User:Matryx/Guides/Dominions 3 Newbie Game

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 This is not a guide on how to play R'lyeh. This is a novice's introduction to the game as a whole aimed at other people who are unfamiliar with the game itself. As such, tactics will be questionable and may miss things that the author was unaware about.
Also - be aware that there may be inaccuracies in this document which were clarified and corrected by other people in the original thread as the game went on.

First Update: Apr 01, 2008
Last Update: Jun 13, 2008


Dominions 3 is the latest of a series of games by Illwinter Game Design.
The game is about a collection of deities (and mortals who see themselves as gods), awakening from their slumber, all vying for the power of true godhood by eliminating all other Pretender Gods. These Pretender Gods who are served by both loyal minions and subjugated populations will rend the world asunder in their battle for ascension.

The Game

Dominions 3 falls under the turn-based strategy genre, and could arguably be described as a 4x game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate). It sits quite snugly under a high-fantasy setting, with dragons and mages spitting fire around while armoured knights charge into battle wielding lucky swords and magical horns. The game is split into 3 main eras, with the Early Age having more powerful mages, and the Late Age having more might and less magic. Players will build troops to expand and conquer territory, deal and double-deal with each other, and ultimately eliminate one another in their quest for victory. Over 50 races, hundreds of spells, thousands of items and countless different types of units mean that each game ends up being completely different.

You can obtain the demo from the publisher and I highly recommend giving it a go. It restricts you to just a handful of the races from the EA and has other limitations, but it gives a good taster for the game.

The Races

The game itself draws heavily both from history, fiction and myths and legends as each of the races you can play draw upon their own mythos and fables. I'll provide a brief summary of the races available to the Early Age here, but it doesn't do the backstories in the manual justice - and it also doesn't cover the other two ages.

  • Arcoscephale - Based on Greece. An ancient human kingdom led by philosophers. Expect to see chariots (and flying Icarids)
  • Ermor - is basically Rome. Legionnaires and so forth.
  • Ulm - Conan the Barbarian. Enigma of Steel and all that jazz. Master crafters and stealthy barbarians.
  • Marverni - Druids and tribal chieftains. Think of Asterix and Celtic Gaul and you're most way there.
  • Sauromatia - Amazons through and through. They have units which take pride in cannibalism
  • T'ien Ch'i - Draws heavily on China and Daoism. You can see eastern influences throughout.
  • Mictlan - Based on Aztecs and virgin sacrifices. Gods that hunger for the blood of the pure.
  • Abysia - Less well defined source with this one. Generic devil worshiping cult with fire people and some middle-eastern influences.
  • Caelum - Originally pure fiction, but now draws somewhat upon Zoroastrian origins. Bird people living in icy mountain tops.
  • C'tis - Lizardmen. Imagine if Egypt used to be populated by Lizards, and that's pretty much what we have here. Chariots and death cults.
  • Pangaea - Mother nature at her finest. Woodland spirits and revelry with half-men/half-beasts.
  • Agartha - Troglodytes, Cave-men and giant worm-worshipping pale-skinned people.
  • Tir na n'Og - Fairy descended people. Very elusive.
  • Fomoria - Cursed malformed giants who lived in a bountiful land. Enemies of Tir na n'Og.
  • Vanheim - Humans living under the rule of the Vanir. Masters of illusion. Has sailors and Vikings.
  • Helheim - Vanir themselves, has valkyries and Vikings too, but no sailing.
  • Niefelheim - Giants of the cold land of eternal frost. Giant old hags too giving sorcerous advice.
  • Kailasa - Intelligent ape like people ruled by divine many-armed beings. Hindu influences.
  • Yomi - Influenced by Japanese myths, these are wild ugly pig-like demons with samurai backup.
  • Atlantis - First underwater race. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the tale of Atlantis.
  • Oceania - This is what you get if you take medieval mythos and transpose it underwater. Knights in pearl armour, riding seahorses etc.
  • R'lyeh - This era's incarnation of R'lyeh is taken quite heavily from D&D's nation of Aboleths. Giant sea dwelling fishlike things.
  • Lanka - Demonic apes. Bloodthirsty thugs with a penchant for subjugating intelligent apes.

What to expect

In this LP, you can expect to see the reports of how I played my race, although to keep myself competitive the updates will actually be delayed by approximately 2 in-game years (~24 turns). It will not affect the posting speed however, because it still takes the same amount of time to prepare a post and take the turn, just bear in mind that interaction from the readers as a result of this is going to be very limited.

I shall be supplying maps, screenshots, excerpts from the game and game mechanics, and video battle reports - all in an attempt to show how the game plays, as well as providing an insight into playing one of the less tradition races in the game. The game has turns set to 24 hours, so you can expect to see one update of this LP per day. Occasionally there will be more, but some of the players are in different time zones so I wouldn't bank on it!


Hopefully, these reports and explanations will catch the eye of prospective players. We always enjoy new blood in the games - and everyone in this particular game is a novice. There are plenty of short and sweet strategy guides for the various races over on the game's official forums but hopefully this will give a little insight into at least one view of a multiplayer game in practice. Please feel free to discuss and ask questions as things progress - I'll answer what I can and I'm sure others will try to help as well. There is also a SA discussion thread about Dominions 3, so if your question doesn't pertain to this game it might be more relevant there instead.

As an aside, since renaming of commanders is 'on' you're welcome to request a place in my servitude to die in my honour. The game duplicates commander names enough that it gets annoying by the end, but don't expect to be added anytime soon because of the turn delay.

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