Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Dominions 3 is a wonderful game, but there are quite a few people lately (including myself) who have expressed ideas for the future of Dominions that go beyond the current form of the game. Rather than lose track of what people want when the time comes, I thought I'd establish a thread just for the purpose of posting ideas for the next generation of Dominions.

This thread is for the posting of ideas that go beyond patches, for things that would require major changes/improvements/renovations to the game.

Try to remember that it's a turn-based fantasy strategy game...No elves, no lazer beams, no saved games.

Let's stay focused! Eye of the tiger, people!

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I think the biggest thing the game needs is things to reduce micromanagement.

Off the top of my head:

Routing on new production.

Pathfinding--order a commander to where you want him and he'll find the best way to get there.

A spell that increases the supply available in a province. (There are magic items that provide supply, being able to provide an increase to the province itself shouldn't be imbalancing.)

Work lists: Mark a province that you want <x> done. A commander may be given an automate order--he runs around doing all the <x>'s.

Get rid of the meaningless messages caused by insanity. I don't need a hundred messages telling me my insane commanders failed to find magic sites.

Magic item work list: You indicate what you want produced. Mages with a generic <forge> order produce things on the list.

A larger item inventory.

Repeat production orders--queue stuff and select repeat, it keeps being provided until you cancel it.

Remember your orders after insanity.

Spell inhibition--turn off spells you don't want cast. (You could still script them, though.)

A bit more control in the scripting--the ability to give the mage priorities. I really disliked having a high power mage completely unable to harm my opponents because he buffed himself like crazy then relied on low-level summoning spells until he routed at turn 50.

Get rid of the automatic rout at turn 50. I do agree there needs to be some sort of auto-rout to avoid infinite battles. This could be handled by looking at damage, though--compute the slope of the line graphing the number of hp's of real units (not counting summoned units that will vanish at the end of combat.) Go past turn 30 and you rout if the line ceases to be negative.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I'd like a severely expanded magic system including:

Spells and magic items that are only available for certain ages.

Summoning spells that are tied to terrain-types so that you can only cast a certain spell while in a forest province, for example.

Maximum spell-levels expanded to 15, to match maximum path-levels.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I'd like more versatile scripting options. For example, something like "Close in, fire a volley of spears, attack" or "cast damage-dealing spells".

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

It's been mentioned before, but I want it recorded in this list that I'd really like

1.) The ability to disband units (without having to round them up and suicide them) to reduce upkeep and/or clean up routed forces;

2.) Some way of reducing gem micromanagement (e.g. a toggle which specifies that the commander will ONLY use gems for spells he's specifically scripted for);

3.) A way to turn off spells I don't like (on a temporary, per-player basis), so they don't show up in the ritual/battle scripting UIs and aren't cast on the battlefield.

-Max

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

4.) The option to arrange commanders and/or items in my laboratory inventory by something other than unit ID. Either alphabetically or by category, say.

5.) Moddable blessings and/or new spell paths.

-Max

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

1. option to have archers hold fire, if a clear shot is lacking(ie 4 enemies in a pack of your troops).

2. spell scripting as mentioned before, only use gems if scripted option, after script 5 spells a cast offensive spell option, a cast buffing spells option, and a mixed option.

3. map editor, a way to actually change terrain. ie place mountains here(and it looks graphically like mountains). Some games had this 15 years ago, so i know it can be done without much effort given the improvements that have occurred.

4. a way, without running a mod, to make your ma race fight some la races etc.

5. more options at making the pretender.

A. spend points to get a hero at the start of the game(random hero).

B. spend design points to get better pd.

C. spend points for an increased chance of heroes appearing.

6. Better recruits when you capture an enemy capital. Sometimes, if he had misfortune and death, you do not get a great province. You do get 5 gems, but i would like to see either the troops you get at your own capital, or some unique troop that is related to the people you capture.

off the cuff examples: take ulm, you can make arbalest and smith, take ctis, you can recruit shaman and swamp guards, man, lonbowmen and bard; Pangaea, dryad and centaur warrior.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

1) I'd like to be able to have missle troops stop firing at routed enemies when melee troops are in pursuit, or vice-versa, as this tends to cause some bad friendly fire incidents. Some scripting option like:Do not fire at fleeing enemies, or: Do not pursue fleeing enemies.

