Another Newbie Slugfest - Restarted

[Grim Knight]

Final Game Settings are as Follows:

Game Version is 2.14

Mods: Zen's Pretender Mod v1.81
Sites: 50
HoF: 15
Research: Very Difficult
House Rule: Must be using nation you never played MP Before (If you only played them A Few Turns then it does not count as MP Experience).
Indies: 9
Graphs: Off
Host Speed: 24h QH
Victory Conditions: 2/3 Provinces, on Cradle this calculates to 145 out of 221 provinces.
Map: Cradle of Zen

Everthing Else is at Default Settings.

Everyone, Server is up so you can upload when ready.

IP: 69.10.118.55
Port: 65000

Final Players and Nations Selected List

Grim Knight - Marignon (host)
Panther - Abysia
Steerpike - Jontunheim
Pasha Dawg - Pangaea
Deccan - C'tis
Dragon Fire - Caelum
Krool Death - Vanheim
Beorne - Mictlan
Aku - R'lyeh
Curious Cat - Arcoscephale
Boron - Machaka

Game is full and Closed to New Players at this Time.

Grim Knight

[Grim Knight]

Steerpike said:
The Scene: Aboy with his Grandfather.
"Grandfather why has the river turned yellow today?"
"Well my boy." Taking a sip from his glass of the yellow frothy 'water'."You know we are downstream from the province of the giants, occassionally when a being so strong emerges he unites those mighty beings."
"How does this make the river yellow?"
"When the giants are united they, well... have a party they kind of drink a lot... and" takes another sip"well the river Ord is the closest thing to a toilet they have. Never number twos you understand" he gives the boy a stern look.
"There must be a lot of them grandfather if they turn a whole river to gold."
"Gold indeed!"the old man smiles a slightly drunken smile."No there is'nt too many of em but they are big boy, that why they call em giants."
"Are they mighty?"
"Yes boy they are very mighty."
"Would they be as strong as Hulfgar?"
The old man looks towards a 40ish balding militia commander with a belly twice the size of his hips with ill diguised contempt."The 'Average' giant would be a little bit tougher than Hulfgar boy. They are fearsome to behold"
"Well I'm not afeared I know our gaurds will drive these Giants off, look at them!"
The old man casts his eye over the 60 or so militia and shortbowman arrayed before him with derision and takes a huge gulp of the river 'water'." They are worthy of our respect my boy God rest their souls."
"Who is this 'being' that might have united them?"
"Its hard to say boy, could be a standing stone steeped in magic or a mighty Worm with none or a great sage who researches the mysteries of spellore or maybe even some bum with a golden tounge, these giants arn't all that bright ya know."
"What does it or he mean to do."
"Or she boy or she, well if the river runs yellow and the young men of the village pass out drunk in the street it means only one thing... a new pretender has arrived. and if one new pretender arrives it means a whole damn fleet of em have come, DadNabbitt!!!.It means War boy and you have to be aligned to a pretender or you suffer terribly, No you have to be aligned to the winning pretender or you suffer terribly."
"Who are we aligned to Grandfather?"
Sighs."We are aligned to the Independents boy means our assses are hanging out there in the breeze, if we were in the province of Solaris we might be OK for a while but No we have miltia protecting us...LUCKY US... AND we are right next to the giants home province..." He looks at a now rather scared looking boy." Its not so bad little one just make sure you get your mother to make a good fleecy water lined jumper to wear, youll be Ok. Now get along and do your chores Grandfather has some drinking to do."



GO GIANTS!!!!




The Initiate rushes frantically up the steep, gleaming white, steps of the House of Fiery Justice. He is panting loudly as he holds his red robes up over his knees to avoid triping over them in his haste.

At Last he reaches the top of the stairs and bursts through the doors, only to be imediatly stoped by two Men-at-Arms who demand to know his business.

After panting helplessly for a couple of minutes he manages to gasp out, "River ... gasp ... Yellow! Must ... pant ... tell ... our lord."

"Alright then," mutters the guard. "Why didn't ya say so in the first place?" he asks rhetorically. "You'll have to go talk to Inquisitor Ponce Pendergrast, to get an appointment with High Inquisitor Ortega Otwell, who will in turn decide if you warrant an audience with Caramont the Cardinal, then if he deems your news important enough he will pass it along to our great lord." He then waves the initiate through into the magnificent domed entry hall of the building.

As the Initiate begins to walk past the guard points across the room and to the right, "Start by talking to Sargent Santiago, he will decide if you can speak to Ponce. Good Luck." He then returns his attention to the doors he is charged with guarding.

12 hours and many appointments later the young initiate is finally in front of Cardinal Caramont.

"Speak up boy and be quick about it, you have no idea how freaking busy I am." Says the Cardinal as he stands still with his arms out to his sides so the seamstress atending him can measure him for a new robe.

The tired and frustrated young initate speaks up in a sonorous monotone. "The river has turned yellow."

"Well why in the Great Lord's name didn't you say so. Jumpin Jehosefat kid, how long ago was this noted!" he says as he hurriedly shoos the seamtress out of his way and rushes towards you.

"About three quarters of a day by now." The initiate gets out with a distinct sound of treipedation in his voice.

"Dang nabbit kid. Do you realize what this means? You do don't you? You must if you left your river watching post to come here. This is of the utmost importance, why did it take so long to get to my ears?" Yells the Cardinal in a voice that sounds close to hysteria.

"Well first I had to get an appointment with Inquisitor Pendergrast, so I could get an appointment with ..." the initiate starts to explain.

"Flames from the Sky kid, never mind the details, I must tell our great lord immediatly." He says as runs out of his office past an honor guard of 40 Men-at-Arms and 4 Royal Guards standing at attention in his Foyer.

The iniate picks up his robes and hurries to keep up, as they exit the room and run down a hall lined with countless more royal guards the Cardinal keeps emitting a steady stream of curses each more colorful than the Last.

As the enter the Foyer of the Great Lord, which is only accessible after passing through the Cardinals Foyer and the well guarded hall, Cardinal Caramont Tells the initiate to, "Wait for me here!"

The Cardinal Rushes past the guards and into the personal chambers of the Great Lord, Grim Knight, the one unseen by any but the Cardinal Himself. In his haste the Cardinal does not even pause to knock.

A few minutes later a great and powerful voice his heard booming forth from the Great Lords Chambers, "If the river runs Yellow it can mean only one thing. The pretender of the great Jotun Oafs has arrived. So it has begun if the Jotuns have a pretender than doubtless all of the great nations do as well. I was hoping for more time to plan and plot. Alas, it was not to be. Prepare the Army and begin the Attack... we must first bring all these stinking Indepents into the warmth of my embrace. Stoke the Fires the Inquisition must spread. My army shall march at Dawn!"

The iniate collapses on the floor in exhaustion and absolute wonder, he got to hear the voice of his God.

The next morning when he awoke he found himself on a Horse Marching at the front of an Army with a note informing him of his promotion to Witch Hunter and his command of the Army behind him. At the bottom of the note were written the omnious words... "Do not fail me, kid." The note was signed by Cardinal Caramont.

Grim Knight

[PashaDawg]

Oh goodie! Pre-game stories!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Hmmm... I will need to think about one for Pan. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I want to make sure I have the right Version of the Cradle map file. Which Version are we using and where do I find it exactly?

I am looking forward to this game!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Thanks.

PASHA

[Aku]

I got it attached in this post.

Tell me if it doesnt work.

The attachment is zens cradle map.

[The Panther]

Sir Deviant, Arch Mage, Abysian Minister of War and his wife, Madam Candice, Great Enchantress, Abysian Minister of State were waiting outside the sacred Chamber of Hell.

“My love, how long has She been in there?”
“Too long.”
“Then there must be a problem.”
“Yes, I imagine so.”

The iron door into the sacred chamber opened suddenly and She emerged. Her two ministers bowed before their Queen. Both husband and wife spoke simultaneously, “Your Eminence!”

The Queen of the Underground looked down on her two most loyal subjects and spoke. “Sir Deviant. Madam Candice. Good of you to wait. But he is not coming.”
“No! Please, my Queen, surely you could convince Him.”
”Oh, he wanted to, I will tell you that. But my beloved husband cannot set foot above ground here. There is some kind of Zen-Buddhist influence which will not allow him to appear at his present strength. He has said he will not be forced to give up some of his power and weakened thusly. Panther, King of Ghosts, will therefore stay in the Land of Inland ruling over our conquered enemies.”

