Yet another new person with a question...

[MunkieSuthorn]

Hi all,

I bought Elemental a couple of weeks ago and I have to admit that the best thing that has come out of that game so far was the recommendation to check out Dom3.

I bought the DigiDL last a couple of night ago and installed it on my home computer, netbook, and work computer. I am reading the manual on my iPad as I play at home, and I am slowly understand my post-tutorial experience.

A couple of questions have come to mind as I am playing the game...

First, is their a recommended race and game configuration to ease a new player in to the game? I understand that everyone has a unique experience, but I was looking for a faction that might be a bit easier to wrap my mind around.

The second questions would be if I could possibly copy and move my save file on a thumb drive so I can keep portable between my three systems? Can I install the game on an unlimited amount of systems (I guess it is a bit late to ask this one).

Thanks in advance for answers,
Munkie!

[Gandalf Parker]

Technically you can. The game checks the legal serials only when you connect to another machine that has Dom3. So mostly just when you get into multiplayer games. Then you have to be careful about possibly playing the same game from multiple computers. The game would only see that the serial is coming from two different machines. It would have no way to know that they are both really you.
But for solo play and tutorial (or running a copy as a server) its no problem.

As for race, Im not sure. I tried awhile back to get an agreement about what race is simplest and already basically understood by non-players. But as you say, everyones experience with this game is different so it was alot more discussion than agreement.

My thought was something like Middle Era Ulm. Its strength is basically heavily armored men and cavalry. It has a priest and a mage and a scout but nothing too far from what you might see in any fantasy based game. To me it seems one of the more generic recognizable nations. I think it gives a chance to learn how play the game without wondering how to play Ulm.

Now that might actually turn out to be your perfect match. But if it doesnt, dont sweat it. As you play with the others you will be able to match nation to your style (offensive, defensive, turtling, researcher, stealth, horde)

And welcome to the addiction.

[Foodstamp]

MA Man would be a pretty good choice as well. It doesn't do anything fancy, massing longbows can make nearly any pretender design work vs the AI.

[rdonj]

I would suggest MA Ashdod or EA Niefelheim. They're some of the strongest nations in the game, have powerful magic, armies, sacreds, and recruitable SCs... and can be played decently in multiple ways, so you can experiment with them a bit. These are fairly straightforward power nations, so not too much thinking out of the box is necessary. The suggestions of MA Man and MA Ulm are given often, but I've found that players who start out with these nations end up getting the mistaken impression that they're rather strong, when in reality these are some of the weakest nations in the game

As far as settings go - I would suggest leaving most settings at default, with the possible exceptions of magic research and random events. For your first few games, it will make things a lot easier on you to play with easy research and few random events. Few random events lets you gain more points by taking misfortune scales without too much worry, and will prevent you from having to do as much backfield cleanup. I'd also suggest playing on a map that's thin and long, with one easy AI. This will provide a funneling effect making it harder for the AI to maneuver armies around you, so you'll need fewer effective armies and not need to worry as much about defending your borders. In fact I'll provide you with an example map. You can NOT put more than one AI on this map. You'll have to unzip it and put the contents into your "\dominions3\maps" directory. Unless you have windows 7, and then it might be in someplace trickier to find.

One last suggestion - when you start out, try playing against only human nations. Like tien chi, man, ulm, vanheim, etc. Some of the other nations, like say abysia, have special abilities that can make it a lot harder to deal with them if you're not prepared, and you probably want to get a handle on how things like magic and forging work before trying to fight them.

[zzcat]

MA Man for human troops, EA Aby for battlefield evocation and Niefel for big bad giants...

[Foodstamp]

Hmm, rdonj that is a bizarre reason to discount MA Man and Ulm; because the guy may mistakenly think they are strong? That being said, I started Dom 2 with Niefelheim and loved it.

Looking back on my Dominions beginnings, all that really matters is finding a theme you like. The rest falls into place.

[Gandalf Parker]

And then instead of a no-specials, easy to understand nation.. to recommend one with everything?

