Bay 12 Games Forum

Dom3:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7&7.5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Dom4:
4.01, 4.02, 4.03, 4.04, 4.05, 4.06, 4.07, 4.08, 4.09

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. Here's a youtube video of a large-ish battle to pique your interest. Courtesy of Lorak.

Should you desire to know more about the game, go and visit the website (or go to the publisher's page here). 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 "Bay12GamesRound402".

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.

-Aedui and Averni
Two Gallic factions that fight each other for supremacy. The Gaul fight with fierce barbarian armies. After the unification, Gauls have many avenues of expansion. The Aedui are supported by the Gallic legal assembly, affording them a special druid unit. The Averni, due to their more ready access to Mediterranean wealth are able to field an additional heavy spear unit. The factions are otherwise identical.


-Getai
The Getai are a fractured people with fairly light armies, relying on high numbers of skirmishers. Might be a bit tricky to play.


-Carthage
Carthage starts with lots of money and a few well developed cities in their heartlands, with some money making provinces here and there around the Mediterranean. Do we conquer Iberia? Italy? North Africa? With piles of money, high troop production capabilities and plenty of viable expansion directions, Carthage is destined for fame and glory.


-Koinon Hellenon
An alliance of the cities of Sparta, Athens and Rhodes formed to resist Macedonian military incursions into their territories. Their armies are made up of durable heavy hoplites, though their cavalry and skirmisher units tend to be worse than their foreign counterparts.


-Epeiros
Known best for their famous king Pyrrhus, the Epeirotes fight like other successor states. Their phalanxes pin the enemy down while their heavy cavalry flank and rout their foes. Their territories are in the western Balkans with a doomed province in the Italian peninsula right next to Romans. Are at war with Romans and Macedon at game start.


-Ptolemaic Egypt
Much like Carthage, the Ptolemai start the game with a vast treasury and strong heartlands. Unlike Carthage, however, Egypt is at war with the massive Seleucid Kingdom. This robs Ptolemai from the freedom of expansion that the Carthaginians have, for Ptolemai can't ignore the Seleucid behemoth marching over their borders. As a successor state, the core of Ptolemaic armies is made up of heavy phalanxes to pin the enemy while other units circle and destroy the enemy.


-Pontos
Kingdom of Pontos starts as a minor subject kingdom of the Seleucid Empire deep in the mountains of modern day Turkey. If able to free themselves from the Seleucid yoke, the multicultural Pontos, drawing from a mixed Hellenic and Persian ancestry can gather up an eclectic army able to counter most threats.