“So, my Queen, will you lead us here then?”
“No, my dear loyal friends. My duty is by the side of my husband. One of you must take over here.”
“But, my Queen! Who would follow a mere human? We are so weak.”
“Yes, this is true. But this same Zen influence will make you stronger when you go to the surface in the Land of Cradle. Both of you will find that you will be spending less of your hard-earned pretender influence when creating your capitol. You also will both be able to resist extra attacks with much less encumbrance. Additionally, you, Sir Deviant, as a mounted Arch Mage, will find people more ready to follow you than ever before through increased dominion. And you, Madam Candice, as a mind-controlling Great Enchantress, will be ethereal and thus far more able to resist mere steel weapons. Either of you could choose to lead here.”

“What witchery causes this?”
“Yes, it is witchery, but Truth. Zen hath spoken, it would appear. Although…”
“Although what, my Queen?”
“Although, I could claim this land and add it to my husband’s ghostly empire. I wonder if he would mind if I stayed a while.”
“Do it, my Queen, do it! Spread the fires of Hell and suck the blood from this land. You can show all the other false gods the Truth of our immense power!”
“Maybe. I will have to think on it. And go consult my ghostly husband once again. But if I chose not to stay, one of you will have to rule here.”
"Yes, my Queen. We hear and obey."

[The Panther]

As you can tell if you read the above post, I cannot decide on a pretender design. I am down to three choices, though. I suppose this means that Zen did a decent job on balancing, since the Ghost King is not one of the finalists.

However, the server is down, so I guess there is no rush at the present time.

[PashaDawg]

Flying high above the forest, Sabrina, one of the most skillful of all harpies, was returning from a long reconnaissance mission from the Jotun Mountains. She spotted two of her sister harpies, Jill and Kelly, perched high on a black walnut tree and gracefully perched herself on a nearby branch.

“Hey, Jill and Kelly… ugh… the things I’ve seen in the land of the Giants!” Sabrina fluffed her feathers stylishly.

“Don’t tell me,” remarked Jill, preening herself. “The river is yellow.”

“I can’t believe it! How’d you know?”

Jill yawned and stretched her wings. “I just returned from spying on Marignon, and that’s all they could talk about. ‘The river’s yellow.’ ‘The Giants have a new pretender’ and ‘Stoke the Fires of the Inquisition’. You know… blah, blah, blah.” Jill rolled her eyes. Sabrina snickered as she reached for some lotion for her shapely talons.

“Don’t complain,” Kelly giggled. “It’s not like you were forced to go to Hell and back like me. The Ghost King and his fat propagandizers are celebrating their recent victory, but they’re still unhappy. According to their bloodsucking queen, the Pale One is *****ing about how the Zen Effect is cramping his style.”

“Hey girls!” shouted a centaur at the bottom of the tree. “C’mon quickly to the grand meadow. The Great Lord of the Wild is taking a break from the afternoon’s debauchery. I think he should hear what you have to report.”

“We’ll be right over, Boz,” called down Sabrina. “What happened to Charlie the Oracle?”

“He’s out of the picture for now,” answered Boz. “Had something to do with the strategic disadvantages of immobility.”

[Grim Knight]

I beleive someone clicked Start Game, Prematurely. When I woke this evening the Server was prompting me to Choose a Map but when I did so not all of the Players were listed, only 5, Arco, Marignon, Jotun, R'lyeh, and Machaka had been chosen.

I have reset the Server so once again people may upload their pretenders, but please, no one click start game, I will do that once all pretenders are uploaded.

Anyone who already uploaded a pretender will need to re-upload.

Grim Knight

[deccan]

"Sslithering sserpentss seesss sinister signsss..." The forked tongue of the lizard shaman flicked mesmerisingly as he talked.

"Ssigns?", answered the throng of lizard followers in a chorus, bobbing and weaving the heads atop their long necks in rhythmn.

"Ssuch ssigns sshows seldom," the shaman nodded emphatically. "Summon ssages, ssing ssongss, speak sspells, ssacrifice sslaves sate sleeping sacred sstatue, stop slumber, ssundered spirit suffuses statue..", he pointed to a large, grimy statue partly hidden in a shadowy corner of the temple.

The shaman's slitted eyes twinkled in the candle-light, "Slugfest sstartssss..."

[PashaDawg]

I connected with the server and selected Pan. With the Mosehansen server there was a two-step process (you also had to connect to his website and identify yourself). Is there a second step with this game or am I all set?

Thanks.

PASHA

[Aku]

I uploaded my Ryleh pretender.

Pasha we just need to upload and thats it so you are done.

[PashaDawg]

Thanks

[Steerpike]

The scene: A boy and his Grandfather.
"Why did I have to hide in the bunker today Grandfather?"
"Because a giant came by to negotiate peace."
"What does 'negotiate' mean?"
"It means he told us we were ruled by the giants and to give them all our virgins, or else."
"Whats a virgin? And why do they want them?"
The old man looks towards the sky. "They want virgins to ...uhh... make spells and stuff."
"So whats a virgin? Are you a virgin? Do we know any virgins?"
"NO NO Im not a Virgin boy, no. Ahhh... well... you have to be over a certain age so your safe, uhm..."
"Is my sister safe?"
The old man glances towards a very attractive 16 year old with mixed feelings." Aye boy your sister is probably the safest girl in the village, old spinster Twanky is in trouble though and good riddance to that old windbag."
"So will they leave us alone if we give them spinster Twanky?"
"No boy unfortunately Hulfgar had a bit too much river water yesterday and woke up like a bear after hibernation. He basically told the giant to go home and ... well never mind the details."
"What did the giant do?"
The old man looks forlornely towards the Jotun Mountains in the distance. "Nothing Boy, nothing, he just smiled and licked his lips."

[The Panther]

Six pretenders are uploaded. Five to go.

[Zen]

Thanks to Steerpike for the PM describing how he came to his pretender decision. For those of you who have chosen your pretenders, I'd like to know why you did and if you did for reasons that you wouldn't in the normal game. I'm looking for feedback for the Pretender Mod since I think it's about done with the Modding Tools I have.

*nudge* *nudge*

[Aku]

The mod didnt alter my pretender decision. I guess because I am Ryleh and they dont have much of a selection to choose from.

But if I was another race I would of picked some different pretenders like the buffed up dragon will actually be good and not a worthless choice with this mod. The dracolich with recup was interesting also if I was Jotum.

[Grim Knight]

Only 2 left to Upload their pretenders

Krool Death - Vanheim

and

Curious Cat - Arco

Grim Knight

[PashaDawg]

I just sent the Cat and Krool PM's to remind them.

[CuriousCat]

Profuse apologies. I took a Last minute trip out of town for the weekend. I didn't realize we were starting this weekend. I uploaded something... we'll see if it's any good.

Again, sorry about the delay.

CC

[Aku]

We still need Vanheim to upload.

[Saeter]

Tell me if you need a replacement Vanheim player to get the game going. I'll be quite busy this week but getting the first turns in should not be a problem. Next week and onwards when the action starts I'll have plenty of time.

[The Panther]

I would vote for Saeter to take Vanheim to get this game going. Krool Death has been slow in several of my other games, and has staled more than once over the past several weeks. I think he did the typical newbie mistake of playing in too many games.

Anyway, I do not know how much longer before Krool surfaces, and this game ought to get going.

Since you are host and it being your server, I would say it is your call, Grim.

[PashaDawg]

A PM to Krool might not have done the trick, if he is not checking often. However, I have his email from the Last game, and I just sent him an email. I would hate for him to get the boot without contacting him directly first.

[Grim Knight]

I just received a PM from KroolDeath and he has said he will have a pretender uploaded by tonight.

Grim Knight

[Aku]

So I assume the game will start after you see him upload his pretender, Grim?

It would be cool if we got to do a turn tonight =].

[KroolDeath]

Guys, my apologies...I was out of town. Pretender will be uploaded shortly.

Looking forward to this game.

Krool

[KroolDeath]

Pretender uploaded!!!!!! Start the game when ready!

And yes, I did get into too many games I'll admit, but I'm ok. I got hurt worse by buying Rome:Total War. Been playing the series from the get go, even asked my wife to start talking in Latin, she just doesn't know any.

So I exiled her...

Krool

[Aku]

Grim do a post when you have the game all started up and ready for us to do our turns.

[PashaDawg]

Aku said:
I got it attached in this post.

Tell me if it doesnt work.

