Mana Burn: Accelerated EA [ LoloMo WINS!!! ]

[FAJ]

Yay, go C'tis!

[Ballbarian]

Having the capital in a forest is supposed to be an advantage, because you get so many extra resources, and it automatically turns what is normally a low-income province into a very high income one.



Resources are set by the nation in the starting province and terrain is ignored. The variation is by what neighbors the starting province has. Most nations start with 80 resources in the capital. (Ulm starts with 100.)

The same appears to be true with population, income, resources and supplies. Supplies may be affected if your units have the survival trait for that terrain. Not sure about that.

(Pardon my lurking http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

[Teraswaerto]

I could really use supply and siege magic items, if anyone wants to help the anti-Niefel effort. Money would also be very useful.

[LoloMo]

A team of Satyrs have been dispatched with an enormous cauldron of Forest Surprise Stew. Only the choicest cuts of squirrel, the juiciest grubs, the crunchiest beetles, the most flavorful wild yams, and a generous dash of properly fermented honey have gone into the preparation of this heavenly stew. May your troops feed well tonight.

[Ironhawk]

I have some seige items I can send to you once I finish preaching out CTis

[quantum_mechani]

The nation of Ulm offer gem incentives to the nations of Pangaea and Marverni to withhold aid from Abysia.

[Ironhawk]

Hahahah, let the auction begin!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif


But seriously tho: isnt Aby the only nation fighting Jotunheim?

[quantum_mechani]

Could be, but despite the fact that Niefel's global killed my god and a hero, they are also the only nation fighting the one sieging my capital, so I wish them the best. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Teraswaerto]

Ulm is down to his home province, under siege. He needs to be broken before I can move the sieging army to the Niefelheim front. That is what the siege items are for, and helping him at this point is helping Niefelheim.

3 of Niefelheim's armies have been wiped out, halting their advance into Abysian lands, but we are under attack by Disease Demons and Leprosy, and it remains to be seen how much of an effect the Looming Hell will have on moving into their dominion. The cold certainly will make things hard, and with Illwinter even provinces in Abysian dominion are starting to have cold scales.

If someone else could attack them, there would probably be little resistance.

[Boron]

Ballbarian said:

Having the capital in a forest is supposed to be an advantage, because you get so many extra resources, and it automatically turns what is normally a low-income province into a very high income one.



Resources are set by the nation in the starting province and terrain is ignored. The variation is by what neighbors the starting province has. Most nations start with 80 resources in the capital. (Ulm starts with 100.)

The same appears to be true with population, income, resources and supplies. Supplies may be affected if your units have the survival trait for that terrain. Not sure about that.

(Pardon my lurking http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )


Yeah as Balbarian says.

Only flames from the sky and murdering winter are worse then beckoning i think.

Another disadvantage is that someone could use my capitol as fairy trod target.

Don't take my lamenting too serious though, after all i am a german. So if i stop to lament it would likely be more serious http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif.

[Boron]

Mictlan offers gems to anyone seriously attacking Arco.

We pay 100 gems, mostly water, earth and nature gems as incentive.

Arco has about 100 wind riders in troll woods with 200 support troops, their god and some equipped strong oreads and i killed at least 50 wind riders a few turns ago, so attacking Arco should be very beneficial and not so difficult.

If you are interested pm me, then we can debate how and when to pay the gems in detail. If it is a really serious full force attack on Arco i am even willing to pay more gems http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[GameExtremist]

Mictlan begins a war but needs others to finish it?

100 gems isn't worth facing my efficient and highly mobile armies. Somewhere between 500 and 1000 would be a fairer price. Actually we'd prefer Mictlan didn't give any gems away as we believe them to be ours once they have been defeated.

The fallen wind riders will be honoured for the slaughter of 600 or 700 hundred Mictlans.

Indeed follow Mictlans lead and attack us, their nation has clearly reaped the rewards from their aggression - they have the 2nd largest army yet fear to leave their capital.

Tell your soldiers not to worry, we'll be their to join them soon : )

[Malthus]

As he mentioned earlier, Abysia's mages have already disintigrated my armies. Destroy me (Neif) if you want, but it seems cruel to ask for seige items to defeat Ulm and claim that's for a fight against Neifelheim.

[Teraswaerto]

Stopping your invasion does not equal defeating you, or more importantly, being able to kill the caster of Astral Corruption.

[Boron]

GameExtremist said:
Mictlan begins a war but needs others to finish it?




That's not true, you started the war. We only heeded the call of our neighbor Ermor whom you brutally attacked http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif.

Since we are desperate we increase our offer though. We offer not ally all gems we have (nearly 200) but also our vasallage to the nation that kills Arco http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif

[Malthus]

I understand (and agree) that stopping Neif's invasion doesn't mean defeating Neif and ending Astral Corruption.

