MP Game - Newbie Game (by Aku)

[Aku]

This is for the 2nd game with the group from the JDScherrey newbie game and any other new players to dominions if everyone from the first game do not transfer over.

Ok Klatu will be hosting the game.

So far we have myself, Klatu, Drool, Pickles(maybe), Alexi(new person, can be our 8th spot since JDScherrey went MIA).

Still need to hear from Tannath, Boron, and Starwarsluke.

Need suggestions for settings and map. We can throw around suggestions for like the week and start this game next weekend.

The 24 hour quickhost we are doing now works good also.

Also here were my suggestions, pasted from the other thread.

for game settings...norfleet recommended when we started our current game to play karan...you guys want to give it a try?

if we play karan there were 3 files...do we dl them all?

also for events they happen like every turn on common but on rare they still happen a lot but it isnt bad...so i recommend the 2nd game for events to be on rare

also for magic sites...how about at least 50 this time?

indep strength i guess 6 or 9 i dunno, 7 indep like we have now just seemed odd

world richness...either normal or rich...no clue on that one

put hof on 15 and renaming allowed

these are just suggestions to get the ball rolling

for my nation i would like to try out abysia if tannath isnt using them again

[Pickles]

Ok Klatu will be hosting the game.

"The 24 hour quickhost we are doing now works good also. "

Agreed

"for game settings...norfleet recommended when we started our current game to play karan...you guys want to give it a try?"

Fine - I have now done a few karan games (well started them) & it is nice.

"if we play karan there were 3 files...do we dl them all?"

? Dunno. I will try to check

"also for events they happen like every turn on common but on rare they still happen a lot but it isnt bad...so I recommend the 2nd game for events to be on rare"

Means that the balance is different The trade off between luck/misfortune seems OK on common events therefore would be pro misfortune on uncommon ones.(expect me to take luck -3).
I do not think this is a good idea but can live with it.

"also for magic sites...how about at least 50 this time?"

50 gives A LOT more sites than 40 and even more than the 35 we have (I have not found any in that game). This effects balance too of course but probably not as much. I vote for 50 cos I like rainbow site hunters! (but not higher - try it SP & see)

"indep strength I guess 6 or 9 i dunno, 7 indep
like we have now just seemed odd"

I think at least 6 is a good rule so do not have an opinion. It once again might effect choice of nation. R'lyeh frex is less fun on 9 than 6 as it cannot cherry pick who to attack as easily as land powers.

"world richness...either normal or rich...no clue on that one"

Normal - I am rather conservative rich gives far more money and pickles the broken record says this messes up balance. Still I only fiddled with it one time & have no idea how it messes up balance so could live with it.

"put hof on 15 and renaming allowed"

Agreed

"for my nation I would like to try out abysia"

I will hold off until I see the set up - there are many I am happy to try.

Hm I do not seem to sound like a newby (like Boron http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ). I have still not got much proper (post turn 20 MP experience) but still if this is a problem I will drop out.

Pickles

[Aku]

No reason for you to drop out pickles. I am sure some of us have played a lot more sp than others. Main thing here is our mp experience. And if Tannath, Boron, and Starwarsluke play also then we have our 8 players with the new person Alexi. Will be the same group with one new person.

The events common/rare setting I do not care either way. Either setting is fine by me so I guess we will leave it to what the majority want it geared towards.

Indep strength I say to just put it at a 6.

For the magic sites I put a vote for 50.

For world richness lets just keep it on normal because it looks like all mp games keep it that way.

Everyone post your suggestions...nothing is set in stone.

[ July 24, 2004, 07:23: Message edited by: Aku ]

[Lex]

i've only been playing single player (trying to get a feel for what race(s) I like), and I just noticed the indep strength was always at 3.. does that mean in MP games start off slower if we double that to 6? although i guess it gives more advantage to 'holding onto' your provinces, since you worked so hard to get them all.

Although I'm fairly indifferent to the settings. It comes down to "preferences", but you gotta have played the game alot before you developed any preference at all.

[Aku]

Well having indep at like 6 you can sometimes use strong indeps as a layer from the enemy. Basically indep 3 is too much of a push over and don't attack on the first turn like you can do with indep 3 because you dont want a catastrophic defeat that hurts your early game.

I personally like higher indep strength because it makes it more fun because on indep 3 they may as well be empty provinces lol. It is like how Halo was a 100 times better and more fun on legendary mode than it was on the easier difficulties.

[Pickles]

"i've only been playing single player (trying to get a feel for what race(s) I like), and I just noticed the indep strength was always at 3.. does that mean in MP games start off slower if we double that to 6? although i guess it gives more advantage to 'holding onto' your provinces, since you worked so hard to get them all."

SP is easier with higher indep strength (and a better game too). The AI has more difficulty taking down the provinces so it takes longer to turn into a dogfight. I would recommend you use 6+ indeps on SP. In MP everyone always use 6 plus indeps too so it is good practice.

I guess MP games do start off slower - first attacking turn 3 - 6 but it is ages since I used indeps less than 6 so I am used to that now.

Pickles

PS Aku you are in the US so are you like nocturnal or something?

[ July 24, 2004, 08:16: Message edited by: Pickles ]

[Aikamun]

I would like to sign up if you have room for another newbie. Zero mp games under my belt. If I am included, would prefer default game settings and Indep 7.

Thank you,
Aikamun

Edit after player list posted: Looks like my request was ignored. Not my first bad experience trying to get into Dom2 MP (Bad Experiences 3; Good 0). I think I will stick to sp from now on, even if the AI is terrible. SP offers much more assured playing time. No hasta manana here.

[ July 24, 2004, 21:59: Message edited by: Aikamun ]

[Aku]

Well I am more of a night person. I am always up at different hours all the time.

If everyone is ok with the map Karan isnt it a 8-10 player map from what I read? Aikamun we just need to get confirmation from 3 players to see if they are playing. If Karan is a 8-10 player map I am sure we can fit you in as a 9th.

[Boron]

i of course participate http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Boron]

karan is nice
cradle of zen is a nice map too .
the 3rd one which comes to my mind is the inland map .
i would vote for karan too .

i would like to take pythium this time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[PashaDawg]

Hi Guys:

Any way I can get into the game. I am very new (i.e., I have no idea what I am doing, except that I like it).

Are you playing one turn per day? (That's good for me. I need time to think. Ha.)

[Aku]

PashaDawg we have to put you down for maybe right now. I need to know first how many players is good for Karan...I think I have read 8-10...can I get a confirmation? If Karan is good for 10 people then you would be the 10th spot.

I also need to get confirmation from starwarsluke and tannath if they are playing. Just need a yes or no right now from you guys...can pick a nation after we get settings decided on.

So far Boron wants Pythium, Klatu I know wants Man again, I would like to try Abysia but that is if Tannath isn't using it. And everyone else who has confirmed they are playing haven't picked a nation but some are waiting for settings to be posted first.

[Lex]

hmm.. Aran has LESS provinces but is a 8-10 map.. but would be good to confirm anyways.

I've been practising SP with Caelum, so I'd like to play that if available..

[Aku]

In our current game starwarsluke is caelum, havent confirmed yet if he wants to play this 2nd game and if he is then is he keeping caelum.

I just need confirmation from Tannath and Starwarsluke to move on with confirming nations.

[Aku]

I sent a pm to Tannath and Starwarsluke to post in here about playing because now that I think about it Klatu can host for us anytime. So like if we are set with nations and players picked, settings all agreed, and pretenders uploaded we can start as soon as that is all done. I don't see a reason to wait until next weekend to start it if we can get ready in a few days.

[Tannath]

I am playing 4 games and another is going to start tomorrow (the Battlefield tournament), it takes too much of my time if I play another game. Sorry. Good game.

[The Panther]

Hey,

I am a newbie, never having played even one MP game as yet. Is there still some room in this newbie game? As for a nation, I don't know enough to pick one, so I will just take whatever is left over.

Cheers

[Aku]

Ok no problem Tannath, there are always future games.

I am going to list who we have so far.

Aku - Abysia
Klatu - Man
Boron - Pythium
Pickles - Undecided
Drool - I think Ulm(let me know on this)
Starwarsluke - No confirmation yet
Alexi - Caelum if luke doesnt play or keep caelum
PashaDawg - Undecided
Panther - Undecided

That is 9 players...8 if Starwarsluke drops. I say we keep this lineup and work on getting nations but need settings first before people want to choose nations. Here is my proposal.

Number of starting provinces: 1
Stength of Independents: 6
Special Site Frequency: 50
World Richness: Normal
Random Events: Common
Score Graphs: Disabled
Hall of Fame: 15
Standard Research
Standard Victory
Renaming is Allowed

24 hour Quickhost

Map is Karan

Link to Karan. (there were 3 links to click and that was only one that let me download, unzip it to your map folder)

http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom2/karan.zip

Also do not worry about it being first time in MP because everyone here is new to MP. Either this is their first game or they are in the middle of their first game.

If I get some approvals for the settings then consider it confirmed and pick your nations.

Alexi choose a secondary nation just in case starwarsluke is playing because he has caelum picked if he is playing.

[ July 24, 2004, 17:43: Message edited by: Aku ]

[Aku]

I checked out the map of Karan just now it is 162 provinces with 20 being in the water. The water provinces were almost all connected so it is an option to play a water race if you like.

Our current Aran game has 7 people and thats like 106 or something provinces so if we got 1 nation as water I say we could have a 10 player game. We have 9 people already is starwarsluke plays and if everyone picks land nations then if a 10th person wants to join it has to be as water. If Luke drops then we have 2 open spots, you get the idea. And only opened for us newbie players. Newbie as in none or very little MP experience, having a lot of SP experience is no problem because players are different than AI. Main goal of this is to get used to how real people play like.

[Pickles]

"Our current Aran game has 7 people and thats like 106 or something provinces so if we got 1 nation as water I say we could have a 10 player game."

Karan certainly works with 9 to 11 though, as I expect with any map, some starts are better than others.

"We have 9 people already is starwarsluke plays and if everyone picks land nations then if a 10th person wants to join it has to be as water. Main goal of this is to get used to how real people play like. "

I will put down for R'lyeh then but if someone else wants R'lyeh, or Atlantis for that matter, I am happy to switch. Man is first reserve but again I am not wedded to it.

Pickles

edited for changing his mind

[ July 24, 2004, 18:03: Message edited by: Pickles ]

[Aku]

Klatu already has Man chosen, basically the only nation he has found that he likes.

[Lex]

I'll try Vanheim.. gonna play a few SP with them in the next few days to try it out.

Got a question: if someone takes a water race, and nobody else invests in equipment or spells or themes to go in the water, does that mean the water race is guaranteed to stay alive the entire game without being attacked?

[starwarsluke]

I would like to join. Could I be Caelum? Also could my brother perhaps play? He would like to play as Arcoscephale.

