When World Domination is activated for you, you'll see this pop-up when you enter the game:
This is the second pop-up:
World Domination screen
This is the set-up screen that first pops up when you select World Domination:
You can see "Attack Wins" and "Defense Wins" on top. Both are tracked separately.
Attack Wins = Total number of victories from attacking an opponent
Defense Wins = Total number of times opponents have lost against your Defense Force
Global Standing = Percentage of players with more Dominance [points] than you
The "1" in the eagle insignia is your Dominance Rank (DR)--this is analogous to Honor and Infamy. Your initial DR when you start is determined by your existing XP level.
Many players are confused by Global Standing, especially high-level players who are at 0%. The lower the %, the higher ranked you are. High-level players will start out at a high rank. If your Global Standing is 0%, that means you are in at least the top 1% of all E&A players in terms of Dominance points.
Here's the same screen (different player) with the pop-up help enabled:
The units shown here for Defense Force are the default ones. You can change them. The "Assemble" box is first grayed out. After the first time you try attacking someone (or just try to and then cancel), you'll be able to select this button to change your Defense Force. Your own Defense Force is used to defend against any other player that selects you to fight.
There are 2 tabs: "Global" and "Rivals." There's a limited number of other players--not necessarily your neighbors--that you can select to attack. Notice there is a 24-hour timer.
In the middle of the screen, you can see a list of players that you can choose to attack. You can see their Level, Dominance Rank, Attack Wins, and Defense Wins. Defense Wins is the best indication of how strong their Defense Force is.
You'll tend to see players listed that play World Domination a lot.
World Domination Unlockable Units
At the bottom of the World Domination screen is a scroll bar listing all 24 World Domination unlockable units. After a unit has been unlocked, you can build it in your barracks, shipyard, or hangar. Here is a list of the units.:
3 – Elite Bazooka Soldiers
6 – Elite Chinook Airship
9 – Elite Assault Battleship
12 – Elite Harrier Fighter
15 – Elite Heavy Carrier
18 – Elite Abrams Tank
21 – Elite Mechanized Soldiers
24 – Elite Comanche Airship
27 – Elite Railgun Battleship
31 – Elite Advanced Gunship
35 – Elite Advanced Rocket Artillery
39 – Elite Hypersonic Bomber
44 – Mantis Infantry
49 – Gator Patrol Boat
54 – Ghost Bat Fighter
59 – Tarantula Artillery
64 – Sea Hive Carrier
69 – Buzzard Autogyro
74 – Badger Tank
79 – Yamato III
84 – Phoenix Bomber
89 – Sand Shark Hovercraft
94 – Owl Fighter
99 – Armadillo Tank
Attacking
When you select someone to attack, the screen looks like this after you've selected your units:
The theater of the battle (Land, Sea, or Air) is determined by the Defense Force of the player you chose to attack. You must select an attacking force from the same theater.
Notice how you can't see the enemy units (the other player's Defense Force) while selecting your own units. The "1620" is the total Health of your Defense Force. The "2050" is the maximum total Health that you can field in battle--it is not the total Health of the enemy force you're facing.
The battle is NOT live on the part of the other player--it acts out just like in any other battle. That is, the other player is not controlling his units turn-by-turn; it's AI driven. You do not get to select allies as in Campaign Mastery. Your can choose to retreat, but it will cost you Domination points (less than what you would earn if you won the battle).
If you win the battle, you win a certain number of Domination points depending on the Domination level of the other player relative to yours, while the other player loses Domination points. The amount that you can earn is displayed in the main World Domination screen where you select who to battle.
After you win, you can see the other player in the "Rivals" tab--that player has a chance to attack you back.
If you lose as the attacker (by having all your units destroyed), you won't lose any Domination points. If you surrender, you do forfeit some Dominance points.
If someone else attacks your Defense Force, the battle plays out on their end--you make no combat decisions. If the other player wins (your Defense Force loses), you lose a small amount of Domination points, but never enough to lower your Dominance Rank. If the other player loses (your Defense Force wins), you don't gain or lose any Dominance points.
The only time you actually lose units is if they get destroyed when you are attacking someone else's Defense Force.
No one's empire is invaded. Combats happen in a virtual battleground. The World Embassy's Neutrality has no effect on World Domination.
