Gandalf's bl_nuances blitz

[Saint_Dude]

The all mighty Grock roars from his mountain cave, "Come forth heathens! Bring your armies and your dainty pretenders! Meet me on the battlefield if you dare, and bear witness to the one true God! All Hail Grock!"

[Foodstamp]

I will give it another go. If there are any spots left when I get home tonight, I will take another stab at defeating Grock.

[Xietor]

What age? what map? mods?

[Foodstamp]

EA, random map (50 provinces), no mods.

[Xietor]

bah(: i only play ma. someday i may expand my horizons.

[Saint_Dude]

Well. . . this is one of Gandalf's blitzes.

It is early age. The map is random? Although the last one had a number of interesting independent provinces. No mods.

[Foodstamp]

I have been playing R'lyeh too much in these blitz games. I am going to try a land nation this time.

[Xietor]

Would you consider playing a ma blitz? I can host. Map is 110
provinces, 8 water(ideal set up for 1 water race). no waste on map.

It plays with 8 land and 1 water race. I used to play aran, but it has too many waste squares concentrated in one area, making for an unfair starting spot for at least 1 person.

This is a pretty cool map, all starting spots have at least 4 land squares, and is designed for balance. If there are not 9 players i add AI opponents that we can mutually agree on.

I prefer to play pangaea, but can also play a few other races. If you want a challenge, i would suggest not playing a water race, as this map really allows them a safe haven to build up, and many points to attack the land from. The water squares are 2 deep, so the water race is not easily out dominioned.

[Saint_Dude]

PBEM or TCP/IP?

[Xietor]

tcp/ip

[Saint_Dude]

I would be interested in playing. However, on a map with 110 provinces it would be nice to have 6 or 7 players.

Post a thread. I would be happy to participate if you can round up enough bodies. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Any mods?

[PAR]

im in against grock

[Saint_Dude]

Who is playing what in this game. You all know I am playing Agartha (or you could at least decipher as much by looking up Grock in the list of pretenders), but I don't know which nations you all are playing.

I would like to know whose lizards Grock is about to pummel. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Foodstamp]

I am playing Ctis.

[PAR]

i am playing arco

hello all

[Saint_Dude]

%&@$# ! Fliping ridiculous! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif

Turns out that immortals do rout after 50 turns regardless due to the battle duration rout rule. But here is the kicker! If they don't get off the battle field before the end of 25 additional turns, they DIE (as in dead). Who cares that they are immortal? It is as if hanging around on a battle field for 75 turns surrounded by mosquitoes is somehow a worse fate than being run through by a sword, disintegrated, soul slayed etc.

Oh well, looks like Agartha is toast in this one.

[Foodstamp]

Honestly I think Grock was toast anyway in this conflict. Once I researched magic duel it was all over for him http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif. Agartha on the otherhand is far from being done. You still have a solid income, a large force and a powerful nation to play.

[Saint_Dude]

Agreed, magic duel was going to be painful, and would have marginalized Grocks future effectiveness. But at least then Grock would have just been reborn. He would have still been useful for dom spread, research, and forging; and he could have teleported out of the cave now and then to cause havoc in distant lands.

Being as how Agartha is under siege and unable to recruit, it is hard to see how they are going to come back in this one. Given the troops and mages inside my fortress there is just no counter to the C'tis pretender and the skel spamming sauromancers. Hard to take over the world with an army of independent tritons. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Foodstamp]

Can you call Grock back? BTW, I think it is a bug worth reporting that immortals die in their own domain if they hang around the battlefield 75 turns.

Also, I wonder if the fact it was your capital he died at has anything to do with the bug. It seems like it could cause an infinite loop of 75 turn combats if he respawned in his capital after dying there in 75 turns. He would just keep dying and respawning and fighting that same army over and over on the same turn. This may be a designed to work this way instead of being a bug.

[Saint_Dude]

I am inclined to view this as a bug.