That said, it's absurd to ask for seige items to kick Ulm's *** so that you can come after me. If Neif is the real threat, stop bothering poor Ulm and attack the giants. No one should be giving you items to harass a nearly defeated player (who didn't cast any annoying global enchantments). They should just attack Neif.

[Teraswaerto]

Yeah, I'm sure Ulm will happily stay in their capital doing nothing if the army moves away. Surely it will not help you if Ulm starts taking our provinces. We bow before your wisdom.

I would much prefer it if someone else attacked you, but as there seems to be a reluctance to do that, helping Abysia is an easy no risk way to hinder Niefelheim. Ulm be damned.

[Ironhawk]

I'm not reluctant at all. Just distant.

Does Yomi border Neifelheim? Maybe I will attack them when I'm done w/ CTis so I can get a border with Neif.


And again: does anyone know a player willing to take over Yomi? He's staled like 3 turns in a row now.

[LoloMo]

Pangaea is sending troops to scour the Mictlan countryside for the vagabonds that accosted our Dryad Priestess and her consorts. We will leave no stone unturned!

[Kydorias]

Ironhawk said:And again: does anyone know a player willing to take over Yomi? He's staled like 3 turns in a row now.

I think he left because he ran out of provinces to build castles in.

[Sensori]

No, he was at #dominions in GameSurge and told us that he went to play WoW and lost all interest in Dominions.

But I guess I could take over Yomi if no one else wants to, just don't expect too inspired playing because I'm not big on the Yomi front.

[Rathar]

Not that anyone is asking but the "I am interested in another game entirely.." has got to be just about the lamest excuse I've heard in a while!

Please, someone, anyone take over Yomi. Graph wise they seem to be in an excellent position.

Rathar

[GameExtremist]

Actually very early on Ermor refused our offer of a NAP, which led us to believe that there plans with our nation did not involve peace. A logical conclusion yes?

So we came to Pangaea's aid in their war against Ermor of whom we did have a NAP with, at this point with no dialogue, your nation attacked us, and hasn't won a battle since.

Hmm, we lost 36 Soldiers last month...their slaughter of nearly 1000 of your troops shall be honoured.

For your continued war mongering we shall not rest until every last one of your blood thirsting minions are burnt for their crimes.

[Malthus]

You are, of course, correct.

<sarcasm>It is in all the other players' best interest to ensure that you have an unassailable lead, secure borders and extra magic items before helping you take another large swath of territory by conquering Neifelheim.</sarcasm>

[Ironhawk]

Rejoice!

Sensori has agreed to take over Yomi http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PashaDawg]

Ok!

[GameExtremist]

Good good looks like hes got an unfriendly neighbour in the form of Kailasa.

[Sensori]

Kailasa and Niefelheim (yes, I consider Astral Corruption to be unfriendly ;p). I kind of see why the player of Yomi left really, with Astral Corruption up there's very little you can do, save fighting, and even that's hampered by it.

Bleh! ;p

[GameExtremist]

Well, its not too bad, I've been casting plenty of spells and the odd item here and there, just make sure you give those mages who need it a strong honour gaurd to fend off the horrors.

[Sensori]

I'd like to remind everyone that I have NO IDEA of the diplomatic situation that's been before with the Yomi, because the old player has disappeared into the thin air. And now I'm being told that people have attacked Yomi before and I'm supposedly at war and... Such things. All these are news to me, and I don't aim to pursue any possible wars that may or may not have been going on before. I have no idea why they were started and the sorts, so they don't matter to me.

And as I told a certain someone who said he's going to attack me, expect me to act erratically and possibly irrationally in the context of the game if you attack me based on something that happened before I took over Yomi. As a result, any attack done on the nation will be seen as an unprovoked one - and may have some unpredictable consequences, not to mention may cause... Vindictive behavior.

[PashaDawg]

The Great Pretenderate of Sauromatia has NO CHOICE but to attack Yomi. It is indeed unprovoked, but we are in a corner. We either attack or start knitting sweaters. ONWARD!!!

[Malthus]

To secure peace for Yomi, Nefeilfeim would be glad to donate to the sauromancers several bushels of our finest yarn with which to make sweaters for the disturbingly cold weather.

[Ironhawk]

Woo hoo!!!

CTis is finally dead. This war definitely did not amount to my finest hour :}

[Kydorias]

Sensori said:
Kailasa and Niefelheim (yes, I consider Astral Corruption to be unfriendly ;p). I kind of see why the player of Yomi left really, with Astral Corruption up there's very little you can do, save fighting, and even that's hampered by it.

