Well, I'm through with the game

[Foodstamp]

Roleplaying and inefficient strategy testing is one of the few things that keep me playing SP. I LOVE making weaker commanders into roleplay units with an assortment of gear to see how many kills they can rack up during battles. Especially in games where I take high luck and get a lot of items I would not use otherwise.

[Mr_Dark]

Kristoffer O said:
I'm not sure, but thought that SP players were less concerned with beating their opponent and more into role-playing. If you are a role-player both you and your enemies should take scales according to your own whim.

I'll chime in as an SP player - this game is very light-weight and easy to travel with, and I enjoy it on business travel. I agree that role playing and making up stories to go with the play are more important than minimaxing the AI.

Question: for you other SP players out there - would there be any energy around creating/playing a new set of SP-focused maps?

[moderation]

Roleplaying in SP? Seems a bit odd, but I can see how it might be fun if there were SP focused scenario maps. Speaking of which, are there any such maps?

[Mr_Dark]

There's a borrowed map of Europe on one of the Dom II sites that is easy to mod to 'historic' starting positions.

I've been desultorily working on an map of mystic India, with the Bandar and Kailasa battling it out in the jungles of the south, Abyssia rising in the Deccan Traps, airy Caelum flitting among the peaks of the Himalya, and the armies of Alexander...errr... Arcoscephale approaching from the west.

I've got the map working and am learning the other modding capabilities to see how much of a story I can string together with some custom magic sites, items, and random events.

[moderation]

Hmm, I wonder if Dominions could compare with say, Warlords in terms of SP. On the other hand, you could also make it more like a "build a SC" RPG if you scattered powerful magic gear around the map that you would have to defeat specific monsters to get, like the Sun Gear.

[Foodstamp]

Mr_Dark said:
There's a borrowed map of Europe on one of the Dom II sites that is easy to mod to 'historic' starting positions.

I've been desultorily working on an map of mystic India, with the Bandar and Kailasa battling it out in the jungles of the south, Abyssia rising in the Deccan Traps, airy Caelum flitting among the peaks of the Himalya, and the armies of Alexander...errr... Arcoscephale approaching from the west.

I've got the map working and am learning the other modding capabilities to see how much of a story I can string together with some custom magic sites, items, and random events.

Sounds very cool, I can't wait to see it.

[capnq]

jscott said: The game is perfectly set up to allow no solution to this problem without elaborate mods to create a scenario map for EVERY GAME YOU START.

Mr_Dark said: Question: for you other SP players out there - would there be any energy around creating/playing a new set of SP-focused maps?

I think this idea would be the ideal solution to the problem stated above. If everyone who enjoys building SP maps uploads their finished work somewhere, all the SP fans end up with a library of new maps to try.

[Tichy]

KO: I'm not sure I understand your explanation for random scales. Why would the effect of a pretending being's aura on the land be random? Why wouldn't it have something to do with the kind of being that is doing the pretending?

So it'd seem to make more sense, given what you said your aim is, to tie scales thematically to pretender, so any nation led by a PoD would have death scales, Lord of the Hunt growth, Oracle magic, Lady of Fortune luck etc.

[moderation]

I think the issue with random scales is that is it just easier to implement. Of course if it were possible for the game to accept a package of player-made pretender/scales designs from the community, then maybe it would be possible to create more challenging SP opponents. Master of Magic had something like this, it had a set of pre-made opponents that you would encounter. Of course, I think it was only about ten or eleven, but it is an interesting example.

Of course, maybe you still need to get the AI to exploit the player-made designs, e.g. in the case of pretender god designed around a bless strategy, but it could be a first step. And of course, useful scales, like productivity for Ulm or Abysia would probably help out the AI automatically. Just a thought.

[NTJedi]

moderation said:
I think the issue with random scales is that is it just easier to implement.

True... there are many tough decisions when developing the computer opponents. This is why I've recommended developers providing multiple AI personalities with the option for gamers to create new personalities and/or adjust existing personalities. Each AI opponent by default should randomly select a personality, yet the gamer should have the option to also choose a specific personality if desired.