[ July 24, 2004, 19:31: Message edited by: starwarsluke ]

[Aku]

sure luke...there goes our 10 players now...so no more additions...luke how should i label your brother?

starwarsluke confirmed for caelum

alexi confirmed for vanheim

[Aku]

Our list of players

Aku - Abysia
Klatu - Man
Boron - Pythium
Pickles - Ryleh?
Drool - I think Ulm(let me know on this)
Starwarsluke - Caelum
Lukes brother - ?
Alexi - Vanheim?
PashaDawg - Undecided
Panther - T'ien Ch'i

Alexi the answer to your question I suppose would be yeah as far as I know. Pickles are you staying with Ryleh? Alexi tell me if you change your mind about Vanheim.

Any objections to the game settings?

[ July 24, 2004, 22:24: Message edited by: Aku ]

[The Panther]

I will take T'ien Ch'i. Thanks for the invitation. I have played a lot of SP against hard CPs so I do know the basics.

[Pickles]

"Got a question: if someone takes a water race, and nobody else invests in equipment or spells or themes to go in the water, does that mean the water race is guaranteed to stay alive the entire game without being attacked?"

Yes if noone goes amphibious but its a big if as most nations can do it eventually. Water races have a distinct advantage of security in the early to mid game (& I have not played beyond this) but they have nasty indeps to deal with and awkward geography so seem reasonably balanced in my limited experience.

And Yes Aku I will stick with R'lyeh as noone
else seems to want to go aquatic.

Pickles

[Aku]

Well the map Karan says 20 water provinces and I think you connect to all of them but 1 or 2 so you can get at least 18 provinces without stepping on land which is really nice.

Oh and Pickles just in case you havent used ryleh before use the priests not the mages to go in the summoning circle in the capital because they have a small chance of getting feebleminded.

We just actually need a few more confirmations of what nations people are using. Lets just use these settings (pasting from post below).

Number of starting provinces: 1
Stength of Independents: 6
Special Site Frequency: 50
World Richness: Normal
Random Events: Common
Score Graphs: Disabled
Hall of Fame: 15
Standard Research
Standard Victory
Renaming is Allowed

24 hour Quickhost

Map is Karan

http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom2/karan.zip

Players:

Aku - Abysia
Klatu - Man
Boron - Pythium
Pickles - Ryleh
Drool - I think Ulm(let me know on this)
Starwarsluke - Caelum
Lukes brother - ?
Alexi - Vanheim?
PashaDawg - Machaka
Panther - T'ien C'hi

I just need confirmation from Drool. I need nations for Lukes brother(and his name) and PashaDawg. Also Alexi just want to make sure you like Vanheim before I take the ? off.

[ July 25, 2004, 02:56: Message edited by: Aku ]

[Pickles]

"Oh and Pickles just in case you havent used ryleh before use the priests not the mages to go in the summoning circle in the capital because they have a small chance of getting feebleminded."

Ha small chance my arse. I am playing R'lyeh in another game and I have so far spent 750 gold to get 100 gold worth of creatures.

Actually there is a small chance cos they usually get eaten by the summons before they go mad - though I have had both happen on the same turn.
It really is a stupid pointless and above all random task (not that this stops me)

On Karan you are connected to 18/19 of the wet provinces but they are still a long way from one another and in dead ends so it is hard to expand in an efficient manner.

Pickles

[Aku]

I tried Ryleh once in SP and the mages have random picks I was able to get it to make the chalice to cure the feeblemind so i was getting high summons skills on my guys. Anyway I don't care for water too much. They are interesting but just not for me. But I did really like that summoning circle thing because it was unique to Ryleh.

[The Panther]

I messed around with the void summoning thing quite a bit before I got the hang of it. Some things to consider:

1. Be DARN sure you put the right guy in there. Only one guy can go in safely, the starspawn priest (I think that is his name). NEVER EVER put your god in there, that is total disaster. Other mages (like your god) have something like a 50% chance to go stupid. This also means the void gate is useless to any race that wipes out R'lyeh sice they cannot recruit starspawn priests.

2. Go +3 luck to try and get good old Chithgul to join you early in the game. He almost never goes insane. Somewhere on this site, they say that Chithgul has only a 2% chance to go stupid each time he is successful or attacked. It is 5% per occurance (not per turn as uneventful turns do not count) for the regular priests.

3. Make sure you have five bodyguards early on for the summoner. Research up to the ritual of returning or some such nonsense like that. That way you are safe from most everything except a vastness or multiple GOs early on.

4. The void troops are the ONLY sacred troops that R'lyeh can get. That in itself makes it nearly imperative that you use the void gate.

The Last time I played R'lyeh against the comps, my very first starspawn priest made it to something like level 25 summoning skill on about turn 80 when the game ended without going insane. I got one vastness and a whole host of GOs. Although I got whipped bad when the ultra-powerful Ermor CPU invaded the water and utterly slaughtered me (hehe).

I did like R'lyeh as a race. In fact, if you want to swap with me Pickles, I will take R'lyeh. It does sound like this particular map ought to have a water race.

[ July 25, 2004, 01:16: Message edited by: The Panther ]

[PashaDawg]

Hi Guys:

Thanks for letting me join in. I will play Machaka. I am pretty new at the game, so any nation is as good as another for me, and the spiders are GROOVY!

Let me know when you are starting. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

[Aku]

Well we can start as soon as everyone picks a pretender and then we will upload it to the host(to do that is just connecting to the host and selecting your nation).

I am hoping we get all the nations selected etc by Sunday and maybe start Monday or maybe Sunday night if things go smoothly.

I edited your nation of Machaka into the list of nations on the post below with all the info for the game.

[ July 25, 2004, 02:59: Message edited by: Aku ]

[PashaDawg]

What are the computer-logistics for playing this MP game?

Is there a server I need to log onto, etc.?

(I realize I need to create my god pretender on my own computer, and I will do that tonight.)

Thanks. Looking forward to playing with you guys.

[Aku]

Klatu is going to host the game for us on his computer. Basically when you load up dominions you click network, enter his ip, then his port number. Then it will say play the following nation...for you Machaka it will say so you click yes. Then it says blah blah blah has been uploaded then you can go do your turn. I think this is what you were asking.

When everybody selects a nation then Klatu will set up the server game and all of us will connect and select our nation...thats how you upload your pretender by selecting your nation. When all the players have done so then Klatu can start the game up and it will run on 24 hour quickhost. That means that if everybody does their turn it will host and if not it will host in 24 hours from the end of the Last turn. When you connect to the server it will say how many hours until next hosting.

I hope this helped. Any other questions just post and ask.

[PashaDawg]

Thanks, Aku. That's what I needed to know.

[drool]

did somebody pick tien-chi? if not, id like to be them. and also, are you absolutely sure about karan? i personally dislike it very much. could we play cradle instead?

[Aku]

Current list is this:

Aku - Abysia
Klatu - Man
Boron - Pythium
Pickles - Ryleh
Drool - (wants Tien Chi)
Starwarsluke - Caelum
Lukes brother - Arcoscephale
Alexi - Vanheim?
PashaDawg - Machaka
Panther - T'ien C'hi (wants Ryleh)

But Panther wants Ryleh from Pickles.
Drool wants Tien Chi from Panther.

I need feedback about the map. I know people have given feedback already but just one more time please since we have all the players decided upon now. I know a lot have picked nations because the map is Karan but if the majority wants cradle then we can switch, if not then we stick with Karan.

[drool]

have any of you tryed middle earth map (downside of middle earth is that there is no water races allowed:()? it looks nice.

raise the indep level to 7-9 please.

if theres no chance to get tien-chi, ill play ulm BF again. even thou it has crappy mages..
but 50 magic site frequency should give everybody some amazon sorcerors and druids.

anything but karan goes to me.

[ July 25, 2004, 08:11: Message edited by: drool ]

[Pickles]

Quoting Panther

"....Other mages (like your god) have something like a 50% chance to go stupid."

20% I believe but obviously far too high.
I calculate that a Priest has around 2% chance of surviving 80 turns not mad. Or 80 5%'s as I am not sure you roll each turn or each succcessful summon.

"Go +3 luck to try and get good old Chithgul "

Is this the only benefit of high luck do you know? (I heard it was good for void summons but was unsure how)

"Research up to the ritual of returning or some such nonsense like that. "

Aha that may be the trick to use - assuming the returning works. I have had my bodyguards eaten as well as the summoner - I seem to get things that are going to kill everything or that he can handle alone

"The void troops are the ONLY sacred troops that R'lyeh can get. That in itself makes it nearly imperative that you use the void gate."

I dunno that also means you need a decent bless. OTOH they have 0 upkeep which would be useful if I ever summoned any useful ones.(nothing to do with sacred)

"I did like R'lyeh as a race. In fact, if you want to swap with me Pickles, I will take R'lyeh. It does sound like this particular map ought to have a water race."

I do not want to swap but I am happy to play a different race (I want to try to do a better job with R'lyeh than I have done)

Pickles

And Aku the chalice is L8 and I have never come close to researching that with R'lyeh (plus it does not work if you are dead!)

[ July 25, 2004, 08:35: Message edited by: Pickles ]

[Pickles]

"Pickles - Ryleh
Drool - (wants Tien Chi)
Panther - T'ien C'hi (wants Ryleh)"

OK it looks like it would help for me to not be R'lyeh so I will be Man.

(Edit oh bugger it's gone I will need to think then I will choose something by tomorrow)

"I know a lot have picked nations because the map is Karan but if the majority wants cradle then we can switch, if not then we stick with Karan"

Never played Cradle but do not care either way.
I am happy with any indeps from 6-9 if more than just Drool want higher.

Pickles

[ July 25, 2004, 08:44: Message edited by: Pickles ]

[The Panther]

Originally posted by Pickles:
Quoting Panther

"....Other mages (like your god) have something like a 50% chance to go stupid."

20% I believe but obviously far too high.
I calculate that a Priest has around 2% chance of surviving 80 turns not mad. Or 80 5%'s as I am not sure you roll each turn or each succcessful summon.
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It sure seemed like 50% when I tried it without the priests before I knew what I was doing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif This morning, I calculated that the chance of surviving 25 tries is 27.7% for the priest. This is about 80 turns since it seems like about a 1/3 chance to be successful or attacked. Obviously, I was lucky in my game mentioned below, but this is not overly excessive luck. This also means to me that the 5% likely ONLY counts when you are attacked or successful, as otherwise the probability for me would have been an extremely low 1.65%. The probablilty of Chithgul surviving these same 80 turns (25 tries) is a nice 60.3%.


"Go +3 luck to try and get good old Chithgul "

Is this the only benefit of high luck do you know? (I heard it was good for void summons but was unsure how)
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I have no idea if luck helps the summoning or not. I have read that some people think so. Maybe it helps with the insane thing. Maybe that was why I got 'lucky' in my game??? I wonder if the developers even know? I did get Chithgul on about turn 10, but never needed him as my first priest did such a fine job in the void. At least Chithgul gave me a nice warm fuzzy knowing he was available as backup. Perhaps my priest knew Chithgul was waiting to supplant him so he was determined to do it right!