The attachment is zens cradle map.



Just to make sure, I simply download the zip file for Zen Cradle and then unzip it to my dom2 map file. Right? I don't need to change the names of any files, do I?

Thanks.

PASHA

[Aku]

That is correct Pasha. Just unzip to your map folder and thats it.

[Steerpike]

the scene: A boy and his Grandfather watch the militia training.
Hulfgar holds a long handled smiths tongs." Ok men I want the 10 fastest tallest soldiers to come here." The ten tallest militia step sheepishly forward. "Good, now heres the deal the rest of you are going to break up into teams of 5 and join these men." Hulfgar waits impatiently as the men arrange themselves from most popular to least. "Ok good now what you 5 boys are going to do when these giants attack is to distract as much as possible while the ... pincers... thats you tall ones charge in as fast as you can with these." Hulfgar holds up the 3 foot long smiths tongs. "Once you are between the giants legs reach as high as you can with these and hold on for dear life, understood...?" The question is met with horrified silence. " Good. Ok fall out men I will be in the rear of the battle making sure everything goes to plan. We will beat these giant swine, they may be tough but they lack backbone."

Grandfather slowly shakes his head.

[Grim Knight]

Game has been started.

Grim Knight

[deccan]

Hmm, actual name of the game is GrimK. Confused me for a while when I went looking for the directory.

[The Panther]

We are off and running!

One thing that was not mentioned is the game Version. I assume we are doing 2.14 here.

[Grim Knight]

Yes, Game Version is 2.14.

Grim Knight

[Aku]

Just these nations for their turns.

Pasha Dawg - Pangaea
Dragon Fire - Caelum

We wouldnt want any stales on the first turn. I hope you guys know the game started.

[The Panther]

Hmm... The lawyers are AWOL. It now looks like they are already getting ready for the inevitable court challenges in todays election in the USA.

They may be very busy for weeks!

[PashaDawg]

The Panther said:
Hmm... The lawyers are AWOL. It now looks like they are already getting ready for the inevitable court challenges in todays election in the USA.

They may be very busy for weeks!



Alas... I was in fact one of the volunteer lawyers for the Democrats protecting the election process in Maine from the forces of darkness. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I spent all day at a polling place. I have returned in time to play my turn.

(For some reason, I suspect I might be one of the few hardcore liberals on the Dominions 2 Forum. Just guessing.)

[KroolDeath]

Good guess. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Krool

[Steerpike]

I'm Australian and our Liberals are actually conservative (Liberal is the name of their party). But I am definately a hard core small l liberal. This election is being shown on 2 of our four free to air tv stations LIVE. I cant believe how much of a vassal nation of the U.S. we really are.
Good luck to any team which is against real war (as opposed to fantasy war like the one we are engaged in.)
And down with Bush.
"Hes the son of a BAD man" Public Enemy.

[PashaDawg]

GO PIKE!!

But, perhaps, I should back up... I don't want this thread to turn into a political flame war. (I am trying to gag myself and keep quiet... it's just hard during an election... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif) <shut up, Pasha... shut up and just play your little game...> http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[KroolDeath]

Yea, no flaming here in our fantasy land. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I have to admit though that every major election year I am fascinated by the workings of the Electoral College, in a good way. Just read some good articles both for and against it. Interesting system...

Krool

[PashaDawg]

The electoral college is an odd animal. I have not read a lot about it, but it's my understanding that it usually "works," if one defines that as being in accordance with the majority vote. It's also my understanding that the U.S. founding fathers adopted the system because they did not quite trust the masses (of course, they also only gave the vote to white landowners, too, I think). Maine is one of two states that divides it's electoral votes along congressional district lines. I sort of like that idea.

[KroolDeath]

Yea, that is exactly what the founding fathers were thinking, although the system has morphed itself a couple of times since then to suit additional purposes. Most proponents of the system see it as a tool to give a higher proportion of voting power to the smaller and less populous states, forcing the candidates to not just campaign in large urban areas. Makes some sense there. It forces a distribution of popular support, not just in concentrated areas.

I read about Maine and Nebraska's proportional electoral voting and it is a neat concept over the "winner takes all". I believe there is a fear, should other states adopt such a system (I believe Colorado has it on the ballot), that it would be difficult for a candidate to get a a majority of the electoral votes, thus throwing the election in the House of Reps (and the VP into the Senate).

Anyway, just enjoyable research to see how the whole political process comes together from the regional elections all the way up to the federal level and the process of getting there.

Missouri just went Bush. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Krool

[KroolDeath]

Caelum is on...Turn will roll soon.

[DragonFire11]

Hello. I'm having problems. I loaded the map and all but I get this:

'can't open ./mods/conceptp181.dm'

Well I'm lost on this. I'll keep trying.

And Panther, that was quite funny re elections!

[DragonFire11]

I've tried re-loading the map several times, but I don't know if this is actually the source of the problems. It looks like a stale turn or worse.

Any thought?

[KroolDeath]

Is there also a cbpgod.tga file in the folder? I would imagine there is if you already loaded a pretender with the mod installed.

Krool

[deccan]

You didn't install zen's mod! You need it installed! Hurry!!!

[DragonFire11]

How?

[DragonFire11]

I could not find a cbpgod.tga file - what does that mean?

[DragonFire11]

Deccan:

I think I did since I downloaded the map from Aku's link on the first page of this thread. Do I have to do something else?

[deccan]

Oops, we may have had a false start then. It looks like you didn't install the mod when you created your pretender. Hmm, wouldn't the game make the pretender illegal then?

[deccan]

You needed to go here:

http://www.techno-mage.com/~zen/

Download the conceptual pretender mod Version 1.81, copy the contents into the mod folder, enable it in preferences, then create your pretender.

[DragonFire11]

I didn't know that I had to have the map before the pretender load or creation. Yes, strange that the game accepted the file . . .

[DragonFire11]

I'm in!!!!! Thanks Deccan!!!!

[The Panther]

It turns out that if you take a pretender that does not work under the proper mod, the game will keep your scales and dominion and castle, but will replace your pretender with an arch mage containing exactly zero magic! This, of course, is a total disaster and worthy of resigning on turn one. Make sure you don't let this happen.



As for the election, my daughter (yes, that very girl who is majoring in pre-law at Oklahoma) won a national award in a mock congressional trial contest about 4 years ago. She won state and then also won the top national award against all other 49 state winners.

One of her questions was on the electoral college. She testified before a mock panel that it needed to be changed to the Maine/Nebraska method. In case anybody does not know about that, both those states split their electoral votes along congressional district lines. The overall state tally gives the two (senate) electoral votes to the winning candidate in the full state. Then, each congressional district (house) gives its one electorai vote to the winner in that district alone.

What this would do is bring states like California and Texas back into the equation. Neither of those two states ever saw either candidate throughout the entire election, for they were written off by the losing side very early on. Under the Nebraska and Maine method, places like Los Angelos and Houston would have seen all the ads and candidate visits we saw here in the swing state of New Mexico.

It also would not increase the probability of a tie at all, unless there was a strong showing from a third party. After all, every electoral college votes must go to one side or the other when all is said and done.

My daughter convinced me in her mock testimony. This would work much better than our current system of winner takes all in most of our states.

Go Maine! Go Nebraska!

[KroolDeath]

The problem with tallying the vote across congressional district lines is that those lines change, and frequently do, at the whim of our representatives. State borders are static. In fact, I think, at least here in MO., they are re-examined every 10 years and redrawn. So consequently, an electoral vote could be manipulated by redrawing a district to include a favorable portion of the population. Also known as gerrymandering...

But regardless, it is interesting to see the election results. Besides a few states on the northeast (Maine, Vermont, etc.) that aren't that populated, it seems that the majority of urban areas vote Democrat, while rural areas seems strongly Republican. Even looking at the breakdown of each state (www.yahoo.com has a good breakdown), you can see it. For Missouri, you can see Democrat victories in KC and STL, but the rest of the state is strongly Republican. Surely nothing new, but cool to analyze.

There's a message to be had in the voting patterns, just can't put my finger on it.

Krool

[Grim Knight]

If anyone's pretender is FUBAR as described above by Panther speak up.

Grim Knight

[PashaDawg]

If Dragonfire did not install Zen's pretender mod, does that mean that his pretender will be invalid? Do we need to restart the game?

[The Panther]

PashaDawg said:
If Dragonfire did not install Zen's pretender mod, does that mean that his pretender will be invalid? Do we need to restart the game?



