MP Game - PBEM: Twilight of Magicka

[quantum_mechani]

Map Settings:
Independents: 3
Magic Research: Very Difficult
Magic Sites: 20
Score Graphs: off
Map: Reemergence of Urgaia

Additional Rules:

No magic on your pretender beyond what is automatic.

The only nations available are Ulm(base or iron faith) Pythium(serpent Cult), Hoburgs(offical mod) and perhaps Pangaea(new era).

No positive magic scales.


Anyone interested?

[ June 01, 2004, 17:15: Message edited by: Zen ]

[Cainehill]

I've been wanting a game with low magic research myself, but youch! No magic on the pretender that it doesn't start with???

How's about true masochism, and a poor world? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I'm interested, but feel that the limits on nations / themes give an undue advantage to Ulm.

Still - I'd likely be in.

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by Cainehill:

How's about true masochism, and a poor world? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Sounds fine to me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I'm interested, but feel that the limits on nations / themes give an undue advantage to Ulm.
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, if someone plays Hoburgs that replaces Ulm.

[ April 08, 2004, 19:38: Message edited by: quantum_mechani ]

[Norfleet]

This is a joke, right? You've only allowed 3 nations.

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
This is a joke, right? You've only allowed 3 nations. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Not all MP games have to be large scale, I'm already in several of those and want to try something different. And while I'm only looking for two other players, there is a fair amount of choice for individual players among nations.

[ April 08, 2004, 20:17: Message edited by: quantum_mechani ]

[Graeme Dice]

I'd be happy to play such a game, and I don't care which nation I play. My order of preference would be Pythium, Pangaea, Ulm.

[Cainehill]

I'm in, for Pangaea or Ulm.

[quantum_mechani]

O.k., looks like we have enough players. Any one object to me taking Hoburgs? It would mean every one would need to get the mod if they don't already have it.

So, Graeme: Serpent cult, Cainehill: New era, Me: Hoburgs?

I'll send you a PM with the E-mail address to send your pretenders to.

[PvK]

Sounds interesting. Be sure to let us know how it turns out after it's over!

PvK

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by quantum_mechani:
Not all MP games have to be large scale, I'm already in several of those and want to try something different. And while I'm only looking for two other players, there is a fair amount of choice for individual players among nations. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You're serious? This isn't just some joke proposal that's being kicked around as a belated April Fools thing? Well, best of luck to you, then.

[JaydedOne]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
You're serious? This isn't just some joke proposal that's being kicked around as a belated April Fools thing? Well, best of luck to you, then. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">To be frank, I find it just as interesting, if not more so, than your standard 17-person merry-go-round of doom on Orania/World map. Personally, I wish these three would collaborate to AAR it as that'd be pretty cool. But I'm not about asking others to do work I haven't done myself.

Still, reports on the game, however brief, would be cool to see. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by quantum_mechani:
O.k., looks like we have enough players. Any one object to me taking Hoburgs? It would mean every one would need to get the mod if they don't already have it.
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It will be a pleasure to finally get the chance to exterminate nasty, tricksy, evil, hobbitses, er, Hoburgses. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

As I understand it, whichever pretender we pick, we can't add any points to its magic paths - points have to go into castle, scales, and dominion, right?

Very Very difficult magic research, 20% magic sites. Renaming on, I hope, and did we establish the independent strength and whether it's a poor world?

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Miguel Duran:
Personally, I wish these three would collaborate to AAR it as that'd be pretty cool. But I'm not about asking others to do work I haven't done myself.

Still, reports on the game, however brief, would be cool to see. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I'll see what I can do about keeping notes on my side of the game as I go along, but not posting them until enough delay has gone into the game that I'm not giving up vital information.

Expect something along the lines of: "On the 2nd month of the great war, the divine Dude was taken from us by knights. We mourn Dude greatly, and the next 7 months pass quietly as we pray for his return." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by Miguel Duran:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Originally posted by Norfleet:
You're serious? This isn't just some joke proposal that's being kicked around as a belated April Fools thing? Well, best of luck to you, then. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Personally, I wish these three would collaborate to AAR it as that'd be pretty cool. But I'm not about asking others to do work I haven't done myself.

