Okay, let me pitch Dominions 5 to you

[Copper8642]

Woo Dominions. I don’t frequent these parts of the forums but its always good to see people playing this game.

[Olinser]

Woo Dominions. I don’t frequent these parts of the forums but its always good to see people playing this game.

Yeah unfortunately we literally just started a game a couple days ago so you just missed it :(

[Sen isSaqqara]

From a certain point of view, anyways. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm writing up a bit of a log of the game from my point of view. Saving the occasional screenshot, that sort of thing.

[Olinser]

Oh one other thing some of the newer guys may not be aware of - when hosted on Llamaserver, if you want to check who is remaining you can check here:

www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo.cgi?game=GITPdisciples

'2h file received' means the nation has submitted their turn, and 'Waiting for 2h file' means they have not submitted their turn. This additionally serves as verification that the server has received your turn file once you have sent it in.

It also allows you to check the exact deadline for the next turn, if you don't necessarily want to send in your turn before getting advice from your mentor but aren't sure how much time you have. Times are in GMT, though, so make sure you actually convert to whatever time zone you are in.

In that case you can post here and we can push the deadline back, and even if the deadline passes and the next turn triggers if its a big deal we can revert to the previous turn.

[The Hellbug]

In that case you can post here and we can push the deadline back, and even if the deadline passes and the next turn triggers if its a big deal we can revert to the previous turn.

...so it pays to save a couple turn files sometimes!

[Olinser]

...so it pays to save a couple turn files sometimes!

Well no, not necessarily, it won't matter because if we were going to revert a turn we would have the server send out the old turn file with it.

Although I do keep some of my old end turn files especially as turns get more complex, if I want to go back and look at exactly what orders I had issued for that particular turn.

[deuterio12]

...so it pays to save a couple turn files sometimes!

I save up all my turn files, but more so I can review older turns. Not that important early game, but can be quite valuable later on as things get more complex, as you can review older turns simply by putting the old files back in the game folder (or heck just make a new game folder just to review them).

However for actually reverting a game turn, the server takes care of it automatically.

It also allows you to check the exact deadline for the next turn, if you don't necessarily want to send in your turn before getting advice from your mentor but aren't sure how much time you have. Times are in GMT, though, so make sure you actually convert to whatever time zone you are in.

Notice that in the same game page it tells you the current GMT time so you can always have an idea of how long until the next turn.

[Olinser]

One. Most magic sites can be found with just one in the relevant path, and what really makes mages better at manual searching is having more paths more than higher paths. It also helps to have an understanding of site distribution, and site distribution can be weird (the best place to search for nature sites is actually the ocean, not forests). A second point of path strength is still worth a fair amount, a third and fourth point provides a pretty marginal advantage. Past that there's no gain with manual searching (there might be something with Strands of Arcane Power, but that's a terrible spell anyways).

Actually I was reading the manual - this is no longer the case for Dom 5.

From the manual:

Magic sites are not buildings per se (although there are some sites which are buildings, such as the
Firbolg Fortress and Jervellan Wall) but rather locations within a province that possess some special
attribute, like magic gem production, unique unit recruitment, or other benefits. A province may have
31 multiple magic sites, (max 8), not all of which may be visible at once. Magic sites are more likely to be
found in mountain, forest, swamp, waste and cave provinces than in those with farmland or plains.
Magic sites do not necessarily appear when you capture a province. Instead, the sites must be
discovered by searching. There are four levels of difficulty. A mage must have skill in the magic path
of the site equal to the difficulty level of the site in order to find it when using the Search for Magic Sites
order. Thus, a level 3 Nature mage will find any difficulty 1, 2 or 3 sites in a province when he/she
searches, but will not find a difficulty 4 site. When searching, level 4 in a path is the highest level ever
required to find a site. There are spells which will automatically reveal all sites of a given path in a
province (for example, Haruspex reveals all Nature magic sites), or even all magic sites, period (Acashic
Knowledge).

Some sites (like the Void Gate) allow certain types of units to enter them for certain benefits. Entering
such sites is a movement order available to eligible commanders.

