Hello everyone! With 4.14 fizzling out I'd like to start a new game. This time, it'll be a 2v2v2v2 disciples game. There are four teams because I want to keep it manageably sized but three-sided FFAs inevitably turn into 2v1. Not much else going on besides that, I'm open to different maps (provided they are four way wrap) and ages. I'm also thinking of using using the Worthy Heroes mod and a custom mod to mod out, at the very least, Burden of Time, maybe a few other world-killers.
I've already found a teammate, my (very) newbie friend who is not part of this enlightened forumspace. For the remaining six slots, I'll take players on a first come, first serve basis. Teams can be decided after that, you just need to post saying you're in to be in. If you are in please post which age(s) you want to play, you can vote for any and all of them. If you all want we can try to team up newbies with experienced players, if not that's fine.
Once we have our teams, nations will be drafted as such: teams will be randomly ordered, teams pick their first nation in that order, and their second nation in the reverse of that order.
Player List:
1. EnigmaticHat - Team 1
2. noselyjack (not on this forum) - Team 1
3. Karlito - Team 3
4. Jilladilla - Team 4
5. Culise - Team 3
6. USEC_OFFICER - Team 4
7. Hatman - Team 2
8. Alstar - Team 2
Team 1: C'tis/Mictlan
Team 2: Arcosephale/Midgard
Team 3: Jomon/R'lyeh
Team 4: Agarth/Pangea
Dom3:
1 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=44348), 2 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=46012), 3 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=60235), 4 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=63361), 5 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=65222), 6 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=72919), 7&7.5 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=103575), 8 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=112126), 9 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=115427), 10 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=118516), 11 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=120941), 12 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=124958), 13 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=125655), 14 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=125670), 15 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=128797)
Dom4:
4.01 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=133320), 4.02 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=134792), 4.03 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137585), 4.04 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137631), 4.05 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=138108), 4.06 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=138950), 4.07 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=139129), 4.08 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=141429), 4.09 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=141858), 4.10 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=144007), 4.11 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=144635), 4.12 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=145874), 4.13 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=146830), 4.14 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=147069.0), 4.15 (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=150972.0)
Dominions 4 is an indy turn-based fantasy war game of epic proportions. Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders was released in 2002, followed by Dominions II: The Ascension Wars, and Dominions 3: The Awakening in 2006. Gameplay has not fundamentally changed since the first entry, but each new version has noticeably refined the GUI, added greater depth and complexity, markedly improved the game's modability, and generally made the gaming experience significantly better.
The player assumes the role of a pretender god, rising from slumber to take up the recently vacated throne of the Pantokrator (or All-Ruler). This invariably involves climbing there over the dead bodies of other wannabe gods and their countless followers.
The nations of the world each support one of the pretenders as their One and True God that shall no doubt lead them to glory everlasting. They are highly varied and defy the typical fantasy cliches. Instead they had been designed after some of the many myths and fables from the history of mankind. Shambling Atlanteans, undead legions of Ermor, frozen giants of Niefelheim, bloodthirsty demons of Lanka, steelclad armies of Ulm, Sauromatian amazons and their hydras, flying hosts of Caelum - over 60 nations to choose from.
The beings claiming the godly mantle are diverse themselves. Crooked crones and divine giants, sages and mages, liches and vampires, dragons and krakens. Apart from the physical form, the players can design their gods' magical powers, the blessings that they can bestow upon the chosen few, and the qualities that believing in them inspires in the common folk. Would you have your god bring good fortune and bountiful crops to the faithful, but be magically weak? Or would you rather make your god into a killing machine able to take on armies, but inspiring little awe? The pretender design system is excellent, and together with the multitude of nation choices is able to accommodate a wide range of strategies.
The game sports a very robust magic system, with literally hundreds of spells, ranging from in-battle lightning bolts to world altering doom bringers. Only in Dominions can you flaunt your divine destiny by hanging a second sun in the sky, draping the world in perpetual storms, or sending devils to incite enemy soldiers against their commanders.