Only if he chose a pretender that was nerfed (like the Ghost King), and used all his pretender points, and also did not install the mod.

[DragonFire11]

I think I am OK. Really, it's my fault I did not understand this mod thing or at least did not read the thread closely enough -- sorry I do play this great game in a rushed manner -- but things look pretty good despite my mistakes. My pretender has spell ability and he is not a ghost king, So we should just play and have fun!

[Boron]

Hm my god has already gotten a chest wound . That wasn't nice , pesky indeps http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif .

Now he has an overwhelming encumberance of 9 . That surely helps me conquering the world http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif .

But the ignorant guy i am i send him out this turn again .

Bets are accepted now if he survives this turn or not http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .
I give him a 33% chance .
The nice guy i am i offer an 1:1 quote of every kind of gem expect pearls http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .
Maximum amount is 2 gems .
So if you are interested just post your bet here and if you win i send you 1 or 2 gems but if you lose i would like to get your 1 or 2 gems you have bidden http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[The Panther]

I will put up 1 fire gem that your dragon survives, but only if you attack nothing worse than Heavy Infantry and archers.

Anything tougher than that (including the pesky X-bows, which I doubt you would risk), no bet!

[Aku]

Sorry for the wait. I just got home from work and did my turn. So now turn 4 is up!

[The Panther]

Ha! Boron wins the battle with his dragon and now owes me 1 gem of his choosing!

[Boron]

The Panther said:
Ha! Boron wins the battle with his dragon and now owes me 1 gem of his choosing!


Ok sent .
My sucking god has now an additional affliction though http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif .

[Aku]

If we see you do a GoH we know who it is for lol.

[PashaDawg]

What's a GoH?

[deccan]

Gift of Health.

[Aku]

Just Beorne and Boron left for their turns.

[Steerpike]

The scene; A boy pesters his Grandfather.
"What happened at the battle? Please tell me."
Sighs."Well boy it wasnt pretty, I wont go into the details because its not for young ears, suffice to say the militia lost all their 'Pincer men' in the first attack and the rest broke like rabbits running from dogs. Hulfgar was one of the first to turn and run but despite being in the rear his ... ahhh ... belly betrayed him and he was felled before going twenty strides."
"What happened to you Grandfather?"
"I cant run so fast boy so I just sat where I was."
"Why didnt they kill you?"
"Well it turns out these giants were looking for one such as I. They have scouts you see but they are very expensive to pay so they have decided to recruit scouts and messengers from their vassal provinces. And for whatever reason they chose me."
"Your going to be a scout??"
"Dont be so surprised boy, scouts dont just have to be sneaky they can be inconspicuous too. Who would suspect an old man of being a scout. An Im good with pigeons too."
"But that means your going to leave us." A tear wells up in the boys eye.
"Aye boy, but thats not so bad, its an adventure for the old man, it will be great. And frankly its already getting too cold for these old bones. No it will be my Last great epic journey."
"I hate the giants!" The boy turns and runs away.
"Not as much as their enemies will boy, not as much as their enemies."

[Steerpike]

Thanks for the champions trident boys. Feel free not to compete again if deathmarch comes up.

[Aku]

Yeah I found that a bit funny that 11 nations and only one person entered lol. My excuse is that I didn't have anyone available to go to the tourney.

[Grim Knight]

Sorry Guys, It looks like the RAID array in my server just went kaput.

The game files were on my 4 disk Striped RAID array, and it looks like one of the drives in the array just went kaput.

For those of you who don't know what this means, let me just be clear, if the drive does not revive then the entire array is gone forever, I will have to swap in a new drive and rebuild the array.

I am truly sorry, this was out of the blue with no prior indications, i.e. no funny noises or anything. Just BAM! gone.

The drive in question is not spinning up at all right now, which may indicate a broken connection between the power plug and the rest of the drive, if this is all that it is there is a possibility that with a little solder and a lot of luck I may be able to revive the drive and thus the array.

My prior experience however leads me to think this is just wishful thinking and it is likely that the problem is not so simple and / or the sudden loss of power to one drive in the array while the others kept going may have corrupted all the data and the array may not come back even if I can revive this drive.

Forunetly I did a full backup of the drive 41 days ago, and most of the data has remained static. So even if the game is a total loss the rest of my data is still ok.

Once again I am sorry. I am willing to host again once I get everything squared away if you guys are still interested after this disaster. Unfortunetly this was the only system that had no direct Users, it just sat in the background storing data, it was almost never rebooted and up until now very stable.

I only have 1 other system in the house that is under my direct control, and it is the one I do all my day to day stuff on, and thus it gets rebooted a lot more often than the server.

Anyway I will shut up now and see if I can fix this drive.

Sorry again,

Grim Knight

[Grim Knight]

As a Postscript to the above if I do host again, I will learn from this and write a simple batch file that I can run every time I take my turn that copies the Folder with the turns in it to another computer on my network. The data thus backed up on two entirely separate computer systems would be pretty safe.

This would allow for a pretty reliable backup that in a worst case scenario would only result in a 1 turn setback instead of total loss. If I had been thinking at all I would have been doing that with this game and we would have been back up and running as soon as the server was back Online.

Anyways just a thought, I will now get back to the problem at hand. This is so frustrating!

Again, I am profusely sorry about this,

Grim Knight

[archaeolept]

not that this is any of my concern, but why in heck would you be running a server on a 4 disk striped array? (lol)

you have the disks for a nice raid 1 + 0, or even a jbod would run only a quarter the risk of losing any given data...

[PashaDawg]

Oh Well... I am willing to restart whenever. Or, perhaps, we could try this game PBEM.

[deccan]

I'm good for a restart too. I find it quite funny that I wake up on Sunday morning, check out the forums, and immediately see that a bunch of games have problems, not just this one, Inland Melee, Pantheons, etc. Must be a bad luck day for a Dominions 2 MP player. lol

[PashaDawg]

deccan said:
I'm good for a restart too. I find it quite funny that I wake up on Sunday morning, check out the forums, and immediately see that a bunch of games have problems, not just this one, Inland Melee, Pantheons, etc. Must be a bad luck day for a Dominions 2 MP player. lol



IT'S DIVINE RETRIBUTION. Admit it. You know it. I have always known that you're a closet religious fundamentalist. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[deccan]

PashaDawg said:
IT'S DIVINE RETRIBUTION. Admit it. You know it. I have always known that you're a closet religious fundamentalist. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



Yeah, yeah. God is punishing me for playing Dom2 instead of going to church. Sorry I dragged all of you into it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[PashaDawg]

deccan said:
Yeah, yeah. God is punishing me for playing Dom2 instead of going to church. Sorry I dragged all of you into it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



I remember someone warning me in high school that I would go to HELL if I continued playing D&D, because it involved "worshiping" false gods. Dominions carries the same risk. So, beware. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif
PASHA

[Aku]

I am ready for a restart whenever.

And speaking of D&D...D&D Online comes out a year from now.

[Beorne]

I'm for a restart too. I't is clear I don't know how to use Mitclan and I was having a real bad start. Hopefully it's gone forever http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PashaDawg]

Aku said:
I am ready for a restart whenever.

And speaking of D&D...D&D Online comes out a year from now.



Speaking of D&D... I was wondering if this program (Screen Monkey) is any good, and if it would allow Dominion-Like-Folk to play D&D Online. http://www.nbos.com/products/screenmonkey/screenmonkey.htm

[Steerpike]

Im bummed about the loss of the game.
I mean I had just won the champions trident for petes sake!
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[DragonFire11]

Ah, so sad! Someone cast a spell of Dom2 debacle it seems. Perhaps Norfleet . . .

[Grim Knight]

Archaeolept, as for running a 4 Disk Striped Array I realized the risks, but um didn't think it could happen to me. Besides I needed the space.

At this point the drive in question is officially toast, but I have replaced it, rebuilt the Array, and Reformatted the system. In light of this I have this time setup the array as Striped + Mirrored, and I will use the batch file as I stated.

I still have not restored most of the data, but a lot of that I really don't need rapid access to so I am in no hurry to do that. Besides in the New Configuration I don't have enough space to restore it all anyway.

Anyway I am opening up the server again so Anyone who wants to can reupload pretenders, if anyone wants to change to a different nation now would be the time, I am sticking to Marigon.

Server will be at the same IP etc, and I will use all the same settings as before.

Sorry Again, but thanks for understanding.