Sites which permit the recruitment of national units (such as the Forest of Avalon) only grant this ability
to that nation (in this example, Man). Enemy players who capture such a site will still collect the magic
gems produced by it (if any) but will not be able to recruit the special units.

There is no guarantee that a site will be usable to a player when found. A Cave may allow a Blood
mage to recruit demons, but if the player has no Blood mages, he will not be able to use it.

A magic site may have some additional requirement before it becomes useful. For example, the Library
allows the recruitment of sages, but not until you build a laboratory. The role-playing reasons for this
should be obvious.

Not all magic sites have beneficial effects. Some are sources of chaos, death, or other negative powers.
These may cause unrest or other ill effects, and will happen whether or not the magic site causing the
trouble has been discovered.

[Aeson]

(stuff about site searching)

That isn't any different from how it was in Dominions 4.

It's also missing some very important information w.r.t. which mages are appropriate for site searching - namely, the relative abundance and value of level 1, 2, 3, and 4 sites. In Dominions 4, X1 mages could find something like 50-70% of all hidden sites in path X on the map, X2 mages could find something like 70-80% of all X sites, X3 could find something like 80-95% of all X sites, and X4 mages could find 100% of all sites in the appropriate path. There are not all that many different high-level sites - in the list of ~1000 sites that the Dom5 Mod Inspector has, there are 321 level 0 sites, 381 level 1 sites, 213 level 2 sites, 95 level 3 sites, and just 21 level 4 sites, and on top of that all but two of the level 4 sites are listed as unique, that is no more than one site of that name can be on the map in any given game. (Granted, simple number of distinct sites does not directly equate to relative abundance of each type of site since sites can have rarity modifiers or be unique, but it gives a sense, imperfect though it may be, of the relative abundance of the various levels of sites.)

Level 1 mages are reasonably good at site searching and level 2 mages will find most of the sites in their paths which are actually on the map. Site-searching with level 3+ mages or with the site-searching rituals, while neither useless nor necessarily a waste of resources, is not remotely required.

[lord_khaine]

So.. i guess an interesting big multi-player game is now taking place.. can the rest of us entite the Pretenders and their Diciples to introduce themselves.. ? perhaps explain why they demand to rule?
(blatant propaganga and lies are of course encouraged.. )

[Driderman]

So.. i guess an interesting big multi-player game is now taking place.. can the rest of us entite the Pretenders and their Diciples to introduce themselves.. ? perhaps explain why they demand to rule?
(blatant propaganga and lies are of course encouraged.. )

Yes please!
Never got around to buying the game but I'd love to lurk on someone elses war for the soul of creation or whatever :)

[Glimbur]

Gladly! The true ruler of the world is Das Wood, whose word is spread by Assistant Bird, the Star out of Das Wood. The noble giants of Jotunheim are destined by their size to rule the land, which has already been recognized by the goblins of the forest. A divine message came to the elegant bird-men of Caelum, so now they spread the message of cold and prosperity far and wide. Caelumites look like angels, so they must be right. Q.E.D.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Nonsense! Clearly the true leader of the world is Dat Boi, who leads the unstoppable armies of Ulm in the glorious reconquest of the world, alongside his erstwhile ally and favorite drinking buddy Don't Tread on Snek, who rules the much more unruly but much harder-partying northern tribes. The glory and truth of Dat Boi is inherent to his very name: Here He Come. There is no stopping him!

[Vitruviansquid]

So.. i guess an interesting big multi-player game is now taking place.. can the rest of us entite the Pretenders and their Diciples to introduce themselves.. ? perhaps explain why they demand to rule?
(blatant propaganga and lies are of course encouraged.. )

Don't Tread On Snek is a simple snek with simple needs.

All he wants is war. Merciless war. Eternal war, such that the land is covered in snow and bones, and the rivers are choked with congealed blood, so he may gorge himself upon the living, the dying, and the dead.

And in the end, isn't that what everybody wants?

Also he drives a party van---heim.

