I think, personally, that mp is quite impossible for FE for a simple reason: auto-resolve of battles ruins game's balance. Hence, all battles have to be played on a tactical level. This causes simultaneous turns to be impossible, and you have to play one person after another ....

Second, devs are not going to spend huge amount of resources to include option that would be appreciated by small group of people. If over 100k people bought a game, and couple hundred are interested in long, hard-core mp games it is simply not worthy it. Better to invest in new quests/maps/monsters/spells/abilities etc. Not to mention question of mp balance .... 

Hot seat could be a nice addition, though.

I think you can do simul turns as long as you have an "observe" option for each tactical battle. Gentleman's rule would generally be that ppl would click "allow observers" for tac battles. Ofc, in FE the early battles are so small that ... well, it would be preferable for tac battles to be allowed to run parallel (if possible).

Yea, hotseat would be nice ... its limited in use, but I don't think it'd take a lot of resources to make available. (only weakness would be difficulty to tactical battle each other ... but you could even treat those particular tactical battles like a hotseat )

I am not a multiplayer player.  However, I would love to sit and hotseat with a family member.

But that is a different issue.  More maps is more content, and that is what I really really want!

You all wants hotseat included in the game *waves arm like the jedi does it in starwars*...

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

It is not a feature I'm looking for...

Fortunately I am immune to your jedi mind tricks...  Because I do not want hotseat, or any other MP option.

how did this devolve into a discussion about multiplayer anyway?

The pack will contain multiple maps, so multiplayer is the next logical discussion topic.

  How about having mulitmap games?

Had to try xD

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

I agree with the person thats said I would buy two if MP was not included in the next dlcs, or updates. Multiplayer just dumbs down games such as these.

Check out Dominions 3. MP does not dumb down games.

If the game is made for multiplayer from the start thats fine, but this game was not and has a lot of things not suitable for MP.

Great idea!. A "normal" world and an underworld. That would be awesome!

The game also has a lot of things that AI is not going to be able to do and to see the best gameplay it would need to be human vs human. I do find it strange that people are saying that hotseat would be fine but online play not. Strange contradiction.

I would not play online because online 4x games always become the same lame gruntrush and i don't care to be forced to play like that.

Wait what, someone is forcing you to play mp? I feel for you!

If that was not what you meant, sorry.
I already had to tell my brother we can't play this hotseat, while we might not do it as much as I can spend time on "Arcanum" it would still be used... That said I do understand why it would not be even considered, I have my share of games that had more Multiplayer connection problems than I had spend minutes playing them.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

what i am saying is that if i played a multiplayer version, i would be forced into a corner to "play rush or get rushed" (civ4 hotseat anyone?) which does not appeal to me.

So nobody would be forcing me to play anything however the addition of multiplayer does not appeal to everyone - i have not seen anyone else say they are turned off by the notion of having multiplayer so i am the devils advocate.

Now, if the game were re-tuned in every aspect and rebuilt as a multiplayer game then it could probably be fun. Myself, i would prefer a client to server type of program where i log in my stardock, click multiplayer then go to a lobby screen where i can create or join a game. Nice and simple, like settlers of catan online.

I think a lot of changes would have to happen in regards to timing, pacing and development of nations to be a good game for MP. Consider that in single player we want slower progression in some areas to give the game more longevity - while in multiplayer it would not be a good thing to have 8 hour games. the game would need to be redesigned to allow most "normal" games to take about 1 and a half hours and long games 2 to 2 and a half hours.

I have had a lot of problems with multiplayer 4x games and i just have yet to find one that really does it for me. As a single player game, FE does it for me, but as a multiplayer game it would not. That said for all those who disagree with me and want multiplayer, i do hope that something is done to allow it in the future.

There has been oodles of people stepping up to say they didn't want MP.  Look in any MP thread, or any thread that even mentions MP, and there are people in there responding that they have no interest in MP, and do not want to see development resources reallocated to build MP when there is still so much more to do in SP, whether it be bug fixes, or adding content.

On MP: No thank you. I cringe when I hear multiplayer and "strategy" in the same sentence. Waay too many tradeoffs. One of the most long-awaited sequal/upgrades in the last two years - Starcraft Wings of Victory - had an amazing campaign but sandbox was terrible because the designers made the MP and sandbox equivalent (i.e., crushingly limited). And that was an RTS, a genre that lends itself very well to MP. I can't even envision a TBS with the scope of FE being multiplayer.

On Topic: I would TOTALLY buy a dlc map pack with that awesome looking world map in it. Heck, I'd shell out $5 for that map alone . Can't wait to see it. 

Any ETA on the map pack?

Dominions III does not have any single player to speak of.  I definitely understand why a someone who cares about single player would be afraid that an emphasis on multiplayer would negatively impact the single player experience.

I'm sorry but I completely disagree, Dominions 3 single player is just fine never had an issue with it, MP on the other hand...

Dominions 3 is a long game which basically means MP is played on smallish maps due to time constraints and the length time taken to complete a single game.

The issue with any MP game is people quitting whenever it looks like they maybe on the losing side, yes Dominions 3 AI will take over these positions which is very thoughtful of Illwinter games.

Played hundreds of SP games of Dominion 3 and the AI does a good Job. An absolutely great game, as Fallen Enchantress is also shaping up to be.