MP Game For whom the bell tolls ---- Started

[Cohen]

DUE TO PROBLEMS WITH KARAN DRY MAP, THE MAP HAS BEEN SWITCHED TO NORMAL KARAN.
Due to another problem, I took the Aby Great Warlok, and so it has been happened that I cheated because Mose server is still 2.12 and there's no Great Warlok.
So I restart it.

SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE

New game on Mosehansen, port 2312.

Map is Karan Dry.
Dunno how many players could be in, in Newbye unite we were 17 in a Karan map ... so the more join, the better it could be. However I'd like to start this game soon, so I hope in 2 days to have sufficient players in (at least 7)
QH on 24h.

The only rule is that you've to take a Human (10 points for new magic path) or Immobile (map movement 0) pretender.

Settings are:

Indep 6
Magic Sites 60
Research and Richness, standard.
Common Events.
HoF 15
_________________________________________

I'll go for Abysya.

[Cohen]

Something is going wrong and the game gets stopped as soon as it is created/restarted.

I'm asking to Mose.
___________________________
I solved the problem leaving the first one stopped and creating another one on

port 2313

[Boron]

i'll go for ulm if you can hopefully host the game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Lepakko]

i could take Man if we make it ladder http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Regen]

In with Jotun

[Boron]

cool it is shown now on mosehansen .

so in as ulm http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Cohen]

Well, LePakko, I'd be glad to make that game ladder if other player doesn't mind to register in the-battlefield

[lebarjack]

I think i am registered with the-battlefield. If not, I don't mind registering.
I'm willing to go with marignon on this game.

[The_Tauren13]

I'll reserve vanheim for either panther or me, depending on who gets dibs for this game.

[deshayes]

I'll take T'ien Chi

[lebarjack]

Download: karan.zip.
Defaultmapzoom was not 1.5 in the first Version. Download fixed defaultmapzoomed karan.map.
Download fixed defaultmapzoomed karan2.dry.



I am a bit confused. What map am I supposed to download?

[Lingchih]

I can take Panagea. First multiplayer game, but I am registered on mosehansen and I'm pretty sure I know how everything works.

[YellowCactus]

I'll be the Mictlan people!
-Yc

[Cainehill]

I'll take Caelum. Not registered or registering with the battlefield though.

[Cohen]

There're 2 players still anonymous.
Please "confess" your name.

If none shows up I'll start the game before tomorrow.

[Cohen]

I'd see someone hasn't still uploaded his pretender.

And one of the Anonymous is Ryleh, that none claimed here.

[JaydedOne]

I'm in as Arcoscephele.

[YellowCactus]

Do I have to Upgrade to the new patch? And if so, what's the best way for a computer 'ninie' like me to go about that without frying my other games?
-Yc

[Karacan]

As long as you play on Mosehansen's Server, you do not yet need to patch. Though I hope that one day you will, but that's for our generous host to decide.

[Cohen]

Who's Ryleh?
If none claims it (now is 4.00 AM in Italy) for this afternoon I'll kick the anonimous and start the game.

[The Panther]

No one has claimed R'lyeh in this thread, so it probably was an accident.

Also, I am on the battlefield ladder, so I can go either way on that.

[Lingchih]

I'm not on the battlefield ladder. Please let me know if I need to be on it, and if so, how.

[Lepakko]

So its going to be ladder...???

[Lepakko]

i think i join any way.. i upload god today 14.00-15.00 GTM

i hope Man is still free

[Cohen]

For me we could play it as ladder, if none disagrees.

To register you've to go at www.the-battlefield.com (http://www.the-battlefield.com), click on Dominions2 and register.

Now I'm short in time, but I'll soon post a more detailed help on how to register in ladder in case someone fails in doing it.

[Lepakko]

i Cant find game!!! so what was port number??? 2313 and 2312 is not working

[Mark the Merciful]

I was going to join as Pythium, but mosehansen says the game has stopped.

Mark

[Boron]

Mark the Merciful said:
I was going to join as Pythium, but mosehansen says the game has stopped.

Mark



i see it still as open , port 2313 .

[Lepakko]

i test to join leter today

[Mark the Merciful]

It seems to be back again.

I am Pythium, and Pythium is uploaded and claimed.