Grim Knight

[PashaDawg]

I say that everyone should stick with their previous nation & pretender, and none of the settings should be changed. That way, we can get started right away without negotiations.

[PashaDawg]

Just uploaded my pretender. I see that some of the others have done the same already.

[Boron]

Hah that's luck . Last turn my pretender died but now voila i don't have to worry about http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .
Lets see if my pretender dies that quick this time again http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .

[PashaDawg]

Boron said:
Hah that's luck . Last turn my pretender died but now voila i don't have to worry about http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .
Lets see if my pretender dies that quick this time again http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .



Let me know, if you need help with killing him off quickly. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[The Panther]

Already eight have uploaded their pretenders. Only 3 to go.

I vote that Boron must sack his pretender again to be fair. Don't you all agree???

And I had already found Pasha Dawg near me, so my scout was thinking of taking the Pangaea capitol. Too bad he did not get a chance to try that. He could easily have sliced and diced through 25 PD plus the pretender and any troops and mages there, right?

[KroolDeath]

ok, uploading now!

[PashaDawg]

The Panther said:
And I had already found Pasha Dawg near me, so my scout was thinking of taking the Pangaea capitol. Too bad he did not get a chance to try that. He could easily have sliced and diced through 25 PD plus the pretender and any troops and mages there, right?



Hmmmm... too bad you did not get to try it. My minions would have liked a little Roasted Abyssa Marshmallow for a snack. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[Aku]

Hmm so Pasha was near you Panther? Boron was on the eastern side of that continent lol. And across the sea to the north was jotum and marignon lol.

[PashaDawg]

Looks like we're waiting for Dragonfire and CuriousCat. I just sent a reminder email to Dragonfire and a PM to the Cat.

PASHA

[CuriousCat]

Sorry again. Didn't realize we'd get restarted so quickly. Uploaded.

CC

[DragonFire11]

All set here.

[PashaDawg]

Unless I can't count, that means we're all set to go. 11 pretenders have been uploaded, and I believe we only had 11 players.

[The Panther]

It is well known that lawyers cannot count. Of course, occasionally they can get lucky on a guess...

Ready for the restart!

[Grim Knight]

Game is Restarted.

Grim Knight

[PashaDawg]

The Panther said:
It is well known that lawyers cannot count. Of course, occasionally they can get lucky on a guess...

Ready for the restart!



We get paid for convincing people that 2+2=5, unless it is more in our clients' interests for it to equal 2 or maybe even 4. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[DragonFire11]

And don't forget we are quite good at counting money.

[The Panther]

DragonFire11 said:
And don't forget we are quite good at counting money.


I stand corrected!

By the way, it is a well-known engineering axiom that 2+2 does not always equal 4. It actually might be 5 for large values of 2, and can be 3 for small values of 2.
For example:
2.3 + 2.4 = 4.7, which can be approximated as:
2 + 2 = 5
A scientist would puke over this, though! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


Also, excellent job on the fast restart, everybody. It was amazingly quick.

[DragonFire11]

If I am not mistaken it's utterly axiomatic that 2+2 = 4 (as opposed to 5) and that 2.3 + 2.4 = 2.7 and can be rounded by convention. Did you, by an chance, build the original mirror for the Hubble telescope?

[DragonFire11]

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Boron]

Uhm we need to restart again . Grim seems to have forgotten to set indies . All my neighboring provinces are free of military http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif .

[Aku]

Same here unless nobody minds no indeps we could continue to play. I just got one of my national heroes too.

[The Panther]

ROFL!!!

Another big fat oops! The Indies are set to 0, not 9. I have done this before, it's easy to do. Just accidently go one past the 9, and viola! Free provinces everywhere!

When we restart yet again, I am requesting that commander renaming be allowed. I forgot to ask that and notice that it is still off in the current restart. Renaming is an easy thing to do to ease the pain of micro management later in the game.

*sigh*

I don't think I have ever played a game that is harder to get a game going than Dominions...

[Aku]

Comon lets seriously keep the 0 indies. It means faster expansion and early wars with national troops because of the very difficult research. You know you want to keep this current game!

[Boron]

Aku said:
Comon lets seriously keep the 0 indies. It means faster expansion and early wars with national troops because of the very difficult research. You know you want to keep this current game!



Yeah i wouldn't mind continuing with 0 indeps as well http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .

It would be at least an interesting game . Mainly indies just slow down the start of fighting but nothing else .
So lets try this game with indies 0 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif .

[deccan]

Personally, I would rather not have indies 0. I suppose that having a low level of indies makes sense of a very difficult research game to allow for battles between national troops, but taking provinces left and right with scouts seems cheap to me.

[DragonFire11]

I think I like fighting better than grabbing. I vote for a restart.

[Grim Knight]

Ok, Game Restarting Again. I am truly sorry. I started it just before I went to bed, and obviously went past 9.

I too feel 0 Indies is just too cheap.

Game is restarted and ready for upload of new pretenders.

By the way, how the heck do you rename commanders. I have tried and tried and tried to do this but nothing seems to work.

Is it in the manual, if so just tell me the page, or to RTFM I admit I have done as usual and laid the manual aside as soon as I got the box open, I have looked for it breifly in the manual but no luck.

Thanks, Grim Knight.

[Aku]

you right click the commander and hit the "r" key

i believe that is the key lol

[Cainehill]

Indies 0 is one of those tiny little things that annoy - not so much that I think that no one has ever used the setting except possibly for SP testing, but because it's one of the settings that wraps around, while others don't.

Seems like if you're increasing the strength of independents, it's extremely unlikely that you want it set to 0. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Note though - I've definately seen provinces empty of troops on a setting of at least 3, possibly 5 or 6. We had a PBEM game going, the 2nd turn I see provinces supposedly empty of troops. I oh so very hesitantly moved 2 separate armies out, orders to retreat - and took both provinces. Yet the setting wasn't 0, and after those 2 the neighbors all had the usual 30-60 troops. (Happily we did a restart, as it turned out to be a very bad choice of maps.)

[PashaDawg]

Re-uploaded.

[KroolDeath]

me too

[Grim Knight]

Game is Restarted Again.

Grim Knight

[The Panther]

Very nice! Another try at geting this game going. Already, three people have taken their turn, including me.

Interestingly enough, I am in nearly the same starting location as I was the previous one with the zero indies. Is this a sign? A sign of what? A sign that I am the One and Only True Pretender?? Only time will tell...

Good luck, all.

[Steerpike]

How come the game is exactly the same as the 0 indie one?
Has everyone else the same starting positions and the same turn as their first in the Last one?
Im confused http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif

[deccan]

I seem to have a different start position.

[The Panther]

There is a lot of no-start provinces on this map. And the game will spread the players around as best as it can among the allowable positions.

Thus, it not at all improbable that one or more people would have the same, or close to the same, starting position. In my case, I am actually two provinces removed from that other start province. Not in the precise location as before, just close.

The game looks good so far, and I thank the host for allowing commander renaming.

Let the war begin!

[CuriousCat]

Um... newbie questions.

I just connected to do turn 1 on the new restart and not only did I start in exactly the same location, but the first turn had been done identically to my previous turn 1 - before the restart - without me doing anything. Also, the game says that renaming is not allowed.

My questions: Did I fail to do something to reset? How do I fix it?

Thanks.

CC

[The Panther]

CuriousCat said:
I just connected to do turn 1 on the new restart and not only did I start in exactly the same location, but the first turn had been done identically to my previous turn 1 - before the restart - without me doing anything. Also, the game says that renaming is not allowed.




That sounds very bad. I would suggest you reconnect and select the redo turn option. Do your turn over from scratch and then end it to upload. It sounds like the server possibly has multiple fatherland files.

Another possibility is that you used the saved game on your computer instead of the game on the host server.

This advice goes for Steerpike also, since it sounds like he has the identical situation.

If the game is messed up, then we will find this out when the server hosts.

I don't know if I have the mental chutzpah to start over yet again...

[CuriousCat]

Thanks for the advice.

1)Redoing turn did not work.

2)I deleted the files from the GrimK directory and restarted Dominions.

3)I reselected my race.

4)Tada! New location, names, renaming turned on.

Not to be too forceful for a newbie, but I strongly suggest that anyone who started in an identical location check to see if they can rename commanders and, if not, try 2 and 3 above.

