Armadillo - started

[llamabeast]

I thought I would start a thread for a new game for people to join, which I will host on my automated PBEM server, the llamaserver (it's PBEM but it checks its e-mail very often, hosts automatically and also has a status page, see www.llamaserver.net (http://www.llamaserver.net) ).

We're going to go with Middle Age. The players are:

Kristoffer O - Mictlan
Meglobob - Caelum
Fal - Oceania
GameExtremist - Arcoscephale
Sieger - Ermor
Dedas - Ulm
Sir_Dr_D - Agartha
Teraswaerto - Pythium
Arghaii - Abysia
Hadrian_II - R'lyeh
Amhazair - C'tis
Valerius - Pangaea
Jazzepi - Man
Davegg - Vanheim
Ubercat - Marignon
GrayZ - Eriu
cupido2 - Machaka
zakna - Jotunheim
Reverend Zombie - Shinuyama
Baalz - Bandar Log
Aethyr - Atlantis

The map will be 'Glory of the Gods (multiplayer)'.

Settings: Everything standard.
Mods:
Worthy Heroes (http://www.mediafire.com/?8wyds1tqlgg)
(In the zip there is a 'maps' folder and a 'mods' folder. Put the contents of both in relevant dominions folders, i.e. the contents of the 'mods' folder in the zip should go in 'dominions3/mods'. There is also a readme file - put that where you want).
Blessing Hotfix (http://www.mediafire.com/?emonmx1jxjw)
(Just unzip and put the contents of the 'Black Tome' folder (two files) straight into in your dominions3/mods folder)

Victory conditions: Still to be decided

To upload your pretenders:

- Go to Game Tools -> Create a pretender god in Dominions
- Go to the savedgames/newlords folder in the dominions directory, and find your pretender file (e.g. mid_pythium_0.2h)
- E-mail the file to: pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net
- Crucially, you must have the game name, 'Armadillo', in the subject line of your e-mail

[Kristoffer O]

Nice. It was a while since I played PBEM, but I suppose I will manage http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif. Since I haven't played in quite a while I don't have any preferences. I might favor MA or LA, but any era works for me. I'm also slightly in favor of victory conditions.

Count me in anyway.

Might be easier for you if I give some preferences on nations. No particular order.
EA: Arco, Mictlan, Abysia, Ermor or some UW nation
MA: Ulm, Mictlan, Tien Chi, Agartha or some UW nation
LA: Man, Marignon, Mictlan, Jomon, Abysia or some UW nation.

[Meglobob]

I would like to play. I would prefer MA, as there seems fewer MP's set in that age.

I would like to play Caelum no matter what age, EA, MA or LA.

I like a provinces win, either 50%+1 or 331/3%+1 depending on map size.

[Fal]

count me in please. MA sounds good.

Will take either Man or any of the underwater nations.

Would also like to see graph disabled, but that's up to other players.

[GameExtremist]

Count me in - I'm okay with MA

I'd like Arcoscephale

I'd like Victory conditions set, not picky about them though.

[PashaDawg]

I'd be interested in playing.

What turn schedule are you thinking? I tend to prefer slower games, such as:

Turns 1 - 15 : daily
Turns 16 - End: 48 hour or 3 times per week

(If other players would prefer a fast game, then I can step aside for someone else. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

Victory conditions with % of map would be good.

It would be fun to play middle age. I'd like Agartha, Eriu, Bandar Log, or Ulm.

Pasha

[Sieger]

I'd be interested in playing.

My nation preferences would be:

EA: Niefelheim
MA: Ermor, R'lyeh, Pythium
LA: R'lyeh, Pangaea

[Dedas]

I would like to play! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

EA - C'tis
MA - Ulm
LA - Not decided yet

[Sir_Dr_D]

My preference is early age, but since middle age has been the most popular vote right now, how about we say this will be A MA game. It is much easier to pick a nation if I know the age.

I will give my nation choices later.

[Sir_Dr_D]

If it is middle age I would like to be Agartha.

Early age then R'lyey.

LA then Jomon.

[llamabeast]

I guess we should choose a map, and a number of players.

How about 'Glory of the Gods (multiplayer)' - 227 lands, 47 seas. I haven't played on it myself, so opinions are welcome.

If we go for that map, I'd suggest 12 land nations and 2 sea nations. Again, anyone have any thoughts?

Oh, and let's say it will be an MA game, since that seems to be the consensus.

Kristoffer - do you realise you've listed the 4 nations generally considered (as far as I've heard) to be the weakest in MA?

[llamabeast]

For the hosting schedule - I would suggest going with 24 hours up until turn 40 or 50, then switching to 48 hours. But, since I won't be playing, we should again go with the popular vote - what would people prefer?

[Sir_Dr_D]

I would like a game that has all middle age nations, if that is possible

[Meglobob]

llamabeast said:
For the hosting schedule - I would suggest going with 24 hours up until turn 40 or 50, then switching to 48 hours. But, since I won't be playing, we should again go with the popular vote - what would people prefer?



I vote 24hr 1-20, then 48hr 21+


Sir_Dr_D said:
I would like a game that has all middle age nations, if that is possible



It is all MA nations. See 1st post.

[Dedas]

I can agree to that.

[Teraswaerto]

I would like to play.

MA - Pythium

[Sieger]

Since Teras wants Pythium I'll take Ermor.

[llamabeast]

It is all MA nations. See 1st post.



Well, yes in the sense that all of the nations are MA. But not necessarily in the sense that all of the MA nations will be in the game. I'm after your opinions as to how many players should be in the game.

Obviously more players leads to a more epic feel, but also to a much longer game with a bigger lategame.

[Arghaii]

I will play Abysia, if there is space.

[Hadrian_II]

i'd like to join as Rlyeh

[Kristoffer O]

llamabeast said:
I guess we should choose a map, and a number of players.

How about 'Glory of the Gods (multiplayer)' - 227 lands, 47 seas. I haven't played on it myself, so opinions are welcome.

If we go for that map, I'd suggest 12 land nations and 2 sea nations. Again, anyone have any thoughts?

Oh, and let's say it will be an MA game, since that seems to be the consensus.

Kristoffer - do you realise you've listed the 4 nations generally considered (as far as I've heard) to be the weakest in MA?



I'm not overly concerned with winning. Also they might need my attention. If I get thrashed I might think about what needs to be done http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[PashaDawg]

I should probably bow out. Now that I think about it, I am in 3 games currently, and I get wigged out if I exceed the 3-game barrier. I will look forward to the llamaserver experience another time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Amhazair]

Count me in as C'tis. I just finished a game on Glory of the gods, and I like the feel of it. If we play with full nations it will get awfully crowded, but it should do for up to 15'ish players I think.

I'd also like to suggest the worthy heroes mod, heroes are fun to have around.


Edit: on second thought, let's try out C'tis. I never yet played with them, nor against them, so it's about time to check them out.

[Valerius]

I would like to play as MA Vanheim.

[Jazzepi]

I'd like in as MA Abysia.

Jazzepi

[Valerius]

Actually, please switch me to MA Pangaea.

Jazzepi, it looks like Arghaii already chose Abyssia.

[Jazzepi]

Woops. Sorry about that. I was looking at the first page, not the posts.

Jazzepi

[davegg]

I would like to play, my preference is MA Ulm if its not taken.

[Ubercat]

How many players are you thinking of getting in total? I'd like in, if there isn't any ethical issues with a player getting in 2+ of your games at the same time. (I might be bumping someone else.)

I think someone spoke up for Pangaia, so I'll go with Marignon this time for MA. If you decide to do early I'll go with Mictlan if it isn't claimed. I have never played LA so I'll bow out if that's what you go with.

[GrayZ]

I'd like to play, and I want to try out Eriu.

[cupido2]

If there is still room, I give MA Arco a try or any random nation.

[zakna]

hello want to get in too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif not decided on nation yet.

[llamabeast]

Wow! This has filled up very fast!

Okay, we're up to 18 players now. What do people think - shall I keep it open until we get the full 22?

To answer an earlier question, people are more than welcome to join any number of games on my server, don't worry about that. If you haven't played MP before though, be careful about how many games you join at the same time. To begin with they're very quick, but later on turns can begin to take quite a while. Two games should be fine I think, but I would be inclined to leave it at that for a while.

A few of you have chosen nations that someone else had already taken - please check the first post, and if you have a question mark by your name you'll need to choose a new nation.

[llamabeast]

Right, I have created the game (see the website, www.llamaserver.net (http://www.llamaserver.net) ), and if you want to you can now upload your pretenders. To do that:

- Go to Game Tools -> Create a pretender god in Dominions
- Go to the savedgames/newlords folder in the dominions directory, and find your pretender file (e.g. mid_pythium_0.2h)
- E-mail the file to: pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net
- Crucially, you must have the game name, 'Armadillo', in the subject line of your e-mail

Of course feel free to wait until we know the number of players/map. If you do upload a pretender, you can always change it later by sending it in again (from the same e-mail address).

