So what is different in first two games? Thread - Dominions 3: The Awakening

I'm bit curious at what stuff has been changed by third game? Is third game just bug fixed new game mechanic updated version of first two ones?

No. Each one grew massively.
Bug fixes go on continually with their games. Free patches, updates, and expansions.

A new version usually marked the same game but going off in a new direction. But it would take me some backlooking to remember what they were specifically.

From DomPPP to Dominions 2:

• The number of nations increased from 14 to 17.
• Themes were added. When one considers that many nations had more than one extra theme, which functioned very differently from the base nation, it would be more correct to say that the total number of nations was closer to 30. For example, MA Ulm and LA Ulm were originally three different themes, two of which have been rolled into the current MA Ulm with LA Ulm a different nation. However, only 17 players could take part in a game.
• Increased number of spells and monsters. The number of monsters was capped at 1005 or so with the last Dominions 2 patch.
• Research change, In DomPPP each mage was assigned to research a specific school of magic, which led to a lot of micro
• Lesser elemental nerf (required gems to summon on the battlefield).

From Dom2 to Dom3:

• The number of nations increased from the 17 + themes to ultimately the current 68 or so nations in Dominions 3.
• The nations were divided into different eras and the themes as they existed in Dominions 2 were scrapped
• The awakening mechanics
• Elemental resistances changed from boolean immunity flags to percentage based damage reduction
• Items began to duplicate spell effects (Boots of Stone, Marble Armor etc)
• Victory Points (not sure if these existed already)
• More monsters and spells (monster numbers ended at 2105 with the final Dominions 3 patch)
• Bitmasks for random magics (used to be either full random, elemental random or sorcery random)
• Fort system changed, you could no longer choose what type of fort to build, it was determined by terrain instead for each nation
• AI learned how to build forts (it did not build forts in Dom2)

Then there was the continuous bug fixing, which has been going on all the time. There are bugs in DomPPP that do not exist in Dom2. There are bugs in Dom2 that do not exist in Dom3 (such as the sieging and besieged forces switching places if one of them is attacked by the Wild Hunt). Just as there are bugs in Dominions 3 that will not exist in Dominions 4 because they have been reported during the beta and fixed.

There has also been a constant increase in mapmaking and especially modding capabilities in terms of what you can do, addition of new modding and map commands, extension of the limits for everything etc etc.

So, while the engine beneath the hood is essentially the same, every iteration of it has seen massive expansion, enlargement, major structural changes and alterations to a lot of things.

Ok, interesting info Thanks for the replies!

I want to try these out to see what they're like and hear the music (I assume it's different?) but $20 is too much... and I'm someone that didn't mind dropping $60 on Dom3. If they were $5 a pop I'd probably bite.

I can't be the only one that thinks the current price is too high, right?

rat123 wrote: I want to try these out to see what they're like and hear the music (I assume it's different?) but $20 is too much... and I'm someone that didn't mind dropping $60 on Dom3. If they were $5 a pop I'd probably bite.

I can't be the only one that thinks the current price is too high, right?

Umm price for both of them on Desura is 8 euros so it total it is 16(or little bit less since ,99 prices )... Not that you should buy them unless you are really curios or want to support developers as descriptions for both of them basically say "Buy Dominions III instead of these two unless you are really curious or want to support us"

It's $10USD for each

$20 for two games that are basically obsolete Illwinter history lessons for diehard Dom3 fans seems kind of high. I love Illwinter and want to support them but I'm not made of money

I'm not trying to make a big stink about it, I just wanted someone to throw it out there that the price is kind of high. If people disagree then maybe I'll change my opinion and buy them. A 50% off sale would be nice though, and could maybe draw some attention to Dom4

Edited by: rat123

Dominions 1:
orders possible: attack commanders/magic users, fire commanders/magic users.
unrest was different, turmoil scale caused unrest. Patrolling didnt kill much population so overtaxing was a good choice
research was per mage so a lot of micromanaging there
a mage searching magic sites didnt mark the province so you didnt know whether you searched or not
interface graphics were different (i like those stylr menus)
battle was in a 2D environement
golden naga pretender

dominions 2
got a distribuitor (shrapnel)
major interfase improvement
searching magic sites leve colored marks
no longer possible attack commanders or magic users
mod making (i dont know if it was possible in 1)
research bars
battle 3D graphics (is this needed?)
more nations units, etc
nathion themes

dominions 3
3 eras and no more themes
awakening mechanic
random magic narrowed, then nations have more character, before you had access to every path of magic
unique spells for certain nations
random map generator
more nations/units
scale of wealth and resources increased
monkey pd