What other games complement your Dominions 3?

[Taqwus]

I recently got back into fiddling with Introversion's "Uplink", after amusing myself with the demo of their "Defcon" game. Both of those games appeal to me because of the potential (or, in the case of the latter, inherent and mandatory) depravity, methinks.

[sector24]

I liked King's Bounty: The Legend. The combat is more strategic than HoMM, and the overland map is goodie-heaven which is pretty fun. I kept a forum thread journal type thing while I was playing if you want to get an idea of what you can do in the game.
http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=4979

[Burnsaber]

I just played through "A Vampyre Story", the new adventure/puzzle from maker(s) of the legendary Monkey Islands.

And damn was it awesome. Of course I got annoyed when I got stuck, but the game has insane amounts of witty dialogue with the main character and his sidekick. When you try out odd combinations of actions, you often get rewarded with a funny piece of dialogue. The story is alright and graphics quite pretty for a adventure game, althought there are some graphical clitches.

The game also has some annoying bugs that'll prevent you from advancing, but if you remember to patch before you start your first game, they'll be fixed.

If you liked Monkey Islands, you will like "A Vampyre Story". 12 hours of my life well spent.

Has anyone tried out the Sam & Max adventure games? I heard that the first season or something is on Wii and I was wondering if I should grab that.

[Gregstrom]

I played two or three of the new Sam and Max games, and liked them a lot. I'd guess they'd be fine on Wii or PC, so I'd recommend comparing prices.

[Poopsi]

I´m going to suggest two freebie ones to you people

Trascendence, AKA: "Real-Time Nethack In Space": http://neurohack.com/transcendence/index.html

The White Chamber: a sci-fi horror graphic adventure: http://www.studiotrophis.com/site/projects/thewhitechamber

[WolfHati]

Currently it's dwarf fortress and alpha centauri for me.

And if you include non-computer games, D&D.

[DonCorazon]

The Quest on the iPhone - great for when you get stuck shopping with the wife.
The link is here (http://www.redshift.hu/).

[calmon]

I've a new favorite:

Battleforge!

I never believed i can love RTS that much but battleforge (official a MMORTS - massively multiplayer online realtime strategy game) made me addicted! :)

I was involed in the beta and i had really a lot of fun with this game. It has a PvP and a PvE mode, you can use cards to create your playing deck.

The game comes out this days. I think the servers are up from now on.

More Infos here: http://forums.battleforge.com/forum/

If interested there is a demo mode where you can play with a standard deck. You just need to install the client: (~2,4 gb)

http://forums.battleforge.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5317

(you need an EA account for login)

[AZ_]

Blood on dosbox
Fallout 1-2
Mount & Blade
Dominions1 :)

[Poopsi]

Currently it's dwarf fortress and alpha centauri for me.

And if you include non-computer games, D&D.

Alpha Centauri is AWESOME.

Protip: make a rush for an airforce

[thejeff]

I miss Alpha Centauri. I had the Lokigames Linux version and it eventually became incompatible with library upgrades. I should try to find a Windows version and see how it runs under wine. The best of the Civ games, by far.

[Sombre]

There was way too little flavour in alpha centauri for my tastes.

[sector24]

I've been playing Carcassonne lately. There's a free java version online under the pseudonym Toulouse.

[licker]

http://www.the-reincarnation.com/

STarted a mage *again*...

I keep on playing for a few months, then stopping, then starting...

Seems they've addressed some of the game issues I didn't like though, so maybe I'll stick it out longer this time.

Anyway, a fun little free browser based mages and magic war game. Check it out, it's a bit difficult at the onset, but there are lots of guides/info available at the site.

[Omnirizon]

http://www.the-reincarnation.com/

STarted a mage *again*...

I keep on playing for a few months, then stopping, then starting...

Seems they've addressed some of the game issues I didn't like though, so maybe I'll stick it out longer this time.

Anyway, a fun little free browser based mages and magic war game. Check it out, it's a bit difficult at the onset, but there are lots of guides/info available at the site.

this game reminds me of the old (old old OLD) school BBS games I used to play in highschool. It brings back memories just playing it! thanks so much for pointing it out, I really like it.

[Ninave]

Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance - For multiplayer RTS's the spiritual successor to Total Annihilation is the greatest I've found, infinitely better than WC3, Sins of a Solar Empire, etc.

Yey, you are the only other one I have seen mentioning this game. I guess this really is an isolated game despite the lively community.

If anyone wants to see what the game looks like, you can go to http://live.myvowclan.de/, take the 'On-Demand', choose language and click until you get a game. These are sort of nice game replays as they have a commentator (not native english) on them. There are also community made game videos running all the time on-air default (unless you happen there during cast).

[Humakty]

SC is fun, but I stopped playing it when I realized I spent 90 % of my time watching 2D icons.

[rdonj]

Supreme Commander is nice in a way, but I don't like some aspects of the game. Just like in Total Annihilation, the AI insists on building ridiculously tough bases and doing little else. It's completely against the way I'd prefer to play the game. And I usually don't like to do multiplayer with strategy games, as most people tend to play in ways I find abhorrent also :P (I once watched my father play Age of Empires 2 online and get rushed by... bombard cannons?!). Dominions is actually the only strategy game I've played online since starcraft... and I found melee maps bored me quickly.

