The Dominions 3: "Wishlist"

[Agrajag]

Nerfix said:
My simple wish is that it will be a good game.

How about improving that wish?
I wish for it to be the best game ever. =P

[FrankTrollman]

Here are some basic nation write-ups I'd like to see. I hope this is a reasonable format for potential new teams. I agree with Praetorious that we should have ten times as many teams as we do now. As such, I'm going to give an example of a pile of alternate teams for two different new nations: Halflings and Rat Men. I am assuming that the following will be implemented:

Independents:
Different species of population will be implemented, each with different economic profiles. Including some inherent Heat/Cold preferences.

Empires:
You empire will have a Heat/Cold Preference that will add to the Heat/Cold preference of every province you control.

The net result of this is that Caelumites will now have a +2 Cold Empire preference, and all Caelumites will have a +1 Cold Preference. Thus, their home province will have a +3 Cold Preference, but if they conquer Ctis it will probably only have a Cold Preference of +1.

Battle:
I assume that units will be able to arrive flanking in much the same manner as when you cast Howl. There can just be three boxes that you place your flankers in when you set them in a starting position – these correspond to above, below, or behind the enemy.

Hoburglings!
I rather liked the Hoburg SE army list and would like to see that come back as the default Hoburg army. Hoburgling populated provinces should have extra unrest from Death and have extra increased taxes from Growth. Hoburg provinces should produce extra supplies for their population. However, Hoburg should really get Sacred Eagle Riders. Seriously. It's a

Special Gods:
In addition to the Rainmaker, the god of Hoburg should be allowed to be the Flaming Glyph, an the Golden Eagle (who flies, has Awe, and starts with a little Air and Nature).

Special Hoburg themes follow:
[*] Last Dawn: The greatest Hoburg Heroes have failed and the nation of Hoburg has fallen into darkness. Wraiths stalk the land under the guidance of their new dark god.

Troops: Hoburg Elites are no longer available as the advanced troops are now incorporeal undead. Hoburglings are limited to Your Specters have glamor and a patrol bonus. Undead cost money, which means that they cost upkeep as well. You get Ghoul Hoburg who don't have to eat and still wear the Hoburg Platemail. You can buy ghost guard (incorporeal burgermeister guards), death riders (incorporeal skeleton riders), and living hoburg militia. You get no archers. Your leaders include Dark Prophets (Hoburgs with Unholy 2), Spectral Riders (full size cavalry with Astral 1, Death 1, and 1 Random), and Specter Knights (Size 2, Astral 2, Death 2), and Wraith Kings (size 4, ride a flying beast, Astral 3, Death 1, Random 1).

Starting Sites: Astral 3, Death 3

Starting Spells: Nether Bolt, Astral Window.

Special Rules: You must have Magic and Death.

Province Defense: A Spectral Rider comes out with a small pile of

Commentary: Based loosely on the Ring Wraiths conquering Hoburg. It's a money-based death army, so you can horde your death gems until late in the game when you can turn them into Tartarians. The magic requirement makes it unfortunately vulnerable to enemy priests, but at least you have access to large numbers of soulless hoburgers.
[*] The Scouring: The old order of Hoburg has fallen with the passing of the age. Now the citizens of Hoburg follow a new order. Hoburg children have turned their minds to metal and wheels. They do not care about growing things anymore. Once used experimentally for agriculture, the clockwork creature has been transformed into a weapon of war.

Troops: All of the standard Hoburg troops and spellcasters are gone except the crossbowman. There is also now an Arbalester who costs slightly more and carries an arbalest. Most importantly, you have a variety of Clockwork Monsters that cost no gold and do not eat. They cost only resources, but they cost a lot of resources. There are Clockwork Hounds (Size 1), Clockwork Soldiers (Size 2), Clockwork Beasts (Size 3), Clockwork Wyverns (Size 4), Clockwork Spiders (Size 5), and Clockwork Dragons (Size 6). The Clockwork Dragons can only be built in the home province. You also have some war machines, which again cost only resources and do weird stuff. I'd like to see a scatterpult launcher that is armed with like 10 slings and has a siege defense bonus. I'd like to see a Ballista (technically it has a strength of 30 and a Javelin). The spellcasters are now the Engineer (2 Earth, Forge Bonus, Drain Immune), the Priest (a Hoburgling with Holy 2), and in the Capitol the Master Engineer (3 Earth, 1 Random, Forge Bonus, Drain Immune). Even their priests have magic leadership.

Starting Spells: Clockwork Horrors

Starting Sites: 5 Earth, Can build Master Engineer and Clockwork Dragon.

Special Rules: This theme requires Order, Productivity, and Drain.

Province Defense: Crossbowmen and Clockwork Hounds. 20+ gives Arbalesters and Clockwork Beasts.

Commentary: The Scouring is based loosely on Saruman's Scouring of the Shire and Industrial-Hell Isengard setup. It is also based on the backstory of the Clockwork Horrors already present in Dominions 2. These guys are going to be the Mad Castlers of all Mad Castlers. Every Castle they make generates free troops forever. They have every reason to max out their income because both Order and Productivity give them extra money as a side effect of granting them access to more resources, which are what they are actually after – and let's face it, there's not much they even can spend money on. The late game is going to have a Wizard's Tower every twenty feet in the empire of Scoured Hoburg. Expect all late strategies to include casting the Riches – as this will give them enough resources to actually produce a Clockwork Dragon every turn.
[*] The Blood Works: Gears held insufficient stamina for long battles, as the engineers of Hoburg quickly discovered. But the souls of children had no such problem. The Engineers turned to the wholesale sacrifice of their fellows in order to attempt to make the perfect engine of military might. The populace was outraged and attempted to destroy the Blood Works when they learned of it. But the dark god of Hoburg intervened and turned the people to work themselves to death as lubrication for the bloody gears of Hoburg.