2) Better accounts of Fortress assaults when you win. Getting: We captured the fortress!, isn't all that helpful for casualty assessment. Some of them are pretty obvious, but often you have to scour commanders' forces afterward to determine how much damage you took in that victory.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

1. Categorized spells: Self-buff, army-buff, offensive and scripts to go along with them, army-buff,army-buff, offensive, etc.
2. Disband
3. Global (per player) default army arrangements per unit type. Grouped Cav are always started back left with hold, hold, attack rear.
4. Toggle for # of gems used, or limit
5. Construction queuing
6. More nation/era limited spells, items, heroes and pretenders (also dominion effects)

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I want a true text host. One that doesnt need graphic libraries to run.

Id also like a seperation of host and client. That would pave the way for many upgrades (such as client-side scripted AIs)

Id like to see the random map generator accept a seed

Id like to see the add-on graphics (little farmhouses and dead cow heads) that get put into the maps be optional. Or even user-replaceable.

Id like to see a switch that does an "Eyes of God" then outputs the map as a graphic file.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I do not think we need new races, pretenders, or items for dom IV.

There are a multitude of combinations available now. I would like to see some love on some of the pretenders available now that are rarely used.

The Lord of Fertility has been mentioned. Lord of the forest could have some type of animal awe or charm as an innate ability. well, you get the picture. Vampire queen needs to have her cost lowered to 125, give her dom III, 3d, but remove her immortal status. The issue before was she was hard to kill, flies, and you would have to kill her a dozen times on the way to her capital. remove her immortal status and issue is fixed.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

The problem is that for the Devs making new units and races and spells and whatnot is /fun/. Fixing bugs and improving the GUI is less so.

But I agree, Dominions doesn't really need more content. It mostly needs interface and AI improvements and more modding options (such as ability to mod AI etc).

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I like to have a way of scripting the Tactic and Strategic AI with a mod. Preferable in Python :-)

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I think the most important thing to add is: when hitting Y to see which troops are moving to the selected province, it properly displays the troops that are STAYING in the province and remove the troops moving out.

It would be better if we could get an idea of what troops will be fighting the battle in the province next round with out all the other exiting troops complicating the screen. (I guess if there was a castle in the province, it should also exclude other troops that are not patrolling.)

Also, there is another bug with Y where we can not edit or see the position of the existing troops. Hopefully this is the Y bug fix that the dom 3 progress page is showing.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

More in the vein of reducing gem micromanagement:

Blood sacrificers should automatically use slaves from the lab if there is one and blood hunters should automatically place captured slaves there - again if available.

Automatic non-spell site searching - give an order such that a mage repeatedly moves to the closest unsearched (by his magic paths) province and searches it.

It'd be nice if when scripting specific gem using spells you specify how many gems to use. It's kinda frustrating when your second scripted spell doesn't go off because the AI decided to use more than the minimum gems on the first spell to reduce fatigue.

Monthly forging like the monthly ritual casting. Somebody mentioned some more ambitious suggestion which included this, but I'm guessing this would be pretty easy to implement.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I did pay $50 for the game.

Jazzepi

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

That's great. And you got a good game for it.
If you don't think Dom4 will be worth the price when it comes out, don't buy it.

Obviously, comment and suggest here. The devs do pay attention and some suggestions will be implemented.

But, they do this part time. They have real jobs and work on dominions on the side, mostly for fun. They're not making enough to work on it full-time and given the size of the niche market for games like this, never will.
If they stop having fun working on it, they'll stop working on it.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Yep. You have to accept the reality of the situation. They're motivated to do what is enjoyable for them, because this isn't their full time job.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Feel perfectly free to rehash old ideas here, MaxWilson, et all. That's one of the reasons I started the thread-to collect and preserve the ideas that have come before in other threads.

I'd like more dynamic Pretenders.

