Dominions 5 : A Strategy Game For Mac
YouTube videos require cookies, you must accept their cookies to view. It is a great game, no doubt. However, as an owner of Dom3, Dom4 and CoE4 (Conquest of Elysium), I feel kinda ripped off here. Dom5 is more of a slightly expanded Dom4 with not-too-many changes. And such a price for that seems way out of line. Especially considering they haven't touched the series' biggest shortcomings - no AI diplomacy making single player almost entirely useless and the UI is still just terrible.
I think they should offer owners of the previous games some deal as other developers have. If you're new to the series, though, the price should actually be worth it. JcpThe SHEEP: you've got a discount of 10%. And have a look at the 'changelog'. I bought the game as it's a great game, but now, I need time to play! (I've got COE4 too) This is what bugs me, it reads like a changelog to dom4. Making me think they charge 30.- for an update.
Some things in the changelog sound like they were looking for things to write QuoteDominion overlay on map to clearly show its boundariesand then below QuoteUpdated user interface with information more clearly presented than before but then again they close with: QuoteThere are many more changes since Dominions 4 that haven't been mentioned here, more information will come later. TheSHEEEPIt is a great game, no doubt. However, as an owner of Dom3, Dom4 and CoE4 (Conquest of Elysium), I feel kinda ripped off here. Dom5 is more of a slightly expanded Dom4 with not-too-many changes.
And such a price for that seems way out of line. Especially considering they haven't touched the series' biggest shortcomings - no AI diplomacy making single player almost entirely useless and the UI is still just terrible. I think they should offer owners of the previous games some deal as other developers have. If you're new to the series, though, the price should actually be worth it. This is just crazy talk. Dom4 and Dom5 have HUGE changes. New bless system significantly change game.
You don't have just 2 bless effects per parth, you have 7 bless effects per path and you can point-buy those that you want, greatly personalize and specialize your bless. This together with pretender getting bless effect in their dominion, some strong bless effects working only if your pretender is alive and new (minor) banish change, which now get part of the path effects is HUGE change that significantly change gameplay and adds load of new possible builds. The new combat system, which is now 'realtime' instead of 'turn-based' in the sense that both sides act at the same time (each unit based on initiative) and not one side and after that second side. This greatly change how turns are played, remove annoying positioning which decided who will get first attack.
Supposedly boost cavalry (which is good, because it was a bit weaker). This connected with other combat changes (rebalance of weapon length, rebalance of critical hits, rebalance of fatigue) changes how troops fight and push it from meta 'hire those who have longest weapon'. Also, there is significant buff to archers, where bows benefit from increased strength.
So giant archers are now better, because the gold that you pay for the giant chassis will now reflect its greater DMG. New fort and recruitment system also changes dynamics. Suddenly, you don't need to build fort at once, but you first build palisade and then add another level.
As you need, cheaper and safer. But a lot of mages that were earlier recruitable without fort take longer to recruit, while fort-only commanders are much easier to recruit. New movement system. Now you can move more than one province at once. Even in enemy territory. Raiding with cavalry or fast units is now much easier. This is significant change in dynamics.
Dominions 5 : A Strategy Game For Mac Free
Very Happy this came out. For the complaints that it is not that dis-similar from the previous games, I think it is well known that the changes from game to game in the series are more evolutionary than revolutionary. With a more complicated game like this, even what may appear as a minor difference can completely alter gameplay.
I have DOM 3 and 4 and will probably get this at some point. I personally like these games and this developer. Not only are they linux friendly, they continually update the game (including new content) for free long after the game comes out. They were updating DOM 4 right up through a few months ago. Mountain Man TheSHEEEP.the series' biggest shortcomings - no AI diplomacy making single player almost entirely uselessOh dear.
Perhaps I should remove it from my wishlist. I play only single player and I enjoy it immensely. There is no AI diplomacy. Its a bit of a glaring omission, I'll be honest.
On the other hand, I get the sense that most AI diplomacy is there to make the game easier. Every 4x I've played the Diplomacy aspect is easily exploitable and mainly serves to benefit solely the player as the AI can't compete. Hope that helps you decide if you may want it or not. Side note - At least we see their inspiration for their UI design from the Screenshot Liam linked to (J/K)! Seriously, what is that DE? Mate, LXDE/QT?
As a half baked gamer posting on boards, take this for what its worth. Maybe its just me. But I see way too much complexity in typical strategy games.overdesign, too many stats, too many moving parts. So I'm defining elegance as strategic and/or tactical significance in every element of game design. Here is a number on a weapon.will this ever make any real difference in gameplay? Will this have any significance regarding my gaming decisions? If not, why is this number here?
With too many elements and stats, you're watching a movie, not playing a game. Chess is the ultimate example of elegance in design. A place for everything, and everything in its place. Dominions 5, for such a complex game, does very well in the elegance department.
But design decisions like hits on certain parts of the body are curious. Even in small battles of 15 vs 15, is hitting the hand vs the leg significant? Who can pay attention to this?
If not, why include it? Brevity is the soul of wit. A great editor understands the need for subtraction, not addition. With that said, any votes for the most elegant strategy game of all time?
The hand and leg hits will cause different battle wounds and as limb hit, their damage is capped to max half of the units hitpoints, while body hit could have killed the unit with similar damage. Many of the stats that weapons have are also important when equipping generals with crafted magic weapons, as the magic weapons tend to have better stat bonuses which will be replaced and for an unit that doesn't have any weapon, giving one can give significant stats bonuses as units with no weapon at all usually have negative stat modifiers. Also many of the stats have important factor and behaviour which makes many nations unique: most elves have high defence and glamour, making them extremely hard to hit in combat, while some nations prefer wearing heavy armor to reduce the taken damage alltogether. High defence skill is countered by ranged weapons and other attacks (mostly magic) which don't take attack rolls while armor is defeated by high base damage or armor negating, armor piercing or piercing damage types.