Every unit in the sometimes hundreds-strong armies has got individual, and evolving stats, including age, battle wounds and experience. They can starve and fall victim to disease. They can be cursed and hunted by trans-dimensional horrors. Lots of things can happen to each individual unit, most of them unpleasant.
From the strategic map, commanders, mages, heroes, priests, magical beasts and pretender gods can be equipped with magical items and sent to do battle in person, assassinate or seduce enemy commanders, spy and instigate unrest, enchant armies in battle or wreak havoc among enemy ranks. Or, they can be kept at home and work on improving magical knowledge, build fortifications, summon magic beings, raise undead, forge items imbued with arcane forces, scour provinces in the search of blood slaves, preach god's glory, patrol provinces for troublemakers, search for magic sites hidden in the wild, and more.
The turns happen simultaneously, so the battles are resolved automatically, according to the preselected orders for troop formations and commanders.
Should you desire to know more about the game, go and visit the website (http://www.illwinter.com/dom4/index.html) (or go to the publisher's page here (http://www.desura.com/games/dominions-4-thrones-of-ascensions)). You'll notice that the price tag is not pintsized (though it's much lower than Dominions 3 was), but as many of us can attest, the game is well worth it.
- First of all, you need to download any non-standard map and mod we're using (links will be provided if we decide to use one), and put the files into the map and mod folders of your dom4 installation respectively.
- Then go to the options menu and enable the mod.
- Next use the pretender creation tool in the game tools menu to create a pretender and send the file(to be found in your /dominions4/savedgames/newlords; named <your_nation_era_number.2h>, where number is most likely "0" if it's the only pretender you've created so far for this nation.) to "pretenders [at ] llamaserver [dot ] net" with the game name as the subject.
- Game name will most likely be "Bay12GamesRound4##".
You'll be receiving .trn files from llama server, which you should put into a {dom4dir}/savedgames/{whatevernameyouwant}/
After finishing your moves, a new .2h file will appear in that folder, which you should send to the same address from which you've received your .trn file.
Regarding the rules of conduct:
- No exploits please. Examples of exploits are siegeing a fort infinitely with a string of scouts; sending other players crap items to fill their magic item pool and make them waste gems; anything else you can think of that doesn't feel like it was meant to be a feature. If not sure, ask.
- Trade agreements are sacred. Once you decided to exchange some gems/items/gold, you MUST fulfill your side of the agreement.
- No constrains on diplomacy. You can attack anyone you want, with or without warning. It would be, however, in good taste not to rush another player at the very begining of the game. We're all trying to have a good time playing this.
- Use forum PMs for diplomacy. The in-game messaging system is seriously flawed(unacceptably slow, and parts of messages tend to dissapear)
- If you want to boast/moan about your progress(or lack thereof) in game, feel free to use this thread to post your screenshots, stories and whatnot.
- It's bad etiquette to repeatedly stale/go AI without consulting other players. If you lose interest or ability to play, do try to get in touch with us. Usually a sub can be arranged and it's better than AI/inattentive player.
Useful links:
Dom4 forums on Desura (http://www.desura.com/games/dominions-4-thrones-of-ascensions/forum)
Dom4 Mod Inspector (https://larzm42.github.io/dom4inspector/) (use this and cherish it!)
An archived snapshot of the Dom3 wiki (http://web.archive.org/web/20130118162532/http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Main_Page): Yes, it's still relevant, and it hasn't been replaced yet, so... It has loads of useful information, including strategy guides. Keep in mind that while a lot of this information is still very useful and valid, a lot of it is entirely out-of-date. In particular, Dom 3 games tended to have a lot more magic a lot earlier than Dom 4 games.
Llama Server (http://llamaserver.net/): the automatic hosting server for our game.