[llamabeast]

I would also like to point out to those who haven't noticed that the icon for this game is, in fact, a view of an armadillo from above.

It has an unusually long nose.

[Reverend Zombie]

May I play as Shinuyama?

[llamabeast]

Hmm, I have been thinking about the number of players for this game.

I think I will have to reserve the right to turn away players after the 15th, in case the consensus is that including more players would make the game too big. On the other hand please continue signing up in case we decide to go with more players.

What I'm worried about is what map to use. It seems to me that there's a bit of a gulf in available map sizes between 'Glory of the Gods (multiplayer)' (274 provinces) and 'Glory of the Gods' (502 provinces). In my opinion games tend to be most exciting in the 15-20 provinces/player range, and playing on the big Glory of the Gods, with 24 provinces each (assuming 22 players), sounds like it might be really quite cumbersome.

Does anyone have any thoughts, or know of any nice maps with provinces in the 300-400 range? I've not got much experience of setting up large games, so opinions are very welcome.

[Sieger]

If we want to have 22 players I think a map size around 350 is probably just right. You might check some of the maps in the mod forum, or you could just create a few random maps of that size til you see one you like.

[cupido2]

as arco is taken I try Machaka...

[Kristoffer O]

I'm for the smaller glory of gods. I don't mind crowded maps. Quite soon they are not crowded anymore and have a suitable concentration of players http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I don't mind other settings though. Actually I don't think I have played in a big scale MP game since the early days of dom2 (more than 15 provinces each for more than 15 players or so).

[Kristoffer O]

Seems Mictlöan and Tien Chi are still unpopular. Since I can't imagine what would make Mictlan attractive I think I'll go for them.

There need to be some laws in this armadillo game.
All hail the Lawgiver!
I'll start with banning blood magic I think. Seems reasonable.
All hail the Lawgiver!

[Kristoffer O]

What a splendid serversite!

Nice work Llamabeast. I'm already feeling inclined to add a llama as national summon for Mictlan http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Sandman]

I'll take T'ien Ch'i, contingent on llamabeast's player number preferences, of course.

[Fal]

Kristoffer O said:
Seems Mictlöan and Tien Chi are still unpopular. Since I can't imagine what would make Mictlan attractive I think I'll go for them.

There need to be some laws in this armadillo game.
All hail the Lawgiver!
I'll start with banning blood magic I think. Seems reasonable.
All hail the Lawgiver!



Well I do enjoy playing with T'ien Ch'i, but even crossbowmen and spies can be boring after a while.

[Amhazair]

llamabeast said:
Does anyone have any thoughts, or know of any nice maps with provinces in the 300-400 range? I've not got much experience of setting up large games, so opinions are very welcome.



Well, there's allways the Faerun Map. (Which comes with heavily defended VP provinces, if not tampered with) There's a 324 and a 424 provinces version. I don't know of any map inbetween those two values.

P.S. And a big kudos for your remarkably lifelike topdown view armadillo. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Baalz]

I'll join if you decide more is better. How about Bandar Log?

[llamabeast]

Okay then, how about we go with a crowded Glory of the Gods (274 provinces)? If we get all 22 players, that's about 12.5 provinces each - the same as Gandalf's 4-player games, which generally seem good fun to me. Is everyone happy with that?


Well, there's allways the Faerun Map. (Which comes with heavily defended VP provinces, if not tampered with) There's a 324 and a 424 provinces version. I don't know of any map inbetween those two values.



Unless I've misunderstood, I don't think Edi wants us to use those, since he's working hard on new and improved versions (does anyone know if I've got this right?).


What a splendid serversite!



P.S. And a big kudos for your remarkably lifelike topdown view armadillo.



Thanks guys!


I'm already feeling inclined to add a llama as national summon for Mictlan.



That's certainly what I've been feeling they're missing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Meglobob]

12.5 provinces each suits the lightning quick feathered ones of Caelum...

[Amhazair]

Sure, fine with me.

[Hadrian_II]

llamabeast said:

Well, there's allways the Faerun Map. (Which comes with heavily defended VP provinces, if not tampered with) There's a 324 and a 424 provinces version. I don't know of any map inbetween those two values.



Unless I've misunderstood, I don't think Edi wants us to use those, since he's working hard on new and improved versions (does anyone know if I've got this right?).



The original Faerun Map does not have VPs, only some provinces with armies and special sites. The VP version of Faerun was done by me for the FaerunPBEM game, and it worked not bad. But the smaller Glory of the Goods Map is good (as its hard to manage a 100 provinces empire)

[davegg]

i would like Van

[llamabeast]

Oh man, the excitement's got too much for me. I think I will join too. Now which nation...

[llamabeast]

I'd like to reserve Jotunheim and Atlantis while I have a little think (I reckon the host has such powers http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif).

The remaining nations are Jotunheim, Atlantis, Oceania and Man (if Fal is happy to have an UW nation). Jazzepi, zakna, me, Fal and our mystery 22nd player have yet to choose.

[llamabeast]

Due to a lack of sufficiently rapid objections (and the fact that it sounds good to me), I hereby declare we'll play on 'Glory of the Gods (multiplayer)'. We'll use Worthy Heroes and the Blessing Hotfix.

People should now start designing and uploading their pretenders. I'd like to get the game started quickly-ish, if possible.

I'll add links to the mods to the first post shortly. Instructions for uploading your pretender are earlier in this thread somewhere.

[llamabeast]

Because I am slow, I failed to count myself in the number of players. So, we now have the full 22! Wow! That was incredibly fast. Time to get your pretenders up guys.

[Kristoffer O]

All hail the Lawgiver, Lord of Light!

Kneel and recieve His blessing. The Old Ones will bathe in His splendour.

A festering growth is percieved. Riding the memory of ageing men it enters the temples forbidden. By the name of Youth it is venerated and worshiped by the weak, the old and the unwise. It lodges itself in the very souls of mortal men, and tears away all that should be, leaving but vain and wanton destruction.

Kneel Old Ones, and gather your flock. For the blessings of Old Age will come to them!

All hail the Lawgiver, Persecutor and Destroyer of Youth!

[Kristoffer O]

> I'll add links to the mods to the first post shortly. Instructions for uploading your pretender are earlier in this thread somewhere

Hmm, mods. Does that mean that I have to remake my pretender? I kind of liked Destroyer and Persecutor of Youth!

[Amhazair]

That is, indeed, a fun name http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

You'll want confirmation from the guys in the know, since I'm computerilliterate, but I seem to remember having been told that those specific mods have no influence on pretender creation, so you can keep your decrepit old god. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[llamabeast]

Amhazair is right, you don't need the mods when making pretenders.

Pretty much the only mod which does affect pretender design is the Conceptual Balance mod.

[llamabeast]

Okay, I've decided I can form no real preference between Jotunheim and Atlantis. So, we have Man, Jotunheim, Atlantis and Oceania between me, Fal, zakna and Jazzepi. I will take whichever of Jotunheim and Atlantis someone doesn't choose first.

[Jazzepi]

Okay. I'll go ahead and play man http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Let me make up a pretender and mail it in.

Jazzepi

[llamabeast]

Just so people know how fast to design their pretenders and so on, I would really like to get this game started by Thursday (or before of course, if everyone ends up being quick).

[Sandman]

Having reconsidered my time constraints, I'm going to have to drop out of this game. Sorry! T'ien Ch'i is now up for grabs.

[llamabeast]

Okay, no worries Sandman. We now have one free slot then.

[Ubercat]

Last night I tried out this map with my pretender and all 22 players. I was crowded in a corner and only managed to grab 5 provinces before being boxed in. I suspect that some players will have it as bad as I did, while others will get lucky with significantly better expansion opportunites.

Since Tien Chi bowed out, we might want to consider limiting the game to at most 21 players to slightly limit the crowding.

[llamabeast]

I'm easy either way. You're probably right actually, but there is something exciting about getting all 22 nations in. Anyway, if other people think I should close the game at 21 players, I'm happy to do that.

[zakna]

ok i choose Jotunheim

[llamabeast]

Cool, I will be Atlantis then.

[llamabeast]

Ah, I forgot to say - it would be a little better if everyone's pretenders _didn't_ have passwords on. Unlike a network game, no-one else will have access to your turns anyway (they won't be e-mailed them). If you don't have a password it will make it easier for a sub to take over should you disappear.

It doesn't matter too much though (especially if you don't intend to disappear http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif ), so don't worry about re-uploading if you've already sent your pretender in.

[Kristoffer O]

And here I fought hard to remember to put in a password http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Jazzepi]

Where exactly are we suppose to upload/e-mail our pretenders to?

