Faerun MA PBEM (Calmon/Ermor Wins)

[Hadrian_II]

Hi all

I'm Thinking about to start an PBEM game in Faerun. The Aera would be MA. I will take Man.

You can get the map here: http://www.strife.com/dominions-2/files.htm#maps
(Faerun Large with 424 Provinces)
The map file i will use is attached to the Post.

I created a new map File for it, where i removed the fixed starting Locations, and added Victory Points. The map has now 46 Victory locations, and i think the Winner would need 30 of them for Victory (i'm open for other suggestions but i think this is a good number). All victory locations are guarded by special troops, most of them i took from the original map, but i created 18 more they are not really balanced, but if you conquer a stronger one you might get better gear out of it. I tried to create guards corresponding to their Province as in D&D, but i could not resist to make a Bandar defended Province. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

About the Rules:
- Everything normal except:
- Hall of Fame 15
- Only own Graph
- Sites 50 (as Faerun is considered Magically)

Special Rule:
- You have to participate in every Deathmatch, and you have to send a combatant that might win. --> not the cheapest indy commander but a nicely equipped Thug.
Who ever violates this rule will be called a coward in the Forum http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Players:
Hadrian_II: Man
Teraswaerto: R'lyeh
Reverend Zombie : Bandar Log
Votan: Abysia
Sandman: Tien Chi
Stryke11: Pythium
Dimaz: Shinuyama
Bluebird: Caelum
calmon: Ermor
Hako: Pangea
ajr: Arcoshephale
YellowCactus: Mictlan
Amhazair: Ulm
Aseth: Vanheim
Zrave: Agharta
Hoo: Machaka
upstreamedge: Atlantis
UninspiredName: Oceania


Plz send me your pretenders to: *removed email*
include your nick in the mail, and dont forget to set a pwd on your pretender.

I Changed the map to fix problems with Supply. Redownload the new one if Interested.

P.S.: If you think somithing about this idea sounds strange it might be just my bad english.

[Teraswaerto]

Count me in as R'lyeh.

[Reverend Zombie]

I'd like Bandar Log, please (or whatever the mid-era apes are called...)

[Votan]

If that will be middle age, please count me as Abysia, if other age - Mictlan please.

[Shovah32]

If reverend drops out or changes race put me down for bandar log

[hako]

You can count me in. I will pick the nation soon, I need some time to decide yet...

----------
Enough time, I'll play Pangaea.

[Sandman]

I would like Tien Chi.

[Stryke11]

I would like Pythium if possible. Only 2nd mp game, so I will make nice fodder for the rest of you to beat up on.

[Xox]

Thanks for hosting! We really need more games out there. I suspect the problem is settng aside a server to host the game. Anyone heard anything more on someone setting up a server like someone did for DOM II?

Which leads me to my question. Is this a true PBEM game and not computer hosted? Will we have to send in our turns as file attachments and receive them as file attachments? Or will it be a hosted game where we can just put in the ip address and port number and the computer downloads and loads our turns for us?

If it is a true pbem game with emailing every turn to host as a file attachment I will wait for the next computer hosted game. Painful as the wait may be.

If it is hosted I would like Jotunheim!

Thanks

[Hadrian_II]

Its PBEM, i have no server for hosting otherwise.

[Dimaz]

I'd like to try Shinoyama

[Bluebird]

I would like to join as Caelum.

[calmon]

Ermor please

[ajr]

I would like to play as C'tis.

[hako]

Inculde me please... I stil do not appear on the list. My post is above and I picked Pangaea.

[YellowCactus]

Gimme Mictlan!
Please,
-yc

[Hadrian_II]

hako said:
Inculde me please... I stil do not appear on the list. My post is above and I picked Pangaea.



Sorry i didn't notice, you changed your post

[Amhazair]

Great, seems my copy of the game arrived in time to participate here, if you don't mind including a new player (who'll quickly start testing out all kinds of brilliant strategies of course :-D)

Of the still available nations I'd like to play Ulm.

[Hadrian_II]

It seems as here are people interesting in playing this game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I'll wait for some more players, as the map is very big, and it would not hurt to get a full house.

But feel free to send me your pretenders. My e-mail address is adi dot l at bluewin dot ch. Please include your nickname in the mail and don't forget to set a password http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

[Aseth]

sign me in as a Vanheim http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Zrave]

If still available, I'd like to play Agartha.

[Ichtarian]

deleted post..man already taken...sorry.

[Hadrian_II]

ajr found out, that some of my PD's lacked supply, i fixed this and changed the map file in my first post. If you now conquer a VP location, you have an increased chance to get bags of wine, cauldrons of broth and summer swords http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

[Amhazair]

I'm running into a (hopefully) little problem here:

When I try to unzip it I get the message: "The WinZip Wizard cannot open this file; it does not appear to be a valid archive. If you downloaded this file, try
downloading it again. If you want to add the file to an archive, first create or open the archive, then drop the file again."

I don't have the slightest idea how to deal with that. (other than trying downloading it again, as they suggest, but that didn't help)


I'm not any good at computers (other than to start up my games http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif ), so maybe it's something simple that I'm missing, but...

Two things I can imagine might be wrong (but, again, no idea if it's really the case) are:

* A wrong/outdated/insufficiënt version of the Unzipping Program. If this could be a possible reason could anyone kindly point me to where I can get a better version?

* Maybe my computer lacks a program it needs to recognize the type of file the map is in? (.rar) No idea if I need anything special for that..

* Anything else...

Sorry to bother you all with this :-(

[calmon]

try WinRAR zu extract:
http://www.win-rar.com

maybe you've an outdated version of winzip

[Amhazair]

Thanks a lot, that seems to have worked http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Unless I missed something I'm ready to go now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Bluebird]

Which version are we using? 3.00 or 3.01?

[Hadrian_II]

I think when the game is ready to start, the version 3.02 will be out.

[Dimaz]

If 3.01, I suggest using HoH nerf mod. Without it the game will be too... challenging.

[hoo]

I'll try marignon if you're still taking folks.

[Hadrian_II]

Sure i take more folks
Arcoscephale, Machaka, Jotunheim, Atlantis and Oceania are still free. Especially a second water nation would not be too bad or R'lyeh will have a very easy live.

[Stryke11]

Pythium's pretender has been sent!

I hope you all will be ready for some Angel-y goodness!

[Bluebird]

Well - if it is going to be 3.02, there is not point in creating a pretender with an earlier version, is there?

[calmon]

Nope, we should wait for the patch (I think 3.03, 3.02 isn't a real patch just a development milestone, but not 100% sure here).

Maybe they changed some pretender costs and then an old pretender would trigger the cheat mechanism.

[Stryke11]

Yikes.

Just doin' what I was told. I wasn't aware patches affected pretender design, but it makes sense that it would (doh!).

I'll create another pretender if/when the next patch comes out.

[Hadrian_II]

I think that pretenders created with 3.01 should work with later patches, there are no changes to pretenders in the change log (yet). Maybe the daemons can see in the dark thing, but as i see it the 3.01 daemons will just see in 3.02.

If it triggers the cheat algorithm, will it trigger it just on turn 1 or every turn? If its just Turn 1 then it wont be too much of a problem (or creates it punishments when it detects "cheat"?). afaik there are no imba pretenders that need a fix.

But after all it look just like its "upload your pretenders on your own risk".

One thing more if 3.02 wont come out then the waiting on 3.03 might take long, then maybe we want to start with 3.01. (or is the Hunter of Heroes so evil?[i like him cause he always kills my enemies])

[upstreamedge]

I will take Atlantis

[Dimaz]

I just don't like my pretender being killed by HoH on Turn 5. And it happens during test games sometimes.

[ajr]

ajr said:
I would like to play as C'tis.



Argh; I've just discovered that MA C'tis is horribly broken at the current patch level. Can I switch to Arco?

[hoo]

If no one would mind, could I switch to Machaka? I've never tried them and would like to.

downloading patch now.

