Dominions. Version History


Version 1.17
This is a new version that removes the need for a cd-key.

Changes
* No cd-key required
* New icon for pulse audio on Linux


Version 1.16
This is a new version made for release on Desura. It features support for new hardware and no longer requires a CD to get battle music. There are no patches any longer, if you want this new version you must use Desura. Contact Illwinter to get a Desura code if you own an ancient copy of this game and want it updated.

New Features / Bug fixes
* Stability improvements
* New sound & graphics system on Linux
* 64-bit linux version
* CD not required for music any longer


Version 1.15
This a small bug fix release. Save files are compatible with version 1.14. Make sure everyone in pbem games use the same version or the battle replays will be incorrect.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* Powerful mages are more conservative with their magic gem spending.

Bug fixes
* 'Out of squad nbr' bug fixed.
* Unit stats no longer pop up during turn generation (bug introduced in version 1.14).


Version 1.14
This a bug fix release. Most importantly the network for OS X now works properly and the black screen problem for Windows XP and Windows 2000 should be gone. Save files are compatible with version 1.13.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* New map command '#seathreshold'
* More '#neighbour' commands per map file. New limit is 1500.
* More '#noneighbour' commands per map file. New limit is 1000.

Bug fixes
* Possible to have more units in a single battle without game crashing.
* Ghost ship armada had problems with forts.
* '--hosttime' switch fixed.
* Minor changes in some spell descriptions.
* Item restrictions were not always (e.g. harpies) enforced properly.
* Magic Duel was broken.

Linux specific changes
* Mousewheel now works with DGA too (fullscreen).
* Timer speed should now be correct even for modified kernels like the one used in Gentoo.

OS X specific changes
* Delete and Backspace works properly now.
* Network also works properly now.
* Arrow keys should work properly during battle replay.

Windows specific changes
* Network should be more reliable in Windows XP now.
* New graphics library, SDL, more XP and 2000 friendly.
* Use ctrl-tab to switch between window and fullscreen modes.


Version 1.13
This version is the first one available for the Power PC architecture. It also contains a few bug fixes and game balance fixes. Save files are compatible with version 1.12.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* Bag of Winds creates one Lesser Air Elemental at the start of a battle and no more

Bug fixes
* Wall Shaker can be used to cast panic as it was supposed to
* #cannotwin didn't work for Abysia in scenarios
* Mists of Deception could cause the game to crash during turn generation
* Temporary files were not always removed properly

Linux specific changes
* Available for Power PC too

OS X specific changes
* First version for this OS


Version 1.12
This update fixes a serious bug introduced in version 1.11. Save files are fully compatible with version 1.11.

Bug fixes
* Huge memory leak when using non default map modes fixed
* You no longer risk losing wished for power after a battle


Version 1.11
This update fixes some newly discovered bugs and adds a few new features. Older versions of Dominions will not be able to use save files from version 1.11. This means that everyone must upgrade at the same time in multiplayer games..

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* One new random event
* Command line option to set volume of click sound
* Spell AI is less likely to override scripted item spells

Bug fixes
* Penetration bonus from magic items and high skill usually didn't work
* Earth power reinvigorated too much
* Charge body didn't expire
* Astral shield was not better for highly skilled astral mages
* Phantasmal attack didn't work
* Not quitting between playing and creating a new game could cause crash Dominions to crash
* Quitting via the escape key now disconnects from multiplayer game server in a proper way
* Level two unholy priests got too few zombies when reanimating
* Casting Seeking Arrow at a commander with arrow protection could crash the game.
* Commander overloading by adding/removing magic items is no longer possible
* Residual flying abilities from adding/removing magic items are no longer present

Linux specific changes
* Improved sound performance


Version 1.10
This is a minor update which mostly consists of some convenience features for Linux users and a few minor bug fixes. Save files are compatible with version 1.09.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* Two new poptypes for scenario creation

Bug fixes
* Curse did not always work properly... actually it almost always didn't work at all
* The generation of a military strength report during siege might crash the game in some rare circumstances
* Superstition unluck event can no longer affect your enemies' dominion

Linux specific changes
* Support for scroll wheel mouses (this will probably work on Solaris too)
* Support for ESD and aRts (sound)


Version 1.09
This version of Dominions has got some new features as well as a few bug fixes. The save file format has also been updated, meaning that version<=1.08 games cannot read game files created on a version 1.09 game. For multiplayer games this means that everyone must upgrade at the same time.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* "#weapon Nothing" can be used in mns files to make a monster without even a fist to attack with.
* Warning for PbEM turn generation when everyone hasn't played their turn yet
* New magic items, including some that makes it easier to get under water.
* Blood magic has got more spells that have effect depending on casters level.
* Elementals have got minor alterations to their stats.
* New magic coastal sites.
* New equipment restrictions, e.g. Father Illearth can no longer wear boots.
* New independent underwater province
* Spell King of Elemental Fire changed to Court of Flames
* Storm staff changed to research lvl 6

