Dominions II

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Dominions II: The Ascension Wars
Developer(s) Illwinter
Publisher(s) Shrapnel Games
Latest version 2.16
Release date(s) November 13, 2003
Genre(s) Turn-based, Strategy, Fantasy
Mode(s) Single player, Multiplayer
Platform(s) PC (Windows / Linux)
PowerPC (Mac OS X / Linux)
Solaris
Media CD (1)

Dominions II: the Ascension Wars is the title of a computer game produced by Johan Karlsson and Kristoffer Osterman from Illwinter Game Design, and published by Shrapnel Games.

Contents

[edit] Type of game

Dominions II: The Ascension Wars is a 4X turn-based, computer strategy game. The players play the role of the god of one out of 17 different nations and battle each other for the dominance of a fantasy world. At the most basic level, Dominions II is similar to Risk: The world is divided into many provinces that change hands after a tactical battle. It is also similar to the Civilization (computer game). The players use armies of men and monsters to fight these battles.

[edit] Game planning and startup

The players and game host (who may also play) find each other through out-of-game channels and decide on game setup. These decisions include:

  • which player will play which nation
  • the map which will be used
  • the game patch version and any modifications (mods)
  • settings of adjustable game parameters, such as strength of independent forces, difficulty of magical research, and frequency of random events and magic sites
  • how frequently players will expect turns to be played
  • any house rules for the game

Each player then designs their pretender god. Each god-type costs design points which can be spent on the god's dominion properties, his/her magical abilities, or on the national castle type. The god's initial magic levels also determine the effect of the god's blessing, a special ability which enhances certain types of sacred troops. A god who wields powerful fire magic will enhance the attack skill of such troops and even set their weapons ablaze, whereas a god who focuses on nature magic will instead allow them to go berserk. It is possible to make a god who excels at magic and magical research but is physically weak, as well as a near-unkillable warrior-god with barely any magical powers at all. Dominion effects are adjusted by using design points to 'tilt' 6 scales (graphically 6 balance scales), which represent the nature of the god which becomes manifest in territory under his dominion. The 6 scales are Order/Turmoil, Productivity/Sloth, Heat/Cold, Growth/Death, Luck/Misfortune, and Magic/Drain.

Players each send the file with their pretender design to the host, who starts the game.

[edit] Game phases

Each turn of the game is split into two phases:

[edit] The planning phase

Dominions2: the strategic map
Enlarge
Dominions2: the strategic map

Dominions2: Tactical battle
Enlarge
Dominions2: Tactical battle

Each player's turn is a process of assessing the apparent opportunities and risks, and acting to advance your plans for world domination. Recruiting of new units, sending of messages to other players, reviewing your provinces' tax and unrest levels, and directing of magic research, are all ways of directing the nation overall.

Players also get to give specific orders to each commander at the strategic level, such as attacking enemy territory (with any troops under their command), casting a ritual magic spell or forging a magic item, assassinating an enemy commander while hiding in enemy domain, or constructing buildings (temple, laboratory, or castle). Planning for combat involves organizing troops under commanders and issuing up to five tactical battle instructions (such as magic spells to cast) to the commanders, and simpler orders to troop squads. Each commander can control up to 5 squads and his leadership skills limit the total and kinds of troops he can command. Leading magical, undead, or demonic troops requires appropriate magical skills. Troops and commanders are organized and a simple overhead-view grid can be used to place them in specific starting locations for combat.

Once all orders are set, the player sends his turn-file by email or by TCP/IP-connection to the host-computer.

[edit] The execution phase

The host-computer calculates the results of all battles and random events simultaneously and sends the result-files back to the players. The players can now view the results of last turn's orders and events, watch the replays of the battles and proceed with the planning phase of the next turn.

[edit] Special features

Dominions II is most fun to play against other human opponents, but also has acceptable AI for single players. The graphical representations of each unit (monster, warrior,..) are comprised only of 2 bitmaps, which limits eye-candy appeal and results in a feel similar to a miniatures wargame. What makes the game stand out from other, more graphically developed products is its immense depth:

There are over 1000 different unit types, all defined by different statistics, that can participate in combat. Mixing them with over 500 spells and over 300 magic items offers endless variations of army composition, tactics and counter-tactics and results in a very high replay value.