Mark

[Lepakko]

ok.. im done it

[Boron]

hm now the game has finally disappeared http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

I go to bed now but in case you rehost it ( i hope so http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )i claim again ulm .

[Frosted Flake]

Cohen ...must you start every game with human/immobile pretenders?

[Cohen]

Not every Frosted Falke, but they're so unused that it's nice to see them in action.

[JaydedOne]

I'm out. The amounts of starts and stops has been ridiculous and now a reload? Bleah.

[Frosted Flake]

That said I'll play any nation available if there is one http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Mark the Merciful]

JaydedOne said:
I'm out. The amounts of starts and stops has been ridiculous and now a reload? Bleah.



That's a bit unfair. It's not like mosehansen is under Cohen's control (or that the next game you join will be on a different server).

Anyway... Pythium is back.

Mark

[Lingchih]

From the note on the games page, the previous game was stopped by the Admin because there are too many games running on the server. So how will this one be allowed to start?

"There is already more than 23 games running on this server. To protect the poor thing, this game has not been started. Sorry."

[Lepakko]

Game has start... Good luck and have fun in game

[lebarjack]

Speaking of diplomacy, what is the good way?
Using the (crappy??) ingame messaging system, PM at shrapnel's board or mailing at the mail address found in the user's profile?

[The Panther]

PM, AIM, MSN, email, plus the in-game crappy messaging system. I have used all of these methods in my games.

[Gandalf Parker]

The Panther said:
PM, AIM, MSN, email, plus the in-game crappy messaging system. I have used all of these methods in my games.



What? No VoIP (voice over IP)? Surely we can keep up with XBox on this. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Oh yeah, Ive also seen a channel opened for the game in IRC

[Lepakko]

you can allways come to Finland to talk of diplomacy

[Lepakko]

Machaka miss his turn http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Lepakko]

Is machaka going to play the game... he is soon missing turn 2

[Lingchih]

I saw that YellowCactus fled the hurricane and will stale this turn and maybe a few more. Should we wait for him to get back?

[Boron]

Lingchih said:
I saw that YellowCactus fled the hurricane and will stale this turn and maybe a few more. Should we wait for him to get back?



Yeah lets wait for him http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif . He is a very nice and addictive dominion player too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .
He can do nothing against the hurricane so i think we owe him to pause the game until he gets back http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Lingchih]

Cool. It would have been tempting to lay waste to that army he has sitting on my border though.

[Cohen]

So on do I delay the QH ?

I'd preferred that him asked for a temporary sub but I can switch the quickhost to 72 hours.

[Cainehill]

Sure, why not.

[Cainehill]

Lepakko said:
Is machaka going to play the game... he is soon missing turn 2



Feh. Knudsen / Machaka apparently didn't understand what "immobile / human pretender" meant.

So, Cohen - what is your protocol for dealing with the inevitable pretender screwups in your flaky games? Frankly, all possibilities I see suck.

[Cohen]

Why? What pretender he's?

We should confine him to the capitol probably and site searching in provinces, and turn AI if he uses for combat purpose.

[Cainehill]

He's got a Lord of Fertility sitting right on my border - hardly human, and hardly immobile.

Edit: And given that I've never seen a Knudsen posting here, who knows if he reads this forum at all. Presumably he wouldn't have used an invalid pretender if he did. I'll let you message him in game or whatnot, since it's your game and your rules.

If you do more variant games, I'd suggest you start enforcing that people have to post here to make sure they know the variant rules. Then again - if they aren't anonymous, you can't kick them anyway.

And setting him to AI would hardly be wonderful, since then I definately have an SC right on my border.

[Boron]

Cainehill said:
Edit: And given that I've never seen a Knudsen posting here, who knows if he reads this forum at all. Presumably he wouldn't have used an invalid pretender if he did. I'll let you message him in game or whatnot, since it's your game and your rules.





Cohen wrote the rule in the description of the game on mosehansen too . So it is only Knudsen`s fault .

So perhaps Moses could include a kick player xy command too for games with special houserules cause as you said otherwise you can't kick someone who has already registered .

I guess that Knudsen just joined the latest restart and there Cohen wrote only Human or Immobile so probably Knudsen just misunderstood it .

[The Panther]

The solution seems simple to me. In order for Knudsen to be allowed to continue in this game, the Machaka lord must go into his capitol and never again leave its home except by casting travel spells (could be difficult with a nature pretender), thus becoming an immoble.

