Cradle of Doom - MP game - RUNNING

[BugRoger]

Hey Folks,

I'm about to host a new MP game. My debian server survived a first 2.11 test game and the Battle Inconsitency Bug seems to be history. All I need now is a bunch of players. This is where you come in.

We're going to play on Jason Lutes' Cradle of Dominion map and so I need 7 to 9 additional players.

I envision the settings to be something like the following list. These are open for discussion though since I don't really know what settings proved to be good for MP games.

</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Dominions2 patchlevel: 2.11</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Number of starting provinces: 1</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Strength of independents: 6</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Special site frequency: 55</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">World richness: normal</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Random events: common</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Score graphs: disabled</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hall of Fame entries: 15</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Standard research</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Victory by provinces: 60%</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Master password enabled</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Renaming is enabled</font> <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Cheat prevention is active</font><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">

The server is going to host as soon as all players have made their turn or 48 hours have passed since the Last hosting. This will give you at least 48 hours between turns so it's possible to enjoy the great weather and not have to worry constantly about your empire.

I also enhanced the server with a script that sends email notifications to all players when a new turn has been hosted. If you want to get these notifications let me know your email address.

To get into the game send your pretender to cradleofdoom@brain-dump.com. I'm going to do this via email because I don't want to have overwritten pretenders and stuff once the game has been started. I'm handing out nations on a first come first serve basis.

Once I have enough players I will set up the game and post the IP/Port settings here.

Nations taken so far:
BugRoger - Caelum
Graeme Dice - Ermor
Navrunner - Arco
Rabelais - Machaka
Josh_f - C'tis
Alex T - Jotunheim
Cainehill - Pangea
Calmon - Phytium
Vynd - Ulm
Sergex - Abysia

Waiting list:
Liga - Man

Droped:
Blofeld - Marignon


Edit:
Ok, folks the game is started. You will find the game on dominions2.kicks-***.org or cradleofdoom.dyndns.org Port 6666. The first player who controls 133 provinces wins this game.


Rock on,

Michael

[ May 18, 2004, 09:37: Message edited by: BugRoger ]

[navrunner]

Hello, I would be interested in Arco. I emailed my pretender.

[Graeme Dice]

I think that I'll play the ashen empire of Ermor.

[rabelais]

I recommend HoF raised to 15, because it is more fun, and gives more non-pretenders a chance. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I'll take machaka please.

Pretender to be mailed?


Rabe the Inclusively Immortal

[josh_f]

I'd like C'tis. My pretender will be forthcoming.

[ April 21, 2004, 22:16: Message edited by: josh_f ]

[alexti]

I second suggesting on increasing HoF to 15 and I'd like Jotunheim. I will mail pretender soon.

[Blofeld]

Hello.

I'd like to take Marignon and I'm all for HoF 15. Pretender incoming.

[calmon]

I'm up for Pythium.

[Vynd]

If there is still room, I would like to try Ulm. I also like the idea of a 15 man HoF.

[Cainehill]

Presuming there's room, I'd like in - I love the Cradle map. Looks like Pangaea is still open? I'll craft a new pretender.

[sergex]

I'd love to join playing Abysia. I'll email my info to you.

I also agree that HOF should be set to 15 if you don't mind, otherwise it'll be just full of the SC pretenders.

[Cohen]

Mmm ^^ someone willing to change his Nation (Ulm, Abysya or Mary) ?

[liga]

If there is still a place I'll join with Man

Liga

[BugRoger]

Err, wow. Thanks for the overwelming replies.

So far I received 9 pretenders. See my first post. There's still room for 1 additional player.

Navrunner, Josh_f and Cainehill expressed their interest but I haven't received their pretenders yet.

Navrunner - Arco (no pretender received)
Josh_f - C'tis (no pretender received)
Cainehill - Pangea (no pretender received)


I increased the HoF to 15 slots. No problem with that. I also received a request to clarify the diplomatic rules. What do you prefer? I'm open for suggestions.

[BugRoger]

Another update. I just found Cainhill's and Navrunner's pretenders. They were eaten by my spamfilter.

So the game is full. And I'm sorry but I have to put Liga on the waiting list.

[liga]

So the game is full. And I'm sorry but I have to put Liga on the waiting list. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No problem, it will be easier for all of you to win now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif ... anyway let me know if someone changes his plans ...

good luck and good play!
Liga

[josh_f]

My pretender is now on route,

[josh_f]

I prefer diplomacy with no ally victories.

[BugRoger]

Just a short update for you guys. I received 12 pretenders so far. The game is almost ready to go. I'm just waiting for two players to resubmit their pretenders because they didn't set a password. Sorry, forgot to mention that.

As far as diplomacy goes I would say that any communication (ingame, email, board, whatever) is ok. The game will be won by the player who conquers 133 out of 221 provinces. So an allied victory doesn't make sense anyway.