I didnt expect him to win with them. Just learn how to play the game..
Did you notice phrases like "ease a new player in to the game" and "I was looking for a faction that might be a bit easier to wrap my mind around"? I think I will stand by my recommendation (or Middle Era Man isnt bad also)

OH hey Munkie, before I forget. If you find yourself getting swarmed by the computer players then turn the independents UP to make it easier for you. People usually turn them down but that just makes the swarming worse

[Valerius]

I was beaten to the punch in suggesting fire and ice, EA Abysia and EA Niefelheim. Some things they have in common: good to excellent sacred troops and commanders that work well with an Earth 9/Nature 6 bless, immunity to their respective elements, heat and chill aura's, access to blood magic.

EA Aby's Burning Ones attack opponents in several ways: two hard hitting attacks per round (even more so when they go berserk), a fire shield that will harm opponents when they attack the Burning One (I think they are the only recruitable troop with this ability), and a heat aura that will fatigue opponents (fatigue increase the chances of a critical hit). Anointed of Rhuax are thuggable commanders and will let you experiment with that aspect of the game.

Niefel Giants aren't as good at inflicting damage as Burning Ones but they don't have to be. With their high HP they will be able to hang in there until their stacked chill auras do their job. Once the opponent is fatigued they become easier to hit and giants hit plenty hard. Even if they never hit the opponent, eventually the chill aura will go from fatiguing the opponent to killing them. If you use these take note of the effect of the chill aura on opponents - it really is a powerful weapon and can fatigue opponents without cold resistance frighteningly quickly. But Niefelheim's star is the Niefel Jarl - plain and simple they are recruitable SCs. They are well equipped for crowd control with a chill aura just like Niefel Giants and capable of casting Soul Vortex which will both damage opponents and heal/reinvigorate the caster.

Since both these nations are immune to their elements feel free to cast Falling Fires/Falling Frost without worrying about harming your own troops. Also, cast Heat from Hell and Grip of Winter to tire opponents (if possible precede the battle with a casting of Wolven Winter to make Grip of Winter even more effective).

Now while these two nations share some attributes they are actually on opposite ends of the power curve. Their respective access to blood is a good example. EA Aby's blood access is through a capitol only mage; Niefel has recruit everywhere blood mages. Who can transform into a wolf shape that is perfectly capable of killing SCs. Or once Blood 9 is researched just cast them into hell. But regardless of the power differences between them both these nations will give you an opportunity to experiment with blood magic. Note that in the case of Abysia you'll want to empower a nature mage in blood so you can forge Jade Knives. Give these to your sacred mages and you'll see the power of blood sacrificing in pushing dominion (note: selecting a high dominion when designing your pretender and using the strongest priests you have are very helpful in this process).

Lastly, both these nations lend themselves to a strong bless (though they don't *have* to be played that way). MA Ulm and Man don't (though you can make a case for the latter if you play using the CBM mod) - in those cases look for your pretender to provide good scales and magic diversity. When designing a pretender you can get varying combinations of bless, scales, magic diversity and combat ability. Try different nations and different approaches to see what you enjoy most.

Anyway, welcome and have fun!

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by MunkieSuthorn

The second questions would be if I could possibly copy and move my save file on a thumb drive so I can keep portable between my three systems?

Absolutely; from everything I've heard this works quite well and is probably the easiest way to switch machines and make sure you always have the most current turn files/mods/maps.

Edit: you can actually run the game off the thumb drive, not just copy saved games, etc.

[rdonj]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

And then instead of a no-specials, easy to understand nation.. to recommend one with everything?

I didnt expect him to win with them. Just learn how to play the game..
Did you notice phrases like "ease a new player in to the game" and "I was looking for a faction that might be a bit easier to wrap my mind around"? I think I will stand by my recommendation (or Middle Era Man isnt bad also)

OH hey Munkie, before I forget. If you find yourself getting swarmed by the computer players then turn the independents UP to make it easier for you. People usually turn them down but that just makes the swarming worse

The thing is, the nations I mentioned may have everything, but they're also GOOD or at least average at everything. So no matter what approach is used, they will always be effective. I don't think, therefore, that they are nations where having more options makes them more complicated. And I can't think of a nation more forgiving than niefelheim to mistakes. It's a very strong nation with most of its strengths being quite straightforward... especially if you follow valerius' advice. I'm not sure what makes a better candidate.

Foodstamp - that argument mostly boils down to "it'll make them think these nations are strong, and playing in the way that they'll do to defeat the AI will teach you very bad habits, and not actually help you learn how to play the game".