MP Game. CB Mod. Random Nations.

[Graeme Dice]

Having not played a MP game in months, I'd like to get one one more in before Dom3 is released. For this game, I'd like to randomly distribute each of the nations to the potential players. We will be using the latest version of the Conceptual Balance mod, and there are no house rules. We will be playing on a map with no more than 15 provinces per player. Turns will

The game conditions will be:
Map: 10-15 provinces per player.
Magic Sites: 50%
Independents: 6
Renaming on
Standard Research
No house rules
48 hr quickhost
The winning condition will be to control a number of victory points equal to the number of players. Each capital will count as a victory point. There will be a number of other victory points spread around the map. The amount of these victory points that are spread around the map will be one less than the total number of players.

Current players:
Graeme
Peacekeeper
WraithLord
Turms
Folket
OG_Gleep
Cainehill

The server is up at:
ip:68.148.13.231
port:10101

[Cainehill]

Random nations, but not anonymous? Might be fun.

[Graeme Dice]

Cainehill said:
Random nations, but not anonymous? Might be fun.



The problem with fully anonymous play is that somebody has to know who is playing what race, so unless we can get a third party that's not playing to make the selection, it won't work.

Of course, I also happen to like the diplomacy, and the in-game communication system doesn't work particularly well.

[Peacekeeper]

sign me up.

[WraithLord]

48h quickhost.
Random nations.

Sign me up http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Turms]

Very nice settings. It's half a year since I last played any MP Dominions. I would like sign up. I just hope I don't get Machaka again (had it in the last 2 games).

Turms

[Folket]

I like it, sign me up.

[OG_Gleep]

I'll play. I need to learn new nations.

[Graeme Dice]

We now have seven potential players, which is just about the right number to get started.

[OG_Gleep]

I'm ready whenever.

[Graeme Dice]

I'll be starting this game Tuesday evening, with however many players have signed up by that point.

[Graeme Dice]

The players and their nations are:
Graeme: Ulm
Cainehill: Pythium
OG_Gleep: Pangaea
Peacekeeper: Ermor
Wraithlord: T'ien C'hi
Turms: Machaka
Folket: C'tis

I'll set the server up tonight.

[Cainehill]

Pythium? Whoot, ain't played them in like a year. Cool. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[RonD]

Turms said:
Very nice settings. It's half a year since I last played any MP Dominions. I would like sign up. I just hope I don't get Machaka again (had it in the last 2 games).

Turms




Graeme Dice said:
The players and their nations are:
Turms: Machaka



http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif
Let me know what lottery numbers you play - I will be sure to never, ever choose them.

[Graeme Dice]

Log in at 68.148.13.231 port:10101

Have any suggested maps that are between 70 and 105 provinces?

[Cainehill]

Eh - Cirlani, Aran, and Chandrea (versions between 94 and 103 provinces,), and Saephi is close (124).

Still somewhat of a dearth of maps in that range, sadly. My vote would be for one of the Chandreas, you'd probably want to edit slightly to remove existing VPs and, I think, mages.

[Cainehill]

Oh - when is the desired start time? Hopefully not for a couple days, given that we all have random nations to construct a pretender for.

[Graeme Dice]

I don't plan to start it till the weekend, unless everybody is ready before hand.

[OG_Gleep]

Awesome, always wanted to try Pangea.

[Turms]

RonD said:

Turms said:
Very nice settings. It's half a year since I last played any MP Dominions. I would like sign up. I just hope I don't get Machaka again (had it in the last 2 games).

Turms




Graeme Dice said:
The players and their nations are:
Turms: Machaka



http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif
Let me know what lottery numbers you play - I will be sure to never, ever choose them.



Damn, it just had to be Machaka.

Well I am am happy to play anyways http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[OG_Gleep]

Ok my excitment on Pangea has turned to fear after playing around with them for the last couple hours.

What is richness going to be set to?

[Graeme Dice]

Normal richness.

[Graeme Dice]

OG_Gleep said:
Ok my excitment on Pangea has turned to fear after playing around with them for the last couple hours.



Check how much sloth you can afford while using centaur warriors.

[OG_Gleep]

Sloth, death, and Turmoil are out if you plan to use anything other than satyrs with CB mod. Its not so big a deal in Vanilla, but it seems silly to spend all those points for Order, only to come out with a net gain of 3% per lvl. Both Production/Sloth and Growth/Death have a 4% impact on income while Order/Turmoil has a 7%.
Heat/Cold has almost as big of an impact as Order/Turmoil does. It would have to be luck (and I really like Luck) or Magic, which isn't appealing because of their low reasearch potential.