I'd like the ability to "build my Pretender from the ground up". The ability to choose a chassis (hoburg, jotun, wyrm, obelisk, horror, etc.) and then add abilities and stengths/weaknesses to it, including extra hit points, magical ability and dominion, immobility (almost anything can be in the form of a statue), special abilities (for instance, you can choose the "great dragon" chassis and then fire breath/heat resistance, if you want a red dragon) based on a point-system, rather than choosing the Pretenders that are available, but which might not fit your playing style. So, I could have a mighty SC Pretender that I've designed around my own playing style, and little or no points to spend on my Nation, or, I could have an elderly hoburg midwife who's worshipped just because she keeps more babies and mothers alive during births than not, and a nation that starts out with good dominion, extra gold and gems, and whatnot.

Ofcourse, customization doesn't have to be *that* dramatic, but I think it has a place and an appeal, when it comes to your Pretender. It could simply be the optional ability to choose, in-game, between different sets of graphics.

I'd also ideally like to see Pretenders having their own line of experience, and gaining said experience from doing "Pretendery" things, like casting mighty spells, leading large armies, coming back from the dead, and just surviving (people tend to feel their gods should be immortal). Immobile Pretenders currently suffer from the handicap of a greatly-reduced ability to gather experience, for no really good reason-even though they kill a lot of their "enemies", I don't think mass-murderers are great examples of "personal growth", do you?. I'd then like to see Pretenders able to add directly to their abilities over time, based on that experience-maybe your Pretender *starts out* immobile, but he wouldn't have to stay that way. This would represent the real-world incarnations of gods, which tend to change form and power over time and culture (Example, Odin, the God of the Norse, wasn't always the chief god of that pantheon).

Along those same lines, I'd like the ability to customize my starting nation-make them more or less magical, technologically advanced, add or take away troop types and national summons, etc. Basically, adding back Themes, only in a pay(points)-to-play basis.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I'd like some units that grow in power with age, and sometimes with a disadvantage too this. Like a vampire lord, slowly eating your population but growing in power about one upgrade every 4th turn or so perhaps...

Kind of like the eater of the dead, but less expensive, and more useful I guess http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

And maybe giving mages a chance to increase their magical abilities when they naturally age(dont want any basic mages getting hit with decay and turning into gods here http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif)?

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

You do realize that that $50 is worth approximately 15 minutes of dev time for two developers, don't you? I'm pretty sure the existing product took significantly longer than that to create.

That their "day job" is teaching may help in the "expected wage" department http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif but I'd be VERY (though happily) suprised if they were not volenteering (without pay) the vast majority of the time they've already invested, including all the copies they've sold.

They don't OWE us anything. The game as delivered is easilly worth the price we paid.

(that said, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a v4 with improved ai and interfase plz? hehe)

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

If they do make a Dominions 4, I volunteer to make/improve the manual. I'm not an experienced manual-designer, per se, but I do know a great deal about fantasy and mythology, as well as history, and I've got a long background of working with computers and designing games.

Naturally, I'd maintain the long-held and sacred tradition of enlisting the help and advice of the Dominions community.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Things that I want:
1) A "Do Not Cast" Spell List to stop AI from doing stupid things
2) Auto Forge. We have auto spellcast, now its time for auto forge.
3)a repeat Production button. In large games sooo much time is used up scanning and recruiting from castles and key provinces. Just give us a repeat button.
4)more battle scripting options
5)a Skermish script option so mounted archers don't suck
6) a use for leftover design points

and this which is bound to be contriversial
* I would like to see more building options for provinces.
I want to build a bazaar, so provinces make more money
a forge so they produce more, an improved farm so there are more supplies. In short I want to be able to improve provinces beyond just building a castle and temple.

I also want multiple levels of castles and temples. Why not have level 1 castles be quickly and cheaply erected forts, while level 5 castles would be nearly impossible to siege.
And the same for temples. It fits historically. Pagan gods had many temples throughout the land, some more important to their followers than others. The levels of temples would effect dominion spread, and possibly holy recruitment.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I agree that what Dominions needs is more interface improvements, rather than more content.