When an immortal dies in a friendly province, he is respawned the following turn inside the capital fortress. So there would never be an endless loop of 75 turn battles within a single turn.

In theory, i could call Grock back. But your army is likely to storm the Agarthan fortress before he would return. I will play another turn or two, but Agartha is on the way out. AI is in the near future.

Well done. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[RamsHead]

HA! Let us all laugh as Victor dies! Stupid mercenary.

[Foodstamp]

Arco lost a few battles and has staled 2 turns, about to be 3 turns. His position is not in the least bit hopeless, especially with me at war with Pangaea. Do you guys want to start looking for a replacement after he stales today?

Even one more turn of Pangaea aggression won't compromise Arco's position to the point that it cannot be turned around.

What do you guys think? Continue to let him stale us (Hoping he returns), replace him or set him to AI?

[Saint_Dude]

I wonder if he staled because he was uncertain about how to proceed with the new patch.

Regardless, at 3 turns I think it is time to start looking for a replacement.

[RamsHead]

Clearly Foodstamp is not an environmentalist. Otherwise he would not attack Pangaea. Why do you hate nature, Foodstamp?

Oh, and Pangaea has yet to lose a battle against Arcoscephale. Let us see if the same proves true against C'tis.

[Foodstamp]

I think it had to do with you taking one of my provinces thinking that was going to lock you a victory due to VP points. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Foodstamp]

btw, looks like PAR played his turn this round, so all is good.

[lch]

Foodstamp said:
Can you call Grock back? BTW, I think it is a bug worth reporting that immortals die in their own domain if they hang around the battlefield 75 turns.


This has already been reported some weeks ago in the Bug thread, unless I'm mistaken.

[RamsHead]

Keep in mind that you attacked Pangaea that very same turn. When you attack Pangaea, you attack nature. Thus, you hate nature. Nature hater! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Foodstamp]

The Gorgon SC is going to be tough to take down. Once I knock her out, I think the rest will fall in place I hope http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PAR]

sorry folks i have been away reanacting battles so no computer back now

PAR

[RamsHead]

Well, that's one C'tissian army down, one to go.

[Foodstamp]

One to go? I would fire my scouts.

[RamsHead]

I mean one more that is in my lands.

[Foodstamp]

For now. BTW, did you notice the affliction your Gorgon picked up during the fight? I had never seen it before. She has probably recuperated it now, but it was interesting anyway.

[RamsHead]

Lost some snakes. I am not sure if it did anything though.

[Foodstamp]

I think it took away some of her snake attacks.

[RamsHead]

Oh, and boy am I glad I bought Stousma!

[Foodstamp]

You lucked out big time on that. That is ok, I have another way to contend with her.

[RamsHead]

Ooooo! I shake with anticipation! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Saint_Dude]

Strange. . .

While building a fortress, I did a site search and found an Archaic Fortress site. Unfortunately, the fortress did not actually show up. I wonder if this is because I was already in the process of building? What a waste of money if that is the case. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[RamsHead]

My god, Saint_Dude, are you trying to find questionable bugs, because you are pretty good at it.

[Foodstamp]

lol

[Foodstamp]

btw, ramshead you can upload your mod now.

Don't you love the way I use this thread to comment on your mod and your mod thread to comment on our game? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[RamsHead]

Yeah, I uploaded it.

For those listening in, it has werewolves.
Pimping my mod FTW!

[Saint_Dude]

I apologize, but I am relegated to entertaining myself in this game with discovering strange game behaviors. The prospects of some glorious Agarthan comeback are remote indeed.

[RamsHead]

Good battle C'tis, good battle.

[Foodstamp]

Yup was pretty good for you. That Gorgon is unreal. She was hitting some of my soldiers for 998+ damage.

I believe this is the last time I am going to play a blitz game without a bless rush nation. On a map this size, it is crazy not to, the quality of soldiers you can produce early on really decides the game.