I doubt we're going to need it but I would say that we can abort the game as soon as all remaining players agree on a winner.


Nations taken so far:
BugRoger - Caelum
Graeme Dice - Ermor
Navrunner - Arco
Rabelais - Machaka
Josh_f - C'tis
Blofeld - Marignon
Alex T - Jotunheim
Calmon - Phytium
Vynd - Ulm
Sergex - Abysia

Waiting list:
Cainehill - Pangea
Liga - Man


PS: Cainehill, in case you are wondering why you are on the waiting list. Some players emailed or PMed me off board before they posted their choice on the board. I hope you don't mind.

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by BugRoger:
PS: Cainehill, in case you are wondering why you are on the waiting list. Some players emailed or PMed me off board before they posted their choice on the board. I hope you don't mind. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Feh. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif I just wish you hadn't written some Posts making it seem like I was in. Got me all looking forward to it.

Not sure what the meaning of waiting list is with regards to this anyway - seems like either a person is in when the game kicks off, or they aren't.

[BugRoger]

Cainhill, my bad. I didn't mean to disappoint you - I apologize. Next time I won't provide a list of accepted players before I receive all pretenders, check my PMs and look through my spam filters.

I thought it might be a good idea to keep some players on the waiting list to have replacement players in case somebody bails out before the game starts.

[Graeme Dice]

I'm wondering when this game is planned to start?

[calmon]

I asked the same and got the info that he waits for one players pretender which forgot to give a password.

[sergex]

Sorry, that was me who didn't realize the pretender wasn't passworded. I sent him the corrected pretender Last night so I hope we start soon http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Vynd]

Originally posted by sergex:
Sorry, that was me who didn't realize the pretender wasn't passworded. I sent him the corrected pretender Last night so I hope we start soon http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">So what he's saying is, everybody gang up on Abysia http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Vynd]

I am having some trouble with the Cradle map. See this thread if you think you can help me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=74;t=002492

[BugRoger]

I was still waiting for Blofeld to resubmit a password protected pretender. So, all pretenders are ready to go now. The game will start in a few hours. Need to get some sleep first...

[sergex]

yay, just waiting for the IP and Port info http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[BugRoger]

Ok folks, the game has been started. You will find the game on dominions2.kicks-***.org Port 6666. The first player who controls 133 provinces wins this game.

Make sure you have the newest map files. See Vynd's post for more information.

You will all receive email notifications when a new turn is hosted. I don't have Josh_f's address at the moment but I will add your email to the notification script on monday.

Have fun!

[ April 24, 2004, 08:51: Message edited by: BugRoger ]

[josh_f]

I just sent you resent you my address.

[josh_f]

Has anyone had any luck connecting? I can resolve the name but that is about it.

[Vynd]

I took my turn this morning and had no trouble. I believe I was the first person to move other than Bug.

What exactly is it doing at your end?

[ April 25, 2004, 01:33: Message edited by: Vynd ]

[Vynd]

Just a follow up to my Last post. I tried connecting again and had no problems. All but two players have submitted their turns. So unless you hit the server during some downtime, I'd guess the problem is at your end.

[josh_f]

I got it. As a warning to others dominions2.kick-***.org is the name of another server out there. Be sure to include the s in kick(s), or you will dive yourself crazy.

[sergex]

haha, that's a silly coincidence

[BugRoger]

The server's IP is changing on a daily basis. I recommend you use the full name to connect.

I also didn't know that there's a pr0n site called dominions2.kick-***.org. Wierd. Err, I'm in no way affiliated with those guys... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I added cradleofdoom.dyndns.org to my dynamic host configuration. So you can now use both hosts names to connect.


Edit:
I just found out that *.kick-***.org will be redirected to a pr0n site. I guess they are trying to catch all the typos to the dyndns service or something.

[ April 25, 2004, 08:28: Message edited by: BugRoger ]

[sergex]

Blofeld - Marignon hasn't taken his turn yet. He's the only one and I'm afraid that he'll get a Stale turn. Perhaps he isn't aware that the game started. Is there any way that he can be contacted and reminded to take his turn? Or perhaps, let someone on the waiting list take his spot and we can start over?

[BugRoger]

The game should have been hosted a few minutes ago but we're still missing Blofeld's turn. I disabled forced hosting for now and PMed Blofeld again. He also should have received the Turn 0 email notification 2 days ago.

If he doesn't show up until 8pm CEST I'm going to kick him out and ask the people on the waitling list to take his spot.

[BugRoger]

*sigh* Seems like we need to restart the game. Blofeld still hasn't replied to my mails and didn't do his first turn. I contacted Cainehill and in case he's still interested in playing with us the game will restart ASAP.

I hope you all don't mind the delay/restart.