Bleh! ;p

Frankly I don't understand at all what Kissblade was trying to accomplish with Yomi. His tactics and strategy were unfathomable to say the least. I wasn't sure what would happen with Yomi, and I deemed it necessary to take down as much as Yomi as possible in case Yomi went AI and thus unpredictable.

[Ironhawk]

I'm in a position to Dispel the Astral Corruption now if anyone is interested?

[Ironhawk]

Still only had one taker on the Dispel attempt. Does no one else care? You'll be able to cast spells and forge to your hearts delight. Just think of it!!

What are you going to do with all your astral pearls, anyway? You arent going to be forging lots of astral trinkets, thats for sure.

[Teraswaerto]

I'll send what I have, but it's not all that much.

[Ironhawk]

You are already fighting Neifel, arent you? Doesnt make sense to take gems away from you when you could apply them directly to killing the caster.

I think, as before, there is just simply not enough interest in taking down Corruption. If anyone has sent me gems I will just refund them back. We will just have to wait until Neifel is dead.

[Teraswaerto]

Just received word from Agartha that they will attack me as soon as NAP notification runs out... Doubt Niefelheim will die any time soon.

[Ironhawk]

Is everyone fine with me patching the server to 3.08? If so, I will do it tonight.

Until then, tho, do not attempt to connect with a 3.08 client!. Either copy your dominions3 folder and patch that exe or just wait until the server is patched before you patch yourself.

[Ironhawk]

Actually I decided to patch the server after the current turn so that it won't upset the turn timer cycle too much. Expect it to happen around 9am PT.

[Rathar]

Agartha has finally discovered the TRUE THREAT, Mictlan, hiding behind the borders of Abysia and so to reach them Abysia must fall!

Our previous plan to reach the Perfidious Mictlanese through Vanheim and C'tis ended in failure when C'tis was slain before we could move through them! That lot of strategic planners have been entombed inside brick walls to await their eventual rebirth as Umbrals.

Rathar

ooc We quite vividly see Abysia slicing through the Giants with rapidity and fear becoming more than half encircled by a nation with 3 capitols at their disposal and well..

[PashaDawg]

I was just trying to connect to upload my turn (using 3.06), and the server seems to be down.

[Kydorias]

I can't seem to connect either.

[Sensori]

Same, can't connect.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah. Unsurprisingly, someone attempted to connect using 3.08 before the server was patched and it crashed. It does appear that the turn generated before that tho, at 4:23am PT.

Server is back up now and patched. Feel free to use 3.08 now.

[Kydorias]

What the heck? I know I played my last turn. Now why did I stale?

Ah well, nothing lost but some time.

This thread is way too quiet. What's going on? Where's all the smack talk? Looking at the graphs, things are relatively quiet.

[Rathar]

I think folks are afraid of talking smack etc for fear that it will attract the attention of horrors!

I am still rather underwhelmed by Niefelheims set of globals, at least as compared to the last game Ironhawk hosted where Ermor cast a series of thematic globals and it was GAME OVER for all of us. Niefelheims are merely an irritation and not too huge of one either!

Rathar is shooting for 20 deaths btw!

Rathar

[LoloMo]

Pangaea's priests are currently hiding inside their temples reading their holy texts over and over again praying the horrors don't come knocking =)

[GameExtremist]

Although you know you have one tough mofo when they consistently defeat bigger and bigger horrors.

[Rathar]

Hey LoloMo..!

Coincidentally enough I am getting married June 17th and we are going to honeymoon in the Philippines! Any tips?!

We are planning on at least a month (tis a honeyMoon after all!) and are quite adventurous, albeit not Abu-Sayef level of adventurous..

Rathar

[LoloMo]

Depends how much you have to spend =)
Palawan El Nido is among the top beaches in the world. It's pretty safe now, since that incident a few years back, the government and private sector have beefed up security and according to newspaper accounts, Abu-Sayaf forces have been more than halved due to continuous military operations against them.

Boracay is another one, safest place to be. Its the summer capital of the Philippines haha.
Puerto Galera is another alternative, probably the cheapest of the three mentioned.
If you want to be adventurous, Cebu area is pretty safe. Don't go adventuring in Mindanao area. And check with your travel agent =)

[Sensori]

You know, I don't seem to be able to connect into the server. Wut is up?

[Ironhawk]

Server went down sometime last night and I didnt notice it till now as i just got back in. Should be good now. Try connecting again.

Only aby and neifel are out, presumably because they couldnt connect?

[GameExtremist]

The blood nation of Mictlan is no more - its foul pretender a pool of blood having had it's foul dominion quenched by the great pretenders of Arcoscephale and Pangaea.

Her great armies shattered by Arcoscephale and its cursed vampire hordes kept at bay by Pangaea's hordes of screaming women.