[Boron]

Using his pretender as SC gave him already an advantage .
And by the time he recieves the ingame msg this creates 1-2 more turns delay . Worst case he even attacked Cainehill then once or twice already .

[Mark the Merciful]

Boron's right in a sense; he already has received an advantage from his SC. But it's too late to do much about that, beyond kicking the player which seems over-harsh. I think Panther's suggestion is the right one.

On a different subject, I know YellowCactus is home and hurricane free. Are we going to switch back to 24hours soon?

Mark

[Cohen]

Yes we'll be back to 24 quickhost asap I see in the board that Yellow has come back.

How do you know that Mark?

[Cainehill]

Mark the Merciful said:
Boron's right in a sense; he already has received an advantage from his SC. But it's too late to do much about that, beyond kicking the player which seems over-harsh. I think Panther's suggestion is the right one.




Overly harsh? Having just been in and lost a battle with his army and SC together, I don't think so. If someone can't be bothered to check out and obey the rules for a game, why should they be allowed to play?

Cohen - did you send Messages to him?

[Boron]

How can you kick a registered player ?
Cohen can only turn him ai with masterpassword or can he kick him too ?
If Cohen sets him ai the ai will continue attacking Caine probably .

We should restart i think and everybody participating has to post here on the board that he understands the houserules .
On the other hand once someone registers like knudsen but doesn't read the forum i don't know how you can kick him then . Just everything that could went wrong seems to have went wrong here http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Cainehill]

Cohen, is there some reason why you don't at least send out a message on turn one of your mutant games, reminding people of the rules and asking if they are in compliance? That way the games could be restarted much more quickly, without wasting more of people's time?

I mean - they're your games, your house rules, your responsibility for ensuring compliance.

[Mark the Merciful]

Cohen said:
Yes we'll be back to 24 quickhost asap I see in the board that Yellow has come back.

How do you know that Mark?



We're playing in another game and he e-mailed us to say precisely that. I'll ask him to post here and confirm if you like.

[Mark the Merciful]

Cainehill said:
Overly harsh? Having just been in and lost a battle with his army and SC together, I don't think so. If someone can't be bothered to check out and obey the rules for a game, why should they be allowed to play?

Cohen - did you send Messages to him?



He attacked then?

[Lingchih]

Yes, Yellowcactus is back. He just took one of my provinces. I don't think he reads this thread though.

[archaeolept]

someone who is so far out of compliance w/ the rules of the game needs to be set to AI - but only after his pretender and troops and resources are suicided.

[Lingchih]

By the way, are we on 2.1.4 now? I noticed that mosehansen was set to 2.1.4 now, so I upgraded my game to that too. I saw in another post that the game has to be restarted though for this to take effect.

[Cohen]

Cainehill, it's not my fault if someone doesn't read the dedicated thread.

[Cainehill]

Cohen said:
Cainehill, it's not my fault if someone doesn't read the dedicated thread.



Cohen - no one is _required_ to be a forum reader to join games on Mosehansen. So, yes it bloody well is your fault when you keep making mutant games and do NOTHING to ensure players go by your rules.

In your drain-3 mandatory game, I've had someone with Last of the Tuatha - ie, a magic scale. In your human / immobile games, we get people with pretenders that are neither.

You ought to keep your mutant rules to your own private games, where you can get confirmation that the players know of the rules and intend to abide by them. If you can't get Illwinter to put in game options that enforce different rules, you shouldn't create public games that get hosed when people don't abide by them.

And at _least_ you ought to be doing as I said - putting out a message to all players on turn 1, asking them to confirm that they've gone by the rules of the game.

[Cainehill]

*growl* And of course, Cohen was too lazy to send the guy a message when told about it. Way to go, 'hen.

On the bright side - the Lord of Fertility is now -1 in each magic path, and I intend to render the issue moot by destroying Machaka before it's recalled.

[Cohen]

I was thinking to restart the game, if you want Cainehill.

[Cainehill]

You still haven't answered why you didn't send him a message regarding the pretender, and telling him he had to keep the pretender in his home province, like you said.

The words 'lazy' and 'irresponsible' come to mind.

But no - don't restart the game. I'm killing Machaka, and then I'm coming for Abysia.

