Nation/Era with less micro

[Gandalf Parker]

On my site there are a number of things such as maps that dont get listed in other places that are designed around solo gaming. In particular I like them larger, and lots more choke points, than would be used for MP gaming.
http://www.dom3minions.com

You might consider having some fun with the allies command. Especially if you like playing with the All Ages mod.
#allies nation-number nation-number specific AI will not attack AI

So, for instance, if you wanted all 3 eras of Pangaea to not attack each other use something like notepad to add these commands to the end of a map.
#allies 11 40
#allies 40 61
#allies 61 11

You might also toss in Oceania since they are basically water versions of Pangaea. Maybe even group in other non-human nations. You can create an alliance of blood nations, nations with lots of undead, nations of man, nations of giants, etc.
Here is a list of nation numbers...
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/nations.txt

Throwing in the semi-blank nations can be fun on a large map. They are basically weak nations which will scatter guarded castles into the game to be captured and used by you and the AIs.

In my SingleAge mod (which was before All Ages), I included lines for Special Monsters and Independents. Im not sure if it carried over to All Ages. The SpecMons can be alot of fun to toss into a solo game. They will be an AI nation, with castle and temples and labs. But they play with the white banner of the Independents. So its hard to know where they are. And suddenly you get attacked by "independents" of mixed units. Its like turning on full AI for the indepts for 2 places on the map. A very different game.

Its also fun to build super gods for SpecMons using map commands. Using Horrors as gods, or super angels, or Tarrasgue. Using Eater of the Dead is fun since it eventually "breaks free" and starts wreaking havoc across the map.

[Makinus]

nice maps... would it be possible to make a pipe map wraparound? i´m imagining a ringworld-style map.....

[BigDaddy]

In less competetive games you can use clams for keeping pearls on mages but not as gem gens... which reduces MM.

[chrispedersen]

Play blitz. be dead before turn 50.

[Ironhawk]

I second Squirrel. Playing on small maps is really the only sure-fire way to reduce micro. Cause most of the regular micro of dom is really unavoidable. You have to think about strategy. You have to script. There's no getting around it.

[Gandalf Parker]

For large games you might try a tower or pipeline map. A tower map is as tall as you want but only wide enough to have one nation so all nations are stacked. It allows for a long game but maintaining limits battlefronts. Pipeline is the same but sideways instead of up and down. Tower is best for avoiding MM since it makes the menus (such as F1) and many game actions match the map.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ive thought about it. But it would be a REAL pain to have the game draw that slow arrow all the way across the map to show movement. Might be worth testing one though. It would also be really easy to connect. And easy to smudge the ends so they look connected when the game display it

[Sombre]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

Ive thought about it. But it would be a REAL pain to have the game draw that slow arrow all the way across the map to show movement.

What does that have to do with wraparounds?

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by Sombre

What does that have to do with wraparounds?

If you turn on wraparound on the map for a pipeline or tower its confusing because the game only has one wrap. you cant separate top-bottom or left-right.

On the other hand if you leave off the wraparound instruction and just allow neighbor commands to create the wrapping, then when you are at the "end" of the map and try to move it paints this long ugly arrow all across the map.

Hmmmm....
but thanks for asking. I suppose I could modify the map image to add a big blank area on each side of it. Then #wraparound could be added to the .map
Maybe even finally put the keypress chart there like I kept meaning to. Make a nice newbie map

[BigDaddy]

I was just discussing hydras on another thread. It reminded me of this thread.

Not enough micro in an MP game might very well get you killed. Sometimes micro can win the game, although normally that isn't the case... it just moves stuff in your favor.

It's like with hydras. I wanted to like hydras. I practiced with them, timing them for certain type of independents, but ultimately didn't like all the micro, all the skill, involved.

On the other hand, you could just hire a bunch of orindia(sic?) or principes and leave them in a big square in the middle of the screen... Suddenly, you don't feel as bad when 20die to take a tough province, because you have so many. And there's no MM. Course, they won't really damage an opponents army that much either.

In SP, there probably isn't a single nation that can't win with decent scales and some kind of astral rainbow pretender, and in some cases and SC pretender. The typical long term MP game, however, almost requires the micro management. Personally, I can die skillfully without much MM, and I tend to get sloppy as MM mounts... but I have seen it come in quite handy in many circumstances.