Cooperative Play

[Gandalf Parker]

Its hard to find the mods, maps, guides, etc for things like solo play, AI improvements, team play, servers supporting those, etc. It gives the opinion that no such things exist. A sticky for such things in the Dominions 3 forum, not the MP forum, would by nice (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION before the sparks fly)

But back to your question:
Some things that come to mind are..

Some of the "weak" nations are particularly good for ally play. Ones that are often tossed out of consideration for head-to-head play. Certain magical paths, god builds, built-in abilities such as seduction and stealth and flight, can be very helpful to an ally who can provide defense for the group.

Some tricks have been laid out in some threads that are specific to ally play. What strategies for dominions scales, and global enchantments, can aid allies or should strongly be avoided because they damage allies. How to give specialists such as mages or fortune tellers or healers to your allies. How to setup a province with a castle to be a "turnstyle" province to allow your allies army to move through your territory without leaving it totally undefended.

Also online "whiteboards" can be fun. Where you can upload the map image then all of you can draw on it to lay out strategies and plans like the big planning boards in war rooms in the movies.

[rdonj]

1) Try a map with pre-set starts that cause you to start next to each other, so you have the ability to protect one another.
2) Use map commands to make all the AIs consider each other as allies, so it's your group vs the AI.
3) Try to choose nations and pretenders that can cover each other's weaknesses. You can trade gems, money, and items back and forth as needed, which can make you much more powerful than you would normally be.
4) If this makes it too easy for you, try giving the AI boosts to make it more powerful.

[Septimius Severus]

Stealth troops work particularly good in cooperative play (need to be a bit careful about patrolling though), allowing you to move through friendly territory and so forth. I agree with the above poster regarding paucity of information and help on cooperative play. Communication outside of the game via PM's, e-mail, forums, whiteboards, and so forth really goes along way in giving you that team feeling so that you don't feel like your alone. The in-game messaging and trading system facilitates team play somewhat as well.

[Ink]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

Its hard to find the mods, maps, guides, etc for things like solo play, AI improvements, team play, servers supporting those, etc. It gives the opinion that no such things exist. A sticky for such things in the Dominions 3 forum, not the MP forum, would by nice (IN MY HUMBLE OPINION before the sparks fly)

de gustibus non est disputandum

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by Ink

de gustibus non est disputandum

lupus in fabula

[Ink]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

lupus in fabula

qui me amat, amat et canem meam