your thoughts on Dominions II

[Pocus]

well improved interface, thats really a pleasure after doms I.

you know what? most often than not, I suprise myself in try to right click to close a screen - bad habit - bad !

I concur that darker background around commanders (main map) and production screen would be more pleasant and less agressive to the eyes. I have problem seeing the edge of some units as of now.

[PhilD]

Originally posted by st.patrik:

+ Zoomable map. This is great.

Missed that one.

+ Information about province scales and level of magic searching are great - very very helpful, and a most important addition

Agree totally with this one.

+ It tells you how many units you have in each squad in the deployment screen. This is another really helpful addition.

Agreed, but I'd like to have a text reminder with the type(s) of units as well. "5 Light Infantries, 5 Archers". Something like that, both in the squad description and in the "commander description" in the nation overview. It's awfully hard to ditinguish these units by sight; imagine how it must be for a newbie like me, when the names themselves aren't immediately linked to a set of strengths/weaknesses...

- Now here's the big one: The units in the recruitment screen (and the commanders in the main screen) are harder to differentiate between than they were in Dom I. It is noticeably harder to tell which unit is which, because of the extremely light-coloured background they are against. This is hard on the eyes, and makes the units look like blotches. I strongly urge the developers to change the background colour to a darker shade. Darker background makes it easier to see colours, whereas light background drowns out colours. It would be great (for all our eyes, if nothing else) if this could be changed.

Once more, the unit names should be printed as well as the unit icons.

Overall, while the UI is much better than the DomI UI, I still believe it's hard on the new player.

[MStavros]

My thoughts about Doms II. in 1 sentence:

Doms II. got the worst AI what I ever seen in strategy games.

[ October 28, 2003, 13:11: Message edited by: MStavros ]

[Kristoffer O]

In what way? It is difficult to change it into something better unless you tell us what is wrong.

[st.patrik]

Originally posted by cpbeller:
4. The nation overview...to me, this was a HUGE step up. To be able to see who is in what province....great job...

I forgot this one! This is a really helpful addition. ++++

[Zerger]

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
In what way? It is difficult to change it into something better unless you tell us what is wrong.

Kris, I don't know whats wrong withthe AI, but I managed to beat it easily in 4 games. I lost 1, due to bad luck. [3 front war]

[licker]

Originally posted by Zerger:

quote:

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Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
In what way? It is difficult to change it into something better unless you tell us what is wrong.

Kris, I don't know whats wrong withthe AI, but I managed to beat it easily in 4 games. I lost 1, due to bad luck. [3 front war]

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I'm confused...

I've only had the demo for about an hour of fooling with, so I didn't do much beyond get the feel for the new UI, but...

How on earth is 40 turns enough time to roll over the AIs? I suppose people could be using some of the new victory conditions and getting wins with them (meaning the vic conditions, or the AI's response to vic conditions needs adjusting), but how are people just walking over AIs in 40 turns?

Well kudos to you if you are, but I find it kinda doubtful.

[Dekent]

Could yall streamline the single player interface a bit then Kris?

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by Zerger:

quote:

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Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
In what way? It is difficult to change it into something better unless you tell us what is wrong.

Kris, I don't know whats wrong withthe AI, but I managed to beat it easily in 4 games. I lost 1, due to bad luck. [3 front war]

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Take a look at the poll post. I have asked Storm some questions and given some suggestions. Take a look and you might find some clues.

My guesses are that the AI are killing each other before you find them. This behaviour might be aggravated by a very low independent strength setting (0 or 1). Storm used 2 which would affect the game balance a bit, but not nessecarily to the extent that the AI loose every time. Also try with 10 AI players or so. Then there is less chance of them waging war on each other only.

Send over a zip of strangely won games so we can take a look at them (not every game - only strange ones or I'll drown in useless turnfiles ).

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by Dekent:
Could yall streamline the single player interface a bit then Kris?

In what way? We are open to suggestions, but make it concrete.