Dawn of the Grog: Early Age game (in progress)

Started by Phobos, May 21, 2013, 06:35:24 PM

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Phobos

I think a lot of the alternate sprites have already been incorporated into CBM, thus OPM6.  At the very least, a lot of the pretender sprites have been updated.  There may be a number of unit sprites that are effected though.

I will have to upload the additional 'upgraded sprites mod' to llamaserver, as I can't seem to find it listed anywhere on the site.  For the sake of completeness, I'll upload that mod sometime this evening and update the game page then.

These sprite mods do not need to be enabled when creating a pretender as they do not modify pretender abilities (other than the sprites used), therefore you won't trip cheat prevention or have anything similar occur when the game starts.   

Phobos

I can't find the other sprite mod on the llamaserver site, and I seem to be unable to upload the mod.

To keep things simple, I think it would be best just to run with OPM6, streamers and standards and the community sprite update.

Sorry to disappoint anyone. 

JasonPratt

#47
Quote from: Phobos on May 25, 2013, 07:31:05 PM
updated.  Links to the sprite mods are in the first post.  You will need to extract them into your ...dominions/mods folder before the game starts.

Btw, where the heck did you find them to activate them in the Llama mod list?? I spend a good half hour looking for them and could only find the Banners mod (super important though that is).

Update: okay I just saw that you couldn't find one of them either. The community sprite upgrade was where in the activation list, though?

As to the other, remember that you can always (re-)upload the third sprite mod yourself to the list. I was going to have to do that myself, I just didn't want to duplicate it for no good reason. (But I don't know that the third one is all that great. I do think it upgrades sprites which aren't part of the community sprite patch, but...)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Philippe

FYI only, the link to the missing Upgrade mod can be found in the first posting of the Groghammer game.  Requires a bit of hunting after that though.

A propos of nothing at all, why is that you aren't playing in this one Jason?

Every generation gets the Greeks and Romans it deserves.


History is a bad joke played by the living on the dead.


Senility is no excuse for feeblemindedness.

JasonPratt

The link to where the missing graphic mod is found isn't the issue. When an admin sets up a game on Llamaserver, there's a list of mods registered on Llama from which the admin picks to set the mods for the game. (Not the same place as where the mod can be found for download, although the description in the list usually contains the link.)

If the mod isn't registered with Llama it isn't on that list, and so the server cannot be set to work with the mod. Normally I would just upload the missing graphic mod to the server (which is probably what I'll do anyway), but I don't want to reupload the mod if it really is registered in the server list already. I don't know that that would hurt anything, but I don't know that it wouldn't either, and I don't want to risk messing up their server. Also, I'd feel even sillier if after I did that I found where it was originally on the registration list to begin with!

Or, was it intentionally deleted off the list at some point by the server admis due to viruses or something? I'm sure it was on there once upon a time because Ysk activated it for his first EA game, but neither I nor Phobos can find it now. (Frankly I can't find the community graphics mod either, but since he did eventually find it on the list I was wondering if he could tell me where it was on the list; about halfway down or a third of the way or whatever.)

It's kind of confusing. :)


Anyway, I'm not playing this round because (1) my internet was on the fritz back during registration and (2) I was feeling kind of overwhelmed trying to set up Groghawk already while playing two other games. Plus one less person helped it be a smaller faster game. :) So I skipped this one. I'm super-glad Phobos went ahead and set it up, and I'll be checking in on y'all's chatter here about it as you go.  :D
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Phobos

There are about 100 mods on llamaserver.  Most of them are nation mods or comprehensive mods like CBM and the Goon mods.  There are quite a few mods tailored to specific games.

Enabling a mod means scrolling through the list to find the mod, then activating it.  I tried uploading the upgrade sprites mod.  Maybe it was already up on the site, who knows?  I still could not find it after I refreshed my browser.  Maybe I need to clear my cache, I don't know.  It seems like a lot of work for only a minor benefit, especially considering that the OPM6 mod includes many updated sprites.

In other news, once the pretenders for Hinnom, Ulm and whatever nation Parone picked, are up, we can start the game.

     

undercovergeek


Huw the Poo

You'd think I'd be spending this time learning how to play the game, wouldn't you?  I still have no grasp on magic at all, don't know how to effectively create an SC, and don't even know what a thug is, let alone how to use one.