Troops: Similar to the Scouring, you have crossbowmen and units that don't actually cost any money or eat food. These units cost an amount of blood slaves, and are sacred. You've got an Iron Maiden that takes 1 slave, a Blood Golem that takes 5 slaves. Your home province only can make the Blood Engine for 10 slaves. Your leaders include an Engineer's Apprentice (Blood 1/ Earth 1), a Soul Engineer (Blood 2/ Earth 2, Random Elemental 1, Random Sorcery 1), and a priest (Holy 3), the priest has a magic leadership.

Starting Spells: Bleed.

Starting Sites: 2 Earth, 3 Blood. Can make Blood Engines.

Special Rules: You must have Productivity and Magic to play this theme.

Province Defense: You get some Hoburg Militia (despite the fact that you can't build them) and some Iron Maidens.

Commentary: This is a continuation of the Scouring plotline and uses robots which are powered by blood magic. This is a blood/earth power, so you will see it throwing around a lot of Earthblood Stones. Since it is allowed to use Productivity and Magic, it's going to be Golem Cult if nations are allowed to have a special theme and a standard domain effect at the same time.
[*] Speakers for the Dead: After the god of Hoburg helped liberate them from the spectral occupiers, peace was made between the living and the dead in Hoburg. New places were found for the Hoburglings who had been enslaved in death to the shadow. But there is no rest for Hoburg. For even as Hoburg rebuilds itself, god itself has come and proclaimed that their message of peace must be brought across the world with fire and sword.

Troops: You get the Hoburg Milita, the Hoburg Crossbowman, the Hoburg Warrior, the Spectral versions of all three (which cost half again as much gold). You also get foresters (stealthy, forest survival, stick and sling). Your capitol makes Hog Knights. Your spellcasters are the Healer of the Sick (Nature 3, Water 1, Random Elemental 1, Holy 3), the Speaker for the Dead (Death 2, Unholy 4), the Healer of the Waters (Water 2, Unholy 2), and the Healer of the Land (Earth 1, Death 1, Random Elemental 1, Unholy 3). You now get spectral hoburg scouts, and Eagle Knights in your capitol.

Starting Spells: Unholy Magic that grants bonuses to living and undead troops (like the Pangea list, but affects living subjects as well). Healing Cloud, Summon Spirits.

Starting Sites: Nature 3, Death 2, makes Hog Knights and Eagle Knight heroes.

Special Rules: You must have Growth and Misfortune to play this theme. Unholy Priests Call Spirits: Spectral Hoburg Militia, Spectral Hoburg Warriors, Spectral Hoburg Crossbowmen, Spectral Hog Knights, Spectral Eagle Riders (which are otherwise unavailable).

Province Defense: Spectral Hoburg Warriors and Hoburg Militia. At 20+ that turns into Hoburg Warriors and Ghost Crossbowmen.

Commentary: This is set after the Last Dawn and is a rebuilding phase for Hoburg. Living and Undead troops fght side by side, which puts a severe damper on standard “prayer spam” anti-undead tactics used against most undead nations. Because of the mandatory growth, the Speakers posiion will probably be shooting for a long-term economic package which features hoarding those death gems for late game projects. Since they have a cash economy and a bunch of death, they will almost certainly put up the Well of Misery. I'm expecting a line of Tartarians to march out of the Speaker lands in the late game.

Rat Men!
There's a lot of fantasy rat men in a variety of settings. Cycling through the themes should set you to different literary references.

Special Gods: The Verminmen can have the Font of Vermin (a bunch of Rats in a pile) that generates a rat-based howl effect every combat, and it gives you 1-3 crappy little rats every turn, and it has a siege bonus and some Astral magic.
You also get to choose a wererat who is like the ***** queen except that he's an assassin.
[*] Warrens of Memory: The swarms have gained a collective consciousness. Vermin pour in from every corner of the globe to lend their memories to the hive minds.

Troops: Your basic unit is the Giant Rat, which is size 1 and completely terrible. Fortunately, it's free. Your basic spellcaster is the Hive Mind, which is also size 1 and has only 1 pick of Astral Magic. It's free to. You also have a basic leader which is also a Rat, and free. Your Hive Minds begin every battle as a Communion Master, your other Rat Leaders start every battle as Comunion slaves – both rat leaders are stealthy (but most of the freespawn rats are not). At castles you can produce Wererats, who are stealthy (similar to Werewolves except that they do not go berserk or drop their swords when they change). Moon Mages (2 Astral, 1 Death) and Wererat Assassins (who are stealthy, regenerate, have the assasinate ability and use poison weapons). You can produce a Mother Rat that is just as physically incapable as the rest of your army, is not stealthy, starts each battle as a Communion Master, and has 1 Astral, 1 Holy, and 1 Random Magic pick (costs 120 gold and is sacred).

Starting Spells: Mind Burn. Summon Rat Swarm (like the Summon Dragonfly Swarm, only it summons Rats and costs 1 Astral Pearl).

Starting Sites: Home Province makes 3 Astral Pearls, 1 Death, and 1 Nature. Home Province produces Moon Mages and Wererat Assassins.