[Olinser]

Gladly! The true ruler of the world is Das Wood, whose word is spread by Assistant Bird, the Star out of Das Wood. The noble giants of Jotunheim are destined by their size to rule the land, which has already been recognized by the goblins of the forest. A divine message came to the elegant bird-men of Caelum, so now they spread the message of cold and prosperity far and wide. Caelumites look like angels, so they must be right. Q.E.D.

Das Wood is a noble and benevolent God, who demands only that his prophets go forth and preach to the masses - a process known as Slipping People Da Wood.

[Knaight]

I'm starting to think my incredibly dumb pun was too highbrow. Anyways:

The ascension of the great Solarian is inevitable, and if other faiths have to be eradicated with fire and sword, well, that's what Marignon is good at. The prophet of Solarian, one Otto d'Dact* and the wise Threugs of Pythium know this, and so they have pledged their cause to the one true god.

As for everyone else - nobody expects the Marignon inquisition.

*Technically Otto de Dact; I generally try to avoid sticking apostrophes in names when dealing with finnicky programs.

[Olinser]

I'm starting to think my incredibly dumb pun was too highbrow. Anyways:

The ascension of the great Solarian is inevitable, and if other faiths have to be eradicated with fire and sword, well, that's what Marignon is good at. The prophet of Solarian, one Otto d'Dact* and the wise Threugs of Pythium know this, and so they have pledged their cause to the one true god.

As for everyone else - nobody expects the Marignon inquisition.

*Technically Otto de Dact; I generally try to avoid sticking apostrophes in names when dealing with finnicky programs.

Yeah I think you're like the guy that is on his way to a party and is having second thoughts about not wearing a cumberbund - then he gets there and everybody is in the living room watching the host do a keg stand.

[deuterio12]

The wicked beware, this Invincible Stone Fortress Pedra Z will be your opponent!

Invincible Stone Fortress Pedra Z is an ally of Justice who leads an alliance of the ancient Olms and newbie humans, the mystic Yssians and some troglodytes! All our people caused suffered great catstrophes in the recent past, but banded together to forge a brighter future! (note: most Olm's definition of "bright" is "I can barely see anything!" for most used to the light of the sun).

Despite not being exactly pretty even by our standards, Olms survive in a delicate diet of rocks so you don't need to fear we've come to eat your children (keep an eye for your walls and statues though).

Invincible Stone Fortress Pedra Z has many friends and looking for more, but our main sidekick will always be Earhwurm Jimmy.

(oh, and for newbies, in-game you can go to statistics-»pretenders of the world-»pick any player, there the game will add extra titles to pretenders loosely based on their stats at the end of the nation's desription, which can be useful to metagame fun to read)

[Knaight]

Yeah I think you're like the guy that is on his way to a party and is having second thoughts about not wearing a cumberbund - then he gets there and everybody is in the living room watching the host do a keg stand.

I deliberately held back on the basis of assuming that the GITP community naming standards would be closer to the old Shrapnel forums than Something Awful. Clearly I was wrong.

[Nadevoc]

The great Earth Wurm Jymm emerged from deep within the bowels of the earth to speak the word of Invincible Stone Fortress Pedra Z. His loyal little fish men claim the oceans. And some of the land.

Jymm is integral in Invincible Long Name's success not only because he's a giant snake, but also due to the sage advice he gives. Usually "Have you tried biting it?"

[Olinser]

I deliberately held back on the basis of assuming that the GITP community naming standards would be closer to the old Shrapnel forums than Something Awful. Clearly I was wrong.

[lord_khaine]

So.. at the moment.. we have a battle between

Das Wood:Jotunheim, Diciple Assistant Bird:calum

Dat Boi: Ulm, Diciple Don't Tread On Snek: Vanheim

Solarian Magnoliam, Diciple Otto de Dact: Pythium

Invincible Stone Fortress Pedra Z Olm, Diciple The great Earth Wurm Jymm Fishmen

For Ascencion and the thrones of Dominion.

Have any progress been made? are there any gods who want to lodge formal protests from the lack of opposition?