[YellowCactus]

How far are we from launching?
-yc

[Hadrian_II]

OK i think now are enough players in.

Now we have 2 options:
-start 3.01 with the HoH mod so that he is no problem
-or wait an undefined time for the next patch

plz say what you want

[calmon]

How about starting without the HoH mod? I think the new patch will come soon and i for my part never got an attack from a horror in all my mp and test games.

The thing with the mod is that once used, we can't kick it after the patch. So we've to deal with lousy horrors till the end of the game.

[Zrave]

There will be many games when the patch comes out, but right now this is the only game that is forming.

I would rather play now with the HoH mod.

[Teraswaerto]

I'm pretty sure the host can change the mod, and the change will be in effect in the game even if it has been started, so there should be no problem.

[Stryke11]

I vote starting sooner rather than later.

[Hadrian_II]

does the mod not just weaken the HoH and lets the other horrors be?


It will start the game when i have all pretenders, so plz send me yours.
Please put a vote in the forum, if you want the HoH mod or not.

[UninspiredName]

I've been indicisive on this game, but I'm willing to join in as Oceania if you'll have me. Right under (after?) the bell. It would be my first PBEM game. You just upload everybody's turns as file attachments into the game file, right?

If you'll have me I'm not at my own house at the moment, but can upload my pretender tonight.

[Hadrian_II]

sure you can join if you want.

PBEM means play by e-mail, so you have to mail me your pretender (address in first post), then i will mail you your .trn file, you make your turn then and mail me back your .2h file so that i can generate the next turn and again and again.

[ajr]

Even as an astral nation I'd prefer to use the mod; the HoH just has too much chance of randomly wrecking a nation right now.

[UninspiredName]

Oh, I thought we posted them as file attachments here. At any rate, I think I'll opt out. Sorry about that...

[hako]

I would start with 3.01, Hoh mod does not bother me at all. I am sending my pretender within few hours now.

[Reverend Zombie]

Hadrian_II said:
Special Rule:
- You have to participate in every Deathmatch, and you have to send a combatant that might win. --> not the cheapest indy commander but a nicely equipped Thug.



What about those early deathmatches? Bandar Log is not apt to have a decent (any, really) commander to spare before 10 turns, and deathmatch can come up in the first few turns.

[YellowCactus]

Let them call you a coward Reverend, I know your solid!
-yc

[YellowCactus]

!!!!!IMPORTANT!!!!!

Looking at the victory conditions, I would suggest doubling the victory points for victory. This is a HUGE map and by turn 25 there will be several veteran players with flying armies. And there will be several new players who are totally outclassed. I think That with the current settings, the game will end pre-maturely. If the host is sure he wants the current VP's we should probably play on ta smaller map. Faerun is HUGE!
-yc

[calmon]

I agree.

With 21 conquered victory points the game could be still undecided. I higher number would be good (even with the good NPC defence on most of the VPs)

[Stryke11]

I am cool with that. I like that the map is big, because perhaps I'll last longer than ten turns this time.

[Hadrian_II]

Early Deathmatch:
I'd say that in the first year, you haven't to participate, but your thug must be ready on turn 13.

VPs:
If 21 is considerd to less i can change it to 30 if you want.

[Teraswaerto]

More VPs would be good. It would suck for someone to steal the win.

VPs are kind of artificial anyway, there should at least be lots of them so that controlling the winning amount is possible only if the player is in a dominating position.

[Sandman]

I'm honestly not that bothered by settings, as long as the game starts soonish. Have all the pretenders been sent yet?

[Hadrian_II]

I think 30 VPs it is then. Im not too afraid that someone can win on turn 25 with flying armies, as most of the VPs defence is strong enough to resist early attempts.

About the pretenders, i got 11 pretenders, missing are the following:

Votan: Abysia
calmon: Ermor
Hako: Pangea
Aseth: Vanheim
upstreamedge: Atlantis
UninspiredName: Oceania

so plz send your pretenders if you haven't done it yet.

[hako]

I will send my pretender within next 7-8 hours... Long and busy day ;/

[calmon]

My will come very soon

[upstreamedge]

pretender coming today

[upstreamedge]

I put the downloaded .map file in my folder and tried to start a game. The dominions game just quit out, and I am wondering if I am missing a .tga or .rgb

[Reverend Zombie]

upstreamedge said:
I put the downloaded .map file in my folder and tried to start a game. The dominions game just quit out, and I am wondering if I am missing a .tga or .rgb



You need to download both the attachment in the first post, and the map files at the location linked to there (it's Illwinter's site--look for the Faerun-large entry on the page).

[YellowCactus]

Reminder.....

Make sure to send in

-Pretenders with Passwords
-Mod 3.01 Installed?

-yc

[Amhazair]

Hadrian_II said:
missing are the following:

UninspiredName: Oceania





His last post was to say he'd opt out of this game, so best not wait for his upload. (unless someone else heard otherwise)

Are we playing with the HoH mod in the end or not? And if we are do we all have to install it, or does it only matter for the host?

[Hadrian_II]

we are playing with the HoH mod. I dont think that you have to install him, as all calculations are made by the host, but you might get strange effects when the HoH attacks (so it might better to install it).

[Hadrian_II]

Ok i now got all pretenders with exception of these two:

Votan: Abysia
Aseth: Vanheim

i'll start the game tomorrow night at around 22:00 CET or today if i get the pretenders.

[Aseth]

will send pretendent within 5-6 hours or so.

[Stryke11]

Um, update on when this show is going on the road?

[Hadrian_II]

OK i sent out the first turns, plz give a notice if something is not working with you.

Gamename: Faerun PBEM
HoH Mod is active
VP needed for Victory = 30

Have Fun

[calmon]

When do you host? If you don't write a fix date i'm sure some players wait until the turn is requested.

[Stryke11]

I am also interested in the hosting schedule. I can normally do 1-2 turns a day (morning and evening pacific time) but with the holidays coming up I am curious as to how we are going to handle that.

Other than that, the map is sweet and I am pleased with my starting location, although I'm gonna need to get some resources asap if I'm going to get my legionary machine up and running. Hopefully I'll last long enough to get some national summons. Good luck everyone!

[Hadrian_II]

About the hosting:
I'd like to make 1 turn per day, but if it sometimes takes 2 its no problem. But if you wait more than 2 days without a notice in the forum, i might host without your turn.

[Hadrian_II]

i'll update to the 3.04 patch, for the next turn, so you might do the same (after finishing turn 1 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif)

[Bluebird]

Any plans for 3.04 migration?

[calmon]

The first few turns shouldn't be taking so long, people will lose interests in the game while waiting 2 days for the first turn.

Maybe we could arrange a 24 hour host for the first 10 turns.

A status would be good too. It's not the first time that a player just forgot sending a finished turn file.

[Sandman]

Seconded.

[hoo]

What's the patch plan?

Should I submit first game at 3.01 and then upgrade? Other games I'm in are upgrading and I'd prefer to go ahead to 3.04 after 1st turn!

[Stryke11]

Just so y'all know, I will be unable to play a turn from about 4PM pacific time tomorrow night to Monday midday. It seems like turns are moving really slow right now anyway, so maybe it won't be a problem. I have given the host permission to skip me or just recruit on my turn, if anyone has a problem with things not moving forward during that time period. Hopefully turn two will be available before I leave tomorrow.

Thanks!

[Hadrian_II]

Now its 48h since the last turn, so i can send out the next one (this night i got one turn more, so only 2 got staled :/).
I will do 1 more this weekend and then 1 per day for 2 weeks. (with exeption of the weekend, where i will just do one).

I hope this is good with you.

P.S. im now on 3.04

[Sandman]

Turn sent.

[Dimaz]

Turn 2 sent. If it won't arrive soon again tell me and I'll use another mail service.

[Hadrian_II]

I got your turn. thx.

btw. does someone know abysia? He was the last one to send his pretender, staled the last turn, and is now the only one missing for turn 2. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Teraswaerto]

I don't know him, but if he staled turn 1 I'd say he's a lost cause.

