Mid Era Orania (STARTED)

[DrPraetorious]

Since I got eliminated from my own mid era game, I'm starting another one (yes, that one will keep running.)

My fair-site script now changes the neighbors of a start site so that they are always large and site-rich, and never swamps, wastelands or deep seas. It doesn't change the graphics, obviously, so this can be anti-aesthetic in some cases - it also changes the gem income balance somewhat but I think it's an acceptable tradeoff, overall.

At the moment, I can't generate wrap-around maps randomly - I'll start a late age game on such a map as soon as that is possible.

In the interim, I'll be starting a second midage game on a fair-start-ified version of Orania. I'll be treating Orania as a "large" map, so there are 10 start sites, each of which has 7 neighbors, with at least 3 provinces on the shortest path between them. *One* is an ocean start.

If at all possible I'd like to start with a blitz, since this otherwise promises to be a very long game - we will upload pretenders and blitz the same evening.

If anyone objects to the Orania default specials I'll remove them - otherwise I'll leave them in.

It will be set at my standard 125% richness level - 125% gold/resources/supplies, 50% site frequency. 15 hall of fame entries, victory by victory points, renaming will, yes, be allowed. Personally I like to leave score graphs on, since they produce much speculation, which in turn leads to paranoia and malice. I'm fine with using the worthy heroes mod (even though it doesn't give Ermor any more heroes http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif) but I don't want it to be a logistical problem.

Okay, it appears that next Sunday, Dec 10th, will be the blitz, at or around 2PM Eastern Time. Does anyone need to start later in the day?

Called positions:
TNDP - Ermor
Evilhomer - R'lyeh
UninspiredName - Tien Chi
Stages Sanctus - Shinuyama
Tyrant - Caelum
Catquiet - Vanheim
FAJ - Marignon
Reverend Zombie - Man
Baalz - Arco
Morkilus - Jotunheim

-TNDP

[Evilhomer]

I'm in as R'lyeh

may i suggest the following:
-Only own score graph
-Worthy heroes 1.5 mod

[UninspiredName]

I'll be Shinuyama and am against the Worthy Heroes mod, though I'll use it if I'm outvoted.

And thank you so much for finally starting a game! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

EDIT: Might I suggest renaming allowed?

[Strages Sanctus]

I am interested, although I am running with the patch, is that a problem?
I am new to MP and have not played with the heros mod so I can't offer a vote either against or for it.

Not sure what nation I will have a look today and edit my post.

[Tyrant]

I'll take Argatha please, and I like Worthy Heroes. One thing though- I may or may nt be able to blitz, it depends on what night of the week it happens.

[DrPraetorious]

I can blitz any night next week (week of December 12th).
If people could specify which nights of the week they are available to blitz - the blitz should start around 6pm eastern time if it's on a weekday, or around 2pm eastern time (which is evening in Europe) if it's on a weekend.

[Tyrant]

I can blitz Mon, Tue, Thur, or Sunday at those times.

[Strages Sanctus]

Sunday would be best for me as far as blitzing goes, being in the Pacific Standard Time zone I am still at work 6pm Eastern time during the week.

[Catquiet]

I'd like to join as Vanheim. 6pm on a weekday or 2pm on weekends will be fine for me blitzwise.

[FAJ]

Sign me up for Marignon.

Anytime in the late evening (EST) is fine for me blitzing.

[Reverend Zombie]

Man, please. Can probably blitz weekdays or weekends at times indicated.

[UninspiredName]

I can probably blitz any night but saturday.

[Tyrant]

I'd like to switch to Cealum please (was thinking Early age when i called Argatha)

[Strages Sanctus]

I will be Abysia...

Edit I will have to reconsider Abysia. The age effects really hurt my playstyle heh.

[yes I am a newbie]

[Morkilus]

You only hire old men? (I tend to do that with BE Ermor, too... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif)

[DrPraetorious]

Strages - you tend to actually lose about 10% of your mages to old age. It's a real penalty, and with bad luck (losing a mage with a key 10% pick or something) it can be devastating, but it shouldn't be a dealbreaker. Mid era abyssia has some shortcomings but the old age is not their problem.

[Tyrant]

Yea, Aby is also a first rate Blood nation and can make those spiffy anit-ageing boots.

[Strages Sanctus]

Aye so far I am sticking with them. Although if nobody else picks a water nation I will play a second water nation, otherwise we will only have one.

[UninspiredName]

Actually, if it's okay, I think I'll change to Oceania. Dai Bakemonos are alright, but I don't like their magic.

[Strages Sanctus]

That works great for me since I would like to play Shinuyama http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

SO that makes it
Called positions:
TNDP - Ermor
Evilhomer - R'lyeh
UninspiredName - Oceania
Stages Sanctus - Shinuyama
Tyrant - Caelum
Catquiet - Vanheim
FAJ - Marignon
Reverend Zombie - Man
??? - ???
??? - ???

[UninspiredName]

Which begs the question, do you think anyone else is coming? It's been a while...

[Baalz]

Oh, I'll take C'tis for a whirl.

[FAJ]

I was under the impression that C'tis was bugged in middle era, because Miasma hurt them as it shouldn't.

[DrPraetorious]

R'lyeh is also a water nation, so you can't be Oceania. Available nations are - Arco, Pythium, Ulm, Mictlan, T'ien Ch'i, Machaka, Agartha, Abysia, Pangaea, Jotunheim and Bandar Log.

[DrPraetorious]

It hurts indies that you hire but I don't think it hurts your stuff. Certainly I know people who've had a lot of success with mid era C'tis.

[Strages Sanctus]

So only one water nation allowed?

Edit: I have had no problem with Miasma vs the AI. Your indy recruitment is indeed blown, but the hire anywhere blessed snakes kicks gluteus maximus.

Edit: As does the income boost for miasma. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Sick.gif Apparently this is bugged? I didn't notice but then again I doubt I would know either way. I was just never short of cash I guess.

[Reverend Zombie]

DrPraetorious said:
It hurts indies that you hire but I don't think it hurts your stuff. Certainly I know people who've had a lot of success with mid era C'tis.



The disease aspect works correctly, but I think the economic aspect is not. Miasma dominion is supposed to increase C'tis income (& hurt that of its enemies). Currently, C'tis is getting an income penalty for its own dominion, too.

[Morkilus]

I'll fill it out with Jotunheim if we are still blitzing on Sunday. Or if we're not blitzing at all; any other time is probably not okay.

[UninspiredName]

Well, if there's only one Water nation allowed, I'll take Tien Ch'i. Usually two's encouraged so Water Nation 1 doesn't have too easy a time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Tyrant]

Orania has room for about 1 1/2 water nation. The one guy will have it easy, but two would be tight.