"Research up to the ritual of returning or some such nonsense like that. "

Aha that may be the trick to use - assuming the returning works. I have had my bodyguards eaten as well as the summoner - I seem to get things that are going to kill everything or that he can handle alone

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">My son is currently playing R'lyeh in his first MP game, and he tested this ritual thing quite a bit. I guess there are two kinds, one from an artifact and one from a spell. If I end up with R'lyeh in this game, I am going to have to figure all this stuff out. Or just ask my son.


"The void troops are the ONLY sacred troops that R'lyeh can get. That in itself makes it nearly imperative that you use the void gate."

I dunno that also means you need a decent bless. OTOH they have 0 upkeep which would be useful if I ever summoned any useful ones.(nothing to do with sacred)

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">For whatever reason, I like to have a priest or two in most of my battles. Maybe that is a waste of priests, but I found it very helpful when Ermor became very strong (which sure seemed to happen every game an Ermor comp was in).


"I did like R'lyeh as a race. In fact, if you want to swap with me Pickles, I will take R'lyeh. It does sound like this particular map ought to have a water race."

I do not want to swap but I am happy to play a different race (I want to try to do a better job with R'lyeh than I have done)

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I do not care one way or the other. Being a total rank newbie, I expect that I suck with ANY race.


I did check out the map this morning. It looks cool. Certainly a water race will work, as long as it starts at the bottom of the map, which I assume would be typical. I simply don't care what race I use. So if you want R'lyeh and Drool wants T'ien Ch'i, I will take any other one that is still available.

One thing is certain: I am not the kind of guy who has to win to have fun. The game is fun in itself. So --- Let me know what you are going to do so I can make a pretender.

The Panther

[Boron]

hm may i change my mind and play pangenea ?
if somebody else has chosen it already i stick with pythium but at least in the list pan seems to still be free http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Aku]

Boron - Pangaea is still free if you want to change your mind

Still need to figue out who is keeping what nation for Pickles, Drool, and Panther

This cradle map can someone post the link because someone said something about a fixed Version.

About indep strength I think majority want it at 6. Also the cradle map how is it for water races since we do have one playing?

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by The Panther:
This morning, I calculated that the chance of surviving 25 tries is 27.7% for the priest. This is about 80 turns since it seems like about a 1/3 chance to be successful or attacked.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The check is made every turn, not every time an event occurs.

[The Panther]

We might as well settle on the races if this game is ever going to start. I originally choose T'ien Ch'i on a random dice roll, so Drool can have it as I do not care in the slightest. Since I seem to be in the middle of this race picking thing, I will take Pythium and that will make everybody set on their races as follows:

Aku - Abysia
Klatu - Man
Boron - Pangaea
Pickles - R'lyeh
Drool - T'ien Ch'i
Starwarsluke - Caelum
Lukes brother - Arcoscephale
Alexi - Vanheim
PashaDawg - Machaka
Panther - Pythium


As for the game settings, the only person to object to the map was Drool. Thus, it must be satisfactory for the majority and should stay as planned. If the pro Norfleet said it would be good for newbies, then who am I to doubt him? It also is good for a water race. The settings are thus:

Number of starting provinces: 1
Stength of Independents: 6
Special Site Frequency: 50
World Richness: Normal
Random Events: Common
Score Graphs: Disabled
Hall of Fame: 15
Standard Research
Standard Victory
Renaming is Allowed

24 hour Quickhost

Map is Karan at the following URL:
Karan Map link (http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom2/karan.zip)


Now, all we need is to get an IP address and port number and we can load up our pretenders.

Cheers,

The Panther

[Pickles]

OK good to go

Pickles

[Aku]

I am talking to Klatu on the phone right now. He is getting it ready right now. This looks good to go give it like 5 minutes. I will post the ip and port number when it is up.

[Aku]

Ok the server is up

ip: 24.90.74.183
port: 10275

Post in here when you have uploaded your pretender.

Abysia and Man are uploaded.

To upload just connect to the game and select your nation then you can exit it if you want because this may take a while for everyone to get around to uploading.

[ July 25, 2004, 20:59: Message edited by: Aku ]

[Boron]

uploaded my pan pretender http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
@ the panther pythium is a good choice ihmo i like them http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
they are one of my top 5 nations but not nr.1 in terms of liking

[PashaDawg]

I just connected and uploaded my god pretender as Machaka.

Thanks.

[Pickles]

Just a heads up - you can create a shortcut to run dom2 and automatically connect to the server you want. This is what the properties box of the shortcut looks like on my machine:-


"C:\Program Files\dominions2\dom2.exe" --tcpclient --ipadr 24.90.74.183 --port 10275


Pickles

[Aku]

omg that is a great tip pickles

and we are 5/10 uploaded pretenders so far

[The Panther]

Six of ten now as I claim Smaug, Lord of Pythium as the one true pretender! All others are nothing but imitations.

[PashaDawg]

Map: Cradle of Dominion is fine with me (I assume you mean Cradle2, the final fixed Version on the official Dom II map page). Also, I kind of like Arduria (which would probably be more fun for water races, I think).

Independents: I would vote for strength 6, but I have no strong feelings, except that too much stronger could slow down the game because I think it would require more time for players to take over territory.

[Lex]

wow, things came together quickly. give me a few minutes and I'll settle on a pretender.

[starwarsluke]

Me and my brother have uploaded our pretenders.

[Lex]

i'm finally uploaded.. it looked like Drool was the only one left..

[Aku]

turn 1 is up!!!!!

[Pickles]

Oh ******* I was going to tinker. Never mind.
Pickles

This is 24h quickhost is it not?

(edited for bleeps)

[ July 26, 2004, 08:10: Message edited by: Pickles ]

[Lex]

but if everyone finishes their turn early, it'll autogenerate the next turn.. and it only forces a turn 24 hours after the Last turn. so really there's no way to nail down a deadline every day, since that deadline is subject to shift depending on how quickly everyone submitted their turns. best thing to do is check in within 24 hours of the Last time you personally submited your own turn.

is that correct?

[Aku]

The server is on est time but the 24 hours isnt always the same because of quickhost. If everyone does their turn lets say at 8pm est then the new 24 hours will be the following day at 8pm est. It does 24 hour host from the time of the Last host which will always change because of quickhosting when it happens.

[starwarsluke]

I am having trouble finding the maps directory folder to put the map in. I am on a Mac Os X computer. Does anyone know where the folder is located for me. Searching for maps directory gave no results. Is that the name of the folder?

[Aku]

I found the answer.

Instructions for Mac OS X Users: Control-click on on your dominions application, select "Show Package Contents", and open up the resources folder. Then move the map data files from each individual downloaded map folder into the the resources/maps folder.

[starwarsluke]

Thank you Aku.

[Aku]

I just want to make sure that PashaDawg, Machaka is doing ok with connecting. He is the only one so far that hasnt done the first turn.

[PashaDawg]

Hi Aku:

I have not done my turn, because I had to go work this morning. I am guessing that I will not be able to do my first turn until about 9:00 pm.

Sorry about the delay.

[Aku]

That is no problem. I was just checking if you were connecting ok thats all.

[PashaDawg]

I am happy to hear that we are underway, and I will make a point of getting my first turn done as early as possible (because then we will all get to play a SECOND turn tonight - yay!!) Hee hee.

I had no problem connecting and sending my god pretender to the server, and so, I expect that there should be no problem with connecting to actually play.

[PashaDawg]

Turn one complete!

[starwarsluke]

Arghh! I downloaded the game to my brother's user on the computer. It ignored my turn orders because of that!

[Aku]

how about his turn at least? did it mess up that one too?

your brother owes you a favor now lol

[Pickles]

"Arghh! I downloaded the game to my brother's user on the computer. It ignored my turn orders because of that!"

You do know you need a separate copy for each player to play MP?
I would not mind starting over if you are really screwed (not just cos I have slightly the wrong pretender & no password!)

Pickles

[Aku]

unless they are on the same computer and take turns because he said his brother's user so i think they are on same computer with different log ins or something and are playing like hot seat mode

[PashaDawg]

If you need to start over, no biggie.

Password? I can assign a password for my empire?

[Aku]

i didnt know either lol

[The Panther]

I think the game does not allow two instances of the same CD key in a single game. I have had this identical problem trying to play a game against my son at home over our local net (i.e, using a single CD key). It certainly didn't work. We eventually got it to work on the basic game directly out of the package by using a bogus CD key we found on the net. However, they fixed that bogus CD bug in one of the subsequent patches so it will simply not work anymore at all to have multiple CD keys in the same game (other than hot seat mode).

I have been wondering if it was going to work in this game. Now, I am guessing it will not. Most likely, one of you will have to become computer controlled. Or go out and buy a second copy of the game.

--Panther

[ July 27, 2004, 00:09: Message edited by: The Panther ]

[Aku]

hopefully they have two cd keys

let us know what your status is on this luke

[PashaDawg]

Aku:

What time Eastern Standard Time does a turn end approx.? I am in Maine.

Thanks.

[PashaDawg]

Well, maybe I can do my own math. It looks like the server is 4 hours ahead of the U.S. Eastern Time Zone, and if the game started 7:30 am (according to the server's clock), then turns will end at 3:30 a.m. (which works out well for me).

Tell me if my math is wrong.

Thanks.

[The Panther]

Originally posted by Pickles:
I would not mind starting over if you are really screwed (not just cos I have slightly the wrong pretender & no password!)

Pickles <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Did you attack blind on turn one and lose your initial army already? Naughty boy!!!

Actually, the game looks like a good start to me so far, mainly because I can't see anyone else as yet (lol). But I must admit that I am quite excited just to playing my first on-line game.

--Panther

[starwarsluke]

Oddly enough my brother's orders seem to have been accepted. I'm figuring that it will work if we both just use my user to take our turns. The only reason I didn't do that in the first place was becaue I wanted him to not need need me to login every time he wanted to take his turn. I would not be as rude as to ask if we could start the game over but I certainly wouldn't complain if we did.

[Pickles]

"Did you attack blind on turn one and lose your initial army already? Naughty boy!!!"

I only ever did that once. Now I never attack before turn 4.

I do not really care about starting over I just thought I would offer to Starwarsluke. I do not think tinkering with my pretender would improve it just change it!

"Actually, the game looks like a good start to me so far, mainly because I can't see anyone else as yet (lol). But I must admit that I am quite excited just to playing my first on-line game."

A bit early to tell thogh R'lyeh is not very variable.

Pickles

[PashaDawg]

Aku:

I encourage you to make a quick executive decision about whether to start over (and I think it would be nice to start over so everyone has a fair start). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Thanks.