[calmon]

He plays in the balance mod game too and there he made some turns. Its really annoying from him just stalling the very first turns in a game without any message/substitute. Did you write him a pm? Maybe he just forgot this one.

[Bluebird]

/threads/images/Graemlins/Campfire.gif Burn him, burn him, burn abysia, burn, burn burn - errm - oops - they are already burning ... forgot about that. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Sandman]

How are things progressing for the other nations? T'ien Ch'i is... making the best of the situation.

[Teraswaerto]

R'lyeh promises to eat your souls, as soon as the stars are right.

[Hadrian_II]

The only notable thing that man has to say is that our prophet got hit and killed, by the first arrow that was in the very first battle. (and this was somewhat annoying)

[Amhazair]

Ulm's disciplined, heavily armed, heavily armored elite forces set out from their capital (turn 2 of this game), ready to spread civilisation amongst the barbarian tribes of the world... and promptly got their *** kicked in their first battle, loosing half their army to a mob of mostly militias http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

So the start wasn't as good as could be hoped, to say the least.

I overspent a bit on mercenaries after that, and now am trying to make up lost the lost ground.

[Dimaz]

Goblins are fine. They started the war on Turn 2 due to mail delivery problems, but now everything goes nice.

[Stryke11]

The legions of Pythium are slowly expanding the borders or our empire, but magic resarch has been difficult with the need to first field scouts. Outriders have noticed the presence of Mictlan and Shinuyama. They have been instructed to make introductions and offer peace. As of now there is plenty of room for everyone. Victory provinces seem heavily defended, and the legions desire to consolidate their homeland before attempting a dangerous campaign.

[Bluebird]

Well - luck is doing well (payed enough points for it, so it should). Otherwise, it is nice to see what a bunch of mamoths can do again indies ... but I will not take up the lich in that province next of my cap for now.

[Amhazair]

While victory provinces are in general very well defended indeed, a couple are less so than others. At least one has already been concered. (not by me btw)

[calmon]

Turn 10 is still waiting to be hosted, right?

I didn't get a turn and i just want to know i'm not the only one http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

EDIT: Its here now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Teraswaerto]

Arcoscephale has decided to invade our coastal province. We are unable to understand this, no doubt cunning, stratagem, but rest assured a team will be sent over to extract said knowledge in good time.

The Great Ones do not lack patience, but the same can't be said for mercy.

[Stryke11]

Ok, I am seriously considering never playing a multiplayer game again. The first ever Newbie game, I am gang attacked in the first 5 turns by dual blessed Vanheim and Neifelheim. I'm out by turn ten, reduced to just my capital by turn like 7.

Then I think, this Faerun game will be ok, it's a huge map and I will have time to build up. On turn 9 (!) I am attacked by triple blessed (how is that even POSSIBLE? Astral Fire and Water 9) Mictlan whose huge blessing didn't hurt the scales very much becuase they have 50+ sacred jaguar warriors. Am I playing a different game here? In the same time it takes me, with awesome scales (3 order, 3 prod, and positive growth and luck, though I had to banish my pretender to get the points) to make maybe 100 Pythian infantry, someone else can field 50+ sacred troops plus some leaders, march them six or more provinces to the south making a beeline to my capital, beat every force I have, and lay seige to my capital. My pretender is a fricken Oracle, the cheapest thing ever. Plus, the Jag warriors are more like two troops each because when they die they turn into I guess Jaguars, so here we have equal number forces plus the bless.

I would just like to know how I can have a triple bless and be able to pump out troops that fast. I always thought you had to pick one or the other. And I hear a big bless is an early game strategy, but from what I can see it's also late game as with my little rainbow oracle I will never be able to cast the big spells, and Mictlan will have access the the best global spells for three different paths.

Seriously, I am missing something huge here, and it's ruining any chance I have of enjoying a game against anyone but the AI.

[calmon]

Your own Oracle pretender is very good for a tripple bless strategy with astral 9 included. The Oracle costs 0, has a high dominion and 3 astral to start. Make him imprisoned, give him 9x40 points from scales and you've 600 + 9x40 = 960 points enough for Water/Fire/Astral bless 9.

To take a good amount of troops out is possible as well. You can have Sloth/Heat/Death 3 for all tripple bless points and drain/misfortune 1-2 for a good dominion. You could even boost your order slightly or let it on neutral setting for enough money.

If you play a little with blood sacrifice you can've a good amount of neutral scales instead of bad ones. But even then the bad scales are the longterm disadvantages of such a tactic.


Its even possible to create a Quadro Bless 9 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

It makes no sence but its possible. Take the mictlan smoking mirror pretender, imprison him, take all scales to maxim bad and give him fire/death/blood 9 + 1 additional 9 bless.

[Sandman]

In the same time it takes me, with awesome scales (3 order, 3 prod, and positive growth and luck.




but from what I can see it's also late game as with my little rainbow oracle I will never be able to cast the big spells



A 'rainbow' oracle is a quite unusual pretender, and not efficient for points (each new path costs 40). You can't really do very much with it, why not take a human pretender instead?

Luck is not that important for Pythium, it has a huge gem income to start with and its heroes are not that great.

If you had awesome scales you could have hired mercenaries and indy troops to augment your forces. Arch Theurgs are very expensive and more than one or two isn't worth it for the start of the game, IMO. If your experience with Pythium is anything like mine, you'll probably find that hiring lots of indy commanders is a good idea, since their native leaders are not that good.

[Sandman]

Any news on turn 11?

[Hadrian_II]

Turn 11 is coming now.

What about the coming Holidays. I think i will host daily to the 23. then wait over christmas, turn again the 27 -29 then i will be away shortly and will host again from the 2nd. If i dont get the turns, i will wait until i got enough.

[Stryke11]

Assuming my nation is still kicking around by then, I am happy with the holiday schedule. I will be away from a computer from the 23rd to the 26th, so your break time suits me well.

Thanks all for the helpful suggestions btw!

[Aseth]

i will epsent from 28 to 3...

[YellowCactus]

Pythuim will make a fine winter palace. I don't know what all the unrest is about!
-yc

[hoo]

MAchaka's last turn of the Christmas season will be tomorrow the 20th...the next time I can do a turn will be the night of the 27th.

Therefore I will be unavailable for the 21-26th.

[Stryke11]

Pythium will be computer controlled from here on out. This makes 2/2 that I was the 1st eliminated nation in a mp game. I am either unluckily terrible or terribly unlucky. I can potentially stand up against a multi-blessed nation, or a nation with huge sacred armies, or a nation with enough money to get all the mercenaries, but put all three together, and I just can't hang.

Peace out fellas, enjoy the rest of the game.

[YellowCactus]

Nice to meet you Stryke11

-Yc

[hako]

My 3 words... 3xBless strat you cannot beat at this game stage, no worries everybody would colapse. Thing is, that this strat gives a terrible advantage and in my opinion is just to easy to play... no challenge.
Next time Stryke11!

[Hadrian_II]

Short information, as i haven't got enough turns, the next will be hosted tomorrow. (in about 18h)

[calmon]

i'm fine with your christmas break. So we've tomorrow a host and then next on 27th?

[YellowCactus]

Hako,
So that I understand you correctly, Triple-bless it 'too easy to play'? Strike11 PM's me saying I'm cheating, now you say triple blessing is too easy to play? I think you people are a bunch of cry-babies. Dominions has lots of winning strategies. I truely doubt Mictlan is the most powerful faction in this game. If you don't have something nice to say, please don't PM me.

I'm not Norfleet!
-Yc

[Teraswaerto]

If there is no rule to forbid a bless strategy complaining about them is pointless. A triple bless needs to make most of the early advantage, and while it sucks to get taken out early, animosity towards the player is just http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

[YellowCactus]

Thanks Teraswaerto,
I've been as kind and 'helpful' as I can without being pompous or intrusive. I even went as far as to suggest them have the host look at the turns. At this point, I'm not going to reply to nasty PM's with kind words of support to other players.

