PBEM game: Song of the Blade (Running)

[Alneyan]

The final roster is as follow:
- Blofeld: Vanheim - Standard theme
- Oversway: Man - Last of the Tuatha
- Panther: Ermor - Broken Empire
- PDF: Mictlan - N/A
- Gryffin: Jotunheim - Iron Woods
- Steerpike: Abysia - Standard theme
- The_Tauren: Ulm - Black Forest
- Turms: Machaka - N/A
- Alneyan: Arcoscephale - Standard theme

The settings of the game:
- Map: Inland
- Independents: 6
- Research: very hard
- Renaming is on, HoF has 15 entries.
- Victory condition: controlling half the capitals, though the game may go on if the player in control of the capitals wishes it.
- Nations will be assigned randomly, and themes must be announced publicly.
- All the other settings as default

Mods: a mod making hoarding items much less appealing 4 Water/1 Astral for the Clams, 3 Nature/3 Fire for the Fetishes, 4 Blood and 2 Earth for the Bloodstones. Zen Pretenders 2.0 will be used as well: it can be downloaded from here (http://www.techno-mage.com/~zen/), and the change list is available here (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=318733).

My mail addresses : alneyan[AT]fastmail[DOT]co.uk and alneyan[AT]dom2minions[DOT].com (replacing [AT] and [DOT] by @ and .)


And my common hosting policies:
- The host (myself) will probably be playing in the game. I will choose my nation when most spots have already been filled, or last if we go with the random order.
- The deadlines will be at a fixed hour, so any turn running earlier than expected will result in a longer deadline for next turn. In other words, if a game is scheduled to turn at 2000 GMT, and I received all the files at 1400, the game will run at 1400 and the next deadline will be on tomorrow at 2000. The game will only go ahead of the schedule if we gain a full day; for example, if I receive all the files by Sunday 1800 instead of Monday 1800, the next deadline will be on Tuesday 1800 and not Wednesday 1800 (as it would have been otherwise).
- Whenever possible, I will send a status mail about the turns I have received. If we are under a 24 hours schedule, the status mail will be sent as soon as I can, though it may be as late as three/four hours before the deadline. If we are playing with a 48 hours turnaround or more, the status mail will be sent 24 hours before the deadline.
- Two mails will be used for this game. If one of the mails has bounced, feel free to resend it on both addresses, even if I have likely already received it on my other mail. If you want to make sure your turn did reach me, I also have a third mail set to send a "message received" mail (dominions2[AT]yahoo[DOT]fr).
- Mails will be sent to each nation individually, so you do not really need to set a password as you will only get the files for your nations. The fatherland file will not be sent to the players.
- All turn files will be backed up on one of my two mails.

[Steerpike]

Yeah, I really like the random nation Idea, why not go further and randomise what nation you actually get.
People who have their Pet nations will be put out of their comfort zones.
Im in regardless.

[Alneyan]

I have nothing against random nations, though it may be a bit drastic. Then again, the best way to discover other nations is to play them. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[TheBirthdayParty]

I'm in. Palesunn@worldnet.att.net

[The_Tauren13]

Panther and I are in. As for the CD key problem, I don't have any problem with you seeing my capitol every turn. Also... I think going totally random on the nations would be really cool.

And by the way everyone, Alneyan is a great host http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Alneyan]

So, the roster would be:
- Panther
- Steerpike
- TheBirthdayParty
- The_Tauren
- Alneyan

Random nations it shall be then! I will put myself somewhere in the order, according to the Rule of the Die.

Should I remove the water nations from the list of nations? Inland has only a few water provinces, but it may make for an interesting position. Or perhaps not.

[Blofeld]

I'm in. Random nations could be fun - I have to start playing something else than Ctis or Marignon at last.

[Oversway]

I'd like to join. I think Zen's balance mods would improve the game, especially the pretender one.

[Alneyan]

Blofeld said:
I'm in. Random nations could be fun - I have to start playing something else than Ctis or Marignon at last.



Blofeld! Please sign that non-aggression pact, for a duration of 200 turns! No strings attached, no fine print (none that the naked eye can see at least), a once-in-a-lifetime offer! I'm cutting me own throat!

Welcome aboard Oversway and Blofeld. It makes seven of us, so I guess there is still room for a couple more players. The current settings go as follow; feel free to protest if something does not quite strike your fancy.

- Map: Inland
- Independents: 6
- Research: very hard
- Renaming is on, HoF has 15 entries.
- Victory condition: controlling half the capitals, though the game may go on if the player in control of the capitals wishes it.
- Nations will be assigned randomly
- All the other settings as default
- Mods: a mod making hoarding items much less appealing (I think I will go with Panther's values: 5 Water for the Clams, 3 Nature/3 Fire for the Fetishes, 4 Blood and 2 Earth for the Bloodstones). Zen Pretenders will be enabled as well.

And the remaining queries about the settings:
- Should water nations be kept out of the game?
- For the victory condition, should it be "full control" of half the capitals, or would "being besieged" be enough?

[The_Tauren13]

Alneyan said:
- Mods: a mod making hoarding items much less appealing (I think I will go with Panther's values: 5 Water for the Clams, 3 Nature/3 Fire for the Fetishes, 4 Blood and 2 Earth for the Bloodstones).


Erm, I couldn't agree more that clams are way underpriced, but 5W??? Couldn't we stop at 4W? I think 4W 1S would be cool. And what about soul contracts? Am I the only one who thinks those are just as badly underpriced?

[Alneyan]

Well, the values Panther proposed were made to make those items too expensive I believe, hence the 5W. I have no objections to lowering it to 4W however, with perhaps another path thrown in for good measure.