[BugRoger]

The game has been restarted!!! I hope it Lasts longer this time... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ April 26, 2004, 19:45: Message edited by: BugRoger ]

[calmon]

To prevent a stalling first turn:

Delete your old 'CradleofDoom' game folder before connecting the server.

[sergex]

yes, delete your old save file or you'll mess up the new turns.-

[Vynd]

Originally posted by sergex:
yes, delete your old save file or you'll mess up the new turns.- <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hmm, it would have been helpful for the e-mail to have said something about this. I'll go and delete my saved games and then try again. Hopefully I haven't already fouled everything up.

Edit: Looks like I was in time to fix things. Now if only I could have my starting position from the Last game back...

[ April 27, 2004, 01:12: Message edited by: Vynd ]

[josh_f]

I just noticed that we restarted. I didn't delete my save file. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif It just staled my first turn annoying, but no big deal. Let's keep playing.

[rabelais]

Machaka is going AI.

Funny story really, I started on the very edge of the non wraparound map. First time that's ever happened to me.

The lack of circular connectivity made for some very poor expansion, but I was having a good time.

I got hit with a random event that destroyed my main army utterly (despite Luck 3 etc.)

Enormous earthquake... critters out of ... trog event, no biggie.

except this time there were 40+ trogs!!! on turn 11!.

Hilarious. Goodbye Yasini et alia.

That wasn't the part that annoyed me.

I got annoyed when I looked at the prov, and I noticed it wasn't independent. It was abysian.

It appears the VQ SC one hex over had *no problem* dealing with the hypertrophic trog horde.

When an exploit beats a highly improbable glitch, it's time to go.


Rabe the Repulsed

[ May 04, 2004, 22:50: Message edited by: rabelais ]

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by rabelais:
It appears the VQ SC one hex over had *no problem* dealing with the hypertrophic trog horde.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Let me get this straight: A VQ, who was NOT IN THE PROVINCE, managed to kill all of the 40 trogs (not all that impressive, given that tramplers are highly ineffective against ethereals of any kind)?

[rabelais]

trogs killed me... VQ killed trogs, same turn. event/magic battles go first.

[ May 05, 2004, 00:00: Message edited by: rabelais ]

[Norfleet]

Well, then, that's not a problem.

Trogs are not really that powerful of a unit....and their primary attack is trampling, exactly the sort of thing which is all but worthless on a high-defense, ethereal unit of any kind. I am not in any way surprised that the Trogs lost to a VQ. A handful of ghosts could have done that, too. Trogs are a mismatch against an ethereal unit.

[Graeme Dice]

There is one thing that trampling is always good for though, which is that it gets rid of mirror images instantly.

[sergex]

You took a province that was in my domain and you could cleary see that I had a SC from the leaderboard. I could clearly see that you did not have a SC from the leaderboard, or were not using one in combat at this time. You had a relatively small army and lost it to a special event, but you would have lost it to my VQ anyway.

I am not interested in attacking you further and there is no reason for you to go AI at this time, assuming you have somewhere else to expand to. Even if I let you have this province, that province is in a direct path to my capital with no off-branching provinces. There are 4 provinces in a row that are a straight path, in a corridor. Even if you got this province in question and the next 2 you'd be right next to my capital, so you DEFINITELY need another avenue of expansion besides this one. If you can't expand West and Southwest then are totally landlocked anyway.

So, if losing an army of rabble early in the game is enough to make you quit, you really need to rethink it. Believe me, after another couple of days you won't even remember this turn. I won't attack up that corridor any further so don't quit because you think you can't take on my VQ.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by sergex:
I won't attack up that corridor any further so don't quit because you think you can't take on my VQ. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">He's playing Machaka too, which is the nation that can probably deal with powerful single undead units better than any other. Take a half dozen witchdoctors, have them cast eagle eyes, dust to dust X 4. There aren't many units that can survive that kind of punishment.

[rabelais]

I'm not going AI because I lost the army, as I said that was almost funny.

The point is the scenario made clear how broken the immortal SC situation has become.

This was turn 11.

I don't want to spend all my time defending against an exploit, it takes all the fun out of the game.


Rabe... of Borg

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
There is one thing that trampling is always good for though, which is that it gets rid of mirror images instantly. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I haven't seen it do that. A trample attempt can target a mirror image and still miss, since I've run into tramplers that did not break my mirror images.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
I haven't seen it do that. A trample attempt can target a mirror image and still miss, since I've run into tramplers that did not break my mirror images. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, it certainly works very well against the glamour on Van type units, though that's probably because it always hits, so there's a 50% chance that any given trample attempt will remove a low level glamour.

[sergex]

Please don't call the VQ an exploit. An exploit is using something in a way to win contrary to how the devs designed it. They intend the VQ to be the way it is, so it's not an exploit. It may be imbalanced or not depending on your opinion but you definitely won't win or lose because of a single imbalance.

