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[Erick Doe]

Has anyone tried any of the Dominions games? Dominions 3 and 4 are great and so far I've played Dom3 to death. They are available on steam, and while Dom4 is the most recent release, 3 does have its perks. I recently got into map creation and I tried my hand at creating a Dom3 map. Turns out the map / scenario it also works for the latest title in the series.

Here's the map I made:

Spoiler

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It all works. Provinces border one another and each province has its own properties (like forests, mountains, farms; which determine certain stats to a province)

It was mostly just an MS Paint job that I did to test out how the game's map editor worked. Then I ended up liking the design and tried to salvage and improve it, turning it into a proper map.

I also want to try out creating custom factions, so I can populate my custom worlds with my own creations and realms. I'll post some more if I make progress on any of that.

[SCC]

It seems interesting, map looks similar to PDI titles. What this game is about? Wait, that's a wrong question to ask... How do you play it? GSG/4X with TW-like battles (as in, when 2 armies fight they actually duking it out on a tactical level, not simulation)? Am 2 scarud to check it out, it's from 2013 but looks like 2003. I mean... sprites in 3D? Come on! Endless Legends spoiled me so much. Dev's site actually looks worse than the game, though.
Alex pls no bully

[Erick Doe]

PDI titles? Can you help me with this abbreviation?

The game is basically about telling your own story. In my experience it takes a bit of imagination to get enjoyment out of these kinds of titles (similar would be Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance, or more recently: the Total War series) - Basically you conquer the world in one (or more) of several means. It is a grand strategy game.

(Oh! If you liked Birthright - The Gorgon's Alliance, it is worth checking out its spiritual successor on Steam, called: Sovereignty: Crown of Kings.)

So yes, a large overworld landmap, and battles that take part in a separate instance. You have ZERO control over battle instances. However, you influence battles ahead of time, as you get to choose commanders, troop formations, their orders, what spells they cast, etc. - So your decisions do greatly influence the outcome of each battle. Basically you issue orders and watch the battles play out.

The Dominions series gets updated all the time, and hence there have been four installments in this series (with an offshoot called Conquest of Elysium (1, 2, and 3), which is more of a rogue-like tile based version of the game).

The game series' graphics style is consistent and matches. Though it does look outdated. But what it lacks in graphic detail, it makes up for in depth and content detail. There are many different factions, which are different throughout three different era's. So you may get 20 different factions, that exist throughout three era's: meaning there are basically 60 different factions in the game, each with their own units and lore.

[SCC]

Paradox Interactive, don't ask me why it's abbreviated like that. They've made... Actually most of GSG I know, and they're mostly about storytelling too, even Stellaris.
So, battles are basically Gratuitous Space Battles? Hmm, that's actually not that bad, I get to enjoy big battles without having to manage their mess. It's not that like I'm atrocious at micromanaging or anything...
Number of factions reminds me of Warlords Battlecry III, an RTS with 16(!) factions (IIRC most of them wasn't repetitive) and Distant Worlds, which I didn't really play all that much... Er, let's go back. I don't lack anything particular to get enjoyment from such games so I'll most likely check it out. I've been playing the weirdest games lately...

[David]

Dominions is amazing. Played tons of 3 and 4; no idea why you'd want to stick with 3 considering each sequels in the series is basically an upgrade rather than a new game. (Is there some compelling reason to stick to 3?)

Also: obligatory link to graphs from the last game wherein I managed to beat Alex* here.

(*Very difficult; he plays Dominions like he makes video games: with deep planning, using arcane knowledge, ruthlessly executed, and then hordes of flying undead sacred summons with a strong blood bless who will tear your empire down unless you've summoned demon lords to use high-level fire/blood magic to rain apocalyptic destruction upon the earth. #gamedev)

Ps. Cool map!

[nomadic_leader]

The game has a terrible UI much worse than Starsector; it is an excellent game. On steam there are many reviews saying it is for autistic people, which is a rather offensive comment. It has a certain kind of intensity though and can make one have troubled sleep.

One thing that I like about both Starsector and Dominions is that you don't have to micromanage combat. You give orders about what to do ahead of time, and events just kind of take their course like ancient hoplite battles.

This map looks very nice Erick Doe, keep it up.

[Midnight Kitsune]

The game has a terrible UI much worse than Starsector; it is an excellent game. On steam there are many reviews saying it is for autistic people, which is a rather offensive comment. It has a certain kind of intensity though and can make one have troubled sleep.

The "autistic" comments are most likely referring to something that takes alot of micro or attention to detail to properly and fully use them.
This word meaning this was most likely coined in 4chan, who are known for not being very subtle

[Cik]

autistic as used by 4chan is usually a compliment, or at least an indication of amusement. only rarely is it used in a strictly derogatory sense.
being capable of "weaponizing autism" is a sort of badge of honor.

that said dominions fits the definition, along with most simulation/grand strategy-esque games.

great game though

[Erick Doe]

@David

It has been a while, but I vaguely remember reading a lot of reviews and deciding on Dom3 because I thought the combat instances to be superior. Regardless, I just purchased Dom4 at a 30% sale. 

Especially since the whole community basically migrated to the latest version of the game.

I've also been working on improving and expanding the map. Though I really should start up Dom4 to have a look at the major differences.

Spoiler

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[Erick Doe]

Here is the scenario if you want to give it a go. It should work for both Dominions 3 and 4.
Download link

[David]

@David

It has been a while, but I vaguely remember reading a lot of reviews and deciding on Dom3 because I thought the combat instances to be superior.

Ahh, if I may offer my unsolicited opinions, I'm going to guess these are:

1. In Dom4, you can't create as many squads as you want under a commander nor use any formation without imposing morale penalties. This makes higher-skill mundane commanders actually useful, kinda, though they're still not fantastic. It also removes some of the incentive for doing extreme micromanagement; I'm pretty sure this made the hardcore optimizers angry. But I think it's a good move in terms of preserving my sanity.

2. Removal of reverse communions: an advanced player could pull some hinky business by having the master of a communion cast buffs then retreat thereby ending the communion and unleashing all the communion-slaves into default combat orders with a load of possibly high-power buffs. I'd call this maybe-kinda-an-exploit that's contrary to the flavour of the mechanics, and again, one of those things (ab)used by hardcore optimizers.

I imagine the issues here are not dissimilar to the Starsector contentions around CR and ship orders in battle, though maybe to a less absurdly arcane degree ('cause that's Dominions for you!).

[Igncom1]

Man do I wanna play this game some more but i'm just so *** lazy to bother!

There is so much awesome in this game but man does the micro management bore me.

If I could only play one game for the rest of my life, Dom4/3 would be my choice be bugger me if this isn't one of the best games ever made! So freaking awesome!