Jazzepi

[Reverend Zombie]

From third page, could it be added to the first post, please?:


llamabeast said:
Right, I have created the game (see the website, www.llamaserver.net (http://www.llamaserver.net) ), and if you want to you can now upload your pretenders. To do that:

- Go to Game Tools -> Create a pretender god in Dominions
- Go to the savedgames/newlords folder in the dominions directory, and find your pretender file (e.g. mid_pythium_0.2h)
- E-mail the file to: pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net
- Crucially, you must have the game name, 'Armadillo', in the subject line of your e-mail

Of course feel free to wait until we know the number of players/map. If you do upload a pretender, you can always change it later by sending it in again (from the same e-mail address).

[llamabeast]

Thanks Reverend. Okay, the first post has now been updated with some useful info (how to upload pretenders, links to mods etc).

Now the last question: What shall we set for the victory conditions? I've not got a lot of experience with this, but I'd suggest a player wins when they control some proportion of the provinces. This prevents an annoying teleport-onto-victory-points win, while still giving a clearly defined goal. And I think I would set it fairly low - 33% perhaps - so that the game doesn't deteriorate into a grind. By the time one of 21 players controls one third of the map, I think they've probably clearly won anyway.

Thoughts?

[Ubercat]

llamabeast said:
Thanks Reverend. Okay, the first post has now been updated with some useful info (how to upload pretenders, links to mods etc).

Now the last question: What shall we set for the victory conditions? I've not got a lot of experience with this, but I'd suggest a player wins when they control some proportion of the provinces. This prevents an annoying teleport-onto-victory-points win, while still giving a clearly defined goal. And I think I would set it fairly low - 33% perhaps - so that the game doesn't deteriorate into a grind. By the time one of 21 players controls one third of the map, I think they've probably clearly won anyway.

Thoughts?



That sounds like a good idea. 33% is great for a dense setup. No one has mentioned player 22. Are we going to recruit a replacement? or make the cut off at 21 and save a little on crowding? (plus getting the game started a bit faster)

[llamabeast]

Wow, seems like people don't have many opinions.

I am happy to leave it at 21 players. So now we're just waiting on six pretenders (including mine).

[Teraswaerto]

It's possible to grab dozens of provinces on one turn by teleporting mages onto provinces with just PD protecting them. I'm not necessarily saying that's bad, just pointing out that % of provinces victory condition does not eliminate the possibility to win by teleport.

[Kristoffer O]

33% provinces seems fine with me. I have never played with province condition before.

[lch]

I can only second what Teraswaerto said. Playing with % provinces victory conditions benefits astral and air nations greatly. Not many people pay a great deal of attention to PD, and sometimes they even have all their units sitting in forts without using them for patrolling and the fort defenders can be defeated easily. That works if you want to protect your troops, but AFAIK provinces where you are just sieging the fort count towards your province count just the same...

[llamabeast]

Hmm, okay. Well do people think VPs would work better?

[Reverend Zombie]

lch said:
Not many people pay a great deal of attention to PD, and sometimes they even have all their units sitting in forts without using them for patrolling and the fort defenders can be defeated easily.



Perhaps we should consider ourselves warned, then, and pay special attention to point defense given the victory conditions.

[Reverend Zombie]

llamabeast said:
Hmm, okay. Well do people think VPs would work better?



VPs seem even more susceptible to paradrop than percenatage provinces condition.

Victory conditions I like to use in games I host is 51% dominion victory, using the mid dominion value of 15 (it runs on a scale of 11-20 for each of your candles). I set the needed victory score to: 15 X (half of provinces plus 1) (or as close as I can get it with the damn slider!).

This eliminates the concern of paradrop, since victory is based on dominion spread, not province control.

I don't think many people are used to this condition, so I'm not sure it will fly.

But the game IS called Dominions, after all.. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Sir_Dr_D]

Themetically a Dominion victory makes the most sense.

That 31% province victory sounds too low. 2 nations could easily reach that at almost the same time. I would prefer at least 41%

[Meglobob]

274 province map with 21 players is 13+ provinces per player.

33% provinces is 91+ provinces needed to win.

Seems ok to me. The winner will after conquer the equivilent starting land of 6 other players. Anyone who does that and owns over a 1/3 of the map deserves victory.

Anyone who gets 60+ provinces is going to get jumped by a bunch of other players anyway. I reckon the game will last 60 - 100+ turns with those victory conditions.

But at the end of the day I am easy on what victory conditions we use.

[lch]

% province is not only susceptible to paradrop from Teleport and Cloud Trapeze, but Flying and Remote attack spells such as Call of the Wilds/Winds, Ghost Riders etc. too so I'd set the victory condition to at least 50-60% if you want to have it by provinces. Otherwise one only needs a couple of scouts to find weak spots.

[Arghaii]

Opening my MODS folder, I see the following inside:


3 more folders

1) Black Tome (folder)
2) Mods (folder)
3) Maps (folder)


Does that sound right?

[llamabeast]

lch and Tera - I would have thought that by the time you can pull that off, you deserve to win. But if not - what would you suggest instead?

Reverend - sounds interesting, although I might be inclined to set victory a little lower. What do people think of this?

Arghaii - no, sorry. I've now fixed the first post with better instructions - sorry! The contents of the 'mods' and 'maps' folders you have there should really go in the 'dominions3\mods' and 'dominions3\maps' folders themselves, if you see what I mean. i.e. you should only have one layer of directories within your dominions directory. Similarly you should put the contents of the 'Black Tome' folder straight into your 'mods' folder. Ugh, I'm making all this sound much more complicated than it is.

[Reverend Zombie]

llamabeast said:
Reverend - sounds interesting, although I might be inclined to set victory a little lower. What do people think of this?




A minimum of one candle in half plus one of provinces might work? (i.e., a required dominion score of 11 * (half of provinces plus one))

Or stronger dominion over one third of the map? (15 * (33% of provinces))

[Teraswaerto]

llamabeast said:
lch and Tera - I would have thought that by the time you can pull that off, you deserve to win.



Perhaps. My point was that some nations can do mass teleportation much easier than others.

I don't think remote attack spells are really a problem, as they have trouble breaking PD, cost more gems, and the ones like Ghost Riders and the Horror attacks leave the province in independent control.

Similarly, win by dominion favors nations with blood sacrifice.

I personally think it's best when games end naturally, when the remaining players concede that one player, or an alliance, is the winner.

[Hadrian_II]

33% of the provinces sound good, but i would not make it to a fix condition (more like someone gets that percentage, lasting players decide if the one is still contested or not). So that if 2 players share half the map each they can play it to the end. This way paradropping wont count as a victory, as players can fight back afterwards and to win you really have to control the provinces.

[llamabeast]

I like Reverend's dominion idea, and will probably use it in a future game. But being as it would probably affect pretender design significantly, I don't think we'll use it this game.

How about: In order to win, you have to take 33% of the provinces, and hold them for 3(5?) turns? Sound good?

[llamabeast]

Just waiting on pretenders from:

GrayZ - Eriu
Dedas - Ulm
GameExtremist - Arcoscephale
llamabeast - Atlantis (bad llama!)

[lch]

Teraswaerto said:
I don't think remote attack spells are really a problem, as they have trouble breaking PD, cost more gems, and the ones like Ghost Riders and the Horror attacks leave the province in independent control.


My point was that you can find out who is putting only < 5 PD via scouts and then use the cheap Call of the * spells or the stronger ones against that province. Caelum could do Call of the Winds coupled by aerial attacks. A Ghost Riders together with "attack current province" from a scout is a winner, too. Since I'm not playing myself I don't want to tell you what to do, I just wanted to warn that 33% could be achieved easier than imagined, so maybe get the percentage higher so that it's really a clearly visible advantage.

P.S.: Oh, when you can make "hold for X turns" as a victory condition, too, then I retract my earlier statements.

[Baalz]

33% seems a small percentage to me if the thought is that whoever gets there first would win anyway, but might make for a fun, short game so long as everyone is aware that it'll probably be won by somebody leaping unexpectedly the last 10% or so in a couple turns.

[Jazzepi]

I really think it should be something above 50%.

Jazzepi

[zakna]

Id vote for the 33% or more hold for 5 turn or more http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
But I'm not sure about all the hold province thing. Make more sense to me to be the last pretender standing to claim godhood.

[Teraswaerto]

lch said:
A Ghost Riders together with "attack current province" from a scout is a winner, too.



Good point this, hadn't thought of it.

[Ubercat]

zakna said:
Id vote for the 33% or more hold for 5 turn or more http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
But I'm not sure about all the hold province thing. Make more sense to me to be the last pretender standing to claim godhood.



The problem with that is you'd reach a point where one player was obviously going to win, but he'd still have to hunt down the last survivors.

If I were one of the fugitives I'd want to concede because it would be boring, and I'd want to move on to a new game where I might have a chance.

If I were the winner I'd be just as bored, and hoping that people would concede so I'd have more time to put into a new, freshly challenging game.

