Future of dom-III MP

[WraithLord]

Just wondering, w/ CoE-3 soon to be out what will be the fate of dom-III MP community. Will it shrink, stay the same or maybe grow in size?

I also wonder how many years can a gaming community follow an ancient game w/o withering.

So plz share your opinion on the matter and if you like also your personal prediction - whether you'll cont. playing dom-III MP in the future.

I for one suspect I shall cont. playing dom. albeit far less than I used to do. Perhaps one game or two tops at a time.

[nordlys]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

Just wondering, w/ CoE-3 soon to be out what will be the fate of dom-III MP community. Will it shrink, stay the same or maybe grow in size?

I also wonder how many years can a gaming community follow an ancient game w/o withering.

Well, I believe people are still playing the likes of Stars! or VGA Planets which were released back in early-mid 90s. PBEM market niche is quite small and very little served outside of purist wargames.

COE(2) is a different kind of game than Dominions, I don't believe they have to compete in any way. Nor do I expect COE3 to bring more exposure to Dominions, after 5 years and a plenty of press and word of mouth everyone who could be remotely interested in Dominions already heard of it.

In short, I don't think anything would change beyond natural attrition.

[Edi]

Dom3 and CoE3 occupy different niches, so while there is overlap, I do not see CoE3 reducing things that significantly for Dom3.

Dom3 is still the number one for epic, massive, long games where things can come out of the left field to take you tterly by surprise (which can easily happen if your opponent finds the right magic sites).

CoE3 is a much faster paced blitz game with not quite as much complexity and depth, but quite enough to provide lots and lots of entertainment and (I would say) as much replay value as Dom3.

CoE3 also provides comparatively more SP value, because of the way AI is done there. There is nothing to prevent anyone from playing e.g. one turn of Dom3 (especially if you don't take it absolutely to the max with the micro etc) and then playing switching to CoE3 for the rest of the evening for a fast game or two. Especially after Dom3 games move to the 48 hour hosting interval.

They are more complementary than opposed.

[Gandalf Parker]

I tend to collect such games. I have a number of them that are a real pain to load onto new machines for lack of updates. But their gaming communities are still going. I dont why ours should fade. Especially since I dont think the Dom3 patches are dead yet (just slowed down)

And I agree with Edi. I dont think CoE3 will shrink the Dom3 community much. Maybe in the initial rush. But they play very different. If anything the CoE3 playerbase might expand the Dom3 base abit as people discover one then get led to the other. I dont see CoE3 killing the 1-turn-a-day and PbEM habits that Dom3 people love

[Slobby]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

I dont see CoE3 killing the 1-turn-a-day and PbEM habits that Dom3 people love

Quite.

[Gandalf Parker]

Though it should fill in nicely as a kindof Dom3-lite for low micromanagement fast blitz games