Merry Christmas, well suck your blood in-game.
Mictlan

[Hadrian_II]

calmon said:
i'm fine with your christmas break. So we've tomorrow a host and then next on 27th?



Yes, next turn is on 27th, so that there will be no more stalls.

@Stryke11: it can happen in games that you loose and there is no reason to harass YellowCactus about it. His 3x Bless tactic is very good for the early game but if you would have met on turn 100, your stats might been better and you've won.

[YellowCactus]

The Southeastern factions are fine with a turn on the 27th, but we would like to hold up the game from the 28-4th of January. The holiday season is a tough time for Dominions. Would it be possible for a break from the 28th of December to the 4th of Janaury?

Holiday greetings from Mictlan!
-yc

[Aseth]

yep, 28-4th of January is very good, cos i will ski that time and cannot perform turns http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Hadrian_II]

well if its wished, i can make a break from 28.12 - 4.1, if its ok with everyone. (if you are away to the 5th, then plz say so and we will make a longer break). I hope that after the holidays the game gets running again.

[Sandman]

Is this game set to recommence?

[YellowCactus]

I believe there will be a turn tomorrow!
-yc

[Hadrian_II]

Turn is on its way.
I hope we can return now to more regular turns.

[YellowCactus]

You have been a most gracious host, Hadrian!
Thanks,
-yc

[Sandman]

I've added a new e-mail address to my turn submission, Hadrian, could you use it instead from now on?

[calmon]

Hi Hadrian_II,

i've send you my .2h file from another email adress because my old email provider has some problems.

Please use this email adress for all my turns in future.

Thanks, Calmon

[Hadrian_II]

i hope i changed all the e-mails, if i did not so then plz notice me.

I sent a new turn just about now.

[calmon]

i got my turn, thanks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Could you please modify your starting post with the correct victory points needed. The post says 21 but we changed it to 30.

[Amhazair]

Hmm... you said you sent out the turn yesterday? I didn't get it yet. (I did have some trouble in receiving some of the previous turns, getting error messages and having to restart outlook in order to get it in, but this time no trouble, no error message, no turn, no nothing)

[calmon]

If you pm me which of the email adress in the header is yours i can forward the turn to you.

[calmon]

I didn't get a pm from you Amhazair. Do you've your turn now? Don't want the game stalled because of that.

[Hadrian_II]

@Amhazair i resent you the thurn and decided to host the game tommorrow around noon. (swiss time)

As there are 2 other turns missing, i think waiting is not a too bad idea. If someone does not agree, and want when the next time there is some trouble the game to progress without waiting plz say so.

[Amhazair]

Hmm, weird, I thought I pm'ed you Calmon. I might have misclicked on something. Your second try didn't arrive either Hadrian. Anyway, I'm going to try to restart the computer and fiddle with the settings some, if it doesn't help I really have to go to bed, and after bed to work, so if you don't get my turn within an hour or so, there's no point in waiting for me any longer, Let's just hope the next turn comes through fine then.

[Sandman]

I've tried to attach the turn file (as a zip) to this post. Has it worked?

[Amhazair]

Thanks all for trying folks. In the end I missed the turn, wich obviously sucks, but at least it didn't happen while I was at a critical stage of a war or anything. (And I'll have loads of golds to cheer me up in the next turn http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif )

Turn 19 arrived just fine btw, no idea why 18 was such a dickhead. Anyways, I'm going to take a look what happened in the turn I missed now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Amhazair]

Just checking, since my last stale got me nervous: The new turn (nr 20) isn't out yet, is it?

[Sandman]

It is. I have attached the file again.

[calmon]

Last host was yesterday (friday) and next one is tomorrow (sunday). Just if you're nervous because of today, there is no hosting.

[Amhazair]

I was nervous because of friday. Thanks for the attachment sandman. (As an aside, your attachment seemed to be lucky for me: a 500g event, and a gnome lore on the last unresearched province in my empire giving me no less than 4! new sites http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

More to the point: does anyone here who actually knows something about computer have any idea what can cause the random not-received turns? And how to solve it obviously. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif To my uneducated brain the weird part is that some turns come through fine and others don't.

[Hadrian_II]

The only thing about random missing mail i know is that Mozilla Thunderbird had a bug that did that, so if you are using Thunderbird, you might upgrade.

And i don't know how you go with security, but viruses can sometimes have strange side effects.

[hako]

I still didn't get my turn... anyone else?

[calmon]

I got turn 21 2 hours ago. Did you get it?

[Hadrian_II]

i did not get any error reports, so i suppose all the mails are delivered right. Did you change your e-mail?

[Amhazair]

I never heard of Thunderbird before, so I suppose I'm not using it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Securitywise I do have Norton running, and every so often he reports something I have to delete or quarantaine, and after that he's happy, but wether those things had lasting effects... no idea. I also definitely didn't get any new virus warning between the start of this game when the turns came in fine, and now, when some come through and others don't.

And, once again I didn't get my turn today (21) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif


Blegh, missing it once was mildly annoying, but no more than that, but if this story is going to repeat itself every turn... It's going to drive me crazy, and I might drive all of you crazy because of it too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[Sandman]

Attached Ulm and Pangaea's turns.

[Amhazair]

I love you Sandman. Will you have my babies? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Sandman]

Give me some earth gems and I'm all yours. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Hadrian_II]

Amhazair, did you send me your last turn?
i did not get it.

[Amhazair]

If you mean turn 21, no I didn't yet. As far as I know (hard to keep track of it with all this mail trouble) 21 was sent by you on sunday, so I was not in any particular rush to finish it up and send it to you... I'm just back from work now and about to send it (in say 20 minutes, going to make a few changes)

@ Sandman: since that lucky turn (20) I downloaded from you gave me 4 new earth sites in one province we might be able to work something out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


Edit: Turn 21 sent.

[Hadrian_II]

I sent now the turn 22.
next host will be tomorrow.

plz. make a note if you dont got it.
p.s. amhazair do you have a second e-mail?

[Amhazair]

Nop, no second email unfortunately http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

And I didn't get the turn either, unfortunately... I'll restart my computer and try again, sometimes that helps, but... (in 30 minutes, I have to run to the store before it closes first http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

Next host tomorrow? Sorry if I'm confused, but wasn't hosting changed to every 48h? I'm perfectly fine with 24h too, mind you, just want to make sure how much I have to hurry to play my turn.

Edit: Nop, still nothing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[calmon]

Hadrian send all turns in one email. Maybe your email provider block the email because its just to large?

I could invite you to gmail (google mail account) if you want to join it.

However i'll attach your ulm turn to this post.

[Amhazair]

Well, if you think it'll help... just tell me what to do http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[calmon]

Ok i've invited you. I hope you get at least this email http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
If not pm me.

Just follow the instructions to create this account, it should be easy. You've almost 3GB folder size for emails and a very good web access.

[Hadrian_II]

Amhazair said:

Next host tomorrow? Sorry if I'm confused, but wasn't hosting changed to every 48h? I'm perfectly fine with 24h too, mind you, just want to make sure how much I have to hurry to play my turn.



I did not change to 48h i just asked that i might do it if someone wants it. My english is not that good, so im sorry if i caused any confusion.

[Amhazair]

Hah, I got myself the gmail account as Calmon suggested, and now the new turn arrived just fine at both adresses http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Thanks for all your patience, and I think we're set to go now.

[Hadrian_II]

Amhazair said:
Hah, I got myself the gmail account as Calmon suggested, and now the new turn arrived just fine at both adresses http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif




Both adresses?? sometimes i suspect pcs to be inhabited by evil little goblins.

[Amhazair]

Only sometimes? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Amhazair]

Well, not that one problem seems to be solved I'll annoy all of you some other way... (I think it's this psychosomething need for attention I have or something http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif )

My sister is getting married on friday, so I'll be out of town - and away from the computer - from tomorrow afternoon till saturday evening.

[Sandman]

No turn today? Or have I just missed it?

[calmon]

No, i didn't get anything either.

Edit: I got it now.