* More mouse support; ideally the game should be fully playable without a keyboard.

* A more interactive map. Clicking on a province battle icon should take you to the battle, for example. Different-sized icons for different sized battles would be nice.

* A more robust in-game communication system. The current messenger is pretty crude.

* The pretender creation interface could easily be combined onto one screen. So could most of the laboratory.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I think all he is saying, is since the game is not "free,"
he can reasonably expect the developers to improve the game where it needs to be improved most, not just where it is fun to do so.

I also have that expectation. Their personal lives, the fact they are great guys, work 2 jobs, is irrelevant to the average purchaser, who does not have a clue about anything except the product. In addition, I think there is likely a point of pride that they have produced one of the best strategy games ever. And Dominions is clearly one of the best ever.

If they ever tire of working on the game, and they may, I am sure a gaming company would buy the rights to the game and attempt to make it better. Though as we have seen from some other games, some attempts to improve another person's game, sometimes fail miserably.

I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

hey now, let's not lose sight of our greedy, unreasonable desire for a well-nigh infinite amount of content. Better user interfaces/graphics/etc are all well and good, but I want 32 flavors and then some!

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

Granted. We paid for the game. But the devs are grown men with lives and families. I dont mean that as an excuse. Im just pointing out that if $$$ isnt the driving force then its not likely that anyone will change their minds on it at this point in their lives. Ive found that they both react better to please-and-thankyous than dangling dollars.

As for it being picked up by a company, I suspect they would need to take the idea and start over. If its not written for understanding and sharing, and it grows in pieces, then it doesnt tend to pass-off well. The term "spaghetti code" is often used.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Agreed, though I personally don't care about the modding aspects.

Heck I'd even pay for an expansion pack for Dom3 that improved the interface/ai.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Yeah, I forgot safe archers. An order Fire/Safe--it won't shoot if there's any reasonable chance of an arrow hitting a friendly unit.

Another one: An order "Close". It would always be followed by some other order. It would mean to get close enough to carry out the next order. If you were in range it would do nothing.

One little one that could easily be done with a patch even: Ask only once if you're attempting to move troops you can't. (Immobile, or land/water problems.)

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

As much as is possible with the limited contact of a game and a forum, I like the Devs as people. They both seem very polite, friendly, creative, and committed to the finer things in life-as well as to their fans. As such, my preference is that they get as much out of this experience as we do.

I try to keep in mind that yes, their are a lot of things I'd like to see for this game, but also, there's only so much that two people can or desire to do in any given period of time, and if they were to expand the number of people working on *their* project, that it may dilute their sense of personal involvement and their creative vision.

*Their* work and *their* vision are what has brought us all together, and yes, I think their's a lot more to this journey to go, but only if Dominions keeps on the right path.

Personally, I'd like to see it picked up by a company-but only the *right* company. One that would improve some elements of the game that need improving, but leave others alone where they should be left alone, and in all cases, give the Devs their due creative freedom-along with a bigger paycheck, and involve the community-us-to the degree that we're used to.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

I'd actually like to see more keyboard support, too. For instance, when I'm selecting spells to script, I'd like PageUp and PageDown to scroll down the screen instead of having to grab the scrollbar with my mouse. Same thing with the monthly messages screen, the ritual magic casting screen, and the F5 research screens.

-Max

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

two minor things, but can be huge impact if careless(or tired).

1. option to have a confirmation when destroying an item. it is right next to the laboratory. I have accidentally destroyed a item or 2 when being careless putting it into lab.

2. An option to have stealth armies move normally unless told to stealth. It can be annoying as Pangaea or another stealth race with a stealth army and wanting to attack, but forgetting to hold down control button when you move that army. you may be moving 12 commanders and armies from that square and happen to miss one.

Scouts and assassins would continue to default stealth when they moved.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Exactly, I wish the devs would have spent whatever time they did on making the two new races on UI improvements instead (and fixing the awful temple dominion rate spreading bug). Every hour they spend fixing one thing could have been spent fixing something else.

I personally would get infinitely more value out of a better UI then two more races.