Special Rules: Unrest increases in areas where your domain is strong. 1 for 1. So every province where you have a dominion of 5 is like having an extra Brigand Lair in it. Rats freespawn all over our empire. Hive Minds Freespawn in places where you have Labs or Temples. Castles increase freespawn rates by their administration value. Most mercenaries cost extra for you. You get a spy report on everywhere you have dominion. This theme requires Magic and Turmoil.

Province Defense: A huge unruly mob of different flavors of rats swarm out from all directions to defend your provinces like they had originated from the casting of howl.

Commentary: The Warrens of Memory are based on Planescape's Cranium Rats and Moon Rats. Actually playing this faction would be similar to being Ermor except that you'd need supplies and could avoid killing your population. Your combat magic is devastating because of all the Communion Slaves, but your preaching and noncombat spellcasting is beyond awful. Areas that are near you become terrible for you and your enemies both, since they accumulate unrest at a ferocious rate.
[*] The Black Book: The Black Book has been recovered! New magic and science have been discovered by the Ratling sages. New Horrors the likes of which had not been yet imagined are unleashed upon the world in the name of regaining the knowledge lost during the fall of the Dark Coven. The discoverer of the great book is surely a god and the vermin lords are mustering their forces...

Troops: You have verminmen of basic militia (really crappy), light infantry, and heavy infantry varieties. Your basic archer is the slinger. Your basic troops are all Morale 9. Your advanced troops are the poison slingers, who are a step over the Ctisian variety because they wear masks and are poison immune, and Rat Monsters (size 3 verminmen with huge claws and are Sacred). Advanced Troops are capitol only. Your leaders include Engineers (who have Air 2, Death 1, Random 1 and a bonus to producing Corpse Men), Breeders (who have Blood 2, Nature 1 and a Random, they freespawn a rat every turn), Packmasters (who freespawn a rat every turn and have a Dousing Bonus despite not actually having any magic – armed with a Whip and a Mancatcher), and Heralds (who have 1 Blood and 3 Holy). The Home Province can produce Master Engineers (air 3, Death 2, Random 1, Corpseman Bonus, Forge Bonus).

Staring Spells: Crossbreeding, Lightning Bolt.

Starting Sites: 3 Air Gems, 2 Death Gems, 1 Blood Slave.

Special Rules: Can perform blood sacrifices.

Province Defense: Verminmen Militia and Slingers. At high levels this becomes Light Infantry and Heavy Infantry as well. This is crappy, so it should be numerous.

Commentary: The Black Book is based on the Warhammer Skaven primarily. I see most human players telling their national troops to take a long walk except for the elites, which are capitol only. It's a blood power, and a Forging Power, so expect lots of Supercombatant action late in the game. Most of the army is going to be Corpsemen and Crossbred troops.
[*] The Lost Tribes: The tribes of Nezumi have been lost in the wastes for generations since the great calamity. Now a new god has arisen and the time to regain what is theirs has come. The scattered tribes have joined paw once again and are on the march.

Troops: You have six different flavors of sacred troops, and six different flavors of normal spearmen, each of which represent the input from one of the tribes. The Firewalkers are fire resistant (sacred variety is Fire Immune); the Tattered Ear fight with dagger and spear (the Sacred Variety fight with two swords and have berserking), the longstriders are faster and more lightly armored (the sacred version fly when blessed), the stone clingers have an increased strength (the sacred version become size 3 and fight with claws when blessed), the bloody paw are equipped with quasi-decent armor and shields (the sacred version are martial artists who fight with chi kicks), the serpent hunters are poison resistant (the sacred version become hasted when blessed), and the storm feather tribesmen are cold resistant and use heavier armor (the sacred version are also shock resistant and use bows). There are also generic spearmen in leather that don't do anything cool and generic bowmen who have shortbows and spears. The leaders include several different flavors of scout: a sacred scout who can preach, a scout who can lead troops, and a scout who uses a short bow. Shamans have Astral 1, Earth 1, Holy 2. Keepers of the Story are 2 Random 1s and +3 research – Keepers of the Story can only be recruited at home. Tellers of the Story are Holy 4. The Great Shamans are Astral 2, Earth 2 Holy 2 and are home province only.

Starting Spells: Stoneskin and Summon Earthpower.

Starting Sites: Home Province produces 4 Earth and 1 Astral.

Special Rules: Provinces with Death do not have their population fall while in your dominion.

Province Defense: They get a pile of Spearmen. At high levels, they also get archers.

Commentary: The Lost Tribes is based on the Nezumi of Rokugan. From the standpoint of actually playing them, they are in the uniquely good position to make all that cool Crystal Swag as well as Golems. Unfortunately, they clam very poorly. In general, it is going to be a long time before they get a decent magic army together and a very long time before Scs come online. But in the meantime, good starting researchers and good priests are going to get them to their late game goals quicker than you might think.
[*] The Dark Compact: Stormclouds are brewing over the decadent human cities of the world. The prophesized time has come. The god of the sewers has arisen, and the Verminmen and the Wererats have made an alliance to rise from the sewers and take over the surface world.

Troops: Most of your units are stealthy. You get verminmen, and wererats as warriors (verminmen wear leather, wererats wear ringmail). Your only archer is the poison slinger (which is again immune to poison). You have storm troops of both flavors who wear gas masks and are poison immune. You have three different assassins, the Verminman Assassin has effectively three arms and uses 3 poison daggers. The Wererat Assassin wears ringmail and has a duskdagger. One of your spellcasters is also an assassin, the Nightmaster (Fire 3, Death 1, Glamor, Assassin). All of your leaders are spies. You have a basic researcher in the Patient One (a pale little rat guy who costs 50 gold and has Fire 1). You have a Priest in the Plague Harbinger (Holy 3, Poison Immune, Poison Cloud like a Hydra). You also have a Scrollbearer, who has 1 Fire, 1 Nature, and 2 Random.