Bug fixes
* Monsters larger than 50x50 pixels could crash Dominions when they burned.
* Minotaur Lord encumbrance changed from 6 to 3
* In some rare circumstances it could be impossible to setup commander positions for Abysia.
* #coldblood in mns files were falsely parsed as #cold
* The werewolf amulet can now actually turn people into werewolves.
* Some tower shields could be used by mounted commanders
* Fire elementals went crazy in version 1.08 and got an 20 times more effective fireshield than they were supposed to. This has now been fixed.
* Minor stability improvements.
* Charge body never expired
* Wrath of the sepulchre fear spells didn't work properly

Windows specific changes
* Support for mouse wheel


Version 1.08
This version of Dominions has got some new features as well as a few bug fixes. The save file format has also been updated, meaning that version<=1.07 games cannot read game files created on a version 1.08 game. For multiplayer games this means that everyone must upgrade at the same time.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* Inanimate units are no longer affected by regeneration items
* Sphinx costs 100 design points
* Monolith costs 40 design points
* #addsite scenario command is no longer case sensitive (regarding site name)
* One new god and larger nagas
* 3 new independent provinces (rare ones)
* 7 new unique magic items for independents
* Variable fear strength, also cummulative with magic item fear
* Awe strength is displayed and is now cummulative with magic item awe
* Manikins and Mandragoras are immune to poison
* Minor changes to some magic items
* Max number of given start positions in a scenarion increased from 25 to 100
* C'tis High Priest cost changed from 180 to 120 gold.
* Minor improvments to spell AI.

Bug Fixes
* No longer possible to get castle info on provinces you aren't supposed to see
* A few scenario and map fixes
* Routing while berserk no longer gets -4 def printed on defense info
* Money is no longer lost when deleting messages with money in them
* A few cases that could result in a bad battle replay has been fixed
* Incorrect error message when trying to start Dominions without an X-server in Linux/Solaris
* Units without upkeep cost no longer deserts when the money runs dry
* Routing immobiles no longer suffers from -4 def. penalty
* No longer possible to speed up fort construction with several workers
* Playing a new game without quitting could result in old stuff remaining on the map (like extra provinces)
* Celebrant of the faith stole all income in the province he appeared in. Thanks Jacques!
* Mists of Deception didn't work at all


Version 1.07
This release fixes most known bugs at this point as well as adding a few new features. The save format of version 1.07 is compatible with version 1.06 but battles may be replayed incorrectly if they were generated by another version of Dominions than whatever version they are viewed on. For multiplayer games it is recommended that everyone uses the same version, especially since there is one new order in version 1.07 (move & patrol) that will not be executed if the host runs version 1.06. Before upgrading, please note that there is no demo for version 1.07 of Dominions.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* New command for scenario creation, #poptype
* One new magic site
* Being pushed back into a castle province will generate a battle for the pushed army
* New order, Move & Patrol to be used when moving to a castle province without entering the castle
* Demolish fort/lab has been moved to the construction submenu
* New hero for R'lyeh
* Manuals have been updated
* Minor AI improvements
* Void Lurker +30 HP.
* Pressing 's' also displays an army-size-bar for the garrison

Bug Fixes
* 'out of buttons' bug fixed. Occured when one province had thousands of troops in the castle garrison.
* Army rout doesn't result in -4 def for berserks
* Summon Storm Power did not work
* Overwater AIs can no longer buy defense under water
* '... bad owner' bug fixed
* Fireeye gem generation was broken
* Spelling errors, thanks Lyno and Randall!
* Scorelist armysize no longer wraps around for absurdly huge armies