If you're concerned that a quicker game like that means that the late game gets abbreviated (meaning the highest level spells never get researched and longterm strategies don't come to full fruition) then a big map with 22 players is more appropriate. I'd wager that with one of the bigger maps, even at 33% province victory, some players would get to see the fruits of their long term planning.

[Meglobob]

Hands up everyone who has managed to get 91 provinces in MP?

My hands are firmly down, I am in a game thats on turn 94 and I only have 65 provinces.

All the remaining players are determined to fight to the death, more provinces have forts than don't.

The idea of taking provinces with call of winds at this stage is utterly laughable. 3xghost riders usually fails to take a province. It takes 3hrs plus to do your orders correctly and the game looks like going on till turn 150. Its already lasted since Dom3 came out which is 9 months.

Do we want the same?

[llamabeast]

Wow. That sounds like a lot of no fun to me Meglobob. I think we don't want that.

Okay, I hereby assert that the winner will be the first to take 33% of the provinces, and hold them for 5 turns.

I don't think we can automate this victory condition, so the game won't force ue to stop playing when it's reached. But I expect we will find that it's actually too high a requirement, thinking about the logistics of taking and holding that many provinces. If there are two or three superpowers who want to keep playing beyond that, I suppose they can, but personally I doubt it will be much fun.

Right, next question (so many questions!) Does anyone have any suggestions about anything I should do to the map, e.g. place starting provinces? I'm not going to have time to think about placing 21 start provinces manually. If there's an automated way to do it though I'd be interested (what did they do for Perpetuality?). Or if anyone has time to do it manually that would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise I'll just let Dominions place people as it sees fit.

[Kristoffer O]

I'm fine with being randomly placed. I'm also fine with being nonrandomly and unfairly placed.

[zakna]

same thing im fine with both

[Reverend Zombie]

Teraswaerto said:

Similarly, win by dominion favors nations with blood sacrifice.





OT as far as this game's victory conditions go, but worth pursuing to me since I like dominion based games:

Generally, I'd argue that dominion victory favoring blood nations is less imbalancing than, for example, province victory or VP victory favoring bless nations (in early game) or air/astral nations (in later game stages).

Specifically for MA games, who in the MA can really push blood effectively?

[Baalz]

Abyssia. I've done a pretty wicked dominion push with demon breds wielding jade daggers (empowered an indie nature mage with blood). Spreads heat wicked fast, plus you can air drop them way behind enemy lines. Give them a couple fire gems to summon a fire elemental and drop them in pairs and they'll take out moderate PD, then the Abyssian PD will hold against any half *** attempts to clear you out. You only need to hold a few turns to swing the dominion 10 points if you've got a good dominion score. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Reverend Zombie]

Baalz said:
Abyssia. I've done a pretty wicked dominion push with demon breds wielding jade daggers (empowered an indie nature mage with blood)....You only need to hold a few turns to swing the dominion 10 points if you've got a good dominion score. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



I wouldn't consdier this strat imbalanced for a dominion victory game, as there's lots of opportunity costs here, no? Abysia's got capital-only blood hunters, and Demonbreds are expensive. I'd have no problem if this type of investment led to victory, and I am sure there are other nations that could pursue dominion-pushing strategies that are either as competitive or cheaper to pursue, or counter this strat by Abysia specifically.

[Teraswaerto]

You don't need to do air drops do use blood sacrifice for dominion spreading, it'll radiate outward even from deep within your borders.

Of course, cheap temples of Man and Pangaea might also be considered an advantage.

I think any kind of victory condition will always favor some nation or nations. That said, I don't have a problem playing in games with such settings, someone's going to win no matter what the settings are. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Baalz]

Oh, I wasn't really commenting on an imbalance, I just couldn't resist answering your question on who could push a blood sacrifice in MA as I'd recently don't that myself. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I will say I play blood nations a lot (often with high dominion) and I've never seen anyone move dominion half as fast as when I start dumping blood slaves into that. As I mention though, haven't been in a dominion victory game so I don't really have an opinion on if that's unbalanced.

[Reverend Zombie]

Baalz said:
Oh, I wasn't really commenting on an imbalance,



Understood! I didn't mean to imply that you were. I am trying to identify balance issues with dominion victory conditions, and I appreciate your response. I think Abysia is about the only one that can push blood sacrifice like that in MA.

[llamabeast]

Okay, the game will now start automatically as soon as Ulm's pretender is in (tomorrow morning Europe time, apparently). Let's hope I didn't screw anything up...

[llamabeast]

We're off! Good luck everyone. You should all have received your first turn file at the e-mail address you sent your pretender from.

The first turn has a 48 hour timer, in case of problems - after that we're on to 24 hours.

I'm going away for the weekend in a few hours, to visit my girlfriend's parents. I'm allowed to take my turns (she actually finds it quite interesting), but strictly forbidden from doing anything server related. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif So, I hope there are no problems. If you get stuck working out how to play your turn or something, please post here and I'm sure the other players will help.

[GrayZ]

I just did my first turn with no problems (eager? who me?)

[llamabeast]

Excellent.

Would someone mind PMing any players who haven't taken their first turns after 24 hours? Thanks.

[zakna]

turn done everything worked ok http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[llamabeast]

Good stuff. By the way everyone, don't forget you can look at www.llamaserver.net (http://www.llamaserver.net) to see who's taken their turn, when the next turn is due etc..

[Meglobob]

Good luck everyone.

I ask only 1 thing, please don't rip my wings off, I am rather attached to them don't you know.

You can do anything else, just mind the wings, we are not flys you know, to be tortured for idle amusement by ripping our wings off... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Kristoffer O]

All Hail the Lawgiver, Lord of Light!

He has seen the wisdom in this request. Wings were given some beasts for men to admire.

Wings were given some beast so that they would not toil the land. The Lawgiver does not condone of toiling men. All men should be free to work when they feel like it. Wings is a way to say that work can be avoided and they shall not be ripped off.

Thus, there is now a ban against the ripping of wings!

All Hail the Lawgiver, Lord of Light!

[GameExtremist]

Just a heads up that I may not be able to get my turns in on time in the next few days...

We just had like the 50 year storm in Newcastle, Australia.....power was knocked out for 18 hours...It's only just come back...but no guarentees as another big front is about to hit.

Would it be possible to set the turn timer to 48 hrs temporarily?

Really sorry so early in the game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Kristoffer O]

The high priests of Mictlan wishes it to be known that the storm is caused by GrayZ, Rider of the Clouds.

All hail the Lawgiver, Lord of Light!


- I'm OK with a slight delay. The Lawgiver is a patient God http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[llamabeast]

GE - done (stealthily!)

[Turin]

For your info, I had a nasty bug with one of the heroes( the sentient hydra) in Version 1_7 of my worthy heroes mod that gave him the wrong and pretty overpowered domsummon. It affects EA Sauromatia, MA C´tis and Pythium.
The fixed version is uploaded here:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=470523&page=0&view=collap sed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

[GrayZ]

Kristoffer O said:
The high priests of Mictlan wishes it to be known that the storm is caused by GrayZ, Rider of the Clouds.




That's me on a good day. Anger me, and you'll meet the Earth monster. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Sieger]

Sorry, I was out of town this weekend and forgot to mention it in the games I was in, luckily it looks like we didn't host without me!

[llamabeast]

GameExtremist says things are fixed post-storm, so we're going back to 24 hours.

Everyone note: the next turn will have ##24 hours##.

[Kristoffer O]

The Lawgiver wishes it to be known that Storms and Clouds are treated with due respect in His kingdom. The previously common practice of making rude gestures directed at clouds has been forbidden for several days.

There is no need for the Earth Monster to appear. Not that the priests of Mictlan has anything against Earth Monsters. Earth Monsters are probably the nicest of all Monsters. Except Monster Toads that is.

[Meglobob]

Lord Flasheart supreme ruler of Caelum likes clouds and storms make us go all funny and tingly. We love storms.

Many people say Caelum has its head in the clouds. This is of course a complete lie, our eyes are fixed firmly on the gound looking for prey...

[Amhazair]

Why is it this "storm" and "clouds" you keep speaking of scares you so? Hereby we gladly extend an invitation to anyone willing to come visit our lands to discover the danger inherent to yellowish mists and heavy, fetid, unmoving air. A danger our genetically superior race is obviously immune to...

[Amhazair]

Damn, talk about a crowded game. Already Ulm shows up in the province next to my capitol. Probably lured there by the... uhm... pitoresque... smell permeating the place.

[Teraswaerto]

http://xs216.xs.to/xs216/07243/Pythium.gif (http://xs.to)

Pythium is a nation of order: do not interfere.

[Dedas]

Why on earth did you build your capital next to Ulm's province? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Hadrian_II]

Pythium does not understand the real meaning of order, as perfect order only exists in the void.