I think the Reverend has it right about Miasma.

How long are we planning for the blitz?

[Evilhomer]

Just curious....

you said the map don't has wrap around anymore, does that mean the 2 water regions aren't connected anymore ?

[Baalz]

Alright, thanks for the heads up re: Miasma, I guess I'll go with Arco then.

[Strages Sanctus]

If wraparound is off then those water areas have no direct connection. Unless the map has been substantially altered from the original version I am looking at right now.

[DrPraetorious]

Orania *does* have wraparound, which is why I'm using it.

*Random* maps do not have wraparound.

The rational for having only one water player:
There are 259 land provinces. That's 29 per land player.

Then there are 20 water provinces.

I think it's clear you can't have two water startsites.

[FAJ]

If we are starting sunday, could we have the server info?

[DrPraetorious]

IP - 160.39.37.114
Port - 11113

[FAJ]

I can't connect to that. is the server up yet?

[DrPraetorious]

The game is now open to upload pretenders. I'll see you all tomorrow afternoon (eastern time, US.)

[Votan]

I would like to play Abysia, please.

[DrPraetorious]

Votan - if someone else doesn't show, you can upload and play. Otherwise, the game is full.

[Morkilus]

Something came up and I can't blitz today. I'll send a PM to Votan to let him know the slot's open.

[Baalz]

Did somebody reach Votan, or is a slot still open? My brother can fill in and is free today.

[DrPraetorious]

If, at 2:00 (that's a little over 2 hrs from now), there are still slots open, have your brother upload a pretender.

[Strages Sanctus]

I uploaded a pretender for pangea http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif sorry for the last minute change.

[Evilhomer]

ehmn..

the map is a modified version of Orania right ? where can I dl this modified version ?

[UninspiredName]

I'm really sorry, I'm going to have to cancel. We have a relative who's a bit, let's say unpredictable. We've been informed she'll be here in two hours. Again, really sorry.

[DrPraetorious]

It uses the same tga file. Here's the map file, if you want to take a look at it.

[DrPraetorious]

If we don't have ten people at 2 PM - it appears we'll have no shortage of slots for late arrivals - I'll fill it out with computer players.

[Die51]

I'll fill in for missing folks. I'd prefer Ulm.

[DrPraetorious]

Go ahead and upload a pretender.

[Tyrant]

Looks like we have 8 right now

[DrPraetorious]

People have another hour to show up. I'll start the game at 2 PM even, but it'll take me a minute or so to switch to text mode, so don't worry if you can't connect at exactly that second.

[Baalz]

I'll go ahead and have my brother upload.

[UninspiredName]

Change of plans, she's only coming for a very brief while. like I said, unpredictable... At any rate, I should be able to play.

[Tyrant]

How long are we going to blitz?

[Sheap]

Do you have the ten players you originally wanted?

[FAJ]

I can blitz as long as it takes. Classes are over till the 18th of jan! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[PeteZOR]

Hey guys I'm Baalz's brother, I am going to upload a pretender for bandar log

[FAJ]

I think we have 8-9 out of ten

[Sheap]

looks like petezor is filling one of those slots and Uninspired has reclaimed his original spot.

[FAJ]

not all the players have responded to this thread lately. You may still be needed if a non-vocal player doesn't show up.

[Die51]

It appears the server went down? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Catquiet]

The game has started.

[FAJ]

we are missing man, caelum and pangeae

[Reverend Zombie]

I'l be there in a minute, please wait...

[Strages Sanctus]

what is the indy strength set to?

[DrPraetorious]

The default. 4.

Waiting for rev....

[UninspiredName]

Um... Dumb question, but I can't seem to find the IP address in this thread. What address do I connect to? >.<

[FAJ]

IP - 160.39.37.114
Port - 11113

But we already started

[DrPraetorious]

Dynatherms Connected! Infracells Up! Megathrusters Are Go! Let's Go Voltron Force!

[DrPraetorious]

UI, sorry, I didn't notice that you'd reclaimed your spot http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

My bad.

[UninspiredName]

No worries, I'll try starting one of my own later. (Considering how much help I'm needing on this one, don't expect it to go smoothly. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif )

[Strages Sanctus]

heh it is very different playing multiplayer. Much more nerve wracking when to commit to a decision.

edit: server go down? or is my connection bad?

[FAJ]

Less so in a blitz, you dont have hours to have it linger in your mind http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[FAJ]

server went down?

[DrPraetorious]

Just a second while I make sure I'm not running this game on two ports at once....

[DrPraetorious]

Sorry. had an extra insance of dominions 3 running. Should be smooth sailing from here on out.

[FAJ]

I just realized that i forgot death scale increased the damage of old age. My old men!!! Noooo!

[Strages Sanctus]

I lost connection when trying to submit turn... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Die51]

Man, who is playing Pang? Scores for him are quite nice http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[DrPraetorious]

Stages - sorry about that, you can reconnect now and it'll submit just fine.

[Strages Sanctus]

Is there an in game message system?

nevermind I rtfm

[FAJ]

why does my prophet choose to cast blessing, instead of smite, after he has cast his scripted 'divine blessing'?

[Strages Sanctus]

This turn I guess I find out if man is upset with me being so close to his home province.

[Strages Sanctus]

is it set to autohost when all turns are in?

[FAJ]

Kind of a weird question to ask on the 9th turn

[Die51]

Man, this is not my game. Got my gem flow goin nicely, but elsewise I'm not doing too well http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[FAJ]

I keep getting pairs of random events, always +money and a +unrest one.

[Strages Sanctus]

hehe FAJ I meant is it being done manually or not because I was staring at a screen of completed turns but no new started. i think it is my shoddy charter internet at fault.

[Strages Sanctus]

doh I forgot to change my script..oops lol

[Strages Sanctus]

My troop picks are like kids cereal. All filler no substance :O

[FAJ]

Pangeae has pretty weak troops to begin with.

Im trying a new strategy, of going 80% knights. I can't wait for this to crash and burn http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif.

[Strages Sanctus]

I blew my load against man in a foolish move. Funnily enough I am never so aggressive in SP hehe.

[Reverend Zombie]

Sorry for the hold-up, I was temporarily booted off the computer. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

[Baalz]

That's quite an interesting graph for Ulm's gem income...

[Strages Sanctus]

pan sandwich is served.

[DrPraetorious]

I don't actually know when Marignon sent that message, but the server will be down very briefly once the blitz is over - it'll be back up again in a few hours, and I'll leave it on all week.