Starting Spells: Ash Rats: for 4 Fire Gems you can summon 5 size one magic beings with a flame burst attack. You also get Falling Fires.

Starting Sites: You get 4 Fire, 1 Death, and 1 Nature.

Special Rules: No special rules.

Province Defense: You get a Patient One leading some Verminmen and Ash Rats. At 20+ you get an Assassin, some wererat storm troops and some poison slingers.

Commentary: In general, I think most people are going to decide to fight with Wererats or Verminmen and not both (except as leaders). Players are going to just figure an amount of resources they are willing to spend per unit, and go for the lower-resource verminmen or better armored wererats. Literarily, this team is of course lifted whole cloth from D&D. These guys are going to clam with Fever Fetishes as they have all the necessary pieces of that puzzle and a very deep need for Fire Gems.

[tinkthank]

Here a couple of Balance Suggestions:

- Mechanical Men should be "Never Healing"

- Perhaps there should also be a flag: Susceptible to Afflictions; this doubles the chance of getting a battle affliction when hit by an applicable blow; Mechanical Men should have this as well

(I think most powerful constructs and high level summons could use a tiny nerfage such as this.)


- Many units with 100% resistances to things should have 75-85% resistances. This would increase the need for buffs for making WrathSky combatants, or make for at least a small amount of risk.

[tinkthank]

Some Things which Could Be Neat:

New Item:
- Levered Platform: Greater Magic Item, req. 40 earth, 20 nature, uses Misc. Slot: This huge and costly mechanical construct will allow any immobile creature to be pulled by slaves from province to province. Provides Map Move 1, Prot 3, Def -3, and uses 20 supplies (for the slaves).

Tactical Battlefield Scripting Improvement:
Next to each commander, make a little slider which lets one determine the maximum number of gems castable per combat = x. The default is set to /no limit/.

A New Spell:
- Hellish Protection: Requires B2F2, Research Blood 3 -- this grants ALL blood slaves on the battlefield (friendly and enemy) 75% fire resistance
- Protection of the Fiend: Requires B2W2, Research Blood 3 -- this grants ALL blood slaves on the battlefield (friendly and enemy) 75% cold resistance

[Alneyan]

A few posts ago (well, a few pages ago I guess), something was mentioned about being able to dispel battle enchantments, mainly by using spells.

However, now that I am thinking of it, I believe it would make more sense if battle enchantments could be automatically dispelled if your mages are much better in the path of magic used to cast the enchantment. For example, if you have 50 air levels in your army, and the enemy has cast a Storm without having a single air pick, your mages should be able to master the winds and dispel the storm fairly easily.

While spells would be nice, how would you know when to script for them? Spells dispelling battle enchantments would have to be scripted before seeing the enemy army, so it would be guess work. Being able to fully block *any* enchantment would also be a very powerful ability, and one without any counter.

At least, enchantments should be automatically dispelled when the caster is no longer here (because of death, retreat or feeblemindedness), giving the other side a chance of getting rid of that enchantment.

[tinkthank]

I think this would be a great one:

GAME SETUP: MASSIVE PARAMETER VARIABILITY

Illwinter could remain both true to their vision and simultaneously get rid of a lot of balancing worries / balancing gripes by making the way a game is created / the "game setup" screens work (with emphasis, I suppose I would like to suggest, on the plural) radically dynamic.

I have already suggested a few things in this direction (such as "Handicap" settings, etc.), but I would like to elaborate on a few new ideas and addendi:

All of the following could be made adjustable without too much UI overhaul directly in a game setup screen similar to the one which exists now:

- Blood Hunting Affects Unrest: From Exceptionally Much, Very Much, to Default and Hardly. (Alternatively: A slider with numeric values reflecting the Blood Hunt <-> Unrest algorithm.)
- Maximum Number of Events per Turn: /Numeric Slider/ set to Default.
- Blood Hunting Ease: Very Easy - Easy - Default - Difficult - Very Difficult
- Ritual Summons: Very Easy - Easy - Default - Difficult - Very Difficult (makes casting ritual summons cost more gems / cost less gems)

But it would probably be more useful to split the process up with an idea like the following:

In the SELECT NATIONS screen, have FOUR Columns:
1. Nation listings
2. Nation Choices: from these, you can select from Human to Impossible AI
3. Set National Handicaps for this Nation (Default: None): Clicking this button will open the Handicap Screen, at which you can change the following settings:
Gold Income (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%),
Resource Availability (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%),
Ritual Summons Bonus/Penalty (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%),
Unit Hit Point Bonus (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%),
National Forge Bonus/Penalty (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%)
National Gem Income Bonus/Penalty (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%)
4. Set Pretender Handicaps for this Nation: The default is /none/, but clicking this button will allow you to change the number of points which can be spent during God Creation; if this value is positive and the nation is set for computer AI, the computer gets additional bonuses over and above the allowed amount; if the value is used for a Human nation, it will allow a pretender to be chosen with more than the allowed Creation Points and/or disallow a currently loaded pretender as cheating

Quite obviously, this will mean that "view settings" during the game MUST be able to show all of these.
This also presupposes a God Creation Screen with some of the following features:

In the GOD CREATION screens, which you can quit at any time without having to save your god, there is an option for
- Saving God under a particular name in a folder SavedGods
- Load God (which will put up choices from the SavedGods folder
- Set Creation Handicap: The default is Off, but you can create and save Handicapped Gods: there can be +/- anywhere from 5 to 120 points. Gods saved as Handicapped with bonuses or penalties will be flagged as such and can be used in MP games which require handicaps for certain nations


In the GAME SETUP Screen, have FIVE MAIN CHOICES:
1. Set Basic Game Parameters
2. Set Nation and Victory Parameters
3. Set Advanced Parameters
4. Set Alliance Parameters
5. OK (Create Game)

1. Under Basic Parameters, one would find a screen in which we could change
Independent Strength
Magical Site Frequency
Number of Global Enchantments Allowed (0-24, default: 6)
Similar Settings etc.