I have no opinion on Soul Contracts, simply because I have never seen them hoarded, but they seem to be quite a bargain for their price (if left alone for a while). How more expensive would you make them?

[Oversway]

- Should water nations be kept out of the game?



I don't care too much either way. Depends on the map, of course.


- For the victory condition, should it be "full control" of half the capitals, or would "being besieged" be enough?



I'd vote for full control.

[rabelais]

I'd like to play, if there is room.

I think a small map is critical for a game like this.

Are themes being randomized as well, or is no one being forced into Iron Faith, etc http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

dgo@pcfastnet.com

[Alneyan]

There is still some room, so welcome aboard Rabelais!

I like the idea of enforced themes, but it would be difficult to check. I could check the starting sites on turn 1, and give the location of all the capitals, or the first turn could be sent to a third party for a quick check. "Hey, lucky you, you got Caelum in the random picks... Too bad I rolled heads, and you end up with the Raptors theme." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Steerpike]

I vote for control of the capital and no water nations.
Forced themes would be cool as well (Tien Chi Barbarians).

[Turms]

Hello,

The settings of this game seem very interesting.
I would like to join if there is still room.

Turms

[Alneyan]

Welcome aboard Turms!

There is still one spot open for a player, and we will have a full house.

[The Panther]

I would prefer not using randomized themes, for I intend to pick a theme I have never played after being assigned a race.

As for the clams, 4W1S is good. At least that means you might build a couple of them as the cost is not totally prohibitive.

[quantum_mechani]

hmm, I may want to join. Is it all Zen mods or only pretenders?

[TheBirthdayParty]

Random nations, not randomized themes, and no water nations...er, that's what i vote for.

[The_Tauren13]

I vote random nations, random themes, and 1 water nation would be ok as long as we dont have both.

[Alneyan]

Quantum Mechani => We currently only use the Pretenders mod, but I have no objection against the Spells and Scales mods.

Two votes for random themes, two votes against; two votes against water nations, one vote for them. Anybody would like an increase in price of the Soul Contracts? If so, by how much?

[Oversway]

Anybody would like an increase in price of the Soul Contracts?



We are playing very hard research on a small map. Will there really be enough time to really get a huge amount of soul contracts (or vampire lords or whatever) going? But I won't object if everyone else wants to bump the price.

[Blofeld]

We had a NAP, Alneyan. Only you withdrew from it. He who sows the wind ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I'm against random themes, wouldn't like to be forced to play i.e. Ashen Empire or vanilla Ulm
Yea for random nations, of course
I've no opinion on water races

[Azhur]

If there is still a place available, I'd like to join in. Oh and do I have to download those mods from somewhere or will they be automatically uploaded by the server?

[Alneyan]

On Soul Contracts => They require little research to use (Construction 2 or Construction 4; let's say Construction 4 for the Hammers), so they would not be too difficult to get. On the other hand, blood nations will likely be more interesting in summoning the uniques. On yet another hand (I am a Nataraja, didn't you know?), Soul Contracts would seem to qualify as hoarding items, and so should be weakened as well. Perhaps Death 3 or even Death 4 would be in good order?

Blofeld, you were the one who broke our NAP. See, my Astrologers cast themselves in the future, and had visions of Arcoscephale slaughter by your hordes. You therefore broke the spirit of the NAP (by wishing to destroy Arcoscephale), and we had to defend ourselves against your incoming invasion. Any claim that our breaking the NAP triggered your attack will be dismissed as being treacherous and anti-patriotic.

It looks like we are heading for "no random themes". There remains one question I forgot to ask however: do you want scores on, off, or something in between? For example, I could send the score file every three turns, and/or send the score files with a delay of a few turns (so you would get the scores for turn 2 on turn 5). Since I am playing in this game, I cannot make this information more vague however.

[The Panther]

Water nations - No, if we are doing Inland. The four water provinces is not really enough to recruit your national mages and national troops as much as you may want in the mid-game. Don't forget that you can't recruit ambiphious troops in a land castle, other than that special weak infantry guy from R'lyeh shore provinces. I have never seen a water race do anything decent on the map Inland.

Soul Contracts - They are fine as is. With the horror mark they give, it can be problematic making them work well as there is a chance every turn that you may lose it. Also, on a fast map like Inland, you would be far better off getting the devils now instead of later. By the time the soul contracts begin to work for you, you may have already lost your capitol.

Zens Mods - Yes for pretenders. It might be best to avoid the spell mods since we have some newbies signed up for the game, though I don't really care either way.


I am kind of hoping I get Caelum so I can check out the Return of the Raptors theme! hehe

Panther

[The Panther]

I am in favor of graphs off with NO information provided other than what your own scouts report.

[Alneyan]

Welcome aboard Azhur! There is still one spot available, so you are in. We now have a full house, though Quantum Mechanic may join in if he wishes (we will be eleven if he joins, a nice figure).

You will have to download at least one mod (Zen Pretenders), and any other Zen mod we use. I will give a bit more information on that mod as soon as I am done updating the first post in the thread. Another mod will be sent in a mail (the home-brewn one for hoarding items). All the mods should be enabled while creating your Pretender: it is necessary while using a mod altering the Pretenders, and *may* be needed for the other mods (it will not hurt at any rate).

[Oversway]

I'd vote for Zen's spell mod, but like most of the options I don't feel that strongly about it.

Score graphs off sounds good. I'd say the element of the unknown makes the game more exciting.

Alneyan, should I PM (or otherwise send to you) my email? Also, you mention three email addresses in the first post but I only see the "message received one". Apologies in advance if I missed the other two.

One last thing. Random nations could very well mean a lot of us get nations we are not very familiar with. Which is great, but hopefully there will be a little extra time to test a pretender build before we start the game?