It'll be set to quickhost, so we should be able to get in a turn here and there - now that things have started to heat up, people will want more time for their turns anyway.

[Reverend Zombie]

I'm done for the day, too.

[Tyrant]

That was fun, thanks all, and thanks for hosting Dr. P!

[Baalz]

As the new gods began awakening the constellations have aligned and we began a series of strategic expansions. First we encountered the ape savages, but they appeared peaceful enough so we paid them no mind as we consolidated the riffraff territories around our capital. Next we encountered strange bird-men, and when we both attempted to take the same neutral province simultaneously, a pachyderm showoff occurred as our mighty war elephants were mirrored by a large herd of woolly mammoths. Our forces proved more tenacious, as the bird-men routed quickly with few casualties.

Next we encountered the nation of Pangea. Our astrologers noted patterns in the stars which indicated Pangea was having problems, so this seemed a good time to remove this threat to the west. We pushed forward, and indeed encountered very light resistance. Feeling that things could not continue to go so smoothly, I ordered a large invasion force to be commissioned and set forth immediately to completely conquer the lands of the half-men.

Our initial forces came upon the fabled homeland of Pangea, and immediately lay siege to their fortress. Here there did prove to be a bit sterner resistance though, great hoards of Meanads swarmed forth like hornets as a large cabal of pans showered arcane doom down upon us. Our elephant corps inflicted grievous casualties to the maddened women but in the end there proved just too many of them.

This proved to be only a momentary setback however, as our main host arrived at the gates mere months later. This force was so overwhelming, the remaining pan saw the hopelessness of the fight and abandoned their home province.

We prepared to pause and consolidate for a while, but this was not to be. It seems the nations of Man and Vanheim have conspired against us, for the very next turn our border was assaulted in a massive wave. A huge host from Man seized our recently captured citadel in Pangea, and stealthy Vanheim Vans began raiding our lightly defended provinces.

Fortunately our mighty war host remained near Pangea, and returned to relieve the siege. The host from Man was indeed huge, but it proved no match for the thundering wall of raw power that was the pride of the Arcoscephale army. Our war elephants made many a widow that day, blasting through their knights and tossing their heavy infantry around like toys. They barely slowed as they barreled straight through to the longbowmen, who stared death in the eye and refused to break until they were slaughtered near to the man.

Now a dark chapter is beginning as we prepare to deal with the Vanheim nuisance while conquering the lands of Man now that their armies are defeated. We have noted a disturbing mass of R’lyeh troops along yet another of our borders, so we prepare our defenses in that direction as well. I fear there will be much bloodshed in the near future.

[Catquiet]

Vanheim merely wishes to share the benefits of democracy with the people of Arcoscephale. (One Van, One Vote). A few misguided arcos may resist, but in the end Vanheim shall prevail, for we have the power of God and alliteration on our side.
-------
"Verily, our Vanjarls and Vanadrotts shall vouchsafe the virtues of victory, for they are both versatile and vigorous"
V for Vanheim

[Tyrant]

Nice posts Baalz and Cat.http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Baalz, I have to say you are a very amusing writer for somone with such a juvenile screen name.

Could we perhaps get an updated list of the players and nations? I'm a bit confused about who ended up playing what.

[Evilhomer]

What happened to pangea ?

[Die51]

For reals. I have a nail biting war going on againt Ermor, and I am running out of my fingers at this point http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Strages Sanctus]

I tried connecting last night around 6pm PST and had no luck. My pretender and last remaining commanders are holed up in a single province so there is not much I can do. Staling would be the same as what I would do anyway unless I throw myself at a surrounding province http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Edit. I still would have loved to play my turn to send some messages and feed my remaining gems in apology to another nation.

[Evilhomer]

your turn is still not up since there is no quick host, so just finish it asap.

[Baalz]

<edit>
Nevermind, didn't see the post from Pangea

[Strages Sanctus]

I won't be home until 6pm PST 8 hrs from now. I won't be offended if you want to host so people can take their next turn.

[DrPraetorious]

Stages:
I have the master password, so I just took your turn for you. Doesn't look good http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Turn 25 is now up.

[Strages Sanctus]

thanks, aye at least I am protecting the Oak tree as my last gasp as pangaea http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Die51]

Intercepted letter from Ulm to Ermor:

I say this in the utmost respect and disgust for your people.

"Ow."

-The Ancient One

[DrPraetorious]

He drinks deeply of the crisp, cool air at the peak of the mighy iron fortress of Ulm.

"Victory!" he proclaims over the rolling mountain peaks and green valleys. All the power of ulmish industry is now *his* to command, the prophet of the True God, Knife Bright Insight!

At this moment, a voice roars from the clear air.

--Prophet! Return thou eastward with dispatch! The vile forces of the false God of R'lyeh march to our very gates!--

A moment later the voice is gone.

The prophet cries out in rage. He pulverizes a bit of stone from the damaged battlement in a black gloved fist. "Centurion!"

"Yes, mighty one?"

"The legions march eastward. R'lyeh is preparing to lay siege to the capital."

The centurion stammers, "but, lord, we have all but finished off Ulm..."

"God has commanded this, and we shall obey."

The centurion bows his head. "It shall be as you say, Lord."

Saluting, the lord of the legion heads for the stairwell back into the mighty fortress of Ulm, and bellows for his century. "Praetorians! On your feet! We march!"

[Evilhomer]

Somewhere deep in the halls of R'lyeh..

They will not understand, the smallfolk of the seas and land. He knows what they will say:

"How can we kill that which is already dead"
and
"this task is folly we should have stayed in the seas and prospered".

But then they do not understand the ways of war, and he will say what he always says:

"Find currage, we fight for the glory of mighty R'lyeh and the true god Saabish Kaah."

And what choice did he have? To abandon a friend who is rich in gems and abandon even more lands to the plague of the undead ?

This was not a war he wished for, but R'lyeh will prevail like they always have, and in strange eons like these even death may die.

-from the thoughts of Urnammu, the prophet of the only true god.

[Die51]

A voice is lifted and heard across the lands of Ulm

"The heathens have taken your home, your capital! They use vile magic to raise our fallen as undead minions!

Very well, I say. While they wasted their forces on our castle, our allies from the sea and the air have struck! Their forces are in panic, weeping scared!

We shall show them a whole new level of terror. Rally, my people! March back onto our lands! They took our castle, let it serve as their graves! Not a single infidel may be allowed to escape and harm our freinds of the air and sea. Show them why people near and far regard our soldiers as the finest in this world! Show them the power of the one, true god."

[Tyrant]

Nice writing guys.

Waiting for Pan again.

[Evilhomer]

We always waiting for pan it seems...

