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| DOMINIONS 3 - Its been and available for (quote) Shrapnel Games is pleased to announce that Dominions 3: The the next exciting chapter in the Dominions saga, is now available for pre-order and is projected to go Gold in June...
screenshots for Dominions 3 - > May 2nd, 2006 (9:00am) - As the release countdown to one of the most > highly sequels, Dominions 3 - The continues to > tick down Shrapnel Games and developer Illwinter Game Design..
not enough Dominions news? - WOW I cant believe they did this. The 2 guys working on the dominions game posted the link to their work- document over in the community forum. Thats gonna create a buzz. Im not sure if that was such a good idea. But I am Its not a lot of..
Preview of Dominions 3 - An online gamers mag got a preview of Dominions 3. The writeup seems geared toward talking to the Dom2 players and worries they might have. So it might not mean much to anyone else...
another Dominions 3 preview - > Illwinter Game Design is following up on their Dominions > II: The Ascension Wars with the equally ambitious Dominions 3: The > Believe me when I say that this is possibly the..
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External
Since: Oct 02, 2005
Posts: 700
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(Msg. 1) Posted: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:25 pm
Post subject: Dominions 3, AGAIN!
Archived from groups: comp>sys>ibm>pc>games>strategic (more info?)
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And yet AGAIN I have found myself BACK at Dominions 3. If you love deep
strategy more than flashy graphics and sounds then at LEAST try the demo.
I got pulled back to update some add-on stuff I had made which was still
getting downloads. Now Im sucked back into playing instead of updating
because of all the changes.
Years after its release, its still going strong. The developers have
regularly released patches which are more upgrade than they are patch.
Whole new nations, spells, equipment keep getting added. More and more
modding commands get added.
But what made me think of coming here and posting was this comment I made
in the Dom3 forum...
[quote]
That makes me feel better. Anytime a discussion pops up here where
various experts proclaim some nations worth or worthlessness I get
concerned. But luckily, it tends to actually average out that no matter
how strong the opinions are that fly around, the saving grace is that
they dont seem to agree with each other. 
I am still amazed at how rare that is. Ive been gaming for decades and on
internet for as long as its been internet. I can remember many many games
where 1 month to 1 year was just about the whole life of the game because
some ultimate strategy was developed and posted. Or great games that I
found out about too late because by the time I got there the expert
players had their tactics so down perfect that you couldnt last long
enough in a game to learn the game.
Call me a fanboi if you want but any game that can keep me trying new
things and finding new useful tactics years after its release is well
worth it.
[/quote]
I thought that maybe other people here might remember having such an
experience in games.
Some links....
http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%
2Fwww.amazon.com%2FShrapnel-Games-dominions-3%2Fdp%2FB000K0OSFS%3Fie%
3DUTF8%26s%3Dvideogames%26qid%3D1216307994%26sr%3D8-1&tag=anyonecannet-20
&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325
Tiny link to same place:
http://tinyurl.com/63lumx
Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominions_3
Gandalf Parker |
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Since: Jul 18, 2008
Posts: 6
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(Msg. 2) Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:12 am
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Gandalf Parker wrote:
> And yet AGAIN I have found myself BACK at Dominions 3. If you love deep
> strategy more than flashy graphics and sounds then at LEAST try the demo.
> I got pulled back to update some add-on stuff I had made which was still
> getting downloads. Now Im sucked back into playing instead of updating
> because of all the changes.
Have they done anything to improve the interface to make it easier
learn and play the game? That's what has held me back. They can make
a million more balanced nations but if they never address the UI
"because they don't like doing that sort of work" then I know I'll
never bite.
Also...how is the AI? I prefer to play single-player and so don't
like "deep complex strategy games" with a severely lacking AI. |
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External
Since: Jan 27, 2006
Posts: 683
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(Msg. 3) Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 12:46 pm
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:12:08 -0700 (PDT), bman654
<wickedsoul_.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>Gandalf Parker wrote:
>> And yet AGAIN I have found myself BACK at Dominions 3. If you love deep
>> strategy more than flashy graphics and sounds then at LEAST try the demo.
>> I got pulled back to update some add-on stuff I had made which was still
>> getting downloads. Now Im sucked back into playing instead of updating
>> because of all the changes.