[Alneyan]

Well, it indeed looks like I forgot to put my mail addresses. They are alneyan[AT]fastmail[DOT]co.uk and alneyan[AT]dom2minions[DOT].com (replacing [AT] and [DOT] by @ and .) Please send a mail at either of these addresses, or drop me a PM to give me your own mail.

The dice will be cast soon, as all players are in. You will have at least a few days before the game starts, as there are still some settings to agree on, and the "uploading Pretenders" phase.

[quantum_mechani]

Alneyan said:
Welcome aboard Azhur! There is still one spot available, so you are in. We now have a full house, though Quantum Mechanic may join in if he wishes (we will be eleven if he joins, a nice figure).




Yes, I will join. I figure this is a way to finally make use of the fact that I never stick to one nation in MP... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I would vote for graphs on and mods on.

[Turms]

Hello,

I would prefer the following options

Random nations, theme can be chosen at will but must be announced.
No water nations for this map.

Increase the cost of all hoarding items/spells.
These are: clams, fetishes, sould contracts, vampires and
blood stones (just a little increase for stones)

I'd prefer to keep the mods otherwise at minimum.
Zen's pretender mod is however quite allright (doesn't change the feeling of the game).

Good luck with the dice to everyone!

Turms

[Alneyan]

Well, the die was cast, for the better or the worse. Here are the nations you will all have the pleasure to lead:

- Azhur: C'tis
- Blofeld: Vanheim
- Oversway: Man
- Panther: Ermor
- Quantum_Mechanic:Mictlan
- Rabelais: Jotunheim
- Steerpike: Abysia
- TheBirthdayParty: T'ien Ch'i
- The_Tauren: Ulm
- Turms: Machaka
- Alneyan: Arcoscephale

[The Panther]

Ah Ermor! Very nice indeed, for I have never played that race. Only once in SP with Ashen Empire doing a 1 on 1 on a tiny map, and never in MP.

Since we are announcing themes, I will state that I am going Broken Empire for the following reasons:
1. They say it is a very bad theme, and I want to see for myself. After all, my son is winning in the King of the Hill game using BE, so it can't be all that bad. Either that, or he is just good at the game.
2. I won't be spreading death and decay into my neighbors like typical for the undead. On a small map, people usually try to destroy Ermor early to avoid their lands getting trashed by the starting 10 dominion of SG or AE. But Ermor with a growth scale like my son is doing? Very funny indeed!
3. I have never once even looked at the theme, so it will be cool to try something totally different.

Anyway, I will need time to make a pretender and test out some things. Can I ask for 48 hours to do this?

[The_Tauren13]

Ah, excellent indeed. I have been wanting to try out black forest, but havent had the guts http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Steerpike]

Fantastic, I havn't played Abyssia before either, what luck!

[Alneyan]

Panther => A certain Broken Empire player has indeed been doing well in the Hill game, though victory is not yet his. It is the last step that appears to be the hardest, but we shall see if he manages to snatch the crown. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif On a side note, Broken Empire has peculiar mages: they have halved upkeep, but cannot be blessed, but it does not appear anywhere in their description. Your son pointed it out in a thread a few weeks ago, so that may be old news for you.

Feel free to use a couple of days before sending in your Pretenders; in the meantime, there are still a few settings waiting for a clear answer (such as the rankings).

I have already played Arcoscephale in multiplayer, and I have done surprisingly... Let's just say I was crushed both times (though I stepped in as a replacing player in one of the two games). Third time is the charm, or so they say: I hope there is some grain of truth to it. If not... Well, look at me going down in flames. Literally.

[TheBirthdayParty]

Could someone tell me which map we are going to use and if it needs to be downloaded? Thanks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[quantum_mechani]

TheBirthdayParty said:
Could someone tell me which map we are going to use and if it needs to be downloaded? Thanks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


Inland is the map suggested in the first post, and I believe it is a default map.

[Azhur]

Alneyan said:
Well, the die was cast, for the better or the worse. Here are the nations you will all have the pleasure to lead:

- Azhur: C'tis




Nice... the only nation, which I have never figured out. It seems to be strong in MP, but I just don't get it how. Seen all tricks and tips about it though... still an interesting nation to have.

[Blofeld]

Well, well.
Vanheim - a powerhorse, they say. We'll see.
Now just to take a look at Zen's mod...

[Oversway]

Feel free to use a couple of days before sending in your Pretenders; in the meantime, there are still a few settings waiting for a clear answer (such as the rankings).



Will we need the item mod before we can send in our pretender? Or will that not matter since the pretender will still be valid with or without that mod?

[Azhur]

Is there anyway to prevent the game from starting until Sunday? It happens to be, that I'll be going on a cruise and return home on Sunday morning.

Btw. So what mods do I require for making my pretender?

[The Panther]

Azhur said:

Alneyan said:
Well, the die was cast, for the better or the worse. Here are the nations you will all have the pleasure to lead:

- Azhur: C'tis




Nice... the only nation, which I have never figured out. It seems to be strong in MP, but I just don't get it how. Seen all tricks and tips about it though... still an interesting nation to have.



One of the great things about the lizards is that all three themes are excellent and near equal to each other (though highly different). This is maybe the only nation that this can be said about it.

[The Panther]

As for the pretenders, you MUST downlaod and instll the mods. If you use a pretender with insufficient points due to the mod, it will replace it with an arch mage with zero magic skills. Not a good thing at all.

The mod link is in the first post on this thread. Make sure it is enabled when creating your pretender.

[Oversway]

Right, I have zens pretender balance mod installed. But since the item - clam nerfing, etc. mod doesn't change pretender points, does it still have to be on when making the pretender?