[lch]

RamsHead said:
Lost some snakes. I am not sure if it did anything though.


I think that's the equivalent to "Lost some eyes" for the Gorgon. Very thematic! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif


Saint_Dude said:
Strange. . .

While building a fortress, I did a site search and found an Archaic Fortress site. Unfortunately, the fortress did not actually show up. I wonder if this is because I was already in the process of building? What a waste of money if that is the case. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif


Have you reported that to the bug list (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=519187&Main=451410#Post51 9187)? It's already slipped down to page 2 now... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Saint_Dude]

No, I didn't report it. Don't want to make a mountain of a mole hill. Ramshead is already giving me enough flack for bellyaching about here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Not sure it is a "bug" anyway. After all, if one has already invested the money to get such and such fortress, do they really want an archaic fortress to show up instead? It is not like the gold is going to be reimbursed.

On the other hand, in my case, I didn't care what fortress showed up, or that I had wasted money, but it would have been nice for the fortress to show up 2 rounds earlier due to the site discovery.

[Foodstamp]

I apologize, I am fairly sure I staled this turn. Was a busy day and I did not expect to be back as late as I am. I will try not to stale anymore http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[RamsHead]

Foodstamp said:
Yup was pretty good for you. That Gorgon is unreal. She was hitting some of my soldiers for 998+ damage.

I believe this is the last time I am going to play a blitz game without a bless rush nation. On a map this size, it is crazy not to, the quality of soldiers you can produce early on really decides the game.


What I meant to say was that it was an interesting battle.

That 998+ damage you speak of was the petrification affect of the gorgon. It is kind of weird that it effects mindless undead.

Funny, if you would not have beat me to EA C'tis, I would be playing them right now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[RamsHead]

Saint_Dude said:
Ramshead is already giving me enough flack for bellyaching about here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


WHAT?!?!?! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Saint_Dude]

I was jokingly referring to your statement:


RamsHead said:
My god, Saint_Dude, are you trying to find questionable bugs, because you are pretty good at it.



But maybe I missed your intent altogether. . .

Either way, I am not sure I would consider it a bug (more like an inconvenient oddity). Certainly not anything that I would put on a short list that needs immediate attention.

[Foodstamp]

I am going to go ahead and switch to AI. My armies are getting squashed by the blessed centaurs and Gorgon and I don't feel I can field an army to contend with that at this stage of the game.

I had a lot of fun and I have learned just how important an SC and/or bless can be in blitzes.

[RamsHead]

It was an honor to fight against you. Good luck in the MegaGame.

[Foodstamp]

Likewise, was a pleasure as always. Good luck to the remaining players, this was one of the more interesting blitzes I played.

[Saint_Dude]

Well played. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PAR]

i have swiched to AI control

thanks to all of you for a top game i learnt allot of new stuff about the game

thanks again

PAR

[RamsHead]

One thing before you go PAR, I kept forgetting to tell you, don't put low astral magic on a pretender. Low astral magic allows them to be magic dueled.

[PAR]

cheers i will keep it in mind

thanks ramshead

nice playing with you all

PAR

[Saint_Dude]

Nice playing with you as well. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[RamsHead]

Ditto

[Gandalf Parker]

is this game over? what nation won?

[Saint_Dude]

I hope it is not over. Pan is probably destined to be the eventual winner. But Agartha has waged a near miraculous comeback.

I would really like to see how the Agarthan horde will hold up to the white centaurs of Pan before throwing in the towel. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[RamsHead]

Let it be known in the annals of history that the compassionate nation of Pangaea had offered to give the Agarthan capital back to it's original owners if the cave dwellers would distract the dastardly Arcoscephalians long enough for Pangaea to assault C'tis. Agartha fulfilled the duty, but now they have attempted to wrest Pangaean control of the Agarthan capital before the protectors of the forest said it was time for the changing of the guard. The one-eyed monsters have summoned back their god, Grock, from the Pit of Tartarus, and the vile creature engaged the Pangaean defense forces at the capital. Such actions can be seen as nothing less than an act of war. Now begins the final fight.

