Dominions 3

[Minotaur]

First the link: www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/Dom3/1.htm

WARNING: Long post ahead

Now....what is this all about? Well, if you like fantasy, turn-based strategy gaming....then this game is FOR YOU.

Dominions is a game series that is complex, deep, and has a severe problem with game replayability. That is, you want to play the game over and over and over again.

Just what does Dom3 offer? There are tons of things in this game.

First of all, the manual is 300 pages, spiral bound. The manual is more like a reference strategy guide that explains how to play. We are not talking the flimsy 32 page EA Games manuals that are prevalent in games released today. This manual is 300 pgs of strategy goodness. Examples are given throughout as to how the mechanics of the engine works. There is a 139 page section that describes the spells. There is a 39 page section that describes the 59 nations. There is a 6 page section that is based on the strategy of the game....The manual itself is like a work of art (a HUGE improvement over the manual that shipped with Dominions 2).

What else is there to this game? How about 50+ nations? There are 3 "ages" to the game: Early Age (an age that has more magic involved), Middle Age (an age that has strong magic, but magic is growing weaker), and Late Age (an age where steel is beginning to take the place of sorcery). Nations are divided up by ages. Some nations will have a showing in all 3 ages, while others may only show up in 1 age. All together, there are 59 Nations. And these are not your typical "Orcs & Elves" fantasy races either. The nations are original (a concept that just doesn't seem to exist much anymore in fantasy-based games). National mythology, folklore, and just plain imagination rules the day with the nations available in Dom3 (well, any any Dominions series game).

Some examples of the nations available:

Abysia: Devil-worshipping empire combined with ancient Middle Eastern comcepts. Strong fire magic, with blood magic also.

Bandar Log: Nation of monkey-people, inspired by Hindu myth, ancient India and Rudyard Kipling. I don't know much about this nation, as this is a new one in Dom3. But anything that has powerful apes has to be interesting!!

C'tis: Lizard people. A nation based on Egyptian and Mesopotamian influence.

Ermor: The undead nation. Based heavily on the Roman Empire, and the fall of Rome....can be VERY powerful.

Jotunheim: Nation of frost giants, based on Norse mythology.

Vanheim: A nation based on Norse mythology and the vikings

Man: a mixture of medieval English and Arthurian legend, with fantasy elements from Ars Magica and Robert Jordan. One of my personal favorite nations to play as

Pangaea: Half-men make up this nation. Based loosely on Greek mythology. Satyrs, Centarus, Pans, and Minotaurs. Another of my favorites.

Mictlan: A blood sacrificing nation based strongly on the Aztecs.

R'Lyeh: One of the (I think) 3 water-based nations. Heavily influenced by the fiction of HP Lovecraft. A very interesting nation to play. Especially in the late age, as your units can become insane, and just do strange things. Cross-breeding (humans and aliens, I think) in this nation....

Yomi, Shinuyama, Jomon: These 3 represents the Japanese mythology and folklore in each of the ages. The late age (Jomon) is based more on the samurai time period of Japan.

There are many many more nations in the game, that is just a few of them listed.

There are now more than 600 spells, and 300 magical items in the game. The magic system is interesting.

There are 8 paths of magic: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Astral, Nature, Death, and Blood. Well, there is also Holy (and UnHoly) magic also, used by Priests & Prohets.

There are 7 Schools of Magic: Conjuration, Alteration, Evocation, Construction, Enchantment, Thaumaturgy, Blood.

Each mage is skilled in one or more paths.And when researching, they open up levels in the different schools, which allows a more varied use of spells. Some spells only require one path....others require 2 paths.

There are different types of spells: Battle Magic (used in battle...) and Rituals (used outside of battles). Rituals can also include Global Enchantments that affect the entire game word.

The most important part of the game, and possibly the most interesting part of the game, is making your Pretender. The game focuses on the Pretenders of the nations that are trying to attain Godhood. In order to do this, each Pretender has to eliminate the others, and be the last Pretender standing. War is a sure thing in the world of Dominions. You basically "design" your Pretender. You choose the physical form (each nation varies in what forms are available, and some are nation specific). You choose the magic paths that your Pretender knows. You choose the strength of your Pretenders dominion. There is a lot of thought and strategy in designing your Pretender....

I just mentioned Dominion. What is it? From the manual (page 92): "Dominions 3 is a game of apocalyptic struggle between pretenders to godhood. The game represents this belief in god separately from military control, in the form of dominion."

In other words, you may control a province, but a different Pretender may control the people's hearts and minds. You have to raise your own dominion in provinces. Dominion will even change the face of the world. If your dominion is cold, and a drain on magic, then what provinces that your dominion is in, will have cold weather, and mages will become tired quicker, and research will be hindered due to the magic drain. If your dominion promotes slothfulness, but also has luck, then the people will be hard to "get to working", but there is a better chance that if any events happen, they will be good events.

Your Pretender & your Prophet's hitpoints, strength, and magic resistance, is tied directly to what dominion they are located in.

There are different ways to "spread" your dominion across the world. You build temples, your priests & prophet can preach the word of god, some nations has blood sacrifices, one particular nation (Marignon) uses Inquisitors to spread dominion, and just the mere precense of your Pretender will spread it.

If you are left without a province holding any of your dominion, your Pretender simply "passes", loses his "god-like" mantle, and fails at his/her/it opportunity to become the one, true God.

