Coe

[Gandalf Parker]

The game actually provides base numbers, which no one will totally agree with so its probably a forever discussion on where they should be set it.

But CoE3 also provides (unlike Dom3) working Scenario commands. So downloadable maps can have full storyline scenarios and campaigns. There are maps which create more resources, or less resources. Some which provide more magic items scattered across the map. And some which can give the player extra gold/iron/whatever at the start of the game. Or extra units if you feel its needed (like giving the Senator some War Elephants)

You can also create campaigns, quests with rewards, DnD situations, and mid-game worldwide events.

AND with the next patch we should start seeing modded nations. Time to browse thru the Dom3 mods for crossover ideas.
http://www.llamaserver.net/globu/Dom...neralMods.html

[Zywack]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

The game actually provides base numbers, which no one will totally agree with so its probably a forever discussion on where they should be set it.

Probably I'd say it heavily depends on some characters, though. Some like the Senator do okay if something bad happens since they have a 9 gold base income (although it also means 2 critical spots to protect at game start instead of 1).

On the other hand, a witch losing the apprentice early on (invisible unit stacks for example, or actually failing the first summon with regular fungi usage: Seen it happen) is nearly a game-crushing blow: She has a base gold income of 0 gold so even if you are lucky enough to snag a few undefended farms, it's going to be around 30 turns before you can buy a second commander. I know it's sort of balanced by the fact that her primary resource is consistantly everywhere and unguarded, but it's still a long, long time before you can grab new commanders especially since they have no summonable commanders (Never seen any in the three games I've played as Witch, at least) and it's not enjoyable that an early set-back takes so utterly long to recover from (Odds are you'll have the enemies armies at your gate before you have recovered). You have to take a lot of turns to be able to buy units early on (especially since you HAVE to buy them in groups of 5 or 10), commanders can take forever to aquire depending on faction, ressource presence and plain luck, but later on in the game you have so much money you don't know what to do with it.

Like in Dominions, your starting city gives around 400 gold per turn. Getting a new city doesn't improve you to 800: It gives a modest increase. In this game, getting one badly undefended town will often more than double your gold income: It puts any player who can get some very early leagues ahead of the others.

Still... I'll admit that there is a lot of personal preferences involved and that everyone could argue for days on the subject. I'll certainly keep an eye out for the development of the game, and I'll definitively play it Hot Seat with some friends (Dominions' really not viable for that due to turn length), but as of right now most of my playtime will definitively be dedicated to Dominions. Maybe I'm just not a fan of that much randomness. That's okay though: as vladikus said, different tastes for different people!