2. Under Nation and Victory Parameters, we would find a screen in which we could change
Number of Starting Provinces
Type of Victory Conditions: Opens a new screen in which you can set any combination of VCs (including mixing, for instance, Dominion of X and Victory Points of Y)
Victory Conditions under Alliances: Default is "There Can Only Be One", in which only 1 nation can ascend to Godhood; this can be changed to allow two or more nations to ascend as a Pantheonic Alliance if their Alliance meets the victory Conditions.

3. Under Set Advanced Parameters, we find a screen in which global changes can be set for all nations:
- Blood Hunting Affects Unrest: From Exceptionally Much, Very Much, to Default and Hardly. (Alternatively: A slider with numeric values reflecting the Blood Hunt <-> Unrest algorithm.)
- Maximum Number of Events per Turn: /Numeric Slider/ set to Default.
- Blood Hunting Ease: Very Easy - Easy - Default - Difficult - Very Difficult
- Ritual Summons: Very Easy - Easy - Default - Difficult - Very Difficult (makes casting ritual summons cost more gems / cost less gems)
- Global Forge Bonus/Penalty (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%)
- Global Gem Income Bonus/Penalty (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%)
- Global Ritual Spell Bonus/Penalty (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%) -- this sets an additional bonus/penalty for casting ritual spells cumulative with that for Summons
- Global Enchantment Bonus/Penalty (from +/- 0% to +/- 100%)

4. Under Alliance Settings, we find a screen in which we can decide:
- Whether alliances can be allowed at all (default: Off). Clicking the "off" button opens up a new screen from which we can select Alliances Allowed from Start and Alliances Allowed During Game
- Whether AIs can be pre-allied with one another or not (Default: Off). Clicking the "off" button opens a screen in which we can see all of the AI nations in the game on the left hand of the screen. On the right, there are 8 "team" pull-down menus; we can add any nation from the pull-down menu to any one of the teams, thus creating 1-8 pre-allied "sides" of AI alliances pre-set and unchangable for the course of the game.
- Whether Humans can be allied with AIs: Similar to the above screen, this default is Off, but one can make pre-allied Human and AI "teams".
- Whether Humans can be pre-allied with Humans: Default is Off. Clicking "On" will set up "teams" which are unchangeable for the course of the game. Options here include: Any one team member who wins the victory conditions will win the victory conditions for the whole team, or Cumulative Victory (all VPs, Provinces, Research, Dominion, etc. is counted together)
- Whether Humans can ally with Humans during the course of a game via the Alliance Interface: Default is Off. Clicking this will open up a screen in which you can stipulate
the minimum number of turns you must remain allied before you can select "Break Alliance" from the Alliance Interface in-game (default: 2)
the maximum number of other human players that can be allied with one another at one time (default: 2). Any players that have agreed to an alliance can move through the others' provinces unharmed and are treated as one nation for combat purposes (Nation 1's troops in Nation 2's province will fight together with Nation 2's troops and PD on the right side of the battlefield against any non-allied attacks; all buffs work for both sides.)

This presupposes an Alliance or Alliance Interface screen in-game. Using this would allow players to form Alliances within 2 turns time in-game. E.g.: Opening this screen would allow you to send a (binding in contractual sense) offer to another human nation for an Alliance for X number of turns, whereas X is a number between /minimum stipulated/ (see above) and "indefinate". The human player to which this offer is sent will receive notification in his Alliance screen next month, and she can choose to accept or deny. If players accept, the Alliance takes force on the start of the next thereafter as the very first event. If more than one Alliance is sent per month (e.g., if both nation 1 and 2 send an offer to the other at the same time), and both are accepted, the offer with the highest number of minimum turns of alliance is considered valid. Conflicting Alliances cannot be made -- the computer checks at the beginning of each turn whether an alliance can be legal or not, and if Alliances are accepted, making other offers sent in the meantime invalid, then these will be returned with the appropriate message (e.g. "Your offer for Alliance has been deemed invalid.", such as would be the case if Nation 1 allies with Nation 2, and Nation 2 offers an alliance to Nation 3, which is an enemy of Nation 1 -- in such a case, BOTH nations 1 and 2 must send an identical Alliance Offer to nation 3 simultaneously to have a valid contract.)

[FrankTrollman]

OK, here are some more extra civilizations that need to be around. Rather, this is a single civilization that needs to be around which in turn can have abunch of themes that allow it to be cultures that really don't see the light of day in Dominions right now:

Baharatta: Baharatta is a heavily rainforested nation with an ancient civilization. Baharattans people prefer a Hot Climate (move preferred scales towards heat +1 for whatever empire their provinces are in).

