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- Dominions 4 is a turn-based strategy game in which nations and armies are pawns in the service of pretenders, avatars on the verge of godhood, who clash with one another as they strive to be the last deity standing and become the all-powerful Pantokrator.
- Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension 10th Oct, 2013 Illwinter Game Design. Nov 04, 2013; Nov 04, 2013 - Mac. Nov 04, 2013; Nov 04, 2013 - Linux. Game Modes: Co-operative Multiplayer Single player Genre: Indie Strategy. Series: Dominions Keywords: Time To Beat. No time to beat score yet!
- You are master and ruler of a loyal nation. You have unimaginable powers at your disposal. You have claimed this world as yours. But there are others who stand in your way. You must defeat and destroy these pretenders. Only then can you ascend to godhood and become the new Pantokrator.
Dominions 4 Thrones of Ascension Strategy Guide Illwinter Game Design on Amazon.com.FREE. shipping on qualifying offers. Dominions 4 Thrones of Ascension Strategy Guide.
Hard-core wargamers tend to look uponfantasy games as fluff; good as a change in pace but not as serious gaming.Illwinter Game Design?s Dominionsfranchise may have developed into something rivaling the depth of, say, anAGEOD product. The latest evolution of the series, Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension, patched to 4.04 should be theacid test.
NoFrills, Just Thought
Most of the graphics in this game arefunctional with a capital ?F?. The strategic maps are 2D, zoomable andscrollable. The colors are pastel blue, dun, pinkish orange and grey. Buildingssuch as temples, forts and castles are clear and actually quite nice whenzoomed-in. Terrain features such as mountains, bridges, forests, marshes, riversand buildings are shown nicely but not spectacularly. Game symbols such astowers, possession flags and dominion candles give players needed informationwithout eyestrain. These symbols change according to which of the three eras isbeing played.
Zoomedout, maps look sparse
Thingslook better zoomed in
This simplicity is not due to lack ofability on the part of the developers but a conscious design on priorities. Aprologue to the manual has a screenshot of what a 3D map would have looked likeand the decision for 2D was the right one. Non-functional eye candy simply getsin the way of game play. Information boxes above the map present areas? wealth,defenses, population, level of unrest, resources and status along with theplayer?s main character, a king pretending to godhood, wealth, income andexpenses.
The battle maps represent a crumb toplayers who need to see things move. The 3D features clearly show what a forestas opposed to shrubs. Units jerk around as they move toward the enemy. Spellslight up their targets or crash down like lightning. Underwater battles aremore interesting with coral, sponges and waving sea weed. Viewing battles isoptional and really only useful in seeing how magic works. The only sound inthe game is heard here as troops move, clash and grunt as they take hits. Thepositive note is the very nice background music featuring medieval recordersand harps throughout the game.
Battlesare nice to see once in a while
Thebattle results show more than the animation
If the maps are plain, the graphics forcommanders and units more than make up for any lapse. Each of the over seventy tribesor nations has carefully illustrated characters ranging from abstract statuesto amphibians and regular humans to animals and monsters. The coloring of thesefigures is not only delightful but very helpful in positioning them in squads,differentiating them on maps and knowing what functions they can perform.Commanders have separate images on the left side of the map with easy to readdrop-down menus while the game function and information menus are on the farright. These functions yield information on how many magic gems, site and itemsthat side possesses, map filters showing key elements, statistics and importantmessage. On this side are also army management and a description of magic sitesthe player controls. Orders and messages are easy to read. The only negativepoint about unit and character icons is that, on the recruitment and armyset-up screens, cheap units are so small as to be almost invisible; opacitymust be set high or the translucency of the screen causes the map to blank outthe icons.