CC

[Steerpike]

Yes Thank you Curious Cat, just what the doctor ordered. New location, names and naming.
I dont agree with intimidation but you can be forceful with me anytime you want. Pasha Au-Naturale might be keen too. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[PashaDawg]

Steerpike said:
I dont agree with intimidation but you can be forceful with me anytime you want. Pasha Au-Naturale might be keen too. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



Gosh, Pike, I did not realize that you were so kinky. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[DragonFire11]

I'm in a new spot. All looks good.

[PashaDawg]

New Turn is up!

[PashaDawg]

PashaDawg said:
New Turn is up!



Oops! False alarm. I think we are waiting on AKU! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif

[The Panther]

Here is another tip for you newbies. Make a shortcut on your desktop with the following executable:
dom2.exe --tcpclient --ipadr 69.10.97.69 --port 65000

Also, make sure the 'start in' location in the shortcut is proper for wherever the game is located on your computer.

Then, all you have to do is double click on the icon and it puts you direct to the server. This would have avoided the problem you guys had.

[CuriousCat]

Always glad to be of service. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Aku]

turn 2 is up!

I didnt realize the game got restarted that fast and I have been playing WoW open beta all day and forgot to check the forums lol.

Oh and my starting position is way different.

[PashaDawg]

WoW?

[KroolDeath]

World of Warcraft

[Cainehill]

Aku said:
turn 2 is up!

I didnt realize the game got restarted that fast and I have been playing WoW open beta all day and forgot to check the forums lol.




Heh. About a week ago, it was the Guild Wars open beta for me - kinda neat looking, but also not quite my cuppa beer. It did get me away from diablo2 HC long enough for me to reload Icewind Dale 2 and start that again though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Steerpike]

I wish I could be playing these betas, unfortunately my essay on U.S intervention in Latin America is due tommorrow and I am not completely on schedule.
Play on boys, play on. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Beorne]

CuriousCat said:
Thanks for the advice.

1)Redoing turn did not work.

2)I deleted the files from the GrimK directory and restarted Dominions.

3)I reselected my race.

4)Tada! New location, names, renaming turned on.

Not to be too forceful for a newbie, but I strongly suggest that anyone who started in an identical location check to see if they can rename commanders and, if not, try 2 and 3 above.

CC



I had the same problem (turn already palyed, same position), I only redone my turn but now the game is already at turn 2. What can I do? my play is doomed or can I contine playing?
I can check only this evening at 08PM GMT+1 when I return home.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[The Panther]

I believe this means that you will get a stale. It isn't great, but it is not disastrous either. The main problem is that you will be behind getting your first mage. You will also be behind on one turn of research with your pretender. And maybe behind getting your prophet too. But it is only one turn and on a large map like this, no one will be attacking you for many turns anyway.

At least you will have a ton of gold and can buy a lot of armies and/or mercenaries for your first attack. No one is attacking any 9 level indies on turn 1 anyway unless they are even more suicidal than Boron.

[Grim Knight]

Ahh, the hidden difficulties of using the same name for a game. As long as everything works out, I guess no harm done.

Grim Knight

[Aku]

new turn is up and I already found my first neighbor

[The Panther]

Server crash.

[DragonFire11]

The Panther said:
Here is another tip for you newbies. Make a shortcut on your desktop with the following executable:
dom2.exe --tcpclient --ipadr 69.10.97.69 --port 65000




This sounds like a great idea -- but I'm not exactly sure what to do. Can you elaborate a bit? Thanks.

And the server seems to be down still.

[The Panther]

Hmmmm..... Are you really THAT computer iliiterate???

The following only works for WIN XP, but the other window operating systems are similar:
1. Riht click on the icon which starts Dom2 and select create shortcut.
2. Go to the shortcut you just created, right click on it and select rename. Change it to GrimK or Newbiegame 2, or whatever floats your boat.
3. Right click on it again and select properties.
4. Copy the above shortcut inside the target box.
5. Hit apply.

And presto-chango! You now have a direct link to Grim Knight's server. No more selecting network and typing in a bunch of random numbers!

Ain't Bill Gates amazing???

[PashaDawg]

Can't connect to server.

[Beorne]

Can't connect to server.

[PashaDawg]

Still can't connect.

[Steerpike]

me too, cant connect... I fear a staleturn.

[DragonFire11]

Ouch, I have a strange problem. Yesterday I was playing a single player battle and I got an out of memory error (I have half a gig of RAM). The game would not restart. So I reloaded, and re-patched but still it won't work.

Any ideas?

[Grim Knight]

Server IP has shifted.

IP is now: 69.10.118.172

I work graveyard and just got home and checked the Boards and noticed this, I am resetting the Timer to avoid Stale Turns.

This is fairly rare so hopefully will not happen again any time soon.

Grim Knight

[Grim Knight]

Dragonfire, does it give you a specific error when you try to load the program?

Does the error occur when you are open the program itself or when you select a menu item inside the game?

If it is giveing a specific error, what are the details of the error specifically does it reference any recognizable file names?

Have you recently installed any patches to your OS or to any major programs that always run, Antivirus, Firewall, etc.?

What OS are you running?

When you reloaded did you completely uninstall the game first?

If you uninstalled it did you delete any files left behind other than Maps, Mods, Pretenders, and Save Games?

There are just not enough details in your initial post to draw any conclusions.

Grim Knight

[DragonFire11]

Hi Grim Knight:

Here are more details:

1. I get no error message, except for when the game first crashed which was insufficient memory. Now the game simply won't start and all I get is a black screen for a few seconds and then I am on my desktop.

2. I have not installed anything recently including patches. In fact, a couple of months back I did a new load of windows and the system is quite clean.

3. I am using XP Home SP2.

4. The first reload I simply reinstalled. The second reload I uninstalled, moved all folders except one or two game files, and then reinstalled. I will try a complete reinstall momentarily.

5. Shrapnel emailed and suggested that I delete all files in my windows temp folder -- this did not work.

6. The PC seems stable and functioning in all other respects except for Dom2. I read somewhere that the SP2 can affect some games, but since I have not had this issue previously it seems an unlikely cause.

7. I also did a system restore to a couple of days ago when the game worked. No luck.

I hope this info helps.

[DragonFire11]

I just did a complete fresh install with no folders remaining. A total failure.

Actually, I've never before seen a problem like this one. I am stumped.

[DragonFire11]

Shrapnel asked that I look into the stderr file in the dom folder. It contains the following:

Något gick fel!
Failed to create temp directory properly (already existed)

I don't have a clue what this means, but it might point to the problem.

[The Panther]

Try to do an uninstall and then install the game from the CD again. Just deleting the proper folders might not be enough.

[DragonFire11]

Ah, I tried that!

Thanks.

[deccan]

This post might help:

Check if this "C:\DOCUME~1\Chris\LOCALS~1\Temp/dom16882" directory exists. If it does (it shouldn't) you can delete it and try again.

Edit: Doh! Trouble finding the right URL...

[DragonFire11]

That was it Deccan -- but Shrapnel tech support helped me first. It was a tough one to hunt down for sure, but it's fixed and apparently the next patch will fix this issue. Thanks for your help! So I'm back in the game.

[Grim Knight]

Cool, looks like it was fixed before I could reply.

Grim Knight.

[Grim Knight]

New Turn is Up.

Grim Knight

[KroolDeath]

Hmmm, I have yet to have a valid turn in this game with the game restarts and unable to connect.

[Aku]

my turns are all working fine...but i did delete the old game file before we restarted

oh and just boron left

should we restart again if people are having difficulties?

[The Panther]

Too many restarts already...

[Grim Knight]

At this point the server is running fine. In the previous thread before I offered to host the game I did try to make it clear that I don't have an entirely static IP address, it does change on occaision for various reasons, usually only if I am forced to power off my cable modem, this is an occurence that happens once in a while, but usually it is weeks or even months between these occurences.

The other issues with the Hard Drive crash and everything was beyond my control and I do apologize for that, it was a major bummer from my end too beleive me. I have as I said taken measures to ensure that nothing that drastic happens again.

Every morning when I get home from work, I check the server and verify that the IP address has remained unchanged. If it has changed I will post the new IP here immediatly and reset the timer back to 24 hours to give everyone a chance to get their turns in, and try to avoid stale turns.

I agree with Panther we have had too many restarts already so as long as a Majority of the players are able to connect without issue the game will continue as is.

Grim Knight.

[DragonFire11]

Thanks Grim Knight! I appreciate your contribution and I can easily live with the minor issues. Don't sweat it.

[Aku]

Grim Knight dont worry you are doing a good job as host.