With regular richness its even more important to have no negatives towards your income.

[Cainehill]

Has a map been decided on? I'm still experimenting with pretenders. ( Britain is another map in the desired # of provinces, but has anyone _ever_ played on that map? The colors are horrible, since Dom2 you can't change province lines. )

[OG_Gleep]

I tried out Cirilani, and its pretty cool. If we go that route, I'd suggest lower indy strength. Some of the indies can be pretty brutal.

[castigated]

not sure how you guys feel about this, but if you assign me a nation, i will super-quick test it and upload right away....i've been out of town, but am back to stay now...

not sure if you already have it all preset, and if so, no worries, i understand, but i'd be down for another game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

either way, goodluck everyone!

[Cainehill]

OG_Gleep said:
I tried out Cirilani, and its pretty cool. If we go that route, I'd suggest lower indy strength. Some of the indies can be pretty brutal.



True, and Cirlani is one of those maps that you fairly often wind up with only two neighboring provinces - having knights in one and say, blood druids in the other can mess up your expansion. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Edit : Actually I'd vote against Cirlani for these number of players. Inevitably a player or two will get stuck on the narrow strip of land at the bottom, which kinda screws them compared to anyone starting in the northwest with lots of room to expand.

So - I'd suggest Chandrea (with out the wizards & armies, since everyone would have to redo pretenders) as first recommendation, or Saephi or the latest version of Zen's modded Aran map ( lots of provinces #nostarted, and population / richness made more balanced).

Oh! Actually, the Ringworld (http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom2/ringworld.zip) map might be perfect, and even interesting - a flat skinny wraparound map with 106 provinces, so _everyone_ is going to butt heads with 2 empires simultaneously. And there's even a small version (http://ulm.illwinter.com/dom2/smallring.zip) for people who don't have broadband.

[Peacekeeper]

I like to idea of ringworld, ive wanted to try that map since seeing it.

[OG_Gleep]

I just downloaded it. About to give it a whirl.

[Folket]

Let us get the game started. Seems like we can agre on ringworld.

[Graeme Dice]

Ringworld it is then. We're still waiting on Pythium, Pangaea and T'ien C'Hi.

[Cainehill]

Sorry - didn't realize IP and port had been given - might want to put that into the first post.

[WraithLord]

I will put my pretender in the next couple of hours.

[OG_Gleep]

Done and done.

[Graeme Dice]

Game is started. Take your turns everyone.

[OG_Gleep]

Ug...worst starting position ever. Guess Luck doesn't impact starting positions http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Cainehill]

Heh.

Incidentally, I'll point something out that might not be immediately obvious : the little mini-towers ( Spoke Stations ) that protrude from the top and bottom of the map aren't just graphical fluff the way the big towers, stars, novas, etc, are.

[Peacekeeper]

ya, they are actual provinces! what a surprise that was. too bad every single on is Wastes.

thanks og for pointing it out to me and caine for everyone else =)

[Cainehill]

LOL! Did OG start in one of the mini-towers??? I thought my position was bad, with only 3 neighbors, didn't see any that could be worse, but if the map-dude didn't #nostart the stations.... Guess there's room for some improvement on this map, albeit I think the concept is great.

[Peacekeeper]

no, he did nostart the mini-towers and any provinces adjacent to them. I have no idea where og started. In my games ive found you can start with as little as 2 adjacent provinces though, which can be a little hard on you.

[Cainehill]

Really? I scanned through a lot of the map looking for that, didn't notice any - did notice (and in the game, got) land provinces with only 3 land neighbors vice the usual 4 or 5, but 3 neighbors tends to be enough to be okay.

2 neighbor provinces ought to be nostarted though.

[Oversway]

You used ringworld?!? That map is cool but the terrain is very bad. Too many sections that are all wastes or plains. It is really easy to get a bad start.

[Turms]

Hello,

New turn is waiting. Actually has been for 12 hours, but the forum was broken last evening.

Good luck everyone!

Turms

[OG_Gleep]

Ooo I didn't know you could start with 2....Guess I'm not so bad after all.

Good luck all.

[Cainehill]

Turms said:
Hello,

New turn is waiting. Actually has been for 12 hours, but the forum was broken last evening.




Bah - more like the forums were broken for 48 hours, and Shrapnel couldn't be bothered to put anything on the front page of their main site.