[Cohen]

You're coming on late.
Tien Chi is already doing the job.

[Mark the Merciful]

Cainehill said:
Cohen - no one is _required_ to be a forum reader to join games on Mosehansen. So, yes it bloody well is your fault when you keep making mutant games and do NOTHING to ensure players go by your rules.

You ought to keep your mutant rules to your own private games, where you can get confirmation that the players know of the rules and intend to abide by them. If you can't get Illwinter to put in game options that enforce different rules, you shouldn't create public games that get hosed when people don't abide by them.



I regularly see you complaining about Cohen's "mutant games". Yet you're always playing in them.


And at _least_ you ought to be doing as I said - putting out a message to all players on turn 1, asking them to confirm that they've gone by the rules of the game.



Agreed; being a game host comes with responsibilities. It's the hosts job to sort out problems like this.

Mark

[Cainehill]

Mark the Merciful said:
I regularly see you [Cainehill] complaining about Cohen's "mutant games". Yet you're always playing in them.




Mutant isn't necessarily a derogatory term. A few of my favorite games have been mutants. And given that I once called a SO 'Godzilla', obviously I have a thing for mutants. (Note : there are much more successful, endearing, pet names of affection than 'Godzilla'.)

Anyways - it's not the mutant games I object to - it's Cohen's way of going about them. (Not just the way he once had 6 mutant games going at once on mosehansen.)



And at _least_ you ought to be doing as I said - putting out a message to all players on turn 1, asking them to confirm that they've gone by the rules of the game.



Agreed; being a game host comes with responsibilities. It's the hosts job to sort out problems like this.




Yep. But instead, Cohen allowed the game to continue two more turns without doing a thing to remedy things.

[YellowCactus]

Lingchih said:
Yes, Yellowcactus is back. He just took one of my provinces. I don't think he reads this thread though.



Always wanted to see the inside of a Pangaean capitol!

-Yc

[Lingchih]

YellowCactus said:
Always wanted to see the inside of a Pangaean capitol!


-Yc

[/quote]

[Lingchih]

Do you like it? Come on in and I'll show you around. We've been planting lots of shrubbery, you know.

[Lingchih]

Enjoy the castle YC. I'll probably go AI in a turn or two since I have no stronghold and am just wandering about now, trying to stay alive. Well done.

[YellowCactus]

Blah!
I'm enjoying a power-surge. Hopefully will be back on-line soon. If not, Would you (Lingchih) like to take over Mictlan? Is that possible without access to my hard-drive? You could re-plant some shrubs, and even bring some to Mictlan. Red flowers are the vouge there.
-Yc

[Alneyan]

I am in temporary charge of Mictlan until Yellow Cactus is able to do his turns again. Barring the unexpected, I should be able to play one turn every day without problem (is it 24 hours or 48 hours turns?).

[Boron]

GG Lebarjack . If i hadn't wasted my army stupidly perhaps the fight would have been more interesting http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .
I learned the hard way now that magma eruptions aren't so good too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[lebarjack]

Should your cavalry been backed up by your smiths on the first battle, it would be a very different story.
And the countless fodder and crossbowmen your smiths slaughtered don't think magma eruption are pointless http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif.
All these battles were very tight.

[The Panther]

Interesting about this magma eruption thing. Since I have never played Vanheim before (but I have played Ulm), I didn't even know that Van could recruit the smiths! But these Van smiths are different than those Ulm smiths in two ways:
1. They get no forge bonus.
2. They come with 3 earth and 1 random.

I therefore discovered that magma bolts and magma eruptions just ain't gonna cut it for the Van smiths, as only 1/8 of the dudes get the fire random. But the 3 earth means bladewinds galore, even without the summon earthpower spell or the earth boots!

Anyway, I have always thought from my previous Ulm experience that magma eruption is a superior spell for the most part over bladewinds.

[Cainehill]

I've found both spells (magma eruption and bladewind) quite handy for different circumstances. Eruption is wonderful against heavily armored troops, but bladewind seems better for clearing out archers and mages and such; best of all, it isn't going to do much to your own troops, if you're Ulm.

[Cainehill]

Am I the only one who thinks it'd be nice to switch to 48QH now?

