Bay 12 Games Forum

Probably as up to date as the .pdf manual

Things done today: Spent ~15 minutes bouncing catfood off a cat.

Sterilizing metal is somewhat boring.

Is Dominions that good? I mean, I can see that it's old and ugly, that's pretty much par for the course for really complex games. How does it compare to... say, Master of Magic? Civilization? What makes it good?

Skim around the thread, check any of the (well over a dozen, now) B12 games in play with your buddies for AARs or diplomacy, discussions, etc., check one of the LPs for dominions 3 (like this one), of which Dom 4 is pretty much a straight upgrade, just... look around. Dominions in general is a lot like the Dwarf Fortress of fantasy turn-based strategy, albeit, perhaps, more accessible. There's whole bucketfulls of reasons why Dominions is something of a cult classic and generally acknowledged as one of the absolute best entries in the overall strategy genre.

I can't really find the words for it at the moment, but the dominions series in general, of which 4 is definitely the best (at the moment), is quite possibly the fantasy turn-based strategy game with the absolute greatest strategic depth currently on the market. It provides for both grand strategy and vicious tactical combat in a way basically nothing else does. It's bloody close to unique, oozes with flavor, and is just... just wonderful. MoM, Civ... they're games on a different level -- more localized, less epic. Not necessarily worse, but they're something like the Company of Heroes to Dominions' Hearts of Iron.

What makes it good is the variety of options, the thematic flares, the brutal combat, and the incredible amount of sheer dickery that can be done by any player involved in a game. Even in single-player you can experience absolutely epic moments that few to no other games can provide, and in multiplayer things get kicked up to 11 when you're dealing with another half-dozen (or more) people exploiting everything they can to make everyone's day absolutely miserable in the most amazingly engaging ways possible.

It's not for everyone -- the games tend towards fairly slow, especially in multiplayer, and the amount of micromanagement involved is a well known hurdle, especially in late game where even single mistakes can cause whole fronts to collapse (though it's marginally better in D4) -- but if you like grand strategy and fantasy games, it's something you want to check out.

Also, you can get the dominions 3 demo off this page. D3 is definitely a downgrade from D4, but it's close enough you can get a good feel of what you're getting into.

Why would they lie in a way that has so many factors considered heresy if they wanted to promote Jesus, or if they wanted to bring themselves recognition? The apostles suffered greatly at the hands of man for the sake of this.

Ah... iirc, that sort of thing was actually a fairly standard practice for, at the least, jewish writers. They'd play up the bad/sinful things a particular group did as part of the narrative, then usually have... stuff happen? Don't quite remember the particulars. To more or less establish whatever they're writing about as the proper path, because look at what terrible people have been redeemed/punished/etc. It was quite common in the hebrew bible, at least.

Similarly, Jesus cavorting with those considered the lowest of people was a fairly of bog-standard thing, more or less symbolic of the reach of the teachings, from what I recall... something along those lines, anyway. Is one of the reasons that the times women are highlighted in the biblical texts, uh... isn't necessarily an equitable (?) thing. More a narrative technique, and one quite possibly not really saying anything good about the group invoked.

... if only that were true. If only that were true

... saltire? Salt ire? Salty hatred! Tiru is the gambler's wrath.

Though is it specifically eksmas or does X-mas catch the irritation, too?

Someone put a bunny on hairboy's spacesuit :3

Also oh gods alive I just realized they're apparently putting faith in Aida the Unaiming's aim. AHAHAHAHA "She's not particular capable" ahahahahahahahahaha_{haahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha}

Also trackball eyes are pretty amusing.

oh sweet hell that long range missile pose. Why. wHy. WHY. "Fear the explosive power of my mecha-taint!" ;_;

On the other hand, go Omnom. DANCE THE LASER DANCE OF DEATH, WHEEEEE

I love how ponytail's just like, "Shit, why did you bring her."

Actually, the upgraded elk balls has a pretty neat fighting style. It's still completely ridiculous and vaguely obscene, but it's pretty neat. Also that Vayeate looking machine-gun thing's kinda' alright.

"These aren't the actions of human beings!" But, uh. Sure, we can totally go in through the bottom. Let's have our friend trick them into letting us in :3
*facepalms* Potential saboteurs possibly trojan horsing their way into our occupied space station. Eh, let's just let half of them (including the possibly-faking amnesiac who has displayed disturbing physical capability) run around without escort or oversight. Why do you all suck so, G-Reco.


On to ep 13!