Special Gods: You get the Nagaraja of course, but you also get:
The Efreet, about the equivalent of a Queen of Air, except that he's got a Fire Aura and has Fire and Astral to start. Fire and Poison Immunity, Incorporeal. No Foot Slot.
The Djinn, exactly the same as the Efreet except that he has an Astral Shield instead of the Fire Aura. Shock and Poison Immunity, Incorporeal. No shoes. Has some Air and Water Magic to begin with.
The Great Hydra. It gets Nature and Water Magic, it's kind of slow, but it has several head slots (can we get more than two? I was hoping for like 5). It Regenerates and Recuperates.
[*] Rise of the Maharajahs: Baharatta is a rising nation under the guidance of the Sorcerer Kings known as the Maharajahs. A caste system is introduced which enforces specific careers on classes of people. With the life path of each of their subject plotted at birth, the Maharajahs can create an empire to last a thousand lifetimes.

Troops: Your basic militia is high morale, though naked and given a long spear. Your archers have composite bows. You have Gurkha troopers who are stealthy flankers. You have Brahmin Warriors who are sacred and have Awe in addition to having falchions. You get Elephants just like Arco, and you also have Tiger Riders which are capitol only. Your Gurkha Assassin is an Assassin who fights with kukris. Your priest is a Brahmin who has 2 Fire and a Random Sorcery 2 to go with his Holy 3. You also have Smiths who have 2 Earth and 1 Water and a Forge Bonus. There is also a Gurkha Shaman, who has 1 Nature and 1 Death and is Sacred (but has no Holy Magic).

Starting Spells: Fireball, Resist Fire

Starting Sites: Fire 2, Water 1, Earth 1, Nature 1, Death 1, Astral 1. Tiger Riders can be recruited.

Special Rules: None.

Province Defense: You get Militia and Composite Bowmen, led by a Gurkha Shaman.

Commentary: Based primarily upon India, basic Baharatta is supposed to dabble in various magic. You can guaranty getting Fire any time you want it, and you'll probably be able to pick up some fire bonus items if you want (you could, for example, make a Flaming Skull and Flaming Hat with relatively little fuss). You can also Fever Fetsh hoard if you want. Only 1 in 4 Brahmins is a Blood Mage, but it comes in on the ground floor at level 2, so you can do a credible Blood Minor if you want. They can come up with a variety of SC types, and they do have some guys with forge bonuses – so seeing their way to making a bunch of equipment for a Nataraja god is quite conceivable. Their starting gem income is large, but not focused anywhere, which means the for a long time it isn't going to be good. They have a good shot at a powerful late game.
[*] Wanderers of the Desert: The power of Baharatta was awesome to behold, but the Maharajahs became decadent and descended into blood magic. When the prohibition of Blood Magic was enforced by the Great Sealing, those who could escape the doomed capitol have done so. After generations of wandering in the desert, the Baharattans have found a new god, one who promises to return them to the glory they once knew...

Troops: All your troops have Waste Survival. You have Nomads who are unarmored and come in spear and scimitar using varieties. They are high morale for the price, but are otherwise unexceptional. You also have Camel Riders who have scimitars and have a long overland move but an unexceptional battle speed (3/18). You get Scorpion Riders, who turn into a scorpion beast when they die – the scorpion rider is sacred, but the scorpion beast is not. In the capitol only you can purchase some very expensive Rocs, which are huge flying trampling birds. You have cheap Scouts that only cost 10 gold and have wasteland survival (and a short bow). You have Keepers of the Flame who have Fire 2, Earth 1, and a random. You have Fire Dancers who have Fire 1, Holy 2, and constitutive haste. You have Dowsers who have a Random elemental pick at 2 and another 2 random elemental picks at 1. You have a Scorpion Lord, who is sacred and rides around on a Scorpion Beast, is sacred, and comes into every battle with 1-10 little scorpions who have about 1 hit point and a stinger with strong poison.

Starting Spells: Bind Scorpion Beast, Magma Bolts.

Starting Sites: Fire 3, Air 2.

Special Rules: The Empire Prefers Heat Scale +2 (for a total of Heat Preference +3 in the home province). You must have Heat +3 to take this theme. Heat spreads from this dominion like it was Desert Sun.

Province Defense: Nomads with Scimitars. Nomads with Scimitars and Shields.

Commentary: Baharatta as Arabians. The heat thing is actually something of an economic penalty, since most places that aren't your capitol are going to be suffering heat penalties when all the way inside your dominion. And that's the way most heat/cold empires should be working.
[*] Merchants of the Sea: The Maharajahs have become increasingly unimportant in society as they turned more and more towards the mysteries of the past rather than the day to day running of the nation. While rumors abound that the Maharajahs are going to rise up and take back the empire or perhaps sell everyone out to darkness, the fact is that the people never really see the Maharajahs anymore. It is gold that runs Baharatta now. Still, it is strange that the Maharajahs do so little to intervene while the merchants chip away at their power. It is as if they are under some sort of spell...

Troops: You get to hire the black-clad heavy infantry mercenaries as your normal troops. So you get the Crossbowmen, swordsmen, and even heavy cavalry that normally comes with mercenary units. Your leaders are primarily include the Merchant, who is a total dweeb but has a huge leadership value and has sailing. You have an Explorer, who is a scout with a small leadership and also has sailing. You also have a Pirate Captain and a Mercenary Captain who both have Sailing. You have a Court Wizard who has a Random 2 in an elemental path and 2 Random 1s in Sorcery paths, and a Research Bonus – he doesn't Sail and is Capitol only. You have a Windmaster (Air 2, Water 2, Sailing), and a capitol only Maharajah's Assistant, who has Blood 1, a Research bonus, and

Starting Spells: Wind Guide, Summon Storm.

