Just a heads-up:
http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-DOM4TA-STEAM/dominions-4-thrones-of-ascension
This is a very, VERY good game. I encourage any and all strategy gamers to pick it up.
Quote from: DennisS on October 09, 2016, 12:42:05 PM
This is a very, VERY good game. I encourage any and all strategy gamers to pick it up.
Man I wanted to play it but yeeesh, couldn't get past the prehistoric graphics and UI.
What is it about this game that you could sum up that best describes its strong points and unique qualities? I have it on Steam but quickly shelved it. What am I missing?
Quote from: Moreb on October 09, 2016, 04:34:01 PM
Quote from: DennisS on October 09, 2016, 12:42:05 PM
This is a very, VERY good game. I encourage any and all strategy gamers to pick it up.
Man I wanted to play it but yeeesh, couldn't get past the prehistoric graphics and UI.
What is it about this game that you could sum up that best describes its strong points and unique qualities? I have it on Steam but quickly shelved it. What am I missing?
Choices. Choices as to the race you can play, and choices on unit composition. More than any other game I have ever played, the variations between factions are just ... enormous. Three era's, and literally hundreds of different units.
I appreciate that the graphics suck...but what would you rather have...graphics or gameplay??
The depth of the army combinations, army orders, magic items and magic systems cannot be beat. It is engrossing. Yes, the graphics are primitive but the game play is simply amazing even for a strategy game.
It took me a while to get over the graphics back in Dom 3 as well. All this praise, but I had a hard time getting it.
But after dedicating some serious effort into learning the game proper and it really clicked with me then.
The sheer amount of things you can try with faction, units, spell and items (there is Crafting in there) is mind boggling.
There is an absurd amount of things being tracked for units, like age, afflictions, wounds, etc that might carry through the whole game.
Spells can affect these things for better or worse.
GLobal spells can influence whole nations or the provinces they own and the information game is nice too; for example, many GLobal spells are reported as natural phenomenon for other players if they lack the ability to sense otherwise.
Lots of intricacies that go above and beyond the aparent simple presentation.
Quote from: DennisS on October 09, 2016, 08:04:07 PM
Quote from: Moreb on October 09, 2016, 04:34:01 PM
Quote from: DennisS on October 09, 2016, 12:42:05 PM
This is a very, VERY good game. I encourage any and all strategy gamers to pick it up.
Man I wanted to play it but yeeesh, couldn't get past the prehistoric graphics and UI.
Choices. Choices as to the race you can play, and choices on unit composition. More than any other game I have ever played, the variations between factions are just ... enormous. Three era's, and literally hundreds of different units.
I appreciate that the graphics suck...but what would you rather have...graphics or gameplay??
Play enough Aurora 4x as I do and no graphics look prehistoric!
I might get this game as the opinions seem enthusiastic enough
At that price this is a must buy. I would take this over any AAA title that is out right now.
It must have been one of those brief "Limited Time Only" specials. The price I'm seeing now is $34.99 U.S.
Well I'm going to give it another shot because I didnt really invest much effort last time and with all the positivity I have seen about this title it seems only fair.
One thing though. Is there a setting to keep the maps from constantly scrolling? Hard to tell where the map ends and the repeat begins. Or is there something I'm missing about that?
And can someone point a newb to the best beginners tutorial or site that has relevant information for a new player?
Thanks in Advance. Looking at it again, I can appreciate the retro looking graphics a bit.
I usually do best watching YouTube vids. I think there is a tutorial on the manual but never checked. There was one in 3 but that didn't really help me much.
The games all have deep mechanics and great replay--the variety of choices around faction, "pretender" god, and time period make for some extraordinarily different approaches. The UI is... basic. But if you can take the time to unlock all the goodness... :D
Quote from: Moreb on October 10, 2016, 03:49:57 PM[...]
And can someone point a newb to the best beginners tutorial or site that has relevant information for a new player?
[...]
There is a step by step tutorial in the manual. Good to give you a direction to go, but from where it ends, there is still a long way to learn. But that's part of the fun - playing and learning new things on the run. And the game is really deep.
Quote from: Moreb on October 10, 2016, 03:49:57 PM
And can someone point a newb to the best beginners tutorial or site that has relevant information for a new player?
I suggest some of the tutorial YouTube series. Such as this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_54XW9qTqY&list=PL9uXrJE8BRZK_mu6qvOWgwDnvaZWjVLMr
So you can have an experienced player walk you through all the details, and see it in action while doing so.
Also this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgp1s16zUFA&list=PLKl4H7cUmS8iTj7-MYBdMGm_LO8NWoj9o
I appreciate the replies. Working nights this week so my schedule is messed up. I hope to find the time to mess around with it tomorrow morning.
Thanks again.
Faraway: for a while, the Dominions series vied with Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic as being the best heir to the legacy of Master of Magic, even though AoW:SM was much more direct as a remake of the MoM mechanics. The Dom series changed up a lot of things while keeping the core of the game design, so in this age of many plausible MoM heirs (including Age 3) Dominions 3 and now 4 stand apart for doing the same thing very differently with its own unique flavor.
Moreb: to stop the map from borderless scrolling, you have to set the map generator to have borders. Or that was true in Dom 3; maybe Dom 4 still allows fully wraparound maps but with the option to lock in a view somehow. Otherwise, you're stuck with the map you generated. Go far enough north and you're coming back from the south; east from the west. It imperfectly mimics a sphere.
Maps are created as either 'Wraparound' or not.
Choose one that isn't a wraparound map, or create a new randomized one that isn't (it's one of the map gen options).
Quote from: JasonPratt on October 11, 2016, 04:54:28 PM
Go far enough north and you're coming back from the south; east from the west. It imperfectly mimics a sphere.
Ooooo! I know the answer to that one. A wrap-around map is a torus.
I played the heck out of Dom3 and I have Dom4, but have not had time to play it much. As far as I can tell, nothing has changed much on map generation. You can set a map to be wrap-around or not. Dom3 & 4 are great games. I do wish they'd update the graphics to a bit higher res even if they made no changes to gameplay.
^^ Yep, torus: donut shaped, although that isn't at all obvious. (And in most cases physically impossible to be plotted in 3D space -- a true torus would have to be much 'wider' than 'longer'.)
Cue Homer Simpson memes here...
Quote from: JasonPratt on October 13, 2016, 12:08:20 PM
.. a true torus would have to be much 'wider' than 'longer'.
That's what SHE said.
From one Murderous Missouri Scum to another,
Thanks.
I watched all those videos and they really pulled me in. I absolutely love what I've seen and am ready to give it a go, even if there's much he didn't cover. Boy was I wrong to cast it aside so quick.
As a token, a sing-song I put together that should be right up your alley.
Home.