>
>Have they done anything to improve the interface to make it easier
>learn and play the game? That's what has held me back. They can make
>a million more balanced nations but if they never address the UI
>"because they don't like doing that sort of work" then I know I'll
>never bite.
It is harder than most games to learn to play well but it's not that
hard to pick up how to play it. You certainly do need to read the
manual, though!
>Also...how is the AI? I prefer to play single-player and so don't
>like "deep complex strategy games" with a severely lacking AI.
Unfortunately, weak. Setting the difficulty up produces a reasonable
challenge. (Albeit due to production bonuses and not skill.)
I don't think it would be possible to write an AI for a game like this
that was competitive against a competent human. |
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Since: Nov 10, 2007
Posts: 6
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(Msg. 4) Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:20 pm
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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bman654 wrote:
>
> Have they done anything to improve the interface to make it easier
> learn and play the game? That's what has held me back. They can make
> a million more balanced nations but if they never address the UI
> "because they don't like doing that sort of work" then I know I'll
> never bite.
>
I second that. |
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External
Since: Oct 02, 2005
Posts: 700
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(Msg. 5) Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 1:35 pm
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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bman654 <wickedsoul_ RemoveThis @yahoo.com> contributed wisdom to
news:0476fd10-01f6-4c47-991d-fa96d503e164@h17g2000prg.googlegroups.com:
> Gandalf Parker wrote:
>> And yet AGAIN I have found myself BACK at Dominions 3. If you love
>> deep strategy more than flashy graphics and sounds then at LEAST try
>> the demo. I got pulled back to update some add-on stuff I had made
>> which was still getting downloads. Now Im sucked back into playing
>> instead of updating because of all the changes.
>
> Have they done anything to improve the interface to make it easier
> learn and play the game? That's what has held me back. They can make
> a million more balanced nations but if they never address the UI
> "because they don't like doing that sort of work" then I know I'll
> never bite.
Not sure what you are comparing it to. Its much better than it was with
Dom 2. But its not up to "just another windows game". Its a Linux game
and PbEM so its never going to have the UI of a native Windows game.
> Also...how is the AI? I prefer to play single-player and so don't
> like "deep complex strategy games" with a severely lacking AI.
Many improvements to the AI, but it is just another AI. I prefer single-
play also. Its not a human player but its varied enough to not be totally
predictable.
Gandalf Parker |
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Since: Oct 02, 2005
Posts: 700
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(Msg. 6) Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 1:35 pm
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel DeleteThis @hotmail.invalid.com> contributed wisdom to
news:Mwrgk.2861$KI7.1593@newsfe08.iad:
> I don't think it would be possible to write an AI for a game like this
> that was competitive against a competent human.
IMHO it does last long enough to at least cover learning the game and
getting a feel for all the different nations. Considering how long that
can take, its not completely worthless. Unless of course the person logs
into the Dom3 forums and scoops up all the beat-the-AI tips. Most of the
"beat the AI way too soon" complaints that Ive seen in forums were from
people who tended to jump to forums right away asking for cheat codes and
such.
Surprisingly, this AI doesnt cheat much. Turning up the AI setting mostly
gives it extra build points for the pretender.
But yes, this game would be almost impossible to write an AI for. Just a
Dummies book would be more of an encyclopedia due to the huge differences
between the nations. The AI in the game is generic and linear and doesnt
have alot of "IF" statements. For a game where every nation is so unique,
thats rough. Most of the needed improvments to the AI would require a
grounds-up rewrite of the game code. Maybe if there is ever a Dom4.
Of course, the excellent MODding support has allowed player-modders to
create better versions of AI nations. Both the nations that came with the
game, and some completely new nations which would never be fair to be
played by a human but make for some better competition. In my opinion
that still has alot of room left for modders to improve it even further.
Gandalf Parker |
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Since: Feb 22, 2008
Posts: 18
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(Msg. 7) Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 3:20 pm
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Gandalf Parker wrote:
>
> Of course, the excellent MODding support has allowed player-modders to
> create better versions of AI nations. Both the nations that came with the
> game, and some completely new nations which would never be fair to be
> played by a human but make for some better competition. In my opinion
> that still has alot of room left for modders to improve it even further.