[OG_Gleep]

bastages

[Peacekeeper]

sorry for the wait, the next turn has been hosted.

[OG_Gleep]

New turn is up

[OG_Gleep]

Anyone run into some VERY strong provinces?

[Turms]

Hello,

It seems I will be away for the weekend. Could we maybe delay hosting for a little bit? I will be back monday evening. I guess I will stale one turn otherwise, though that is still quite acceptable.

Turms

[Graeme Dice]

I'd rather not start delaying turns unless we absolutely have to.

[Turms]

Seems somebody made the decision to dealy hosting, thank you. I am back and made my turn, waiting for Ulm however....

Turms

[Graeme Dice]

The game has now hosted, and is back to its 48 hour schedule.

[OG_Gleep]

Is anything amiss with the server? I can't connect to it and gods eye is showing it as "unknown".

[Graeme Dice]

I took it down to perform some maintenance on the computer, but it should be up and running now.

[OG_Gleep]

Great. I'll get my turn in today and Mork is going to take over from there till I get back on Sunday/Monday.

[OG_Gleep]

Thanks for taking over mork.

To the leader of Citis - A scout took your province by mistake, I am withdrawing to return it to you.

[Morkilus]

Bad scout! I would punish him with a pack of Maenads if I was still subbing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[shovah]

lol, maenads can be nasty (more specifically 175 maenads and a polymorphing mage vrs bogus and his gang, pigs with longbows rock http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif)

[Graeme Dice]

I'm going to leave the game on quickhost only from now till Tuesday morning.

[OG_Gleep]

Thanks a lot PK!

[Peacekeeper]

This one actually wasnt me!

[Turms]

Not too much diplomacy in this game it seems. I don't care too much for diplomacy, so I am happy with that.

Now, announcement:
I offer a reward of 20 gems to anyone who dispels the Burden of time. The gems can be freely chosen from the following types: fire, astral, death, nature.

Good luck to you all,
Turms, playing Machaka

[Peacekeeper]

It shouldnt be THAT hard to dispel it.
-Mez of Ermor

[OG_Gleep]

Just Lump Pk's mage on the head.

[Peacekeeper]

hey, im getting 3v1ed here(ya dont need to say it, i was fully expecting it to happen this game), I gotta do something to even the odds a bit =)

[WraithLord]

I can dispel the BoT. But this will burn up my astral gems. I may do that if I am compensated http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Turms]

WraithLord said:
I can dispel the BoT. But this will burn up my astral gems. I may do that if I am compensated http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



Well, I already offered 20 gems. Is that not enough? No-one else wants to contribute?

Turms - Machaka

[Peacekeeper]

I certainly dont.

[Cainehill]

I'm empowering this turn (mute halved pretender's magic) and trying to dispel next turn. Turms - send 20 gems (to my Pythium) and I'll use 'em to dispel. Then I go AI as I'm about gone.

[Peacekeeper]

your gonna make me recast it? damnit =)

[Turms]

Peacekeeper said:
your gonna make me recast it? damnit =)



Let's hope so http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Will send you some gems Cainehill.

Turms

[Cainehill]

Peacekeeper said:
your gonna make me recast it? damnit =)



I won't "make" you recast it - but as you were the first nation to assault the peaceful priest mages of Pythium, I shall certainly strive to ensure that your first casting shall not remain to taint the earth at the moment of my passing to Nirvana.

My name is .... Legion

[WraithLord]

Server is down.

[Graeme Dice]

I'll bring the server back up as soon as I get home. I've been preoccuppied with my MSc. defense today, so I haven't bene paying attention to the server.

[Graeme Dice]

One of the RAM sticks in the server died. It should be good now.

[Graeme Dice]

I thought I fixed it, but looks like it's still crashing randomly. I'll see about getting a temporary server to replace it. I should have it working by tomorrow hopefully.

[Graeme Dice]

I'm hoping that the server will stay up this time.

[Peacekeeper]

Im offering 30 astral gems to anyone who dispels Machakas Eternal Pyre. Any takers?

[Graeme Dice]

If the computer stays up after I turn the server back on this evening, then we should be good to go for a little while. If not, I'll put the server on my main PC, and work from there. It will be restarted much more often on that machine however. If any of you would like to take over the hosting, I could also arrange that.

[Turms]

Seems the server is down again.

- Turms

[Graeme Dice]

It should be running now.

[Graeme Dice]

There's only 10 hours to the next hosting, and Pangaea still needs to play his turn.