OOC - Nice game Boron, it certainly made my game a challange for the last 20 turns or so. Thanks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[LoloMo]

May the ancient Vampires of Mictlan finally find the eternal rest that have so long eluded them.

[Ironhawk]

Has anyone else noticed how brutally Agartha appears to be crushing Abysia? If abysia collapses that would mean Agartha would control 4 VPs for the win...

[Teraswaerto]

Yes, collapsing. It's not that Agartha is doing much, but war against Niefelheim + surprise attack by Agartha = defeat.

[Ironhawk]

Niefelheim is still kicking? I heard that Kailasa was fighting them too

[Teraswaerto]

In any case, the Abysian invasion army was wiped out. There was a stale on my part, but I doubt it made much difference. I still see giants, and disease demons flap about.

[LoloMo]

The Nation of Pangaea has at last come upon the borders of Niefelheim and will be commencing troop operations in the area. Hopefully, this will take the pressure off the Abyssians and allow them to concentrate on the Cave Dwellers.

[Rathar]

I feel bad about the staleing by Abysia and didn't attack this turn, except very minorly as a result.

The strategic situation up there in abysia/agartha is such that Agartha may well be able to gain three capitols but 4 is beyond my reach imho.. Not that I shan't try mind you! I still have 7 deaths togo no?!

Rathar

[GameExtremist]

Grr....Kurgi eats another of my more powerul mages. : (

[Malthus]

Abysia destroyed the interior of Neifelheim while I was staling, too. It seems like we've all had some stale turns lately.

[Ironhawk]

Pasha has asked me if we could move the server to 48hr quickhost. What do you guys think about that?

[PashaDawg]

I vote yea!

[Rathar]

Tis all good with me. I enjoy being forced to turn in turns tho as I am the sort who is verrrrryyy prone to thinking too much..

Rathar

[Sensori]

Well, sure. Although it'll make yet another game take ages compared to what it would take at 24 hour timer. :O

[Boron]

GameExtremist said:
OOC - Nice game Boron, it certainly made my game a challange for the last 20 turns or so. Thanks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


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

We definitely had an interesting war. My last secret trick i wanted to try unfortunately didn't work.

You really chose a good design for these game settings. On a normal map you would have had some money problems and wouldn't have been able to research fog warriors so fast and get so many wind riders. But you adapted perfectly to the game settings and your strat worked much better then i thought.

My rationing was like that:
My 3 neighbors were Ermor, Abysia and you. Ermor quickly suggested a nap and since their mages are quite useful i gladly accepted. Abysia was also willing to make a nap and i was content since fighting vs. lava warriors early on would have been a nightmare. They proved this by quickly crippling ulm.

When you were at war with Ermor this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get some additional terrain. The rest of the story you know all too well http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

[LoloMo]

ooc : Was that last trick the exploding mages trick? I thought that worked quite well. You had a 10:1 kill ratio advantage =)

[Malthus]

I'm happy with any period 24 hours or longer. I've already had my trip that'll cause me to stale. So I'll go along with whatever works for the group.

[Kydorias]

As promised, the severed heads of Tjatse and crawler, who blasphemed our glorious lands with corrupted blood majiks, now protrude upon pikes outside the walls of the fortress of Neifelheim.

Their blood and brain matter run down the shafts of pikes, and the populace rejoices now that they are under the rule of the more benevolent Dancers of Kailasa.

May you all join in the Celestial Dance. So sayeth Mumbada, High Priest of Kailasa.

[LoloMo]

The High Council of the Panii congratulates our good neighbor Kailasa on this task well done. Long have many suffered under the corruption of our magic by blood most foul. Let this serve as a warning to all who dare to unleash such evil upon the world.

Again, our thanks to Kailasa for cleansing the pathways to magic and allowing it to flow free and pure once more.

[GameExtremist]

Arcoscephale also offers thanks.

We do send a warning to whomever is targeting our provinces with unidentifiable rituals. Stop now or face annhilation.

We also notice that Kailasa seems very close to victory. Does this not bother anybody?

In the interests of Peace we advise Kailasa to leave Neifelheims Capital province immediately otherwise we will be forced to attack.

We cancel our NAP and shall wait for the three months necessary if we are forced to strike.

[LoloMo]

Four provinces of Pangaea have also been struck with Blights and Beckonings. Hundreds of our citizens have starved to death.

The High Council of Panii have convened. They have traced the source of the foul sorceries to the devious Agarthans, for who else are masters of earth and death?

Pangaea will fight fire with fire, blight with blight, beckonings with even more beckonings. War with the Agarthans is hereby declared.

High Council of Panii

[Ironhawk]

GameExtremist, how close is Kailasa?

