Let's Play: Dominions 3

Games that are not ArmA2 or Flight Sims

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wolfenswan
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Re: Let's Play: Dominions 3

Post by wolfenswan »

As they come ;) So far I've managed to keep it up to date, turn rate is 28 hours.

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Nothun
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Re: Let's Play: Dominions 3

Post by Nothun »

wolfenswan wrote: 28 hours
"28 Days Later...."

Wow thats a long turn rate, but it has to be for a turn based MP.
"We all make mistakes, just none as grave as yours" -Spitnam after a Blue on Blue

http://steamcommunity.com/id/Nothun/

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wolfenswan
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Turns 9 - 11 - Approaching the Midgame

Post by wolfenswan »

I decided to wrap these turns up a bit, partially because I'm lagging behind in updating this but also because there just didn't happen as much and there isn't much explaining to do either. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about the game though, feel free to ask.

These are the map situations from turn 9 - 10:
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I met Midgård in the South and we agreed on the border as it is with the last neutral province going to whoever would conquer it first. This left me plenty of provinces to take in the North and North-East thanks to my earlier agreements with Caelum and Jomon.

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Taking the neutral town cost me Hannibal and his elephants but that was long overdue anyhow. I started redirecting all my expansion armies to the North and put all money towards fort-making. My army is one of the biggest and I doubt that any of my neighbors would risk attacking me right now (And thanks to my extensive scout network I would be aware of any extensive army movement).

On the recruitment side I started to pump out more judges to give me a solid income increase. The swamp provinces did net me only little income but my newest expansions in the SW would prove very worthwhile (and I'll need to defend them accordingly).

Soon I will change my production to massing Magisters as they are the most economic option I have for research. It's going to take a long while to catch up with the other nations as the graph shows but this is just the trade-off I had to make.

With most independent provinces gone or being uncontested it seems that we can declare the early game to be over soon. I doubt that any nation will tempt an early rush and the mid-game will be dominated by research and scheming. As Man this suits me fine as I can focus on catching up on research and amassing more gold. My direct neighbors are not the biggest threat to me but I need to be careful of them ganging up on me.

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wolfenswan
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Turn 12 - too much good luck

Post by wolfenswan »

Turn 12 was an excellent turn and that's what makes me scared. First of all because it might make be look bigger than I am right now. I really do not want to attract any unwarranted attention before I got plenty of castles up otherwise I'll just be steamrolled. Second of all because it is Dominions 3 and if you're having a streak of luck it's only a matter of time until it kicks you in the shins and empties a bucket of fuck you kindly over your head. Anyway, onto the turn!

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Two searches - three sites found. That's borderline absurd. If you read the Butterworth AAR then you have an idea how site searching normally goes so this right here is extra ordinary. But let's have a look at the "unexpected event" first:

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That is... good. Which is odd but I'm not going to complain, gold for the gold god and more happy citizens to tax the beejeezus out of. :dance:
But as I've already mentioned most of the time the random events range from annoying to very bad. Most annoying for me right now would be an independent invasion of some sorts, taking away one of my more valuable provinces. Fingers crossed.

Now, the sites:

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This site grants me 1 nature gem and 1 astral pearl each turn. Nature gems are neat but not that useful for me yet as I'm producing them myself and don't have any mages with nature access apart from my pretender (who still hasn't arrived) and the independent natur mages from my swamp areas. However I might be able to trade them for more useful games or just stockpile them until later.

The raise in luck is neat but nothing game-changing. Basically provinces can be affected by several modifiers, controlled through the domination influence of the various nations. Luck influences the chance of events happening and said events being of the good kind. This is mostly canceled out through my dominion which brings a lot of order, raising income but lowering event probability.

Astral pearls on the other hand are great. They are some of the rarest gems to come across and getting access this early is very good. I don't have any use for them yet but they'll be quite important for my late-game strategy.

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An earth gem and two astral pearls are my income from the other province. Again earth gems I get already but astral pearls are sweet. Luckily I'm already building a citadel on this province as I really do want to protect that.

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On the strategical site things haven't changed much as I'm just mopping up the last independent provinces in each to expand my territory while I keep moving scouts around to gather intelligence. For now I have non-aggression pacts with all my neighbors but that doesn't mean I'm just sitting around twiddling thumbs.