Version 1.06
This update to Dominions is mostly an anti-cheat update. All files are now created with a checksum that prevents dishonest players from editing them with a hex-editor. Also the intergity of files can be checked from the command line in order to make automatic host programs more feasible. There has also been some gameplay improvements, bug fixes, a few new gods and some new magic items. Files created with version 1.06 cannot be used with older versions of Dominions and gods created on older versions cannot be used with version 1.06. For multiplayer games this means that everyone must upgrade to version 1.06 at the same time.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* Maenads are now very poor at patrolling.
* Kill-Unrest patrolling is more random than before.
* Starting positions can be randomized on fixed position maps
* Horror marked commanders can be spontaneously attacked by horrors
* Spell AI doesn't waste magic gems on overkills
* Caleum storm guard and storm general can fly during storm
* New magic items
* New pretender gods
* Sphinx/Oracle/Statue are now restricted to some nations.
* Transfer units to a new squad doesn't reset order and position
* Ba'al Chozron has got fire magic instead of astral magic.
* Valkyrie cost 60 gold (old price 40 gold)
* Einhere costs 20 gold (old price 25 gold)
* Abysia's Salamander get less fatigued when attacking
* Larger armies have a greater chance of pushing back any meeting smaller armies.
* New colors for dominion. Is much better with the new map color scheme.
* Battle summaries
* Check sum for all turn files to prevent cheating
* Improved AI magic item useage
* End turn is key 'e', not 'q'
* Improved effect for Hellpower
* Demons have now got names form Abysia instead of Ermor
* Many new names
* Length of weapons is shown in the forge
* Pressing 'n' goes to first to next free commander in the current province.
* Fire shield is increased in effect for powerful fire mages
* Astral shield is increased in effect for powerful astral mages
* Regeneration is increased in effect for nature mages
* Wish understands more words
* New command line options that might be useful for an automatic e-mail host program.
* Caelum gets 5 more archers from the start.

Bug Fixes
* Random event generation was broken for network games
* Seraphine no longer loses her sneaking ability when she becomes a prophet.
* No longer possible to give units to merc commanders.
* Northern star no longer gives astral magic to non astral mages.
* Abysia's supplies is no longer affected by the death scale
* Starting two Dominions at the same time works ok now
* Improved spell AI
* Improved network stability
* Some language/description bugs removed
* Shift-I removed
* Unit2com inconsistency bug fixed
* Everything even remotely useful (for cheating) from shift-D has been removed
* Game works properly no matter how many troops you have in your garrison
* Fire closest did not work against local defense and some other troops as well.
* Dominions crashed when there was too many map files.

Linux Specific Fixes
* Linux local installation bug removed (can't open mouse.trs)

Windows Specific Fixes
* Key repeat rate now work on strange win2k computer too
* Allegro library update, unknown effects...


Version 1.05
Many bugs are fixed in this version and Dominions is now quite stable. Most new features are user interface enhancements to reduce the number of mouse clicks needed to get things done. The save file format has also been updated, meaning that version<=1.04 games cannot read game files created on a version 1.05 game. For multiplayer games this means that everyone must upgrade at the same time.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* Spells to search for magic sites are more expensive.
* Human player made to computer becomes standard computer instead of easy computer.
* Lesser undeads have got -1 MR.
* Control the Dead is harder to resist
* Protection of the Sepulchre is easy to resist
* Network feedback has been improved.
* MR effect from magic/drain scale has been cut in half.
* Magic scale do not bring any bonuses to enemy magicians doing research.
* Effect of luck scale has been altered somewhat
* Solar Brilliance is somewhat harder to resist.
* Wyrm has got 4-eyes and some other monsters as well.
* Max nbr of units increased from 30000 to 32764
* Guardian of the Deep lobsters are not stupid any longer.
* Archers try to minimize friendly fire
* Press 's' to enable bars showing how many troops each commander leads
* Option to disable world button or just high score list
* More different random events
* More different Independents
* It is now possible to add your own monsters if you know how to use a paint program and a text editor. A new short manual explains how this is done.
* Keyboard shortcuts included in manual
* Possible to select and move multiple commanders at once
* Change speed of battle replay using keys 0-9
* Two new gods for Jotunheim
* One new god for R'lyeh
* Red boxes show estimated size of enemy armies
* Dragons etc. can now shape change at will
* Hold down ctrl to disable sneak
* No 1 turn forts for 150 gold any longer
* Reduced defence during rout
* Higher settings for independent strength is now possible
* Enter can be used to close dialogue boxes and won't end the turn.
* It is possible to view the current game settings from the escape menu
* Mid mouse scrolling works in most places now.
* Right mouse click on arrows scroll further
* Mind Blast has precision 100
* Forts/Labs can be demolished
* Lure of the Deep is more powerful
* New monster, Doom Horror
* A few spells have been subtly altered to be more effective for high level mages.