In a way total annihilation was more fun than SC, the units in SC seem too homogenized, they're too similar except for the artillery units. And unfortunately the unit AI seems about as bad about movement orders as it used to be. They could have made the game much more interesting IMO. And yeah, having to play zoomed out too far to watch your units fight is just not fun for me. I like to watch battles play out, it's a big part of the fun for me in playing an RTS. But at the same time, while you pretty much have to play zoomed out if you don't carefully micromanage your units they perform quite underpar. It's a bit depressing. Kind of makes me wish you could set firing priorities for things, like you do in Space Empires. Even with just that it would be a huge step in the right direction.

[meister_miagi]

I just got into Neverwinter Nights 2. I started the campaign a couple of times, but never got far because I always wanted to start over with a new character. I'm playing as a Rogue/Wizard now and its a lot of fun.

And Dawn of War 2 is great, games are fast-paced and usually over in 15-30 minutes. I try to play a few multiplayer matches in the evenings every now and then.

[DonCorazon]

I do the same thing with NWN2 - always re-starting a few minutes into it. As a result I have had it on and off the hard drive since I bought it and never made it much past the starting village. I think that's why I prefer the old-school party-based games so you don't regret lacking a certain set of skills. Its too annoying to me to play say a Paladin and then see a chest I cannot open or play as a mage and find a cool weapon I cannot use.

[Ruminant]

Has anyone tried out the Sam & Max adventure games? I heard that the first season or something is on Wii and I was wondering if I should grab that.

If you like adventure games, and it sounds like you do, you need to buy those games :D I'd pretty much have to say their my all-time favourite adventure games. Better'n Monkey Island for me. The whole two series (11 games, ranging from 2/3 to 6+ hours) are pretty cheap considering the length of time they'll take you too.

On a freer note I totally have to recommend the Adventure Game Studio website. It's a treasure trove of games hand-made by adventure game lovers, filled with games that range from better than most professional games to total trash. The award winning games are a safe bet to start off.
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/

My favourite comedic AGS adventure game is Jessica Plunkenstein and the Dusseldorf Conspiracy (as recommended by the New York Times ;)). I lack words for how awesomely witty/random it is.
http://www.gregames.net/games/jessica/overview/

My other favourite AGS games are the Trilby games. This series of atmospheric, Lovecraftian horror adventures are NOT for the squeamish or feint of heart. I was surprised that a game could make me actually feel uneasy, in a good way :D That said they are not full of gratuitous violence just for the sake of it. Well, at first it might seem a little like that but stick with it and you'll discover a truly epic horror plot that is probably my favourite horror story in any medium, and will introduce you to the greatest horror character ever :p. It's actually a really cerebral experience and I recommend that -anyone- who has the remotest interest in adventure games, horror themes or good storytelling to give 'em a look. Make sure to play them in this order, without reading up on the others, to get the full experience:
5 Days a Stranger
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=269
7 Days a Skeptic
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=430
Trilby's Notes
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=736
6 Days a Sacrifice
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=848

NWN2 was cool, especially doing the campaign co-op. Well, at least for my fire-resistant tiefling wizard it was. For some reason my friends objected to my unrelenting barrage of firey aoes in melee range ;) But as long as I was left standing after the fight they would get up after a little while. Loved that death system :D

The expansion, Mask of the Betrayer, is better in every way except multiplayer (it has such an engaging story you want to read and carefully consider every dialogue, not so fun for people waiting on you).

[Gandalf Parker]

This thread, and the one on rogue-type games, has thrown me back into the mud. Of course it helps that besides Dom3minions.com I also host Shadowdale MUD (sdmud.org 7777).

Next maybe I will shift back to Ultima Online on the free servers which are much better than the pay servers. (yes, I host www.ShazzyShard.org)

Im also looking at the new effort by the Space Empires crowd to revitalize their PbEM server and might start hosting some of that. I never lost my love of SEIV.

Gandalf Parker
--
I was asked "Do you think playing games is a life?"
And I responded "Dont you think living life is a game?"
(and by the way, Im winning!)

[Atreidi]

Hey guys, whats new around here, its been very long. This thread grewwwww!!!!
I've been playing poxnora lately. I've also been going to the gym :)

[Trumanator]

Well I joined the rest of the lemmings and bought WoW. Look out for Frozenlama the Gnome Mage. :D

[Atreidi]

Well I joined the rest of the lemmings and bought WoW. Look out for Frozenlama the Gnome Mage. :D

Oww man, You have to be STRONG!!! I've been able to succefully avoid WoW for years now. I bought it when it was first released, played for a month and quit afterwards. :D

[Trumanator]

Well, I have some friends who play it, and I've been looking for a decent RPG. Also, I'm getting a monthly stipend from my ROTC scholarship and have nothing to spend it on :)

[DonCorazon]

I have had the RPG itch of late. Was about to re-load NWN2 and see if I could get into it when I came across this German game - Drakensang (http://www.drakensang.com/index_en.htm). Wonder if its any good?