[llamabeast]

A quick comment about the server: The website's being a bit up-and-down, annoyingly. I'm working on a fix, but have to wait for someone else to do something at their end before I can do anything. BUT the website is a separate entity from the server itself, which is still working even when the webpage is down.

[Kristoffer O]

> Pythium does not understand the real meaning of order, as perfect order only exists in the void

That is nonsense! Perfect order exists where the Lawgiver reigns, in Mictlan.

Hmm, 'void' you say. Why would there be order in the void? Sounds like you have been misled by insane prophets of R'lyeh! Is Pythium allready falling to the lure of the void?

[Baalz]

Order is found in ones self for chaos accompanies external direction. Be led astray neither by the lure of a paternalistic confinement, nor the opiate of the void. Only from inner reflection can enlightenment be found, seek truth within yourself.

Let us meditate on this.

[Teraswaerto]

The void is nothing, and the mind is lost without guidance. It is the ever-moving spheres of heaven that, with proper interpretation, reveal the nature of truth. Eternal and divine, their light leads us.

[Kristoffer O]

Bah! While you are philosophing away, we are building an Empire. An Empire where everyone can stand in line.

All line up before the Lawgiver, Lord of Light!

[Dedas]

There is no other law than the law of steel. Everybody knows this! And if they do not know they will soon be taught by the soldiers of Ulm; bringers of law, bringers of steel.

[Kristoffer O]

Steel ...
What is this new invention?
It will but cause turmoil and strife.

Three materials was given us by the Lawgiver:
Iron for the war, Copper for the Sun and Obsidian for the Moon.

Steel has no use.
Steel is the invention of godless peoples.
Steel will cause your downfall.
Steel is banned by the Law.

[Amhazair]

Those who look for order in the void will waste their lives looking for it, trying to understand.

Those who look for order in contemplation will find out that they wasted their lives doing nothing, and have become too old and too unused to action to implement anything they learned.

Those who narrow order down to the letter of the law, and narrow the law down to the power of steel, will lead short and violent lives, and accomplish no order, but only chaos.

Those looking for order should come visit the great city of C'tis, and see the workings of our society, where everyone knows his place from the moment he is born to the moment he lays down his life in the service of his people.

[cupido2]

Hmmm I seem to have some problems with my turns. It looks I stale every even turn although I send them in time...

[llamabeast]

Oh dear, that sounds quite serious. Hang on a sec...

Right, well it definitely never received a turn 4 e-mail from you. And there have been no problems with the server that I know of (the website is a different issue entirely).

Erm, things to check: Can you find a turn 4 e-mail in your sent-mail? Perhaps it somehow didn't send it. And was it definitely to the correct address?

I can't think of anything else to be honest. All I can say is if you're concerned about it it might be worth double checking your e-mail ten minutes after you take a turn to see that you've got a receipt e-mail. Or you could send each e-mail twice I suppose. But it shouldn't be necessary.

Please let me know if you ever get the problem again. Very strange - e-mails should get through to the server just as reliably as to any other address. And the server will always always reply to an e-mail, even if there was no turn attached.

[Hadrian_II]

cupido2 said:
Hmmm I seem to have some problems with my turns. It looks I stale every even turn although I send them in time...



If you send them right, you should get a confirmation mail from the server.

Rlyeh does not understand how other nations think about order. Order has nothing to do with submission or materials. Order is a state of mind, when you are no longer are troubled by worldly things.

[cupido2]

Hmmm this turn I had to send twice. Will send them now every half an hour until I receive the confirmation of the server.
And here the messages to Vanheim and Bandar Log: Please stand away from the provinces 222 and 227 as they are considered Machanke hunting ground!

[Hadrian_II]

them? are u sending the .trn and the .2h file? You only need to send the .2h file. (if you sent both, it might disturb the script on the server)

[llamabeast]

cupido2 - erm, odd. Well, I hope it won't happen again. The problem's not at my end, your e-mail just isn't arriving.

[cupido2]

No, of course I only send the .2h file. Never had this problem in a pbem-game. But I will do fine.

[GrayZ]

Kristoffer O said:
The Lawgiver wishes it to be known that Storms and Clouds are treated with due respect in His kingdom. The previously common practice of making rude gestures directed at clouds has been forbidden for several days.

There is no need for the Earth Monster to appear. Not that the priests of Mictlan has anything against Earth Monsters. Earth Monsters are probably the nicest of all Monsters. Except Monster Toads that is.



The armies of Mictlan have fled in defeat after intruding on Eriu's territory.

Mictlans puny slings have no effect on Sidhe when Grayz' blessing both deflects the rocks from the air and protects from their blows.

The law giver has angered the Earth monster, and his armies will take their revenge.

[Amhazair]

For some unknown reason I didn't receive the new turn e-mail today. A second try to send it would be nice...

[llamabeast]

Resent.

[Amhazair]

Yep, it arrived just fine now. Thanks.

[Kristoffer O]

> The armies of Mictlan have fled in defeat after intruding on Eriu's territory.

> Mictlans puny slings have no effect on Sidhe when Grayz' blessing both deflects the rocks from the air and protects from their blows.

> The law giver has angered the Earth monster, and his armies will take their revenge.

The misled people of Mictlan prostrates themselves before the wrath of the Earth Monster. All Hail the Earth Monster!

The Priest Kings of Mictlan humbly begs the allmighty GrayZ to spare the people of Mictlan, led astray by a false god that havn't even shown his face. Promises of Law and order has turned to naught but war and strife. The priests of Mictlan defecate on the tomb of their false pretender.

All Hail the Earth Monster!

[llamabeast]

Right, following Amhazair's request, I've now added an option on the website to have your turn resent. On the Armadillo page, you can now click on 'Request turn resend', select your nation, and your turn will be sent again a few minutes later. Not that I expect you'll need it - this is the first time a turn file hasn't got through. But I thought it might be a useful option.

[llamabeast]

I wonder if I could ask for a volunteer to be 'game admin' for this game. It's not much of a job, but you'd have the power to postpone hostings etc, and so people would ask you for postponements if they were going away for a day or two or whatever. And later on in the game if people want to switch to 48 hours, you'd be the one to ask people what they want and make the change. It's all very easy to do through the 'Admin options' link on the game page.

I only ask because I'm aiming for 'sustainable development' on the LlamaServer. If other people can admin games for me then I'm free to spend more time working on the server and organising new games, and I could end up having loads of games on the go without it getting stressful.

[Ubercat]

llamabeast said:
Right, following Amhazair's request, I've now added an option on the website to have your turn resent. On the Armadillo page, you can now click on 'Request turn resend', select your nation, and your turn will be sent again a few minutes later. Not that I expect you'll need it - this is the first time a turn file hasn't got through. But I thought it might be a useful option.



Would that enable a person to request another players turn?

-Ubercat

[llamabeast]

Nope. That would be bad! It sends the turn to the normal address for that player. So it can't really be abused. (I've tried to make the whole system abuse-proof by the way - even the game admin has no way of cheating).

[Valerius]

I would be willing to admin. Requests for delay can be made here or you can e-mail my address to everyone with the next turn file.

[zakna]

yes could its a good idea, i was out yesterday and had to stale my turn.

[GrayZ]

Kristoffer O said:

The misled people of Mictlan prostrates themselves before the wrath of the Earth Monster. All Hail the Earth Monster!

The Priest Kings of Mictlan humbly begs the allmighty GrayZ to spare the people of Mictlan, led astray by a false god that havn't even shown his face. Promises of Law and order has turned to naught but war and strife. The priests of Mictlan defecate on the tomb of their false pretender.

All Hail the Earth Monster!



GrayZ has decided to be benevolent, and spare Mictlan. However, the nation of eriu still roils with anger, and cannot stand the presence of Mictlan within its sacred forests.

It would be best for Mictlan to not gather large armies within the forests, and instead head to the plains in the south. Doing else wise will anger the troops of eriu beyond my control, and will surely lead to war.

[Meglobob]

Request a delay:-

I am having a minor operation on Tuesday 19th June, I will get my turn for Tuesday hosting but could we then switch to 48hr hosting for 1 turn? So the next turn is due Thursday 21st June?

Hopefully, I should be okay from then onwards.

[Reverend Zombie]

What was the most recent turn sent for this game, and what was its deadline?

[Amhazair]

Good luck Bob.

[Meglobob]

Amhazair said:
Good luck Bob.



Cheers, its only very minor, so should be no problem. I also get a week off work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[llamabeast]

Reverend - look on the website (www.llamaserver.net).

[Valerius]

Hi, Meglobob. I will make the hosting change from Tues.-Thurs.

[Meglobob]

Valerius said:
Hi, Meglobob. I will make the hosting change from Tues.-Thurs.



You can host Tues night as normal. Its probably the wednesday night turn I will not be able to do. Thanks.

[zakna]

well this game turns out to be really interesting, i know have a more clear picture of my neighbors and my neighbors neighbors , and I'm really curious on how all of this will turn out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Valerius]

Next turn will host 20:10 Thursday.