But no.  Until I learn any of the above, I have the same option I always have - rely on my frontline infantry then cry when my first opponent cuts through them like a hot knife through butter.

I think I'd better get reading...

ScottWAR

Well, since I have learned a good bit reading here, let me give you a brief as possible list of my most recent revelations..........

Magic- I use it in three ways......1-conjuring magic creatures,...some cheap to be used as canon fodder,...some not so cheap as fighting machines to be unleashed upon my victims.....er I mean enemies. 2-Zapping or holding the enemy in place.....either damage the enemy in combat,..or hold them in place for your troops to chop up. 3-construction-- both items, such as armor, for my generals so they can fight and live instead of hanging back watching the fight and creature like monstrosities. There is a lot more to magic I think, but I haven't experimented with it yet.

I create MY SC based on the above. Start a game and look at the laboratory, and then look at the research part of it,.....each field is listed for you to research....if you click on the name of the field,...for example conjuration......it will show all the spells in that field and what type of magic is needed for each spell to be cast....for example fire or earth or both. Whatever spells you want to be able to cast your SC has to have the specific magic type and at least the level (the number of fire or earth symbols to the right of the spell) of the spells you want to be able to cast. If there are 3 fire icons and 2 earth icons next to a spell you want to be able to cast,..you need to put at least 3 levels into fire and 2 into earth in the magic portion when you create your SC.

  Thugs- I THINK these are generals/monsters you use to attack the enemy with instead of commanding troops with. Almost always given magic items which can be created using "create magic item" in your SC's or magical generals orders menu.

Hope this helps.

Huw the Poo

Thanks ScottWAR.  I'm going to look into this thug concept, and see if I can come up with some bruisers.

Looking forward to this game a lot!

Phobos

Dominions is notorious for punishing players without a clear vision of their end-game.

I would start with a goal in mind and work backward from there.  It will probably lead to a better experience than blindly responding to stimuli with whatever resources you can bring to bear, turn by turn.

30 seconds on the wiki and I see that Lanka gets access to some Donkey Kong demon expy's at blood research 8.  These guys are big, sacred, spellcasting giants, that automatically cast the spell 'Darkness' at the start of every fight.  These highly mobile commanders are capable of fighting a normal army by themselves, or leading an army of demons on an infernal march.  They could make for an interesting cornerstone of a strategy, especially if supplemented by research in other paths of magic.   

Lanka also gains access to a number of other sacred demonic units at lower levels of research, so I would probably try and pick up a few of those along the way to the Mandeha.

You probably won't even need to build a pretender to specifically summon these units, either.  That assumes you can blood hunt enough to empower one of your better blood magicians.  While you are at it, you can attempt to utilise some of the 'generic' blood magic to summon stuff like vampires or storm demons to supplement your end-game plans.

As you probably won't need your pretender to summon your special national units, you might think about what you actually need your pretender for.  Maybe you want to take advantage of a bless effect of some kind.  Maybe you need a powerful unit to capture a lot of blood hunting provinces early.  Maybe there are some other cool spells or units that you think will add an interesting synergy to your nation, so you need a specialised unit to gain access to them.

I hope that gives you an insight into how I look at the game.  I draw up the schematics for my nuke, then start my arms race, taking advantage of every spin-off tech I can find along the way.  Sometimes your nation starts with depleted uranium rounds or can produce a shoulder mounted fat boy every few months, sometimes it takes years of research in order to launch geo-orbital satellites carrying ballistic fusion warheads.

Even if you come up with an awesome plan, you still have to accept that someone else might have an awesome plan too.  It's all part of the fun. 

The mod inspector is a handy interactive tool you can use to view the options available to nations, with mods in effect.

Hope this helps.   



Huw the Poo

Quote from: Phobos on May 28, 2013, 11:17:38 AM
Maybe you want to take advantage of a bless effect of some kind.

Now this, I have done.  I have actually designed a bless strategy!

Your comment about planning my end game then working backward from there makes sense, Phobos.  I'll have a plan in place by the end of the day!  Thanks a lot for your thoughts.

Phobos

To give an example of what I meant by my last post, in the slow game my main goal is to produce lots of Leshiy; giant shapeshifting bear spirits.  I plan on bombing every forest I can find with as many giant green bears as I can...bring to bear.

( •_•)   ⌐■-■ 

( •_•) ⌐■-■ 

(⌐■_■)


That is my focus.  I'm still doing other things with my nation, but that is all incidental to my main goal.