[calmon]

Some funny browser game, easy and no need of registration:

http://chaom.mybrute.com

[lch]

Nice. I'm here: http://thayos.mybrute.com

What I'd like to know: How does this game work? :P How do you advance? Is it all random?

[Ruminant]

Haha, this game is certainly making the rounds. One of my friends got me into it the other night, it's strangely addictive ;)

http://king-hobo.mybrute.com/

As far as I can tell it's incredibly random. A friend has a level one with 120+ hp, another is the same level as mine and has several abilities seemingly gotten at random while I have none. About all I -do- know is that you sometimes take weapons from the brutes you beat.

[Ruminant]

I have had the RPG itch of late. Was about to re-load NWN2 and see if I could get into it when I came across this German game - Drakensang (http://www.drakensang.com/index_en.htm). Wonder if its any good?

I too have recently had that most horrid of gamer-diseases, the RPG itch. Specifically the urge for a new Morrowind-esque atmospheric exploration RPG. I looked up Drakensang, it looked very promising at first until I discovered that it's really, really old-school in its style. As in, some reviewer said he fought only 6 different enemy types (mostly animals) for the first -fourty- hours. I don't really think I could stand that kind of repetitiveness.

I've started playing Arcanum through again, I didn't really get that far last time. It's more comparable to Baldur's Gate with the world map and isometric perspective than Morrowind's massive 3D countryside. The graphics aren't exactly top-notch either. However, the atmosphere is rather awesome if you like steam-punk-esque fantasy and they've put a fair amount of work into the world and its lore. If you haven't played it you might give it a try. Picture a world of magic VS technology, where half-ogres, dwarves, elves and half-orcs wear tophats, carry shotguns and ride in steam trains. You can create a mage of incomparable power, but because of the negative effect magic has on technology you have to ride in the very back of the train in a special compartment or alternatively you could create the gnomish equivilent of Nikola Tesla but none of your party's mage's healing spells are guaranteed to work on you. Or make a dashing rogue who robs banks with a pistol and metal armour ala Ned Kelly, a foppish half-elven dandy who can't do anything much on his own and relies on his way with words and cotrie of thugs or anything in between, it has quite a robust character creator (just not much difference in graphical representation).

Anyone played any comparable games to Morrowind they wouldn't hesitate to recommend?

[Trumanator]

Well Oblivion is the obvious one, though its system reqs could be an issue. Probably the single thing that makes Oblivion trump Morrowind for me every time is that it doesn't take forever and a day to get anywhere.

[Ironhawk]

Fallout is like a slimmed down version of Oblivion, except with guns instead of swords. A decent game, overall.

I'm trying out Mass Effect now, myself. Seems ok so far. Very much like KotOR 1/2.

[Ruminant]

Oblivion was cool. When it first came out I took one look at the bland graphics and began to diss it, but two years later I finally got onto it and enjoyed it quite a bit. It really wasn't the same as Morrowind though, the environment was much blander, less diverse and had a little bit less of the sense of exploration and mystery. I'm no sadist, the quick travelling was a really handy feature but they could have given you more than just endless identical forests and the odd mountain paths to explore so that you actually felt the need to venture off the beaten track.

Fallout 3 was really awesome, though unfortunately you got so powerful so quickly that it became a turkey shoot before the end. It was slightly harder going again as a pure unarmed guy on hard though ;p The deathclaw gauntlet is teh greatest weapon ever. Still not enough to make me replay the main quests again, seeing as you can basically get to max level from randomly exploring a relatively smallish part of the map O_o

I didn't give Mass Effect more than a few hours, it seemed alright but not really my thing. KOTOR was cool for a while in the first game but I could never really get into it, combat just seemed a bit... static.

Keep those suggestions coming :p

[Trumanator]

You thought the Morrowind graphics were better? As for the variety of places, I thought that it was still better than Morrowind, however I also thought that it was much more focused on dungeon diving than exploring the outside world. If you're looking for something new to do, try visiting elderscrolls.com and dling a mod or two.

I have a friend whos very much into Titan Quest, apparently its basically a Diablo clone with better graphics and a greek mythological setting. That or there's a number of D2 mods.

[Ruminant]

Well, not the quality of the graphics I just meant the atmosphere and world. For some reason I prefered the somewhat varied environments of Morrowind to what seemed to me to be an endless sea of same-same green grass and trees in Oblivion. True, there did seem to be more dungeon crawling than in Morrowind and that may have contributed.

I've done a bit of looking through total conversion mods for oblivion and fallout, haven't found anything particularly enticing yet though. I did my oblivion playthough with a fair few of the non-conversion mods enabled so theres not much new in that area.

Eh, I'm not a fan of diablo 2 gameplay. Possibly I am the one person in the world (at least among people I know ;p) who, while originally liking it, become convinced it was just freakin tedious after a while.

