this was a bummer...

[Gandalf Parker]

YES it is absolutely true.

If by everyone you mean everyone on this forum. The other forums with Dom3 populations also tend to play the same, but not the same as this forum. Also the are the various Dom3 IRC channels. Part of the problem isnt just that they play the same but that they tend toward playing the same game all the time. The same game settings and the same size or style of map tends to define what nations and tactics are strong or weak.

There is a thread here about game variations but its rare to see one of them tried.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35083

[Squirrelloid]

err... what?

Absolutely untrue.

There is a set of spells which sees frequent use in lategame. However, this set of spells comprises multiple distinct strategies. Especially since mods like CBM and EDM have actually increased the range of plausible options.

FWIW, the SA community uses a rather similar array of options in lategame as this forum's community, with certain predictable changes based upon differences in mods. (Ie, stuff that sucks outside of CBM doesn't get used in non-CBM games. The awesome mod series by ninjadebugger has made certain units viable that weren't before).

Current CBM has multiple known viable endgame strategies.

Now, certain battlefield enchantments are basically required lategame, but stuff like Fog Warriors is simply too powerful to be ignored and nothing else does anything remotely like what it does (and it stacks with everything else). Of course spells like that are going to be used by everyone who can.

Midgame is even more diverse, with piles of different strategies.

And all of that is before even considering nation-specific spells.

Gandalf, afaik you haven't played an MP game in *years*, I don't know why you think you can say that MP games always end in the same spells being used.

[elmokki]

Also for game variants not being used, yeah, sure, CBM (and maybe vanilla on this forum?) are dominant, but there is at least one Cataclysm and one Randomocalypse game up on this very forum and one Cataclysm game on the other one. There are also other games, some of which I'm pretty sure run one of the two mods. Sure though, same strategies will apply (especially in Cataclysm) in the endgame, but early and mid game are wildly different in both of those.

Now I need to get utterly frustrated with my current coding project so I can get the motivation to finish the sprite-generating NationGen for even more interesting random nations. Current iteration generates some pretty interesting results (for example black human samurais, oriental lizardmen (see my avatar!), cavalry with battleaxes and naked tower shield crossbowmen) along with stuff that's pretty much the same that's in the game already. It just lacks proper mage and sacred generation (with sacreds especially being potentially fairly wild) and needs varying rewrites in other areas. Sadly developing Dominions 3 content isn't very rewarding.