If I were going to focus on something else, like putting up a series of powerful global spells, or a different summoned commander, I would have designed my nation differently.

ScottWAR

LOL, I have been thinking about a strat very heavy on thugs......and started to call it the Major Thug Offensive,....then I remembered a song from the cartoon Boondocks.....and Thuggin Love....is now the name of this strat for me. Thugnificent will probably be the name of my favorite Thug as well.

I don't know if it would be a good idea to link to the song here..........but if you are interested just google "Boondocks" and "Thuggin Love"

JasonPratt

#59
Quote from: Phobos on May 28, 2013, 11:17:38 AM
Dominions is notorious for punishing players without a clear vision of their end-game.

Also for punishing players whose idea of their endgame is faulty despite being clear!

Case in point: I had a perfectly good build theory worth testing (to see if it really was perfectly good ;) ) in the Big Pretenders game. But I have a bad habit (hopefully finally broken) of thinking the Wrath of God must be awesome. If I can just get up to throwing that, I can use a high dominion and temples to push that into my enemies. I won't even have to invade much, just build up good defenses with some good garrison armies and some siege relief mobile forces, and let my dominion do the work! And hey, this pretender chassis (according to my calculations) is one of the two or three most cost effective ones available to this nation and age, maybe the most effective one, and if I imprison her from the outset I can take a high dominion, strongly positive scales, and enough magic to cast WoG. I just have to research up to it by the time she escapes, and as it happens this nation is arguably the very best research nation in Early Age (maybe the game)!

HOW CAN I POSSIBLY LOSE!?!?

Well, one way would be to abandon this plan about 1/3 of the way through to pick a fight with someone stronger than me, even though that seemed reasonable at the time (for reasons I won't go into here); but more importantly I already know from long experience the WoG spell (and some similar global dominion artillery spells) isn't nearly as awesome as I expect it to be. It's a harassment spell, maybe scores a cheap important kill every once in a while. But it isn't a game winning strategy.

And yet I still tried to do that.

And was wiped, after a very good start.


I still agree with this in principle, though: "I would start with a goal in mind and work backward from there.  It will probably lead to a better experience than blindly responding to stimuli with whatever resources you can bring to bear, turn by turn."


Incidentally, when building a pretender (this is for Huw, Phobos knows this already I'm sure): it's okay to take one or even two less ticks in the magic you think you need for your endgame goals. [WARNING: THE FOLLOWING ADVICE SEEMS TO BE FAULTY, MAYBE DUE TO CBM 1.94 OR ANYTHING BUILT FROM THAT!! TEST FOR VALIDITY FIRST!!] Each extra tic costs an increasing amount of points, whereas your empowerment costs start cheap and slowly scale up; and if you have a construction magic plan you can often add some relatively cheap booster items around Con4 or Con6. So I could have saved quite a few points in the Big Pretenders game (to put elsewhere!) by taking Astral 4 and Air2, even though for WoG I needed Astral 6 and Air 4. Any empowerment from nothing costs 50 points of course, but assuming you already have at least one pick in a magical skill the second level costs only 10 gems and the third not a whole lot more than that, and that's true even if you've bought a lot of magic skill to start with! So (I don't have the instructions which give the charts but these numbers will illustrate the principle) those four extra picks would have cost me nearly 200 points to buy up front (enough of a difference that I could have been asleep instead of imprisoned), but would only cost me 50 gems total to empower once the game started!

Naturally this only works if you have a good searching plan, and happen to be a bit lucky as to what you find; otherwise it will cost you more than that (up to two or four times as much) to alchemize what gems you do find. Still, it's one way to economize your pretender chassis design.

The same principle can apply to booster strategies, too, insofar as those typically rely on summons which open a stronger magical strength than you previously had. It only takes 10 water gems for my Water 2 mage to empower to Water 3, but when she summons a Water 3 mage, it still only takes 10 water gems to empower him to Water 4 (because he's that much stronger in Water to start with). And that's on top of any booster items you're forging. It would be cheaper and maybe quicker to use 10 water gems to take them up a notch than to spend 15 water gems on an item while waiting for the appropriate construction research level (which saves opportunity cost in gold, for hiring researchers and upkeeping them during those turns. Although you should be spending that money anyway, but the overall results move along more efficiently.) Of course the item has the advantage of being transferable, and maybe has extra benefits (like increasing your defense or protection).
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!