That isn't to say that Dom 3 isn't a great product. I think it was worth the money I spent on it, but I still bought it. I expect the game to receive support just like any other software product. Bug fixes, revisions to the code and interface.

I read somewhere that the devs didn't know what to do with the income they were getting off the game. Well I have a suggestion. Hire someone else to help them code the parts they really don't want to. I think it would be easy enough for them to partner with a third party (who could be located anywhere internationally with the miracle of the internet) that could help them with the drudgery of UI improvements, while they focus on maintaining and improving the core of the game.

Jazzepi

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

I'd like to see collaboration with a company with a couple of very experienced old C hands and a great manager, who were willing to take direction from Kristoffer and Johan but would also hop to it when they said, "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea but it would be boring to implement. Why don't you write us a patch and we'll see if we like it?"

I can dream, anyway. : )

-Max

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

I'm not saying the devs /should/ be doing more races and not fixinf serious bugs or improving the UI, I'm just saying that because of their status as part time devs who do this because they like it, you should probably /expect/ that they'll always focus on adding fun stuff. It's part of the reason Dom3 is the way it is.

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

I think they should spend the money on good food, fine wine, and jewelery for their significant others. If they don't have significant others, then high-priced "escorts".

It would be nice for us if they spent their well-gotten gains back on the game, but it wouldn't necessarily be nice for them. I think we in the Forum should offer to start a donation of funds specifically for the purpose of hiring a coder to do drudge-work for the Devs.

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

A game written in Basic on an Atari then gradually converted to C on Linux.. that would have to be one heck of a team to dive into that.

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

That sounds really scary!

I think the team's job would be to rewrite the game from the ground up in whichever language seemed the best (I'd love to see it in some form of Java, but I'm guessing that would be a poor choice), under the guidance of the Devs.

I'd guess that it would be significantly easier to re-do the game, maybe in a different language, now that it's been done once, than it was for the Devs to write the original, just because the whole concept is complete and working.

Probably, also, a lot of programming "shortcuts" could be taken in certain areas, where either more powerful tools/commands are available now that weren't previously available, or simpler methods can be used to achieve effects that were done 1 careful step at a time.

After all, it's easier to picture a stained-glass window from the viewpoint of a human looking at it from a distance, than it is as a fly crawling across it.

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

[Off-topic but perhaps interesting to some]

"Rewrites Considered Harmful." This is such a common meme in the programming community that I'm having trouble locating the article I originally read on the subject, but here are two good articles, one short and one long:

http://www.ronkes.nl/blog/?2005-04-15-neverrewritecode

http://www.neilgunton.com/doc/rewrites_harmful

Redesign is good, refactoring is good. Rebuilding from the ground up tosses out years of accumulated design experience and bug fixes that you'd forgotten were necessary. If a program needs a redesign, do it a piece at a time as much as possible and test continuously so you know instantly when a refactoring breaks the existing functionality, because it's the functionality and not the prettiness of the code that matters most. (Pretty code helps you add NEW functionality, but that's later.)

-Max

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

Well, I don't know much about the functionality of specific langages-how versatile *is* "plain old" C? If it works-and it'll work in the future, why change it?

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

Pretty versatile. It has some weaknesses, such as no runtime type protection, but you can do object-based programming, some object-oriented programming, block-structured, and regular old procedural programming. It interfaces well with tons of other languages. It's about as portable across platforms as Java is, which is to say you still have to be careful about hardware-dependent stuff. I'm aware of no compelling reason why a legacy project which is already in C should be rewritten in another language.

That said, I personally would never in a million years choose to start a new project in pure C unless the only other option was assembly (e.g., writing hardware drivers or software for NASA satellites with special hardware). The lack of runtime type safety makes me nervous (I'm counting things like dangling pointers as a type safety problem here), and it's also a rather verbose language. There's pros and cons, and I'm turned off by verbosity in the same way that I'm turned off by nations with capital-only mages. There, back on topic. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-Max

Re: I want everything!-EVERYTHING!
 

I'd be happy with a variable allowing to change the aspect ratio of the display for 16/9 or 16/10 screen owners. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

You are mixing devs there. Kristoffer works on the races, Johan works on the code.