[JimMorrison]

I've started playing Arcanum through again, I didn't really get that far last time. It's more comparable to Baldur's Gate with the world map and isometric perspective than Morrowind's massive 3D countryside. The graphics aren't exactly top-notch either. However, the atmosphere is rather awesome if you like steam-punk-esque fantasy and they've put a fair amount of work into the world and its lore. If you haven't played it you might give it a try. Picture a world of magic VS technology, where half-ogres, dwarves, elves and half-orcs wear tophats, carry shotguns and ride in steam trains. You can create a mage of incomparable power, but because of the negative effect magic has on technology you have to ride in the very back of the train in a special compartment or alternatively you could create the gnomish equivilent of Nikola Tesla but none of your party's mage's healing spells are guaranteed to work on you. Or make a dashing rogue who robs banks with a pistol and metal armour ala Ned Kelly, a foppish half-elven dandy who can't do anything much on his own and relies on his way with words and cotrie of thugs or anything in between, it has quite a robust character creator (just not much difference in graphical representation).

I think it really needs to be stated, for the old guard who are not aware - Arcanum was done by a studio who made a bid for the Fallout IP. They didn't get it, and they chose instead to implement the majority of Fallout2's character design features, and seemingly many of the game mechanics. In my eyes their only real failing with their conversion, was that the combat is not true turn based, sometimes it's just a bit silly, really. I should get back into it, I look at the icon sometimes, and try to remember exactly what I was up to in my last save. :p

I tried Titan Quest. I even liked D2 (I played that damned game until I beat Baal on Hell difficulty with every class in the game, twice with Druid since Shapeshifter and Elementalist were so fundamentally different - playing D2 as an Elementalist Druid is just painful though.....) - But I felt Titan Quest missed the boat, since they didn't manage to provide randomized maps, which meant any alt, and any subsequent playthroughs lacked any real feeling of adventure. Also the final boss battle was retardedly, sadistically, mercilessly difficult, in contrast with a mostly fairly easy game. Apparently in the patch before I got ahold of it (most of my games come used :p) they really buffed the end encounter, because the fight had really abusable/exploitable flaws on initial release. I give a HUGE thumbs up for their character creation though, so many skills, and so much interesting synergies..... If only there was a cool hack and slash game in there to use them in. ;)

Oh and BTW - Et tu, Brute! (http://ebonclaw.mybrute.com/cellule)

Maybe we should make an OT thread for the Brutes, for as long as they remain entertaining? :p

[chrispedersen]

Anyone remember Darklands (post patch however, prior to the patch it was unplayable).

[sansanjuan]

Anyone remember Darklands (post patch however, prior to the patch it was unplayable).

I have it still somewhere. Bought it from a discount rack years after it was in its prime. Played it for a few days, got distracted by something else and forgot about it. Had heard raves about it way back when. Seemed interesting.

My brother and I played Ultima 1 way back when. Turned up a year ago in a pile of old junk. He sold it on ebay for $90 (?) bucks if I recall.

-ssj

[chrispedersen]

Had the best system for clerics I ever saw...

[S.R. Krol]

I think it really needs to be stated, for the old guard who are not aware - Arcanum was done by a studio who made a bid for the Fallout IP. They didn't get it, and they chose instead to implement the majority of Fallout2's character design features, and seemingly many of the game mechanics.

Actually, Troika were the main designers behind Fallout. After finishing Fallout 2 they left Interplay and formed their own company, hence the similarities with the FO series and Arcanum.

[JimMorrison]

I think it really needs to be stated, for the old guard who are not aware - Arcanum was done by a studio who made a bid for the Fallout IP. They didn't get it, and they chose instead to implement the majority of Fallout2's character design features, and seemingly many of the game mechanics.

Actually, Troika were the main designers behind Fallout. After finishing Fallout 2 they left Interplay and formed their own company, hence the similarities with the FO series and Arcanum.

Fair enough. ;) The little blurb that I found about it, did not explicitly mention that, only that they had tried to (re)purchase the IP.

While I think that the revision of the combat system in Arcanum left something to be desired, the world truly is as detailed and interesting as FO 1+2, and character advancement is very interesting. Cool game, highly recommended. <3

[Omnirizon]

I just tried `cortex command' and it's a blast. it would be a definite winner but it:

1) moves a little to slow. It think this is the physics engine. It isn't slowing down the game due to excessive calculations, just the physics actually move slow. They need to do something to speed them up without losing the way they work (I think they had trouble getting nice physics with quicker moving objects).

2) It's in beta with no guarantee of completion (been under development for seven years now). However they got so much done and it is really nice looking with a lot of promise, it would be terrible to see them not get a polished product.

[Illuminated One]

While I think that the revision of the combat system in Arcanum left something to be desired, the world truly is as detailed and interesting as FO 1+2, and character advancement is very interesting. Cool game, highly recommended. <3

Second that.
Imo the battles were better than FO, thanks to the ability to give your character access to some nice item/spell combos during character creation, but then I don't think FO had very interesting combat.

Another game by Troika (Temple of Elemental Evil) allowed very good tactical battles but the setting was just so boring.

[JimMorrison]

While I think that the revision of the combat system in Arcanum left something to be desired, the world truly is as detailed and interesting as FO 1+2, and character advancement is very interesting. Cool game, highly recommended. <3

Second that.
Imo the battles were better than FO, thanks to the ability to give your character access to some nice item/spell combos during character creation, but then I don't think FO had very interesting combat.