[Saint_Dude]

Hehe. Thought I may need Grock to counter the legendary Gorgon. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[RamsHead]

Pangaea has the head of a Manticore and the head of a Shedu. We look forward to adding the head of the Risen Oracle to our collection.

[RamsHead]

Pangaea won the battle, but at what cost?

Friendly losses:
one of five commanders
73 of 97 units

Agarthan losses:
seven of seven commanders
237 of 323 units
22 of 22 magic beings

[Saint_Dude]

Since it is just the two of us, perhaps we can speed things up a bit by playing 2 turns at a time?

And what is this business about running away from Grock? Thought you were going to put his head on a stake. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Saint_Dude]

What the heck! I have seen a lot of strange things playing this game, but this blitz is in a league of its own.

Can anyone tell me how this is possible?

My pretender left province A with no afflictions and a rather large contingent of magic units under his control. Next turn he arrives in province B. There are no battles, and no messages to indicate that he came under attack of any sort. Yet he is now feebleminded. All of the magic units under his command somehow still made the trip with him, but got dropped in the destination province (i.e. they broke formation). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Note: he is immortal, so age isn't an issue. On the plus side he will recover, though probably not before getting steam rolled by the several hundred white centaurs and such in the next province over.

[RamsHead]

The answer is simple: Grock got feeblminded in the previous battle. I don't remember how he got feebleminded in the battle with my Satyr Warriors, but I distinctly recall checking him before the battle was over and seeing he was feebleminded.

[Saint_Dude]

I also checked him, during and after the battle. He was not feebleminded. We must have watched different battle replays (maybe yet another example of my Mac biting me in the butt).

However, if he were feebleminded last turn, the magic troops under his leadership should have left his command the turn after the battle, not after moving with him to a new province 2 turns later.

[RamsHead]

Well, I remember him being feebleminded and not having any magic. It is definitely an interesting game. Now if you would kindly just die already. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Saint_Dude]

Well, now is your chance. The feeblemind should wear off in a couple of turns, and slowly ever so slowly, our research is creeping up on some significant milestones.

[Saint_Dude]

Now there are two feeblemided pretenders, and a lot fewer white centaurs. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

On the down side, Grock is so horror marked that Kurgi and his ilk are likely to be making monthly visits. Maybe Grock will take them all, but I kind of doubt it.

[Saint_Dude]

Grock is no more. Consumed by the Eater of the Gods. Shocking battle really. He had a MR of 26, yet he didn't even make it past turn 1.

With Grock dead, the nation of Agartha has lost all hope. We concede to the superior power.

Congratulations on a well played game Ramshead. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[RamsHead]

You're not pulling my leg are you?
The Pangaeans don't want to celebrate prematurely.

[Saint_Dude]

No joke. You win.

I have seen clearly that Agartha's forces (minus any Oracles) just don't stack up to your own. Grock was indeed my last hope, and a bit of a stretch at that. Although I was kind of pleased with my staying power in this game considering I lost my capital and god in the first year. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Foodstamp]

Congratulations on your win Ramshead. You built that nation perfect for a blitz, nice job.

[RamsHead]

The Pangaeans will hold a celebration in the capital, also known as the Carrion Reanimation Center.

I can't believe I actually won a game. This is the first one I won being the sole victor. I will see if I can't give an overview of this game sometime tomorrow.

I will send a PM to Gandalf telling him that he can close this game.

[RamsHead]

OK, here is the bl_nuances map. The game was in EA.
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r149/darkraven1224/nuancesover.jpg

The dots represent the four nations' capitals. Sky blue indicates Acroscephale (PAR), bright green for Pangaea (Ramshead), black for Agartha (Saint_Dude), and yellow with a tint of green for C'tis (Foodstamp).