[Amhazair]

You seem to have send me last turns turn instead of the new one Hadrian. It says it's turn 24 when I log in, but then I get the traditional 'you have already played this turn message', I get a short glimpse of my messages (last turns messages), and then the game crashes. (the nagot gick fell thingie)

[Hadrian_II]

Amhazair said:
You seem to have send me last turns turn instead of the new one Hadrian. It says it's turn 24 when I log in, but then I get the traditional 'you have already played this turn message', I get a short glimpse of my messages (last turns messages), and then the game crashes. (the nagot gick fell thingie)



No i did send the new turn (it is impossible to send the old turn, as the new turn overwrites the old while processing). I will resend you the turn in the naive hope that it will work, but it sounds like a new addition to the bug thread.

[calmon]

Amhazair, try out a new game folder and copy only the .trn file in this folder and start this.

[Amhazair]

I feel so stupid... I must have been very tired last night, cause I never once thought to try what 'redo turn from the start' would have as effect.... that worked fine. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I still think weird things went on, but hey, at least I can play again.

[Amhazair]

I owe all of you my apologies. I was planning to get back home earlier today and play my turn, but there are several foreign visitors staying here at my sisters place for my wedding, and we've been having such tremendous fun (at the wedding, before the wedding and after the wedding) that I just had to stay a bit longer. (Especially this Swiss girl that's staying here has me quite intrested )I'll be getting home tomorrow evening instead. (wich would be within 24 hours)

[Hellboy]

Hey everyone,

I was just considering hosting a new PBEM on Hadrian's altered Faerun map. His changes look sensible, and I've played a number of turns SP, and it still looks good, but before I take the plunge I wanted to ask the experts.

So, is Faerun a reasonable map for MP?

[calmon]

So far i could say its fun to play on it. A litte bit too huge maybe. You should try to play with a max set of players.

The starting provinces seems to be a little random. There are players set very next to in very desertlike areas. There should be a center of players around the big farm provinces in western faerun and fewer players in the eastern part which is really wild and population poor.

I found some bugs on the map but don't know who is responsible for it:

for example northern thay (land 307), some good features in this province and very well defended. You need dozens of troops to conquer it. The 4 features should worth all the work.
But because someone forgot to set a #killfeatures before the feature list, the better half of the features don't exist and the province isn't worth all the troops needed to conquer it.

-- Northern Thay
#land 307
#nostart 307
#lab
#feature "Catacombs"
#feature "Graveyard of the Damned"
#feature "Marble Mausoleum"
#feature "Halls of the Dead"
#commander "Lich"
#comname "Szass Tam"
#clearmagic
#mag_death 6
...

[Sandman]

I'd say that some of the victory point provinces are too well guarded. You can't take them without crippling yourself in the process.

[Sandman]

How is the game going for everyone?

This turn, the brave archers and mages of T'ien Ch'i delivered a stinging defeat to R'lyeh, slaying dozens of illithids in the process. Meanwhile, Shinuyama is taking a long time to die, being attacked by Ulm, Machaka AND Mictlan, with the blood-worshippers currently sieging the goblin capital.

[Amhazair]

Bah, Shinuyama was saved by an unexpectedly powerful ghost king (blame my inexperience) a couple of rooky mistakes and a stale turn, but my armies should get going now and trample the lowly goblins under our iron-shod boots.

Ulm is marching the road to destiny now!

(Well done though Dimaz, you're certainly causing some trouble)

[Hadrian_II]

about the map: the Victory Locations are mostly guarded well. If you don't like that you might use the normal faerun map. I designed the Victory Locations to be hard to get, maybe they are a bit too heavy defended. My armies of man lost a battle against a VP defending army (25 Knights are harder to kill than they look).

What might be a problem is, that lots of the Victory Points are in the Northwest of the map, so you should set the needed VPs to win high enough or the players there will have an advantage.

@calmon: the features are all from the original map, but i might fix that for FaerunPBEM II (somehow I'm thinking I'll start a new one when this is finished [or just when i am killed])

About the game: The Kingdom of man is peacefully expanding his borders, and we are now waiting for the return of our god that might be any turn now. But we are very interested about what Caelum and Pangea have to say about their doings as our scouts report that they are at war for a very long time now.

[Teraswaerto]

When Tien Chi started attacking me with coastal Shamblers I thought "bah! what does the fool think he is doing!", but things are not looking good at all. Illithids are cripplingly expensive and fairly ineffective. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

In addition to that, I will not be able to do my next turn for 12-14 hours or so. Staling now would be bad + bad, but it's not like it seems to help much when I do finish my turns.

I shall accept the host's decision.

[Hadrian_II]

Well as there are 3 more people missing their turn, i will postphone the next turn until i get the one of Teraswaerto.

[Dimaz]

Some corrections from Shinuyama.
Machaka is not at war with us. OTOH monkeys declared war this turn, but i saw powerful Arcos armies marching to the monkey lands, so i hope that i have to fight only against Ulm and Mictlan. This is not very easy also, but at least I think I have some chances here.

[Hellboy]

calmon said:
So far i could say its fun to play on it. A litte bit too huge maybe. You should try to play with a max set of players.

The starting provinces seems to be a little random. There are players set very next to in very desertlike areas. There should be a center of players around the big farm provinces in western faerun and fewer players in the eastern part which is really wild and population poor.



I don't have any experience in editing maps, but just from looking at the file, it seems that the only functionality you have within the map is prohibiting (or not) a specific province from being a starting location.

I saw Dr. Praetorius has a fair site script that he's done - maybe something like that could be done to influence placement in the way you describe.




I found some bugs on the map but don't know who is responsible for it:
...
But because someone forgot to set a #killfeatures before the feature list,
...



It's easy to go through the map, and make sure all the specials have the #killfeatures line. Have you found any other bugs that don't involve #killfeatures?




Hadrian_II said:
about the map: the Victory Locations are mostly guarded well. If you don't like that you might use the normal faerun map. I designed the Victory Locations to be hard to get, maybe they are a bit too heavy defended. My armies of man lost a battle against a VP defending army (25 Knights are harder to kill than they look).



At least what I've seen from SP so far, I like. I think it is great if some of these special locations are around quite a while, before they can be taken out.




What might be a problem is, that lots of the Victory Points are in the Northwest of the map, so you should set the needed VPs to win high enough or the players there will have an advantage.



Did you end up by going with 30 VPs, as you say in your opening note? And from what you've seen of the game so far does it look like you have enough?

[Hadrian_II]

Terrel said:
I don't have any experience in editing maps, but just from looking at the file, it seems that the only functionality you have within the map is prohibiting (or not) a specific province from being a starting location.




If you open the map in the editor, you can see that a lot of the provinces already have nostart.


Terrel said:
It's easy to go through the map, and make sure all the specials have the #killfeatures line. Have you found any other bugs that don't involve #killfeatures?




I'd only put the #killfeatures in provinces that have multiple good sites, so that the other provinces still might get random sites.


Terrel said:
Did you end up by going with 30 VPs, as you say in your opening note? And from what you've seen of the game so far does it look like you have enough?




Yes we are playing with 30VPs needed to win, and we are now in turn 28 and most VPs my scouts can see are still untaken.

[Amhazair]

Since it's one of those dark and rainy fall-evenings (actually it's winter, but it feels like fall), and this thread is somewhat quiet - and maybe also a very tiny bit to prove that I can do other things beside annoy everyone with technical problems http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif - I've decided to tell you all a story. Gather close around the campfire, fill your cups one more time, and don't look behind you into the dark, for this is a story about a dark and malefic ghost, in a world far, far away, called Faerun...


Topigog cursed loudly when a particularly thick drop of water managed to find it's way from the trees above him through his collar, straight onto his shoulders. Great! Now he was even reduced to swearing like a common soldier. This endless "campaigning" was getting on his nerves.