Well you lose the true turn based aspect, as well as attack targeting. The ability to pinpoint specific body parts added a lot of strategy in Fallout - strategy that you don't get with VATS in FO3, simply because the game is too fast paced to make it matter much most of the time. I agree though, the magic system is very robust for that style of game, and allows you a lot of flexibility in overall tactics.

[PsiSoldier]

Romance of the Three Kingdom XI is a great strategy game !
The various factions are really unbalanced, so even hardcore players should find something interesting to do. (just try playing Lu Bu !)

Different genre : Sacred 2 is great, full of humor, very complete, a crossbreed between RPG and Hack'n'slash. Just gorgeous. And, best of best, it runs on my 1 gig RAM PC.

Damn, thats up to 11 now? I remember playing Romance II and III It kind of dropped of my radar after that. I didnt even think it existed anymore.

[PsiSoldier]

Baalz and I are both playing Demigod, I know he's playing because I played against him last night. I was like "Hey! are you the Baalz from Dom3"?

Turned out he was. He's one tough Cookie in that game too. Both of us are in the top 1% Rankings in that game.. And in fact I see a Micah that is ranked #6 I dunno if its our Micah though. I'm only ranked 97 but I'll catch up with those two soon enough since I very rarely loose anymore unless Ive got a really sucky teammate or I'm trying something new

That game is screwed up though.. Buggy as hell. it shouldnt have been released yet and has many patches to go. Too bad its so damned addictive. Addictive and Frustratingly buggy dont go well together. Ive got problems with my Favor points dissappearing and some games that I play that are not showing up on the website rankings wich is annoying since those games have all been wins. Probably good news for the people I played against though.

That game also runs like crap enough though I have a dual core cpu and a Geforce 9800 Gx2 that can run crysis and Oblivion and anything else I throw at it on very high settings with no problem at all.

[Trumanator]

If its running like crap on MP it probably has more to do with the massive pirating of it that went on. Stardock's copy protection policy hit a snag when it came to large scale MP.

[JimMorrison]

Nah they just have been plagued by awful server problems since day 1. Beta went 2 iterations past when they wanted to start testing MP, before they had synch issues and whatnot resolved enough that you could even hope to stay in an MP match all the way through.

My roommate bought it so I played around with it a bit, runs like crap on my machine though, so I haven't touched it in awhile. Maybe I should check it out again. Maybe. ;)

[PsiSoldier]

Yeah Like I said, it still runs like crap.. they must have skipped that whole optimization part of the development process.. along with the part about fixing bugs..

Its just really annoying to know that I have a bad *** video card which is basicly SLI on one single card and it still runs like dog poo

[PsiSoldier]

Yeah... Really really really annoying when it is only counting about half of my wins but every single one of my losses... Sorry just wanted to vent. :mad::mad::mad: Its just done that to me a LOT tonight. more than half of my wins actually. And of course it counted my one loss. Really @#$%'s up your win loss ratio on the website stats.

[Aezeal]

I liked temple of elemental evil a lot but I had some problems with it so couldn't finish

I like dawn of war 2 a lot too, tha campaign is awesome and the MP is great too, you just need to get a list of decent players to play with or not care about your ranking :D

[Gregstrom]

I enjoyed Temple of Elemental Evil. It's a real shame that Atari weren't properly behind it, though.

[Omnirizon]

pardon my fanboism:

but if you want a fun, cheap, engaging, simple MP game: you must get Altitude.

I got a few days ago, and I'm well hooked. It is on the order of TF2 type fun and 'jump in and play a while' sort of MP game. Well worth ten bucks.

[AztraGoth]

X3 Terran Conflict (http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3tc/info_en.php), eagerly awaiting the XTC mod.

[calmon]

I just found Solium Infernum (http://www.crypticcomet.com/games/SI/SI_over.html).

Its all about hell and seems to be really cool. Avatar Creation reminds me on Dominion Pretender Creation. It has a pbem mode and the whole concept is interesting.

Anyone know/play it? I'm still a newb but will learn soon.

[sector24]

I tried the demo for Solium Infernum. The game has a really cool atmosphere; kind of a mix between the Lesser Key of Solomon, Paradise Lost, and a few Lovecraftian elements. The gameplay itself requires a lot of strategy, but it doesn't feel that deep. The character creator is kind of neat but not all the choices are very balanced. I'd say it's pretty average overall. Definitely a good way to kill a weekend but not a replacement for Dom3.

[DonCorazon]

I looked at Solium Infernum but the initial feedback I read on Quarter to Three was the AI sucked and I was hoping to find a decent single player game for the time being. I actually have been playing Divine Divinity, an old Diablo-clone that is pretty fun and charming - no heavy thinking which is what I need these days. :) You can find it on gog.com.

[sector24]

You also recruit everything (armies and commanders) by bidding like you would buy mercs in Dominions. A MP game with human players could be really awesome, but I imagine most of the "strategy" would be resolved during the bidding process. Once all the really powerful units are purchased the unlucky players won't have much to look forward to.

There is virtually no random element to combat, so usually you know if you're going to win or lose a fight before you engage. The computer does not seem to purchase many praetors (commanders for your armies) or use combat cards so their legions are often inferior to yours and the battles are pretty one-sided. It's pretty easy to crush the AI on every conceivable metric even in the short demo.