[Olinser]

So.. at the moment.. we have a battle between

Das Wood:Jotunheim, Diciple Das Bird:calum

Dat Boi: Ulm, Diciple Don't Tread On Snek: Vanheim

Solarian Magnoliam, Diciple Otto de Dact: Pythium

Invincible Stone Fortress Pedra Z Olm, Diciple The great Earth Wurm Jymm Fishmen

For Ascencion and the thrones of Dominion.

Have any progress been made? are there any gods who want to lodge formal protests from the lack of opposition?

It's Assistant Bird, actually.

And you missed RNGsus and his disciple, Thyrantaire.

[lord_khaine]

Name has been edited, other pretenders will be added as they announce themselves

[Knaight]

Also Magnolium isn't a nation. It's Marignon. Think 1400's Spain, but with more of an inquisition.

[The Hellbug]

Well, I guess I have to do an introduction, then:

Some say RNGsus has been around as long as the world, a primal and fickle deity. His traditional worshipers, the beastmen of Pangaea, have begun to take up the trappings of civilization so, with the opportunity left by the departure of the previous Pantokrator, he has manifest himself into the world once again to inspire his savage peoples, though it is unknown as of yet whether this is a blessing or a curse, for RNGsus is just as likely to take as to give.

But this was not enough! Beset on all sides by jealous and powerful deities, RNGsus has had no choice but to send one before to prepare the way for him. He has conjured forth a daughter, Thyrantaire, crafted from the very same chaos from which he himself sprung. She has come to the flame-blooded Abyssians, whose power, ferocity, and ability to wield two flails at once are pleasing to RNGsus. Together, they will claim the Thrones of Ascension and throw down all these pretenders to craft a world in his desired image--one that can balance on the razor's edge between weal and woe!

[lord_khaine]

(edit,more) Updated for nitpicky people!

RNGsus:Pangea, Disciple Thyrantaire: Abysians

Das Wood:Jotunheim, Disciple Assistant Bird:calum

Dat Boi: Ulm, Disciple Don't Tread On Snek: Vanheim

Solarian: Marignon, Disciple Otto de Dact: Pythium

Invincible Stone Fortress Pedra Z: Olm, Disciple The great Earth Wurm Jymm : Fishmen

And so the dice are about to be cast, at the moment it seems the advantage will lie with RNGsus, as long as he can manage to favor only himself. How likely is that though?

[Glimbur]

We are already in the first summer. Unless you have flying scouts or something you are unlikely to have seen another nation yet, and as much as we like to brag we do not want to give away our pro strats. So a discussion thread about the game might be a bit dull. Clearly that means we should get a second game started :D

[Knaight]

We are already in the first summer. Unless you have flying scouts or something you are unlikely to have seen another nation yet, and as much as we like to brag we do not want to give away our pro strats. So a discussion thread about the game might be a bit dull. Clearly that means we should get a second game started :D

The map isn't really that big - conventional scouts far afield can bump into other nations this early.

With that said, unless you know the other nations have also found you it's generally not helpful to blow the information of which other nations you've found. No need for them to know who their neighbors are.

Updated for nitpicky people!

We haven't been nitpicking. Nitpicking would involve observing that disciple is spelled with an s, or observing small variations in punctuation.

[lord_khaine]

We are already in the first summer. Unless you have flying scouts or something you are unlikely to have seen another nation yet, and as much as we like to brag we do not want to give away our pro strats. So a discussion thread about the game might be a bit dull. Clearly that means we should get a second game started :D

Well.. alternatively we should come with speculation on other peoples strategies.. ? I was actually thinking about taking a crack at every nation one by one, seeing how close i can get.
I mean Jotunheim seems kinda simple at a glance. Either someone wants to screw everyone else over with Cold 3, or they want to smash their face in with regenerating giants.

We haven't been nitpicking. Nitpicking would involve observing that disciple is spelled with an s, or observing small variations in punctuation.

bahh! thats not nit's its algea! spelling is hard! especially in english.