Introduction and question.

[Stormbinder]

Greetings, fellow Dominion players!


My nickname is Stormbinder and I've been lurking a lot in this forum for the Last two months, since I got this fantastic game. In my personal Hall of Fame for fantasy strategic games, this is the first game that managed to dethrone Master of Magic, and to me that means a lot. Today I feel that the time has finally come for me to register on this forum and make my presence known to the people whose great advice and helpful strategies I've been reading for 2 months.

First of all I would like to express deep gratitude to many active members of Dominion2 community who post on this forum. I am huge fan of strategic games, (mostly of turn-based variety), and I must say that community here is one of the most mature and helpfull that I ever encountered. It reminds me of EU2 community, which is perhaps not surprising, considering some of the familiar faces here. (Hello Peter!)


Personally I want to say "Thanks a lot" to Zen (I think Illwinter should hire you for all great work you did for their game), Arryn(nice website!), St. Patrik, Gandalf Parker, Targa(IMHO your Karan map is much better than any of the official ones), Cristofer O(great support and tips), Peter Ebbesen (BTW thanks for your EU2 MP mod as well, never had a chance to say it before ), Tinkthank, Norweek, Taqwus, Graeme Dice and many other nice people on this forum.


Your advice and your answers posted here on this forum were of great help to me when I was learning both basics and more subtle parts of this game. In fact during my first two full-scale games vs AI I think I spend almost as much time reading this forum as I did playing the game!
(I was arrogant enough to set 14 AIs on Inland map it to "difficult" in my first game as I usually do with other new games. Boy, was it eye-opening experience! )


By now I have played more than half of the available races and different themes and have beat Impossible AI many times on different maps and settings. So I feel I am finally ready now to have my arse handed to me on the plate by some forumers who are real masters of this game in MP. I am well prepared for it because all my experience with strategic computer games tells me that no matter how confident you are when playing vs computer, when you start playing against smart and skillful human opponents you will more likely than not feel like a newbie again. So I am looking forward to being crushed by some Elder Pretender Gods in MP game, since for me it would be much more interesting to lose against strong opponent and learn from him than to win vs weak ones. But even if I'll be squished first few times, I promise I'll do everything in my power to give you a good fight.


So are there any MP games that are planed to start in close future? I live in USA, West Coast, and I am open for both PBEM and IP games, although I would probably prefer to start with PBEM since it would give me more time to think on my strategy while I would be still learning MP side of this game. Because it is such a big time commitment I would love to play with some of the veteran players, including some of the folks that I mentioned above, so this way I would know that I am playing against the best (Of course, assuming these veteran players would be kind enough to include me in their game). I am very reliable when it comes to keeping the schedule of the game, and I always play it until the end, bitter one or not.


Any suggestions or offers regarding finding MP game for me would be highly appreciated.


With best regards,
Stormbinder

[ March 11, 2004, 20:05: Message edited by: Stormbinder ]

[Wauthan]

Hello and welcome out of lurkership private Stormbinder. Best way to find a MP game, besides setting one up with friends, is to do exactly what you have now done. Writing a polite request to participate in or starting a new game.

How did you came by the name Stormbinder by the way? Almost sound like you're reknown for playing towards stalemate.

[ March 11, 2004, 20:06: Message edited by: Wauthan ]

[Tricon]

Hello and welcome.

Another way to find PBEM games is to check out the PBEM section at the top of the shrapnel forums.

..
But I just see, that you've allready found it.


Well, have fun.

[ March 11, 2004, 20:40: Message edited by: Tricon ]

[Stormbinder]

Thank you guys.


Wauthan: Heh, Stormbinder is the alias that I invented quite a few years ago and used it since than in several fantasy-oriented computer and pen-and-paper games that I've played. Perhaps I was partly influenced by books of Roger Zelazny ("Lord of Light") and Ursula la Guin ("Wizard of the Earthsea") when I was thinking about my new nickname. As for playing toward stalemate - I don't know, usually I play toward the win and don't give up until the very end, however stalemate is defenitely preferable for me to the defeat.
Anyway I like to keep same name on different Boards and games where it fits its general theme, you never know when you meet somebody who will recognose you from the old days, happened to me more than once.

