Oeridia Dom4 Version (1225 prov) Thread - Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension

For people wanting a really big map to test the game, I've added mountain passes and rivers to my old Oeridia map (and fixed a bunch of missing connexions in the same move).
The normal version is without all the special content Dom3 version had but there are still large provinces for cities and many sites on most magical areas + a few thrones placed in the most special places ; also provinces with less than 4 neighbours should be nostart - not completely sure I checked all -).
The adventure version include sites and set populations on many cities, and many scripted encounters.

Download here : Wotld-ladeadly.info (include normal and Adventure Version map files)
Map file without special encounters here ; map file for adventure version here.

(10/8/2013 changed the map file to fix some errors, made straits require river crossing and set saildist to 3)
(10/13/2013 version 4.3 and 4.3B )
(10/15/2013 version 4.4 and 4.4B, fix start positions and some connexions, also reposted oeridia.tga as some fronteers hadn't the good colors )
(10/31/2013 version 4.41B, no change to normal version, fix some errors in adventure map)

Edited by: LeTwan

To be honest, this map is way too big to be used in my opinion, but I think you deserve praise for the scale of what you have done, regardless of if it would be useful to me.

single age mod all nations game on this map for the win

edit:

i like the map+have played it in Dom 3.

Edited by: Mardagg77

Excellent! This map was unplayable in Dom3 due to the commander and unit limits, but those have been addressed in Dom4 and this is actually big enough to run a game of two or three ages or run as a sandbox. Especially with thrones, since if there are enough thrones and the requirements for win aren't too high, then it could come down to a bunch of regional wars and whoever gathered enough thrones to win in one map area would be able to do so without fighting everyone else.

Thanks for this!

Neat, I like playing around with ginormous maps.

Yeah I loved this map for Dom3. As Edi said it wasnt really playable unless you went 25% money/supply/resources. (and of course no freespawn nations) to stay under the unit limit.

Now that those limits are much higher, and with thrones, its surely playable. The Single Age mod will be ALOT of fun on this map for a massive game.

The limits are somewhat higher than in Dom3, but what makes the real difference is the overpopulation mechanic. If the game hits the limits, it will randomly kill off a few thousand of the most common units around (such as maenads, dreamers, dispossessed spirits and various longdead). Does the same for the most common commanders too, I imagine.

This makes it possible for a large game can keep running indefinitely, but it will be slow going even so if it gets to the stage where the overpopulation sequence is engaged in turn resolution.

Interesting!

Thanks!

Thanks for this huge piece of fun!

I am playing it right now - middle ages Ulm, all factions are invited to the party. Great fun. Turn times are tough though

A couple of bugs I recall from playing this in a big game on Somethingawful.

I think 421 is a forest? I think the name is silver wood.
284 should be sea, not mountain, also probably not connected to 351.
150 is deep sea and waste.
203 is farm and sea.
244 is waste and sea.

I also think one of the gateway links was different from what the corner map indicated, although I took a once over glancing at them and I didn't see anything wrong so perhaps you fixed it.

Fill it with little minimal-growth nations and some major AIs. Then it plays like a really big-map RPG.
A great addition. Thanks for the update

It is almost a maximum map, with almost the maximum number of nations it only makes it a "medium" sized game by Dom4 definitions

Thanks for the report.
I had already fixed all the gateways and cave connexions I think. Don't find any error.
I don't know if multi-terrains in seas still create problems (in dom4 editor it looks like only sea + swamp and sea + freshwater aren't allowed so I guess everything else work) but in case I removed them for version 4.2 (+ made 421 a forest and fixed 284).
Also made island travel more consistent : crossing straits require river crossing except if one of the provinces has a port ; finally I've set saildist to 3 so sailing has about the same range as most naval roads (should create lots of surprises).
(DL new map file)

Yes, they do. Sea provinces should always be only sea, or deep sea (which includes the basic sea).

They should remove the possibility from editor if it's the case, it's strange to have deactivated it for swamps but not other terrains.

Dammit, I've been spending the last day working on this and fixing all the wrong connections. Now you beat me to it!

However, what this map really needs is a mapping mod command that prevents port connections from functioning when the seas are frozen.