[Strages Sanctus]

Are you all in Europe? I am at work again for the next 8 hours
Maybe I have the IP wrong? Is the server up and running at 6-8pm PST?

Sorry http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif same issue as last night. Maybe I wrote down the IP wrong when I changed to play a blitz game...

[Strages Sanctus]

I am trying to connect and having no luck

160.39.37.114
11113

[Reverend Zombie]

No luck for me, either.

[DrPraetorious]

Yeah, I just got back home and I'm wasted - [censored] Bill Gates.

If I have to move it over to one of the Linux boxes I will. Sorry about this, I have no idea what happened to this windows install, it's a new hard drive I just brought like a month and a half ago.

In the interim, my server isn't working - when it's fixed I'll post the new IP address. Sorry.

[DrPraetorious]

Activate Interlock! Dynatherms Connected! Infracells Up! Megathrusters Are Go! Let's Go Voltron Force!

IPaddr: 160.39.37.111
port: 11113

Note that only the last byte of the IP addr has changed.

[Tyrant]

That was fast! Thanks Dr. P.

[DrPraetorious]

Augh! That's what I get for taking a turn while wasted. I left half of my army in the middle of nowhere http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

And I think I'm about to be attacked by a third person, unless that army on my border is strictly there for advisory purposes.... if anyone else wants to attack either the apes or r'lyeh - even if you have no desire to help me - their armies are entirely engaged in trying to divide up my territory.

In fact, I'd be willing to send skull mentors as a bribe to anyone who's willing to snatch up some provinces.

[DrPraetorious]

I am instituting a 48 hr host interval. Obviously I would like for turns to happen more often than that, if possible.

[Baalz]

The mother of all battles was joined this month.

Our campaign against van aggression has been short, but bloody. Initially our mystics were confident that arcane might would stop these fae horsemen in their tracks, but they drastically underestimated the raw power of the Vanheim war machine. As large groups of our scholars struggled to form a communion the mighty van horsemen blasted straight through the ranks of our stout phalanxes and most heinously slew our mages. So fast were these shifty horsemen that the mages had time not even to slay a handful with their arcane strength.

Several bloody months followed where this scene was repeated ad nauseam, with province after province falling in rapid succession. It would seem the van armies were unstoppable. Our only consolation was that many of our best provinces held strong fortresses, within which our forces withdrew in order to formulate a new plan. We were able to fight off the van’s smaller parties through arcane might, but their primary host would ride right over our heaviest infantry without pausing long enough to be properly blasted. This sad series of events culminated in the fall of the great citadel in Arcoscephale itself. Our council of scholars met, and the greatest minds of our time desperately tried to come up with some way to stave off the total fall of our civilization. They came up with a last ditch plan and threw everything they had into reclaiming our capital, for a king who cannot defend his own home is not worthy of being called a king.

The greatest wizards in our empire formed up and marched on the great citadel, protected behind rows of every able bodied man who could be found. The vans contemptuously rode out to break the siege and ride down yet another group of feeble old men. Our army paled, seeing a force over 300 strong, including massive numbers of mighty van horsemen bearing down on their scant 100, all afoot. Sensing Arcoscephale itself hung in the balance our righteous god Baal in a mighty divine stroke broke free of the prison and materialized in this plane before the Vanhiem army, proclaiming that the vans would not pass [ed note: I kid you not, my god broke free this turn and appeared in my home province to lend a hand in this huge battle totally unscritped].

A pregnant pause held on the battlefield as this divine presence was absorbed, then with a cry the van host broke into a charge. Coming to their senses, the Arcoscephale communion quickly began to form. A pair of priestess were able to join the communion through crystal matrixes and quickly began to howl arcanely to summon packs of wolves to our aid, while a pair of mystic pyromancers summoned will ‘o wisps from the realm of fire. This strategy worked beautifully, the wolves appeared surrounding the Vanheim host and the will ‘o wisps flicked around their flanks completely dissolving their charge as the army ran in all directions attacking these new threats. As the Vanjarls blasted lightning at the wolves, our wizards completed their communion and empowerment spells.

A great flock of black hawks descended on us, attempting to break the mage’s concentration. Our ranks of heavy spear were able to easily repel them though as the huge form of Baal the Nataraja stormed back to help them. The vans realized their mistake and attempted to reform their lines, but it was too late. Massive meteors crashed down from the heavens into their ranks, as molten lava burst from the ground underneath, and huge pillars of insidious astral flames burst into existence all around them and huge clouds of spinning blades were sent careening towards them. Insult was piled atop injury as their very own troops began to turn on them when their minds were enslaved by our master astrologists.

Incredibly, the massive van host barreled through this inferno, bearing down upon our communion with deadly intent. Then stepped forward the huge and terrible form of Baal, leading our now heavily enchanted phalanxes to meet this charge with a mighty cry of defiance. Despite the grievous damage inflicted upon them the vans are truly impressive warriors, charging straight through the jaws of arcane hell to engage us. Fortunately, our great communion enabled not only our mages to invoke truly amazing spells, it also allowed unparalleled endurance and they were able to continue the brutal pace of absolute destruction. Even STILL the vans persisted, as Baal lay about himself with all four arms of righteous fury and the very heavens vomited burning death upon them. Just as it seemed they may even yet prevail despite all the fury sorcery could bring to bear, as Baal stood grievously wounded and 70% of our infantry lay dead….the vans broke. Those unholy bastards broke, and broke hard, riding for the hills pursued by the fires of heaven.

Then the other jaw of our plan swung shut, and our secondary, much smaller army invaded the only province to which the vans could flee, preceded by a wave of astrological mind hunts which destroyed the few enemy commanders which were present. Our small army conquered the province without a fight, and slaughtered the vans which tried to retreat from the mother of all battles.

Now, Vanheim, doom is upon you. Baal’s divine fury points at your very heart, and the heavens line up against you. You shall pay for all you have done.

[Catquiet]

"'Ungrateful' is the word that comes to mind. Much gold and many lives have been spent in the effort to bring civilization and order to primitive tribes of Arcoscephale. Yet how are we repaid? With vicious attacks and vile sorcery." -- Granlodner, brigadier general in the Vanheim military

"The dark god Baal, once justly imprisioned for his horrific crimes, has broken free and men of ill intent rally to his cause. Woe unto the lands, that must suffer Baal's cruel footsteps once more. Woe unto the Vans, so many cut down in their prime. Woe unto us all, who must witness Evil triumphant ." -- dying words of Bjarke, high priest of Vanheim, tragically lost in the battle of Arcoscephale

[Tyrant]

"[ed note: I kid you not, my god broke free this turn and appeared in my home province to lend a hand in this huge battle totally unscritped]."

