A few very newbish questions

tylertoo · #1 January 10th, 2004, 05:01 AM

1) Is there a map editor? (Sorry, I'm sure this is mentioned somewhere, can't seem to find it.)

2) Do most of you vets just bypass the battle replays? It seems like it would get old after a bit. Is there any strategic/educational value to watching these?

3) Who are the two guys who made this game? Where are they from? Do they post here? What is their experience with post-release support?

4) How is MP hosted? Is PBEM more popular than real time?

I'm sure I'll think of more

Bowlingballhead · #2 January 10th, 2004, 05:12 AM

1) ...technically, yes. It's the option 'Map Editor' from the first screen. However, it's a wee bit buggy/technical. You already have to have made the map as a 24-bit .tga file (I believe there's a readme file in the game directory somewhere discussing this) and have made a .map file (it's a text file) with at least the basic coding that points out what .tga file it's supposed to be linked to. And the .tga file had better have no white on it except the single pixels used to identify the center of each province.

2) Me, I watch them frequently. Maybe somebody who's played the game a long, long time would stop watching them, but they can be very educational, telling you what works how, and allowing you to refine your strategies.

3) That one you'll have to ask somebody else.

4) I like real-time, personally, but I like playing games like this with people I already know. It's just my thing. I think I've seen Posts on this board advertising PBEMs.

tylertoo · #3 January 10th, 2004, 05:21 AM

Thanks for the prompt and detailed reply.

I'll repeat #3 and add 2 more:

1) Is there a way to save your preferred camera angles for the battle replays?

2) Is there a way to have multiple save games? The save game thing confuses me a bit.

and again 3) Who are the two guys who made this game? Where are they from? Do they post here? What is their experience with post-release support?

PvK · #4 January 10th, 2004, 05:41 AM

I like to watch the battles, to see exactly what happened. Even if it weren't enjoyable, it helps you learn what kinds of things happen in combat, and why. But, I do enjoy it. I enjoy following the histories of my units, and all they go through along the way. There are some players who do skip a lot of the replays though, except when they are surprised by the results. Different people enjoy different aspects of the game more or less than others do.

It's possible to save multiple games. Just create a new game and give it a different name from any others you've created.

One can also copy a game position by copying the files, so you can keep an old position to refer to, or use, later. I generally wouldn't recommend "returning to a saved game" in cases when later play goes wrong, because in my opinion that's just cheating yourself. This game is rich enough not to need that kind of cop out, and indulging in it would in my opinion lessen the experience. But that's just me - I realize some players will relish that kind of "no, Hildegard can't die!!!" silliness. You can't do it without using the OS to copy the files, AFAIK.

I don't know of a way to save camera views.

The designers are Swedish. They supported the first Dominions extremely well despite doing it pretty much without compensation, making several patches with all kinds of fixes and added features. They also frequent this forum.

PvK

apoger · #5 January 10th, 2004, 05:44 AM

>2) Do most of you vets just bypass the battle replays? It seems like it would get old after a bit. Is there any strategic/educational value to watching these?

At the moment we have no ability to adjust the speed, which was a feature in Dom1. Right now I have no tolerance for watching even though it can be extremely useful. Battlefield tactics win the day often. If you are new, you will have to watch some battles in order to improve your game.

As for me... I await the patch and pray for a fix to the replay speed controls.

Lord Hammer · #6 January 10th, 2004, 06:23 AM

I always watch the battle replays as it can be a valuable learning tool

. After a week of playing solid i may skip one against a handful of militia

. They are SO fun to watch, you get to see all the "cool stuff" in action...to me it's a big plus in this game and you can just sit back and watch. No click...click...click...

Besides, how are you going to see all the cool spells you researched? Or what the enemy has in store for you?

[ January 10, 2004, 04:32: Message edited by: Lord Hammer ]