Forums / Miscellaneous Discussions / Dominions 5

In one of my games, I had a giant sea serpent join my faction. I had already conquered all of the seas, so what use was it? Well, I gave it an amulet of water breathing so it could breathe outside the ocean and a flying carpet so it could fly across the world and terrorize everyone. Unfortunately, someone used a powerful spell "Sea of Ice" to prevent my units from leaving the sea and thus my sea serpent from entering it again.

This game simply has incredible depth. There are hundreds of spells in Dominions that do vastly different things. These are not copy paste spells of one another. There are spells that turn the sea to ice. There are spells that rain fire down upon armies in battle. There are spells that cause archers to shoot flaming arrows. There are spells teleport units across the map. There are spells that cause magic duels between mages. Almost anything you can imagine magic wise, you can do in Dominions. Your imagination is the limit in this game. Don't believe me about there being hundreds of spells all with varied effects? Check out the database for units, spells and items here; https://larzm42.github.io/dom5inspector/

The nations in this game are split into Early Age, Middle Age, and Late Age eras all with different factions. Each faction is vastly different from eachother. They are not copy pastes of one another with minor alterations. In middle age, for example, there is Ryleh, based on Cthulhu type lore. This faction is an underwater nation that has a unique mechanic allowing it to slowly drive units insane on the battlefield. There is Caelum, a nation of angels based on Persian mythology that swarms nations with flying units and air magic. There is a nation called Shinuyama is based on Japanese mythology which is populated by Oni Orcs and Goblins that have access to a wide variety of magic paths. There is a nation called Abysia that is populated by demon men which excel is fire magic. There is Ubar, based on Arabian mythology, that have Genie men immune to normal weapon and high access to powerful air and fire magic. There is a nation Eremor which does not produce units at all, but instead uses mages to conjure undead every turn and they have access to the most powerful death magic. Eremor also has a special "dominion" effect which causes neighboring nations to lose population every turn, making them a high priority target in multiplayer because of how well the scale into the late game. The list goes on for faction. Poison lizard men, underwater frog men, atlanteans, or even the simple nation of man; there are so many factions in this game that all play vastly different from eachother. The game was created by two university professors of history and mythology, and each faction is based on real world lore and mythology. 

The goal of the game is to claim X amount of thrones of ascension so you can ascend your "Pretender God" to godhood before the other players. Or you can just wipe everyone off the map, of course. When you begin the game, you create a pretender god from 20ish different chassis' (all different selections based on nations, there are easy 100-150+ different choices) and you assign them scales (basically balancing econ) and magic paths the gods themselves have access to, plus a "bless" which allows "sacred" units to have a wide variety of different options. One bless might cause your units to be doubled in size and regen while they fight. Another might give them fire resistance and ice resistance. Another causes them to enrage after killing a unit. There are TONS of different bless ideas you can mix and match. Battles in this game are scripted. Meaning, you tell your mages what to cast before the battle. You set the position of your units and tell them to attack backline, hold the line, or whatever else. Battles are not based on a % dice roll, but instead your ability to foresee how the battle will go, unit positioning, and your ability to use magic in creative ways.

How does the multiplayer work in this game? Well, you set them up through community discord channels (don't worry, the community is large and you can even set up your own inhouse games easily). Usually games consist of 10-20 players and the turn times range from 24 hours to 48 hours per turn. 

This is the best discord to find games: https://discord.gg/ej4Q7amK

This is the best discord to ask questions and learn the game: https://discord.gg/Kdfumtav

Here is a review by someone else of the game that might help sway some opinions for those who don't want to read about it: https://youtu.be/DgWu4i5cZxY

This guys youtube channel is the best resource for learning the game; https://www.youtube.com/c/LucidTactics

I would highly recommend this game to any VU fan. The 1 turn an hour on VU really limits to competitive viability of the game and makes 50% of skill your activity unless you want to hurt your real life. I am sorry, you can't play VU at peak performance without hurting your real life. 1 turn a day is much easier to manage. If you like magic in VU, you will be floored with the options in Dominions 5. There are no cheaters ruining every era in Dominions 5. Your performance in this game is not based on your kingdom, but your use of diplomacy and skill, and your creative use of magic and blesses. If you are looking for a game like VU but with much greater depth, this is the game for you. You can PM me on Discord for more information if you want.

Here are some example of the depth of magic in this game:

I'm really not just suggesting this because it's a random strategy game I find fun. I generated similar discussion about VU in one of the Dominions 5 discords; some people asked if VU was a derivative of the original "Utopia" game and talked about how they started off playing playing that game and eventually moved to Dominions. There is a very clear crossover and similarity between Utopia/VU and Dominions. Dominions is a passion project by two university professors. They had to be begged to even release it to the public. It is a very very good game that still gets updates and is very popular compared to VU (although still not popular in general).

I also see what you're saying Dark Spawn. However, VU is pay to win (even if it's frowned upon by the community) and I really think a lot of people who claim they don't buy BTs actually do. Also, activity being a large portion of a players performance rather than skill itself is a problem even if you can still contribute. Dom5 lets you play at optimal performance while living your life normally without questioning if someone is paying to win or cheating.