Why Dominions 3 isn't just another computer game.

[HoneyBadger]

Not another appreciation post! Ok, it's another appreciation post, but not *just* an appreciation post.

Lately, we've had a few posts complaining about the cost of the game, the instability of various servers, problems with the forum, etc. *****, *****, *****, go whine to your mommies, says I.

Johan and Kristoffer and the (very few!) other folks connected to Illwinter have done an extraordinary job, in partnership with Shrapnel Games, who also deserves some amount of thanks.

We've got...what is it now, 56 out of the box nations? (with patches, ofcourse, but for one price that I consider very low). Each with over a score of units. Plus all the independents (which usually have atleast 4 units a piece), all the summonable units, all the horrors, Bogus and his crew, and it goes on and on. And that's just one broad facet of the game. How many games-computer or otherwise-give you this much content, period? Let alone to make it very mod friendly, let alone to make it balanced, let alone to make it multiplayer, let alone to have a great forum, and they still work their day-jobs. And they still give us regular updates every few months. And it's relatively bug free. It's a masterwork by *any* definition.

And on top of the candy mountain of everything good that they've provided us, the new content they're adding gets better and better. Still free, and keeps getting better.

Warhammer, by Games Workshop, has been around for decades. It requires no computer programming. It doesn't even require that the creators or players even own a computer. It does require that they hold down a steady job or other means of income, and devote a significant portion of their time and income to the game. Each army piece is something you can hold in your hand-it's modifiable, it's paintable, it's versatile beyond the normal tin soldier and is definitely an elite wargame of fine quality, but Warhammer gives you an absolute maximum of 20 nations, two of which have been discontinued. It's only got 1 worldmap. It's been around since 1983! It's moddable, in that you can rewrite the rules, but how many of us can make good quality miniatures, from scratch? You can buy new ones, true, but there's the expense of that, the expense of buying the rulebooks, the expense of painting pieces, custom modification, buying extra sets of armies, etc. Cost on top of cost.

Dominions 3 gives you more bang for your buck, for far less, than any other complex hobby that I'm familiar with-and don't fool yourself-Dominions 3 isn't just a game, it's a hobby.

You can make mods with it-we've got about as many mod nations as we do out of the box nations (which is impressive, considering we've got a whole crew of folks who make great nations, compared to two people who've made 56 or more nations, and THE WHOLE REST OF THE GAME!). You can become involved with the forum-I've gone months without even playing Dom3, and still entertained myself by just writing about the game. You can talk to the Devs, and they talk back. They pant alot when they talk, because they're tired! There's even a Dom3 Wiki.

It's more fun than Daggerfall, more accessible than Space Empires (has become), cooler than Civilization, friendlier than Spore, and healthier than Grand Theft Auto.

You can work 10 hours bagging groceries at minimum wage and earn enough money to purchase Dom 3. You can mow the lawns of the elderly and earn it in maybe 3 days, if you're lazy. You can collect cans and loose change and scrapmetal for a week, and probably come up with 60 bucks. For 60 bucks, you can buy a really nice shirt, or take your family out to dinner. It's more money than you're likely to find in the cushions of your couch, or else you really need to clean your couch, but it's not a lot of money. It's not a mortgage payment, or an engagement ring. Nobody's asking that you sell a kidney.

In 10 years I'll still be playing Dominions. Or atleast still writing about it. Hopefully I'll have a new computer before then... It'll still be entertaining, it'll still be fun. Hopefully by then the Devs will have relented and created Dom4? Maybe? Please? Pretty please, with a cherry on top? Because this isn't just another computer game. This isn't Tetris or Doom, or even StarCraft. It's far bigger, far more versatile, far more alive and growing, and-unlike any other computer game of my experience-it can give you back more than you put into it.

[Tifone]

Yeah but the nations are unbalanced and the forum went down 3 days i mean 3 damn days! and it costs and there are bugs and people don't respect holy NAPs and... and...

I'm just joking this game is great, only its vastness and "personality" would require so many books to be written that warcraft, warhammer and many of these games with lots of books written about them would fade.

[MaxWilson]

Not to nitpick because the sentiment is true, but most nations do not have over a score of units. Some of the newer ones do if you count national summons (Lanka, Hinnom, Ashdod). If you say "over a dozen units" I'll agree.

-Max

[Renojustin]

Can I have some molasses with my honey-sweet fanboi post?

[AlgaeNymph]

In spite of the initially higher-than-normal price, we don't have to pay extra for expansion packs, particularly ones that'll be out for the Macintosh sometime between forever and never.

[llamabeast]

I think units include commanders. Then probably most nations have over 20.

[cleveland]

Well said. Cheers.

[Gandalf Parker]

Do we have an up-to-date count on things like spells, units, equipment? The initial description gives numbers but Im sure those are out of date. Also someone (better at math than I am) might give us a percentage growth from intial release to present status.
Edi?

Im also curious.
I thought the thread might be trying to figure out WHAT it is about Dominions that gives it such immortal standing on all my computers.

As far as "in 10 years I will still be playing Dominions" that might be true but I will really be hoping to be playing Dominions 9, the Holodeck version.

[Monkeyfinger]

I'll paraphrase your second paragraph:

HoneyBadger said:
DUR HUR THE GAME IS PERFECT AND BEYOND REPROACH THERE'S NO POINT CRITICIZING ANYTHING SO THAT IT CAN ME MADE BETTER

I really, really hate that attitude (and you'll find people with it on any game forum, from the most mainstream, high-budget one to the most niche indie one.) Everything has flaws, and room for improvement, and they need to be complained about in order for attention to be drawn to them, so they can be fixed.

The rest of that post is just.... kind of unnecessary. We signed up and started posting on this forum just to talk about Dom3. You, in particular, did it ~1800 times. That says more about how we feel about this game's quality than your big, lie-filled wall of text does.

[Gandalf Parker]

Lies? Opinions maybe but something that can be proved as untrue?

After saying that I feel it necessary....
Standard Moderator Warning:
When posts stop being about the subject and start being about the posters then the entire thread is in danger of disappearing.