[Turms]

Hmm,

OG_Gleep has announced in another thread that he can't play and is seeking subs. No-one seems to have answered yet. I don't know, what we should do - either make him AI or wait till a sub is found?

Pangaea seems to be doing ok and making him AI would prob hurt some of his neighbours. However, this game has been stalling for a quite long time and I would bet that I am not the only one who is losing interest.

Turms - Machaka

[WraithLord]

Though I (TC) am sure to be hurt from turning Pan to AI, for the sake of getting this game moving again I say we do it.

[Shmonk]

I might be able to sub briefly. I have his password in case a sub came forward and needed it. Since no one has, I can play this turn, and maybe change to AI next turn.

[WraithLord]

Sound good.

[Turms]

I am happy to announce that we have a new turn!

Turms -Machaka

[WraithLord]

Hey there, has Pan been switched to AI?- Because we have had a NAP and all of a sudden Pan had attacked me last turn http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Shmonk]

Sorry, my "mistake", I've taken over Pan for a few turns (haven't heard from OG, and I've never played Pan before either so was giving it a whirl), but I should have turned it AI last turn. Because I didn't check for existing NAPs or alliances first, I just played like a "Human AI opponent", figuring everybody around me is fair game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Besides, with the size of his army (as evidenced by the graphs), he should be expanding more / needs to be expanding. And the AI will probably do just that.

But I will switch him to AI this evening like I said I was going to.

[WraithLord]

Ok, thanks Shmonk.

Oh and just a reminder, my offer is still on to dispel the burden of time.

[Turms]

You could of course just keep playing Shmonk, no? It must be pretty interesting to play with those gazillion maenads...

The last burden of time was dispelled by Cainehill, I provided some gems. I could help again if someone wants to try.

Turms - Machaka

[Shmonk]

I'll think about it... I'm already in 2 games and don't really have time for a third though. I'll let people know here in the next day when I change Pan to AI (or decide to keep playing it if no one cares).

[WraithLord]

If you decide to keep playing you should honor our 3 turn NAP.

[Shmonk]

Pan has gone AI.

[Graeme Dice]

I'll be putting the game on quickhost only till the long weekend is over.

[WraithLord]

I have failed to dispell the BoT http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Turms]

Quite an impressive battle between Machaka and Ulm last turn.

I will be away for one week from next tuesday. I have been trying to find a substitute from friends, but with no luck yet. If you know someone please give me a notice.

Turms - Machaka

P.S. Paralyze is a pretty strong spell http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Turms]

I am happy to announce that Cainehill will play Machaka for one week.

Seems we are still on quickhost. Could someone announce the next turn so that Cainhill knows when to take over?

Turms

[Graeme Dice]

Turms said:
P.S. Paralyze is a pretty strong spell http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



Just be glad it wasn't soul slay or enslave. I'll be out of the game after a turn or two, as Pangaea just occupied my capital.

[WraithLord]

It seems like Pangaea AI is bent on sending his hordes my way.
Up until now they were all decimated, but I don't know how longer I can keep up with this what with Ermor choking me from the other side.

Seems like for me as well the game won't last for long.

[Cainehill]

New turn is up (sorry for dragging it out, but trying to avoid having to take any major war turns before Turms gets back).

[WraithLord]

hehe, crushed between the AI and Ermor my time here draws to an end.

[Peacekeeper]

I dunno, the army you have opposing me is pretty fordimable too.

[WraithLord]

Thanks Peacekeeper. At least I won't go down easy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Turms]

Hello all,

I am back. Thanks for Cainehill! I will look at the situation and make my turn soon.

Turms

[Cainehill]

Okay, Woot! I was about to ask for a short (15 hour) pause for Turms.

[Cainehill]

Editted!

[Turms]

Congratulations to Peacekeeper, well played!

I was bit surprised the game ended. Too bad I did not get a chance to fight your undead armies. I thought it would have taken a bit longer before you had enough victory points. I guess I should have actually counted them...

Anyways, thanks for the game everybody! And special thanks to our host Graeme!
Turms

[WraithLord]

Congrats PeaceKeeper.
too bad I didn't get to pythium capital in time to stop/delay your victory http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Thanks Graeme for hosting.

Hey, I'm down to two active MP games, lowest I've been in the last few years, which is nice considering DOM-III release schedule :-)

[Peacekeeper]

Thank you both. I was a little off in my timing too, originally I looked to take all 4 on the same turn.

If the game wasnt a VP winning condition, Im sure I would have been crushed between both of you.