[GrayZ]

I'm going to be away from Thursday - Sunday. I've arranged for someone to cover the turns, is it possible to get the e-mail changed while I am away?

[llamabeast]

It is indeed, and done!

Edit: This is something the game admin will be able to do eventually. But I haven't added that option yet.

[Kristoffer O]

Ah, I'll also be away for the weekend. JK will sub me, if everything works out. Sent a mail to Valerius.

[Valerius]

Hi, Kristoffer. I got your e-mail and forwarded it to llamabeast for him to change info.

[llamabeast]

Kristoffer - Do you want me to change the address tomorrow (after this evening's hosting) or today?

[Teraswaerto]

Are we still on turn 11 or did I miss a turn?

[Valerius]

We are still on 11. Meglobob asked for a delay in hosting due to an operation.

[llamabeast]

(Psst - you can check what turn we're on on the website - www.llamaserver.net (http://www.llamaserver.net) )

[Meglobob]

Valerius said:
We are still on 11. Meglobob asked for a delay in hosting due to an operation.



Thanks for the delay. It all went wonderfully well (3 cheers for those doctors and nurses) and I am have done my latest turn.

I have no problem going back to 24hr hosting.

[magnate]

GrayZ said:
I'm going to be away from Thursday - Sunday. I've arranged for someone to cover the turns, is it possible to get the e-mail changed while I am away?

I am subbing for GrayZ - just got tonight's turn in on time. If anyone wants to contact Eriu before he's back, please PM me here.

CC

[Sir_Dr_D]

Dang it. That last delay made me think that the turn timer had gone to 48 hours.This caused me to submit my turn 5 minutes to late, and lose a very critical battle. I had a set up that probably would have won it.

llamabeast may I make a request. As well as stating the time in GMT when the next turn is do, can you also state in how many hours the next turn is do on both the main page and the emails. So as an example it will say that the next turn is due in 24 hours on 00:45 GMT on Saturday June 30th.

[Jazzepi]

Go man!

*Bizzt*
*Bizzt*
*Bizzt*

Jazzepi

[GrayZ]

Sir_Dr_D said:
Dang it. That last delay made me think that the turn timer had gone to 48 hours.This caused me to submit my turn 5 minutes to late, and lose a very critical battle. I had a set up that probably would have won it.

llamabeast may I make a request. As well as stating the time in GMT when the next turn is do, can you also state in how many hours the next turn is do on both the main page and the emails. So as an example it will say that the next turn is due in 24 hours on 00:45 GMT on Saturday June 30th.



I apologize, that was my fault. I forgot to submit my turn in the morning, so sent a PM to Valerius while at work to delay it by a few hours.

You do get an e-mail 3 hours before hosting if you haven't submitted. That worked pretty well to me.

[Valerius]

Sorry about that Sir_Dr_D. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

From now on any changes in hosting will be posted here and I'll send a message to all players notifying them.

[llamabeast]

Sir_Dr_D - request received, it's a good one, I will add that ASAP.

To all nations - the Friendly Underwater Nation (FUN!) of Atlantis would like to purchase a Thistle Mace. We will cheerfully pay as many as 16 nature gems. Please inform us by PM if you would be willing to forge it for us.

[Meglobob]

Caelum needs food, our nation is starving, we are famished, as our lands appear to be devoid of gems (so far) all we can offer is cold hard cash...

Wanted Endless Bag of Wine, will pay 100gps.

Wanted Enormous Cauldron of Broth, will pay 300gps.

PM me, 1st come, 1st serve...hurry Lord Flasheart's losing his Flash, seriously you can see his ribs... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif

[Kristoffer O]

Since the Lawgiver who promised to make a throne out of the atlantian pretender is nowhere to be seen, and the Great Earth Monster GrayZ is now the lord of Mictlan, the forging of thistle maces for FUN might be a suitable work for the unemployed Priest Kings of Mictlan, if granted permission by GrayZ, the Rider of Clouds.

[Ubercat]

Meglobob said:
Caelum needs food, our nation is starving, we are famished, as our lands appear to be devoid of gems (so far) all we can offer is cold hard cash...

Wanted Endless Bag of Wine, will pay 100gps.

Wanted Enormous Cauldron of Broth, will pay 300gps.

PM me, 1st come, 1st serve...hurry Lord Flasheart's losing his Flash, seriously you can see his ribs... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif



Well, you've no call to be stealing Marignons lands. We don't have any gems for you!

Though I guess if you keep it up, then soon your food may not need to stretch so far...

[Hadrian_II]

Somehow the server refuses to acknowledte my new turn, is there some problem with the server, or are i just going to stall with nothing i can do about it?

[Hadrian_II]

the server just decided to eat my turns, so i hope it worked...

[Sir_Dr_D]

A notification to all of Man's neighbors. Man is doing a mad suicidal rush at Agartha right now. Instead of researching, they sent most of there mages, packed with gems at Agartha. Also sent was an expensive army of knights. A lot of those knights have been destroyed, and all the gems that were sent have been used up. This means that Man is vunerable right now.

[Jazzepi]

I wouldn't call the successful siege of Argatha's capital a mad suicide rush! How many PD was that anyways? Good thing PD can't retreat and survive.

Our only neighbor is the friendly Caleum, who is tied up in other wars. We <3 him too.

Jazzepi

[llamabeast]

The server was apparently down for a few hours yesterday, and then recovered. Maybe the internet connection here went down or something, I don't know. Anyway, hopefully it acknowledged your turn in the end Hadrian_II?

[Meglobob]

Jazzepi said:Our only neighbor is the friendly Caleum, who is tied up in other wars.



Wars? Caelum is at war with 1 nation, the pious, religious fanatics of Marignon. Its hardly a war, however, when battle is joined the priests fall to there knees, nodding there heads in religious ectasy. It is there last act in this world as my mammoths send them to the next one.

I consider it a great act of benevolence bringing the priests of Marignon closer to there god... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Caelum, can confirm our good relations with the stalwart warriors of Man, however.

On a side note, we found gems, 2 to be exact, it only took 10 turns of searching! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif The great Caelum gem shortage!

[Sir_Dr_D]

Using that many mages at the beginning I called a suicide rush becuase it will leave you vunerable later in the game due to low magic research. I have never come across that strategy before. It is as hard to defend against as an early Van rush.

[Hadrian_II]

llamabeast said:
I don't know. Anyway, hopefully it acknowledged your turn in the end Hadrian_II?



yes it did

[lch]

Sir_Dr_D said:
Using that many mages at the beginning I called a suicide rush becuase it will leave you vunerable later in the game due to low magic research. I have never come across that strategy before. It is as hard to defend against as an early Van rush.


Sounds like it is a viable strategy, then, having a second fort without paying to build it and with lots of income, and it should be paying off in short and long term.

[Sir_Dr_D]

It is a viable strategy. It is quite a good one that I am impressed with, and probably the only that could have been used to cut through my defenses.It just has its risks. That suicidal mad rush statement was meant to be taken as an exageration.

[Jazzepi]

Meglobob said:

Jazzepi said:Our only neighbor is the friendly Caleum, who is tied up in other wars.



Wars? Caelum is at war with 1 nation, the pious, religious fanatics of Marignon. Its hardly a war, however, when battle is joined the priests fall to there knees, nodding there heads in religious ectasy. It is there last act in this world as my mammoths send them to the next one.

I consider it a great act of benevolence bringing the priests of Marignon closer to there god... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Caelum, can confirm our good relations with the stalwart warriors of Man, however.

On a side note, we found gems, 2 to be exact, it only took 10 turns of searching! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif The great Caelum gem shortage!



Ah'em, our only neighbor Caleum is tied up in an act of witnessing to his confused neighbors. Surely they will soon repent from their wicked ways and turn towards the true god of air and thunder http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Jazzepi

[Jazzepi]

In particular giant bolts of armor negating lightning seem good at breaking big lines of Argathan heavy infantry. This is especially true considering how useless the longbow archers are against them.

Jazzepi

[Amhazair]

C'tis has the sad duty to inform the world of the untimely demise of the Ulmish nation. After all their claims about order being found in the rule of steel, they gave lies to their own words, and staged an unprovoked, unorderly and above all suicidal attack upon the C'tissian homelands. Today, their capitol and remaining army were destroyed by our valiant expeditionary force, and while fewer than a dozen men still try do defy us by barricading themselves in a small border castle in the high mountains, the nation of Ulm has effectively departed to brighter lands.

Let us pray for their redemption.


Sankriss, God of Invincible Power

[Amhazair]

The industrious people of C'tis are ever looking for new ways to enhance their nation, architecturally, socially, and otherwise. At this moment we believe that the advancement of our nation can be served by setting up trade deals. The following proposals are currently available:

* Through the contest of Ulm we have a decent income of earth gems at our disposal. An income we have little use for. Anyone intrested in earth gems, now or at a later date could do worse than approach us about the matter. Especially nations with the ability to forge items in the paths of earth, fire, air and astral might find lucrative long-term trading-relatiuonships possible.