[Alneyan]

You do not need the item mods enabled when creating your Pretender. You must have the Pretenders mod enabled however: otherwise, you will either spend too many points or not all your points, and may trigger the cheat detection.

Waiting until Sunday is fine with me: I was planning on starting the game on Sunday or Monday.

[Oversway]

I'm assuming we are using 2.15, right?

[Alneyan]

2.15 it will be; if another patch comes out during the course of the game, it will be put to the ballot.

The final points that were being discussed will be as follow:
- Themes will be announced publicly, either on this thread or when submitting Pretenders.
- Scores are off; if nobody objects to it, I will give the relative size of all the turn files. This can be an indicator of the degree of activity of all the nations, but tells nothing more (and it is information I will see as I am the host).
- Zen Pretenders mod will be enabled, and Clams, Fetishes and Bloodstones will be made more expensive. Contracts and Vampires will stay the same.

Feel free to start sending in your Pretenders; I am aiming at getting the game started on next Monday. My addresses can be found in the earliest post of the thread.

[Oversway]

I'm going to try my hand at Last of Tuathas

[TheBirthdayParty]

Where can I download the clam/fetish/blood stone mod?

[Alneyan]

The hoarding mod will be sent along with the first turn.

I will play standard Arcoscephale myself (no surprise here), and my Pretender will *not* be a Moloch Fire-9.

[Steerpike]

I have sent my pretender Alneyan.
Straight Abyssia for me, definately no Vamp Queen(may live to regret this).

[Blofeld]

Standard Vanheim for me.
It seems you can either have Vans everywhere *or* decent magicians.
Too bad...

[quantum_mechani]

Blofeld said:
Standard Vanheim for me.
It seems you can either have Vans everywhere *or* decent magicians.
Too bad...


Helhiem can recruit as many vans as base. and it is good thing Vanhiem is not any better...

[TheBirthdayParty]

From the 22nd to the 1st I am unsure as to how fast i'll be able to respond to turns. I am going to visit my parents in Florida(USA), my dad's having surgery. They have a comp there and I'll bring dom II down with me, just not exactly sure how prompt i'll be in responding to sent turns. Alneyan this goes for the PBEM game we are currently playing. I hope this isn't a problem :/.

[Alneyan]

It isn't a problem if you can play a turn every two days; otherwise, you should try to find a replacing player for this game, and I can do your turns in your stead in Entwined Destiny.

[rabelais]

Just for Clarity... Graphs are off and Soul contracts are their default 5B? (5=80?)

richness is normal, site freq=40 etc.


Also does anyone know if pretenders are immune to fatigue effects in their chosen temp?

(e.g. Red dragon will or wont be hampered by Jotun cold?)

Thanks for all replies,

Rabe (In love with Zen's pretender Mod, what an upgrade!)

[Alneyan]

Graphs are off, Soul Contracts require Blood 5 and need 80 Blood Slaves, richness is normal, site frequence is 40%.

I believe Pretenders are not immune to temperature effects, even in their Dominions: my Blue Dragon seems to suffer from the harsh climate of Machaka (I picked Heat 3 if memory serves).

[Alneyan]

The Pretenders for Vanheim, Man, Abysia and Machaka have been received.

[Azhur]

Alneyan said:
Graphs are off, Soul Contracts require Blood 5 and need 80 Blood Slaves, richness is normal, site frequence is 40%.

I believe Pretenders are not immune to temperature effects, even in their Dominions: my Blue Dragon seems to suffer from the harsh climate of Machaka (I picked Heat 3 if memory serves).



Finished my pretender planning. So should I send my dominion info to your e-mail address or..?

[Alneyan]

Please send your ctis.2h file (in the newlords directory) to my mail addresses, and let me know which theme you picked.

[Alneyan]

I am currently missing the theme for C'tis, and the Pretender file (and the theme) for T'ien Ch'i.

[Azhur]

Bad news.. time is running out nowadays, so I have to forfeit from this game. Well anyway have a good and joyous game!

[Alneyan]

I will remove you from the game then Azhur.

Once I receive T'ien Ch'i Pretender (BirthdayParty), the game will start.

[Alneyan]

TheBirthdayParty asked to be removed from the game, so we are down to nine players (we started with eleven players). 9 and 11, that should bring us good fortune.

I have sent the first turn to everyone, and the mod shortly after. Please let me know if there is any problem.

[GriffinOfBuerrig]

If you need someone who takes a seat of another player: dzbabi[att]web.de

^^

I am addicted...

[rabelais]

just making sure the turn hasnt come for anyone yet... my mail has been blinky of late... hate to be holding everyone up.

I'll sell vacant virgins for cash, if anyone wants any... my labs keep destroying themselves. (Clumsy Giants?)

Rabe

[Turms]

I guess Alneyan is just busy as I haven't received anything either.

Turms

[Oversway]

Yeah, since we havn't gotten a status mail I think you are right, Alneyan is busy. Hopefully nothing serious.

We are waiting on turn 15, right?

[Alneyan]

My DSL died on me. The turn has just run, and will reach you in a couple of minutes.

[Alneyan]

Out of idle curiosity, how everyone has been doing? All is quiet for Arcoscephale, though my Astrologers spend too much time looking up at the skies (I wonder why). Otherwise, it looks like I have decided to be a peaceful fellow this time around; while I love fighting to the bitter end, being crushed game after game could grow into a routine.