And as far as fixing one bug instead of another, thats just an opinion as far as what is an awful bug and best use of time.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

What I'd really like to see is as a UI improvement is a new order for mages, <pool> or something along those lines. Mages set to pool will, if there's nothing else for them to do, research. Somewhere in the UI, there are ways to grab a mage from the pool both to forge magic items and cast ritual spells; mages would be chosen such that all work is fulfilled and research is maximized. If work can't be done, the attempt to add the work item will fail. Solving these constraints may require which mages are doing what to change as more work items are added.

I'll admit it can matter where a ritual spell is cast, but other than for summons and a few other spells it won't matter the vast majority of the time; I would expect the main use for this to be site-searching and attack spells (you'd never send, say, teleport through the pool).

This could almost be implemented entirely on the client, but a "pool" flag for each mage would be required to really make things work. It would also be helpful if newly recruited mages went into the pool...

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Nice suggestion. Sounds do-able too.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

> Exactly, I wish the devs would have spent whatever time they did on making the two new races on UI improvements instead (and fixing the awful temple dominion rate spreading bug). Every hour they spend fixing one thing could have been spent fixing something else.

As Gandalf said, we have different roles. JK is the code-guy and I make sprites and descriptions etc. I can fixe smaller bugs and change stats, but I can't code one bit (almost true). So every hour spent on new nations I could have spent on reading my students work or at quaffing beer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

> I personally would get infinitely more value out of a better UI then two more races.

That's OK. I personally like nations and content more than UI, but I have given up on games with lousy UI's. I would probably not get into dominions unless someone helped me. When I was 20 I wouldn't mind, but I think I'm growing ever more lazy.

> That isn't to say that Dom 3 isn't a great product. I think it was worth the money I spent on it, but I still bought it. I expect the game to receive support just like any other software product. Bug fixes, revisions to the code and interface.

We do fix the game occasionally with patches, but it is a matter of time and engagement. JK works full time as a computer engineer and I wouldn't expect him to work hours when he returnsd from work. After release we were a bit tired and prefered not to think about dominions too much. Important bugs must be fixed of course, but a bit of vacation from dominions was needed. Now we work on weekends when we don't have anything special to do, so It is mostly a matter of priority. Should I see my friends or should I add a new nation. At times friends get the longer straw, and vice versa.

> I read somewhere that the devs didn't know what to do with the income they were getting off the game. Well I have a suggestion. Hire someone else to help them code the parts they really don't want to. I think it would be easy enough for them to partner with a third party (who could be located anywhere internationally with the miracle of the internet) that could help them with the drudgery of UI improvements, while they focus on maintaining and improving the core of the game.

We don't get enough money to pay a full time job for one of us, so it unlikely that we will find another free programmer willing and able to get into the quite jumbled code of 10 years of ongoing programming. I don't think the cost of hiring a new programmer would be covered by possible sale increses.

About not knowing what to do applies to my normal salary as well. I sort of dislike money and don't like to do much, apart from games that is. I'm quite content with what I have.

I wouldn't mind to see a dominions totally remade by someone else (paying me for it perhaps). It would be fun (and possibly agonizing) to se a graphics heavy simplified RTS version of dominions http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

> Jazzepi

So it is unlikely that there will be big and ongoing UI-changes, but there might pop up things from time to time.

It might have been fair to go to greater lengths to let you and other customers know that we are a small company that have limited resources. Many on this forum and old dom2 players are probably aware of this, but new players might not know it and expect quick and ongoing work on the game. I think there is some info on the matter on shrapnels site, but I'm not sure if what is said there translates to how much ongoing support you percieve that you recieve.

Hope you are OK with this.

KO

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Didn't we have a wish-list thread already?

