Orion can't beat this...

[Morkilus]

Anyone SP'er hoping to play in MP games later should at least enable the Conceptual Balance 5.2 mod, this will get you used to the (better) pace of early games and you won't develop strategies that have to change drastically. I also noticed that scales actually matter, so there are more options... I never used scales at all before I started using CB. Keep in mind that the current version has been rebalanced since the original as well, so it's not like the devs are opposed to rebalancing. I had plenty of fun before the mod, but I like it better since troops are easier to build (they're cheaper, and you get more gold). Sure, you can summon your uber Banelords and Queens, but you don't have to race to do it immediately. Mods are good! The system is way simpler than Space Empires, as far as I got in that...

[NTJedi]

Endoperez said:
This is true. However, instead of adding a totally new system for a billion little things like this,

Adding an interface which enables / disables spells is not a billion little things. Each spell and item are easily listed having an interface to turn them on and off is a benefit even for modders.

Endoperez said:
I think it'd be better to make clients download and use the mods from the host - this would allow for many more options.

This sounds like a good option... but it shouldn't take away having an easy to use feature for the disable / enable spells and items before the game starts.
No extra download for multiplayer... no adjusting files or searching for mods via singleplayer... an easy 5 clicks and its ready.

Endoperez said:
If one is already using a mod, and wants to further change some part of it, wouldn't it be simpler to edit the mod?

Perhaps you work in an environment where everyone is computer savy. Unfortunately many people exist which have no clue on moving or editing game files. And for a company to expect this from customers means they will lose money from those lacking the knowledge.

Endoperez said:
ask someone who might know things, or something to that effect. Help is widely available, after all.

A large percentage of gaming customers don't post on forums. To expect this from all customers is not realistic. To make the game more JUICY for those lacking computer knowledge the disable/enable would definitely work.

Endoperez said:
I'd say that being able to write into a text file should be required from anyone that uses a computer.

I agree as a friend... but if I was your business partner I would disagree. It's better business wisdom not to have expectations from your customers... give them the simple click-click.

Endoperez said:
I would rather have a single mod-file with the settings I usually use, and enable it once, than re-ban a dozen items and spells before every new game I start.

So developers add a feature in the interface which says "save settings"... works in other games. Problem solved.


My suggestion is to provide more game flexibility for those which know very little about computers. This will open the game to a wider market.

[Graeme Dice]

NTJedi said:
Adding an interface which enables / disables spells is not a billion little things. Each spell and item are easily listed having an interface to turn them on and off is a benefit even for modders.

An interface to disable any individual spell or item would consist of hundreds of lines, and be far more difficult to work with than a mod file that simply disables the specific spells you don't want to use.

Unfortunately many people exist which have no clue on moving or editing game files.

Anybody who isn't smart enough to figure out how to move or edit text files is somebody who isn't smart enough to figure out how to play Dominions. The interface for the game itself is more complicated that dealing with file manipulation.

[Saber Cherry]

Graeme Dice said:
Anybody who isn't smart enough to figure out how to move or edit text files is somebody who isn't smart enough to figure out how to play Dominions. The interface for the game itself is more complicated that dealing with file manipulation.

True, but irrelevant. Anyone who is not smart enough to learn Spanish probably can't learn French (which is a little harder due to imaginary letters, devocalized words, and silent phrases)... but that doesn't mean Spanish should be a prerequisite for French classes.

I'm not saying Dominions should or shouldn't support such things at runtime - Total Annihilation did, and I liked it, though I never used it - just that that argument was fallacious

[Arralen]

NTJedi said:
Adding an interface which enables / disables spells is not a billion little things. Each spell and item are easily listed having an interface to turn them on and off is a benefit even for modders.

ROFLMAO !!!

The item manual is 71 pages, the spell book is 88 pages long.

There are 578 different spells.
There are 360 weapons, 115 armors and shields and I-don't-know-how-many hundreds of misc. items.
Furthermore, there are 87 Pretender units, 613 national units, 103 indy units, 266 summons and 57 other units.

And you think you could "easily list" them in game with a checkbox in front of each of them to (de)activate it?
Sorry, but that's ridiculous.

And if you add filters and grouping, things get too complicated for those who even cannot edit an ASCII file with a plain text editor.

On the other hand, I think anyone not able or willing to do that wouldn't have much fun actually playing the game. Because it's pretty complicated as well.

By the way, even the devs have issued a mod (Oceania) instead of adding that nation into the .exe . Obviously, for them using mods is quite normal. Why should they have added modding commands and a mod selector screen in the first place, if not using them is part of the 'normal' experience of playing Dom?

I agree that mods should be downloaded automatically from the server. That wouldn't happen with Dom2, though: You do the pretender first - and you need the mods enabled at that point already. To change that would require major re-design of the internal workings of the application.
But we can always hope for Dom3 .. .

[Cainehill]

Graeme Dice said:
An interface to disable any individual spell or item would consist of hundreds of lines, and be far more difficult to work with than a mod file that simply disables the specific spells you don't want to use.

Not to mention that those 1000 spells, items, units, etc, can all be modified via the mod system, and the interface for this would have to cope with a mod removing an item, changing a spell's level, etc. Not a simple GUI project at all.

[Morkilus]

I agree that mods should be downloaded automatically from the server. That wouldn't happen with Dom2, though: You do the pretender first - and you need the mods enabled at that point already.

I heard that you don't even need the mod to make your pretender if the mod doesn't affect your design points. So if you were hosting and wanted to ban a spell or item, you could whip up that mod for yourself just like how Endoperez posted and everyone would be good to go.

[NTJedi]

The item manual is 71 pages, the spell book is 88 pages long.
There are 578 different spells.
There are 360 weapons, 115 armors and shields and I-don't-know-how-many hundreds of misc. items.
Furthermore, there are 87 Pretender units, 613 national units, 103 indy units, 266 summons and 57 other units.

Obviously you misunderstood.

I wasn't talking about all 360 weapons, etc... only those which can be forged. Currently anyone can view all the spells of each path... a checkbox for disabling each one would save the information before each game starts.

And you think you could "easily list" them in game with a checkbox in front of each of them to (de)activate it?
Sorry, but that's ridiculous.

Obviously you've never used the Heroes_3 map editor... which lists every item, spell, skill, hero, events, etc., . So not only is it possible but it was done several years ago.

By the way, even the devs have issued a mod (Oceania) instead of adding that nation into the .exe . Obviously, for them using mods is quite normal.

My suggestion was to make the game more user-friendly as seen in AOW:SM and Heroes_3. As the Dominions series grows this option will save time for modders.

I agree that mods should be downloaded automatically from the server.

I also agree mods should be downloaded... this would speed the process for multiplayer.