Anyways, I know this was a long one....but I have only touched on the very basics of what this game is about. This is a very deep, complex game....that rewards patience. And, yes....PATIENCE is required. The game has a not-so-easy-to-use interface. Once I played the game, though, it made sense, but still....And the graphics are not state of the art, TEH MOST AWESOME GRAPHICS EVAR!!!! But, they do what they need to do, and they do have a charm to them. There is a random map generator. There is a good community over at the shrapnel games forums. And this game SCREAMS Multi-Play. Games can literally take months in Dominions if you want to play that type of a game (there are also small maps that can be played in much less time). The game is 55 bucks, but that includes free priority mail shipping (2-3 days shipping). Oh, did I mention....there are 1500+ units to use? They range from mages with random paths of magic, to knights, to summoned creatures, to basic militia, to spider-riders, to pegasus-riders, to shape-shifters, to....well....hopefully, you get the point.

There is also a demo that gives a tutorial. The manual was written by Bruce Geryk (you may know who this guy is....he is a reviewer, who wrote the walk-through for Dominions 2). Really, I cannot say enough about the manual, or the game for that matter. Give the demo a try, ask questions here. If you get the game, we can set up a Play by email game...get a big group here together, and have a good time.

Anyways, sorry it was so long...

Chris

[Minotaur]

Here is the "company line". Copied from GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/dominions3/news.html?sid=6159501&q=dominions%203)



Leading one of over fifty possible nations in three different Ages, it is your goal to ascend to true godhood using all the power at your disposal. In a world of magic and steel the options to attain victory are as numerous as the cries of mercy from your vanquished foes. Whether you use military might, eldritch power, or subterfuge (or more likely, a combination of all three) every turn is about options. Recruit troops (more than 1500 units found in the game), assassinate the enemy, scout territory, research magic (600+ spells and 300+ magic items), perform rituals, do a blood hunt, storm a castle, construct, pray, forge - the list goes on.

* Turn-based fantasy 4X gaming with up to twenty-one (AI or human) players using simultaneous turns.
* Still an amazing amount of player choices in one turn: recruit, research, empowerment, forge, rituals, magic battles, search, prayers, blood hunt, luck, assassinations, friendly movement, movement, storm castle, enchantments, magic items, sneak, build, special orders, income, starvation, upkeep, dominion, site effects, heal, mercs, and scouting.
* Three different eras: Early Magical Era, Middle Era, and Late Era. The Early Magical Era boasts many new nations, the Middle Era features most of the nations from Dominions 2, and the Late Era features an emphasis on more conventional warfare and less magic.
* Fifty different playable nations. Some of the new nations include Ermor, New Faith, based on the early Republic of Rome. Marverni, inspired by Gallic tribes. Kailasa, Rise of the Ape Kings, inspired from Indian and Hindu mythology. Jomon, Human Daimyos, born from ancient Japan.
* Brand new graphics, with an overhauled and streamlined interface. Transparent mechanics decreases
* the learning curve.
* Less micromanagement than previous Dominions titles.
* Random map creation.
* Players can design and save gods for later play.
* Map filters now allow players to easily locate scouts.
* Nation specific spells and summons. More than 600 spells and 300 magic items, all with evocative descriptions, are found in the game.
* Rebalanced rates for income, supply, and resources enable larger conventional armies.
* 1500+ units to wage war with. A deep combat model encompasses everything from battlefield morale to the use of magic.
* An already challenging AI made even more challenging. If you can't handle the unrelenting computer player, you can always try your hand at playing against humans with Dominions 3 robust multiplayer suite.
* Much more powerful modding capabilities.
* Make and remake nations as you see fit!
* Still present, the cool ability to turn any image into a map! Battle across Faerún or Middle Earth!
* Choose if your pretending god is dormant or awake when the game begins.
* New music from Erik Ask Uppmark and Anna Rynefors, the duo behind Dominion 2's lilting musical score.
* Taxes and unrest automatically checked through the autotax function, streamlining play.
* Playable on most major operating systems. Play it on a Windows, Mac, or Linux machine.
* Dominions 3: The Awakening could very easily be the last fantasy 4X game you ever need.

[Wildfire]

Sounds good.. I'll have to check it out

[Minotaur]

it is a GREAT game.....IF.....you can get past the interface. That is why I say the game rewards patiance....the interface can be a tough nut to break. But if you download the demo, go through the tutorial (I am pretty sure the tutorial is included in the demo). That will pretty much walk you through the basics...

Any questions, just ask me....I have actually played all 3 versions, although, Dom2 saw the most play from me. But now with Dom3, the game is so much better.

Chris

[Minotaur]

anyone have any thoughts on this game (if you bought it)? I am personally loving it....

I am in a MP game, but also playing a SP game (and having a blast). In my SP game, I am pretty much right in the middle of the other 4 AI's. Agartha is on my western side, across the seas. Bandar Log is right to my east. Vanheim was down south. And Mictlan was to the far north, across the seas.

I am taking out Vanheim, while containing Agartha (hit and run raids into their provinces), while weakening and pushing Bandar Log out of my territories. Bandar Log and Agartha both attacked me on the same turn on different fronts. It was looking pretty grim for Shinuyama (the middle age Japanese-themed nation....the nation I am playing), but I pushed Agartha back into the sea, and then back to his own lands. I was able to mass enough troops to push Bandar Log back across the border, and have started prepping for the coming invasion into the monkey's lands. The bad part, my Pretender died in combat vs. a Bandar Log army....

Vanheim made somewhat of a comback, pushing all the way to their former capital, but I was able to break the seige. Since then, I have taken 3 other Vanheim castles. They are fighting desperate now though...no real threat anymore.

BUT....now Mictlan, who is directly north of me across the northern seas, has had a chance to expand....and expand they did. They have expanded across the northern lands, all the way to my southern lands (this is a wrap-a-round map). They are "helping" me eliminate Vanheim, and so far, have pulled their troops from my borders....but they are still a very major threat. In fact, they are probably the strongest empire in the game...just because of where they were positioned.

All in all, I am loving the game. Much better than Dominions 2....