[PashaDawg]

Well... call me a flip-flopper... but I just finished my 2nd turn, and it would be nice to just keep going...

Either way...

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Lex]

i've been having second thoughts about my pretender config all day, so to hear people thinking about restarting sounds good! Plus I completly forgot about a password (you'd think they'd remind you about that in the manual)

[Aku]

Well the only problem to start over is if Luke and his brother both cant do their turns. But the only way to really find out is for it to host to the 3rd turn. Maybe the best thing to do is to see if luke and his brothers orders both go through find for turn 3. If they dont it would suck to have an AI in and probably best to start over with 9 people then. And about the password thing I doubt anybody is going to log on someone elses turn.

[drool]

i have no problem in starting over. no password and crappy castle choosed. one should not have a low admin castle when playing high resource cost nation.

[Pickles]

"And about the password thing I doubt anybody is going to log on someone elses turn."

I have just done this by mistake in another game so it is possible.

I do not usually remember to add passwords so this is not an issue for our game for me!

As Aku said it would be better to start again than have an AI otherwise we should go on.

Pickles

[Aku]

Well it is turn 3 now. Luke did you and your brother's turn both work? We need to decide based upon this question.

[Aku]

I see luke did his turn...so did it save?

[starwarsluke]

Yes it did both of our orders for turn two were accepted.

[Aku]

Yeah it was probably an issue with different user names on your computer so thats cool that everything is ok now. So since is no longer a reason to make a player an AI the game should proceed as normal.

[Aku]

new turn is up also

[Aku]

only caelum and vanheim left for turn 5

[Lex]

is there any practical way of being alerted when a new turn is generated (ie by email?) or maybe by leaving the game running in the background? would that work? (like does the 'turn' screen refresh when the turn is ready?)

[Aku]

yeah it will refresh when the game is ready

i a lot of the time leave my game open where it shows all the nation flags and you see that it has an X on it if they havent done their turn

when it hosts it will refresh and you will see everyone with an X on their flag until they do their turn

but a lot of the time i post in the thread to let people know

[Aku]

only tien chi left to do the turn for it to host

on another note, how is everyone doing so far? I know caelum has been hiring a lot of mercenaries that I have seen. I have a bunch of guys on the hof. So far it looks like I am doing good. I think I may like abysia more than mictlan(from my first mp game).

[Lex]

yeah, caelum definitly needs mercs at the beginning (from what i've found in SP)... and Vanheim is definitly not a beginner race (my national units don't exactly scream how to use them best, and I've found a few instances of people discussing Vanheim strategy in the forum, but no details).. plus i changed my mind on what theme i prefered after starting the game. But should be a good learning experience as a first MP game.

[Pickles]

Caelum can use mercs or mammoths for creeping I think but massed archers work well too. Just do not melee anything.

Abysia IMO is very strong as it has great troops early plus a good blood economy for later. While Micltan is rather subtle (ie I do not know what to do at all)

I am struggling against tritons as I always do with R'lyeh. I think they would be broken on indep level 1 and impossible on level 9 so I hope 6 is quite balanced.

Pickles

[Aku]

Here is the list of players again so its easier for relations since I know some of us may have already run into other nations.

Aku - Abysia
Klatu - Man
Boron - Pangaea
Pickles - R'lyeh
Drool - T'ien Ch'i
Starwarsluke - Caelum
Lukes brother - Arcoscephale
Alexi - Vanheim
PashaDawg - Machaka
Panther - Pythium

[The Panther]

From my perspective as a total newbie, I would have to say that Abysia is looking very strong already. In addition to clearly having the most provinces plus dominating the HoF, the god Aku appears to be an SC with 20 kills already by turn 5. I don't even know how to make an SC myself...

I figure I therefore ought to learn a lot about Dominions as I get crushed in this game. It will be a good experience for me. At least I have a nice starting position and should not lose early.

But, are you sure you are really a newbie, Aku? It does not look so to me. Actually, I just suspect you are a fast learner and generally good at computer games.

[ July 30, 2004, 14:17: Message edited by: The Panther ]

[Pickles]

Quoting Panther

" I don't even know how to make an SC myself..."

There is a good thread on it if you search. 20 is not so many kills really - you gun down routers.

"But, are you sure you are really a newbie, Aku? It does not look so to me."

Most of the players here started a nooby game together a couple of weeks ago & this game was originally for those players. Some of us learned fast it appears (check out Boron's post volume). Also I played one complete game before that & offered on this thread to drop as a consequence. Abysia is rock hard IMO too.

Pickles

[Aku]

This is my 2nd mp game, the first being the one we all started 2 weeks ago.

I guess I just learn fast and have been playing video games since I was a kid. About SC's I am still experimenting with that. I also read the forums a lot like Boron. Pickles nailed the answers right on the money.

[PashaDawg]

Perhaps, it is pure luck that has blown young Aku through to his current fortunate circumstances. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Aku]

9 hours left until it force hosts

lukes brother and drool are only ones that need to do their turn (not rushing you guys just dont want you to stale)

Also I notice a lot of factors in MP rely on diplomacy. I think I do at least decently ok in that department also. I also noticed from my first game that we are on like turn 35 or so that mercenaries dont work as well as they do in sp lol. Basically can only use them for independents or just troops to take a few shots.

[starwarsluke]

I am not sure but I think Drool staled Last turn because I checked when it was at two hours before hosting and Drool still had not taken the turn.

[Aku]

He did stale Last turn, I was up when it was hosting and doing the countdown and he never did the turn. I had sent him a pm earlier but he didnt read it in time bec he just read the pms today. There are 7 hours left so thats 7am my time but for drool that would be 3pm so he should be ok in doing his turn i hope before it hosts.

Also Luke I know you and your brother use the same computer I think but seem to have very different schedules. I notice he always does his turns really late at night or really early in morning(depends what your time zone is).

I think the stale with drool he may have just forgot that he didn't do his turn because he did his turn in the other game that a lot of us here have with him.

[Aku]

Tien Chi (Drool) staled the past two nights. Drool I am just inquiring if everything is ok because it would be unfortunate to see you stale more. Just let us know if everything is ok or maybe you perhaps just forgot.

[Lex]

AHHHH http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

my stupid SC got killed because my cheap army retreated into the water rather then get back on the boat that brough them there!

I originally thought grabing a costal province that didn't connected to my other provinces except by boat would be a good idea, cos if it got taken my an enemy, they wouldn't normally be able to continue their raid on my other provinces. But without knowing what I was fighting, I didn't script my pretender's spells properly, and he kept casting Blade Wind instead of Thunder Strike.. when my troops finally got charged by the heavy cavalry, they all rooted and everyone died in a horrible death as they tried to swim home.

But they had a boat to carry them all home! Why didn't they sail? (its not like the enemy burnt my boats before the battle, or does losing as battle mean they no longer have access to their boats?!!)

[Lex]

mind you, that was my Pretender http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[Aku]

ah man thats a real bad start

the only thing i guess is to hope for no close neighbors and if you run into someone hopefully they are peaceful

[Lex]

plus he was flying too.. just doesn't make any sense, he should have made it back to a friendly provence even if the troops wheren't able too.

i guess the lesson here is just simply NOT to lose any battles, cos retreating is obviously not always predictable. What was the line from the Art of War: 'only fight when the battle is already won'?.. yeah..

anyways, Panther's my closest neighbour.. you won't hit a cripple would you? that's like hitting someone in a wheelchair! its just meeean!

[PashaDawg]

Hmmmm.... maybe it's time for the Panther to pounce. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Lex]

very funny.. but my Pretender's to busy being dead to laugh. http://www.ematerialstudios.com/stuff/dry.gif

has anyone ever tried playing WITHOUT their Pretender? or is that just crazy? If the idiot thought it better to drown with his troops rather then fly to safety, then why should I waste so many months calling his dumbass back?

[Aku]

Well I have never played Vanheim so I don't know about the sailing stuff much. But yeah I try not to go into a battle unless I know I will win.

I am not sure how much SP experience you have but you can call your god back with your priests. He will lose one from each magic path though. I don't know if anything happens if you don't call him back. If your god was a rainbow pretender then he basically got screwed but otherwise I would call him back. And I guess make nice with the panther or try to be ready for when he pounces.

[The Panther]

Well, alexi, I wondered where your troops went. I guess it would not be all that hard to take you out in about 2 moves, but I hate to see a person eliminated before the game really gets going.

So, what does everyone think? Should I try to eliminate him or not? I still have plenty of neutrals to take so I have lots to do if even I do not attack his capital. Since he lost his god, I probably have about an 80% chance to kill him. The chance of losing is a big risk for me, though.

[Pickles]

I have never used boats but I think this is what I would expect. You may only rout to an adjacent friendly province, if there are none you die.
Adjacent is adjacent - it does not check how you arrived at the province.

You are probably shafted to lose your pretender this early. You are down a mass of research or combat power or something else important. You can do without later

Unlfortunate start though.

[Boron]

Originally posted by alexi:
plus he was flying too.. just doesn't make any sense, he should have made it back to a friendly provence even if the troops wheren't able too.

i guess the lesson here is just simply NOT to lose any battles, cos retreating is obviously not always predictable. What was the line from the Art of War: 'only fight when the battle is already won'?.. yeah..

anyways, Panther's my closest neighbour.. you won't hit a cripple would you? that's like hitting someone in a wheelchair! its just meeean! <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">afaik i know you can only retreat into direct neighbors . flying doesn't help either .

for game balance issues this is great otherwise caelum dropping in your "hinterlands" and savely routing would be too strong .

my sincere condolences to your pretender http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
i have played vanheim only once in sp so far but they have good units so losing the pretender does hurt them but not as bad as e.g. ermor .

[PashaDawg]

Originally posted by alexi:
"very funny.. but my Pretender's to busy being dead to laugh."

You know I'm just tryin to yank your chain. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[PashaDawg]

Originally posted by The Panther:
So, what does everyone think? Should I try to eliminate him or not? I still have plenty of neutrals to take so I have lots to do if even I do not attack his capital. Since he lost his god, I probably have about an 80% chance to kill him. The chance of losing is a big risk for me, though. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Show mercy... why take a big risk? This could give you an opportunity to expand in the other direction safely.

[Pickles]

"The chance of losing is a big risk for me, though."

I would say it is about no risk of you losing but you may be able to expand slightly faster against neutrals and it may take longer than you expect.

"Show mercy... "

It is supposed to be a newb game & you will both learn more by not fighting (each other now).

Pickles

[Aku]

Also part of mp is about diplomacy. It is up to alexi and panther to negotiate war or peace.

In the other mp we are doing I got into a war early like around 10 or so and it took me over 25 turns to finally win. Even if you have a superior army a lot of ping ponging of provinces can happen if both armies never meet. Also spies are important because that is the only way to know what your enemy has and their troop movements. Alexi lost his god and may be weak but also may not be. It can result in two things, alexi dies fast, or doesnt die fast like you expect and you guys get locked in a long war. But that is part of mp and up to you panther to make that decision.