Jomon is an obvious target but might become dangerous if they just fall back and pull me into a prolonged war. I might fail in finishing them off quickly and Midgard or Caelum could seize that chance.

Midgard on the other hand has lost quite a few troops by accident and is in a great position to be invaded as I could still have a strong presence at the choke points to Jomon and Caelum while taking the forest territories. But I'm on good terms with him and sometimes it pays off having friends in this game, even if they are juicy targets. Also their troops can be nasty and with some bad luck it could turn ugly easily.

Caelum's troops are weak but they fly and before I have plenty of fortresses I don't want to have to deal with that nuisance. Even then they might be dangerous as flying troops get a besieging bonus and they could become more of a headache then they are worth.

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The province graph tells an interesting story. While I'm lacking behind a bit now (though next turn will give me three new provinces) Ulm (dark blue) and Bogarus (dark red) have expanded massively. I don't know where they are located yet but I'm gathering all the intel I can and wouldn't mind at all to finance any proxy war to keep them at bay. Interestingly Arcoscephale (turquoise) has lost a province. This could mean they were invaded by another nation but I doubt that very much and would rather put my money on an barbarian uprising or similar.

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Me and Bogarus are still leading in the income department and I'm not expecting this to change a lot until nations start to take over other nations. The reason for Bogarus' success in the "tax all the things" department is mostly thanks to these:

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Flying dogs. They are summons and I guess Bogarus has been doing little but pumping out these guys like crazy. So while I've been sticking to the good old fashioned ways of having some dickhead with a power complex going from door to door and threatening people by the sword they are using flying mutts to the same effect. As this is quite obviously heresy (and also I don't like being second) I'm probably going to funnel some money to Bogarus' neighbors to make dampen this trend a little.

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Thanks to a lucky turn my gem income sky-rocketed me to a shared second place (again with bloody Bogarus) with Arcoscephale being way ahead (talk about lucky turn there). Actually the reason for their high gem income might be that their pretender finally woke up. I didn't mention this before but basically you can decide whether you pretender is there at the beginning or drops by after the first or third year. This has obvious trade-offs but also allows you to make him/her a stronger mage or to strengthen the positive effects of your domination.

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wolfenswan
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Turn 13 - 24 - catching up

Post by wolfenswan »

I have been delaying this Let's Play for far too long now. However, my motivation for a „and this turn ...“ „and that turn...“ writeup was rather low and with the most interesting things happening on Desura's messaging system outside of Dom3 I figured I might try a different approach, centering around the major stages that followed the early game.

Around turn 13, everything was building up towards a war against Bogarus. Mictlan, positioned in the far South-West, was anxious about being swallowed and Midgard agreed that only a cooperative effort would stop Bogarus from becoming unstoppable. Ulm was approached to join and I offered to supply all nations with gems and money as I couldn't send troops of my own.

The world was a powderkeg so to say and everyone was waiting for someone to ignite it. The decision was taken from us around turn 16, when Bogarus decided to attack Mictlan. This was not ideal, as we still hadn't completely convinced Ulm to join forces with us and it would take them a few turns to move into position. Still, Midgard decided to attack and I moved more funds to Mictlan, hoping it would enable them to fight longer.

At the same time I kept expanding steadily in the North, claiming the last independent provinces. Oh and you remember how I said I was having too much good luck? Well in turn 17 this happened:

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Say hello to Bogus and friends:
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In Detail: Bogus, Fadmargast, Kreon, Fang and Kartuk.

This is somewhat of a joke event, based on a DnD party one of the developers of Dominions 3 had run way back. In combat however, these guys are terrifying and without powerful spells or tons of elite units I won't be able to dislodge them from the province in the foreseeable future. Luckily it didn't it a province of terrible importance and when I get access to powerful spells like "enslave" I might even be able to "recruit" these guys for my own cause.

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The north-west provinces proved to be somewhat trouble-some as the independent stacks were more potent than expected and it seemed as if Caelum would take the rich province before me. I reminded them on our agreement from the earliest terms (the river would mark our border) and surprisingly they agreed to leave the province be, even offering to take it for me and leaving it undefended. I am not sure if it was meant to be a show of force or just kindness but I accepted the offer as I had nothing to loose.

