Poll #2. [Try out the demo, and vote after that!]

[PvK]

Gee, the AI in Doms I has done pretty well against me. I've played five SP games, with pretty average difficulty settings, and it's record is 2:1 in its favor so far (2 games were lost in a hard drive crash before they had got beyond the opening stages). In the one game I am pretty clearly going to win, I was stalemated for a very long time with a two-front land war, and only barely escaped destruction when a third AI (Ermor) started sweeping in from three directions underwater. The AI showed some weaknesses, but I thought overall it did a very good job, especially considering the bazillions of possible factors to consider in the game. AI improvements are always appreciated, though. I suppose if I played it more as a competetive puzzle than as an RPG, though, I might be able to find ways to easily play against the AI weaknesses, but that's pretty much the case in all complex games.

PvK

[MythicalMino]

PvK....I agree....I am not saying to dro the AI...but complex games, lend to mediocre AI...look at SE4....the vanilla AI there, ppl complain all the time about it....but, the mods and MP is what helped that game become what it is...

My point I am trying to make is, the only reason I hear that IW should do something is because nobody wants MP to begin with...that is what I am getting tired of hearing...There is a strong core of ppl that play ONLY MP...and practice in SP...

20 ppl voting on a message board poll does not equal the entire game community...simple as that...

[Particle]

Originally posted by cpbeller:
PvK....I agree....I am not saying to dro the AI...but complex games, lend to mediocre AI...look at SE4....the vanilla AI there, ppl complain all the time about it....but, the mods and MP is what helped that game become what it is...

My point I am trying to make is, the only reason I hear that IW should do something is because nobody wants MP to begin with...that is what I am getting tired of hearing...There is a strong core of ppl that play ONLY MP...and practice in SP...

20 ppl voting on a message board poll does not equal the entire game community...simple as that...

I think many of the posters here are tired by your comments. (I am a SP fan myself)

Okay lets think. Around 80% of the people here, on the Boards are SPers.
Sure there is that IRC chan. I just visited it. It is a small IRC room with a few finnish Dominion players. They are MPers.
Sure not everyone posting here. 3 of my friends, who preordered the game, are mainly SPers. They won't post here more than likely.

We can't tell the exact number of the SP/MP community, but the fact is that hella lot of players are SPers. [Propably lot more fans are SPers.] This is normal in strategy games.

Since Dominions is a SP/MP game, and the SP AI is not "that good", the developers should concentrate on this, to make it lot better.
I hope that cpbeller will understand this.
This has nothing to do with the SP/MP community.

If IW want to make a good game, they must improve what they can. I am pretty sure that the AI can be lot better. Now that the demo is out, the game is coming, they will have time to fix things, like the AI.
Just my 2 cents.

(I voted below average for the AI.)

[ October 27, 2003, 21:42: Message edited by: Particle ]

[DominionsFan]

Hey! I am a singleplayer freak too.

I love the demo of Dominions II., but the AI is very average or a little worse.

[MythicalMino]

you know....if you guys don't want to listen and look at reality...fine....after the devs have made it clear in many places, that the game is primarily a MP game...keep on trying to push MP out of the picture....whatever...

[ October 27, 2003, 21:55: Message edited by: cpbeller ]

[DominionsFan]

Originally posted by cpbeller:
you know....if you guys don't want to listen and look at reality...fine....after the devs have made it clear in many places, that the game is primarily a MP game...keep on trying to push MP out of the picture....whatever...

Hey, I think you missed something. I think its nm that Dominions I. was made for MP mainly. Thx. to Shrapnel Dominions II. have LOT LOT LOT more fans than Dominions I.! LOT more fans = LOT more SP fans.
Even if we would have a community with 50% SP and 50% MP fans, the devs must please both of these Groups. [I think that the SP community is lot bigger btw.]
I think the MP part is really cool, but the SP AI must be lot better, so the SP fans will be happy than.

[DominionsFan]

Hey cpbeller I checked out that IRC room a few days ago, and ~10 people were there. You call that big?

[MythicalMino]

well, you know, i was in there earlier, and there was about 20 ppl....different times, different amounts of ppl....yesterday I came onto these forums, it only showed 3 ppl recently visited...does that mean that nobody ever comes here?????

And, I agree, the AI does need to be upgraded if it is weak...I am not saying it doesn't need to be....my point is this...AGAIN...

Why do the ppl that like SP think that they should own the stock and dismember the MP...just because they think there are more ppl that plays it SP? When really, it is only about 4 or 5 that keeps bringing the notion that sooooooo many ppl want only SP....

Read my Posts...that is what I am saying....also, if you read my Posts...I am also saying I am mostly a SP type gamer...I am all for a more robust SP game...but I am not going to DEMAND things from the developers when I KNOW that Dominions is more a MP game....

Case Closed...agree/disagree...I couldn't care less

[Windreaper]

Originally posted by cpbeller:

Like I said before, go to #dominions on irc, ask them what they play...SP or MP....They will tell you.

I don't care if they don't post here or not. I don't care if they are in a MP chat room, There are many ppl that prefer MP.

Ok. Someone mentioned that the channel #dominions
was very quiet. That was mainly because everyone
was waiting dom2 and thus no1 played any games
or such (if you get my meaning). I've been a
#dominions regular since dom1 came out and have
taken part both in TCP/IP and PBEM MP games. After
learning the basics in SP mode I really haven't
touched SP much except to test some new pretender
designs or such.

I think that I can pretty much speak for the
finnish Dominions community: "Yes, we prefer dom
MP because there's no way a computer can be as
sneaky as another human being. Besides, winning
against a computer doesn't compare to utterly
crushing the pitiful nation of your fellow human
opponent".

I've taken part in maybe two or three
"international" PBEM games and taken part in the
usenet conversation. I also wrote the rather longish Pangaea guide for dom1 (with my real name, Mikko Heikkilä). Btw, the most recent Version is up at sunray's site, one at dominions.tk is pretty much outdated.

So you're pretty much right in saying that most
of the Dominions community isn't posting here
as it is (didn't see any Posts from "legends"
like Gandalf Parker - otoh if he's posted here then I'm sorry because I missed it). I hope that the situation will change once people get used to the demo.

EDIT: damn, got to learn to post properly in this board, the edits got sort of messy

[ October 28, 2003, 00:08: Message edited by: Windreaper ]

[Mortifer]

Here we go.