As you can see C'tis had the worst starting location. They were stuck on the end of a peninsula with only Agartha to expand into. Agartha's position was not much better. With C'tis so close, they were guaranteed an early war. Agartha at least could take advantage of the coastline and could expand elsewhere. Pangaea had the second best location in this game. With Agartha and C'tis sucked into an almost immediate war, they could expand without too much worry. Pangaea started next to some farmland as well as some wasteland, which evened things out. Since Pangaea focused heavily on the White Centaurs early in the game, the mediocre income for them stunted their growth slightly. Arcoscephale had the best location. They were at the opposite end of the map all by themselves with nary a wasteland around them. Now this is not to say that a nation's starting position decides a game, just that it is a good indicator.

War broke out between C'tis and Agartha early on, just as expected. Some fierce battles no doubt took place between them, but Pangaea didn't see them.

Pangaea, after some initial expansion, snuck a White Centaur army into an independent buffer province between Pangaea and Agartha. An attack was about to be launched, but a Black Harpy spotted C'tis on the peninsula as well. At that point, Pangaea decided to search out Arcoscephale. They were expanding as a good pace, and if Pangaea got itself involved in a three way war, Arcoscephale would have lots of time to themselves.

Pangaea quickly found Arcoscephale and attacked them. Numerous battles took place and Pangaea won them all. Acroscephale's armies were fairly large, but they could do nothing to stop the blessed White Centaurs, who had an E9 N6 blessing. Pangaea's Dryad Prophet and her army made it to the Acroscephalian capital, but after several months of sieging, the gate simply could not be damaged.

Around this time Grock, Agartha's Risen Oracle God skilled in Earth, Death, and Astral, was killed by C'tis. Without him, Agartha's troops would be massacred by the C'tissian forces. Agartha retreated most of their forces into the nearby sea.

With the loss of Agartha's God, Pangaea knew that C'tis would soon be at its doorstep. Pangaea's armies withdrew from Acroscephale to deal with C'tis. At this point, Pangaea said it would get Agartha's capital back for them and return it to them once C'tis was either destroyed or sufficiently weakened if Agartha distracted Arcoscephale for awhile. Agartha agreed.

Pangaea battled C'tis around the coastal provinces close to the Pangaean capital. With the Pangaean God, Vega, a Gorgon, leading an army against the C'tissian forces, Zu, C'tis's Shedu God, a powerful Astral magic with some skill in Earth magic, was killed in a large battle when he was petrified by Vega. C'tis's power reduced significantly with the death of their God. The Pangaean forces pushed forward.

Around this time, Agartha had invaded Arcoscphale in the north. This caused Arcoscephale to halt the steady taking of Pangaea's land and deal with Agartha. The Agarthan forces managed to build a lab and fort at the red number one on the map. From there, Agartha quickly smashed the opposition and took Arcoscephale's capital. At this point, Arcoscephale lost its remaining territories to the Pangaean and Agarthan forces, though it would be awhile before Arcoscepahle would be officially destroyed.

Pangaea had anticipated a skelly spamming tactic by C'tis, so the Dryads feverishly researched evocation. At the Agarthan capital, Vega unleashed a mighty earthquake that shatter the C'tissian army and their commander's morale. C'tis went AI. Pangaea would take the Agarthan capital and push forward into C'tis. The army could not put a dent in the Tel City's gate, so the Pangaean army returned to Agartha. From that point on, the Dryad Prophet, the various famous Dryads, and a large Centaur army (many had four experience stars) would remain at the Agarthan capital to keep C'tis bottled up and to keep the capital out of enemy hands.
(more later)

[RamsHead]

Arcoscephale was finished off, and Agartha summoned back the mighty Grock. The God fled into the sea before Pangaean forces could kill him. Agartha declared war on Pangaea and vice versa. The Agartha capital would remain in Pangaean hands till the end of the game.

