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Grand Strategy Dominions 3- Questions and Mod discussion

DarKPenguiN

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Oct 6, 2012
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Well, I just grabbed a copy of Dominions 3- Installed that bad boy and started a game and... Shut that shit off feeling shaken and intimidated. Then I have done something I have not done in YEARS- Opened the instruction manual before playing the game (usually the manual is useful after grasping the basics and looking towards the more "advanced" game)

-Anyhow, I am very impressed. reminds me of the old "boxed" strategy games in the 1980s with TONS of pieces and a TOME for an instruction manual for a game nobody will take the time to actually PLAY with you. =P

-But damn, I see potential. And with computer AI and (possibly) PBEM- Finding "players" shouldnt be a problem.

Now to learn the game...

So. Mods. What do I want? What do I need? What should I avoid? I was looking at some of the mods for factions/races or whatever and some looked like they had fantastic artwork and very creative creatures- But do they break the game? Are the factions all similar in power and by modding factions (or adding new ones) it is merely cosmetic? I would hate to spend the time looking for a cool player made faction and have it be OP as fuck and essentially break my game.

UI mods. Anything important? I can already tell in my 30 seconds "in game" that the UI sucks and I am going to be doing a TON of alt/tab to read exactly how to do whatever task will certainly elude me- Any Mods make things more "streamlined"?

Graphic Mods- No I am not a graphic whore and honestly I think the graphics are okay- But are there Mods out there that keep the gameplay the same but make the graphics better than "okay"- The creatures (the ones I have seen) look pretty good but the random map really does look like shit.

-And finally, any tips, tricks or things a total newb should know- Factions to abvoid or any wisdom you wish to impart?
 

mondblut

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Pfft. A person buys a new game and his first question is, "so, where are mods?" Why not see what the original is about first, ffs?

So. Mods. What do I want?

The Warhammer factions look pretty cool.

What do I need?

Nothing. Unless you are one of those "bawww blobs OP the devs got balance all wrong I know better than them" types, in which case CBM, which gets balance all wrong in a different way.

UI mods. Anything important? I can already tell in my 30 seconds "in game" that the UI sucks and I am going to be doing a TON of alt/tab to read exactly how to do whatever task will certainly elude me- Any Mods make things more "streamlined"?

There are none, UI is not moddable. Reskinned panels is as far as you can get.

Graphic Mods- No I am not a graphic whore and honestly I think the graphics are okay- But are there Mods out there that keep the gameplay the same but make the graphics better than "okay"- The creatures (the ones I have seen) look pretty good but the random map really does look like shit.

There are some hand-drawn custom maps that look pretty fabulous. This one, for example: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=39341

This or that particularly old and ugly (read: around since DomPPP times) unit may have its graphics replaced in an occasional mod, but as a rule, "making the graphics better" is way beyond modding capabilities.
 

DarKPenguiN

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I see, and thank you.

Yes, when a game advertises its modding capabilities I assume there are things broken/buggy etc (not necessarily balance related) which were left to the community to fix so I generally ask what Mods are needed. Plus I am always on the lookout for graphic enhancements regardless- My Morrowind game is like a giant train-set I play with and looks "next gen" with some of the fantastic visual mods, even Minecraft (which I play vanilla) has HD textures I immediately downloaded to change the look (for the better IMHO)- Shopping for Mods can sometimes be better than playing the actual game lol. =D

-But I also agree with trying to keep the vanilla rule set and such on your first time through- Just wanted to know if anything was needed (like drastically reducing the damn cliff racers from Morrowind which I always suggest to anyone giving it a shot)

-That map looks awesome BTW. Thanks.
 
Joined
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Balance in Dominions 3 is countering powergame with powergame. Balance has never been one of the problems we've had with it, it's that micromanaging shit takes so much time the game grinds to a halt because some people won't finish their turns.
 
Joined
Jan 7, 2012
Messages
14,152
Balance in Dominions 3 is countering powergame with powergame. Balance has never been one of the problems we've had with it, it's that micromanaging shit takes so much time the game grinds to a halt because some people won't finish their turns.

While this is true, unless you have some kind of balance mod powergame = doing whatever you want while everyone who can clamspam clamspams.
 

Kane

I have many names
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I approve of this topic.

You definitely want the community balance mod and streamers & standards for better visuals.