</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I'm not sure how the other players feel, but I would be happy to work on an AAR. Infact, if there is enough interest, I would be willing to host a second PBEM with similar settings. That way there could be a game for both AAR writers and those that don't have time.

EDIT: If it turns into two games I was thinking of one with rich world and one with poor world. Independents 3 sounds about right to me, I like renaming, and spending points anywhere but the pretender magic screen is fine.

[ April 09, 2004, 02:32: Message edited by: quantum_mechani ]

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Miguel Duran:
To be frank, I find it just as interesting, if not more so, than your standard 17-person merry-go-round of doom on Orania/World map. Personally, I wish these three would collaborate to AAR it as that'd be pretty cool. But I'm not about asking others to do work I haven't done myself.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I never said it wasn't interesting, I just thought it so utterly bizarre that it sounded like some sort of joke. Of course, the bizarre is always interesting, to some extent.

[Cainehill]

I kept some notes during the first 20 or 30 turns, but not enough to create a proper AAR. Still, I think the game was interesting enough to warrant a little followup.

Given the restrictions (no magic could be added to the pretenders, and only 3 nations with particular themes could be selected), we each approached the pretender choice differently - hopefully Quantum and Graeme will correct me if I'm wrong in what I write.

Myself, I started with New Era Pangaea - my first game with Pangaea of any sort. My choice was the Carrion Dragon. With two magic paths starting at level 1, I felt it gave a certain amount of flexibility on the Pretender's magic. More importantly, it seemed to be a decent combat pretender, with recuperation to heal any wounds picked up along the way, and it could go stealthy in one of its forms. As the game progressed, I decided to Empower him - not so much for increased spell casting, but because 30 points to go to 2 in a path meant I wouldn't have to spend 50 to get back to 1 if I died. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif Since I couldn't spend points beefing up the pretender, I wound up having points to spend on Order 2, Productivity 1 (default for New Era) and Luck 3, with a nice Fortress for decent defense and admin (150/30). In retrospect, I might have been wise to have taken a scale of Magic instead of Luck, to boost the research. But still - Luck gave several significant events, such as getting a Sceptre of Authority before turn 16, a nice boost in a game with Very Difficult magic research; later, one of the blood Contract items, and nice bumps to the war chest as I got a 1500 gold event prior to turn 20 or so.

Quantum chose a Titan, going for a high level of ability in a single path. In some ways I think this was a more thoughtful choice than my own - it gave access to some great spells (such as lightning and mistform) and helped compensate for Hoburg's weakness in magic.

But I think Graeme made the craftiest choice : by taking a Wyrm, he had no magic to lose if his pretender died: A supercombatant with nothing to lose but time. Even better, as Serpent Cult Pythium, he was going to have plenty of mage priests sitting around researching, meaning that he wound up taking only a single turn to recall his pretender upon death. In effect, almost a pseudo-immortal.

Crafty and effective - I think his pretender died more than anyone else's (not all too meaningful in a 3 player game). I believe Quantum's choice was sadly nullified by a fairly early, unlucky death against independents, costing him a point of precious air magic. Worse, with Hoburg and war, he couldn't afford the priests to bring his Titan back for much of the game.

My own Carrion Dragon picked up a few wounds over the course of the game, but never died. Possibly a sign that I still wasn't playing aggressively enough, but it was nice not losing what little magic he had.

I'll continue later with the stuff that took place after the choice of pretender and all.

[JJ_Colorado]

Thanks Cainehill, sounds like a fun/interesting game.

John

[PvK]

Yes, very interesting. Seems to me that Trollheim would be another good nation to add to a game like this.

PvK

[quantum_mechani]

Originally posted by PvK:
Yes, very interesting. Seems to me that Trollheim would be another good nation to add to a game like this.

PvK <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I considered it, but those vaetti hags just seemed a little too good.

[PvK]

Because they're cheap? V Hags are just one random magic skill at level one, right?

PvK

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by PvK:
Yes, very interesting. Seems to me that Trollheim would be another good nation to add to a game like this.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Trollheim would have been too powerful in my opinion, since the troll kings make nearly invincible SCs under the rules we used. Their very high protection, combined with stoneskin and earthpower would have made them a terror to deal with. After all, this was a game where skull talismans were often the deciding factor in many battles.