Looking forward to another 60 turns of peace or so (the wonders of wishful thinking). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[The Panther]

In an interesting turn of events, my neighbors (all of whom seem to have taken a heavy death scale) are keeping their dominion down in the hopes of having my dominion (with a strong growth scale) spread into their territories. Who would have thought people would actively seek an Ermor dominion spreading into their territories? Broken Empire may not be as strong as the two undead themes, but it is a heck of a lot of fun to play and FAR less heavy on the micro management.

I have had:
1. A few skirmishes with other false pretenders here and there.
2. Fought a bunch of random battles all over the place.
3. Found and hung some sneaking spies.
4. Killed a group of 5 powerful heroes that used the cheating "Attack Commander" script (you would not have believed the arrow that travelled the length of the entire battlefield and hit square on my Thamaturg, killing him instantly).
5. Lost a huge bunch of souless (who didn't even notice they died since they were already dead) to some starving Mictlan slaves (who are now mostly dead themselves and were then animated from the corpses as souless and conscripted back into the Ermor army).

I am currently at peace (mostly) with my all neighbors. I have already made 4 NAPs, broken 3 of them, and formed back 2 of those broken ones!

I have also had an alliance (sort of) with a neighbor I don't even border and am currently trading with another I have yet to even see!

Ain't this just a whole boatload of fun??????

[Alneyan]

The problem has disappeared on its own, after threatening my computer with a marvellous axe known as "The Summit". Turns should reach you in a couple of minutes.

[Oversway]

Welcome Griffin! Thanks for stepping in. I had a non agression pact with 3 turn warning with the original player, if you wish to keep it. I suspect you will, but if not, just let me know http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Steerpike]

Welcome Griffin, Im afraid Im ratther committed in my little foray into your homelands. My troops are getting lost in Giantess bosoms and are rather reluctant to go home.

On the positive side I havnt actually done too much damage so you should have a few troops to repulse my amorous abyssian advances! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Oversway]

Alneyan - I sent you my turn from another account this time around.

[The_Tauren13]

Wow! I am really enjoying this game. It is by far the funnest game I have ever played.
I really think it has a lot to do with the map. Diplomacy has been rather insane for me, due to the wide-open wraparound nature of Inland.
I wish there were more maps like this, and more people interested in playing them.

Anyway, heres hoping nothing goes wrong and nobody drops out or anything like that.

[quantum_mechani]

Heh, tell me about crazy diplomacy, I keep thinking I'm dead, but then the alliances shift...

Still, the constant wars have destroyed my research, so I don't have much long term hope. I am thinking the inflated turn file size from tribal kings collecting slaves is what doomed me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Oversway]

Looks like I'm nearly done in. Van has overrun me, and Mictlan has taken the opportunity to dish out some (admittedly deserved) revenge. Ulm is grabbing a few scraps too. Not that I ever had many provinces.

All the other nations out there - I'd take heed of Van. That is quite an army he is field. I bet he goes after Mictlan or Jotun next, maybe even Abysia.

[The_Tauren13]

Did someone just recieve a ****load of gems from me (Ulm) last turn? Appearantly I sent them to the wrong [censored] player. I really hate this god damned message system. Is whoever got them really really nice? And wants to send them back?

[Blofeld]

Oversway said:
Looks like I'm nearly done in. Van has overrun me, and Mictlan has taken the opportunity to dish out some (admittedly deserved) revenge. Ulm is grabbing a few scraps too. Not that I ever had many provinces.

All the other nations out there - I'd take heed of Van. That is quite an army he is field. I bet he goes after Mictlan or Jotun next, maybe even Abysia.



Nice try for a vengeance from behind the grave http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif
As we've had only 1 battle so far (besides raiding parties), I believe the bulk of your army was defeated by Mictlan.

PS

I didn't get Ulm's gems, but I wonder who they were sending them to... And would they please get that that spy out of my land before I send his head back on a plate?

[Oversway]

We're about to have another big battle, I suspect.

I havn't bothered to fight you anywhere else because I'd just be throwing my troops away against your thirty plus fire9 blessed vans.

[The_Tauren13]

Hmm.. so appearantly the sneaky Panther LIED to me in an attempt to gain twice the gems... the last time I do buisiness with a cat...

[The Panther]

Yeah, I have to apologize to Ulm. Apparently he sent the 50 gems the turn BEFORE I thought the deal was made. I guess I owe him interest instead of the other way around. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif

I already spent the gems, but they were well spent to repulse the Machaka storming of my capitol the following turn!

[The Panther]

Oh, and one other thing.

Last night, Tauren graduated from Highland High School in Albuquerque as Valedictorian. He refused to make a speech because the establishment would not let him do a humorous one. He was supposed to be serious and say things like how great was the time spent in school (or some such nonsense). Get real!!!

I am still wondering how he had the time to make all 'A's in high school and still play Dominions as well as he does!

Congratulations Tauren!

[Jurri]

Whoa, congrats, Spawn! No mean feat, that.

[Oversway]

Yeah, very impressive!

[Alneyan]

Well done player one. Please proceed to the next level.

[Alneyan]

There is now an opening in the game: Quantum Mechani, for Mictlan, would rather hand his nation over to another player. I do not know how well Mictlan is doing, but I gather they are in a fairly average situation, at the very least.

If you are interested, please let me know, and I will forward the turn file to you.

[PashaDawg]

They wouldn't let The Spawn make a humorous speech? There ought to be a law! Let's sue the bastards.

[CyborgMoses]

I would be interested in taking over, but it should be noted that I've never played Mictlan in multiplayer.

[Alneyan]

Welcome aboard! The nations were fully random, so not having played the nation should not be too bad. They still do not seem to be involved in a major war, so you should be able to sit on a fence for a while.

The relevant files will be sent soon.

