GA or Domination?

[MiniKiller]

I like Domination better but wish we could have modes like in STW where you control 60% of the map and you win. Factions survived and lived long great lives, but they never took over everything you know? GA is cool, but I wish the Catholic factions had different goals. They all are told to crusade to the same 3 provinces.

[Jeff]

I play Domination. I haven't tried GA yet because I am not too fond of being forced into doing things like Crusade or take some territories before I'm ready etc.. I'm sure it's probably a fun challenge and when I am sick of Domination I'll probably switch to GA.

[The_Emperor]

I prefer Domination games... My armies will rise to conquer the whole world http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[rasoforos]

domination is what i prefer as well. Its not only the nice feeling of an allmighty empire that you get by domination. It is also the fact that GA is so $^^$£^ bugged and badly made...

[Rocket_Boy]

I much prefer GA, I find that they give a nice structure to the game. I just find domination a little bit unsubtle and straightforeward for my tastes. Having said that the bugs in GA can frequently be a bit of a pisser. Sadly a fantastic idea somewhat diminished in its execution.

[Brutal DLX]

GA, as you don't need to play aggressively and conquer all the land. You can win the game even if you possessed only one region instead of 60+% of the map. And by the way, there's the lesser victory option for domination games, which kicks in at owning two thirds of all provinces.

[Ulug Beg]

There comes a point when you just know you are going to win, and that is the point I lose interest, so I play GA. However, I quite happily ignore the GA objectives if they don't suit me, and it would be nice if the GA objectives worked properly.

I've never palayed Domination in MTW, but would be tempted to do so if there were th partial domination objectives like in STW.

[Portuguese Rebel]

I play GA.

If after all the trouble i got to get the GA homelands straight for my portuguese mod i did not play GA i could never forgive myself... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Jabberwock]

I'm currently in my first GA game (English, Late, Expert), and despite the bad press GA gets, I admit I like it. Especially playing Late when all factions have access to advanced gear, and you're lumbered with a crappy monarch like Edward II. The reason I like it is the way it can force your hand into attacking before you are ready. In TD you can sit there picking off small factions until you are ready for the big AI guys. But the cumulative scoring means that you have to keep pegging back the better factions.
In my current game the Danes are rampaging through Eastern Europe, getting 3 points for every conquered province. Time for them to die http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pissed.gif

[Kristaps]

Quote[/b] (Rocket_Boy @ June 27 2003,04:23)]I much prefer GA, I find that they give a nice structure to the game. I just find domination a little bit unsubtle and straightforeward for my tastes. Having said that the bugs in GA can frequently be a bit of a pisser. Sadly a fantastic idea somewhat diminished in its execution.

People have been referring to the GA's being bugged. I was wondering what exactly do people mean by this statement?

I understand that the scoring might be unbalanced but that hardly is a bug issue: rather a design one.

Just wondering if anyone could provide an example of 'broken' GA's: I, for one, haven't encountered any yet.

Oh yes, in my opinion - the following is not a bug, but someone might have a different opinion.

Most catholic factions have crusade related GA's in the Early period. If, after a successful crusade, the player loses the conquered GA province (Palestine, for example), the player loses the points as well. It seems, that in order to keep the score, the player has to keep control of the province until the Early period ends.

[Brutal DLX]

That's true, Kristaps. Most people seem to have trouble understanding the scoring process. One should read the specific GA message carefully, and usually points are given only at the end of the respective timeframe, not as soon as you achieve the goal, which means you either have to strike late or you have to hold on to what you got to get the points.

[Kristaps]

Quote[/b] (Brutal DLX @ June 27 2003,10:50)]That's true, One should read the specific GA message carefully, and usually points are given only at the end of the respective timeframe, not as soon as you achieve the goal, which means you either have to strike late or you have to hold on to what you got to get the points.
Actually, in the case of crusades, the points are awarded as soon as one captures the target province (one gets a message that his brave crusaders have achieved the church sanctioned goal). However, if a few years down the road, the player loses the province, the points are taken away and (at least in my case) the former crusaders are assembled back into a crusade stack in the province where the quest originated from.

[Westland]

Citaat[/b] (Kristaps @ Juni 27 2003,13:57)]However, if a few years down the road, the player loses the province, the points are taken away and (at least in my case) the former crusaders are assembled back into a crusade stack in the province where the quest originated from.
Are you sure about this? After you've achieved your goal, the crusade is over and all the units are changed into regular troops. If you lose the province again, you can buy back the prisoners. But they should remain regulars and not crusaders.

[Brutal DLX]

Quote[/b] (Kristaps @ June 27 2003,19:57)]
Quote[/b] (Brutal DLX @ June 27 2003,10:50)]That's true, One should read the specific GA message carefully, and usually points are given only at the end of the respective timeframe, not as soon as you achieve the goal, which means you either have to strike late or you have to hold on to what you got to get the points.
Actually, in the case of crusades, the points are awarded as soon as one captures the target province (one gets a message that his brave crusaders have achieved the church sanctioned goal). However, if a few years down the road, the player loses the province, the points are taken away and (at least in my case) the former crusaders are assembled back into a crusade stack in the province where the quest originated from.
Heh, so in essence that means you have to hold the province till the end of the timeframe to keep your points, which isnt that different of what I said, hm?
Or are you stating that even after 1205 losing a crusade province will make you lose your points also? Because if so, then you're playing another game than I do. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[CeeBod]

Quote[/b] (Kristaps @ June 27 2003,10:38)]People have been referring to the GA's being bugged. I was wondering what exactly do people mean by this statement?
My first GA game (English, early) the scoring seemed to (mostly) work fine, but now I'm playing as the Elmoheads - and suddenly the scoring's gone completely to pot -

no faction received any points for homelands for the first couple of dates checked, and then suddenly the Spanish and Turkish factions received the right number of points, and nobody else did - So having reached about 1230, the Germans hold almost all of their homelands, they've taken 1 or 2 other provinces, and their total GA score to date is 0

Add to that the fact that a lot of the "one-offs" seem flawed - The Germans are also the only Catholic faction in my current game, to successfully crusade to a holy land province - they captured Edessa with a crusade, and have held it for ages now - why don't they have any points for it?

So that's what I mean by it being bugged personally http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif

[Brutal DLX]

Well, it's 1230 already, there are no points given anymore for crusades, though they should have gotten points for Edessa, if they held it in 1204-1205.
The other symptoms you described seem familiar to some v1.1 GA games I played. Are you playing onVI or did you mod anything? If not, then it seems the GA goals aren't as fixed as I thought, although my GA games have been fine since installing VI.

[Empress_Zoe]

Definately GA, I find once my empire gets too big, it seems to take forever to manage everything, and also i lose interest knowing i will win, GA is a lot harder in the sense that getting points to catch up can be a hell of a race near the end.

[Macedon]

I am never worried about winning or losing a game,just enjoing it.But in my experience,I've noticed completely diferent behavior of AI when playing GA or Dom...Try it yourself - play a campaign with a same faction in the two modes.

[bighairyman]

Domination all the way. all trembel(sp) under the might of the armies of the mighty Khan.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[ToranagaSama]

Never played GA, I guess since some of the bugs have been worked out I should give it a go. Next time I'm bored.