[Dominions 5] Grogspocalypse Now! (FINISHED)

[Ajidica]

Everything sounds good to me, looking forward to starting soon!

As far as mods go, the only mods I've played with were Lucid's Thematic Gem Generator mod to reduce micromanagement and Better Heroes. However, I've largely stopped using them as W8taminute and I weren't using them in our 1v1 games, so I turned off the mods for that and never turned them back on.

[solops]

I have never tried a mod, though I am interested in some. I figure I need learn how to play the base game first. What kind of mods are out there?

[TheMeInTeam]

I wouldn't be against gemgen but it's probably simplest to just roll with vanilla.

[Yskonyn]

I would be hesitant with using any 'balance mods' for now, considering the relatively newbieness of many chaps with the game. These mods often cater to 'the meta' and try to 'fix' issues that experienced players might run into.
They can have a pretty big effect on gameplay and often require players to know what the options are in playing a nation, which tactics work, which weaknesses a nation might have, etc.

[al_infierno]

To be clear I'm 100% in favor if playing this game Vanilla and wasn't suggesting we change that.  I was just wondering if anyone had thoughts about the mods in general.

What I really like about Dom Enhanced 1.65 is the balance changes to how much items cost.  Some of the vanilla items that are absolute trash (like the t1 enchanted sword) are actually sorta viable because they cost 1 gem or 2 gems instead of 5, for example.  I actually like this aspect of the mod more than the new pretenders and items, some of which are ridiculously powerful.  I might start a separate thread for trying out this mod if there's interest.

[al_infierno]

How do these options look?  Any suggested changes?  Throne situation looks OK?  (You can't see the map selection but it's Peliwyr...)



I added a few thrones and bumped up the point requirement a bit.  Maybe go with 9 points to win instead of 8?  Should we maybe balance it out with more Tier 2 thrones and fewer Tier 1s?

[W8taminute]

I think those settings look good.  I would bump up the independents strength to 6 though.  That is the setting we've been using in all our games so far and it seems to be reasonable.

[al_infierno]

O0

Bumped up indie strength to 6.  I'll give the others in this thread a chance to chime in before I launch the server.

[Ajidica]

It all looks good! Thanks for setting it up.

[solops]

Indie to six, yes. Never messed with artifact forging limit. Does it matter?

[TheMeInTeam]

Artifacts are just the level 8 stuff right?  Won't matter in normal games, people rarely pursue that tech as first 1-2 level 8 options.

[al_infierno]

OK, the server is set up.  For those who know llamaserver, I tried to keep the game name simple:  Grogsgame

Here's the steps for the unfamiliar:

1. In the main menu, go to Tools and Manuals and create your pretender (Middle Ages).
2. On the Tools... screen, click Open User Data Directory
3. Navigate down to savedgames > newlords, find your pretender file (by date is probably easiest), and attach it in an email to turns@llamaserver.net with the subject Grogsgame
4. Before your first turn, create a folder in savegames called Grogsgame
5. When the game starts, and every turn thereafter, you will get an email with a .trn file. Download the .trn file to the folder you just made.
6. After you end your turn, email the .2h file to the same email with the same subject.


If I get knocked out of the game early I'll pass on the admin pw to someone.  We can see the status of the game here: http://www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo.cgi?game=Grogsgame

[al_infierno]

Oh, quick correction on the server settings:  I changed "Score Graphs" to "Off" instead of "No info on other nations."  The intent was to hide scoregraphs from other players, not to hide the list of factions altogether, which renders certain spy actions useless.

[Yskonyn]

Have fun, chaps!
Next game I might able to join in again.

[Myrmidon]

Pretender submitted. 

Thanks for getting everything set up!