Balance in Dominions 3 is countering powergame with powergame. Balance has never been one of the problems we've had with it, it's that micromanaging shit takes so much time the game grinds to a halt because some people won't finish their turns.

You really need to PBEM with 2 day turn timers. Otherwise I can't stomach it either anymore. My kingdom for a unit production queue.
 
Joined
Jan 7, 2012
Messages
14,152
Well, I just grabbed a copy of Dominions 3- Installed that bad boy and started a game and... Shut that shit off feeling shaken and intimidated. Then I have done something I have not done in YEARS- Opened the instruction manual before playing the game (usually the manual is useful after grasping the basics and looking towards the more "advanced" game)

-Anyhow, I am very impressed. reminds me of the old "boxed" strategy games in the 1980s with TONS of pieces and a TOME for an instruction manual for a game nobody will take the time to actually PLAY with you. =P

Naturally, the manual tends to be quite inaccurate at times. And there is no real good source of info other than the horrifically incomplete wiki and scattered forum posts, so it's a very much trial and error thing.

So. Mods. What do I want? What do I need? What should I avoid? I was looking at some of the mods for factions/races or whatever and some looked like they had fantastic artwork and very creative creatures- But do they break the game? Are the factions all similar in power and by modding factions (or adding new ones) it is merely cosmetic? I would hate to spend the time looking for a cool player made faction and have it be OP as fuck and essentially break my game.

I certainly wouldn't recommend a modded faction the first time through. That's begging to have you rely on unique mechanics or just a modder that likes his faction too much and makes it OP. Even if not, most games are going to have the generic factions. You could get CBM, but half of the strategies in the game wouldn't make sense at first essential equipment is shuffled everywhere and units are re-priced. So play vanilla a handful of times and check out some online strats to get an idea of what to do.

-And finally, any tips, tricks or things a total newb should know- Factions to abvoid or any wisdom you wish to impart?
Don't use the literally world-eating Cthulu or Undead factions in the late age. Otherwise pick as you please.

Dominions 3 has a weird kind of balance in that lots of things (spells, factions, items) are obviously imbalanced, but in a game with no alliances a player who is reaching too far for power is asking to be instantly dogpiled by everyone. I'm not kidding when I said those factions are world-eating, it's the Dominions form of a prisoner's dilemma where if they aren't stopped by the mid/lategame they dominate, but any player who tries to take them out expends a lot of time and resources to get nothing but a barren wasteland, leaving them weakened even if they do win the war.
 

Rpgsaurus Rex

Guest
Like raw said, Community Balance Mod is a mandatory one if you wanna play with other people. Don't worry about it yet.

You can have fun playing it vs. AI for a long time while you're learning, though it's really meant as a slow and patient PBEM game in the long run.

If you wanna learn more apart from manuals, the official forums are a goldmine. You could also check Something Awful for some fun multiplayer AAR's.
 

DarKPenguiN

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Oct 6, 2012
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Inside the Hollow Earth
-Sweet.

Thanks for all the advice. =)

I took some recommendations and downloaded the streamers and standards pack and also a community sprite mod which updates some of the sprites. I plan on really digging in and learning the basic game this weekend. Everytime I flip through the manual I am more and more amazed. looks like you do damn near anything, like a total sandbox meets Civ meets Fantasy Wars or something. Just...Looks...Epic.

I also downloaded the Community balance Mod but am not going to use it just yet- Its ust there in case I pick up a PBEM game....

Speaking of which... Would anyone be interested in doing something like that? I love the idea of being able to take as much time as needed , really thinking through my turn and not be "holding people up" or fighting a "timer".

Anyhow thanks for all the input everyone.
 

oscar

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Aug 30, 2008
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This game is awesome and one-of-a-kind but I get the feeling I'd get utterly curb stomped in multiplayer.
 

DarKPenguiN

Arcane
Joined
Oct 6, 2012
Messages
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Location
Inside the Hollow Earth
This game is awesome and one-of-a-kind but I get the feeling I'd get utterly curb stomped in multiplayer.
LOL- I am getting curb stomped in single player. I imagine massacre would be more appropriate to what I would be facing in multiplayer.

-There is just so much going on, so much to learn and so much to you have to "look up" to make proper choices. That said, game is beyond epic and I foresee playing this for literally years to come.

Another awesome game I would have never learned about had it not been for the codex.

:love:
 

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