[YellowCactus]

Fine by me!
-Yc

[Knudsen]

Cainehill said:

Lepakko said:
Is machaka going to play the game... he is soon missing turn 2



Feh. Knudsen / Machaka apparently didn't understand what "immobile / human pretender" meant.

So, Cohen - what is your protocol for dealing with the inevitable pretender screwups in your flaky games? Frankly, all possibilities I see suck.



Gentlemen
As the long silent, and now probably long dead nation of Machaka, I belive an apology on my part is in order.

When I joined this game (my first multi player game) several unfortunate events coincided.

I was at the time unaware of this forum and new to the game, and thus didn't get the bit about pretender restrictions.

Equally unfortunate was that I had to leave town just as the game started which caused me to lose the first two turns. But at least that didn't put anyone but me at a disadvantage.

After my first battle with Cainehill, he sent an in game message about the Pretender rule, which I received in the same turn in which he killed said Pretender. Problem solved ;-)

But since I was then, A) In conflict with your rules, B) Missing a Pretender and C) Two moves behind, I decided to "Go Computer" to clean out the mess I had made.

Regretfully

Knudsen_

[YellowCactus]

Wait....
So I wasn't supposed to have a Vq? {Just teasing}. I think everyone has crashed a game or two as a new player. Cainehill has a right to be miffed, but he's not mad at you.
-Probably. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Knudsen]

YellowCactus said:
Wait....
So I wasn't supposed to have a Vq? {Just teasing}. I think everyone has crashed a game or two as a new player. Cainehill has a right to be miffed, but he's not mad at you.
-Probably. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Since Cainehill was in an excellent position to take over my miniature Empire when Marchaka went belly up, I believe he was compensated for any inconvenience I caused. If anyone else hold a grudge, feel free to try to take revenge in future games http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Cainehill]

Knudsen said:

YellowCactus said:
Wait....
So I wasn't supposed to have a Vq? {Just teasing}. I think everyone has crashed a game or two as a new player. Cainehill has a right to be miffed, but he's not mad at you.
-Probably. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Since Cainehill was in an excellent position to take over my miniature Empire when Marchaka went belly up, I believe he was compensated for any inconvenience I caused. If anyone else hold a grudge, feel free to try to take revenge in future games http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Not to mention that you did a wonderful job site searching for me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Knudsen]

Cainehill said:

Not to mention that you did a wonderful job site searching for me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



All part of the service

[Cainehill]

Looking rather like Mark the Merciful is going to stale this game and one other, as well as YellowCactus (again).

[YellowCactus]

Yea.
But it was one heck of a party this weekend! Hope Mark comes back though.
-Yc

[The Panther]

When he gets back, Mark surely ain't gonna be happy by how bad I utterly slaughtered his seiging army! 12 mages and 81 troops he lost.

[YellowCactus]

So....
Is there a point where Cainhill is Too Powerful and we jump him? Or would that be unthinkable? I vote for Marignon to turn away from my fertile empire and kill someone else!
-Yc

[The Panther]

I vote for Marignon to kill both Pythium and Mictlan as punishment for them jumping on me! I hope he can do this while they are still both so busy inside my former territory.

Had you guys not attacked me, I would have gladly joined in the standard anti-Caelum alliance. But it's too late now.

[Mark the Merciful]

Hi folks.

I'm afraid I've staled several turns and dropped all diplomatic communications over the Last couple of weeks. I'm posting the current explanation/apology in a number of game threads and e-mails at the moment.

I seem to have overloaded myself with games, but done it in such a gradual way that I didn't notice until I went abroad on holiday. The holiday was very nice, but I found when I came to settle up that I'd run up an internet access bill that was bigger than my bar bill in trying to keep up with my games. The rhythm I'd got into pre-holiday was completely disrupted, and I missed a large number of deadlines in different games during the week after I came back.