>
> Gandalf Parker
Where does one find these mods? |
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Since: Jun 19, 2007
Posts: 248
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(Msg. 8) Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:13 pm
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Loren Pechtel wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:12:08 -0700 (PDT), bman654
> <wickedsoul_ RemoveThis @yahoo.com> wrote:
Have they done anything to improve the interface to make it easier
>> learn and play the game? That's what has held me back. They can make
>> a million more balanced nations but if they never address the UI
>> "because they don't like doing that sort of work" then I know I'll
>> never bite.
>
> It is harder than most games to learn to play well but it's not that
> hard to pick up how to play it. You certainly do need to read the
> manual, though!
Twenty years ago GUI designers were saying the typical "modern" user
isn't going to be willing to read a user manual more than 2 pages thick.
Methinks some game designers may need cranial contact with a clue brick. |
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Since: Oct 02, 2005
Posts: 700
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(Msg. 9) Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:15 am
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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David Alex Lamb <dalamb RemoveThis @cs.queensu.ca> contributed wisdom to
news:BEPgk.24232$Mc.8201@read1.cgocable.net:
> Loren Pechtel wrote:
>> On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:12:08 -0700 (PDT), bman654
>> <wickedsoul_ RemoveThis @yahoo.com> wrote:
> Have they done anything to improve the interface to make it easier
>>> learn and play the game? That's what has held me back. They can
>>> make a million more balanced nations but if they never address the
>>> UI "because they don't like doing that sort of work" then I know
>>> I'll never bite.
>>
>> It is harder than most games to learn to play well but it's not that
>> hard to pick up how to play it. You certainly do need to read the
>> manual, though!
>
> Twenty years ago GUI designers were saying the typical "modern" user
> isn't going to be willing to read a user manual more than 2 pages
> thick.
> Methinks some game designers may need cranial contact with a clue
> brick.
This game went thru its knocks in that area. I feel like taking abit of
credit that they finally gave up and went with a player-created manual.
Developers are so deeply into the game that they cannot think or write
for newbies. Nor should we want them to.
The manual for version 3 of Dominions is 300 excellent pages written by a
player taking notes as he learned the game. Including it with the game
was one of the smartest things they did.
Gandalf Parker |
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Since: Oct 02, 2005
Posts: 700
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(Msg. 10) Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:17 am
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Richard <mindyourownbusiness.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> contributed wisdom to
news:EL-dneA4V5l6Nh7VnZ2dnUVZ_qDinZ2d@comcast.com:
> Gandalf Parker wrote:
>>
>> Of course, the excellent MODding support has allowed player-modders
>> to create better versions of AI nations. Both the nations that came
>> with the game, and some completely new nations which would never be
>> fair to be played by a human but make for some better competition. In
>> my opinion that still has alot of room left for modders to improve it
>> even further.
>
> Where does one find these mods?
The best source for maps and mods is the developers forum.
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=&C=10
Gandalf Parker |
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Since: Jan 27, 2006
Posts: 683
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(Msg. 11) Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:15 am
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:13:34 -0400, David Alex Lamb
<dalamb.TakeThisOut@cs.queensu.ca> wrote:
>Loren Pechtel wrote:
>> On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:12:08 -0700 (PDT), bman654
>> <wickedsoul_.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Have they done anything to improve the interface to make it easier
>>> learn and play the game? That's what has held me back. They can make
>>> a million more balanced nations but if they never address the UI
>>> "because they don't like doing that sort of work" then I know I'll
>>> never bite.
>>
>> It is harder than most games to learn to play well but it's not that
>> hard to pick up how to play it. You certainly do need to read the
>> manual, though!
>
>Twenty years ago GUI designers were saying the typical "modern" user
>isn't going to be willing to read a user manual more than 2 pages thick.
> Methinks some game designers may need cranial contact with a clue brick.
If you don't read the manual there is too much about the underlying
structure of the game you aren't going to understand. The game is
simply too complex to be picked up by jumping in. |
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Since: Oct 02, 2005
Posts: 700
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(Msg. 12) Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:32 pm
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Loren Pechtel <lorenpechtel.RemoveThis@hotmail.invalid.com> contributed wisdom to
news:bS0hk.6337$CY7.36@newsfe06.iad:
> On Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:13:34 -0400, David Alex Lamb
> <dalamb.RemoveThis@cs.queensu.ca> wrote:
>
>>Loren Pechtel wrote:
>>> On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:12:08 -0700 (PDT), bman654
>>> <wickedsoul_.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Have they done anything to improve the interface to make it easier
>>>> learn and play the game? That's what has held me back. They can
>>>> make a million more balanced nations but if they never address the
>>>> UI "because they don't like doing that sort of work" then I know
>>>> I'll never bite.