[AdmiralZhao]

In many ways Solium Infernum seems like it would be better as a physical boardgame. I can see buying the game and convincing 3 friends to sit down and spend 3 hours playing it. I can't see convincing 3 friends to buy the game and then spend 3 weeks playing by email.

And as previously mentioned, the AI blows.

[Sombre]

For a fun single player experience, can't go far wrong with Jagged Alliance 2 + the 1.13 patch mod.

[Slobby]

:up: Just found a diamond in the rough in Zatikon.

http://www.zatikon.com/

Check it out. Free to play the basic version.

Similar to dom3 in regards to the level of complexity and ridiculous amount of possible strategies.

It's played on a chess/checker board. You and your opponent have a single castle. The goal is to move one of your pieces onto your opponents castle.

For pieces the game uses a variety of units (fantasy themed). I'm playing with one of the expansions and so I have access to ~70 different pieces each with their own special abilities.

You can create armies based on a cost point system, or play random games where you and your opponent are assigned a randomly generated army.

I'm playing under the user id Gorphun.

Enjoy! :D

**I forgot to mention that there's a 90? sec timer on each turn. If the counter runs out you lose!

[Slobby]

forgot to mention that while the base game (30pieces) is free the expansions cost money

I have no idea what the set up is with chronic logic but you can get one of the expansions (+40 pieces) from gamersgate for $11

[RadicalTurnip]

Most of my time goes into Everquest (still the best MMO in my opinion, all the others got boring pretty quickly). It sucks that it's all so top-end now after being around for 11 years and getting leveled up to the top end is kinda' boring.

Other than EQ and dominions, I occasionally will play

Patrician III
Pharaoh
Master of Orion 3
Dragon Age (getting old fast)
or Mass Effect II (beat it recently, thinking about going back and replaying on the "New Game +" setting)

[Knai]

I'm playing the DROD series (well, KDD and TCB, I finally beat JtRH), and Battle for Wesnoth, though I intend to pick up Mount and Blade again soon, and maybe play a bit of Jack of All Trades, a space game that is nice to kill time, though nothing on anything listed above. DROD is pretty awesome, if freakishly difficult at time.

[Ballbarian]

Raising the dead in order to explain my absence recently...
I am horribly addicted to an indie game called Minecraft (http://www.minecraft.net/).

Here is a fan-made trailer:
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FaMTedT6P0I?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FaMTedT6P0I?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

The last time I was this hooked on a game was when I started playing Dominions. :)

[das123]

MineCraft is mind-blowingly cool. But sounds ridiculous when you try to explain it to people. I'm loving it too. :)

[Joelz]

Yeah, Minecraft can be a lot of fun. I like it because I just love exploring. Since Minecraft generates map as you move farther, it's great for me :)

Of course it's just an alpha now, but I'd recommend people watching some vids and maybe giving it a shot. As it is alpha it's half off; only 10€ ;)


These got me interested:

X's Adventures in Minecraft - 001 - Shelter from the Black of Night (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bh4EexJO4I)
Mine The Gap (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/mine-the-gap/)

[krpeters]

Raising the dead in order to explain my absence recently...
I am horribly addicted to an indie game called Minecraft (http://www.minecraft.net/).

Here is a fan-made trailer:
(snip)
The last time I was this hooked on a game was when I started playing Dominions. :)

It looks like someone created a FPS version of DwarfFortress.. without the dwarves. Hrrrm.

[Pjoo]

Raising the dead in order to explain my absence recently...
I am horribly addicted to an indie game called Minecraft (http://www.minecraft.net/).

Here is a fan-made trailer:
(snip)
The last time I was this hooked on a game was when I started playing Dominions. :)

It looks like someone created a FPS version of DwarfFortress.. without the dwarves. Hrrrm.

And without elves to burn, drown, and/or whack to pieces. And without nobles to burn or drown or both. Still, rather amusing. Never really got all that much into it though.

Dwarf Fortress on the other hand...
Along with Dwarf Fortress and Dominions 3 I mainly play Paradox Interactive games, currently mostly Victoria II, but also EUIII(Magna Mundi) and some of the older titles.

[WoodMan]

At the moment only got Dom3, Distant Worlds and will have Blood Bowl Legendary Edition in 2 weeks.

Just watched that Minecraft trailer above, never heard of it before, but wow, from that trailer I'm really curious!

[JonBrave]

At the moment only got Dom3, Distant Worlds and will have Blood Bowl Legendary Edition in 2 weeks.

Just watched that Minecraft trailer above, never heard of it before, but wow, from that trailer I'm really curious!

Distant Worlds is my next intended purchase. Will I be making a good decision?

[WoodMan]

Distant Worlds is fantastic Jon, if a bit rusty, but I highly recommend it.

The developer and publisher were really good with the community too, fixing pretty much everything they found and adding new features too (a couple of things I suggested personally were included!). But since they announced they were releasing an addon at around Christmas time they have oddly gone silent.

[onomastikon]

Excuse me for asking if I may, but a lot of water has flown under the bridge since SE-V was mentioned, and I would like a little follow-up detailed information if you would be so kind.