Another notable feature of Dominions II is the rich atmosphere of the written descriptions for each unit, spell, artifact and nation. Unlike other games of this genre, Dominions is based on an impressive variety of traditional or historical myths - and not just more Orcs & Elves.

Supply and morale are modeled in the game world and play an important role. Dominion (how much a province believes in your god versus another player's) affects not only combat morale but also the local settings of the province such as climate, richness, luck/bad events or available supply. Strategic preaching (preferably using stealthy priests deep in enemy territory) can not only shift the outcome of future battles; it can allow an "theological" bloodless victory: if a player loses his dominion in all his provinces, he also loses the game, however mighty his armies may be.

The 17 playable nations don't just differ in the statistics of their recruitable troop types; different tactics like guerilla warfare, assassination, magical supremacy and amphibious / flying / undead armies offer endless variations with the different forms of the available gods. Each nation and theme also have a set of national heroes, which may appear and volunteer to serve as leaders as the game progresses, unless your nation is unlucky.

Different maps are available as well as (player-made) mods. Much of the game is customizable with the help of a simple text editor and paint program.

[edit] Tactics

Unlike many other pure TBS and 4X games, Dominions allows you to make some tactical decisions for your units in battle. This is accomplished in the ability to set the combat behaviour of each of your combat units (a unit being a grouping of troops under one commander) ahead of time, so that when battle is processed, your troops will follow the orders you have given them. This adds a whole additional level of play to the game, because decisions players make on the strategic level can then be translated later into their tactical plans.

The kinds of tactical commands include whether to attack, delay an attack, retreat, fire missile weapons, use melee weapons, which kind of enemy to target, etc. For commanders, even more control is possible. You can tell them exactly what spells to cast, or exactly how long to wait before performing another kind of action.

[edit] Nations

There are seventeen playable nations, each of which has its own selection of troops, commanders, priests and mages. Many nations also have access to unique spells or choices of Pretender, as well as various abilities such as a bonus to castle defense, dominion which spreads death and decay, and more. Many nations may be found in several variants, known as themes, each of which represents a different historical era or alternate timeline. For example, the default form of Ermor is a human empire on the brink of perdition. Ermor's two alternate themes (which may be interpreted as the future of default Ermor), Ashen Empire and Soul Gate, are both wholly undead nations with radically different units and abilities.

[edit] Abysia

Abysia is a parched wasteland inhabited by large, lava-based humanoids. They radiate heat, which fatigues their enemies and can set them on fire. They have powerful fire and blood magic, and prefer hot provinces. Abysian infantry is strong and heavily armored, but Abysia commands no native mounted troops. Abysia's warlocks add some variety to the nation's troop and commander roster by selectively cross-breeding Abysians, humans, and demons. Abysia may also recruit assassins.

[edit] Atlantis

A nation very loosely based on the Atlanteans described by Plato. Their troops are either marine or amphibious, and their mages proficient in all forms of magic, particularly water. Atlantis is one of the two nations that may build castles underwater.

[edit] Pythium

Based on Byzantium, these humans combine effective troops and extremely powerful, but expensive mage-priests. Pythium offers recruitable "communicants" (which lend their strength to battlefield mages, enhancing their power), hydra monsters, assassins, one-shot gladiators and very good spear-throwing infantry. It lacks affordable cavalry, substitutes inferior slingers for archers, and has one of the worst militias (province defense) in the game.

[edit] Man

A human nation with longbows, knights, witches and rabble-rousing bards, loosely based on Celtic mythology.

[edit] Ulm

Uses earth magic with the heavily armoured human troops and great castle-siegers/protectors. Steel is preferred over casting spells, and the master smiths produce items at a discount. Having the same name as a German city, this nation could be loosely based on medieval Germany, which is also famous for armor along with other forge knowledge.