I've now, mostly, got my game schedule re-organised and running again. Sorry to everyone for the half-assed way I've been playing this one recently, and I hope to give it more attention from now on. And sorry to Vanheim for bashing you - Mictlan made me do it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Mark

[YellowCactus]

The Ice-Devil made me do it!
-Yc

[lebarjack]

YellowCactus said:
So....
Is there a point where Cainhill is Too Powerful and we jump him? Or would that be unthinkable? I vote for Marignon to turn away from my fertile empire and kill someone else!
-Yc



I wasn't aware being at war with you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
When I started my war against Pythium, he and caelum were the two top ranking nations. I had to make a choice.
Now that I had a taste of Pythium Dreadful Flying Golem, I just need to try Mictlan Icedevil Killing Machine and I will probably reconsider my offensive http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Cainehill]

And Mictlan made a dire mistake, in starting yet another war while in the midst of several. Now, Caelum shall aid Marignon in devastating the lovers of blood; their temples shall burn, their ice devils shall be drowned in the very water they congealed from, and their lands shall be buried beneath the weight of the wrath of Ash.

But, this very month there shall also be rejoicing in Mictlan, and voices raised in song, though their Great Pretender may weep like a babe and cry out, 'Forgiveness!'

I don't start many hostilities, but I do so love finishing them. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Cainehill]

YellowCactus said:
So....
Is there a point where Cainhill is Too Powerful and we jump him? Or would that be unthinkable? I vote for Marignon to turn away from my fertile empire and kill someone else!
-Yc



Ah, great joy! You've given me a reason to avenge myself of your previous treachery and aggression, and I didn't even realize you were Mictlan until just now! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I'll even presume that it was you casting nasty magics at me, since I don't think Pythium or Marignon consider themselves as having had something to gain by it.

Here's to a jolly good war. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Grenade.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif

[YellowCactus]

Hear no Evil, See no Evil, Speak no Evil. -Hehe
-Yc

[lebarjack]

Mark/Pythium has staled several turns. I wonder if it's worth to continue this game. I do not more enjoy this game, personnaly.
What is usually decided when one of the top nation start staling every time?

[Cainehill]

Generally one attempts to contact the player and see what's up - I've commented to him in another game about staling, but he said he hadn't. *shrug* And right now he's connected to the other game, which also hosts shortly, so maybe he won't stale here.

Personally I'm having a great time hopefully destroying Mictlan, but it would be nice if Pythium was still in the game too - then again, I think Marignon has taken its place as one of the top nations.

[YellowCactus]

I've got a suprize for you Cainehill!
Don't count on any quick knockout blows!
-Yc of Mictlan

[Cainehill]

Of course not. This is ... 'To the pain'. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[YellowCactus]

Hey!
I'm no prince Humpernickle!
-Yc

[The Panther]

I personally an amazed that TC and Jontun continue to bash each other turn after turn without any end in sight. Just when I think TC is dead, he comes back! Now it looks like Jontun is hurting. But I sure will not make any preditions on this subject, for both nations have show amazing resilence so far in this game.

[The Panther]

Well, as for calling the game, it certainly would not upset me at all. Since there were four (!!!!) nations, including me, who started in the upper left corner, none of ever had a chance in this game. In all my MP games, I have never seen such uneven starting positions as there were in this game.

I think Karan must be modified to add a heck of a lot more no-start positions for it to be a fair map.

I know I sent a message to everybody that I was out of town, but I am posting this from my hotel in our nation's capitol while watching the Cowboys get totally whipped.

If Marignon wants to quit the game, well, there is probably no one else at this point who can stop Caelum from winning. I fully understand why he might want to quit, for fighting an opponent who is AWOL is simply no fun at all. Turning him AI is only barely better.

[Cainehill]

YellowCactus said:
I've got a suprize for you Cainehill!
Don't count on any quick knockout blows!
-Yc of Mictlan



A surprise? What, you skipping your turn again, along with Mark / Pythium? I'm not sure it counts as much of a surprise strategy.

Sheesh - even though I think this might be the first big MP game I'd win, I withdraw any objection to other people wanting to kill the game.

[YellowCactus]

Sorry.
RL kept me from playing a turn yesterday. My little guys are researching they're hearts out. I'm not quitting. But you must understand that it takes the wind out of your sails when your ally stops playing in the middle of an invasion.
Your disgust isn't going to help much.
-Yc

[Cainehill]

Ah - you mean Pythium? That's where my true disgust lays, since he's taking turns in some games but has totally dropped the ball on this one, not going AI, not replying to Messages, etc.

But since he isn't posting or presumably reading, it didn't make much sense to growl at him. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[YellowCactus]

Oh, Okay. As long as we're clear about being slack vs being irresponsible.
By the way. Your suprize is still brewing. Not long now...
-Yc

[Cainehill]

Heh. You mean the two nice ice devils you let me have as early christmas presents? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[YellowCactus]

The Check is in the mail!
-Yc

[Cainehill]

Cute. Three players staling this turn. *shrug* Didn't someone suggest killing the game?