[Oversway]

I don't have much left but I'm trying to distribute pain equally between van and mictlan. Also, I've killed mictlans god three times in this game. I'm not sure how well their research is, I think maybe not too good. Otherwise from what I can tell mictlan is in ok shape. Not poised to win the game but playable.

[The Panther]

Panther as Ermor

I think Mictlan spent too much effort reanimating slaves (because of getting invaded early) when he would have prefered to concentrate on blood research and blood summons. He is not sacrificing very many blood slaves because he wanted my good scales to cancel out his horrid scales. Hard to believe that people want Ermor scales to spread into their territories, but that's Broken Empire for you!

I am currently at peace with Mictlan which includes a 2 turn NaP. We fought an early war in which he was in deep trouble for a while, so he sued for peace. He offered me enough that I just had to take it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Mictlan was at war with Machaka, but I think he no longer is. Machaka is hurting badly right now anyway and might be eliminated within the next 10 turns or so.

[Steerpike]

Panther I believe your good scales dont effect other players, only your bad ones.
Not 100% on that.

[The Panther]

Yes, that is true. But my growth scale prevents his death 3 scale from taking effect in his own territories.

[CyborgMoses]

Death 3, on a living nation? What the heck?

PS: Is profanity approved of here?

PPS: What am I supposed to do for the custom hoarding mod? There was not a file in the mail Alneyan sent me.

[Alneyan]

I have resent the files; the other solution was to rebuild the .txt files yourself. Some mail programs have this annoying habit of putting any text file or picture in the body of the mail, and not as an attachment. Got to hate that.

Death 3 is actually fairly common for living nations: the impact of it is fairly reduced, though it grows more and more annoying as the game goes on. It is the deadliest of the "lesser" scales (sloth and misfortune) however, and should be avoided if possible. The problem is having Death on a blood hunting nation using patrollers; I am not sure if that is such a good idea. Still, you should do fine by keeping your Dominion low where you have a border with Ermor, and let their Growth scale take over your provinces.

[Turms]

Seems I am quite lost. Ermor defeated my big army and Arcoscephale used the opportunity to invade. I guess I will keep playing just to see what happens.

A final message to Ulm and other neighbours that I have a non-aggression pact with. If you want to help yourself with my former territories, go ahead and take what you can.

This was a nice game. I had a good number of hoplites because my territories were rich with resources. My real problem was that I had very bad luck with money. I was all the time short of cash and couldn't really hire anything but sages and hoplites. Good thing I had at least those.

Turms

[Alneyan]

All provinces north of 115 (in other words the current theater of operation of the reconnaissance forces deployed by Arcoscephale) are under direct military control of Arcoscephale, regardless of current ownership of the province. Any attack on those provinces will be treated as a declaration of war, voiding any and all standing treaties between Arcoscephale and the offending nation.

Note, however, that it does not mean Arcoscephale claims those provinces as her own: it solely means we will not tolerate any interference with our plans. Once the current skirmishes are over, we will set definitive boundaries, and neighbouring nations not involved in the war should then express their wishes.

All we require is the swift resolution of the conflict; everything else is immaterial.

The Strategon Council of Arcoscephale.

[CyborgMoses]

Hahaha, this is supposed to be "a fairly average situation, at the very least"? Oh, man. Well, I'll hold on like a badger, even if I won't be doing any expanding. I do wish that I had some population though.

[Oversway]

That last turn was quite entertaining! I never realized how fun it can be to go down fighting http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Especially when you have 3 nations attacking you.

[CyborgMoses]

I'm afraid that I had to suicide some commanders to try to get my cashflow problem under control; please don't be alarmed if you get attacked by two confused guys who aren't sure just why they are where they are. Those Duke boys are mostly harmless as long as there aren't any ramps around.

[Turms]

Hello. I think I am going AI this turn if nobody objects.

I made the last mistake and got my pretender and bane lords killed because they had nowhere to retreat. I have only my capital and one empty castle left.

Thanks everybody, interesting game! Special thanks to Alneyan for hosting!

Turms - Machaka

[The Panther]

I did watch that battle where you lost your God. Because you had only commanders, they retreated when the priest died. Without the priest along (or if he had lighting protection), you likely would have beaten the Virtue due to his Ritual of Returning.

Thanks for the game, Turms. It was a fun war against you for sure. I thought I was toast when you invaded me with that powerful army and stormed my capitol. But I managed to research Nether Darts just in the nick of time to save my sorry a$$!

I also saw that you had submitted orders to break the seige of your capitol before going AI. The AI loyally obeyed your orders and slaughtered a whole bunch of my incoming undead troops. But I did win that battle, ordered my surviving armies to storm your fort, and should have captured your capitol on the current turn.

Thanks for playing!

[Turms]

Yes - I knew the rules of retreating but did not think clearly.

It seems that when you submit an order of going AI the computer actually overrides your orders. I did not order the troops to break siege.

Good luck all,

Turms

[Alneyan]

Indeed; all your orders have been overriden, and the AI decided to do something... knowing the AI, something means going berserk. They tried to snatch a couple of my provinces with your stealthy commanders, among other things. You've got to love the AI! They won't die behind their walls, oh no: they will boldly meet you in the field.

[The Panther]

Now that Machaka has been officially eliminated, I would like to ask Turms to sub for me in this game while I am on vacation in France. I leave June 17 and return June 28. I would even be amenable to have him take over permanently and I will just watch from the sidelines after I return home.