I find dominon quite elegant in the way that almost every single stat can be used in a strategy and can have a significant impact on the game. A 'secondary' state like Size for example is important both for stacking and trample, whereas Age is important for decay, etc. The more I understand the game, the more I'm amazed on how everything is connected and how there's always a strategy to get the upper hand on your opponent.
I've seen so many games that add a lot of stats that have almost no use in the game. When complexity is meaningful, I say 'why not', as it not only adds strategies, but also a unique flavour. You idea of a game is not universal. A game is about winning.
Mastery of the rules is but a path. Few things in life give you complete control or knowledge of the rules. In fact generally in life one knows a few if any of the things in play. Yet one must make choices to the best of their ability. Dominions is a game of many moving parts. It's to big to fully understand, but I feel this is by design. It was never designed to be fully understood.
It was designed to be a fun game. An experience, like life.
This doesn't make it any less of a game though. As a game is about winning or having a failure state. If we're getting into definitions the difference between play and games is a failure state. You can't fail playing with lego. You can fail in your ambition but you can't inherently fail lego. Dominions has clear failure states.
Your Dominion ceases to be, you lost all assets on the board, another player collects enough throne points etc. What you seem to dislike is chaos. You find joy in solving the riddles of the rules and master a tool. Which is a fine way to spend your time but I disagree that games that lack it are in any way worse. Dwarf Fortress exists because of the sheer complexity of its systems, anything less would be nothing. The best less chaotic strategy game?
Is there any such thing? Rymdkapsel perhaps? Originally posted by:I think the point you made Myth Trip is that sometimes less is more. I don't know if that is true for this game but I think the devs have to be careful adding new features which do not contribute to new gameplay mechanics and make it unnecessary complex. I think mechanic-wise Dominions does very well in terms of having meaningful mechanical complexity.
The only sin I might point out is maybe the new movement point system which is kind of a pain in the butt and causes unwanted silliness with armies moving right by each other on roads. But content-wise it does feel like there's some filler. There's some useless units and quite a lot of useless spells. And then there's blink which is worse than useless, it's actively harmful, and it can be cast off-script. Interesting post.
Dominions is not a game for min-maxers. Its not a game for role players, like myself and perhaps Marcus Aurelius (a Youtuber). Its not a game for Chess players, and nor is it a game for 4Xers.
Yet it is a game for all those, and it excels in all those areas, all at the same time. There has never been a game like it, nor will there ever be. There are games that come close in some specific areas, yet lack in all the others. The game designers have created a gem in the rough with Dominions, and all of us loyal fans only seek to improve upon what already has attained greatness.
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I have the opposite opinion. There is not enough complexity at all in almost all strategy titles post 1995. We've gone from 12+ stats on RPGs to 2 or 3, we've gone from 500+ skills and spells to 15 with different variations that make up to 30 or 40 at most. We've gone from 8 races to 3.
Strategy and RPG gaming has devolved to meet the lowest common denominator and maximize sales. Domionions 5 is a breath of fresh air. Granted it could present information in a more polished fashion. Its complexity and depth fill my yearning for nuerons to fire. Originally posted by:I have the opposite opinion.
There is not enough complexity at all in almost all strategy titles post 1995. We've gone from 12+ stats on RPGs to 2 or 3, we've gone from 500+ skills and spells to 15 with different variations that make up to 30 or 40 at most. We've gone from 8 races to 3. Strategy and RPG gaming has devolved to meet the lowest common denominator and maximize sales. Domionions 5 is a breath of fresh air.
Granted it could present information in a more polished fashion. Its complexity and depth fill my yearning for nuerons to fire.
I'll have to second that. There's plenty of 'simpler' strategy games. What we need are a few where one can dive into the complexity. Go (weiqi, baduk) is obviously the most elegant strategy game ever, much more beautiful than chess and I highly recommend it to anyone. The elegance of Dominions, in my opinion, is in how lore and gameplay is so delightfully intertwined. In terms of game mechanics, there is an elegance to how the game play is all boiled down to choice. What do you recruit?
How do you expand? What is your pretender going to be? What to research? All of these choices combined with all of the various nations and their inherent biases create interesting, immersive gamepay and emergent stories.
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The nuts and bolts of the mechanics (hits on body parts, chance rolls, etc) do matter, but it feels much more like a simulation than a game. I play dominions on a more abstract level than individual units rolling dice against one another. I have to think about the general prinicples of strategy and how it applys to the particular world of dominions that a particular game embodies.
Again, the elegance comes from how the lore influences game play choices. If i'm up against an undead spawn nation like MA Ermor, I know that I better focus on undead counters like priests and the ability to take out hordes of enemies. If there are giants in the world, I have to find some part of the world that can counter giants. Like indie barbarians if I don't have high damage troops, or find some mage that can cast a combat spell to help out. I think the mechanics of Dominions help feed the lore and bring the world to life. I don't care in a battle of 15 v 15 whether its a leg hit or arm hit or whatever. But after the battle when I march one of my limping units to death, suddenly I DO care.
When i press tab after a battle and see all of the wounds my units have sustained, I care about that. When my mages keep going mute from head hits by arrows, suddenly I care about the mechanic that extra head protection can prevent this kind of thing from happening. The simulation has enough detail for representing these various aspecs of a wargame. War isn't elegant, the history of religion isn't elegant, but the experience of feeling the dominions world come to life is an elegant immersive experience to me. I honestly can't think of a strategy video game i've played that i would call elegant in terms of your definition.
I've played some board games like Scythe and Power Grid: First Sparks that I really appreciated. But nothing really comes close to Go.