I was wondering why your god was fighting nekkid this late in the game.

[DrPraetorious]

There will be no timed hosting until January. Enjoy Christmas while you can, peons!

[Baalz]

Arcoscephale’s two-front war rages on. The Vanheim generals have proven every bit as tough and resourceful as the vans themselves. Counter, parry, feint, our dance goes on in a desperate struggle of well matched adversaries. After crushing their original army I knew it would be scant time before a fresh wave of Vanheim aggression crested our shores. Though the Arcoscephale great communion was able to slay the majority of Van power, a huge flock of black hawks continue to hold our home citadel, and our mage’s lacking in physical strength are unable to bring the walls down, we suspect stealthy vans are sneaking in to bolster the defense. As we sieged our own home, and watched the Vanheim reinforcements march closer, Man continued to nibble away at our borders completely unopposed. Despite our desperate press against Vanheim, I just could not allow our kingdom to be eroded in this fashion, so while I held the bulk of our power close at hand, I commissioned secondary and tertiary armies to press back along our more distant borders. Our tertiary armies consisted of small squads which pushed south into the land of the apes, to attempt and assist our Caelum friends in bringing civilization to the savages, while hopefully replacing some of the territories lost in our prolonged war. Our secondary army marched north, to deal some long overdue retribution to the armies of Man.

Seeing that much of Man’s strength was composed of powerful, but weak willed elephants, much of the secondary army was composed of astral mages, defended by hoplite phalanxes. As the armies of Man lined up on the battlefield, their powerful longbowmen began to fire from close proximity to their elephant corps, in an effort to soften us up before the elephants finished us off. As their first volley hung in the air, they realized their peril as many of the elephants turned towards the unprotected archers with freshly murderous intent. It was a red rout, with the majority of Arcoscephale casualties being the tragic result of having too few communion slaves to effectively share the strain of all the mind enslaving. Happily, the second engagement with Man went even better, as more communion slaves were sent forth, and now Man’s elephants march back into their territory under new masters. Our army grows with every encounter, though a deluge of seeking arrows fall upon us, presumably Man’s desperate attempt to slow the vengeance which advances to reclaim Arcoscephale land. Happily, our army consists of enough mages that this is no more than a nuisance, our priestesses heal the afflictions of those that survive, and the few that die are replaced quickly.

Meanwhile, our primary forces continue to match stroke for stroke with Vanheim. Seeing that the siege was not progressing, and operating under the strategy of not remaining where our enemy knew us to be we marched to intercept a largish Vanheim army before they could combine with others to overwhelm us, leaving a token force of mercenaries to maintain the siege. This worked even better than anticipated, as our decoy mercenaries were set upon by great eagles equipped with medallions of vengeance, obviously hoping to decimate our communion. Instead, they decimated our militia mercenaries in an all out kamikaze raid. There were no great eagle survivors. One province over, our main army slew and enslaved the bulk of a Vanheim army seiging another of our castles, sadly at substantial loss of life as the Vanheim general has adjusted his tactics to much more effectively target our mages. Powerful troll and dwarvish earth mages create earthquakes and shower us with clouds of blades, deadly to our lightly armored mages. We will need to push into Vanheim land before these strategies are able to be expanded. Thankfully, our god personally leads this army, thus victory is assured.

[Reverend Zombie]

Baalz said:


Seeing that much of Man’s strength was composed of powerful, but weak willed elephants, much of the secondary army was composed of astral mages, defended by hoplite phalanxes....Happily, the second engagement with Man went even better, as more communion slaves were sent forth, and now Man’s elephants march back into their territory under new masters.



Quite nicely done! I respect the power of Enslave Mind as never before.

[Baalz]

Hehe, it works a WHOLE lot less effectively against very magic resistant vans.... But then again, what doesn't? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Probably be a little easier to resist as the fighting leads outside of my strong magic dominion. In our second fight, did you see that one damn elephant...the one who freshly enslaved decided to immediately rout right back through my wizards? *groan*

[Baalz]

Apparently Vanheim feels that a two on one fight it unfair, so they have brought a second ally in against us. First Vanheim’s summoned trolls descended on us and with a mighty double WHAM two earthquakes slew many of our wizards. Our forces were able to still carry the day, but there was substantial loss of life. Before the survivors can pull back for reinforcements Marignon’s pretender god teleports in. The huge burning head of a baphomet appeared in front of our army, and promptly unleashed a firestorm over the entire battlefield. As our troops closed in huge sheets of flame were vomited out, slaying dozens at a time. Thankfully, the brave soldiers of Arcoscephale are made of sterner stuff than the Marignon cowards realized, for they pressed on despite the terrible flames and several mighty blows were struck against the abomination, including one which festered into a disease immediately. Seeing his doom personified as Baal strode up, the cowardly Marignon pretender turned tail and fled. Considering the distance to Marignon territory, I can’t imagine that turned out well for him. The siege of the great Arcoscephale citadel continues…

Meanwhile, the lands of Man continue to fall as we reclaim the lands which were stolen while we focused on the Vanheim threat. Man marshals a huge host of archers and knights, but my generals tell me that they’ve adjusted their strategy and should have no trouble slaying ten thousand more until all our lands are liberated. In the heartland Vanheim raids continue to be a thorn, but our astrologers hunt their minds on the astral currents and slay them whenever they are found. It should not be long before there will be no amount of money that can be paid to convince a raider try and sneak through Arcoscepale lands. Still, this three front war is starting to wear on the people, I wonder how much longer we can carry on.

[Baalz]

Got a message that Bandar Log was defeated, but looks like the server is waiting for him to take a turn...

[DrPraetorious]

Yes, that is odd.... anyway I took his non-turn for him.

Once Caelum sends his turn in I'm taking the server down for routine maintanence and HD backup. It'll be down for 12 hrs or so at most.

[FAJ]

It is indeed unfortunate that the Baphomet was diseased by the one little weapon that struck him. I have placed a massive dunce cap on him and he sits in the corner and awaits feeble-mindedness.

I am upset that he disobeyed my given orders, so to punish him I am sending him against an army of illithids the next chance I get http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif.

[DrPraetorious]

The server will be down overnight.

[Baalz]

Out of curiousity, how is it that he survived? It seems like he would have been lost retreating into enemy territory, that didn't happen?

[FAJ]

The Baphomet has zero movement. He needs to teleport around, so I set him to cast Ritual of Returning as his last given spell. Cuts down on the ownage, because he only gets to stick around for 4-5 rounds, I think he could have wiped out that army, but then he would have been stranded without a lab to move around. I kind of hoped that the one or two swipes that the enemy would get in wouldn't disease him.