I see that this turn both Kailasa and Pangaea have 3 VPs. If either one of them captures another, they will win. We are definitely in the end-game now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ironhawk]

Many thanks to Kailasa for ending the irritating global! But today was a bittersweet day for the nation of Marverni. While the populace rejoiced at the lifting of the hated Corruption, they also wept for the loss of thier god.

Tree Hugger, friend of Nature, went in alone to face the implacable hordes of Sauromatia in a desperate attempt to stem thier flood into Marvernian lands. And while he made the blood-loving sauros pay a heavy price, it came at the cost of his own life...

[Rathar]

We Agarthans admit to the preventive measures we have been forced to take but insist that their form came only in Blights. We know not of what you speak by Beckonings..

Rathar

[Boron]

LoloMo said:
ooc : Was that last trick the exploding mages trick? I thought that worked quite well. You had a 10:1 kill ratio advantage =)


No i wanted to try a massive vampire count sabbath communion and try to exploit some battlefield wide death and blood spells this way. Unfortunately Arcos Wind Riders were scripted on attack rear and luckily killed some communion slaves and thus my plan didn't work at all.

[Kydorias]

GameExtremist said:In the interests of Peace we advise Kailasa to leave Neifelheims Capital province immediately otherwise we will be forced to attack.

We cancel our NAP and shall wait for the three months necessary if we are forced to strike.

Your lack of gratitude is disenheartening.

Break the NAP at your own peril. I shall not strike first, but should you feel so bold know that retribution shall be swift, brutal, and merciless.

--Mumbada, High Priest of Kailasa

[Ironhawk]

Ooooooooooo!!

The rumblings of giants!

[LoloMo]

From the ancient Chants of Isopherameses, Seventh Divide, Verse Sixteen:

And in the final days of the Ascension
Sorcerous blight shall blanket
Sparing neither teeming groves
Nor fertile swamps
And thousands doth fall
Large and small

And in the final days of the Ascension
The Host is gathered
The heavens covered with wings
The grounds flattened with hooves
And thousands doth march
Large and small

And in the final days of the Ascension
The Sacred Chants are released
That the heavens reverberate
The grounds tremble
And thousands doth call
Large and small

And in the final days of the Ascension
The One is Reborn
Treasures fall from the heavens
Stones crumble to the grounds
And thousands doth bow
Large and small

And thus be the end of the beginning
Of the Third Age of the world

[GameExtremist]

*SPOILER ALERT*

Check your turn first then read!






































http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/icon23.gif

Nice one!

But still....I was really really having a blast with my army of 100 hundred something F9 wind riders with fog warrior cast on them....Talk about a kick *** unit!

Congrats again LoloMo I had no idea who had Abyssia under siege!

[GameExtremist]

Oh and....another game chaps?

[Sensori]

So someone forgot to tell us that his capital was being besieged by a side with 3 VPs, huh?

... Bastard. ;p

[Kydorias]

Ack! Well darn. Very well done LoloMo, congratulations!

I had no idea that Pangea had laid seige to his final VP. Wish I had known.

Regardless, very well played game. I certainly had a lot of fun!

[LoloMo]

Thanks Arcos and Kailasa =)

I actually used Faery Trod to arrive at the Abyssian Capital last turn only. I ferried in like 1000 troops so the walls were breached on the same turn.

I had the Mictlan Capital under my thumb for something like 10 turns, I just didn't storm the castle for fear of everyone suddenly attacking me. When Kailasa sieged the Niefelheim capital, I decided to finally storm Mictlan castle. This had the effect of both of us grabbing the third victory point on the same turn, and of shifting some attention away from me. At the same time all my VPs suddenly got hit with bombs, so I figured it was now or never. I guessed Agartha actually had 3 VPs practically already, and was just delaying taking over his third just like me. So I tried to scare him a little bit by declaring war on him and hoping that he delays any action on the Abysian Capital for a turn or so. Agartha had a legion two steps away last turn, and I'm guessing some teleport or map summons too. I did several suicide attacks on his invading army to hopefully delay his march =)

My concurrent plan was to take the Niefel Capital, which was three steps away from the Mictlan capital where half of all my troops were. I simultaneously attacked those provinces giving me a border with the Niefel Capital. Since most of my troops have map move of 2 and 3, I could have it all sieging the giants in 2 turns. Kailasa beat me to it, but it had the effect of turning off Astral Corruption and allowing as many Pans as I want to faery trod to Abysian Capital.

Sorry, I thought it was quite a neat plan so I'm blowing a little bit of hot air. BTW this is my first MP win =)

[Ironhawk]

Congrats on your victory LoloMo!! And again on your first MP victory - it sounds like you earned it. Well played! Perhaps you can find a place in your pantheon for Tree-Hugger, who was also a friend to nature. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif He could be a messanger or perhaps a steward of some kind http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Good game to everyone else, as well! I had a lot of fun trying out my special strategy - which worked surprisingly well I have to say. And it was incredibly fun seeing and using all these crazy high level spells!! Even Astral Corruption was great! I'd never seen that spell cast prior to this game and it was lots of fun trying to find ways to survive under it.