* At this time we might be intrested in purchasing a Dwarven Hammer or two. Payment would be in earth gems.

* We are also looking for a small supply of astral pearls. 10 or 15 would be amply enough for our needs, though we won't disdain smaller quantities. We could pay you in earth, nature, or possibly small amounts of air and water gems. Or items forged by our national mages.

* Next turn our glorious nation will attain the necesaary magical knowledge to start forging greater magical items. (level 4) While our paths are somewhat limited, any and all proposals will be considered. (To Caelum: yes that includes the forging of those precious supply items. Unfortunately we are currently not in such a dire need of money that we would be willing to sell our precious magical gems for mere gold. )

* This might be a bit early, given the research and paths needed, but I'd also be intrested in purchasing an astral booster, preferably the crystal coin. While I'm currently incapable of paying in astral gems, if anyone able to forge said item contacts me, we'll try to find a way to arrange a deal.



The Royal Chancellor of C'tis

[Sir_Dr_D]

LlamaBeast.

I resubmitted my turn for this round, but I did not get a confirmation back. Will the server in this case use the second submission, and just not send an email out.

Just to be clear I sent in my turn the first time and got the confirmation. I later decided to make a change to my turn and resubmitted, but got no confirmation that the revisions were received.

[llamabeast]

The server's been having a fit for the last few hours because a new player has an e-mail account that sends some format it can't understand. I've just come back from the cinema to find 42 error messages in my inbox! (It sends one every five minutes).

Anyway, I've just manually resent all the e-mails received while it was down, but as a side effect it's sent all the confirmation messages to me, so a few people will be missing confirmations. But I've just looked, and an "Armadillo: Revised turn received for Agartha" message was among the ones it sent me back. So all is good.

[davegg]

Greetings, if anyone is at war with anyone else and the armies of Anfar God of the Vans can help, we will gladly answer the call for the price of retaining what we conquer!

[Baalz]

Yeah, I'm apparently at war with Mictlan, Machaka, Vanheim and Eriu.... so by all means beat back those damn Vans for me! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Amhazair]

Baalz said:
Yeah, I'm apparently at war with Mictlan, Machaka, Vanheim and Eriu.... so by all means beat back those damn Vans for me! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



Ouch...

[Amhazair]

Hmm... This turn's email seems unable to get through to me, even after repeated resend requests. It happened on occasion on the previous PBEM I played too, so I guess it's all due to some fault on my end. (I know I have a crappy computer, a crappy connection, and a crappy knowledge on the matter, so while I can't isolate the problem, I can't say I'm very shocked. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif )I'll send Llamabeast an alternative adress that should work better. Hope this won't cause too much trouble.

[Jazzepi]

Don't use gmail, I had problems with it.

Jazzepi

[Amhazair]

Jazzepi said:
Don't use gmail, I had problems with it.




Oh? What trouble?

It was a gmail account I made (on advice of another player) when the problem first arose, and everything went fine there for now. But I'll admit it hasn't been heavily used yet.

[Jazzepi]

I meant specifically for getting PBEM's sent. I staled a turn in Boiling Ocean because of it. I don't know why, but my google address simply wasn't taking the e-mails. Maybe it was throwing them into the junk e-mail bin, I don't know, didn't have time to worry about it. Now I just use my regular address.

Otherwise gmail has been great.

Jazzepi

[Meglobob]

Baalz said:
Yeah, I'm apparently at war with Mictlan, Machaka, Vanheim and Eriu.... so by all means beat back those damn Vans for me! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



Baalz you have been even more busy than usual... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Kristoffer O]

Baalz said:
Yeah, I'm apparently at war with Mictlan, Machaka, Vanheim and Eriu.... so by all means beat back those damn Vans for me! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



Actually you are just at war with the great GrayZ, He Who is at the Center. All Hail GrayZ!

Since the filth of your markatas has been cleaned from the streets of gold and jewelled temlples of Machaka, there is no reason to believe Iwo Ama holds any grudges against you. Markatas have short attention spans and are probably not to blame for a bit of public defecation. Iwo Ama might well build a theme park for visitors near and far to see the little critters frolic in their cages outside the temple halls.

That you are at war with the vanir is should not come as a surprise considering how close the sidhe ands the vanir are in kin, and it has long been known that the people of Mictlan serves the great GrayZ, the Earth Monster.

Great GrayZ will rinse the filth of your markatas from the streets of the Abbey you call home, Mother of Cess Rivers.

All Hail GrayZ, Lord of Eriu!

[davegg]

Out of sympathy to Baalz, the Vans will refrain from further attacks.

[Baalz]

Oh, no worries, I'll be out shortly so grab what you can, I'm just taking a couple pounds of flesh with me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Kristoffer O]

We will raise a statue in the Image of your monkey god for our children to play on. There will be ropes hanging from her head and a mud pool at her feet. There will be a childrens day when all youngsters can make themselves as filthy as they want, and then they will be caught by the great cleansing. This day will be the day when everyone must take a bath.

---

I have the sad responsibility to report the fate of the poor Iwo Ama. Just as her capital was viciously attacked by huge apes, her final enclave was attacked by filthy trolls. They last remanats of the Machakan population will be given shelter by the great GrayZ, slayer of Apes.

[Ubercat]

You are all cordially invited to an elephant roast in Marignon. The meat has already been char broiled, so get here quickly before it goes bad!

Speaking of meat, I'd like to thank Caelum for donating the beasts. We were getting a bit hungry in our castle so their generous gift of so many elephants to our populace was greatly appreciated.

-Ubercat

[Meglobob]

Ubercat said:
You are all cordially invited to an elephant roast in Marignon. The meat has already been char broiled, so get here quickly before it goes bad!

Speaking of meat, I'd like to thank Caelum for donating the beasts. We were getting a bit hungry in our castle so their generous gift of so many elephants to our populace was greatly appreciated.

-Ubercat



Congratulations on repulsing my 1st assault, I really should learn to send a scout in first http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif, those Mammoths deserve to be cooked and eaten, what with there morale breaking on the 2nd round of battle... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif

[Teraswaerto]

Could we not host tomorrow (Friday)? I wont be able to play my turn and the 2 wars Pythium is in could really do without stales.

[cupido2]

There goes Machaka. At the peak of their might they controlled 3 provinces. May they be forgotten fast.

[davegg]

Well thanks, Baalz is an especially unsore loser

[Meglobob]

davegg said:
Well thanks, Baalz is an especially unsore loser



Your lucky, he is normally a truely fearsome opponent. He must have had bad luck this game.

[Baalz]

Lol, yeah I'm not used to such tight quarters. Poor Cupido2 got pounced on pretty good but before I could finish sieging his capital Eriu and Mictlan decided manifest destiny lead through my territories. Abandon Machaka to march back and chase Eriu off of my capital and well back towards theirs just in time to present a juicy backside to Vanheim as Micltan's reinforcements arrived to complete the perfect storm. Alas I've got a pile of sacreds with a dual bless and not a priest to be found, so the pile of bodies it'll take to storm my capital will not be as high as it otherwise would. :/ Mictlan even got a two for one special on capitals!

Oh, no worries Dave. I'd be the first one to jump on a neighbor who showed weakness so I can't very well be too irritated to receive the same treatment. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Valerius]

As per Teraswaerto's request we will delay hosting. So, hosting will occur as scheduled 3:20 GMT on Friday (or somewhat earlier if all turns are in) and the next one will be 48 hours after that. I will e-mail everyone once this turn has hosted to let them know the new deadline.

[Amhazair]

Grrr... After many turns of fruitless cat & mouse games I finally manage to catch one of R'lyehs roving raiding squads... And then the fear value on my pretender is so high they turn tail and flee with hardly any losses http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Ah, well. At least it didn't cost me much either.


We are also in bad need of some water gems atm, and could possibly use some astral pearls too. Rather large amount of earth and nature gems are available for trade.

[Hadrian_II]

Amhazair said:
Grrr... After many turns of fruitless cat & mouse games I finally manage to catch one of R'lyehs roving raiding squads... And then the fear value on my pretender is so high they turn tail and flee with hardly any losses http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Ah, well. At least it didn't cost me much either.



Did i already say, that your god is quite boring. How am i supposed to kill a MR 29 SC with high fear and awe? Well, i think i can announce my tactics: i will horror mark him and then see how he does against the doom horrors http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif


Amhazair said:
We are also in bad need of some water gems atm, and could possibly use some astral pearls too. Rather large amount of earth and nature gems are available for trade.



R'lyeh thinks that it is a bad idea to give C'tis water gems. (you better send your troops to visit his lands)

[Kristoffer O]

Actually we sent a troop to his lands. A scout in fact. He is soon dead to a wasting disease http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif , but he managed to witness that battle in particular. We have never before heard of a MR of 29. Our priests were quite amazed. We can easily understand the frustration of the Illithids.