Starting Sites: Air 3, Water 1, Earth 1. Hire Court Wizards and Maharajah's Assistants.

Special Rules: You hire mercenaries for half price. You must have Luck to take this theme.

Province Defense: Mercenaries with hammers, mercenaries with crossbows. Led by a Merchant.

Commentary: The intention is make people who have sailing and actually give a damn because they don't cost like 280 gold or anything. Practically speaking, this is probably going to end up as a blood position where your god has a lot of Blood Magic and the Maharajah's Assistants collect slaves for you to summon devils with.
[*] Keepers of the Seal: The Maharajahs had gone insane and sold the entire kingdom to devils. The priests knew they had no choice but to put a stop to them once and for all. The priests of death and the priests of life knew that they would be unable to battle the the devils alone and joined forces. An uneasy peace between the previously warring priest factions

Troops: The basic troops of Baharatta are here, but you get no Gurkhas and no Tiger Knights. You have seven different flavors of Priest, each of which is a Keeper of the Nth Seal. They all wear different outfits. The Keeper of the 1st Seal has Astral 3, Holy 4, and Random Elemental 1; The Keeper of the 2nd Seal has Nature 2, Holy 2, and Random Elemental 1; The Keeper of the 3rd Seal has Death 2, Unholy 3, and is an Inquisitor; The keeper of the 4th Seal has 3 Random Elemental and Holy 3; The Keeper of the 5th Seal has Fire 3 and Holy 2 and has a Patrol Bonus; The Keeper of the 6th Seal has 2 Earth, Unholy 2, Doesn't Eat, and is Stealthy; The Keeper of the 7th Seal has Holy 5 and has Awe.

Starting Spells: Smite Demon as a Holy 1 spell (meaning that a Holy 3 caster gets +2 Spell Penetration), Opposition.

Starting Sites: Astral 2, Death 2, Nature 2.

Special Rules: Your home province damages demons (but not undead) like Marignon's capitol. Your home province also is constantly preaching at a level equal to your dominion strength.

Province Defense: Baharattans with spears and Baharattans with composite bows. All led by a Keeper of the 4th Seal.

Commentary: While superficially (and actually) extremely complicated, these guys are practically little different from any faction that has 2 random picks. The functional implication is that they are going to end up with some people who do all kinds of weird crap but absolutely none of them have any blood magic. So while it seems like an advantage to have these crazy priests, and it sort of is – it comes with a big disadvantage which is that unlike other people with random picks you just can't get all 8 schools of magic no matter how hard you try. The big priests is a big advantage, and the demon smiting power of a level 4 priest is pretty big. That and a water blessing and you are seriously going to mess up even SC Ice Devils, which is kind of the point. From a literary standpoint, they are mostly drawn up as Persians of the Zoroastrian flavor.
[*] The Last of their Kind: The Great Sealing went disastrously wrong, leaving the capitol of Baharatta in ruins. Those who saw the final moments have been marked with madness, and their children are born into madness. Cannibalism has flourished among the survivors and the warriors have taken to filing their teeth into points. Out of madness comes chaos, for a new god has arisen from the ashes of Baharatta and promises to level the world with depravity and madness. The warriors of the fallen tribes of Baharatta have been granted the protection of the mad god, and fight without armor to prove their devotion and lack of survival instincts.

Troops: The Cannibals are going to be your mainstay troop. They have no armor but benefit from a natural protection of 15 because they get stoneskinned at the start of each battle for free. They are armed with kukris. You also get tribal archers (like the machakan unit of the same name), and some alternately armed naked tribesmen. You get a cave bear at home only. You can recruit tiger riders (like tiger knights but without armor and a free stoneskin spell at the start of each battle). Your Leaders include a capitol-only assassin called the Sniper who is armed with a Black Bow; a Shaman (1 Death, 1 Nature, free stoneskin each battle, sacred); a tiger warrior; and a Defiler of the Dead (Unholy 2). More uniquely, you have the Fevered Berserker (who has berserking, and also has an emanation that causes feeblemind; and the Demon Pawn (Blood 2 and a random).

Starting Spells: Panic, Frighten.

Starting Sites: Death 3, Nature 2., Snipers, cave bears.

Special Rules: You must take Turmoil and Sloth to take this theme. Province Defense happens to you spontaneously if your dominion is strong.

Province Defense: The pile of tribal archers is large, the pile of cannibals is small.

Commentary: Largely an exercise in getting Tiger Warriors, the Last of their Kind Baharatta has little in the way of a late game that I can see. There's some SC potential in the Tiger Warrior leader in that they can still wear armor on top of their Stone Skin and benefit from a blessing. At least it's a litle hard for people to take your stuff, what with free PD popping up.
[*] The Power of Steel: The Priest Kings were unable to retain power in Baharatta. The spells and sigils proved insufficient to protect the populace from the demon spawned madness. It was with cold steel that the demons were dispatched and the nation saved. Now the smiths have become masters of the empire, and god has blessed them for their crafts.

Troops: All of your infantry troops have blue steel weapons and armor. Blue Steel armors have one more protection than normal, and have reduced movement penalty and defense penalties - Blue Steel weapons inflict one more damage, and provide an increased defense vis a vis ”normal” steel weaponry. Your archers are Crossbowmen in bluesteel ringmail. The levied troops use bluesteel kukris, but are naked. You get You get Elephants. Your leaders include several different flavors of guy with armor and weapons, some of whom are sacred. You also get a Smith (2 Earth, 2 Water, Forge Bonus, Sacred), a Blade Singer (Earth 1, Holy 2, 2 bluesteel falchions), and a Holy Fool (Random Elemental 3, Random Sorcery 2, Random 1, Holy 4, but starts Feeble Minded, so they don't actually get to use any of that).

