Dominions - TBS is back

Frogman · June 17, 2003, 10:34

Here is everything you need to get started on Dominions and get ready for Dominions II. The surface is territories like Total War, but its a fantasy game with Gods, Heroes, and Units. Some units you build, others you summon. You put your army together and march to conquer the world.

You can't control the combat but you can give commands to each leader and squad under his command. On the next turn, you can see the results summary or watch how the battle played out to see how your units performed. Units get experience and get better or some get permanent wounds. Heroes can carry all sorts of items and your God is all important though he can be resurrected if killed in battle.

Whats different is that all the combat is decided after all the players have moved. In pbem this means that you can send out the turn to all the players at the same time and get them all back in a day, even for massive games with up to 14 players. There is no restarts or cheating possible. In the game, you can't quit and save (well there are some mods that will let you) but it really makes you play ironman.

I am now addicted to it and the demo is all you really need. Its got some limits on the spell book and some units are blanked out, but still, there is plenty there to chew on and unlimited replay value even in demo form. Like I said, Dominions II is taking shape and if you like the demo, wait for it.

You can download the demo (and pdf manuals) here:
http://www.illwinter.com/dom_downloads.html

Google strategic games. the dominions threads have a [dominions]... header. The game developers also post there and answear a lot of their fans questions/requests.

IDomII screenshots

sunraybe
He has accunalated a lot of information in his site ans also wrote strat guids for some of the nations.

General Ludd · June 18, 2003, 07:25

Very nice game, I've wanted something this for quite a time. But I don't see any information about a sequel on the website. I would buy this, but would rather wait for the sequel if it is going to be finished soon.

Frogman · June 18, 2003, 09:13

I'm hearing that they are targeting a December release, but you know how that goes. The demo is so full of stuff, that I think it will occupy me for 6 months just figuring out whats in there. The DomII screenshot link is the new game, not screenshots of the existing one, so don't be surprised the demo doesn't look as good.

The only bad thing is that the google site isn't a great forum to be home to a game community. Still, if you type in Dominions in the search engine, there are dozens of informative threads.

I wouldn't mind getting into a newbie pbem on it. I've only been playing it for a week.

General Ludd · June 18, 2003, 12:48

Quote:

Originally posted by Frogman
I'm hearing that they are targeting a December release, but you know how that goes. The demo is so full of stuff, that I think it will occupy me for 6 months just figuring out whats in there. The DomII screenshot link is the new game, not screenshots of the existing one, so don't be surprised the demo doesn't look as good.

I know, I've been playing the demo. Graphics or no, it's a great game.

I'm not the kind of person who can be happy playing a game and knowing there is stuff I'm missing out on, though.

Sandman · June 18, 2003, 16:56

It's a nice little game. The fantasy environment shows more imagination than the usual orc-infested Tolkien rip-offs, I particularly like the idea behind Ermor.

Victor Galis · June 19, 2003, 01:31

Not bad...

Though I had a very interesting fight. My monk and 10 knights were attacked by some sort of undead things, 66 of them with a commander. All though I lost only 4 knights, and killed 65 of the things, my forces routed at the last minute.

General Ludd · June 19, 2003, 07:14

Quote:

Originally posted by Victor Galis
Not bad...

Though I had a very interesting fight. My monk and 10 knights were attacked by some sort of undead things, 66 of them with a commander. All though I lost only 4 knights, and killed 65 of the things, my forces routed at the last minute.

They scared themselves.

Frogman · June 19, 2003, 12:26

Quote:

Originally posted by Osweld

I know, I've been playing the demo. Graphics or no, it's a great game.

I'm not the kind of person who can be happy playing a game and knowing there is stuff I'm missing out on, though.

Yeah, I'm thinking now that $30 isn't so much for a game I already know I really like. I could easily put in 100 hours between now and Christmas, thats a pretty good entertainment value.

Edit.... Well, I ordered the CD for $30. I'm pretty sure I'll be happy that I did.

Saber Cherry · June 19, 2003, 20:16

Quote:

Not bad...

Though I had a very interesting fight. My monk and 10 knights were attacked by some sort of undead things, 66 of them with a commander. All though I lost only 4 knights, and killed 65 of the things, my forces routed at the last minute.

Small groups rout very easily, sometimes as soon as a single unit gets hit. I find that to be a problem in the game - a single large group will not rout, but the same soldiers divided into four subgroups will easily rout under the same circumstances. I like they way morale plays a huge role in battles, but some of the specifics need to be revised, like routing based on a prediction of whether victory is likely.

Mindless units (which includes most undead) never rout; that's one of their main advantages.

Victor Galis · June 20, 2003, 00:44

Yes, but what sort of army wipes out 98% of the enemy, then decides to run away?

Frogman · June 20, 2003, 09:23

I wonder if its a fatigue issue. If units are too tired to fight at all, they may have no other option. From what you say, they sure had to be pretty worn out.

In Total War, you could burn a units morale up pretty quick by making him fight to exhaustion. Winning or not, they just can't go on.

Imran Siddiqui · June 20, 2003, 17:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Victor Galis
Yes, but what sort of army wipes out 98% of the enemy, then decides to run away?

You must have gotten the French Army

.

Victor Galis · June 20, 2003, 18:56

Actually now that I think of it, the enemy commander was probably casting Frighten or some such spell. I just thought it was really cheap how he managed to rout them right when they were on the verge of completely annihilating the enemy (shouldn't they get some sort of morale bonus for that?).