Best laid plans... (stupid trolls http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Sick.gif)

[Die51]

The anticipation waiting for this next turn is driving me nuts.
Got a huge battle hanging in the balance consisting of most everything I have. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[DrPraetorious]

Server is back up. That's all you had?

[Die51]

You moved off of my capital. Killed my raiding army, as 'everything I had' raided the then empty province of my capital.

You are good btw. Gotta give you congrats on that. Rocking my world.

[DrPraetorious]

48 hr host interval is now up.

[Baalz]

The fourth and final piece of the axis of evil has shown their hand. An army of the dead march into our territories as Vanheim continues to worry its hold on our neck like a bull dog. The armies of Man march against us, and it is only a matter of time before Marignon attempts more arcane strikes into our empire. Dark times indeed, my friends.

The horns have sounded, and an army marches forth to oppose the walking dead. Behind their vast legions a communion of Therugs hopes to match the power of our own communions, enslaving the will of free men so that they have no more mind than the shuffling long dead they march beside. They are in for a sad shock however, Arcoscoscephale has more than one trick up its sleeve. This battle should be joined in another month or two and, Baal willing, we will push back into the lands of the dead to teach them the lesson that the bloody noses of their allies tell and relieve the press applied to our Ulmish friends.

Good news on the western front. The hosts of Man have had their back broken as their leadership withers under a massive assault of mind hunts, their vine ogres crumble and brave knights left orderless. Everywhere their provinces fall and their castles are stormed as our Caelish allies help us rid the world of this misguided nation. They should be put out of their misery soon. Elsewhere our raiders push into Marginon land in an attempt to aid our aquatic friends in their battle with the fundamentalist zealots. As there come to be less and less lands of Man to conquer, more of our forces will push in and exact some vengeance for the foul sneak attack perpetrated several months past. Hopefully our monstrous allies will then be in a better position to aid in the overall war effort. One last annoyance from Man is the bards which attempt to spread discontent among our lands. Thus far they have been a mere annoyance, but if their numbers continue to grow they may require more of a direct response.

In the heartlands, the tale grows grimmer. With our forces pulled in so many directions Vanheim continues to slowly, methodically, inexorably capture our castles. Their hosts are vast, and their efforts tireless. Once the nation of Man is consigned to the history books and our war heroes return there will be hell to pay, but for the time being the castellans utilize stalling tactics and shell games to slow the advance to a manageable level. Their main host fears to split, so there should be time for reinforcements to arrive as our raiders bloody some of their own homelands. Sadly, we remain unable to recapture the great citadel in our capital as the cowardly Vanir maintain a flock of near 500 black hawks working feverishly to repair any damage to the walls. On other fronts, the van raiders tremble as they once again become the target of the mind hunts. In the time it took to chastise Man they have once again come to infest us like fleas. Ah well, as one master astrologist was heard to say this just makes for a target rich environment.

[FAJ]

Your posts need cliff notes dude!

[Die51]

Cliff notes:

Ermor, Marignon, Man, and Vanheim smell bad.

R'lyeh, Caelum, and Arco rule.

Ulm is kinda pathetic but we like them anyways.

[FAJ]

Phase 1: Marignon layeth the smackdown
Phase 2:
Phase 3: Profit

[DrPraetorious]

QHing is back on.

Sorry about that.

[DrPraetorious]

Server will be down briefly for routine maintanence.

[Baalz]

Not sure if it's a bug, me doing something completely retarded, or something more nefarious, but somehow on both my major battles this turn my large groups of mages got placed in front of my infantry. What a thoroughly depressing turn. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[DrPraetorious]

Nefarious? You have a password set, I assume?

If you put a commander inside the square of a squad, behavior can be erratic. Also, they are relative positions.... it can do strange things.

[Baalz]

Just at a guess, it looks like they got reset to the "default" center position that units are in if you don't move them. I took the turn a couple days ago, so I wouldn't swear on a bible, but I'm pretty sure they were all placed near the back row, inside a large block of chaff (behind heavy infantry). Their actual placement ended up being a good 10 feet in front of any blockers.

Oh well, pretty terrible turn but I'm not quite throwing in the towel yet.

[DrPraetorious]

System maintanence again. Sorry I'm taking so long for my turns, I've had family in town and I'm pretty full up with work.

[Tyrant]

Can we pause the next turn untill Sunday evening please?

[DrPraetorious]

I'm going to Texas for part of next week so I was going to turn off the HI anyway - I'll just turn it off now.

[Evilhomer]

if it's possible try to get a turn in before you leave, haven't been many turns lately, a shame really since its getting really intresting.

[DrPraetorious]

I'll do a turn and another turn before I leave, don't worry.

I expect to be able to play some while in Texas, as well.

[DrPraetorious]

I took my turn.

Caelum is large and unpleasant - although R'lyeh probably has level 9 in every school of magic - and will have, like, hundreds of star spawn magi, I think it's still a priority to take Caelum down a notch. Marignon and I both have astral pretenders and communions of our own, we can deal with R'lyeh when he awakens from his slumber.

Ulm, meanwhile, is rebuilding his forces because I can't send my primary armies down there to crush him http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif. I'll try and take another turn late tonight before I go to bed, and then I'll hopefully be able to take a few turns from my Hotel in Texas - I don't know the internet situation.

--TNDP out

[Die51]

I think I have been fighting a pretty respectible defensive battle here. Been intense for me.

[DrPraetorious]

I have some work to do on the machine, will have to restart several times. I'll post a message here when the new turn is ready (at which point the server will be stable for a while.)

[DrPraetorious]

A new turn is up.

[DrPraetorious]

I'm going to take my turn and then patch this evening. Sorry I'm taking so long but my turns are very complicated.

[Evilhomer]

That is oki, you are fighting on many fronts so that is to be expected.

In my opinion the game is very good, high level of skill as far as I can judge and pretty open as to who will win.

[FAJ]

The depressing part of my war with R'lyeh, is even If I keep killing him in about 515:34 kills:losses, i will still lose http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif.

[Evilhomer]

I must destroy the evil sea of ice spammer =) ...

[Tyrant]

Yea, i too am happy with a slow schedule, my turns are also complicated, this is quite an epic struggle.

As far as victory goes, well, i haven't quite given up hope, but it seems a very distant shore. I suspect Marignon's going to get clobbered, but that would still leave four great powers. Nobody's going to be able to take out R'yleh and the other three of us have very strong defences.

And i agree, this game has the highest overall level of skillfull play of any i have been in. One fish in a game this size is definatly a record, and all of the smaller nations have earned glory points for stalwert and/or creative play. It's a pleasure to be a part of. My only complaint is a lack of write ups since Baalz left. I'm afraid RL is hectic for me, and i have not been feeling creative lately.

