anyone a full set of commons(opposed to uncommon or rare cards) to play with (if you need cards you can PM me as well). There used to be a really great, but small community always willing to help out new players. After Sony bought the game they brought out a few expansions in quick succession and then left it to die, which is real shame because this is one of the greatest games of all time. You should check it out while it's still there!

[onomastikon]

Hey thanks m_m for the feedback. But it's a looong way from being dead. It's waaaaay over there in that tiny niche, but it's not dead! What is your SC handle btw?

[meister_miagi]

My handle is mr_miagi I log in from time to time just to check if the Servers are still alive ;-). After talking about it here I think i'll play a game or two tonight.

[quantum_mechani]

This thread inspired me to check out the game, it really is is very well done. Last weekend I got registered so if anyone wants to play a game or two let me know.

[Baalz]

Yeah, I registered and bought some cards as well. Seems like a nice little community and a cool game.

[onomastikon]

Hey, great, thanks guys. Great to hear that some of the critical eyes here have taken a look and improved.

specifically @quantum: You probably don't remember me, but we had a couple of nice matches when I was still fairly newb-ish to Dom2. You also helped me finish my Oglala mod. I am "onomastikon" in the SC community, feel free to chat me up for some matches if you like. Would be great to see you there. What is your SC moniker?

[Irishmafia2020]

As a side note, I found out about Dom 3's existence as a result of the game's free press on the Gal civ forums. I did not buy the game until recently though, when in between Total-War releases I thought to myself "I wonder whatever happened to that turn-based fantasy game from a couple of years ago... I bet it's dropped in price, and has an expansion by now!". Of course, the price is still at a 2006 rate, but after checking out a couple of reviews and "let's Play" threads on something-Awful I concluded that this would be a quite addictive game for me, and therefore worth the price. I also saw that the Dev's added true content to their patches, which means that you practically get the "expansion" for free. Finally, I just love long convoluted game manuals...
The point of this post is that I have bought games based upon the publicity they get in the forums I frequent, so if you know a deserving game, let people know without being spammy...

[quantum_mechani]

Originally Posted by onomastikon

I am "onomastikon" in the SC community, feel free to chat me up for some matches if you like. Would be great to see you there. What is your SC moniker?

My star chamber nick is quantummechani. So far I've only managed to get in a couple games per week, but I look forward to playing a game if we run into each other.

[Baalz]

Just wanted to bump this up and mention I've been playing this game pretty regularly. I think it's got a decent similarity of the gameplay elements of dominions which makes me think there'll be a large overlap in appeal. You "design" your race, try to figure out clever combos and strengths of your race, then once the game starts there's a pretty deep strategy of trying to outmaneuver your opponent and exploit his weaknesses. Plus, you can get a full game in in about 30 minutes, so it's convenient for when you're waiting for your next dom turn. There's even a community run "Newb Open" where they post challenges for new players who can win uncommon cards (common cards are freely given by the community to anybody who needs them). Anyway, $10 buys a lot of game (theres also a free demo to check out), so if anybody wanders over there drop me a line and I can help you flesh out your common cards.