[edit] Ulm Black Forest Theme

A theme loosely modeled on medieval Transylvania. Black Forest Ulm is forced to take both death and misfortune scales (receiving full point compensation for these scales, as though they were voluntary), and has somewhat inferior troops and mages. Counterbalancing this is Black Forest Ulm's ability to easily summon immortal, flying vampire counts without having to research the summoning spell.

[edit] Caelum

A nation of winged humans ruled by a magical oligarchy, which institutes a rigid caste system. Caelians dwell in cold regions, and many of their troops wear magical ice armor which hardens in colder climes. Caelum employs the game's most cost-effective mages (albeit not the most versatile), and wields both air and water magic. Ground-based Caelian armies typically consist of socially outcast "wingless" (born indistinguishable from humans), temple guards (holy warriors who have torn off their own wings as a sign of loyalty), and mammoths.

[edit] C'tis

An ancient civilization of lizardmen combining elements from both ancient Egypt and Robert E. Howard's Stygia. C'tis boasts powerful mages of death and nature, skeleton-summoning assassins and, under one theme, a dominion that causes disease.

[edit] Arcoscephale

An ancient human kingdom modeled on Ancient Greece, with strong astral and elemental magic. A true magic nation, "Arco" can build magic laboratories for less gold then other nations. The famous Priestesses from Arco have the unique ability to heal battle afflictions and even diseases. Arcos can recruit several variants of spear-wielding hoplites supported by primitve cavalry, war elephants and chariots.

[edit] Ermor

A decadent human empire in its twilight years, based on the declining Roman Empire. Ermor's thaumaturges learnt the secrets of death magic from the sauromancers of C'tis, but made irresponsible use of these powers and thereby nearly brought about the empire's downfall.

[edit] Marignon

A fanatical human nation roughly based on medieval France during the Inquisition. Sacred Flagellants and knights can be blessed by powerful priests, who are also masters of fire magic and preach very effective against enemy faith. Marignon can cause unrest in enemy lands with its spy and kill enemy leaders with its assassins, while its crossbowmen shoot armor-piercing bolts against invading armies.

[edit] Pangaea

A nature nation, consisting of halfmen from Greek mythology like Pans and Maenads. All troops of Pangea can heal their own battle afflictions, and most units can employ stealth tactics.

[edit] Vanheim

A nation of humans, vanir, and dwarven smiths inspired by Norse mythology. Vanir commanders can sail with troops across ocean provinces to attack at unexpected coastal regions in keeping with their viking inspired theme.

[edit] Jotunheim

Another nation inspired by Norse mythology. The Jotun are a race of frost giants, adept at the magics of blood, nature, and water. Jotunheim's giants are supported by stealthy vættir. Jotun militia provide the strongest province defense of all nations.

[edit] R'lyeh

An amphibious race from a distant star, based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. R'lyeh's armies consist of powerful astral mages and telepaths, enslaved Atlanteans, half-human hybrids, and a wide range of bizarre creatures summoned from "the void". R'lyeh may construct castles underwater.

[edit] T'ien Ch'i

A human nation based on medieval China. They field a variety of footsoldiers and archers, as well as having horse archers and cavalry. Their casters wield a very broad range of magic, with a moderate emphasis on water spells. T'ien Ch'i is widely considered to be a weak nation, with only average troops and inadequate mages. They are especially vulnerable to the astral duel spell.

[edit] Mictlan

Aztec-like humans with archaic troops but powerful blood magic. Its commanders conscript slaves into its armies.

[edit] Machaka

A human kingdom modeled on African tribes. Machaka's elite troops ride giant spiders. Similarly, Machaka's more powerful sorcerors turn into giant spiders when injured, an ability inherited from an ancient, dead god from whom these mages are descended.

[edit] Hardware Requirement (minimum)

  • 64 MB Ram, 250 MB disk space
  • OpenGL accelerated graphics card (geforce or equivalent is recommended).

[edit] Supported Operating Systems

All Versions of the game are on the same CD-Rom

[edit] Similar (computer) games

  • Dominions Priests, Prophets, & Pretenders. 2002 game, Dominions II is the sequel to it.
  • Dominions 3: The Awakening is the successor of Dominions II and was published by Shrapnelgames in October 2006

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/o/m/Dominions_II_635c.html"
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