It had been in the nice days of early summer when the summons had arrived at the Crystal Citadel - nice to take a walk in the gardens that is, not nice to march for hours under the sun. He was to join Ulm's main army as soon as possible, together with two of his colleagues, but only after creating a powerful magical item to increase his mental strength. A variety of reasons were given for this sudden order - magical reconnaissance and advice, support magic - which the crude magic of the so called 'master smiths' was equally capable of - even divining the best course of action through astrology. As if that was even possible without the extensive library on the subject he wasn't allowed to bring with him! It was too heavy they had told him. As if the soldiers armour wasn't heavy… It hadn’t taken long for him to figure out the true reason he was here… and that was the first time in his life he had understood the saying ‘ignorance is bliss’…

Ulm’s enemies, the goblin nation of Shinuyama, were commanded by an incredibly powerful ghost. A veritable king among ghosts, so powerful the gullible goblins even hailed him as a god. While he was not as stupid as to believe that, there was no denying his power: Three times already the ghost had suddenly appeared in front of one of Ulm’s proud armies, all by himself, and three times he had killed dozens of brave men and sent the rest of the army – with all of it’s commanders and magical support - running for the hills.

And the reason he was here – after months of marching through dusty, heat-parched steppes, cursing the sun every step of the way, and then marching even more weeks into fall and into the Fireshear Mountains, up one muddy slope and down the other, cursing the never-ending rain, and begging to see the sun for only a little while, in the company of uncouth soldiers and the completely uncivilised lion tribe auxiliaries – was to fight that Ghost when next he showed up. Somehow, he was supposed to attract this hideous creature’s attention – the mere thought of meeting the thing’s gaze made him shudder already – and engage him in a battle of wills, to distract him, disable him, and if possible kill him, while the foot soldiers around him made short work of the goblin rabble. Luckily his colleagues were there to lend him their strength, but even so… he’d rather march straight through fall and into winter without seeing a single ray of sun. And to say that as a kid he had dreamed of becoming a soldier…

Oh, how jealous he was of his brothers who had stayed behind at the Crystal Citadel, who’d now be enjoying a cup of hot tea in a comfortable chair, next to a huge fireplace, a library full of interesting reading close at hand.


At the exact same time Topigog was bemoaning his luck Wagiobath was sitting in his comfortable chair next to a huge fireplace, with some interesting books piled up around him. He had been trying to find a way to calculate the possible density of magical crystals in the earth at specific location related to the positions of the constellations at the time of the shaping of that fold of the world… without any luck so far, but in all honesty he hadn’t been trying too hard, instead enjoying the warmth of the fire, and the exquisite new and exotic taste of the substance before him. Chocolate it was called, and dissolved into a cup of hot milk with or without a dollop of honey it gave all the warmth and wellbeing of a cup of tea, but at the same time offered an amazing layer of tastes. Ulm’s new allies of Mictlan might be crude and uncivilised savages, but the fact they had introduced chocolate into Ulmish lands made up for a lot of shortcomings. *

He had finished up his chocolate (might he bother himself to call for a servant to bring him a second cup?) and was slowly dozing off when suddenly a large, armoured figure burst into the room, treading thick black mud upon the carpet. Before Wagiobath could even begin to formulate a protest the newcomer barked: “Urgent orders from the high command! You are to report to the building site in The Landrise immediately!”, while throwing a folder of official-looking documents onto the table.

A quick scan of the seal told him there would be no escaping this one: The orders did indeed come straight from the high command, and from looking at the date (only 5 days ago) the large messenger had probably ridden several horses to their deaths on his way to him. So reluctantly he opened the letter - and nearly fainted upon reading its contents. Only a few weeks ago a small probing force had attacked the hugely superior forces defending the strategically important border province of The Landrise. To make matters worse there wasn’t any enemy force in that area that could possibly have any use of the intelligence gathered by the reconnaissance force. So the only reasonable thing would be to expect an attack by the enemy Ghost-pretender, who had enough magical power to teleport himself to wherever he wanted. And so Wagiobath had to do the same: teleport to building site and face the Ghost’s vast mental power. Alone. As only with the help of a magical crystal coin could he and his colleagues amass enough magical power to teleport, and only one of those artefacts was currently available in the laboratory.

So after humiliating himself in front of a total stranger by being violently sick in a corner – the chocolate suddenly didn’t taste that good anymore – he went to the laboratory, hung the crystal coin around his neck, and chanted the complex magical formula required to travel long distances instantly. At his destination he found the camping site of a medium-sized army, strangely silent, since half of the army consisted of animated magical constructs. Not far off work could be seen progressing on the nearly finished Citadel that was being built at that location. If the Ghost didn’t attack soon the entire army could take refuge in that imposing building. So it was best to assume the attack would in fact come soon.

Which indeed it did. The very next morning Wagiobath was startled from his morning tea (No chocolate was to be found in this corner of the empire) by the bronze alarm calls from several trumpets. Quickly the disciplined men fell into ranks, mages went around to set the magical constructs into motion, archers nocked their bows and planted arrows into the soft mud in front of them. But despite the franatic activity all of them(except the constructs obviously) kept an eye on the frail, robed man who was supposed to be their saviour… and noticed he had turned a sickly shade of yellow.

As the ghost came slowly floating out of the woods ahead Wagiobath called upon the powers of the magical spheres to strengthen his mind for the ordeal ahead, and then – while the first arrows where fired in vain, and the infantry began their doomed assault upon the lone translucent figure – he made contact with the mind of the thing. The icy, bone numbing cold of the grave reached out to him, the dust of endless ages intruded on his mind, and through it all he could faintly sense the mind's amusement at the valiant attempts of the army to attack him, and then also its disdain for him, the mere mortal who’d attempt to grapple with the mind of eternity. The disdain roused Wagiobath’s anger, and he called upon reserves of strength he did not know he possessed, the will to live and survive, drawn from the depths of his living soul the undead abomination could no longer understand. For an eternity the battle of wills raged – an eternity or a heartbeat – an eternity in which he was aware of every fibre in his body, in which he drew from every fibre in his body. An eternity in which he felt triumph and elation as the Ghost started to realise he could not submit the will to live of the mortal before him. Could not even resist the energies of life fuelling the mortal’s assault on the strands of will holding together its ghostly form.

And then the eternity ended, and Wagiobath could vaguely hear the cheering of all the other life forms close to him, before he succumbed to unconsciousness.


* In no way do the personal opinions of the characters in this story reflect my own valuation of my esteemed ally. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Amhazair]

And a public service announcement: I have reached construction 6, so anyone intrested in buying stuff is free to make me an offer. (Stuff able to be made by master smiths => up to 1A2F3E will be relatively cheap, I do have at least minimal access to most other paths, but much of that will be my pretender who might have other stuff to do, so that might be a bit more expensive. Making offers doesn't hurt though http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif)

[YellowCactus]

Congratz! Amhazair, You did a number on Yomi! More than I could say.
-Yc

I'm out of this game.

[Hadrian_II]

if you are out, could you plz set yourself to AI (as in i forgot to set a master password).

This means that the fearful 3x Bless Mictlan has fallen?

[Sandman]

Amazingly, the Pythium AI is still fighting on. It was down to one province, but now has two and is sieging a third. Whereas Mictlan seems to have run out of juice.

[Hadrian_II]

todays turn will be posphoned for 5h or until i got the turns. in the moment there are 4 ppl missing.

[YellowCactus]

I left Pythium with one province so that it's positive dominion effects would keep my aweful Dominion from affecting many provinces. Yomi's archers did a number on me! And the stale turns really hurt. I'll play some turns here and there. Going Ai in the middle of game play really sucks for allies. I won't go Ai any time soon. Neighbors be warned. Mictlan may turn against you in the future!
-yc

[Amhazair]

Ulm is currently in need of death gems. Payment can be made in most kinds of gems (preferably nature or astral, but others work too) and/or crafted items up to level 6.

[Bluebird]

I am more or less dead with Pan's troops being too resistant to my lightnings. Probably will continue some more fore I switch AI.