Thedrop-down menu has many choices for the Pretender Friedrich?s orders
A game of the depth of this one requiresdocumentation. Fortunately, gaming pro Bruce Geryk teamed up with thedevelopers for a 295-page manual that explains 99% percent of the game with adetailed tutorial and vital appendices on magic, spells and the variousabilities of each nation. The only omission is a description of magic items andthat is corrected at http://dom4editor.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/inspector/index.html. The manual is in PDF format and can be downloaded from Illwinter?s site; a print version canbe bought from Desura. A quick reference guide for shortcut keys and a moddingmanual can also be obtained from the Illwintersite as the game is played on Steam.
KeepingFaith
Dominions4 is about domination but not the usualboots-on-the ground, wolf-of-Wall Street smack down. Rather, players mustconvert the majority of the map to their pretender god. This process requireslinking the components of the game from step one, choosing a map. The size ofthe twenty-five maps range from forty areas to over 500 with areas dividedunequally between land and sea areas. Large maps are suitable for team play oradding additional AI opponents. The next decision is picking a nation. Eachnation has strengths and weakness that should match the chosen map. A largelyaquatic map needs an amphibious nation while a large, dry, land mass is a fit fora serpentine race. Environmental weakness can be overcome later in the game buta mismatch early makes play difficult. Choosing from playing in early, middle or lateages is simply assigning emphasis between magic and technology with the latterbeing more important in later periods.
Thevariety of maps is enormous and new ones can be made
Nationsshould match the maps chosen
Creating the player?s pretender to godhoodis critical and not to be approached casually. Players have 300 points tocreate a pretender but can get 150 more if the character remains dormant for ayear ? twelve turns in the game. If the default icon doesn?t suit, another canbe chosen for fifty points, a matter of style over function. The real decisioncomes in distributing points for magic paths and dominion scales. Magic pathsdetermine which kind of spells and items the pretender can make. The sevenpaths are fire, air, water, earth, astral, nature, death and blood. Thepretender starts out with points for some paths that can be increased fairlycheaply with clicks. Starting a path from zero to one costs fifty points, arelatively heft price. Dominion scales determine attributes of the internalworkings of controlled areas. Scales are dominion, order, productivity,temperature comfort zone, growth, luck and magic. The effect of these scalescan be seen on-screen by a mouse hover and can be increase on this screen butnot during play. Players therefore need to consider how to spend their points.A neat feature in creating characters is using disciples for team play.Disciples? characters can?t win by themselves but can help their pretender.Pretenders can be created separately from the game in the Game Tool functionand stored for later use.
Gettinga pretender?s attributes right is crucial
After setting up the pretender, players aretaken to their home provinces which are equipped with a castle, temple,laboratory for mages and the like to do their nefarious antics. A smallgarrison is ready to provide a core for an army. The first item on item is torecruit commanders. Commanders come in two general categories, military and magical/religious.Each comes with twelve attributes, seen with a right click on an icon, such asleadership, strength and age as well as attributes such as sacredness orresistance to different attacks. Each also carries weapons and wears armor. Althougheach type can multi-task, military men can command more units and moresquadrons without a morale penalty while priests or mages are better atresearch, spells and making magical items. More importantly, each can become aprophet, a surrogate for the pretender. Only one pretender can be on the map soplayers should consider if they want to risk the prophet as a military commanderor keep him safe but pretty useless.
Commandersshould also be picked carefully
Priest?sattributes are shown by the icons in mid-screen
Recruitment costs gold and resources. Onthe lower of the six levels of difficulty, gold seems plentiful but resourcesdepend on the area where recruiting is done. Commanders require fairly largeamounts of gold but few resources. Units are the opposite. Weak units are cheapand plentiful but won?t win many battles themselves; strong units drainresources which can go negative in a turn with the units bought by the deficitappearing later. Gold deficits are not allowed. Recruitment need not alwaysdepend on the local populace: mercenaries can be bid for and kept if paid wellwhile random events can bring friendly monsters and passersby to players? doors.
Recruitmentis simple; affording it is not
Thebidding for mercenaries is on!