The only thing that saddens me is that I didnt have one more turn for the climatic final battle that had been brewing b/w me and Sauromatia for the length of our war. We were so close to Armageddon!

[Malthus]

Wow - thanks to everyone for a great game.

This was a fascinating chance for me to try out blood magic by being hardwired into a vicious blood strategy. My big disappointment was that there was very little feedback on the success (or failure) of many of the blood magic spells.

Now that the game is over, I'd like to ask for feedback on some of the spells. No one was a fan of Astral Corruption, but it didn't seem to be as much of a threat as I expected. Instead of everyone rushing to crush Neifelheim, everyone got around to attacking when they finished everything else they were doing. So, how bad was Astral Corruption, what did it do, and was it really more than an annoyance?

Did anyone even care about Illwinter? Other than some minor province attacks, was it meaningful?

My biggest question is, did anyone even notice the Horror Seeds? From the spell description, it seems like dozens of your armies should have been crawling with Horrors and Parasitic Horrors. Anyone ever notice anything at all?

I'd appreciate any feedback, as I don't usually mess around much with blood magic at this level.

[Sensori]

Well, I only noticed the existence of the Astral Corruption when it ate up some of my mages and forced me to change my summon strategy into one where I reanimated assloads of stuff. The Illwinter kept making stuff colder and colder and causing a little unrest, but Yomi isn't awfully weak in cold and I was using lots of death magic anyway, so it wasn't a problem in that sense either, and even for the last effect I had that call of the wild item so I had people patrolling everywhere.

But as for the game itself, for me it ended up being horribly anticlimatic and a good reminder for me why substituting isn't such a hot idea. All I had time to do was gear up for war... And then it was over. I was thinking of going after Agartha because, well. He was there, he was fighting lots of people and I can't remember having any kind of relations with 'im.

[lch]

Kydorias said:

Sensori said:
Kailasa and Niefelheim (yes, I consider Astral Corruption to be unfriendly ;p). I kind of see why the player of Yomi left really, with Astral Corruption up there's very little you can do, save fighting, and even that's hampered by it.

Bleh! ;p

Frankly I don't understand at all what Kissblade was trying to accomplish with Yomi. His tactics and strategy were unfathomable to say the least. I wasn't sure what would happen with Yomi, and I deemed it necessary to take down as much as Yomi as possible in case Yomi went AI and thus unpredictable.


WTF, KB stopped Dom3 for WoW? sucker... /threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif

[Amhazair]

lch said:WTF, KB stopped Dom3 for WoW? sucker... /threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif



I stopped WoW for Dom3... seems like the much smarter course to me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Ironhawk]

Sensori said:
But as for the game itself, for me it ended up being horribly anticlimatic and a good reminder for me why substituting isn't such a hot idea. All I had time to do was gear up for war... And then it was over.



Tsk tsk, sensori! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I warned you that you needed to get into a war quickly because the game was coming to an end. Once those big nations took thier third VPs I knew it was only a matter of turns.

But in general, I tend to disagree. I think that in subbing you are actually more likely to have a fast paced game because other nations are usually preparing to attack any player that is staling. You seemed to luck out in that everyone who was planning to attack you instead moved on to other targets in points beyond your nation.

[Ironhawk]

The general results of Astral Corruption was that it would attack any mage who was forging or casting a ritual spell with what seemed about a 20-30% chance. You would always get your spell or item off (i believe?) but sometimes the mage would be attacked.

As for my experience with AC personally: it was a big problem for me. It hit right at the end of the CTis war and prevented me from summoning, which was the only way I had of producing elite troops! Unsurprisingly that war ran reallly reallllllly long as a result. After that I pretty much just had to put a hold on summoning and concentrated on battlefield-only spell strategies which did not rely on month rituals.

Later tho, I learned from Sensori that Astral mages have a fool-proof loop hole in Astral Corruption. They can just cast Returning at the start of the horror attack and escape immediately. After I learned this, all my magical skills instantly came back online without any real problems (except needing to move mages out of my cap after Returning, now and then). This is in fact the real reason I stopped the 2nd attempt to Dispel AC that I started http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I probably could have dispelled it as I had a large cache of pearls and recieved 60 or so more from other nations. But with my loophole in place, AC was hurting all other nations more than my own!

[edit]
P.S.
I didnt notice anything about these horror seeds you mention? All I saw was horror attacks on mages doing rituals/forging. Additionally, I noticed no effects from Illwinter - but I think I was too far away for your dominion to effect me.