[KroolDeath]

Yes, I'm ok, just had to whine a sec.:)

Krool

[PashaDawg]

Everything's going good over here in the fertile forests of Pangaea! We've even brought the Good News to a needy province of independent heathens.

[deccan]

Turn 6 is up.

[Steerpike]

Whoa! I had a battle Last turn which when I viewed it my Giants most definately won, yet the result said that I lost and they, the independants, had no casualties.
I am upset a little by this and fearful of a reapeat.
Has anyone else had funny results?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif

[archaeolept]

ehh, almost always this means you weren't watching the right battle. you need to have the same patch as the server (probably 2.14) in order to correctly view a battle. otherwise, you are just watching battles in some alternate reality.

[Steerpike]

I have that patch though

[Aku]

Something strange happened to me too this turn. My capital got 37 unrest and I had no random events. Very weird. And i am on patch 2.14.

[archaeolept]

save the file and send it to illwinter

[CuriousCat]

Grim Knight can you verify that the newly reinstalled server is patched to 2.14?

[Grim Knight]

Yes, I closed and restarted the server and in the main menu it definitly says 2.14.

So consider it confirmed.

The only thing I can think of is the possibility that it is somehow reading old data from one of the previous starts. At least this is the only thing that comes to my mind as a likely possibility, so it may be a good idea for everyone to clear their old game folders and let them be recreated when next you connect to the game.

Grim Knight.

[Aku]

turn 9 is up

[Steerpike]

Phew! only one exam to go.
The lack of info on my noble opponents is doing my head in a little bit, this is the first time I have played with stats off and I like it a lot but I crave to know more and I havn't found a province with scouts yet.
Little tidbits of info get through though to tantalise the tastebuds, such as Devil Queen dying (you have plenty of Mercs to ease your pain Abyssia), or Red Dragon who had such a hard time in the aborted Newbie Slugfest 2 is now a monster seemingly taking all before him (or her, I think the Females are bigger http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif).
Yes things are starting to get exciting in an opaque kind of way.
Please let me take a province with cheap scouts next turn.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[deccan]

Devil Queen dying? Just another immortal VQ likely...

[The Panther]

Steerpike said:
Phew! only one exam to go.
The lack of info on my noble opponents is doing my head in a little bit, this is the first time I have played with stats off and I like it a lot but I crave to know more and I havn't found a province with scouts yet.
Little tidbits of info get through though to tantalise the tastebuds, such as Devil Queen dying (you have plenty of Mercs to ease your pain Abyssia), or Red Dragon who had such a hard time in the aborted Newbie Slugfest 2 is now a monster seemingly taking all before him (or her, I think the Females are bigger http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif).
Yes things are starting to get exciting in an opaque kind of way.
Please let me take a province with cheap scouts next turn.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif



Ah, but I have already found the Giants and the Harpies!

As for the Devil Queen dying, sadly this is true. Attacking blind early frequently causes this little annoyance. But dying increases your ranking in the HoF, for whatever odd reason! Each death is worth something like 10 points in the HoF score.

It is also amazing what can be gleaned from the only stat that is always on, the HoF. I too saw just how happy Boron must be with the restart!

[Steerpike]

whoops! my mistake its Marignon with all the mercs. The little flags for some reason confused me. Oops, Grim Knight must be selling fire gems left right and centre to afford those boys.

[PashaDawg]

The Panther said:

Ah, but I have already found the Giants and the Harpies!




And Our stealthy harpies see you, Devil Wench.

[Steerpike]

PashaDawg said:

The Panther said:

Ah, but I have already found the Giants and the Harpies!




And Our stealthy harpies see you, Devil Wench.




Aaahhh, sounds like a love affair is brewing already. Tis the "Taming of the Shrew" anew, yet which pray tell is the shrew to be tamed?

I personally love the both of yee and wish to prove my love with my GIGANTIC manhood, any takers? Pasha AU Naturale... Devil Queeen.

[Aku]

turn 11 is up!

[PashaDawg]

Steerpike said:

I personally love the both of yee and wish to prove my love with my GIGANTIC manhood, any takers? Pasha AU Naturale... Devil Queeen.



HA!! You have not seen the magnificent schwanstoke of the Great Lord of the Wild!

[Aku]

hmm anyone else notice that in the hof...vanheims god just died lol...i wonder if he was immortal

[deccan]

Looks like Beorne and KroolDeath started next to one another again. Wonder if one or the other is going to hold a grudge...

[Beorne]

In the Last games I was "squeezed" by Grim and Panther over poor KroolDeath but this has not avoided the crushing of my empire.
Considering that now I have lots of open field to expand in, and with my obsidan/feathered warriors my punch vs indep 9 is very slow and weak (and considering I fear Van) I hope peace will reign for long time between my rivers of blood ...

[Aku]

turn 13 is up!

[deccan]

New turn up.

[Aku]

uh oh...pasha isnt going to be happy when he sees his turn

[Steerpike]

Alright Aku share with all Pashas misfortune. I wont laugh I promise. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[deccan]

So much for the magnificent schwanstoke of the Great Lord of the Wild!

[Steerpike]

Sorry Aku , I was too lazy to look at the HOF, that makes three Pretenders who have died, nasty http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[Aku]

Every 5 turns a new pretender dies lmfao. Bec of difficult research they cant research their uber spells to keep them alive lol.

[PashaDawg]

Nothing to worry about... it's just a flesh wound.

[deccan]

New turn is up.

[KroolDeath]

Yea, so much for trying to take a province alone with my Pretender.

And no grudges against Beorne, too busy with Call God right now! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Krool

[deccan]

Turn 18 is up.

[Steerpike]

Where, oh where does the Assassin come from?
You Pan? HUH....Pasha Au Naturale could be the one responsible, a sneaky, sneaky nation might be getting in some practise.
Caelum do YOU know anything about....Assassins? Hmmm.
I KNOW Abyssia has Assassins but I think they are called slayers I thought... MAYBE the Devil Queen is being sneaky and saving the Slayers for later.
I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!...(whimper)... I CAN SEE YOU!


http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

[Steerpike]

Hang on Marignon also has Assassins I think? Straight out of the box.
Hmmmm.

[Aku]

Abysia I believe are slayers. And Marignon does have Assassins. I think your culprit may be Marignon. Hmm if it is then I have a pretty good idea where Marignon is since I know where Jotumheim is.

[The Panther]

Since we have a border agreement, I can assure you it is not me. I am too busy scouting with my slayer right now to waste time on assasinating anybody. I have found both Caelum and R'lyeh with my far-ranging slayer already!

Neither Caelum nor Pangaea nor R'lyeh can get assasins easily. Terminus has not yet become available among the mercenaries, iirc.

Mictlan or Vanheim (or anybody else bloodhunting) can easily get assasins by using the black heart. But on very difficult research, it really ain't likely to get construction 6 this early.

I would be willing to bet that it is Marignon, as you are pretty close to him. It is also Grim's style, as he is fairly agressive typically.

[Zen]

Seems as if The_Panther has been taken by the Squids. R'lyeh with no Assassins? They have Star Children. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Unless of course you mean do they have the unit "Assassin" no, but they can certainly assassinate with the very best.

[The Panther]

Zen said:
Seems as if The_Panther has been taken by the Squids. R'lyeh with no Assassins? They have Star Children.



Hm... having never played the squids before, I am glad you told me this!

[Steerpike]

Panther I agree with you, for it was definately an Assassin and only Marignon can make them...
Marignon your a swine and shall pay dearly for this insult.
I put a Gygja curse upon all your filthy Mercenaries.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Grim Knight]

Who, me?

I assure you I have no assassins in any territory other than neutral territory.

Grim Knight.

[deccan]

Why would anyone want to use assassins on Jotunheim anyway of all possible nations? I always get my assassins' asses handed to me whenever I accidentally try to assassinate giants in SP.

Edit: And speaking of assassins, what are C'tis Empoisoners good for anyway? They have DN, but I'm not sure what they can do with that.

[quantum_mechani]

deccan said:

Edit: And speaking of assassins, what are C'tis Empoisoners good for anyway? They have DN, but I'm not sure what they can do with that.


Lots of things; swarm, raise skeleton...

With a cheap death staf they can do the 5 at a time skeleton summons.

[CuriousCat]

New turn is up.

[Aku]

new turn is up!

[Aku]

turn 22 is up and i believe i see people at war already!

[Steerpike]

Aku said:
turn 22 is up and i believe i see people at war already!