[Lex]

"You know I'm just tryin to yank your chain."

i know.. and i'm just playin along http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

"Alexi lost his god and may be weak but also may not be."

well, i'll be honest, i didn't have much experience with Vans before starting this game. But I've since discovered a bunch of successful strategies in SP for Vans, and with those the painful realization that my current scales+pretender made an extremely poor combination. I don't expect to survive long without my pretender's magic since i was relying on Blade Winds and Thunder Strike early on, and then after turn 10 it was Destruction+Blade Winds. This allowed me to take out most independents with very few troops + my pretender, which was required since all my gold went towards buying mages for research to get those spells. (which also means I don't have priests to call my god back..)

The reason why my scales where wrong for this early game strategy is because I took Sloth3, which makes it really tough to recruit armies. Vanheim has terrific troops, and ignoring them was stupid of me when I built my pretender. Their mages are good, but useless in battle until mid game or later. Plus I took the Midgard theme, which limits my troop selection to Skin Shifters and Einhere (which are both excellent in combat) but without high resources, I can't recruit them fast enough to build armies. Plus, with that theme you lose access to the best Van commanders outside your capital. So I would have been crippled by mid game anyways without the capacity to make armies and I would have had to use mostly Galdermans, which require equipment or alot of luck to get the right magics. I'd be interested in hearing about any other strategies for Midguard. My intuition is that Midguard is all about killer Skin Shifters+Einhere armies supported by a few Galdermans.

With this in mind, Panther is welcome try to take me, but my grieving nation is not gonna go down without a fight.

[The Panther]

Alexi, I decided to not attack you for the following reasons:

1. Even if you have practically no troops right now, you can recruit some in this turn and next.
2. You could likely bump up the PD maybe to 30 since your upkeep is low right now.
3. Even though I could easily be seiging your capital in two turns, I have no idea how long it will take to bust down the walls, especially with no seige specialists in my army.
4. I will be fighting in your domain, thus reducing my pretender's HP and my troops morale.
5. The arrows from the towers have a nasty habit of moving down slow, armored infantry, which I have in my army right now.
6. I could take several neutral provinces in the time it would take to siege and take the fortress.
7. R'lyeh could sneak onto shore near me if I am too far away from my own capital.
8. Your Vanheim capital will be a buffer from attacks, and I will not have to worry about being attacked from your direction for quite a while.

So, adding it all up means I will be playing it safe for now.

Cheers, and here's hoping you recover quickly, alexi.

The Panther

[Aku]

Also with early battles it is small armies so you couldnt just overwhelm his troops so you would be suffering casualties. Also it would be disastrous if he was building his castle walls faster than you could take it down. Would of been an interesting war but you made a lot of interesting points to not war. I did something similar against Abysia(nation I had early war with). He attacked my capital but did not suspect me to have moved their with troops on move then patrol so he got my army and my pd all at once. Also I had started putting spies in all his provinces and then worked my way back taking over his land until I got to his capital.

[Lex]

"Cheers, and here's hoping you recover quickly, alexi."

thanks!

Edit: i just thought of some useful ways of using the units available to the Midgard theme even with low resources and no pretender... necessity is the mother of invention right? maybe playing handicapped isn't so bad after all

[ July 31, 2004, 21:18: Message edited by: alexi ]

[Aku]

Well one thing you will learn to play better at least. Like for me the early war for me helped me learn a lot. SP is way different than MP and there is still a lot to learn because players are so different than the AI. Like against the AI I could predict what province they would attack but I kept failing to predict Abysia's movement paths. But back to what I was saying is that under bad conditions you are going to think more and make the best of your situation so when things are under good conditions you will be much better.

[Boron]

Originally posted by alexi:
well, i'll be honest, i didn't have much experience with Vans before starting this game. But I've since discovered a bunch of successful strategies in SP for Vans, and with those the painful realization that my current scales+pretender made an extremely poor combination. I don't expect to survive long without my pretender's magic since i was relying on Blade Winds and Thunder Strike early on, and then after turn 10 it was Destruction+Blade Winds. This allowed me to take out most independents with very few troops + my pretender, which was required since all my gold went towards buying mages for research to get those spells. (which also means I don't have priests to call my god back..)

The reason why my scales where wrong for this early game strategy is because I took Sloth3, which makes it really tough to recruit armies. Vanheim has terrific troops, and ignoring them was stupid of me when I built my pretender. Their mages are good, but useless in battle until mid game or later. Plus I took the Midgard theme, which limits my troop selection to Skin Shifters and Einhere (which are both excellent in combat) but without high resources, I can't recruit them fast enough to build armies. Plus, with that theme you lose access to the best Van commanders outside your capital. So I would have been crippled by mid game anyways without the capacity to make armies and I would have had to use mostly Galdermans, which require equipment or alot of luck to get the right magics. I'd be interested in hearing about any other strategies for Midguard. My intuition is that Midguard is all about killer Skin Shifters+Einhere armies supported by a few Galdermans.

With this in mind, Panther is welcome try to take me, but my grieving nation is not gonna go down without a fight. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">hm i have not much xp with vanheim but started a pbem (currently at turn 2 ) game where i play standard vanheim .

i see nothing that speaks against sloth 3 . your most expensive unit only costs 20 resources , a van only 16 and a skin shifter only 7 .

i think a f9 bless van + skin shifter army is really scary early - midgame .

vanheim has ihmo damn good national troops at least top 5 .

i myself like the "normal no theme vanheim" best though . no need to worry about supplies even against ermor because of the fay swines http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
and blessed valkieries + vans are great http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Lex]

yeah.. i figured standard vanheim was better. and sloth3 prevents you from building a bunch of 20 unit squads of skin shifters within a few turns.

but today i started playing around with the Midguard theme, and it kicks ***!! much better then standard theme. Cos in midguard you get cheaper researchers with astral2. This didn't strike me as more usefull then the other magic unit which has A2 and 2random. But imagine the sight of a squad of 25-30 skinshifters that are all ethereal and lucky, making them almost impossible to hit, and if you do hit them, they go into beast form and regenerate!! And then you have 6-10 Stellar Cascades stunning your entire army so that even your best units are unconscious, just waiting for my impossible-to-hit-regenerating-beasts to rip them to shreds.. its extremely effective.

All that WITHOUT a pretender! No bless, no rainbow, no supercombatant.

Anyways, I'm sure you could adapt this strategy for any race that has cheap S2 mages. And it would be even more powerfull with sacred units and a F9 or W9 bless.

[PashaDawg]

It appears the Drool is still AWOL. Has he responded to your inquiries, Aku?

I am playing another MP game currently, and someone in that game is AWOL, too (which is not very much fun for the rest of us).

If it becomes clear that someone has dropped out, do we have the power to turn his/her empire over to the computer's control? (This would be a drastic remedy, but in some cases it might need to be done.)

Perhaps, we could set up a standard. For example: if a player misses his/her turn for 10 turns in a row and has failed to communicate an explanation to the other players, then the other players shall have the discretion (perhaps, after a vote) to turn the missing player's nation over to the computer's control until the player returns.

I think things would be different if the player had a reason to leave the game temorarily and requested that the other players indulge him by pausing the game, etc. (For example, I know I will be traveling to Italy in late September. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

[Boron]

Originally posted by PashaDawg:


I think things would be different if the player had a reason to leave the game temorarily and requested that the other players indulge him by pausing the game, etc. (For example, I know I will be traveling to Italy in late September. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ) <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">hm finding a sub is better . because in a 10 player game most likely about 5-8 players will e.g. be in holidays 1-2 weeks at least too .
so only pause if the player in holiday doesn't find a sub or if there are 2+ players in holiday at the same time .


oh and enjoy your trip to italy then Pasha http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Boron]

Originally posted by alexi:
yeah.. i figured standard vanheim was better. and sloth3 prevents you from building a bunch of 20 unit squads of skin shifters within a few turns.

but today i started playing around with the Midguard theme, and it kicks ***!! much better then standard theme. Cos in midguard you get cheaper researchers with astral2. This didn't strike me as more usefull then the other magic unit which has A2 and 2random. But imagine the sight of a squad of 25-30 skinshifters that are all ethereal and lucky, making them almost impossible to hit, and if you do hit them, they go into beast form and regenerate!! And then you have 6-10 Stellar Cascades stunning your entire army so that even your best units are unconscious, just waiting for my impossible-to-hit-regenerating-beasts to rip them to shreds.. its extremely effective.

All that WITHOUT a pretender! No bless, no rainbow, no supercombatant.

Anyways, I'm sure you could adapt this strategy for any race that has cheap S2 mages. And it would be even more powerfull with sacred units and a F9 or W9 bless. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">hm good strat i never thought of that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif problem :
etheral effect is canceled by magic weapons .
caelum has magic weapons .
every race with f9 bless too .

+ you need 2 turns with your mages casting etheral + luck and your skinshifters on hold orders .

so archers/x-bows espeically with wind guide/flaming arrows can cause severe damage while you buff

so do any flying armies with attack rearmost orders or something similiar


but otherwise a really nasty idea . evil http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif


Last problem that comes to my mind :
enemy = ryleh / pythium :
they mind duel your S2 mages to death with ease http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Klatu]

**IMPOTANT ANNOUNCEMENT**
Hey All, This your server host Klatu.

T'ien Ch'i (Drool) has just missed his 4th consecutive turn. What should we do about this race? The turns would have played much faster, but we keep having to wait for his no show.

Please post so i can get a general concensus. I guess the options would be: 1. Keep waiting for him in case he plays; 2. Leaving T'ien Ch'i as it is, but force a host when all but he has played; 3. Put T'ien Chi on an AI setting; 4. (not even sure if this is possible) Delete T'ien Ch'i from the game.

[archaeolept]

uhh, i'm not in this game, but 4 stale turns in a row is beyond the pale. can his cowardly ***.

(hopefully you have a master password. otherwise, your only alternative is to try and PM him and plead w/ him to go AI).

force hosting each turn is a pain, and an insult to you and the other honorable players. just turn him over to the AI if you can. deleting a nation is not an option.

[ August 01, 2004, 16:31: Message edited by: archaeolept ]

[starwarsluke]

I vote for option two.

[Lex]

"etheral effect is canceled by magic weapons"

yup. But this tactic doesn't stand on only one leg. Luck stops 50% of hits. It's also counting on the units special ability. Using this with regenerating means that their lifespans are extended by 50%. In most cases, since they have the wonderfull ability to swarm, that's enough to prevent casualties.

"+ you need 2 turns with your mages casting etheral + luck and your skinshifters on hold orders."

When I tested this out, I found that the "hold and attack" command is enough to have them stay two turns for both etheral and luck to be cast on the troops.