[LoloMo]

AC really forced me to change my style after the biggest horror I have ever seen ate up my super equipped mage casting a 300 gem Gift of Health. I had converted all my other gems to put into that casting. I later found out that horror attacks are more likely to occur the more gems you spend on a single spell =( I think the likelihood of being attacked is more like 50% for spells costing 20 gems or more and the horrors are bigger. I decided to go blood hunting too after that. Then I experimented and found that leech works quite well, and 2 castings of leech even gave me a pretty good chance of killing even the bigger horrors. So I made a lot of thistles and other small magic items. On the other hand though, everybody else got hit with AC too, so it hampered everybody too. Mictlan was the only nation to really benefit from AC I think, and at that time, he was busy at war already. All in all I lost about 8 350 gold Pans, and maybe 12 independent mages.

The global unrest is pretty annoying too, I had like 80-90% tax rates most provinces. That and the cooling shift probably cost me on the order of 500+ gold per turn.

I didn't notice the horror seeds either but some attacks that I thought were because of AC may have been from horror seed instead. I had a few random curses too on my troops, don't know if its related.

And Ironhawk, I'm sure Tree Hugger can have a place as Divine Beckoner of the Forest ;-)

[Sensori]

Ironhawk said:
Tsk tsk, sensori! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I warned you that you needed to get into a war quickly because the game was coming to an end. Once those big nations took thier third VPs I knew it was only a matter of turns.



Yeah, that's why I was actually having my eyes on Agartha rather than Sauromatia after Kydorias said that he'd wanna continue the game for a bit longer so he wasn't aiming to get a fourth VP just yet. ;p Just that considering that the winner was the northern-est guy, there was very little you could do to stop that.

And even if I had helped you out, I still would've managed to fight for, what, a turn? Possibly not even that since I had that NAP with Pasha which he suggested we'd make.


You seemed to luck out in that everyone who was planning to attack you instead moved on to other targets in points beyond your nation.



Haha, well... They were really intending to attack Yomi (as I found out like a turn after I had taken over 'em, not exactly the most fun thing to find out the hard way as I had to go in blind), but Pasha figured it'd be nicer of him to leave me alone for now since I was subbing someone who hadn't told me ANYTHING about the situation in the game. Well... AFTER I had made my displeasure known and had told him that I'd do everything in my power to help Niefelheim survive if he'd continue the attack. I had lots and lots of unique items lying around, and still had them at the end of the game, and would've sent them to Niefelheim quick-like if he had continued attacking me cuz I would've died in record time. Don't know how much of a difference they could've made in the wars Niefelheim was having, but at least I had enough stuff to equip an SC or two.

So Pasha ended up attacking you because he had made up his mind that he had to attack *someone*, and since he didn't wanna attack me anymore and Kailasa was his ally... ;p

[Kydorias]

I didn't really notice Illwinter much except for one Giant attack, but they don't stick around so its easy for a single commander to move in and grab the province back. More of an annoyance really. Although the cold scales definitely hurt my 2-Heat loving populace.

Looming Hell (is that the right name?) was certainly more effective as I penetrated the Neifelheim dominion. Luckily I had stocked up with lots of Bells of Cleansing during my wars with Lanka and Yomi, so all my weaker commanders and lots of my semi-tough ones had Bells that would banish the attacking Devils. Even still I lost a couple commanders while Preaching the Neifelheim dominion away.

Astral Corruption certainly had a big effect on my strategy. I had to blow a bunch of Astral pearls in order to enable Astral ability on my powerful summoning/forging mages. This was of course to enable them to cast Ritual of Returning. So in effect my powerful summoners/forgers were taken out of play half the time while they traveled back to a non-capitol laboratory so the Returning would work next time they summoned/forged.

The game was certainly fun, I was definitely looking forward to hitting Agartha hard http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I had several powerful Mages (including three Air Queens and several Devalas) geared up with Astral Travel and Air Trapezes with lots of elite support troops available to enter the Astral gateways.

If I had known that Pangea was about to take his last VP, I would have brought in a rather formidable force, although a battle against 1,000 Pangeans would have been a hard fight indeed.

Anyway, great game with wonderful opponents/allies and I'm looking forward to playing with/against you all again!

--Kydorias

[Ironhawk]

Would you look at that!!

I didnt realize that the CB mod made Bells of Cleansing a non-unique item! Certainly could have used some of those vs Pasha http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Rathar]

With 20/20 hindsight I think that I did a somewhat poor job as Agartha.. Far far too timid in many ways. First thing was that I let AC scare me totally for a while and we did a whole LOT of researching with a tiny amt of summoning earth kings/fire/bane.. The kings of various sorts were cool but I only got a turn or 3 of use out of them before KURGI and friends and them.. I think I went through 3-4 of the royalty this way and never summoned their horror marked asses again..