Version 4.3 : just added a few connexions through subterranean rivers that were missing

Version 4.3B (Oeridia Adventure Version) :
temperature sites for the extremely hot or cold regions, the return of volcanoes
many cities get special sites and set populations according to their importance in the world of Greyhawk, a few get forts
about 30 special encounters including the Council of the Eight, Zuggtmoy in the Temple of Elemental Evil, Iuz, the drow realm of Lolth (actually they are more Machakans than drows in this version*), their illithids neighbors, the lich council of the Great Kingdom, Vecna in her crypt, etc...

* the next is likely to come with a mod to include that sort of things and change poptypes.

The two versions are included in main download.
Download version 4.3B map file only.

Edited by: LeTwan

Thanks!
I really appreciate your work.
Gonna try it our right away.

----

Well, well, well ... I just started up a new game MA Marignon and fun ensured (Adventure map).

I got #450 Zrath Hills as starting position - in the Southern Underworld. AND i got 3 Drow Sorceress and a Champion of Lolth (gonna name him Zaknafein), all with some gear, gems and slaves and followers ... gotta say ... I LOVE IT

But I am not sure if its WAD.

Edited by: LordNimrod

Lol, I guess I forgot to make that province nostart. Thanks for the report.

@LordNimrod you would like the Chaos games I do on my dominions servers. Thats one of the things those do. Of course, to be fair it also does it to everyone else including the indepents next to you

I really like the unconventional start, but HELL its difficult to get out of the underworld. almost no supplies and tough fights all the way.

Edited by: LordNimrod

After my current SP AAR game (feel free to comment in the thread linked in the signature), I am thinking about giving a try to such a big map, using a few mod nations to populate the world. I would like to know, for those who have tried Oeridia or another one:
- which settings did you use? I am thinking max heroes, strong independents, max thrones (how to fine-tune that to prevent the leading AI from winning at the other end of the map before I can get into a huge war with it?). Also, which nations? I guess I would put normal nations on Master or Mighty and mod nations one rank below, as I fear mod nations might pack more punch ; also thinking on going the disciple game way, with my nation on its own (I need a nation that can use a disciple game pretender setup though).
- what are the physics of XXL games like that? I guess globals, even in SP, get very hard to cast due to the competition (on the other hand, even one turn of Arcane Nexus might be enough to give you game-winning advantage). With so many thrones, maybe you do not need to focus on bless for the endgame, your conquests will provide some bless?
- specifically for Oeridia, what are your comments about the map, strategically speaking? (eg starting in the underworld is tricky)

Ideas?

XXL games are great for people who need to get things done. Doing chores, check on the kids, get some work done, read a book, etc etc. Because right off the bat the hosting takes too long to sit and wait for the results.

The dominions game considers 20 provinces per player to be a "Large" game. But that still sets the feeling for "prepare for WAR on all sides" right away.
XXL games that are not purposely filled up with other nations can be fun to RPG. You can build your empire. Be surprised at finding a neighbor. Actually try to co-exist, then break into war, and even complete that war before the surprise of finding another neighbor. It becomes fun to use stealth or flight or spells to explore the map.

If you do feel you want to pepper the map with other nations to conquer but not really challenges then lots of "almost nations" can be fun. They are AI with a fort and all. But no name, no flag, just default units. For a surprise you might add a totally random unit as a "pretender" which can be fun (random as in ANY unit. An archer, a mantis, a goat, etc).

Thanks for that! But I don't understand "almost nations"? Is that an existing mod? I did not know you could do nations without names. Regards.

On a very large map I guess scouts and magical scrying get even more important? You don't want to lose the world because you failed to spot the danger on time.

Its fun to RPG. A scout running into your chambers saying "My Lord, we have discovered another Empire covering multiple provinces. It might even rival our own! They are a strange people who worship a strange god!". Not the same as the usual games of "OK we found one of the other players"

The "almost nations" in Dom3 were one of my irritations to the devs I think. Empty nation slots meant to be filled by modding or be the devs at a later time. Junk or default units were there almost by accident. Half finished units or flags. It was fun to turn them on with no modding to watch them try to compete with the big boys even though they had no elites or abilities. Sometimes there were a surprise if they lucked onto the right magic sites early on but generally they were just a fun trinket to stumble onto to get a castle from. I havent tried it yet in Dom4. They might have "fixed" that (and all my other fun things that werent really supposed to work like SingleAge). OR (hopefully) they made it even more interesting.

If I get my Chaos program caught up for Dom4 then I might start a daily run of an Oeridia_Chaos.map for download from the Dom4Minions server which sprinkles surprises like that all over

Edited by: gp1628