Ahh twas but a skirmish, nothing but some lads having fisticuffs in a pub is all. Well be firm friends by nightend.
Glad to see the squidheads taking an interest though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[CuriousCat]

Turn is up.

[PashaDawg]

Looks like the Giants are getting kinda big and spread out. Just stay out of our peaceful forests, big boys.

[deccan]

Now playing turn 24.

[KroolDeath]

Allies and Enemies,

My humblest apologies for the stale Last turn. I thought my turn had posted but had to reboot trying to exit the game after "End Turn". Could not get back in. Believe I had connectivity issues as the wife was lambasting me about not being able to get into her mindless Yahoo games!

Krool

[Steerpike]

Turn 25 is Online and ready for your perusal.
Ahh... I feel a cool wind is blowing in the south and that wind is blowing out of fear.
This hidden statistics has made me a little trigger happy and more than a little paranoid, add to that the lack of talking and it makes for a darker game.
Do the more central nations feel vulnerable? Vanheim?
I know I do.

[The Panther]

Lord of the Giants,

I did have to chuckle when you mentioned earlier to my nation that you were worried about the Lord of the Wild having 130 units on his border with you. Do you have any idea just how incredibly fast Pangaea can get his free Maenads with a turmoil 3 setting? And just how weak those wimpy things are? Fodder, pure and simple, that is what they are. They remind me of the free Mictlan slaves. One giant is worth maybe 10-20 Maenads.

You didn't really have to worry about Pasha and his huge army of Maenads. He was losing many each turn to 9 indies anyway. But likely he is replacing them just as quickly as they die.

I admit that I am watching the war with great interest in the outcome.

I also think that the nations who started in the middle instead of the map edges would definitely be a lot more paranoid.

As for diplomacy (or lack therof), I was also a bit surprised just how badly you messed up the early message from my Minister of State, Madam Candice, to you. I am glad she managed to sort that little bit out.


Cheers,
The Queen of Blood and Fire


P.S. One of the things about Dominions is that you really need a sheet of paper with notes on it. I have one for each game I am currently doing, and it helps me a lot with my poor aging memory.

[Steerpike]

Yeah thanks Panther.
I learned a lot after that mistake of mine and now I keep pretty extensive notes. Madam Candace has taught me well...roaw. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
As for mistakes this is my 3rd Multiplayer game and I think it shows. I always play a couple of single player games at the same time with the same settings, but its not the same.

[KroolDeath]

Lack of diplomacy? Perhaps there just has not been any directed towards certain nations. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I jest of course...or do I?

Yes, a centrally located nation is rather...intriguing...Perhaps an alliance of the central nations is in order!

Krool
Vanheim

[Beorne]

I can assure you that in the north there is a lot of diplomacy. The north is a peaceful land.

[deccan]

Pasha-au-natural dies again? I wonder if Steerpike was responsible. Such a sad state of affairs having old allies from the first slugfest come to blows so early...

[Steerpike]

Yes the horned one has succumbed to my measly forces. But there are thousands of Pani still to launch their attacks on me. It seems like thousands when swarm is cast anyway.
As to diplomacy, mine has been appalling so far but I think thats because of the lack of talking. The one reply I got to an email was enough to set up cordial relations and a peaceful division of provinces.
The real disasters were when my emails were not replied to in time.
Any way this is a war game and tactically I wish not to be surrounded. If I have to fight to get that I will.
Also I think that the giants are more effective earlier in the game, the mages are just so expensive.

[Aku]

Yeah I just saw Pasha's Lord of the Wild dead again on the HoF. Wait so Jotum is invading Pangaea and Caelum? Comon share the news.

[Steerpike]

I couldnt invade dragonfire again, not after the Last game so I withdrew to stop a rampaging Pan. Pretty dumb, maybe.
He did the smart thing and attacked me while I was deep in Pans territory.
Am I upset? Nahh the way I was spreading out I think they were going to take me on sooner or later I could just smell an alliance.

[PashaDawg]

The Giants disclosed their foul wickedness when they invaded the peaceful fun-loving dominion of the Wild Lord, just because he and his minions were enjoying a huge wine drinking bash in the swamps just to the Giants' south. Hurumph!

[Steerpike]

The giants gate crashed (Invaded) your wild party because we didnt get an invite. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
When we found out there was only 'wine' there, well of course we got a little annoyed. Not only that the Satyrs were hogging all the Maenads you must of had 10 maenads to every Satyr. Grrrr very annoying for a frisky giant. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[deccan]

Sheesh, I had you guys waiting on me. I actually did that turn Last night offline but then forgot to upload it. If I ever post comments on the current turn but haven't actually played the turn yet, feel free to yell at me in the future. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[KroolDeath]

So the South is aflame in war while us northern folk live in comfortable peace. The South engages in war while the North engages in philisophical debates, democratic ideals, and arts& crafts.

Ahhh, the pleasures of the good life!

Krool

P.S. Panther, don't you own Ye Old Dome Game? I have not been able to get in for days and I don't see a thread for it. Is it broke???

[The Panther]

I don't own that game, Schmork does. Try putting up duplicate copies of the game until one works, that is what I have been doing. Cohen started a thread on this subject in the forum a few days ago.


As for the South in the Land of Cradle, not all of us are at war. We devils are obsvering everything with great interest, though.

[Aku]

So Panther...nice ice devils you have already in your ranks.

[Steerpike]

KroolDeath said:
So the South is aflame in war while us northern folk live in comfortable peace. The South engages in war while the North engages in philisophical debates, democratic ideals, and arts& crafts.

Ahhh, the pleasures of the good life!

Krool




We are having little wars now to avoid the huge wars you will inevitably have later. After seeing how many troops Pan had after 25 turns (I know most were Maenads but they provide cover for the centaurs and other nasties, plus the damn things can be buffed with spells) I shudder to think what it would be like after 35 turns. Not only that but I have a potentially horror spamming Caelum to deal with as well.
Every nation has it's mid to late game power, just wait till Mictlan decides to unleash with Arch Devils or has 10-15 soul contracts. Or Arco starts mind enslaving your SC's.

[The Panther]

Aku said:
So Panther...nice ice devils you have already in your ranks.



shhhhhh....., quiet now

[DragonFire11]

Hi ya'll. Sadly, I've been real busy with real-world stuff so I have not chimed in yet. No stale turns for me yet so I'm thankful. So, do I get the giants castle or not? Next turn is a biggie.

[Steerpike]

I guess not. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[The Panther]

Just to let you all know, I will be out of town for the next four days. I am heading to Norman, Oklahoma, tomorrow to pick up my daughter, and then on Kansas City to watch Oklahoma whip up on Colorado in the Big-12 Championship game on Saturday night.

I will take my laptop and try to get my moves in. If I can't do that, then my son will do my moves for me. But expect it to take close to the full 24 hours per turn until I return on Monday night.

[Aku]

Krool Death you are about to stale. You only have 40 minutes.

[KroolDeath]

I just friggin missed it! We (me and the wife, no kids) were "away" Last night for a rest from my wicked children. I just missed getting home on time!!

Arrrggg...

Krool

[deccan]

Hey Pasha, VQs are supposed to get all those crosses next to their name, not Lords of the Wild.

[Steerpike]

The pesky thing just wont stay dead! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif
I dub Pasha the Scarlet Panpernickel.

[PashaDawg]

I did not realize that the computer would decide to call my pretender back into enemy territory!!!! AHGGGGG!!!

[Aku]

So does this Lord of the Wild even have spell paths anymore when he comes around for the 4th time to die? lol

[Steerpike]

He's lucky he has recuperation because he has an amazing array of afflictions, including losing both eyes and feeblemind.
Hes a real trouper for coming back for more though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Aku]

OMG he has a blind and retarded minotaur leading his people lmfao.

[deccan]

New turn up. Boron must have played immediately after me yesterday night because I nearly ran out of time to play today.

[Steerpike]

One thing that is preying on my mind in regards to Pashas Lord of the Wild, he has the sneaking ability, if he does respawn in his home province wouldnt he be sneaking unless directed to do otherwise?
Another question: Did everyone give Zen their pretender details? Did anyone get a reply?
I would be curious to see how he would have chosen a pretender for a given nation.
Maybe that is impossible given you tailor your pretender to whatever tactics you think you may use in the game and the tactics vary dramatically even within nations.

[Aku]

No replies but my pretender choice was one not affected by the mod. Ryleh really doesnt have much selection to choose from.