"so archers/x-bows espeically with wind guide/flaming arrows can cause severe damage while you buff"

I also found that leaving even a handfull of troops up in front (with orders to hold and attack as well) attracts all the missile fire. And even if a player sets their archers to fire rear (which already limits their accuracy), you should always carry a Staff of Storms. There's also the option of casting Arrow Fend or producing amulets of missile protection for your casters.

"so do any flying armies with attack rearmost orders or something similiar"

Since the army that's being "mass-buffed" is literaly surrounding your casters, they act like bodyguards. In my tests, I had plenty of flyers suicide themselves on my army.


"Last problem that comes to my mind :
enemy = ryleh / pythium :
they mind duel your S2 mages to death with ease"

A very real possibility. Although with S2 casters, you should be equiping all of them with a +1S item anyways to have them cast teleport and Soul Slay. This probably won't save them from mind duels though. I guess it might be safer to keep them out of combat with pythium/ryleh.

"but otherwise a really nasty idea . evil"

Indeed. I've yet to try it with sacred troops. My guess is that you could use a smaller army with fewer casters. And that's the key to having lots of seperate armies doing differenting things on all your borders. I think if you need large armies to accomplish anything, you can't cover enough fronts to battle more then one opponent at a time. And depending on diplomacy to keep you safe is risky (although being completly new to MP, I've yet to discover the advantages of diplomacy to gameplay)

Edit: it true that this strategy will suffer against some races (like Boron mentioned, Bless F9 and Caelum). But if you go up against Caelum or F9, you simply take etheral out of your scripts. Nothing works against everything, so I guess this is just one of many other strategies that give you a slight advantage. But like in professional gambling, that's all you need.

[ August 01, 2004, 17:39: Message edited by: Alexi ]

[Lex]

oh, and lets put him on AI if he doesn't respond. it sucks, but its holding the game back (not to mention that the longer he stays AWOL, his nation suffers, and becomes too easy of a target for whoever's close to him)

[Aku]

I guess we just turn him AI. He is doing his turns in another game that a bunch of us have with him but not in this one so wtf. So far only lukes brother and drool need to do their turns. I will send him another pm and see if he responds. If he doesnt respond then I say we turn him AI.

[Aku]

Alexi I assume you are trying these strats in our current game so nobody attacks you lol?

Anyway about Drool I sent him a pm. I guess when Lukes brother does his turn we could force host it but if no response by tomorrow I say we then turn him into the AI.

[Pickles]

Originally posted by Boron:
"hm i had bad luck too .
random event vampire count attack http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
the province will be lost for a few turns grmml
given my slow expansion with cw this really hurts."

Told you there were Indep vampires.

I bet you have bad luck scales though?

Pickles

[Pickles]

Originally posted by Aku:

"Anyway about Drool I sent him a pm. I guess when Lukes brother does his turn we could force host it but if no response by tomorrow I say we then turn him into the AI."

I think we ought not to force host until tomorrow when he should have repsonded or not then turn him AI - 5 turns is long enough to tell us what is going on

Pickles

[starwarsluke]

I have a question if you bid on mercenaries but do not get them do you get the gold back?

[Norfleet]

Yes

[Boron]

Originally posted by Alexi:
Edit: it true that this strategy will suffer against some races (like Boron mentioned, Bless F9 and Caelum). But if you go up against Caelum or F9, you simply take etheral out of your scripts. Nothing works against everything, so I guess this is just one of many other strategies that give you a slight advantage. But like in professional gambling, that's all you need. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">your strat is good http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif nothing works against everything .
but you have yourself powerful bless units in the vans http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
and you still have a2 and even a few lucky a3 mages in the galdermans with mitgard .

so against ryleh you can perhaps switch to orb lightnings and the like http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

but i still like standard vanheim more because of the dwarfen smiths http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ August 01, 2004, 19:37: Message edited by: Boron ]

[PashaDawg]

I would force the Host after Luke's brother takes his turn, and then turn him onto AI if he does not respond. (His behavior is partularly surprising given that he is playing his turns in a different MP game.)

But, hey, even with the delays, I am really enjoying the MP experience.

[Aku]

I say to force host after lukes brothers turn. He is doing his turns in other MP games but not this one...

Also I just found out from Klatu a problem. He forgot to put master password in but said he has no problem in force hosting each turn since he said he checks it so much anyway it isnt a big deal.

[PashaDawg]

Well, shut my mouth, is Drool back?

[Boron]

hm i had bad luck too .
random event vampire count attack http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
the province will be lost for a few turns grmml
given my slow expansion with cw this really hurts .

[Aku]

11 hours left until it hosts...only drool hasnt done the turn. Should we have Klatu force host it? The majority of us so far have seemed to what it force hosted after everyone but drool has done their turn. Should I call up Klatu and tell him to do it?

[The Panther]

Definitely force host. He is going to stale again anyway. I think he has forgotten about the game.

I hope he eventually comes in and makes it computer controlled so it will not be quite as easy for someone to get a free capital.

[ August 02, 2004, 02:21: Message edited by: The Panther ]

[Aku]

I am talking to Klatu now. He is going to force host it.

[Klatu]

We are hosted to turn 10

[Aku]

This got pushed to page 4 already. I actually know where the majority of the players are and I am sure you guys have your spies everywhere as well so this is for easy diplomatic reference.

Aku - Abysia
Klatu - Man
Boron - Pangaea
Pickles - R'lyeh
Drool - T'ien Ch'i
Starwarsluke - Caelum
Lukes brother - Arcoscephale
Alexi - Vanheim
PashaDawg - Machaka
Panther - Pythium

[Klatu]

hey all, Your server host hear Klatu. I just discovered I can access T'ien Ch'i. So as of tomorrow (next turn) I will put him on AI (normal).

[Lex]

i wonder if we could get everyone on for a few hours and do a few turns in a night..

[Aku]

It is very difficult to arrange that. We could get close but I doubt we could get all of us especially with all the varying time zones. If everyone did check the game a lot though we could maybe get a few turns a day.

[The Panther]

I noticed that T'ien Chi moved immediately after the forced host, which means he is now computer controlled. At least the AI will spend money now on troops and not sit there doing nothing.

Your doing a fine job as host, Klatu.

[Aku]

Well Klatu checked if he could. He didnt turn Tien Chi into computer controlled yet but will do so tomorrow if we do not hear from drool.

[The Panther]

Hmm.... Then why did Tien Chi move immediately after hosting?

[Aku]

Klatu went into Tien Chi to check if he could turn him into AI and Klatu can. We are probably like 99% chance going to have to turn Tien Chi into AI but Klatu is going to give Drool some more time to respond.

[Pickles]

Originally posted by The Panther:
" Hmm.... Then why did Tien Chi move immediately after hosting? "

Perhaps this was as a result of Klatu opening it up?

I am glad we might have an AI rather than a forced host - both are distorting but AI is probably more fair to those not nearby - it will lose but willl fight.


Oh and since the game is 24 hour host people are entitled to take 24hrs. Of course staling canels this right.

It would be nice to play a game with a blitz phase - several turns on one day every so often but it proved hard to arrange with our other newb game. I guess it would be easier to manage if you start one up with that as a criteria then everyone knows in advance & commits to it. eg 168 hour quick host except on thursdays 2100 until 0000 GMT when its 20 minute quick host.
This would be like a regular weekly FTF game rather than a PBEM!

A problem is time zones of course.


Hmm anyone intereseted in something like that?


Pickles

[Aku]

Yeah that would be interesting but can everyone get together at same time to do the blitzing is the hard part.

And about drool...he was not only staling 4 days in a row...he was doing his turns in other games so wtf. If he didnt want to play this game anymore or something he should say something instead of playing his other games and staling on this one. He needs to respond soon before he gets turned into the AI.

I read your post again pickles and see what you meant. It would be interesting to start a game with a set blitz time so only people able to do it would join the game. It is an interesting idea that would be fun to do.

[ August 02, 2004, 09:26: Message edited by: Aku ]

[Boron]

Originally posted by Aku:
Yeah that would be interesting but can everyone get together at same time to do the blitzing is the hard part.

And about drool...he was not only staling 4 days in a row...he was doing his turns in other games so wtf. If he didnt want to play this game anymore or something he should say something instead of playing his other games and staling on this one. He needs to respond soon before he gets turned into the AI.

I read your post again pickles and see what you meant. It would be interesting to start a game with a set blitz time so only people able to do it would join the game. It is an interesting idea that would be fun to do. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">forgot to post my opinion here .

yeah force host and turn drool to ai as fast as possible .

[The Panther]

Check this one out for a neutral in my territory:
"The province contains about 100 hostile units. The army consists mainly of Heavy Infantries, Knights, and Eternal Knights." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Any guesses on just how darn long this place will remain independant? And this is with indy set at 6!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

[Pickles]

Originally posted by The Panther:
"The province contains about 100 hostile units. The army consists mainly of Heavy Infantries, Knights, and Eternal Knights."

NP it's probably only scouting inaccuracies and there are only 50 knights (cough).
hhm - any idea what an eternal knight is? Sounds bad but you may get to recruit it.

Some of those reports can be misleading - hoburg with a devil - means 1 devil per turn. Druids can mean Darkvines which are really bad news.


Pickles

[Boron]

Originally posted by Pickles:
Originally posted by The Panther:
"The province contains about 100 hostile units. The army consists mainly of Heavy Infantries, Knights, and Eternal Knights."

NP it's probably only scouting inaccuracies and there are only 50 knights (cough).
hhm - any idea what an eternal knight is? Sounds bad but you may get to recruit it.

Some of those reports can be misleading - hoburg with a devil - means 1 devil per turn. Druids can mean Darkvines which are really bad news.


Pickles <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">ouch those hoburgs with devils are so scary http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
any blood mages in indi provinces are evil because they often summon hordes of imps so always the option for a lucky magekill http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

some indeps are really evil .
between me and pickles in newbie game 1 is an indy province with a golem leading living statues + gargoyles .
also we are at about turn 35 the province is still independent . neither pickles nor i have dared to attack it still http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

i guess your province is a good candidate for a similiar destiny panther http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Pickles]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Boron:"between me and pickles in newbie game 1 is an indy province with a golem leading living statues + gargoyles .
also we are at about turn 35 the province is still independent . neither pickles nor i have dared to attack it still http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif "

well it has got your dominion at 7 now so it looks like a big waste of time to me now.

Pickles

[Klatu]

Hey All, This is your server host Klatu.

Please note: T'ien Ch'i is now AI controlled.

Hopefully thing will now speed up. lol

[The Panther]

I think an enternal knight is those flying power dudes who come with the mercenary Orion. I believe they cannot be recruited, but at least I will get ordinary knights there if needed.

I may attack with a scout and see exactly what they are. If he is unable to retreat because they do fly, then it is not a big loss that way. And if I do this, I will post the stats of those guys in here for all us newbies.