>>>
>>> It is harder than most games to learn to play well but it's not that
>>> hard to pick up how to play it. You certainly do need to read the
>>> manual, though!
>>
>>Twenty years ago GUI designers were saying the typical "modern" user
>>isn't going to be willing to read a user manual more than 2 pages
>>thick.
>> Methinks some game designers may need cranial contact with a clue
>> brick.
>
> If you don't read the manual there is too much about the underlying
> structure of the game you aren't going to understand. The game is
> simply too complex to be picked up by jumping in.
>
At least this version does come with a tutorial (also player created
which makes it excellent newbie level informative). And the solo play is
much better for learning the game. But yes, the manual is greatly needed.
I was also very pleased that they went with the beta testers suggestion
and made the manual ring-bound so that it lays open easily. I hate
manuals that wont lay open.
Gandalf Parker |
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Since: Jul 26, 2008
Posts: 1
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(Msg. 13) Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:02 am
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
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Does this game have separate mods that improve the AI, or do you mean
instead that you install a mod that 'recreates' and existing nation
but with improved AI?
In either case, once you have done the tutorial (which I enjoyed a lot
BTW), is there a recommendation for mods or nations to play against in
single player?
--
Mick Cooney |
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Since: Oct 02, 2005
Posts: 700
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(Msg. 14) Posted: Sat Jul 26, 2008 1:42 pm
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Kayben <mickcooney DeleteThis @gmail.com> contributed wisdom to news:1ec0ca2d-1481-
465f-8cb4-c084c2edd299 DeleteThis @m73g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:
> Does this game have separate mods that improve the AI, or do you mean
> instead that you install a mod that 'recreates' and existing nation
> but with improved AI?
Abit of both. There are mods where players remove things entirely from
the game which they feel the AI overused badly. Efforts to get the AI to
buy more reasonable units, or use better spells.
But that tends to depend on the way you play. Some people were irritated
that the AI didnt use more armored troops, or more national troops.
Personally I feel that forcing all of the AIs to play that direction
knocks out some of the more interesting themed nations but thats just
IMHO.
On the other hand, many have made mods which create entirely new nations.
Knights, or based on Warcraft or some other game. Some are built around
the things that the AI does well or doesnt do well. They are unbalanced
for playing as a human player but majorly boosted as an AI.
Another tactic is to do the pre-build for the AI rather than have it
randomly choose its pretender, magic levels, and scales. There is a
program called SemiRand where everyone sends in their favorite builds for
specific nations which are added to the programs library. I have sent in
my favorite build for Pangaea, my god "Natural Disaster". If you run the
program against a map then play that map, it will assign gods to the AIs.
Its also a fun way to end up playing against "yourself" when your god-
build comes up.
> In either case, once you have done the tutorial (which I enjoyed a lot
> BTW), is there a recommendation for mods or nations to play against in
> single player?
It depends on your playing style. In general you might want to play
against Ulm or Pythium. Their tactics are fairly standard for any army-
vs-army game. Then maybe try playing against Caelum or Abysia which are
different but not too confusing.
Some generic tips. Larger maps (20+ provinces per player), and higher
strength on independents, help to keep the AIs off of swarming you too
soon in the game.
Gandalf Parker |
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Since: Oct 05, 2005
Posts: 1114
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(Msg. 15) Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 11:57 am
Post subject: Re: Dominions 3, AGAIN! [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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> Twenty years ago GUI designers were saying the typical "modern" user isn't
> going to be willing to read a user manual more than 2 pages thick.
> Methinks some game designers may need cranial contact with a clue brick.
Reading the Dominions 3 manual was one of the pleasures of the game. The
part describing the various nations, their unique cultural trairts (which,
in turn, influence what armies they build and other special powers) and
their evolution through ages made me salivating. King Arthur and Atlantis vs
Fundamentalists Templars and Cthulhu? Bring it on! And looking at the spells
lists and descriptions made the head of the RPGer in me spin. I'm glad that
the didn't went for the "two pages pamphlet" but actually thought about the
rest of us not plagued by ADD (which, in our times, is the *real* social
disease - not suffering by ADD I mean). |
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