I hate to go AI because I am doing pretty decent so far and the comp would really mess things up. While I am not leading in anything other than forts, I am definitely holding my own with Broken Empire. I have to admit that I really like that theme, for it does not have the severe micro-management troop-shuffling problem inherent in the SG/AE themes. Also, having cheap mages who can all cast Nether Bolt & Nether Darts is quite powerful. People are hesitant to attack with SCs because of the Feeble Minded problem. The cheap mages can even do a mass mind duel when needed to kill an Astral commander! And with a couple of artifacts, they can do the more powerful Astral or Death spells. Plus the better mages all can do many good astral/death spells. The random school on those mages is especially sweet.

Broken Empire is certainly not as bad as people seem to think.

[Alneyan]

On my end, the current plan is to hand Arcoscephale to Jurri, and the hosting to Oversway (assuming Man does not become a major power by then).

[Oversway]

Vanheim is doing quite well to seeing that I don't become a major power http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Actually, I'm suprised I lasted longer than Machaka. I'll probably be next out unless maybe Abysia? The tables turned and Jotun seems to be eating him up...I didn't quite see how that happened.

[The Panther]

Let's see, in my opinion we currently have:

1. The Big Three of Vanheim, Ulm, and Arcoscephale
2. The Mid Three of Ermor, Mictlan, and Jontunheim
3. The Bottom Three of Abysia, Man, and Machaka.

I too was amazed when Jontun completely turned the tables on Abysia. It seems that somewhere during the player substitution thing, the giants declared peace with all his neighbors and concentrated solely on the devils. I was very surprised he had enough left to actually do something!

[Alneyan]

Well, except that Machaka has been finished off by now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif As for Jotunheim, I did notice that they still had a lot of blood slaves (among other things) in their coffers, and that was why I reckoned them as still being able to put up a fight.

I guess the lesson is: don't surrender when you still have something like... 130 blood slaves perhaps, items in the lab, and miscellaneous gems here and there.

Arcoscephale considers declaring war on Ermor because of their offending rankings: they have put the Beloved Arcoscephale behind Vanheim and Ulm, contrary to alphabetical ordering and common sense (everybody knows Arcoscephale has the power to take over the whole world in two turns, but we are swell folks and so we don't fight wars. Really!).

[The_Tauren13]

Im really not that big. Just a couple devils and wolves lying around, preying on the weak and crippled...

Abysia's sudden ruin was, I am sorry to admit, my fault alone. For that I am truly sorry.

[The Panther]

Alneyan said:
Arcoscephale considers declaring war on Ermor because of their offending rankings: they have put the Beloved Arcoscephale behind Vanheim and Ulm, contrary to alphabetical ordering and common sense (everybody knows Arcoscephale has the power to take over the whole world in two turns, but we are swell folks and so we don't fight wars. Really!).



Well, my listing was not necessarily in any order within the groupings, except for the fact that Machaka was clearly last (being first eliminated and all). I am certainly not sure that I am at the top of the middle three. I don't have enough information to rank that accurately and was just trying for the tried and true method of estimating rankings by High-Medium-Low. I do think Vanheim is on top, however, though I could be wrong. I also think there is a much greater difference between the Med-Low boundary than there is between the Med-High one.

As for coming in last, I did that in my first attempt with Atlantis (9 players on Karan, I think). My second attempt at Atlantis was much improved (second of 17 on Faerun). And my first attempt at T'ien Ch'i (Slugfest) is going to be a last unless my son or Boron beats me to it!

[Steerpike]

Yes Abyssia is almost done.
It wasnt your fault at all Tauren, my mind has been firmly fixed on Essays and life, Dominions has taken a rather shabby back seat.
I rolled the dice in attacking Abyssia thinking that with two of us it would be a fruitful enterprise.
My pretender losing both his eyes in the 10th turn and my slowness in getting a blood economy up and running also didnt help.
You live and learn and if we play again I wont be so trusting.
When your weak play strong, strong play weak. I think it was Sun Tzu

[CyborgMoses]

My apologies, folks, but it looks like I am not going to be able to be online for a while. Would anyone be interested in taking over Mictlan?

[Alneyan]

Don't worry, I'm pretty sure your neighbours will be very haping with taking over your provinces and...

Ah, you didn't mean that sort of takeover. Well, if someone is interested in a Mictlanese nation, either permanently or temporarily, speak up.

[PashaDawg]

So, I think I am now in control of the GREAT EMPIRE OF DEATH!!!!! Beware!

[Alneyan]

Great Empire of death? You do know you are actually the most living Empire of the lot? Everyone else seems to be in Death 3, and some of us have provinces as widely populated as your standard AE Ermor (one of my border provinces with Mictlan has exactly 50 inhabitants).

How ironic: now it's the half undead that have their scale of Growth, and the living slowly dies off. Burn the undead!

[PashaDawg]

Call me crazy, but is this game on a server or by email? Can the turn wait until tonight?

[PashaDawg]

(I just realized that I need to start paying attention to the stuff that Panther asked me to do.)

[Alneyan]

*Points at the PBEM part of the topic* I hate TCP/IP with a passion, so if I am in, chances are it is PBEM. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif (And if I host it, it *is* PBEM)

Panther has played the current turn, so you don't have to play it yourself. Otherwise, it's one turn every two days, with turns running at 1900 GMT, so you would still have plenty of time (we almost always use the full 48 hours these days, or 40 of them at the very least).

If, for one reason or another, you cannot play the turn in time but warn me, I will extend the deadline by 24 hours automatically; further delays are usually left to the approval of the other players, or to how I feel, or to the gravity of the situation (there is quite a difference between "I'm not playing because I love to make all the other players mad at me" and RL issues).

[PDF]

Hi all,
Is there a slot open here for a replacement, as the title seems to indicate ? I've tried figuring that out of the babble filling the thread but ain't positive on any answer ... If yes I'd be interested http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Alneyan]

I will forward the relevant file to you, but be warned your situation isn't exactly the best in the world (in particular, the economy is... well...).