But yes, it is a candidate for staying neutral a long time. Unfortunate for me because I plan to put a castle in the adjacent province at some future point.

And it was 70 the first time I could see it, so there ought to be less than 100.

[Sheap]

Eternal Knights don't fly - and they aren't really knights either, having neither horses nor lances. They are just very powerful infantry with flambeaus and (IIRC) they are ethereal.

[Aku]

I guess it looks like panther wont take that indy province until turn 50 now lol.

Oh and just the luke brothers and pashadawg left for their turns.

[starwarsluke]

If me and my brother were to use a different computer entirely to take our turns for awhile. Would that still be considered a Cd Key violation and our turn orders ignored? I am asking this because I suspect that me and my brother will not be able to use the desktop computer for a week starting on August 30th.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by starwarsluke:
If me and my brother were to use a different computer entirely to take our turns for awhile. Would that still be considered a Cd Key violation and our turn orders ignored? I am asking this because I suspect that me and my brother will not be able to use the desktop computer for a week starting on August 30th. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I do believe the server tracks CDkey violations by the following method: Two nations are checked for having uploaded from both the same IP, and the same CDkey. If you are the same IP and same CDkey, you are assumed to be one person playing two nations. If you are the same IP and two different CD keys, you are different people behind a NAT firewall. If you have different IPs and different keys, you are different people. If you have the same key, and different IPs....well, sucks to be you.

[ August 03, 2004, 01:07: Message edited by: Norfleet ]

[starwarsluke]

Well that makes things simpler thanks for answering yet another question of mine Norfleet.

[The Panther]

OK, here are the stats on the enternal knight, which is infantry and does not fly:

HP - 14
Prot - 12
Morale - 30
Magic R - 14
Str - 12
A - 12
D - 12
Precision - 10
Move 2/10
It also is sacred, has 100% fire resistance, and regenerates 2 HP per turn.

They are led by a powerful priest with the flambeau, which does 13 AP damage and also casts the holy pyre spell.

Not bad, and it would be nice if I could recruit those eternal knights there when I take it and build a temple. But I really doubt that will happen.


I have decided to attack it with my god and 8 archers in 4 squads, hoping to kill the priest with proper battlefield management and good scripting. Since there is only the one commander, I hope to get them to retreat by killing that leader quickly.

Of course, I could lose my pretender and be just like my neighbor Vanheim. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

More likely, if it fails, I will lose my archers and the God will safely retreat. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Aku]

since it is one commander...you have any good assassins maybe to take the leader out?

[Lex]

you're counting on 8 archers to accuratly take out one target from accross the battlefield before an army of nasties takes them out?.. if you pull this off, that would definitly be something.


oh, and it seems half the players put in their turns after only an hour of quickhosting... sounds promising!

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Aku:
And about drool...he was not only staling 4 days in a row...he was doing his turns in other games so wtf. If he didnt want to play this game anymore or something he should say something instead of playing his other games and staling on this one. He needs to respond soon before he gets turned into the AI.<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">"Needs to respond" - I take it you sent him a message reminding him of the game, asking him wtf? Sometimes people forget about a particular game.

[Aku]

I personally sent him two pms. One was after the first stale and another after the third stale. The first pm was read but no response. The second pm has not been read still.

He has been doing his turns in another game we have him in but this one except for today when he staled in that one too. I don't know why he would stale 4 days in a row in one game but not in the other game until now. And he should of at least replied or something because he did read my first pm.

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Aku:
I personally sent him two pms. One was after the first stale and another after the third stale. The first pm was read but no response. The second pm has not been read still.
<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Sounds like someone I'd want to keep out of games I was in.

[Aku]

If he has an explanation if he shows up then it would be ok but if not then yeah it would be a bad idea to partake in games he is in.

[The Panther]

Originally posted by Alexi:
you're counting on 8 archers to accuratly take out one target from accross the battlefield before an army of nasties takes them out?.. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No, of course not. My god is taking out the commander with wait and attack rear. The archers just have to survive the charging knights long enough to keep my commander from autorouting. That is the plan anyway...

The enemy priest is far too powerful for a regular assassin to kill. Only my god can kill that dude.

[Lex]

Originally posted by The Panther:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Originally posted by Alexi:
you're counting on 8 archers to accuratly take out one target from accross the battlefield before an army of nasties takes them out?.. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No, of course not. My god is taking out the commander with wait and attack rear. The archers just have to survive the charging knights long enough to keep my commander from autorouting. That is the plan anyway...

The enemy priest is far too powerful for a regular assassin to kill. Only my god can kill that dude. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">actually, i saw your pretender, and one-on-one with a priest i doubt he'll break a sweat. i'd be more worried about getting swarmed. it'll all come down to timing.. you're probably puttin your guys way at the back and doing the classic "wait for it.... wait for it... waaiiit foor it!!!..." while the knights advance leaving their priest vulnerable.. but doesn't the AI always leave bodyguards on their casters?

[Pickles]

Originally posted by Alexi:

"the knights advance leaving their priest vulnerable.. but doesn't the AI always leave bodyguards on their casters?"

They would presumably get mauled by anything close to a SC pretender - though I suppose they may slow him down enough for the archers to break. I would be more concerned about badly implemented orders - the Pretender getting distracted & smacking into the back of the knights. Seems pretty random what happens with attack rear but flying helps a lot.

Pickles

[Aku]

only lukes brothers turn is left, he has less than 4 hours, dont want him to stale

[The Panther]

Originally posted by Alexi:
actually, i saw your pretender, and one-on-one with a priest i doubt he'll break a sweat. i'd be more worried about getting swarmed. it'll all come down to timing.. you're probably puttin your guys way at the back and doing the classic "wait for it.... wait for it... waaiiit foor it!!!..." while the knights advance leaving their priest vulnerable.. but doesn't the AI always leave bodyguards on their casters? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">In the scout attack, I saw that the commander had no bodyguards. If fact, he stayed behind to cast spells, thus providing some separation between him and the Heavy Infantry.

My biggest worry is that the pretender does not fly all the way to the back and lands in the infantry. If I have scripted it correctly, he has two rounds of attacks before my archers are gone. He could possibly be dead in two rounds from the sheer mass of HI.

Hm... I am getting cold feet. Maybe I ought to play it safe and not attack. After all, I am a total newbie and never did anything like this before.


CHICKEN???

Edited to say 'Cluck cluck!' I just changed it to not attack.

[ August 03, 2004, 18:19: Message edited by: The Panther ]

[Lex]

oh COMMON!!! Come join me in the Dead Pretenders Club! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

PS its a very exclusive club. yet its not at all hard to join..

[Lex]

"My biggest worry is that the pretender does not fly all the way to the back and lands in the infantry."

someone posted in a thread not long ago that for every squad you have to make a morale save. if you fail, your troops/SC attacks them instead of the rear.

But your Pretender has pretty high morale, so he should have no problem flyin to the rear..

[Pickles]

" oh COMMON!!! Come join me in the Dead Pretenders Club! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif "

Love to but I am immobile & aquatic (I guess I could teleport onto dry land..)

Pickles

[Aku]

I guess since people are giving clues on their pretenders...mine wont join the dead pretenders club because I chose an immortal one. My first time playing an immortal pretender. And I wont be fighting in unfriendly dominion with him either lol.

I am going to be doing my turn in an hour.

[ August 03, 2004, 21:07: Message edited by: Aku ]

[Pickles]

Server seems down atm

Pickles

but I may have bust it/my connection

[Aku]

Yeah its down for me too. Going to call Klatu's house and have him reboot the server.

[Aku]

I gave him a call. He will be getting home within the hour and then will reboot the server. I believe the only person who had to do their turn was luke unless he did it and it hosted already I dont know.

[starwarsluke]

I had already taken my turn.

[Aku]

Cool so we get a new turn when the server gets rebooted. Should be soon. I will have Klatu post when he reboots it.

[Klatu]

[ August 04, 2004, 01:46: Message edited by: Klatu ]

[Klatu]

Hey All, Its me again your server host Klatu.

The server is restarted. Go for it! LOL

[Aku]

only lukes brother is left, 10 hours left

[Pickles]

Server seems to be down as usual

Pickles

[starwarsluke]

The server seems to be down again.

[darksideoftheday]

hi im lukes brother http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif

[Klatu]

Hey All, This is your server host, Klatu.

The server for our game is up and running.

I have been having a problem with the server, when it hosts it crashes. I contacted Dominion technical support and we believe we have fixed it.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

[Aku]

it looks like tech support didnt fix it =[

getting in contact with klatu for him to reboot it again

[The Panther]

I was just now the Last to move in the game. The server crashed when it hosted. I guess than means it is not fixed...

[Aku]

thing is also why is it only crashing when it hosts?

[Klatu]

Well, Its Klatu again, as as they said...it ain't fixed!!!

However it is back up.

My apologies.

[Klatu]

Hey All, Its Klatu.

The Server will be down for about 1 hour, 7:30 - 8:30AM EST (-5 gmt). To attempt another fix to our hosting problem.

Cross your fingers!

[Klatu]

Klatu here,

FYI, the server is back up. Let's hope this worked. Please!

[Aku]

Only the Luke brothers left for their turns, 3 hours until it hosts. I guess we will see by then if the server fix worked.

[Aku]

New turn is up and it seems Klatu fixed the server crash problem when it would host.

[Aku]

Bah it looks like it crashed on the hosting again. Let me go give Klatu a call.

[Klatu]

Kaltu you server host blah blah blah...

Well it hosted once ok, but now it isn't! Any suggestions might help.

THe server is up again.

[Aku]

The nation list again. I personally need it to tell who is who lol. I edited in the name for Luke's brother Darksideoftheday.

Aku - Abysia
Klatu - Man
Boron - Pangaea
Pickles - R'lyeh
Drool - T'ien Ch'i
Starwarsluke - Caelum
Darksideoftheday - Arcoscephale
Alexi - Vanheim
PashaDawg - Machaka
Panther - Pythium

[ August 06, 2004, 03:10: Message edited by: Aku ]

[The Panther]

Um, Luke's brother has a name, btw. He posted as darksideoftheday. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

We could call him dark side, I suppose.

[ August 06, 2004, 02:07: Message edited by: The Panther ]

[starwarsluke]

Alexi could you please reply to the message I sent you.

[The Panther]

Originally posted by starwarsluke:
Alexi could you please reply to the message I sent you. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hehe - maybe he does not want to reply because he appears to be killing you. Methinks you should have not taken that province from him next to his capital when he was weak. After all, maybe he was just pretending to be weak...

Now I notice that he has a province next to your capital and just might be thinking of wiping you out. Who knows? But I expect he ain't replying to you cause he didn't like being attacked in the first place.