Before going forth, players should buyreligious or magical commanders to research the seven schools of magic. Spellsand magic items are tied to these schools and gems that correlate to the magicpaths. Magical activities depend on how far the research goes up in theschools. Other activities in characters drop-down menu include casting globalspells, empowering heretofore inaccessible magic paths with the expenditure ofgems, finding magic sites to get new characters and hunting virgins forsacrifice in the lab. The last character to be recruited should be one with theability to hide for use as a spy.
Players who have a military bent should setup their army. Recruited unit appear as garrisons in the set-up screen.Selecting them and clicking on a commander will put a squad in the commander?sbox. The number of unit a commander can control is a finite limit but thenumber of squads is unlimited but a morale penalty occurs if the number exceedsthe commander?s optimum number of squads. Squads can be positioned by ranks andgiven formation and battle orders such as ?hold then advance?. Commandersthemselves can be given the same type of instructions.
Squadsare positions relative to a box
Squadorders are like most tactical games
Offto Win Hearts if not Minds
After all that preparation, game play seemsfairly simple. Left click on a spy, turning the counter white, and left clickon an adjacent area to see the path arrow grow. Right clicking on an adjacentprovince shows a vague idea of the military there. If that force appears weak,army commanders can be sent in as was the spy. Ending a turn completesmovement. A message then appears announcing events and battles. Battles can beviewed in 3D but simply clicking on the message brings up the results andlosses. Random events include positive things like finding gems or increasedpopularity; negative events can be droughts, unrest or curses.
Activity should be taken in newly acquiredareas. Local defense forces can be raised cheaply with clicks although raisingten or more units can cause unrest. Commanders can build temples to increasedominion, forts and castles to defend the area and rationalize tax collectionand build labs for the mages. Local forces, often with valuable unique skills,can be recruited. Follow-on carriers can act as missionaries to spread thefaith, improve fortification or hunt for even more virgins. More commandersshould be recruited at the home province to raise more armies and speedresearch.
This cycle of acquiring areas, recruitment,research and improvement continues for a few turns but soon matters become morecomplicated. Aquatic areas can only be entered by non-amphibious commandersequipped with the Ring of Water Breathing. Invitations to arenas for deathmatches are received; sending a strong warrior commander can bring benefits. Armiesmay come upon areas with few resources so long stays to improve the area leadsto soldiers dying of starvation and disease. Unrest pops up in areas. Exceptfor flying units, mountain passes cannot be crossed until the temperatures onboth sides are equal. More importantly,thrones of ascension appear on the map. Claiming these with the prophetincreases dominion greatly and gaining all of them all but cinches a victory.The roadblock is that an active opponent will also vie for the thrones,attacking players? areas from several directions and besieging fortresses whiledestroying temples in conquered provinces. Forging magical weapons becomes moreimportant as well as more research. Fortunately, the pretender has awakened by nowand is able to use his considerable powers in battle.
Forgingweapons and magic items can determine a game
Leading armies, the pretender may choose toattack the enemy?s peripheries to diminish his gold and dominion or a boldleader may attack the other pretender head-on and attempt to settle the matterquickly. If a pretender falls, priests may be able to resurrect him. Thrustsand counter-thrusts added by global spells and other magic makes play resemblethe Seven Years or Thirty Years Wars with religious domination being a commongoal.
Few fantasy games even approach the levelof elegance and difficulty of Dominions4: Thrones of Ascension. The number of maps, nations, difficulty levels,pretender options and multi-play combinations guarantee players years ofaction. Hard-core strategy gamers should give the panzers a rest and play thisgame.
About the Author
Jim Cobb has been playing board wargames since 1961 andcomputer wargames since 1982. He has been writing incessantly since 1993 tokeep his mind off the drivel he dealt with as a bureaucrat. He has published inWargamers Monthly, Computer Gaming World, Computer Games Magazine, ComputerGames Online, CombatSim, Armchair General, Subsim, Strategyzone Online and Gamesquad