[DrPraetorious]

When the server comes back up, it will be patched. Hopefully won't be down long.

[FAJ]

Marignon was cursed with lands nigh-devoid of megical income. I have searched all my provinces, and so little comes up http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif.

I too believe I will be clobbered, but if I had some gems.. o man, that would be some hectic mass damage going on http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif.

But its best I get eliminated, most of my mages are on the verge of dying of natural causes anway http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

[DrPraetorious]

Okay, some people have already patched. I have some work to do and then I'll patch and bring the servers back up. Hopefully the turns taken under the previous patch will still work.

[DrPraetorious]

Server is back up.

I've turned quickhost *off* and raised the host interval to 72h.

This way, people can do bits and pieces of their turn without worrying that it'll host, which will enable me, at least, to actually play faster since I can do a few minutes work on my turn every day.

[DrPraetorious]

I have to restart my machine.

I'll take my turn in the morning - I had too much [censored] to do today and completely forgot about it.

Sorry this restarts the timer - since I'm taking extra time everyone else should as well I will force host tomorrow afternoon (eastern time US.)

[Tyrant]

I had to do a quickie to aviod stale myself, since we are delaying anyway could you wait on the force till about 8pm PST tomarrow?

[DrPraetorious]

Certainly.

[Evilhomer]

server seems to be down

[DrPraetorious]

Sorry about that, failed to bring it back up last night after I got home.

Server is back up and a new turn is ready.

[Evilhomer]

Great battle FAJ, think we had a total of a 100 mages in that battle =), insane amount of spells cast.

Hoping to bring this thread back to life I will show 2 screens from this turn (hope they won't be to large):


http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2310/bild1gn0.jpg http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5774/bild2iq5.jpg

[FAJ]

Yeah, that was pretty epic. Problem is, my guys set to spam pillar of fire decided to cast it on the mistform, fire resistance lobos instead of the big nasties killing my knights.

Really good show, I don't know what i could have done to beat you, you have my nation all wrapped up. I have near full research, but i am too much of a novice to know how to use it (that, and my lands have no damned magic sites!)

So, as a message to all my allies, I will be hold up in my capital as R'lyeh seiges me off the face of the planet. So, I am effectivly out of the game. Good luck!

[Die51]

Oh, I had an Epic battle of my own this turn, interestingly enough.
20 Smiths, gems and magic items all over. Well scripted. 250+ Arbalist, + another 150-200 heavy ulm troops...

Sure win for sure I had hoped.

You are welcome for your brand new army, DrPrae.

-Armyless Ulm

[DrPraetorious]

I'm not sure I can take any more "victories" like those two!

I've taken a Caelumite fortress and erased R'lyehs major offensive army this turn, but my losses were horrendous - and R'lyeh has a second army marching towards Marignon.

Shadow Vestels lie scattered across the battlefields, still and dead! The hosts of the walking dead also lie stilled and unmoving in great heaps. Even my necromancy was not great enough to keep them marching against such a hail of lightning and astral power!

Nonetheless, I lost no mages! So, as soon as a hire (and/or teleport in) replacement troops, I'm back in business, and hopefully Marignon will have some time to recover.

[Evilhomer]

by major offensive army you mean one of my minor armies mainly consisting of loboes.

I got to see the fight at the fortress due to a spy and it was a fun watch tho.

Edit:It's a bit funny to see how many ulm units you have =)

[Tyrant]

We're hoping Fentice is Bandarese for Stalingrad.

[DrPraetorious]

I'm delaying the host so that Marignon has time to put in his turn.

I'll turn him computer and force host sometime tomorrow if he doesn't check in - if other people also need more time to do turns, let me know, I don't want to rush anyone.

[Tyrant]

I'm slacking again mad would appreciate another delay, this game is very time consuming.

[DrPraetorious]

Sure, no prob.

I'll host when everyone feels ready.

[FAJ]

Im real sorry I forgot to post that I would be away with weekend.

Ill have my turn done by sunday night.

[Evilhomer]

Seems we have all finished our turn, mayb host next turn drpre.

[DrPraetorious]

I'm doing something else CPU intensive at the moment. I'll host by 5 PM EST.

[DrPraetorious]

A new turn is finally up.

[Reverend Zombie]

Caelum has finally finished off the remnants of Man to the point where we can no longer hope to be even a minor nuisance to the empire of frosty fliers.

Good game, all! And thank you to our host.

[FAJ]

Marignon will be gone soon as well.

I would like to thank all of you for the enjoyable game.

[Baalz]

Yeah good guys! Kick them in the nuts for me! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Tyrant]

Good game RevZ, thanks, cya next time.

[DrPraetorious]

On the hosting schedule.

Right now I'm planning to host sometime tomorrow afternoon, and again on Monday afternoon.

If anyone needs more time, let me know.

[Evilhomer]

Feel free to host.

[DrPraetorious]

Okay, hosting.

[DrPraetorious]

Woo! I got alteration 8 just in time.

Tyrant is making a play for the win - I'm forced to ask for a temporary true in order to join forces against him. R'lyeh - what are your thoughts?

[Tyrant]

Soooo Dr. P....just to be clear here, did you just teleport 31 S3 mages with astral beanies and astral travel with your god who spent 30ish more astral gems on master enslave ((93+25+30= 145 astral gems) in order to zap one of my two dozen or so nearly identical, instantly replacable, and largely helpless armies?

A spectacular and unexpected move. My guess is you thought i was going for victory and that army was going to strike at the other uncastled VP south of Ulm?

Though it is technicaly possible for me to win suddenly, it would require me to win 5 major battles in a single turn, and that ain't gunna happen. To be honest, i don't really have a plan for winning other than attrition warfare, and my enthusiasm for this match has mostly been buried under the mass of my units. I curse the scripting limit, and i curse the juiced economy!

[DrPraetorious]

My scouts reported that army as considerably larger than the others - and mentioned the seraphs earlier in the list, so I thought it had more spellcasters.

Admittedly, this isn't the most effective means of opposing you - but those astral pearls do me no good wasting away in a vault (and I have lots more.)

In summa - you have 12 such armies, I have enough gems to do that 8 times. Let's rock and roll.

[DrPraetorious]

My machine restarted itself. I'll bring the server back up shortly.

[Evilhomer]

we planing on doing another turn soon ?

[DrPraetorious]

Yeah, I'll try and get one in by tomorrow morning (but will not stale Caelum, obviously).

[DrPraetorious]

I'm getting sleepy and Ulm still hasn't taken his turn.