In a battle at the Arcoscephalian capital, a huge number of various Agarthan troops, some Earth Elementals, and Troglodytes went up against a large, but greatly outnumbered, Pangaean army of Centaurs (both white and brown). Agartha lost the battle and many of their troops were killed. The Pangaean army was decimated though, and the only troops left on the battlefield were either those who went berserk or were too exhausted to retreat. The battle was no doubt eyeopening for both nations. Pangaea's Centaurs, who had carried the nation to countless victories over Arcoscephale and C'tis, were suddenly dying in large numbers. Agartha, whose forces had little trouble against Arcoscephale, were also being killed in large numbers, and with only Earth Readers and Grock for mages, Agartha had little in the way of tricks up its sleeve.

Pangaea had accrued a decent number of death gems at this time and empowered one of its Dryads in Death magic. From then on, the Dryad would summon up one Carrion Lady every month. This was made possible by the Mother Oak spell that was put up earlier in the game. The Carrion Ladies would immediately be assigned to reanimation duty. Every now and then, a Carrion Lady would take a bunch of Carrion and join up with a Pangaean army or defend a nearby fort.

Agartha started replacing its losses fairly quickly, and launched an attack against a new Pangaean army, which was lead by Vega and had Pangaea's secret weapon. The Pangaean army consisted of primarily White Centaurs, while Agartha brought in a huge number of its Agarthan troops as well as some more Troglodytes, Earth Elementals, and Magma Children. Even some Umbrals were brought along. This time Pangaea won with minimal casualties. Pangaea had Crystal Mages in its ranks. They had communioned up and casted Will of the Fates. Pangaea had only searched a few sites for magic and most of them were by Arcane Probing. The province with the four was revealed to have a Crystal Citadel. As the war drew closer between Pangaea and Agartha, Pangaea had recruited more Crystal Mages and was now putting them to good use.

Shortly after this heavy blow, Agartha launched another attack on the now approaching Pangaean army (the army was heading toward the red one where Agartha was summoning up many of its forces). The Agarthan army was even bigger consisting of even more Umbrals and Magma Children and was being lead by Grock. Grock had been feebleminded though from a prior engagement and had not healed yet, so he could not use his magic. The Pangaeans lost the battle but won the war in this altercation. Agartha had been utilizing Black Bows and got a lucky shot off on the Crystal Mage. The mage was not killed because the global Gift of Health had been put up, but he was feebleminded. The worst thing was that he was the one who was supposed to cast Will of the Fates. That was a sad day for Pangaea. Unfortunately for Agartha, several Crystal Mages managed to Horror Mark Grock during the battle. Grock was a famous God and thus was very likely going to be attacked by a Doom Horror in the future. Both this battle and the previous one took place around the red number two. This area saw some of the fieriest battles in the game.

Pangaea retreated to the number three, which had a fort and lab since the Pangaea-Arcoscephale War. While Agartha started taking provinces, Vega put up the Earth Blood Deep Well and starting summoning Enlivened Statues. Centaurs were expensive and with the frequent raiding and overtaxing that both sides were doing, Pangaea needed a cheaper and more easily replaced front line unit. Enlivened Statues were perfect for the job. Soon, with a solid line of Statues and a large number of Carrion Beasts, the new Pangaean army marched forward. They did not get far until the army came across Agarthan forces. The largest battle in the game took place on the coastline around the number two. The Pangaean forces had a decent number of units while the Agarthan army practically filled up its side of the battlefield! With the spell Will of the Fates successfully cast and the newly researched Army of Gold thrown out, Pangaea massacred the Agarthan army.

Not long after this battle, Grock, who had avoided the large conflict, was finally tracked down by Umor and quickly taken out. Agartha's God was killed, its mages were weak, and the largest army they could gather was slaughtered. For the Agarthan's, all hope was lost, and they realized that Vega was the true God. A lot of time and lives could have been saved if everyone would have just agreed to that in the beginning. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

Nice writeup.
Interesting game.

Of course Im also prejudiced. I love it when Pangaea wins http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif