Hi, I'm Jim. I'm a Dominions Addict.

[JimMorrison]

I ordinarily wouldn't make a useless "hi I'm a newb" post, that's why I'm making one that isn't useless!

I purchased Dom3 some time back, and my roommate and I agree it is one of the finest strategy games ever devised. After an absence, I wanted to start getting into MP..... but because of the lengthy durations, I am not eager to spend much time making myself into meals!

Anyway, I tried searching the forum for a multiplayer primer, and unfortunately there doesn't seem to be one. Obviously, it would save a great deal of headache (especially for new-ish people wanting to host their own games) if we could get an old pro to write up a guide for joining and playing in MP games, and then get this guide stickied.

Beyond the normal "this is how you submit your pretender, and your turn" sort of thing, I was particularly curious what sort of settings are generally used in MP games. The most relevant factors that come to mind (if there is a significant bias) would be Indy strength, research difficulty, and provinces/player. I understand there are blitz games and what-not, but I think mostly this would concern your typical 20-ish players, 24 hour turns type of game.

I apologize if this post makes me look like more of an idiot than just jumping in a couple of games and finding out, but I didn't see any with open slots, nor did I find a primer using the forum Search, or skimming the first several pages of posts (it should be STICKY).

Well met, and be safe until we meet in the field of battle.

[Amhazair]

Settings are quite often standard, with the most likely to change site frequency (often increased to 40 or even 50 in the later ages) and independents (sometimes to 6 or 7) Research, gold, resources, supply are rarely changed from the standard settings. 15 provinces/player seems to be the average, though there are enough games with more or less.

All of the above is obviously an average. From time to time you'll see games with wildly different settings being organized. (I've seen independents 0 with easy research for example, for quick & early wars)

I think that there are somewhat less games being started right now because the mega-game is sucking in a lot of players (62 to be precise) and because others might be planning their hollidays. Even so, new games start up fairly regularly, so while I can imagine you're just about ready to chew through a wall wanting to start out on a MP game (I know I did when I started out) you should be able to find one starting relatively soon.

[JimMorrison]

Interesting. I've been reading a lot of strats in the last couple of days to push my game to the next level, and I was actually struck by the thought that MP games must generally use similar settings (assumed probably near default, but who can know?).

The reason was that I had started playing with independants at 9, and it seemed to me that this had a bias to a much slower start, rather than the typically proscribed "attack on second turn and don't stop".

To be terribly honest, part of the reason I wanted to know about trends, was so I could start another game with somewhat "typical" settings and layout, to refine my own starting tactics.

In any case, much appreciation for the help you've given. 8 ) You're right about the chewing, I hope one opens soon!

[LDiCesare]

llamabeast has a FAQ about technicalities for pbem that he hosts. It's on this forum, but actually the easiest way to find it is through www.llamaserver.net and follow the link from there.
Victory conditions seem to often be standard, with some vp thrown in.

[chrispedersen]

Jim, I like indeps set to strength 9, but that rarely occurs. People think it gives bless nations too much advantage. I think it helps awake gods more, personally.

Playing mp.. you have to push expansion hard. I was doing what I thought was pretty good in a game.. I had 7 territories on turn 5. Turns out 7 nations out of 20 had more than that.

Early starts matter.. a lot.

[sansanjuan]

Jim,
Love your music BTW.

One setting not to be underestimated is graphs on/off. When they are on it's easy to pick out the top dogs and act appropriatly. When they are off... it's easy to pick and ally or enemy who is not what you expected stength-wise. Some chart stuff is misleading, e.g. "army size" where someone with 500 undead vs another with 15 kitted Tarts, but the rest will show significant, actionable, information via magnitude and slope. In my two games I'm playing in one of each and think both are interesting to play in.

Also remember most blesses become muted late game as they become duplicated by high level spells (some req gems) and accessable by many nations (and not limited to buffing sacred units). Scales are forever though.

One thing that makes this game so great is creating a plan unique to your nation's strenghts, plan for world domination and be flexible enough to scrap it, re-evaluate, and create a new master plan "B", and "C", etc. as the changing situation warrants. If you are attacked by Ermor your tactics will likely be very different than if the attacker is Eriu. Unit placement, spell scripting, attack scripting, temporal collation of orders, unit reinforcements, item usage, battlefield prep rituals, etc. You'll often wonder (esp. after losing a close battle) "Damn, if I would have done "X" instead of "Y" victory would be mine.".

Although you've heard..

research (inc. gem searching, getting capable MUs)- HUGE

diplomancy - HUGE

-SSJ

[JimMorrison]

Really appreciate the replies everyone. <3

Indeed, research and indies were what I was most concerned with. Both change the pace of the game so vastly..... And while I've played a bit already, not enough so that I can fluidly shift gears from fast paced to slow paced.

I must admit, I am pretty excited to see what diplomacy is like in MP here. I'm just becoming aware of how common trading and such is, which makes complete sense but I am more used to games where people won't trade with a potential enemy for any reason whatsoever. I guess the lines blur a lot when it's completely understood that "there can be only one".

Anywho, any of you guys can feel free to host a game, and I'd gladly join, struggle, weep, and plot revenge.

[LDiCesare]

You can look for games needing subs, there are some of them right now. New games also start quite often, or you can start one yourself or ask llamaserver if he's interested in hosting yet another game.

[Ylvali]

Welcome aboard Jim. You won�t be disappointed.

Be careful about joining too many games. Focus on one or two. I did this mistake and after a while it became too time consuming. (especially if you are successful)

See you on the battlefield.

[JimMorrison]

Thanks Yivali, fortunately for me, this is a good time to get into this, because I have a lot of free computer time.

As far as subbing for someone, I've seen the posts..... I don't really feel comfortable trashing someone else's empire, when I haven't even learned how not to trash my own yet. I mostly wanted to know what game settings to train myself on for MP, that sort of thing, so I can make the adjustment from SP to MP.