Starting Spells: Rust Mist, Earthmeld

Starting Sites: Earth 3, Water 2.

Special Rules: You must have Drain and Order to take this theme.

Province Defense: Soldiers with bluesteel ringmail in swordsman and crossbowman flavors.

Commentary: The basic concept is much like standard Ulm, only not *** in the late game. The ability to start uncorking the Holy Fools with Fairy Queens or Gift of Health makes a Nature God a practical necessity, and provides some much needed umph in the later stages of warfare when having “pretty decent infantry” no longer means a thing.
[*] The Company of Strangers: While lost in the desert, the Baharattans are befriended by the powerful Djinnis of the wastes. The use of mundane tools have been all but lost as the use of magic has become so rampant that knowledge, let alone use of ordinary techniques has been all but lost. Some Baharattans have even married into the tribes of the Djinn, and now a new breed has arisen – the half-Djinn Marid.

Troops: Everything you can ever build has Wasteland Survival. You have Nomads who are unarmored and come in spear and scimitar using varieties. They are high morale for the price, but are otherwise unexceptional. You also have Camel Riders who have scimitars and have a long overland move but an unexceptional battle speed (3/18). You have sacred troops who are Dervishes (fast and use two scimitars) and Marid (half-Djinn people who use a scimitar, don't need to eat, and fly when blessed). Your leaders include a Mumbling Pilgrim (Scout with Holy 2), an Elementalist (Random Elemental Path at 2 and another Random Elemental Path at 2), and a Marid Sheriff (Sacred, Holy 3, Need Not Eat, Random Elemental Path at 2).

Starting Spells: Summon Djinni of the Storm: 20 Air Gems gets you a Genie with Air 3 and a random pick. Summon Genie of the Waves: 20 Water Gems gets you a Genie with Water 3 and a random pick. Summon Genie of the Flame: 20 Fire Gems gets you a Genie with Fire 3 and a random pick. Summon Genie of the Sand: 20 Earth Gems gets you a Genie with Earth 3 and a random pick. You also know Lightning Bolt and Combustion. All of your Djinn produce 25 supplies and fly.

Starting Sites: Air 2, Earth 1, Fire 2, Water 1.

Special Rules: The Empire Prefers Heat Scale +2 (for a total of Heat Preference +3 in the home province). You must take at least Magic +2 to take this theme.

Province Defense: You get a pile of nomads with spears and another pile of nomads with scimitars. They are led by an Elementalist.

Commentary: The Elementalist can potentially have up to 4 picks in a single elemental path if he rolls snake eyes on the random picks. The Djinn are no big deal, honestly, but they can fly and allow the Baharattan player to generate supplies (however expensively), out of elemental gems. It's like having Dusk Elders, except not.

-Frank

[Orlanth]

The only thing I'd really like to see added is an option for the player to select the orders during turn-based tactical combat when playing a single-player game. Shouldn't be too hard to add this for single-player if you just let the user select "attack" "fire" "hold" or a specific spell for each combat turn when the AI commander would normally generate that.

The scripted battles of course are needed for PBEM/multiplayer and for the most part work out well for those purposes. In fact it can be quite appealing to avoid micromanaging in tactical battles. Inevitably though, relying on commander AI and having to develop multi-step command scripts can lead troops/mages to behave in pretty irrational ways, and can't allow for any reaction to changing situation on the battlefield. I think it's this aspect of the game that most discourages casual gamers from playing DomII - they're just not familiar with that kind of combat, and esp with the huge number of spells available, it gets daunting to find ways to make use of them properly. Adding at least an option for tactical combat control in 1P (a la Masters of Magic) could get a lot more ppl interested. Well, let me know what you think!

[Gandalf Parker]

Orlanth said:
The only thing I'd really like to see added is an option for the player to select the orders during turn-based tactical combat when playing a single-player game. Shouldn't be too hard to add this for single-player if you just let the user select "attack" "fire" "hold" or a specific spell for each combat turn when the AI commander would normally generate that.

Actually that would be very hard. And basically that would be their first game (called Conquest of Ellysium and still available from their site)

MAYBE if it were started as a turn-by-turn single player game and then formulas were added for decisions by the AI players, but that would make the hosting run a real long time making it not very desireable as a solo-play game. And maybe if you only played against one race but I would hate to see a game with 15 or more races where each move was decided one at a time. (I know thats not what you asked but you cant have a game where all the AIs moves are made and only yours are asked)

MAYBE it could be done if there were no AI players at all, only human players doing their turns, but that would still be awfully slow.

As for gaining more players, Im not sure that being one of the best possible in a smaller field (PBEM games) is worth messing with to try to gain some people who play games in such a large field. Maybe they will try something like that for Dom3 but Im not eager to ask for it even though I do prefer solo play.
Gandalf Parker

[Chazar]

Has anyone wished for relative map commands?

Predefining everything in a mapfile reduces the replay value. E.g. I would like a map command which increases/decreseas the independent strength of a province relatively to the choosen setting (capping at min/max).

Of course, one may predefine the poptype or add some commanders to boost the strength, but that leaves no surprises and does not scale with the independent strength setting choosen by the game creator...