So I sat on my *** and grew, mostly, for 20+ turns.. Very boring so I put on a +gumption item and started forging/ritualing wildly and discovered that the losses due to horrors were actually acceptable, especially with my immortal God! I did notice a seeming definite correlation between the level of the ritual/item forged and chance of horror attack. Data is scant but I bet the variable is 10%+10% per level of ritual/construction magic to get horror attacked. Plus I think that big spells attract bigger horrors. Babble, babble but I also just realized that the three times I saw horrors of power greater than Horrors they were all "directed" at powerful, high hit point, SC type creatures such as Kings. Rathar with his measly 10 hps met 85% lesser horrors and 15% horrors.

Looming hell for me equaled one demon attack the whole game, think your dominion was in that province and never had it happen again (I boosted dominion all over). The giants were a bit more of a pain in the rear for whatever reason with approx 7 total attacks one of which I defeated and the other six were at best minor annoyances. The ice part would have been nasty but I didn't fully read Agarthas description and gave them a cold scale (Doh! Cold blooded!) so I was already screwed in that dept!

But then when I think upon the fact that this was my second dom 3 game and that it's only my 6th or so dominions MP game I smile and give self slack.!

Oh and Lolomo, nice work and congratulations on the win! You dirty dog you! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Hey! I just recently randomly picked up the fact that Lolo implies superheroic abilities in Tagalog, whats the Mo for?!

Rathar

[LoloMo]

Hehe thanks Rathar. Lolo actually means grandpa, Mo means "yours". Taken together, Lolo Mo means "your grandpa". Used in a slightly irreverent tone, it's like Yo' Grandpa; in the same vein as Yo Daddy. Heehee =)

Don't know where you got that Lolo implies superheroic abilities, but it may be taken from a common situation where two kids would brag what their grandpa could do. Like "my grandpa once wrestled a rabid carabao to the ground!"

Also "Super Lolo" is a type of firecracker that several years ago used to pack the biggest bang. They have now since been superceded by even bigger bombs that probably have Lolo in its name somewhere =)

[StrictlyRockers]

Congratulations Lolomo!

A very fun game, and thanks for hosting, Ironhawk1

[GameExtremist]

Astral corruption proved a major pain in the #%# for me/Arco.

I don't know if anyone noticed but I had Gale gate up for some time, my lvl8 air mage was beating off horrors left right and centre, then about 5 turns from then end, my best mystic (astral5) dispelled one of Neifel's globals - only to be eaten by a hooror and my Air8 mage cast Fata Morgana on the same turn....only to be eaten by horror. So yeah gale gate went down and Fata Morgana never got up. Then my best nature mage got gobbled up the following turn.

I must have lost a 15-20 mages from horrors.....it drove me insane!!!

Didn't really notice the other globals though

[Malthus]

Thanks again to everyone for a great game, and thanks for the feedback.

It sounds like both Astral Corruption and Illwinter were more effective than peoples' response first led me to believe.

That said, I'm very disappointed in Horror Seed. If anyone ever hears of that working or sees its impact, I'd be grateful if you could post a note to the boards!

[solo]

I have tried Horror Seed a bit in a test game. Nothing seemed to happen, as far as I could see, but maybe I needed to wait a little longer.

[Malthus]

I haven't seen any effect in single player, either - I was hoping someone would have noticed something in a multiplayer game.

Sounds like the spell is so horrible that it even erases any memory players have of something happening.

[Sensori]

Yeah, Horror Seed sounds like something that'll make people's lives hard later... Possibly after you're gone if you start throwing them around when you're losing. ;p

[Malthus]

I suppose - there were ~15 successful horror seeds (one per turn), so I figured one would have come to fruition by the end of the game, but perhaps not.

[KissBlade]

Sensori said:
Yeah, Horror Seed sounds like something that'll make people's lives hard later... Possibly after you're gone if you start throwing them around when you're losing. ;p



Oh yeah, sorry about not telling you what the plan was or anything but basically I was planning on casting Well of Misery with the zillions of death gems I had piled up and then trounce people with darkness + Oni's. Then Astral Corruption went up and I was just clueless on what to do since I didn't have astral to take it down. So blargh on that. =P Other than that I didn't think Yomi was in a bad position when I decided not to play anymore. I had a good amount of research/gems/unique artifacts. The AStral Corruption REALLY blew my plans out of the water since all the sudden I couldn't forge half the things I had researched up to nor summon any of the royalties I had saved my gems for. That and it pretty much let the other nations (namely Kalaisa) catch up to my research advantage.

PS. This situation doesn't happen in WoW. & grats Lobo on the win!

[LoloMo]

Thanks KB, but it's Lolo, not Lobo! I may be old, but my brain is still attached =)