[PDF]

Ah, thanks Alneyan !
I'd be happy to get a crap-poor nation to play http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif !

It'll be a nice change, I can't understand why in all my pbem I outperform everyone in the early expansion game, just to end up not knowing what to do next :p ...

[Jurri]

Hello all! I'll be subbing for Alneyan until he returns. I'll respect the NAPs that are in place and assume you will too.

[Alneyan]

*Whipsers to everyone, Jurri excluded* Be sure to attack Arcoscephale, so that I will have a very good reason to yell at Jurri, to throw miscellaneous items at him, and to flay him alive. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

*Whistles, and leaves the thread on tiptoe*

[Jurri]

Hey, that would be so awesome! I'd love nothing better than to ruin everything Alneyan has spent months to build and to foul everything he finds beautiful http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

The flaying might be fun too...

[PDF]

Hi again, I'm now the Big Blind Head of Mictlan http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif !
It's fun to get a nation by turn 60 that has a smaller income than turn 1, but at least I have some major demons to ensure all goes well http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
I've been said to have a NAP with Arco, but noone told me with whom I'm at war with ?

[Oversway]

You were at war with me (Man) but there isn't much left of me to fight. I'll be dead soon which is probably for the best -- that way I can be an impartial guest host.

[PDF]

Oh, sorry Oversway http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
How did I manage to beat you ? Slave-wave strategy (as they seem to be my only army, luckily they cost no upkeep...) ?

[Jurri]

Just take your pick! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Alneyan]

PDF: Slaves do cost upkeep, according to Zen's fact sheet. Granted, they don't cost *much*, but they still cost upkeep... or are supposed to. I have never really played Mictlan though, so I don't know if they really cost any upkeep.

[Oversway]

How did I manage to beat you ?



You see Vans army parked on top of my capital? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[PDF]

Alneyan said:
PDF: Slaves do cost upkeep, according to Zen's fact sheet. Granted, they don't cost *much*, but they still cost upkeep... or are supposed to. I have never really played Mictlan though, so I don't know if they really cost any upkeep.




Arrrgl, I have zillions of slaves !! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Announcement to other Nations : some hundreds slaves from Mictlan will be freed over the next turns. They will have to leave our nation though, so please warn your Prov Defense Commanders not to attack them, and accept them as new inhabitants http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Oversway : you can see glamourous Vans ? I can't http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif ...

[Alneyan]

I am now away until July 9, and hosting should be in the hands of Oversway.

[Oversway]

I've got the files now so hopefully we will be good to go.

[Steerpike]

Abyssia is down.
Thanks for the game guys http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Good luck

[Alneyan]

Back online, stuff is not yet unpacked; please let me know if something needs to be done *now*.

[GriffinOfBuerrig]

Huhu Alneyan, welcome back :-)

[Oversway]

Nope, nothing urgent. Vanheim went on vacation this week and will be back sunday, so we've postponed the turn until then. I can send you the files I have now or wait and host the turn this weekend, doesn't matter to me.

[The_Tauren13]

It seems the evil Griffin of Jotunheim has ruthlessly invaded and occupied one of my provinces in blatant disregard of our Non-Agression Pact. I hereby declare to all that he can NOT be trusted, and his nation must therefore burnt to the ground around his decietful feet.

[GriffinOfBuerrig]

So it shall be.

[PDF]

Hi guys,
As I've said to the host(s), Mictlan gives up, Ermor was slaughtering me and I had no chance to even put up a good fight... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif The host can give it to AI for the next few turns before Mictlan disappear.
I just passed, hope to see you soon again (with me in better shape);) !

[The Panther]

Well, you inherited the nation, so it was not your own doing!

Good playing and I hope we meet again in battle on a more even field.

[PDF]

Panther,
Too bad you didn't let me some more turns to equip my devils, I had a full ID flush and a couple Archdevils ... But Mictlan only had Blood at a decent level, and I wasn't even able to buff them properly !

[The_Tauren13]

Well, well, well...
treachery apparently doesnt pay off

now my turn to die...

[The Panther]

GriffinOfBuerrig said:
So it shall be.



And so it was.

I, for one, don't like folks who are not honorable to whatever pacts they make, regardless of with whom they are made. I did give Griffin the full 2 turns notice per our agreement before invading him.

Good game, Griffin. You did fairly well with the mess you inherited! Your elimination of Abysia was nothing short of amazing to me.

[GriffinOfBuerrig]

Thank you, and thank you all for that game.

I am glad to have tested Jotunheim in a late/mid game and can say: i don´t like Blood Magix in MP http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Alneyan]

ALneyan here, not on my computer, so I'll keep it short (that thing will crash any second now): I cannot host anything right now, and won't get back online until tonight at the earliest, in a few days more likely. I'll see once I can get that network up and running.

[Oversway]

Sorry to hear you are having computer problems!

[The Panther]

I too am having computer problems. When I moved my desktop computer into my new house yesterday, it now does not work any more!

Ugh...

[The Panther]

Hey, I am finally online at home after extensive effort last night. However, I could not do a Blade turn because I do not have the special anti-hoarding mod that we used in this game. I aslo could not find it in this thread, though it has to be in here somewhere I think.

If someone would attach the hoarding mod to this thread (or email it to me), I will install it this evening after work and finally get my turn done.

[Oversway]

attached to this post

[The Panther]

Thanks oversway.

I just finished my turn, but have nowhere to mail it with Alneyan's computer all sick. I sent it him anyway in the hopes that it suddenly starts working (yeah, I am an eternal optomist)

I guess we should wait for Alneyan to get his email fixed so he can play in the game too, being the leading nation and all.