How does it compare to Dominions 3?

[pplr1]

Hi,

I just wanted to ask how this game (Dominions 4) compared to Dominions 3. I have that one and enjoyed it for many hours.

I see there is a new pantheon thing where a team of gods in this game can win together. What other things are different about this game compared to 3?

[meglobob1]

Dominions 5 is out on the 27th November, perhaps consider that?

Dom 4 is better in alot of ways then Dom 3 but not in everything and Dom 5 looks like again there will be many new features making it even more enjoyable.

If you want to start playing Dominions again, I would buy Dom 5 on the 27th Nov, day 1 and enjoy the 3-5 years gameplay you will get from it, it will be a blast!

[Smiling Spectre]

Every Dominion game, starting from D2, is mostly "upgrade" of previous version, with some rebalance and changed features. But D2, D3, D4 and now D5 looks very similar and plays very similar, except that every new part have more assets (nations, spells, items...) and changed some mechanics. Part 5 will have simultaneous turns in battle, for example.

[Mormacil]

Dom4 has an overhaul of the pretenders adding dozens of new 'Monster' pretenders which generaly have 1-2 paths and limited item slots. Think of a giant boar or snake.

Several new nations. Xibalba is a nation of blind bats based on Mayan myths. Nazca is more Incan, expensive powerful mummies and cheap human and Caelian troops. Theredos is Greek Atlantis, spectres of a sunken land with some coastal troops. Ys is a celtic nation of amphibian elves and their Bretonian human followers. It's a weird mix of Erui and Marverni. Those are all added post launch.

Beyond that several nations have a huge rebalance, Agartha, Ermor/Lemuria, Hinnom. GUI is much improved. Thrones victory makes for less drawn out games. New event system makes SP with the better AI a lot more fun. Modding is hugely expanded. Temperature now has an impact of movement, rivers freeze over, mountains snow in. Redrawn sprites and new battlefield commands.

Really a ton has been added.

[Cruxador]

The big-ticket thing in Dom4 is thrones. They're the new victory condition, and a lot better than needing to dominate the whole map. They have effects like magical sites, and also some that sites don't have (including scale changes, bless effects, and some weird things) and can trigger events. Events as a general thing are also bigger, there's lots of new ones and event chains and "story" events that give you results according to your actions (these can be disabled). The website has a list of changes to the game with Dom 4 (http://www.illwinter.com/dom4/improvements.html) and Mormacil did a good job summarizing the additions after release (aside from the event stuff I mentioned, I can't think of anything he forgot) but there'll be a whole new bevy of changes coming around with Dominions 5, so I'll echo the recommendation that you get that, if the difference in price is something you can handle. Aside from the differences in the game itself, having the latest game will also enable you to play multiplayer with the community, which adds a ton of value.