MP Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Running - Page 34

HoleyDooley · #**331** May 8th, 2012, 12:43 PM

Interestingly Calahan gives some good reasons NOT to go AI. Quoted below the next paragraph.

However, people SHOULD play the game out unless they have real life reasons not to. To walk away from a game in which you still have a part to play is pathetic. I KNOW there are players here who will continue to play as long as they have a chance of winning and drop out as soon as things go sour, despite their empire being strong enough to influence the game.

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Mr Calahan...below.

There are several problems with natons turning AI, and why staling is the preferred option (or at least my preferred option), but for now I'll limit my reply to just the two main ones IMO.

1 - Turning AI is permanent. So while a sub can be found for a staling nation even after several stales, once a nation is set to AI and the turn hosts then that can't be undone (unless you rollback). So mainly because of this I'd rather anyone who has to leave the game suddenly and is unable to contact the admin (ie. real life emergency), then I'd much rather that they just walk out of the game without turning AI first.

As you'd be surprised how often this scenario occurs, and how often players in such a situation think they are doing the game a favour by turning their nation AI rather than just letting it stale. When in practice the exact opposite is the case. As while in theory it sounds logical that an active AI, no matter how poor, would be better than a staling nation, Dominions just doesn't comply with that theory. Even though I have no doubt other online MP games do (my online gaming exp is limited to Dom only, so have no knowledge of how other games play with AI nations)

Although an important aspect in this theory is often how caring and active the game admin is, as sadly some admins couldn't care less if nations are staling and show no corcern at all if their game is falling apart due to multiple staling or AI nations. But luckily for you all I'm a fantastic admin biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif and I do care about the quailty of the games I play in, and especially those I organise and admin. So unless I start forgetting to look left and right, then I certainly won't be letting this game become a staling or AI happy festival.

2 - The AI is dreadful. Really dreadful. If I personally had to choose between fighting a staling nation or fighting the AI, then from a difficulty prespective, and especially from a time needed to defeat them PoV (which is a critical aspect of MP games), then the AI is far easier to beat every time than a staling nation. Mainly because a staling nation can't suicide all it's troops, which is something the AI loves to do, and to the point where its play becomes 100% predictable. (although I'm sure Gandalf would disagree, as the AI is excellent in his mind)

Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in fort sieges, as if you park a Scout on an AI fort then it will always attempt to break siege with everything inside the fort because all it can calculate is an easy victory. So all you have to do is bait the trap with a Scout, then move all your forces in for an instant win. No tricky fort storms required ever, or any need to get sufficient numbers to break the walls down with repairers inside. Whereas if the nation was staling you'd both have to break the walls down of an occupied fort, and battle your way through the gate of the fort (if you lacked the magic and strategic option to win by other means, such as if it's early in the game). And doing that can take considerable time and effort that could genuinely cost you the game if it takes too long, but that time factor disappears against the AI because as I said, it will always attempt to break siege, enabling every fort to be taken in 2-3 turns.

Jolly Roger · #**332** May 9th, 2012, 02:44 PM

Gentlemen,

did I miss something. I´ve already offered to join in as replacement player. Would prefer to play Abysia, but be happy with Arco too.

I´d returned a PM confirming my intention too.

Cheers, Klaus

HoleyDooley · #**333** May 9th, 2012, 08:04 PM

Quote:

However, people SHOULD play the game out unless they have real life reasons not to. To walk away from a game in which you still have a part to play is pathetic. I KNOW there are players here who will continue to play as long as they have a chance of winning and drop out as soon as things go sour, despite their empire being strong enough to influence the game.

By "here" I meant on the forums...... not those left if this particular game.

Jolly Roger · #**334** May 10th, 2012, 10:23 AM

Dear friends,

I´m taking over for Arco. My real name is Klaus, I´m a MD from Germany. Not an experienced Dom3 player, but a semi-professional chess player and very experienced wargamer.
So better you drop me a mail in case we are at good relations..

However, have fun and enjoy the game.

Good luck,

Jolly Roger, King of Arco

BewareTheBarnacleGoose · #**335** May 10th, 2012, 10:41 AM

Youch! First salvo in my war against Atlantis, and my armies are crushed! Chaff does NOT like earthquakes!!

jimbojones1971 · #**336** May 10th, 2012, 09:16 PM

Welcome, Jolly Roger :-)

Very pleased to have you in the game. Dom3 is a lot of fun, and quite addictive (it has a very steep learning curve) so hopefully this is the start of many games to come with you.

krpeters · #**337** May 10th, 2012, 10:16 PM

Wow, Pangaea has lots of troops. I guess someone took some disorder scales? Good luck feeding all that chaff!

jimbojones1971 · #**338** May 10th, 2012, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krpeters

Wow, Pangaea has lots of troops. I guess someone took some disorder scales? Good luck feeding all that chaff!

The chaff eats other chaff. It is like a perpetual motion machine, only with each iteration the act of eating chaff somehow introduces additional energy into the system resulting in exponential growth in the amount of chaff running around.

MA Ermor vs EA Pan would be awesome - chaff everywhere!

Anaconda · #**339** May 11th, 2012, 02:40 AM

You can throw the pass to me, I can act as a sub admin when situation arises.

Kungfoo · #**340** May 11th, 2012, 03:29 AM

Hey all,

I've taken control of Abysia. I'll do my best to honor all existing treaties and trade agreements, provided that they remain within our best national interests. I heartily encourage anyone we've had dealings with in the past to re-open any dialogues that may have been previously discarded, and also invite anyone we haven't met to take advantage of this opportunity to establish an ambassadorship in Abysia.

Although our nation has had some very public failings in recent months, I want to assure our allies that these were due to errors in policy and judgment by the administration of my predecessor, and NOT through any systemic weakness of our country or our people. I have already instituted sweeping economic reform, as well as instituting a new military training program and replacing senior officials with some whose tactics are (significantly) better-suited to winning today's wars.

Our present may be the smoldering embers of our recent past, but our future burns brightly.

- Abysia