[Dimaz]

Seems combined efforts of Ulm, Mictlan, and somewhat less, Bandar Log and Atlantis are finally crippling the mighty goblins. Ulm armies were seen marching through goblin lands, and even sieging castles. Goblins have some surprises left for them, but the economic advantage of Ulm empire is huge, so goblins will soon become history.

[Amhazair]

Wich obviously is as it should be. Goblins are a pest and should be exterminated. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I'm looking forward to your surprises, btw. This is the first MP game I started (even though I have finished a smaller one by now), and watching you has tought me a thing or two about being an annoying pain in the *** when facing superior forces http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Hadrian_II]

Im sorry that i had to rehost turn 34. But Vanheim get his turn in early enough. I suppose its best if you dont look in the old turn, as now every battle might end different.

p.s. in the first variant i got a lab from event, in the new one a lab burnt down (duh)

[Amhazair]

Crap, a new turn? I got a free fort event in a valuable province in the first try http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[calmon]

patch 3.06 is out.

Current turn in 3.04 and after next host upgrade to 3.06?

[Hadrian_II]

i patched up to 3.06 so you might do it too.

[Hadrian_II]

next turn will be delayed until i get enough turns in. (hope it does not take too long)

[calmon]

maybe you could write something about nations which don't send a turn for a couple of time or are set to AI. Because there are no graphs its quite difficult to find out who is playing and who is not.

[Hadrian_II]

The only Nation set to AI is Pythium.
Caelum and Mictlan both had announced that they are beaten, but are still in the game.
Abysia is stalling for 20 Turns now (i forgot to set a master password, and the player did not answer to me) but i will anhillate him in 4 turns.
Ulm and Atlantis are stalling sometimes, but mostly playing.

All otheres are playing regularly (but on this turn i just have 9 turns out of 15 and this is to slow).

Missing for the next turn are:
Abysia, Mictlan, Pangea, Bandar Log, Atlantis and Rlyeh
Bandar Log announced, that he wants to play his other games before this and so has to wait with his turn on this one cause the other games are not patched. (somehow it sounds like he wants this game to wait until every other game he is in has patched to 3.06 :/)

[Hadrian_II]

@Bandar Log: Did your email change, i get errors?

I attached your turn to this post

[Sandman]

The aquatic forces of T'ien Ch'i delivered a fearsome blow to R'lyeh this turn, slaying over two hundred sea creatures and fifty illithids, including the R'lyeh prophet. A pity that this victory was tainted by R'lyeh having a stale turn...

Meanwhile, Shinyuyama strongly resisted an Ulmish assault on their home fortress, using powerful magic that inflicted terrible casualties.

[calmon]

From the main thread:

MA Man Spell "Summon Black Dogs" is missing a description, and it summons 20 Baghests instead of Black Dogs, which is a big problem.

MA Man Spell "Summon Baghests" summons 9 Black Dogs instead of Baghests (spell description would be fine if it actually summonned Baghests, but it doesn't, so it's wrong). Not that big of a deal, compared to the above.


Man player shouldn't use the spell "summon black dogs" in our game. It seems real bugged.

[Reverend Zombie]

Hadrian_II said:
@Bandar Log: Did your email change, i get errors?

I attached your turn to this post



My email has not changed, but it craps out sometimes, thanks for posting the turn here.

You did receive my post-patch turn, correct?

[Hadrian_II]

calmon said:
Man player shouldn't use the spell "summon black dogs" in our game. It seems real bugged.



doh, i would actually be able to spam it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif


Reverend Zombie said:
You did receive my post-patch turn, correct?




Yes i did, why did you get a stale turn???

[Teraswaerto]

I got a stale turn also, and I did send my orders.

[Amhazair]

Sandman said:
Meanwhile, Shinyuyama strongly resisted an Ulmish assault on their home fortress, using powerful magic that inflicted terrible casualties.



True enough, but the magic wasn't worse than could be expected when attacking a capitol full of Bakemono Sorcerers. Wich would seem to imply some of my field commanders (not the high command obviously, the high command is - as allways - flawless) overestimated their own army. If that prophet of mine had survived the battle I would recall him to my capitol and have him severely punished for his failure. Fortunately for him, he's dead.

[Reverend Zombie]

Hadrian_II said:

Reverend Zombie said:
You did receive my post-patch turn, correct?




Yes i did, why did you get a stale turn???



I don't know if my turn was stale, I have not had a chance to play it yet. I was asking because of the problems you mentioned with my email account.

[Hadrian_II]

Teraswaerto said:
I got a stale turn also, and I did send my orders.



now this is strange, i did not get a turn 35 from you, the mail must have been lost somewhere (and emails dont get lost). btw. your turn 36 arrived flawlessly

[Sandman]

When's the next turn?

[Hadrian_II]

turn coming soon

but the last 2 turns there where a lot of stalls, in the last turn there where: abysia (permastalling), mictlan (announced not to play every turn), atlantis (messaged about trouble, wanted me to set him AI [but forgot masterpass]) and machaka & pangea (just stalling)

maybe now the time has come to go to 48h scedule, what do you think??

[Dimaz]

Ok, finally Ulm got me. He has an army Ether Warriors and other funny stuff, so I go AI. Gg Amhazair, hope to play with you again.

[Amhazair]

Obviously last turn's defeat was just a ploy to lure you out of your capitol so I could defeat you in the field, all of it well planned and thought out... *cough*cough*

And my heroic ex-prophet will receive the greatest honors for his sacrifice in making the defeat look real. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif


It was a great fight Dimaz, and I have no doubt we will indeed meet again.

[Amhazair]

About the 48h schedule: While these are exiting times for Ulm, and I'm currently enjoying the pace of the game, and anxiously awaiting each new turn, I do agree that the game is getting more complicated, and would not object to a longer schedule if that's what the others want. (Might give me the time to join another game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif )

[Amhazair]

And as I'm filling the thread with posts anyway: Ulm could use a moderate amount of air gems (about 15 or so) to help out with item forging. We can pay in earth/nature/fire/astral/water gems, and/or items forged with those kinds of gems.

The offer to buy death gems remains open too btw.

[Teraswaerto]

Dimaz said:
an army Ether Warriors



That was supposed to be me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

I'm really unhappy with how this game has been going for me. Poor decisions, miscalculations, and to top it all off 2 stales. First time playing with R'lyeh and can't say that I like them much.

[Amhazair]

Teraswaerto said:

Dimaz said:
an army Ether Warriors



That was supposed to be me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif




Don't worry, I wouldn't call it an army yet, just a squad of 15. You still have time to become THE Ether Lord. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif If you can keep T'ien Chi away from your throat at least.

[calmon]

If we prevent stale turns with a 2 day (48 hour) cycle i'm fine with. Otherwise i would prefer 24 hours for the moment.

[Hadrian_II]

This turn exactly the same People Stalled as before, so i decided that the next turn will be 48h so that i might get info what some of the players are doing.

@Atlantis: Do you still want to quit the game?
@Pangea&Machaka: What are u doing?

btw. Deathmatch Results from this Round:

1. Agharta 4 Victorys
2. Ulm 4 Victorys
3. Vanheim & Tien Ch'i With 1 Victory

Well the next Man fighter will be Better equipped.

btw. Bakemono and Vanheim are now AI, and there are rumours that Ermor is getting big and nasty http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

p.s. nice fight bandarlog arco lost lots of stuff (i suppose there is nothing as nice than watch other people fight themselves http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif )

[Bluebird]

Caelum will also switch to AI soon, after all my provinces been taken over by the evil forces of Pan. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif But I might last one or two more rounds. Thanks for the games folks,

[Amhazair]

I don't want to point fingers to anyone specifically, as I know there can be many good reasons for it. (well-prepared thug just died, fighting a loosing war, some nations were AI, others stalled, and some nations just put more importance on conjuration and/or construction research than others) But if you look at all contenders in the deathmatch I have to admit I'm somewhat disappointed at the number of "well-equiped thugs who might win" that participited.

Again, I don't want to point fingers, and if no one else minds, so be it, but I have to say this makes it very tempting to send a thug costing lots less gems in for the next one.