The context: I belong to the faction of people who took part in the Elemental Beta, who posted in the Elemental forums in July that the game was in no condition to be released, whose threads were locked, and who is still very dissapointed with a game he was awaiting a long time. I also belong to the minority of lurkers here who enjoy (primarily) SINGLE PLAYER games (besides Gandalf!). Love TBSs. Currently awaiting a playable version of Elemental, and enjoying, to some extent, some RPGs in the meantime. Recently DLed Sins of the Solar Empire and enjoying it, although it is RTS, as a SP game. But really looking for a nice TBS with GOOD SP fun. (Will be avoiding CivV; although I have enjoyed previous incarnations of the Civ series, I have never been able to finish more than 2 games, the last time was CivIV Beyond the Swords, which I liked in theory, but could not stand the end-game boredom of constantly building tanks (nothing else to do!) and the mechanic which limits all buildings in every city to 1, so that each and every city, with few exceptions, ends up being the same: 1 forge, 1 granary, 1 barracks, 1 temple, etc.)

So... The Question: I have read a number of reviews of SE-V, which looks promising. Sadly, most reviews indicate the high degree of buginess and the suboptimal AI.
But today marks its fourth year anniversary. I have not read any information on patches anywhere, but I trust this community greatly, and would like to know if you could tell me: Since October 2006, have patches greatly reduced the above-mentioned deficits of SE-V? Would you recommend it now as a nice SP alternative to the great MP-fun of dominions?

Thank you kindly in advance.

[WoodMan]

Excuse me for asking if I may, but a lot of water has flown under the bridge since SE-V was mentioned, and I would like a little follow-up detailed information if you would be so kind.

The context: I belong to the faction of people who took part in the Elemental Beta, who posted in the Elemental forums in July that the game was in no condition to be released, whose threads were locked, and who is still very dissapointed with a game he was awaiting a long time. I also belong to the minority of lurkers here who enjoy (primarily) SINGLE PLAYER games (besides Gandalf!). Love TBSs. Currently awaiting a playable version of Elemental, and enjoying, to some extent, some RPGs in the meantime. Recently DLed Sins of the Solar Empire and enjoying it, although it is RTS, as a SP game. But really looking for a nice TBS with GOOD SP fun. (Will be avoiding CivV; although I have enjoyed previous incarnations of the Civ series, I have never been able to finish more than 2 games, the last time was CivIV Beyond the Swords, which I liked in theory, but could not stand the end-game boredom of constantly building tanks (nothing else to do!) and the mechanic which limits all buildings in every city to 1, so that each and every city, with few exceptions, ends up being the same: 1 forge, 1 granary, 1 barracks, 1 temple, etc.)

So... The Question: I have read a number of reviews of SE-V, which looks promising. Sadly, most reviews indicate the high degree of buginess and the suboptimal AI.
But today marks its fourth year anniversary. I have not read any information on patches anywhere, but I trust this community greatly, and would like to know if you could tell me: Since October 2006, have patches greatly reduced the above-mentioned deficits of SE-V? Would you recommend it now as a nice SP alternative to the great MP-fun of dominions?

Thank you kindly in advance.

You may find this interesting, its a quite lengthy discussion about SE5 and other 4x space games over at the Distant Worlds forum.

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=2553496

[DonCorazon]

Anyone try Civ 5 btw? Looks pretty similar to Civ 4 to me - other than the much hyped change to hexes. I don't play much RTS but still think Warlords Battlecry 3 is cool - good humor and epic feel. Nothing mindblowing on the strategy front there though but it can be addictive.

I haven't tried Distant Worlds but thought this review was hilarious here. (http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=42370)

[Kojusoki]

I played a few games in CIV V and I like it (mainly becouse of the new features, AI sucks completly).

However its way easier then the CIV IV is, it has some nice new impovments. Certainly the game is "faster" but each old fan of the series say that this version was made for those who find previous CIVs too sophisticated...

And all say its a beta, not a final product. Combat Ai sucks, there are some other issues regarding crashes etc.

To make a long story short: modders made this game more then playable (with mods its fun) and it will be "our" CIV when expansion packs will be released. Now its Civilization maybe not for children but for those who like "easy games"

[Zeldor]

There are any good mods for Civ5 already?

I like complicated stragegies and I think that Civ5 is better than previous games when it comes to that. It's a bit like CBM for Dominions - it gets rid of some annoying stuff. I really like new culture, hexes and no-stacking.

AI is extremely bad though, bad enough that I don't play any more Civ games for now. I hope they fix it and also big-map happiness issues [and make AI work for happiness too].

[Doo]

Civ V is weird. Too early for any big mods yet, there are some tweak mods that make the game more enjoyable.

I don't understand how with all the quality mods for Civ IV that enhanced gameplay and UI, Civ V is released as a stripped down version of these mods with some different rules. I know this happens and I know why but geez it sucks when you can see the designers have already decided what the full game will be after expansions (and DLC) and then carve up the features so that some will be in the release and the rest to be purchased.

I purchased Civ V and have gone back to Civ IV Fall of Heaven and Rise of Mankind. I await the big Civ V mods with glee.

