Larian Studios Forums Dragon Commander Dragon Commander - General I loved the game, BUT... (spoilers!!)

Possible gameplay variation: "Imperial Army" RTS; AI vs AI with you playing the dragon and nothing else. (Basic idea, anyhow.)

I don't know if dragon gameplay holds up, and unless you like to watch, you'll want to go to dragon form immediately (which is a huge advantage unless something else is tweaked for that mode).

* I think somebody else suggested something like it
* There are people who like being dragons more than being generals
* It's a nice variation
* Dragon is already OP

If you want more work for the dragon, perhaps you get to pick your own AI's skill. (Make yours "easy", the enemies "hard" and give your dragon a field day.)

Most of the components should be in place already (the AI exists).

Dragon tweak (option): No recruit cost, no delay, 1 life. (For some battles that's a serious boost, since you can eradicate your enemy right away, but in big battles where you need the dragon, it might add some excitement. <Maybe> You can still win the battle army vs army when shot out of the air.)

Actually, that option could work for multiplayer too. Two dragons in vicious combat high above the battlefield.

DC has many games, and you can choose to focus on a few of them, but I find the dragon gameplay least available. (You must play the RTS to get to it, and you must stick with the RTS while playing it.)

True, but impossible is probably a bad line to draw here. I'd say it's better if the victory condition can be triggered by some kind of upset. If holding 5 specific map points triggered victory for example you could end a lot more games with tense conflicts rather than slow strangulation.



I tried it out and it made quite a substantial difference. I still couldn't handle large conflicts myself but the smaller battles were really a lot of fun with the recruit rate halved. Not only was a higher difficulty manageable but the fights themselves became were much more interesting. Sadly the AI was not much less inept on the campaign map, it played some interesting feints but paid far too little heed to grabbing land early on. I found it no more difficult to just crush it using overwhelming force.

I have some concerns about the theoretical "control only the Dragon and let the AI manage units" mode. The biggest concern is that the AI is very reactive - to human players movements and unit composition. I'm not sure if AI reacting to AI would be that interesting. It might just feel shallow.

I also don't see how that mode would make the dragon LESS overpowered. Most of the units can't attack air, and some people are already saying that they can kill entire maps with only the dragon.


I'd rather Larian first try to getting an AI Dragon working - which sounds like a nightmarish problem all on its own.

Rack - how to determine which five points? Many of the maps are asymmetrical, and you can start from either position. Sounds like a serious balancing headache. No, I think it's better to just accept the limitations of the genre - that you will be guaranteed to have enough momentum to win some point before you actually finish them off. This is why players end matches early. The AI doesn't do that.

The strategy map AI could still get better. Part of the problem is that Story Campaign Map 2 feels a bit small. It's 31 countries, smaller even than Draconia's 39 (AKA Little Rivellon). The Coil of Conquest map is 21 countries, and that's a 2-player map. Flanking is only possible via the water, but the AI is getting better at that (or at least they would if not for sending their helpless Transports into the miney embrace of Ironclad patrols.

Well, personally, I thought that chapter III would have Corvus in certain provinces acting as "Dragon" when entering a RTS battle. I thought that when Maxos spoke about demon's shards spreading the land...

I agree that bringing a Dragon vs Dragon AI to one last battle could kill gameplay flow, but introduce the mechanic during all the RTS battles on chapter III could have solved that problem. Although I like the idea, the compromise to achieve a good balance between micromanaging and diversion would be difficult.

I like the "only dragon" idea, too. Maybe with some little tweaks when ordering units in dragon form could make it possible. But yes, lots of problems raise... as the idea of "last boss" I think it sounds better in paper; make them actually work would be a different story.

I never said it would be easy Seriously though I'm not sure I properly emphasised how difficult this is to do. It's certainly not the kind of thing you'd include in a regular patch, more in the region of something for a major expansion or DLC. There are still a lot of small(ish) changes that can be done to make the strategy map more interesting and satisfying but when talking about why the campaign ends in an unsatisfying fashion I think the root of it is here. It's a very difficult issue for the genre but not an unsolvable one.

I'd rather have Larian actually spend their time and money making interesting content than to try to single-handedly fix the entire premise of the strategy genre. What would adding 5 control points do that would solve the alleged problem of having an army big enough to win but not big enough to attack-move in a group to win instantly?

The game already revolves around controlling the Resource Center points for victory.

Just the game would have ended before you got to that point. The problem isn't with armies that can't just stomp over the enemy, it's when you have an army that size the game still takes a dozen or so turns to end. It's highly unusual these days for any strategy game to go on till the complete destruction of all opposing forces so while it's a big job it's not a completely unreasonable one. You might still prefer more content or other fixes but I still maintain this is where the issues of an unsatisfying finale stem from.