Thikon: Yeap, found it and even posted my email there, thank you. However that section doesn't seem very active to me based upon number of Posts there and their dates. Are there any other Boards where one could find Dom2 opponents by any chance?


So far the only invitation that I got was from DarkTears(thank you!), he is starting newbie game for people who just bought it and learning the ropes. As a "semi-newbie" (after all, I've played Dom2 heavly for 2 monthes in SP) I would prefer to play vs a bit more experienced opponents (not because I am a snob, it wouldn't matter much to me with almost any other game, but this game is so bloody long, would probably take few months!). Still any game is better than no game, and so far I haven't seen any other MP games open for new players...

Regards,
Stormbinder

[Tricon]

Originally posted by Stormbinder:

Thikon: Yeap, found it and even posted my email there, thank you. However that section doesn't seem very active to me based upon number of Posts there and their dates. Are there any other Boards where one could find Dom2 opponents by any chance?

But of course.
Try here: http://www.gonegold.com/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi
- MP section

or here: http://www.quartertothree.com/phpBB2/index.php
- Games section

Both have a rather active Dominions2 community.
In return, as a fovor if you will, please tell me if playing MP with those guys is worth it (though I prefer this forum, and the community is very friendly, it seems to lack a strong MP community - but then again due to chaotic work hours it's "only" PBEM for me anyway.)
Basically: if you find a good game, please let me know.

A small warning: at quartertothree they tend to make fun of you if you mention that you like this forum.
On the other hand the devs are active there, too.
Nice bunch. Really.

(Thikon? where have i heard that before...?)

[ March 12, 2004, 14:26: Message edited by: Tricon ]

[Stormbinder]

Thank you Tricon, your tips are very appreciated. I'll check these links and I'll let you know my impressions on those guys. The only problem with "finding a good game" is that it's hard to tell with unfamiliar players if it will be good one or not before you start playing, and once it start it's usually too late to join for other people. But I'll definetly keep you posted.

It's strange that this forum does not seem to be very active in MP field. While I was lurking here I was under impression that many people were playing SP mostly to check different races and strategies and prepare themself for MP. Maybe I was wrong.

Regards,
Stormbinder

[ March 12, 2004, 16:22: Message edited by: Stormbinder ]

[Tricon]

Honestly, I think there are a lot of "multiplayers" among us. But it kind of gets lost in the forum. IMO we cold use a general topic, multiplayer and maybe an AAR section. But maybe we're just too few in number (and a PBEM section already exists- though not very frequented).


But give it a bit of time. The number of dom2 is "exploding" right now, as you may have noticed in the past two months of lurking. However most just got their games and first want to get to know the game beforventuring out to the MP community. (I can relate... that's what I did when I got into EU II - - lurking in the forum, started posting, but never got around to play with the really interesting EUII "family"... but then again I had my own small MP group for EU II)

So , I definately think the action will pick up. Especially in PBEM.

(I, too, can't wait to cross spells with some of the people here.... two more weeks... then the chaos that is work should be back to normal)

[Stormbinder]

LOL, I can relate to it as well - I was doing the same thing on EU2 forums. In fact I've been playing EU2 for more than a year in SP before I registered on thier forums and started playing it in MP. Maybe I am just "naturally born lurker".


But I always tend to sharpen my teeths on AI before starting to play vs human opponents. For me it's like preparations before real battle, although in case of EU2 it was somewhat different, since I was enjoying it so much in SP that I didn't feel much preasure to try MP.

[Stormbinder]

Tricon, check out this thread if you like, maybe it would be interesting to you.

http://www.gonegold.com/ubb/ultimate...=002104#000007


(Anybody else who is reading this thread is welcome to check this link as well, if you are looking for a new MP game).

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Stormbinder:
It's strange that this forum does not seem to be very active in MP field. While I was lurking here I was under impression that many people were playing SP mostly to check different races and strategies and prepare themself for MP. Maybe I was wrong.

Norfleet started a MP game earlier this evening, that was announced a week in advance in this thread. Norfleet and Zen both run MP games almost every weekend, which are announced on this forum.