Newb Impressions
Hi there,
after some gaming around with Dom 3, I would like to share my impressions of the game:
1: The breadth of the game is quite jaw dropping, the multitude of options available is huge, although it appears that for a number of nations some options are significantly better than others, however, balance appears to be quite good for a game with this amount of options.
In the same manner, it is absolutly clear that the AI will be likely be abysmal, as it also has to consider an overwhelming amount of options under incomplete information, very few AIs do well under such circumstances.
Single player games can offer a certain testing ground for early setup strategies, I would however recomend the addition of a "battle simulator" capable of setting up tactical battles. It would also be interesting to get a more detailed stat sheet after the battles.
2: What I find to be more problematic is the "micromanagement hell" that seems to kick in past turn 30 or so. It would appear that comparably simple additions as in "repeat recruitment orders next turn", "go to waypoint after being recruited", "Set general combat orders for newly recruited units" could have a significant effect on reducing micromanagment tedium. One could also have a look at something Heroes of Might and Magics "caravan" mechanic, which lets you send units from other castles to a castle, quicker, but with disastrous results if intercepted by raiders.
To an extent, after a certain amount of turn a large amount of the time one spents if composed of doing things that could (perhaps should) be automated.
From reading the forums, it appears that some of these functions are not in due to pecularities of play by e-mail game setups, I have no experiences with PBEM (other than some Bloodbowling on Fumbbl), yet it would appea that those issues should not be insurmountable.
3: After the criticism however:
Dominions three is a very enticing game (which I really shouldnt play with a Major Exam upcomming), with quite a bit of "one more turn" potential, endless replayability, good developer support and an active community.
Cheers,
Mightypeon
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