Bug Fixes
* Getting more than 125 in province defence wrapped the counter to zero.
* Afflictions received from items (like the Green Eye) cannot be healed by Gift of Health any longer.
* Improved English language in manuals and the game, thanks Richard!
* King of Elemental Fire had something to do with gnomes...
* Fairy Queen is no longer able to produce Wailing Ladies.
* Fairy Queen got a male name
* "getitemfx, bad cnr" bug fixed.
* Game crashed if you got 0 in upkeep
* Cyclops not always blind after losing his eye
* Bloodslaves did not behave properly
* Battle when sneaker was discovered could crash the game
* No longer possible to storm castle with immobile unit
* Independents got wrong spells sometimes
* World richness is not displayed properly in the province income values
* Jotun Jarl won't lose his sword if you give him a shield
* Immobile units are not affected by army routs any longer
* Battle Simulator sometimes had invisible battles
* Patrolling could result in an empty message
* Being inamimate did not alway give the intended resistances
* The scale for laziness now affects resources by 15% per step like it was supposed to.

Linux Specific Fixes
* Switch to select DGA mode

Windows Specific Fixes
* Windows 2000 timer fix, thanks Gordon! 


Version 1.03
Four fatal bugs are fixed in this version and I can highly recommend this upgrade. The save file format has also been updated, meaning that version<=1.02 games cannot read game files created   on a version 1.03 game. For multiplayer games this means that everyone must upgrade at the same time.

New Features / Game Balance Changes
* Air Elementals and some other beings are now more powerful during a storm.
* Seeking arrow and some other spells can now miss their target if a perpetual storm affects the world.
* Queen of Elemental Air can no longer create sylphs.
* Name database has been updated
* Version Number is displayed during the credits
* Command Line options are now available for setting host dates for a Dominions server.
* It is possible to delete messages written to other players
* AI players are now easier. The easy computer now has fewer resources than ordinary players, standard=same amount, difficult=more, impossible=much more.
* Ermor now get somewhat fewer troops on high dominion levels.
* Wind Ride is now one level higher and costs 2 xtra magic gems.
* Son of Niefel gets one Winter Wolf per turn when he is in a cold province
* Father of Serpents gets one serpent per turn
* Mother of Lions gets one Great Lion per turn.
* Returning now cost two magic gems to cast. It was too cheap compared to teleport.

Bug Fixes
* Illithids are now able to fire mind blasts even during a strom.
* Thunder Bows can now be used during a storm and under water.
* Improved dirty rectangle removal
* Problem with displaying who has played their turn when moving the fatherland file between computers.
* Province 132 and 138 did not border correctly in the cimmeria map.
* Foul Air no longer affects underwater provinces.
* Castle towers can no longer fire during a storm.
* Wind Ride didn't work properly.
* Viewing stats of Knight among others crashed the battle simulator.
* Gift of Reason did not work in a province with too many units
* Magic Overflow bug fixed
* Improved battle spell casting AI. Magic Users are now more afraid of their lives and won't let people get too close.
* Trampled units are now less likely to be flung far far away.
* A really really huge single army could cause the game to lock up (>2500 units).
* Throwing away item from lab crashed the game.
* It was not always possible to cast rituals using magic items.
* Penetration bonuses had opposite effect when used with Vengeance of the Dead
* Some spelling, grammatical errors have been fixed (Thanks Richard!).

Linux Specific Fixes
* DGA display problem for some 15bpp displays
Windows Specific Fixes
* Screwed up colours in windows fullscreen mode has been fixed.
* Windows key repeat rate is set explicitly
Solaris Specific Fixes
* Arrowkeys now work properly.


Version 1.02
This is the completed version and it is being sold on CD through softshop. It fixes numerous minor bugs. If you are participating in a multiplayer game it is important that everyone uses the same version. So if one upgrade to version 1.02 then everyone will have to do it. Version 1.02 can read 1.01 files but the other way around doesn't work.
New Features
* Pressing 'n' takes you to the next commander without orders.
* It is now possible to stop and continue castle constructions.
* New random events
* New Ettin mercenary
* Ermorian castle is more expensive in design points
* Difficulty of the experienced AI opponents has been lowered a little
* Search for magic sites is now automatically canceled after one turn of searching.
Bug Fixes
* Impossible to cast Wrath of the Sepulchre
* Scout report could be wrong if the scout was spying on a sieged castle
* Wolf can now sneak
* Improved spell selection AI
* New graphics for the Kraken King
* The merc. Yazir could not lead undead troops
* Second Sun was way too disastrous. It now only affect the heat and has no extra effect on the income.
* It was not possible to find castles using Haruspex and similar spells.
* Green Eye description was wrong
* It was possible to get two champion's tridents in the game at once.
* Fallen Angle had no desription
* 'only xxx mages can enter this magic site' text was wrong
Windows Specifics
*It is now possible to play Dominions on windows computers without sound support and without supplying the --nosound switch.
Linux Specifics
* Dominions now has a less strict libc requirement and should run on redhat  7.0 in addition to redhat >=7.1


Version 1.01
The first demo version released to the public.