Llama Server's map and mod browser (http://www.llamaserver.net/createDom4Game.cgi) (Yes, it's not really a browser, but you can browse the maps and mods here)
I didn't start the fire of this generalized Dom 4 info, it was always burning since the world's been turning.
The epic battle of opposed forces, doomed to ever negate each other:
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/445079220302318817/1C4FEC8E4A9CF79DC068FC438B15E20B5726CECA/)(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/445079220302318581/B4B561D581A8DB9403AD7112DF91A8D3DA456E06/)
(http://i1364.photobucket.com/albums/r734/Image_buffer/aar_zpsxymmfzb8.png) (http://s1364.photobucket.com/user/Image_buffer/media/aar_zpsxymmfzb8.png.html)
I'm really tempted to say I did exactly what you'd expect someone to do in that situation; nothing special, so I was actually almost surprised it worked quite so well as it did...
Alrighty, here's the score graphs.
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/427070261328023744/EEBE0F3E020111266F3214397DCE677ACC16AFD2/)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/427070261328023883/815998730F40B9BB438293DBAFBF1464231F125E/)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/427070261328023962/04E24A5CD28704838980DA14D303670F65BE1044/)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/427070261328024081/EA1948B078711B6331A642C3FDBA3D4F20302426/)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/427070261328024160/425655C3EAD7DF51539CF260243D79B28F0C6CB5/)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/427070261328024246/CA03B041824AC9E2167D67A6F1A1A1021F7A9F76/)
(http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/427070261328024334/B55CE0D3E1A42D0C3FE074DC4667BF68FA4871AE/)
I'll post a more detailed AAR later, but if you look at the graphs you'll see that I'm not particularly high on any of them, except for gem income, which didn't matter much in the end except for death income, which I had 10+ of and Mictlan was feeding me even more.
The reason for most of these is that I tried to play without needing very much. All sacred mages leading mostly summoned troops = very little upkeep, only ever built one fort, only really needed to reach Evo 6, although Enchantment 5 turned out to be highly useful despite being an afterthought. All I really needed was death income to get my Tomb Kings up and freespawning sacreds everywhere, and to that end I personally site searched every province we owned up to D3 or D4, even Mictlan's provinces. I imagined myself something as the support to Mictlan's ADC if you'll forgive the LoL jargon. In the early game I gave Mictlan ~2,000 gold to build forts with so he could spam jaguar warriors. Although I ended up getting 500 back as a relief fund to rebuild the temple at C'tis after an earthquake. The reason for this setup is that C'tis plateaus at Banefire. Sure its an amazing spell but its better than anything else their national mages can do (excepting big globals like Darkness), so once I have it its all downhill from there. Whereas Mictlan is pretty much infinitely scaleable into a lategame juggernaut.
This isn't exactly how it turned out because, well, it was Noselyjack's first game. He didn't know how to use magic, and at the start he didn't know how to set up his armies to control who takes damage. All of which is completely understandable of course. If he had known how to set up a blood economy I can only assume he would have been even more powerful than he ended up being. I believed that he would get an awake dragon to deal with his inexperience and our T3M3 scales. This was not the case due to me not knowing the disciple dormancy rules, as a result his first fight had his priest king dying because he didn't script the army at all. Later he graduated to warriors in the front (he didn't want to pay them any more after he saw what jaguars could do), then jaguars, then priests. I will say that he was right there with the strategic planning the whole time; picking out enemies and coordinating with me exactly when to do the first invasion and then the throne rush. He also had a good head for the "split the army and run amok" strategy. Anyway, you might notice our dominion sucks? Noselyjack never spread my dominion. I'm pretty sure he's planning on usurping the title of Pantokrator...
Let's see, what else? Jomon sure had a lot of stuff by the end of the game. I presume due to their number of provinces combined with not having tanked scales. Arco and Midgard only ever built a single fort, and probably as a consequence their armies were each smaller than the average nation's. That being said they have said that they had early game problems. Arco's research was impeccable even when they were trapped in their cap.