Another Dominions thread

[Sandman]

I've started playing Dominions 2 again. For about the seventh time.

The nation I'm messing about with just now is Man. Before I'd written them off as a bunch of losers with weak infantry and heavily-restricted mages. But I've started to take a liking to them.

The mages may be capital only, but they are extremely cost-effective, being sacred, but not having any holy magic to add to their cost. With a strong magic scale, Man can research very fast indeed. My current thinking is that Man can quickly move up the conjuration school and grab all the nice nature stuff there - Vine Ogres, Lamias, Lamia Queens, Ivy Kings, etc. And maybe even some of the elemental monarchs. These creatures compensate for Man's limited infantry and mages, and make them a force to be reckoned with.

What's your favourite nation at the moment, and why?

[Sandman]

69 views and not a single post... I must be on a roll today.

Still, the opening post is nigh incomprehesible if you've not played the game.

An old Dominions thread

Dominions Website

[Spaced Cowboy]

Actually this is one of the games that I got for x-mas, but have not played yet.

[Jamski]

I would have been all over this game if it only had some eye candy

I mean magic and dragons and crap should look and sound AWESOME.

-Jam

[LDiCesare]

That's a very good game imo.
Man I like because of their knights, which are extraordinarily powerful. That and longbowmen. Their infantry has long spears which can hold the enemy at bay while your archers kill them and the knights go around, flank and kill everyone. The mages are a bit expensive in my opinion.

My favorite nation is Pythium. Powerful mages with access to astral and air magic, making them very strong. Very good infantry with the Principes. Serpent cataphracts are nice but expensive. Hydras allow Pythium to use their money in hte late game to build units which are as powerful as many summons.

From reports of other players who play multiplayer, it looks like blood magic is the strongest with the various devils, ice deveils in particular. So nations like Vanheim and Abyssia are probably among the strongest too.

Mictlan is fun too, but you have a hard time needing sacrifices expanding your dominion. And the units are absolute crap. But Mictlan is there for the blood mages.

[General Ludd]

yeah, good game.... maybe I'll get into it again.



We never did get an apolyton game going...

[solo]

I have enjoyed playing as Man, too. The stealthy monks are also useful, as well as the cheaper temples. When playing against the AI I like to play Man without using any magic or any research. Doing this frees up a suprising amount of resources for a strong economy and some huge armies. Man can do well by hiring mercenaries early to get a jump on the prime independent territiories.

From games I have played with multiple AI, it appears that the AI haven't a clue as to how to deal with the Ermor, who tend to dominate the others in every game they are in. I tried them once and had an easy time of it, but against human opponents I do not think they would fare very well.

I have played the Arcos a lot, and like using the Golden Age option. Their astrologers are great researchers, and each one starts at astral 2 and is given 3 other randomly picked magical skills. Often they will be given 2 levels of a particular path, making them suitable as specialists in that particular magic. Pretty soon most paths and spells become available. When the magic scale is tilted on all the way, the Arcos make short work of accumulating an advantage that makes up for their relatively weak military units. They also get to build labs at half the usual price, and their preistesses' ability to heal comes in very handy, too.

I have not played enough of the other nations to have a good opinion, but from what I have read on the Dominion forums, the game is so well balanced that you can do well with just about any of them. The most experienced players there seem to place more emphasis on the design of "Super" Pretenders. Along with that is their emphasis on developing a plan to accumulate gems, knowledge and magical skills faster than the other players. Being first to some of the global enhancements and/or unique artifacts can make a big difference.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Jamski
I would have been all over this game if it only had some eye candy

I mean magic and dragons and crap should look and sound AWESOME.

-Jam

Yeah, that screenshot looks like civ2-era graphics.

[Jamski]

Eeeek! I just looked at the page for this game and you have to PAY for it!

I assumed it was an open source kinda thing.

-Jam

[Kuciwalker]

@ Jamski.

[General Ludd]

Look at Jamski, the forums game fanboy/GM acting like a graphics snob.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


Yeah, that screenshot looks like civ2-era graphics.

Um ... looked civ-1 era to me ... but i've never seen the game actually in action. I'm sure it's an enjoyable game regardless of graphics ... like M&M 2 for example

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by General Ludd
Look at Jamski, the forums game fanboy/GM acting like a graphics snob.

The two are unrelated. The graphical interface for forum games actually is quite good.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


The two are unrelated.

How so? Both are games, and if you a judge a game by it's graphics, forum games should be passe.

The graphical interface for forum games actually is quite good.

The 'graphical interface' of dominions is also quite good, actually.

[Kuciwalker]

How so? Both are games, and if you a judge a game by it's graphics, forum games should be passe.

Forum games aren't "video games". People who judge such games by their graphics DON'T judge, say, Monopoly by its graphics.

The 'graphical interface' of dominions is also quite good, actually.

No.