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So far I had no active contribution in this war. I had been talking to all parties, making sure everyone knew who the real enemy is (i.e. not me). I was even considering supplying Bogarus at one point, just to make sure the war lasts long enough, as whoever prevail will have gained massively. But I could only sit by idly for so long and needed to think about my own expansion. None of the options I had, Caelum, Midgard or Jomon, were particularly ideal. Both Caelum and Midgard were able to field troops that hurt me and I had been on rather friendly terms so far. Not that I trust them but sometimes it is good to have friends in this game, if only for a short time. Jomon was a better target with it's troops while impressive not being up to mine. But there are only two possible avenues to move my army through and the terrain meant any reinforcements would be slow to come in as well.

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But then around turn 20 Jomon was beginning to move troops. Ulm had voiced concern that Jomon might try and take Ulm's exposed rear while his force was fighting Bogarus and I had assured them that I would attack Jomon if such would happen. However, instead of outright warning Jomon I just inquired if they were planning to attack me. I also might have mentioned how Ulm was concentrating their war efforts in the South-West. Of all options, Jomon was probably the best expansion target for me, considering that they didn't border with anyone else. Them attacking Ulm would make conquest a lot easier.

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I began strengthening my army and recruiting Wardens: Stealthy knights that I would send behind enemy lines to attack weakly defended provinces and cut off their resources. But again, the initiative was taken from me when Jomon attacked Ulm in turn 21, forcing me to act earlier than expected. I began moving my armies to the borders and ordered my raiding parties to cross the borders, hoping Jomon's impressive border patrols would not see them. Things were complicated by Bogarus accusing me on the forums of master-minding the war against him and promising gold and gems to everyone who'd go against me. This would mean that at least Jomon would be better supplied than expected and maybe even prompt Caelum to attack me.

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Unfortunately one of my raiding parties was intercepted and wiped out when crossing the borders to Jomon. I would be suprised if Jomon hadn't seen the writing on the wall already but now it was obvious. Whatever he thought, the next turn would see the first major battle between the Kingdom of Man and the Daymos of Jomon.

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Graphs at the end of turn 24

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Bogarus had taken a major dive in provinces, with Ulm and Midgard gaining the most and Mictlan was slowly recovering. A small war had been taking place between Arcoscephale and Atlantis without a clear victor. It is of no interest to me yet as both of them are to the far West and the war seems to be self-contained so far.

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Bogarus downwards trend continues in the income graph, as many of this most valuable provinces were hit and his patrols either killed or forced to retreat. I have finally taken the lead a nation of tax-collectors and bureaucrats deserves. My site searching has paid off as well and I'm in a slight lead in terms of gems.

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But Bogarus is far from beaten as instead of fighting on multiple fronts, he has been giving territory willingly, focusing on his giant army of doom. Both his army size and his research have hardly taken a dent and there is no way anyone will be able to stand against his main army in an open fight.

Bonus footage

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This is Bogarus main army. It's big, it's scary and it has a scary spell casters. Let's just hope they run out of fuel eventually.

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wolfenswan
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Commercial break

Post by wolfenswan »

As I've fallen in love with this little game and would *love* to get a Folk ARPS game going I'd like promote the upcoming Dominions 4, available on Desura now.

In this Let's Play I have barely scratched the surface of the depth Dominions 3 has to offer and the fourth part will only increase on that. It'll introduce more nations, more spells, more everything while improving on the interface and other long-time issues.

Here is a Let's Play of the Dom4 preview version:

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wolfenswan
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Re: Let's Play: Dominions 3

Post by wolfenswan »

Despite this LP having died (I had to drop out of the game), I like to recommend the current deal for Dominions 4 on Gamersgate.

This is probably as cheap as it'll get for a good while, knowing Illwinter's pricing scheme. Dom 4 has many, many improvements over Dom 3 (apart from the Graphics, but who needs those?).

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pvtbones
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Re: Let's Play: Dominions 3

Post by pvtbones »

I have Dom 4, and absolutely no idea what I'm doing. so I am up a folk ascension war

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