Dom 3

[Morphem]

Having been playing TBS games for many years, i think that Dom 2 is just plain awesome.
Best TBS game since Master of magic, only Heroes of m&m 3, Alpha centauri, Imperialism 2 or Age of wonders comes close to Dom2 imo.

There's one think i'd like to see in Dom 3 (or in a mod but i doubt it):

- Scrolls -

Let me explain :

- At the start of the game, the spell research lists are empty
- All the spells would be scattered on the map in the form of scrolls
- They would be placed inside the map sites randomly, according to the site levels
- Any commander could enter a site, defeat a guarding neutral army & pick up the scrolls
- Bringing a scroll to any lab would unlock the corresponding spell and * only * add it to the research list

Thats the basic idea .

Though it doesn't change anything to the core rules of Dom2, which i think are near perfect it would add some more stategic/fun elements :

- Map exploration more exciting
- Capturing enemy labs more rewarding by gaining access to their research list.
- Less cookie-cutter strategies : Adapt your strategy according to the spells you can cast.

etc..

Well just an idea for Dom3, hope it made sense

[Lepakko]

My Dream of dom3 is close to this

Game is Great dont go mix its basic elements what all love.

More Battle orders like wait 1-5 turns

You could place unit other kine formation now we can only put unit to box...

little more unit, nations and themes

few new spells to make magic paths balance

And small improvement out look.

[Gandalf Parker]

It sounds like an interesting idea but I think it does affect the core of Dom2.

Dominions priorities so far seem to have been:
Play by EMail arrangement
Balance by rock-paper-scissors at a nations level
Multi-Player
play by network arrangement (tcp/ip)
Solo-Play

I can see where your suggestion would add alot to the game. But its in the soloplay area, and would break some of the "fairness" for the multiplayers. As a solo player myself I would love to see many things shifted more into the random or luck Category but too much of that violates the MP's desire to win by tactics rather than lucky occurances. Someday I wouldnt mind seeing Dominions split into two games. Multiplay and Solo. That way maybe Id see large advances in things like random maps, smarter AI's, boosts in the effects of luck scale, more variance in random events, more spells offering a range of results instead of a set one, a seperation of summoning and binding, etc etc.

[deccan]

I'd like nation specific spells that require research to attain. This is mostly for thematic reasons. I feel that spending pearls for angels and water gems for water troll kings while playing as Tien Chi to be very unthematic.

Overall, I feel that there aren't enough summons. By this I mean that, yes, the variety of summons is sufficient to fill most (all?) of the available niches gameplay-wise, but not theme-wise.

And how about summons (and other rituals) that cost more than one type of gem, just as magic items currently do?

[Arryn]

deccan said:
Overall, I feel that there aren't enough summons. By this I mean that, yes, the variety of summons is sufficient to fill most (all?) of the available niches gameplay-wise, but not theme-wise.

Well, once IW provides us with the ability to edit themes, that shouldn't be an issue, should it? You can just mod things until you're happy with them.

deccan said:
And how about summons (and other rituals) that cost more than one type of gem, just as magic items currently do?

A good idea, though balancing it given various nation's / theme's access to gems might be tricky.

[Morphem]

been playing for a month using a self made plug in that adds the scroll system (see original post) to dom2.
Mostly we play 1 versus 1 & now i don't think we could play without.
It's just awesome

[Gandalf Parker]

Morphem said:
been playing for a month using a self made plug in that adds the scroll system (see original post) to dom2.
Mostly we play 1 versus 1 & now i don't think we could play without.
It's just awesome

I think I would enjoy that, especially in solo play. But many of the MP strategists want to be able to create/test strategies against each other. Its a long scale which can include, at the most extreme, those who want chess-piece matching units, and chessboard fair maps. But at the more reasonable level there are many who prefer less randoms which are able to change the outcome of a game.

Personally, I love such things and want as much as they feel can be added. More randoms! More! MORE! But for what Dominions is.. I have to hold off from thinking that much of that would really be a "game improvement". It would be for me but I think its a change in a direction of the game. I probably need to get my "random fixs" somewhere else.

[Cainehill]

Yeah - it might be fun, if it were an optional game mode, but as others have pointed out, the luck scale is already way too weak (primarily because of the random nature of magic sites, imo*). Making spell acquisition random as well...

Maybe if the spells to be found on the map were predetermined, but not their location, and luck/misfortune modified the chances of finding a scroll in a particular province? Still, the possibility of getting ... fire spell scrolls while playing Pangaea, for instance, might still make it too random for good MP experiences, and it would also devalue research and research strategy.

* Having Luck 3 or Misfortune 3 doesn't affect finding sites, which is certainly a matter of "luck" in the game. If I find ... the summoning circle, or the Oak of Ages (enchantment 50 bonus), or various sites that allow cheap blood/death mages or loremasters, etc, that is such a huge lucky event that the events from luck or misfortune are trivial in comparison.

[NTJedi]

Morphem said:

Let me explain :

- At the start of the game, the spell research lists are empty
- All the spells would be scattered on the map in the form of scrolls
- They would be placed inside the map sites randomly, according to the site levels
- Any commander could enter a site, defeat a guarding neutral army & pick up the scrolls
- Bringing a scroll to any lab would unlock the corresponding spell and * only * add it to the research list

Thats the basic idea .

That would add more micro-management into the game. Also for small maps of say 29 provinces there would be obvious limitations.

[Tyrant]

I like this game so much that i do not have a big list of desired impovements, but here's a couple things i'd like to see.

-An obvious area for game expansion is buildings. Right now there's just temples and labs, but other stuff could be added- buildings that augment PD, change scales, add resources, provide patrol, lower unrest, cause unrest in adjacent provences, provide intel, protect against provence targeted spells or events,etc.

-Siege engines of various sorts

-The whole subject of castles needs some attention. Perhaps it's not true for smaller games where players have more room, but in the big games with lots of players fairly close to one another small forts are the way to go, and the largest ones are clearly bad options.

-More enchanments and/or summon spells for defending individual provences. Stuff like the Hamma Dryads and the sentinal statue, but better or cheaper. It's very hard to defend territory. I realize that is a deliberate design feature, and i see the wisdom of that plan, but it is taken too far and ends up limiting strategic options.

-A larger exploration element, perhaps more magic items or volunteer heroes from neutrals.

And finally, the one thing i most want to see in Dom III-

-Improved hosting support! Either a profesional hosting service run by the game designers or their agents (i'd be willing to pay $20 a year for this), or an automated hosting package similar to Mosehansen's included with the game so that it would be easy to set up home servers. What's there now is not half bad, but i do think that making it easier to set up games would go along way in expanding the player base. I played alot of solo and hot seat until i found Mosehansen, then i jumped right into net play. I played alot of VGA Planets in the old days, and the memories of what a pain it was to arrange and manage games detered me from seaking net games until i found an easy and painless venue.