And also: "All hail Agartha, kings of the arena!"

[Hadrian_II]

Amhazair said:
I don't want to point fingers to anyone specifically, as I know there can be many good reasons for it. (well-prepared thug just died, fighting a loosing war, some nations were AI, others stalled, and some nations just put more importance on conjuration and/or construction research than others) But if you look at all contenders in the deathmatch I have to admit I'm somewhat disappointed at the number of "well-equiped thugs who might win" that participited.

Again, I don't want to point fingers, and if no one else minds, so be it, but I have to say this makes it very tempting to send a thug costing lots less gems in for the next one.

And also: "All hail Agartha, kings of the arena!"



support this

i did not make any "atleast 100 gold and 20 gems" rules cause i consider the participation in the deathmatch as a code of honour so could you next time send something worthy.

well i hope the next deathmatch will have more interesting chalengers, i have now better construction levels than 2 so mine might be able to win. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Teraswaerto]

I had every intention of sending a Gift of Reasoned Thing That Should Not Be, full of ethereal void monstery goodness, but it was not ready due to rather obvious reasons. Only a few turns short but so it goes.

[Hadrian_II]

the next turn will be 48h again, but then i might switch back to 24h as nobody really wanted 48h. So plz protest now if you dont agree. (if nobody rejects it will be 24h from the next turn on).

btw. pangea seems to went inactive too

[ajr]

I apologize for the awfulness of my entry; I didn't realize just how bad Golems were until I saw the thing fight. I was expecting something better for that gem/research investment...

[Sandman]

Sorry for my cheapo entry as well. I just didn't have anything handy, apart from a skull talisman I got by random event.

[calmon]

@ajr
golems are good with items on it. You don't have to apologize, this thing was really expensive alone.

I've to apologize. I plunder my treasure room to build up a commander for fighting a neutral VP province. He lose badly and i lost my complete stuff. I didn't think about the arena thing the last 5-10 turns and forgot to rebuild items.

@hadrian
For the inactive players: Couldn't we find subs for them? Maybe the current players can mail you the passwords. Pangaea seems not the worst nation here and i don't know about machaka player but his nation is big and mighty too.

[Amhazair]

Machaka played this last turn. (He attacked two Shinuyama provinces I happened to be taking at the same time. One of those two armies was led by his pretender, who is now contemplating the fate of his people from the afterlife http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif ) I have no contact with him, so I have no idea if he'll start playing regularly again now or not.

[Hadrian_II]

calmon said:
@hadrian
For the inactive players: Couldn't we find subs for them? Maybe the current players can mail you the passwords. Pangaea seems not the worst nation here and i don't know about machaka player but his nation is big and mighty too.



We have in the moment 4 inactives:

-Abysia: will die the next round, if my armies not fail miserabely

-Mictlan: announced to be beaten and just to hang around a bit

-Atlantis: dont know too much about it as it seems to be on the other side of the map, but might be a candidate for a substitute (is atlantis big or not?)

-Pangea: big enough empire, but at war in the moment

I think i will ask Atlantis & Pangea if they are interested in getting a substitute for themselves.

[Amhazair]

Atlantis is small. My underwater intelligence is limited, but I guess they only have around 10'ish provinces.

[Hadrian_II]

atlantis wants to go AI but his game is broken and i missed the masterpassword so i hope that he sends me his, or atlantis will just be the price for his neighbours.

Pangea did not answer yet, so i might be forced to snatch his lands.

p.s. the next game i'll host will have a masterpassword as this is now the second situation where i would need it.

[Hadrian_II]

about the next turn. i might not be able to host todays turn until midnight CET. And then the next turn will be on sunday evening CET (i will be away sa+so)

[Hadrian_II]

well, im very sorry for mictlan, but his turn did somehow not show off on the turn list so he might got a stall.

[Amhazair]

Has Atlantis been set to AI, or is he playing again? It would be nice to know how to treat them diplomatically http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Teraswaerto]

My advice is to beat the froggies into submission, take their lands and their women (if you are into that sort of thing, if not, get some crabs). It really makes little difference if they've been set to AI or not, they are fit for slaves in any case.

So speaks the tentacled beast of R'lyeh.

[Amhazair]

Teraswaerto said:
My advice is to beat the froggies into submission, take their lands and their women (if you are into that sort of thing, if not, get some crabs). It really makes little difference if they've been set to AI or not, they are fit for slaves in any case.

So speaks the tentacled beast of R'lyeh.



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

Sounds like good advice, I'll think on it...

[Sandman]

With the Eyes of God, T'ien Ch'i sees that Ermor and Ulm are the most powerful nations, with Man and Agartha also strong. Ermor has a wall of fortified cities along the Agarthan border...

[calmon]

The 'wall of fortified cities' is nothing more than to add some income to my nation. The eastern part of the world isn't rich on farmlands and we need such improvments on the few we have.

We don't see the whole world, but we've reports that T'ien Ch'i also be big and mighty. Look at the turn files of the last 10 turns. T'ien Ch'i was very often the king of turn file size http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

(And we were also in war with vanheim and had many battles so battles alone can't explain such a big file http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif ).

[Teraswaerto]

In the likely & imminent eventuality that tyrannous Tien Chi and cowardly Man crush our nation of higher life forms, we shall send all our gems (and there are quite a lot) to Ermor.

If we are gone then the world is fit for ashes and suffering on dark fields of bare bones. In the eye of the void we have seen that Ermor shall bring all this in ample quantity.

Have a nice day. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Hadrian_II]

atlantis is now AI, next thing it looks like caelum went AI too if not, there was just no Turn file for him (what would be strange)

well, we dont see how rlyeh can call us cowardly, or is it just cause our knights entered the waters to crush these strange otherworldly aberations?

[Sandman]

A series of tactical and strategic blunders has seen most of T'ien Ch'i's underwater forces destroyed in a dismal fiasco outside R'lyeh's fortress. Cleaning up the void trash is going to take longer than expected.

[Teraswaerto]

Indeed, the poor cyclops of Tien Chi is now blind, dead and marked as horror food by a wonderful spell "Astral Geyser". Many tentacles are writhing in unearthly joy.

I'll see if I can write a battle report later.

[Hadrian_II]

Its a bad thing to hear that Tien Chis armies have lost one battle, but there is still a war going on and the evil tentaclemonsters just won a phyrric victory. If you push Tien Chi back too far, you will have to face the underwaterknights of man again, and they will crush you for sure.

[Amhazair]

The war under the seas sure appears to be an intresting affair. Pity I have no aquatic scouts http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Hadrian_II]

An other very interesting thing is, that arco and bandarlog are at war and both have 2 very large armys very close to each other, i hope they will meet on a field, where i have scouts.

[Hadrian_II]

i decided no longer to wait for the turns of Pangea and Mictlan, if Mictlan does not like that i might be changed back, but as he does not play regularily i dont think there is too much harm done.

[Amhazair]

Did Mictlan actually send you a turn these past 10-15 turns? I haven't seen anything at all happen overthere. Anyways, he's dead now, so no need to worry.

[Hadrian_II]

he sent his turns very seldom, but he did do it sometimes.
he considered himself beaten a long time ago anyway.

[Hadrian_II]

todays turn is posphoned as ulm and arco are still missing (and pangea). so the next turn will be tommorrow noon (+18h)

[Amhazair]

Damn I must have been just too late. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[ajr]

Hadrian_II said:
todays turn is posphoned as ulm and arco are still missing (and pangea). so the next turn will be tommorrow noon (+18h)



I'm sorry I was late today; I'm sick and only just woke up. I should have my turn in soonish.

[Amhazair]

I hope you won't be playing in a state of feverish delirium where you go around attacking everything that moves... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Sandman]

Someone sent a couple of Ashen angels at one of our strongpoints. I'm not angry, I just want to know who did it.

[Hadrian_II]

turn posphoned a bit, tien chis turn is missing. i will turn in 3h (or when i get the turn)

[Sandman]

Sent it.