(Incidentally - in the future I will devoutly avoid getting into any games with Mark the Merciful, who has staled something like 10 or more turns in a row without even having the courtesy to go AI. This despite him continuing to play in other games, and ignoring Messages sent to him in those other games and this forum.

Failing that - I'll try to obliterate his nation early so he can't screw up the game like this again.)

[The Panther]

As far as I am concerned, we should end this game.

Joint Winners:
Cainehill as Caelum
Lebarjack as Marignon

Survivor awards:
Soylmr as T'ien Ch'i
Regen as Jontunheim
Panther as Vanheim

Fought to the death:
Cohen as Abysia
Lepakko as Man
Boron as Ulm
Lingchih as Pangaea
Knudsen as Machaka

Missing in Action:
Yellow Cactus as Mictlan

Quitter award:
Mark the Merciful as Pythium


I believe it is the second or third stale in a row for YC and something like the tenth in a row for MtM.

This game has had problems from the very start, especially with too many people on such a small map that has a totally insufficient number of no-start provinces. There was also the misunderstanding about the human pretender thing from Knudsen, who had the great decency to apologize for his misunderstanding.

One other problem is that Caelum once again managed to be fully researched out on turn 63, which is further proof that normal research is FAR too easy to be seriously considered for Dominion games. If you want to quickly complete all research, you might as well select easy research and be done with it.

The only thing I have truly liked about this game was that my rainbow ***** Queen pretender was first in the HoF for the entire game!

[Cainehill]

Waiting to hear from the others before I detail the extreme luck I had this game that helped my research (and other things).

[YellowCactus]

That was One scary Pretender panther!

Cangratz Winners and Dead-Fighting-People. I really enjoyed this game up to about turn 40ish.
-Yc

[lebarjack]

Well, I agree to bury this game.

I have learnt a lot since it was my first real MP. I have fought my first golems, my first AQ. I have set up my first Tartarian Factory.
So thanks to all those who have kept playing until the end.

I don't know if I deserve being in the joint winners since I didn't manage summoning any AQ, devil or other powerfull invocations and since i got most of my lands fighting against an absent player. But I'am sur I deserve being in the top learner http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Cainehill, you can count on a tough resistance in the cradle of metal game. I am a newbie++ now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[The Panther]

Well, I utterly crushed Jontunheim's invasion of my capitol and he has now gone AI. At least he is not staling every turn like the other three are.

The only players left in this game still moving is Cainehill, Lebarjack, and me. So I will send a PM to Cohen asking him to bury this game once and for all.

On a side note, I was amazed by the power of Vanheim. I had a positively horrid starting position and was simultaneously invaded early on by two of the strongest nations in the game. I expected to die quickly. I even told TC and Jontun that they could ignore our NAP take my undefended provinces along our border, which they both did. I sent all my artifacts other than those on my pretender to Marignon since he was helping me by fighting Pythium. I sent him some gems too.

But despite all that, I did not die. I crushed multiple invasions from both Mictlan and Pythium. I decisively won battle after battle against them both. Of course, Caelum eventually saved me somewhat by later invading Mictlan, just as Marignon had helped by invading Pythium.

In the end, after both those nations quit playing, I then had to fight off Jontunheim with his numerous Neifarl SCs and giants and summons and constant send horror spells against my commanders. But I crushed all that too with barely a scratch.

And this was with me selecting poorly on my scales, having four horrendous bad luck events in the first ten turns, and being totally clueless on how to play Vanheim.

My conclusion? Vanheim is definitely one of the strongest nations in the game.

Strangely enough, I ended up enjoying this game more than I thought I would.

Cheers to all.

[Cohen]

Game has been stopped as requested.
In case of need it's possible to restart it (if there was something wrong) however.

[Verjigorm]

This game no longer has an owner....when I was looking at it, it gave me the option to bury it. I did not, but I assume from the most recent (Last month) conversation that you are all done with it?

[The Panther]

Thanks for the note, Verjigorm. I had forgotton about this game. Though I was not the owner, I went ahead and buried the game. It is history now.