I am just glad that I did not attack him when I had the chance. Taking a guy out early on is so risky, it seems to me in my newbieish ways. He even posted that he would go down fighting if I had tried to kill him early on. That comment of his had an effect on my decision back then.

Good luck and fight hard. Don't ever go down without a tough fight.

[The Panther]

Server is down this morning.

[starwarsluke]

The server is back up.

[Aku]

Ah man new forums, going to have to get used to reading from top to bottom now lol. I probably have a turn to do, going to go check.

[PashaDawg]

Looks like the game is going to start heating up soon. Man to my north. Pan to my south. And the lava men to my west. What's a Great and Honorable Spider Lord to do? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Boron]

new turn is up .
things will get interesting soon i guess http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Aku]

Well the game is probably going to heat up a lot within the next 10 turns but it seems everybody is pretty peaceful with each other. Most of us are still establishing borders right now.

What do you guys think of score graphs gone. I am in another mp game and they have it enabled...kind of takes away a lot of the mystery of who is powerful. Also it kind of devalues the worth of your scouts. So I personally like score graphs gone, what are your guys opinions?

[PashaDawg]

I was one of the Newbies in the game where Norfleet cheated (apparently) these Last few days. I don’t understand it all, but his armies were amazingly HUGE, and I was a little sad thinking that an expert could get so HUGE so QUICK. The graphs were helpful to see just how HUGE he was. To some extent, as a Newbie, I enjoy seeing the graphs for learning purposes. But, they do take away the mystery, and that’s part of the fun!

[The Panther]

This is my first game without the graphs (including SP, I might add). I find it more interesting in that you have to actually scout to see what is happening around the world.

But I do understand that the graphs makes it easier to catch cheaters like Norfleet was doing in that tournament game. Though why people feel compelled to cheat, I will never understand. I mean, what is the fun in creating over 4000 gems and limitless gold out of pure air like Norfleet did? I mean, 18 dwarven hammers by turn 22 as (no-earth) Ermor? Give me a frigging break. What a waste of time for everyone involved...

I suppose that someone in this newbie game could be an expert in disguise. That might also be considered a cheat if it were true. Having the graphs off makes it nearly impossible to detect this.

But, having said all that, I do admit that I like it with the graphs off. It makes building scouts much more important. I have built more scouts in this game so far than I normally would of in 100 turns with the graphs on.

So, I say it was a good idea turning the graphs off. It is different and quite fun. And we are all in this for the sheer fun of it anyway.

[Stormbinder]

This is my first game without the graphs (including SP, I might add). I find it more interesting in that you have to actually scout to see what is happening around the world.

But I do understand that the graphs makes it easier to catch cheaters like Norfleet was doing in that tournament game. Though why people feel compelled to cheat, I will never understand. I mean, what is the fun in creating over 4000 gems and limitless gold out of pure air like Norfleet did? I mean, 18 dwarven hammers by turn 22 as (no-earth) Ermor? Give me a frigging break. What a waste of time for everyone involved...





19 Hammers, actually. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif Kristoffer have missed one that his GK pretender had, I think.

As for your question - beats me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif I honestly have no idea what possible fun could someone have by cheating in such way. Perhaps it is some extreme form of "grief player" syndrom, that exist in certian MMRPG. I don't know...

As for the graphs - personaly I dislike them, since they are too accurate to be realistic, and thye significantly deminish the value of intelligence gathering. But I certanly glad that we had them in our tournament game. We would never catched Norfleet without them.

Regards,
Stormbinder

[Aku]

new turn is up!!!

[PashaDawg]

Uh-oh... it looks like the evil lord of a rotting PAN is gearing up with hostile intentions just south of the Loving, Peaceful, Never-Hurt-A-Fly, LORD OF SPIDERS's dominion. The sky is falling! The SKY IS *FALLING*!!!

We'll teach them the taste of spider venom. Take that.. and that... and a little bit of THAT... whisk.. whisk... (or whatever spiders say when the bare their fangs...) This one goes out to Shelob...

[PashaDawg]

Oh, and whoever is causing greater unrest in my Dominion... that's rude and an affront to the Lord of Spiders's sovereignty. Didn't your MAMA teach you any manners?

[Aku]

Well Pasha you have me at least as your peaceful neighbor. In regards to Pan I assume he has no choice since he is to your south trapped in that corner. But you never know either because I could say the same thing about Ryleh is going to attack me because he has troops on the border but we are on good terms. Hard to be certain with these kinds of things.

[Pickles]

My Ryleh troops on your border are looking a the water thinking hmm full of sea trolls I'm not going in there.
When I get enough guys with tridents they will poke them back into the sea

Pickles

[Aku]

Good to know that you have no hostile intentions. Easy to get a little paranoid when neighbors pop up all over lol.

[Aku]

new turn is up

[PashaDawg]

Alas the Carrion Pan Lord's filth has invaded the peaceful, fun-loving dominion of the GREAT SPIDER LORD!! The filth's inevitable DOOM and DESTRUCTION shall be swift. The mighty drums of our voodoo priests are beating the SACRED SMITE SONG. Fear not, we shall dash their hopes promptly and then retreat to our peaceful endeavors.

(How about an invasion from the Sea, GREAT LORD PICKLES? Have you no love for your voodoo bretheren? &lt;blink, blink&gt; Pretty-please-with-whipped-cream-and-gerkins-on-top...) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Aku]

I think a message with pickles should of been done in a pm lol. Now Pan will be ready for that type of alliance.

[PashaDawg]

I'm just teasing Pickles and Boron. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Pickles]

I'm just teasing Pickles and Boron. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Sounds like a declaration of war to me .

Get the nasty Spider thingies!

Pickles

(where do they live?)

[Aku]

Well Pickles you know where I am so go East like 2 provinces and you will see them.

Oh and new turn is up.

[Boron]

I'm just teasing Pickles and Boron. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Sounds like a declaration of war to me .

Get the nasty Spider thingies!

Pickles

(where do they live?)



me and pasha are at war since Last turn because i have nowhere to expand http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PashaDawg]

Lies! Lies! Lies! The Fetid Carrion Pan Filth is a warmongering monster attacking a peaceful neighbor. His aggression is unjustified. What really get's the GREAT SPIDER LORD's pants in a twist is that the PAN LORD attacked so casually... as if he's playing a harmless war game or something. Voodoo lives are at stake. We shall beat him back. The DRUMS ARE BEATING!!! BRUMM! BRUMM! BRUMM!

[Pickles]

Quoting the mad spider god "Lies! Lies! Lies! The Fetid Carrion Pan Filth is a warmongering monster attacking a peaceful neighbor. His aggression is unjustified."

While I cannot fault your despcription of him he did not actually lie when he said he attacked you baecause he had nowhere to expand - this fits your description.

Good luck BTW
(Does anyone know if mandragoras can swim?)

Pickles

[PashaDawg]

LIES!! LIES!!! LIES!! &lt;frothing at the mouth&gt; &lt;cough cough... weeezzzz&gt; Kill!! Kill!! Onward my spider minions... ONWARD!!!!!! Death to the Fetid Pan Filth!!!

[Aku]

Keep us posted on the war. Keeps the thread active and also something for us to read.

No clue about mandagoras if they can swim. I guess Boron or Pasha have to answer that one.

[Aku]

New turn up. Arco staled =[.

[Boron]

Keep us posted on the war. Keeps the thread active and also something for us to read.

No clue about mandagoras if they can swim. I guess Boron or Pasha have to answer that one.


my poor minions unfortunately can't go underwater .

nice writing pasha http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif keeping the war on the board is a nice idea http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

this turn my poor minions had to master 2 great challenges because the evil SPIDER LORD doesn't give poor BELKELEL the lands that are rightfully her lands .

my carrion lord general Sirakzil was the victim of an evil bane spider assasin . Luckily he teached the coward Daraja the Last lession of his life : Coward attacks never succeed . Now Daraja can think about this while rotting in hell http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

The second challenge which my minions had to master this season was to prove their worth in battle in their first big battle . It turned into a big carnage . Luckily lots of Machakan heathens were killed but unfortunately lots of my inexpierenced minions too . Casualities were high on both sides . At least i won . But it was a Phyrrus victory . Almost crippled my first wave before it even started http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif .

at least a first small step on my long stony way to supremacy (hopefully http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif) .

so lets see how the war turns out . I learned that the lands of the mighty spider god are not a quick extension for my undead realm but hard to take .
If the mighty spider god though agrees to become my slave i might be generous and let him exist as a vassall http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[The Panther]

I had a scout in that province and got to watch the battle! Go me!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Maybe you lost some troops, Boron, but it seemed to me you won easily. My conclusion from watching that battle was that the spiders are not long for this world. I still hold to that opinion. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

By the way, I have never played carrion woods before, even in SP. Those green things are darned UGLY! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Aku]

Pythium that scout is a long way from home lol.

Oh just Arco left until it hosts.

[PashaDawg]

Good Evening. This is Machata National News (MNN). Just in from the front line in the War of Pangeian Aggression, our on-the-spot correspondent interviews a common Machatkan infantryman.

Reporter: You look pretty bloodied up, son.

Yutu the Infantryman: Oh…. Oh… KABALKU!!!! &lt;Sobbing&gt; They were EVERYWHERE, man!! Holy Poobu!! EVERYWHERE. Green undead…. Undead, I tell you!! EVERYWHERE!!! &lt;grabs his face….&gt;

Reporter: Can you describe what it was like, son?

Yutu the Infrantryman: We were almost ready for ‘em… ALMOST ready for ‘em. Our smite drums were beating. Our priests were bestowing the sacred blessings. All was almost prepared. Then they came rushin’ over the hill… through the trees like they were a part of them! Undead… a HUGE undead army… Mindless… Fearless… without Compassion or self-concern. They rushed us… full on…. Ripping through our front lines and into our archers. &lt;eyes wide with fear… hands gripping and pulling hair&gt;

Reporter: Oh…. Holy Poobu! &lt;almost dropping the microphone&gt;

Yutu the Infantryman: They smacking railed on our holy spider riders… killed them all…OH HOLY POOBU!!! OH…… &lt;shouting loudly with unconsolable grief …&gt;

[PashaDawg]

Lies!! Lies!! Lies!! Panther and Boron SLANDER the Great Spider Lord. Don't believe THEM or what you hear from the NATIONAL MEDIA. They are in the pocket of the Fetid Pan Filth!! Our mighty spider cavalry SMOTE them down... they lost nearly their ENTIRE ARMY before MY mighty spider minions!! BEWARE and BACK OFF, PAN!!! Or we will release my SECRET DOOM WEAPON!! &lt;spittle sputters out over the Spider Lord's chin as he almost gags on his tongue in frothy fury&gt; /threads/images/Graemlins/mad.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/mad.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/mad.gif

[Aku]

Hopefully you have a backup army being made.

I never played Machaka before so not sure how fast Machaka can recover from a battle. Guess we will see as the turns go by.