[Jorus]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned VGAP 4. Sure, it's getting a bit long in the tooth, but it is (to me) the space 4X equivalent of Dom3;
- complex
- significant race differentiation
- turn based
- end game is equally time consuming
- same high quality graphics and audio :rolleyes:
- SP is worse than Dom3, but MP is better (allies are recognized)


It's relatively bug-free (although I haven't tried it with Windows 7). Unfortunately it is an indie product whose designer has limited time for further development. Anyhow, if interested, the best place to start is probably vgap.drewhead.org/

[Gandalf Parker]

I thought I mentioned VGAP4. That might have been another thread.

Ive owned my serial for VGA Planets 4 since 2002. But I dont think I will ever be receiving my disk. Its been in BETA all that time. And at this point, I think it has become a monster which can never be released.

I consider it a wonderful fantastic game to recommend to anyone who feels that they learn and dump their games too quickly. It is deeply complicated. In all that beta time the dedicated "test base" has added more and more features to it. At this point its a game that I consider almost impossible to release. To make an AI, to make a turtorial, to document it even partially, not to mention the learning curve which goes way beyond most games. And without all of the usual learning aids its another game where the recommendation is "just jump into MP to learn it".

But if that sounds fun to you then go for it. Its a free download in beta.

All IMHO of course.

[Gandalf Parker]

Interesting. the head designer of Civ IV says Bronze is worth looking at.
http://twitter.com/#!/SorenJohnson/status/3644183399108608

[Horst F. JENS]

At the moment i'm playing Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (DCSS) a lot. http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/

[Ragnars Wolves]

I have been playing Bronze the demo....

I 'thought' it would be a period piece with armies, building, and different realistic Civilizations to play.

However, it is a more or less puzzle game. It does present a challenge but it seem that it would get old after not to long.

I was really looking forward to it though. If someone does buy it and finds a little more depth to it please either post or PM me as I might take a look at it then.

[samoht]

At the moment i'm playing Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (DCSS) a lot. http://crawl.develz.org/wordpress/

Gotta love roguelikes. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Soyweiser]

Samoth, I assume you already know roguebasin. http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=Main_Page contains a large list of roguelikes. And some tips for developing your own.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ahh memories. Text based games are great. I guess it makes sense that we here, who continually have to defend Dom3 "game over graphics", would also have a text game contingent. I first played a roguelike before PCs. Not even a monitor.
Nothing ever dies. A couple of programming sites Im on are working on their own roguelikes. And I host/maintain Shadowdale MUD.

Here are some fun MP3 songs for those who play ascii games.

Yet Another Stupid Decade (NetHack turns 20) - Rob Balder
http://thefump.com/fump.php?id=93

It Is Pitch Dark - MC Frontalot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeV0pLRyM7o
"You are likely to be eaten by a Grue"

[samoht]

Samoth, I assume you already know roguebasin. http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=Main_Page contains a large list of roguelikes. And some tips for developing your own.

I appreciate it. I feel like I ran across this wiki (or something like it) a while back, but then forgot about it.

Ahh memories. Text based games are great. I guess it makes sense that we here, who continually have to defend Dom3 "game over graphics", would also have a text game contingent.

The thing that I like about the Dominions games is the same thing I like about roguelikes. The unpredictability of these games, and all the good and bad baggage that comes with that, give me the same feeling as when I opened presents on Christmas morning as a child. There is a sense of mystery and adventure to these games that remains, even after years of playing the same game over and over.

The games are straight forward enough. Dom3: build armies, use magic, conquer the world. Roguelikes: get a dude to kill monsters and gather loot. But the simplicity belies a depth and re-playability potential that simply can't be found in most modern games that focus on flashy graphics or gimmick game play.

Will my n00b character find a Ultimate Dragon Sword of Destruction and slaughter everything he finds for the rest of the game? Will my demigod character get bitten by a low level rat, catch a disease and die? Or will I play through the game again after a year long layoff, expecting a fun jog down nostalgia lane, and ultimately find a feature I never knew existed that will add new life to an old friend?

Games like these simply beckon to the adventurer hidden in each of us.

[Gandalf Parker]

Did you listen to the NetHack song? The lead-in to the song says
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr></tr><tr><td background="images/content_spacer_left.gif" width="14">
</td> <td colspan="5" class="contentText" background="images/bg_content_main.gif">
In July 2007, the game of NetHack celebrates 20 years of continuous open-source development. This song is dedicated to everyone who helped bring me ten thousand fun ways to DIE.</td></tr></tbody></table>

[samoht]

Did you listen to the NetHack song? The lead-in to the song says
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr></tr><tr><td background="images/content_spacer_left.gif" width="14">
</td> <td colspan="5" class="contentText" background="images/bg_content_main.gif">
In July 2007, the game of NetHack celebrates 20 years of continuous open-source development. This song is dedicated to everyone who helped bring me ten thousand fun ways to DIE.</td></tr></tbody></table>

haha thats awesome. I'll have to give it a listen. I listened to the one about Zork first because I wanted to share it with a friend of mine who has a running joke with me about a Grue.

Edit: The link you gave doesn't work, because Fox shut it down, but I found it on youtube anyways. Thats a great song.