If you refuse to play with VQ's why did you play a MP game in the first place where they are allowed? If I were that adamant I would have insisited on a "no vq" house rule before I joined.

Furthermore, to stop my VQ all you need to do is keep up your dominion. You have very high dominion next to this one province so it's safe for a very long time against my abysia. I can't send in stealthy monks or anything to stop you from building dominion.

I just don't like people to quit so early for petty reasons as it ruins the balance of power.

[sergex]

I'm sorry to be harsh with you Rabe, but just one Last question. If I had another SC pretender would you still stay in the game? Like, a Nataraja or a Wyrm or Allfather or Virtue or whatever? I think any of those with the same spells (Mistform, Ironskin, Personal Luck, Quickness) would have beat both your army and the Trogs. Granted, there would have been a slight risk of my losing to a lucky hit or whatnot, but that would have made you stick around for that lucky chance?

Any SC pretender really would beat a nation that didn't have one at this point in the game. I don't think my choice in pretenders would have changed that.

In any case I don't want to be the cause of ruining the game for you, so can we just make an alliance?

[Vynd]

The server seems to be down.

[BugRoger]

Sorry folks, the server is back up again.

[Vynd]

Well I'm out. My Ulm strategy, if it even deserves to be called such a thing, needs some serious improvement. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Let me know how it all turns out!

[calmon]

Is there a plan when the game starts going regular again?
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Cainehill]

Anyone else not able to connect with the server at all just now?

[josh_f]

You are not alone. I was unable to upload my turn this morning.

[Cainehill]

Servers seems down again - 20 tries to connect, and no success with just 6 hours to hosting.

[Graeme Dice]

It isn't working for me either.

[BugRoger]

Ok folks, the server is back up. I already wondered why I wasn't able to connect myself but blamed it on my spotty cellphone internet connection.

The server is now patched and running again. It's on a 72h forced host turn cycle. Quickhost is enabled too.

I hope the game will proceed more regulary now.

[Cainehill]

Patched? To 2.13? Probably better make that very explicit, since if anyone has the mummy's helmet or at least one other artifact and uses it, it'll crash the game.

[BugRoger]

Huh? I didn't know about that problem.

Reading the press release for 2.14 it seems like that bug is fixed. But it also introduces the NoMoreClamStacking-Feature which might interfere with some strategies.

What do you guys want? Go back to 2.12? Patch to 2.14? I'm really interessted in getting this game going again...

[Cainehill]

I'd be as happy to go back to 2.12 myself. Among other things - we don't know what new bugs are in 2.14 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[josh_f]

Since I have one of the three bugged items. I recommend we go back to 2.12. Unless you guys want to take up a collection to compensate me for my now useless artifact.

[alexti]

I'd suggest to wait a day. Mosehansen server is now updated to 2.14. So if there're any major problems with 2.14 we will probably learn about them soon. If no problem discovered, we can switch to 2.14.

[calmon]

I think we should patch to 2.14 very soon. I don't see greater problems with this patch and i would miss the bug fixes.

[alexti]

Meanwhile the turn is to be hosted soon. With which Version should I submit the current turn?

[calmon]

alexti said:
Meanwhile the turn is to be hosted soon. With which Version should I submit the current turn?



Take the 2.14 Version. There is no problem taking a newer Version then the host. The worst thing happen is a wrong battle replay.

[BugRoger]

Well, it seems like Mosehansen isn't really running on 2.14. So we don't know about potential bugs in 2.14 but we're definetly not going to play on 2.13.

I just wanted to restore 2.12 until we know that 2.14 is stable. The problem is that the 2.12 patch isn't available anymore. So I went ahead and installed the latest patch.

The turns already submited using the 2.12/2.13 clients shouldn't be a problem. You will get inconsitent battle replays if you view the next turn with an older client though. Also there's a change in the way item stacking works. To give a you chance to adjust the latest turn to these new rules I disabled quickhost for now. The game will be hosted on Sunday 22.30 GMT.

Oh well. I'm sorry that I created this mess. Next time I will think twice before patching the game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[alexti]

Is anybody able to connect to the server? I'm getting stuck at "waiting for game info"

[Cainehill]

I'm able to get right in.

[Cainehill]

Figures - the turn is due to run tonight, and now the server is down.

[josh_f]

A note to everyone. I am back in the game. Sorry for staling. I moved coasts the week before Last, and it has taken me a while to be able to find time to play again.

--josh

[BugRoger]

Hello Everybody,

the game is on hold for the next 2 weeks. The head of Pythium is on La Palma for a dearly needed vacation. He kindly asked me to adjourn the game until his return.

We next turn will be hosted in exactly 14 days from now on.

Rock on,

Michael