So I'll push back the hosting until tomorrow night, unless anyone objects?

[DrPraetorious]

Server will be down overnight.

[DrPraetorious]

Is Ulm still playing?

[Evilhomer]

where's that new turn I was looking forward to http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[DrPraetorious]

I don't want Ulm to stale. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

If he doesn't take his turn, I'll set him to CPU and host sometime tomorrow so that people can play over the weekend.

[Evilhomer]

Setting him to AI is a bit extreme

[DrPraetorious]

Very well.

I've got to do a few restarts and such for updates and I need to go get lunch while that's running. The server will be back up (and I'll take a turn) later this afternoon. I'll let Ulm stale once.

[Evilhomer]

cool, well it has been an awaited turn.

[DrPraetorious]

Server is back up.

[DrPraetorious]

I'll try and host a turn this coming weekend - and every weekend thereafter until a winner can be decided?

I'm sorry for the slow pace, I've been doing a lot of work on my mods.

I'll allow Ulm to stale one more turn.

[Evilhomer]

I doubt ulm will show, but I do not the like the idea of having him set to AI, since I belive he plays atleast a minor strategic role of importance (keeping Ermor busy), and he is far from dead.
Best would be if we could find a sub (unless die51 returns that is).

[DrPraetorious]

Specifically I will host the turn on Monday night at 8PM EST. The server will be down shortly thereafter for more updates. I'll be out of town for the next couple of days.

[DrPraetorious]

The server will be down overnight.

I went ahead and set Ulm to CPU.

We should be able to get another turn in next week - is Ty still around?

[Evilhomer]

Has this game died or something, people seem to be dropping off.

[FAJ]

I set myself to ai, too infrequent to be interesting anymore.

[Tyrant]

I'm pretty bored and willing to call it a 4 way tie, but i'll pop off a turn tomarrow if y'all want to fight it out.

[Catquiet]

Tie is ok by me.

[Evilhomer]

I prefer to continue, but whatever.

[DrPraetorious]

I'll host tomorrow night if Ty takes a turn.

People let me know what to do - I'm happy to host the game indefinitely but if people feel it's over (FYI - I have no chance of actually *winning*), I'm also willing to call it.

[Evilhomer]

maybe we could try finding a sub for caelum, since he seem unwilling/bored with this game. His position is good so finding a sub is probably not so hard.

[DrPraetorious]

If Ty will verify that that is acceptable, I'll give the master password to someone and they can sub.

[Evilhomer]

server seems to be down.

[DrPraetorious]

Oh, sorry. Had connection problems earlier today. It's back up.

[Evilhomer]

Ty seems completly unvilling to make his turn - i see no other alternative then to set him ai or finding a sub.

[JayThomas]

Well, if Tyrant doesn't show, I can sub.

[DrPraetorious]

He was going to take his turn during the day on Sunday - and the server wasn't up, which was my fault.

I'll give him a day or two to change his mind - and if he doesn't mind, Jay can take over.

[Tyrant]

Very sorry folks, got some RL issues and did not get to it this weekend (i'm losing my house). I will send in a last turn this evening for sure. Stricktly Rockers has volunteered to sub, i'll contact him and if he doesn't want it JT can take over.

Also, I appologize to all for flaking on this game.

[StrictlyRockers]

Yes, it would be an honor to assume Ty's position as Caelum. I completely understand how RL can sometimes become super busy. And a game that has gone on this long will have a long turn to play each turn.

So I am happy to take over Caelum, but I also reserve the same right if RL gets too overwhelmingly busy. At that point, maybe JT will still be around and still be interested.

I know how good Tyrant is. I have played games against him before. So I know how good he is, and I am very happy to take his position over for a while.

[Tyrant]

I did a turn last night, but it did not qh. I've sent SR the pw and given him a bit of a briefing.

My appologies again for flaking on y'all. I feel bad about abandoning such a good postion, but awhile back it just became homework. Vast armies, all of which fly, and the need to carefully script dozens of mages for any army to have a chance makes for a long turn. If i don't do it all at one sitting i lose focus, i was using a notebook to keep track at the end. I'd have stuck it out if there was an end in sight, but i looks to me like it's 20+ turns for Caelum to win and longer for anyone else.

Thanks to all for the game, it was a good one, and thanks to Dr. P for hosting.

[DrPraetorious]

I have to use remote desktop to host the turn - I'll do that sometime tonight.

Thanks for playing, Ty.

[DrPraetorious]

Remote desktop is acting a little funky and I'm drunk. I'll mess with it in the morning.

[DrPraetorious]

A new turn is up, by the way.

[Evilhomer]

ah, at last =)

[StrictlyRockers]

Holy shnikees!

This is gonna be fun. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Evilhomer]

Just waiting on you now DrPraetorious...

[DrPraetorious]

I just got back home.

Okay, unless anyone objects I'll play a turn and host tonight. I'll try and do two turns a week - Monday and Thursday night. Is that reasonable to everyone?

[StrictlyRockers]

Well, I've gone through four sessions with this turn already. It's hard trying to figure it out and keep things going correctly. I don't think I would make many changes if I had a fifth go at it...

[Evilhomer]

Im curious, if a nation changes player, are agreements still in effect, or are they considered disolved ?

[DrPraetorious]

That's up to the new player - I think people should treach more often as a matter of principle.

[DrPraetorious]

Okay, that was weird. Froze while hosting.

[DrPraetorious]

A new turn is up.

[StrictlyRockers]

"Treach more often as a matter of principle." Somehow that makes sense. In a diplomatic wargame that phrase should not to be considered an oxymoron.

We wouldn't want things to get too boring. Right?

That said, I consider all previous treaties and alliances to still be in effect. This game seems to have had puh-lenty of excitement already.

[Evilhomer]

Im still not able to upload my turn, will try again tomorrow.

[DrPraetorious]

Oh, sorry. Forgot to restart the server last time my machine fried. It's up again.

[Evilhomer]

Still can't connect.

[DrPraetorious]

The machine went down for updates again this morning http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif.

It's back up now.

[Evilhomer]

I made my turn at last, hopefully caelum will make his soon.

[StrictlyRockers]

Ok, my life got very, very busy recently. I was afraid of this happening. I really like this game and I wanted this experience to help me learn all of its aspects quickly. But boy! What a big task Caelum is in this game.

I will do the Caelum turn now, and as often as I can. But other things will have to be a priority for me for a while. These turns take a long time...

[Evilhomer]

Seems quick host is off.

[DrPraetorious]

I was going to go CPU this turn but I'll take a turn and then host. I might have to go CPU next weekend, though.