Oh well, I'm with the "better interfaces" crowd here, I have two requests which are very much needed and shouldn't even take too much energy to get implemented:

1. The ability to load a previously created pretender in the pretender creation phase. While starting a new game and in the game settings. You should be able to just load what you have saved and then be able to still edit the pretender. I understand that this hasn't been done this way currently because of multiplayer/PBEM games and password security, I guess. Fine, then ask for the password if somebody clicks on "edit pretender" or something and otherwise just assign it to that nation like it is now. It will be "just" a few new dialogs, but it would help things tremendously, especially if you are using a pretender that you created some time ago and you haven't written down what your designed pretender looked like.

2. The ability to read messages that you sent out this turn. I don't even want some history/log feature where you can follow the conversation you had with somebody else, I just what I sent out to whom this turn so far. At the moment, all you can do is see how many messages you have sent out at all, and delete them all if you think you made an error there somewhere. Hardly satisfying.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Kris,

we as fans of the game, do appreciate that you read and respond to the forums. As an attorney, I do not expect anyone to do anything without compensation. So major work should be done and sold as dom IV.

Unlike the robert jordan series, even if no more work was done, dominions is a complete and finished product. Of course as fans of the game, we will always be able to think of ways to further improve it.

Have you ever thought about posting an internet application for a coder? Explain up front that you can only promise experience in game development, and it may help them move on to an actual paying job in the future. Being a developer of dom IV would look good on a resume and summer is approaching, meaning lots of bored college kids.

Re: Wish-List for Dominions 4
 

Thanks for the insight, Kristoffer O.

I seem to be one of the last people in the USA who enjoys having a day off, relaxing, sleeping in, etc. more than I do making extra money that I don't really need. Maybe it's my extra-thick skull protecting my brain from the government lazer-beams, or maybe it's just that I've got enough of an imagination to amuse myself, rather than paying for my entertainment, if that's my only option. I don't need that much stuff. I like stuff, and I like to shop, but it's not a driving force in my life.

If I didn't get to work at home in my bare feet, and didn't love the company I work for, and wasn't trying to buy a house in a bloated real-estate market, I wouldn't work any overtime at all.

Hopefully, the good people of Sweden will retain a sensible approach to the better things in life.

Ok, one of the things I'd like to add to the list-so as to make this post on topic-is more graphics. I don't mean a new graphical interface, and I don't want everyone to have to run out and buy a new video card.

I'd just like to see every unit with more graphical options. What we have right now are two unspecified graphics per unit. I want many, many more.

I'd really like to see it expanded to 12 (ideally) specified graphics per unit. That's 2 for walking, 3 for combat, 3 for wounded/stricken/exhausted (so we can see who's in bad shape on the battlefield), 2 for casting spells, 1 for when the unit's just holding still, and one for when the unit is resisting spells.

Obviously, that will require a lot more graphics-and it'll probably take a year atleast to add them in for each and every unit. But it'd be a good improvement to the overall "look" of the game, and hopefully it wouldn't be hard for the Devs to patch in the ability, and then the community could do the actual additional artwork-in the process ending any *****ing about the graphics in the game, because, if you don't like them, you can volunteer time and effort into improving them directly.

I'll be among the first volunteers, especially if I get a scanner soon.

You wouldn't, ofcourse, *have* to add them, if you're modding in a new nation, for instance.

Ideally, there would be a graphic "pool" that would function as graphics currently do in the game. If you don't want to assign graphics to a specific task, then you just leave them in the pool and the computer assigns them as it does now. Ideally, you could even have more than one "set" of graphics in the pool or in slots, and the computer could then choose between "sets" of graphics for assignment-to simulate different looks for the same unit (Bob the Jotun has a forked beard, whereas Doug the Jotun has a big silly moustache. Tim the Jotun impersonates Elvis (the Jotun) on the weekends, and as such, is sporting sideburns and a black belt). Something very similar to this is currently being done in Total War 2.

Along this same line, could we (please! please! please!) get atleast some kind of screen-saver-type changing artwork during the calculation of turns?

Much preferrably, one that we can add to in mods.

I really feel silly as it is, sitting there staring at 2 little bearded busts for 10 minutes while the game calculates the other nations' turns (note: I usually play long games of SP).

I'd love it if I could look at some nifty artwork while I waited. It would really make the time go by, even if it made the turn itself objectively a little longer to process.