My scout said there were losses. And had not the Illithids continously targeted the false god (there can only be one, All Hail GrayZ!) out of fear, there would surely have been more even losses.

[Ubercat]

Caelum finally wiped out Marignon. We did get two elephant roasts out of the deal though! Nothing like a big plate of juicy elephant meat and a beer, with friends on a lazy summer day. Caelum looked like they were going to give us a third party, but I guess they changed their minds, because they came in and killed us all before we could collect the meat. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Too bad. The third roast would have been the best ever. At one point we had four of the beasties cooking at once.

-Ubercat

[Amhazair]

Yes, well... I think that if you send a SC-type pretender into an army of Illithids and not much else your first priority should be to boost your MR as high as possible, right? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

And I've never before seen a doom horror, so it would be really kind of you Hadrian to offer me that pleasure...

[Meglobob]

Caelum salutes the fanatics of Marignon, 2 assaults they withstood, driving the armies of the Seraphs from there citadel and the third assault was in the balance but in the end there was just too few defenders...

Starving, diseased, with no hope of anyone lifting the siege they fought to the end. Now they fade into history, there god screaming in pain and agony as he is condemned forever to the pits of Tartarus.

[Hadrian_II]

Amhazair said:
And I've never before seen a doom horror, so it would be really kind of you Hadrian to offer me that pleasure...



You will see that soon enough http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

[Hadrian_II]

Too bad, C'tis wont see any Doom Horror...
As some loboguards just killed his god http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Amhazair]

Umm. Well. Yes...

A Ploy!

It was a ploy. A ploy to ... um ... lull you into overconfidence. Yes, that's it! Just a ploy. Fear my mighty ploys.

[Amhazair]

Say, folks. Would you guys mind switching the turn timer to 48h for this week? We're having the "Gentse Feesten" this week, which is 10 days of concerts, parties, cultural activities and general fun & debauchery in the city center, not 500m from my door. And between going out, going to work, and getting up early to go to work this might be a pritty tough week. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

(I can finish todays turn no problem btw, I'm staying at home and hitting the rack early to gather some strength http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif)

[Meglobob]

Judging by the army graph it all kicked off this turn, a large number of fierce battles across the world, I think thats the most impressive downward spiral of so many nations armies I have ever seen in 1 turn... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Glad I was on the victorious end of my big battle... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Valerius]

Unless there are objections I will change the hosting to 48 hrs for this week. Perhaps go to 48 hrs until, say, next Monday and then return to 24 hrs?

[Valerius]

Ok, hosting has been changed to 48 hours. Next turn due 04:00 GMT on Thursday.

[Amhazair]

Great, thanks Valerius. (and silent others too)

As an aside for those intrested in local customs: Monday is the last day of the festivities, and is known among locals as "the day of the empty wallets" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Kristoffer O]

Ah, nice. I'm visiting my folks and 48 h turns suit me fine.

[Kristoffer O]

> Glad I was on the victorious end of my big battle...

Glad I got something out of my offensive efforts before my army was eradicated http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Stupid Mictlan chaff! Even with barkskin they die like flies, and I do got swarms of them (dragon flies) to compare with. At least is quickly levied chaff, most of it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I realize that this is quite educational for me. I'm learning the game all anew. I havn't played seriously for a year, and I havn't played for another year before that I suspect. There are new items and spells I have barely heard about http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif It is also quite educating to be on the recieving side of the blade wind http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Amhazair]

Yeah, "stupid Mictlan chaff" seems like the ideal means to learn to appreciate a good bladewind. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I'm looking to buy an astral booster, preferably a crystal coin, if anyone is able to forge one. (Though I suspect that R'lyeh will probably be somewhat unwilling to comply with my request...) I also still have a nice earth income if anyone wants to take advantage.

[Jazzepi]

Amhazair, I'm more than happy to take advantage of you, though that has nothing to do with earth gems http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Jazzepi

[Teraswaerto]

I'm sorry for my stales and sub-par play of late, I've had much less time for Dom than before and am in too many games...

[Valerius]

Unless there are objections we are returning to 24 hour hosting.

Please note that turn 39 went out with the system still on 48 hour hosting. It has now been changed to 24 hours and the next turn is due 04:10 GMT Tuesday.

[Kristoffer O]

Help!

The priests of Mictlan recuests help from all neighbours to rince our precious lands of the foul apparition that has arisen in our midst. It calls itself Totl, Persecutor of Youth.

Since the recognition of the true Lord, GrayZ, we have lived and served and prospered, but alas, the false pretender claiming to be the Lawgiver has captured Mictlan and destroyed the temple of GrayZ.

The beast has forces humans back to foul practices abandoned milennia ago. Cannibalism and acts even worse are forced upon our suffering population. Mad, raving ghoulish cannibals roam the plains once inhabited by our friendly neighbours.

War is destroying our lands. Taxes in gold and lives has ben increased manyfold.

This is our last hope and might well be the last you hear from the priests of Mictlan.

Great GrayZ, and anyone able to answer this call, if you have any mercy left, please rid our humble nation of this evil!

All hail GrayZ, Saviour and God!

[llamabeast]

Wow, Kristoffer's bewilderingly schizophrenic! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Valerius]

I have postponed hosting by 12 hours because Arco and Ermor hadn't submitted turns. Since we've been on 48 hour hosting for a week I didn't want anyone to stale as we returned to 24 hours.

[GrayZ]

Kristoffer O said:
Help!

The priests of Mictlan recuests help from all neighbours to rince our precious lands of the foul apparition that has arisen in our midst. It calls itself Totl, Persecutor of Youth.

Since the recognition of the true Lord, GrayZ, we have lived and served and prospered, but alas, the false pretender claiming to be the Lawgiver has captured Mictlan and destroyed the temple of GrayZ.

The beast has forces humans back to foul practices abandoned milennia ago. Cannibalism and acts even worse are forced upon our suffering population. Mad, raving ghoulish cannibals roam the plains once inhabited by our friendly neighbours.

War is destroying our lands. Taxes in gold and lives has ben increased manyfold.

This is our last hope and might well be the last you hear from the priests of Mictlan.

Great GrayZ, and anyone able to answer this call, if you have any mercy left, please rid our humble nation of this evil!

All hail GrayZ, Saviour and God!



GrayZ has heard the pleas of the priest kings of Mictlan, and his Sidhe have responded. The false god Totl will be driven from the lands of Mictlan. His temples will be torn down and replaced with temples to the one true god, GrayZ.

[GrayZ]

Try being his neighbor! I've never had anyone ask to be attacked before...

[llamabeast]

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

[Kristoffer O]

> GrayZ has heard the pleas of the priest kings of Mictlan, and his Sidhe have responded. The false god Totl will be driven from the lands of Mictlan. His temples will be torn down and replaced with temples to the one true god, GrayZ.

The people of Mictlan rejoices and is preparing a red carpet. We only hope that deliverance is quick, because the red carpet is drenched in blood of our poor populace, not to arouse the suspicion of the dark and terrible entity arisen in our midst.

The armies of Mictlan are being sent on a scared pilgrimage to the great temple of GrayZ as we speak. Unless the monstrosity has been destroyed by that time, we suspect that this will not be a pilgrimage, but a genocide.

In GrayZ we trust! All hail GrayZ, bringer of deliverance, He Who is at the Center.

[Kristoffer O]

Hi!

Inspired by my current game I'm implementing changes for MA Mictlan, including a couple of new units. These will appear in the next patch (due mid august I hope).

I intend to avoid using these (summoning and recruiting) in the Armadillo game, but the basic mictlan priest will be affected by one of the changes. They will have a chance to have air magic. This bugs me a bit, since I cannot refrain from buying these. Thus I will have access to more air magic than I'm supposed to. I intend to avoid using them to forge items etc, but they will have access to lvl 1 air magic in battles.

I hope this is OK with you.

[Baalz]

Awesome K, I hope we will see in playing more games and being more inspired! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Amhazair]

Well, as far as I'm concerned, after a patch anyone can use anything new that's added to a nation. The fact that you happen to be the develloper doesn't really change that. After all you deliberately chose them because they needed that 'little something' extran and I'd hardly suspect you of suddenly making them horribly overpowered just so you could win the game.

[Meglobob]

Kristoffer O said:
Hi!

Inspired by my current game I'm implementing changes for MA Mictlan, including a couple of new units. These will appear in the next patch (due mid august I hope).

I intend to avoid using these (summoning and recruiting) in the Armadillo game, but the basic mictlan priest will be affected by one of the changes. They will have a chance to have air magic. This bugs me a bit, since I cannot refrain from buying these. Thus I will have access to more air magic than I'm supposed to. I intend to avoid using them to forge items etc, but they will have access to lvl 1 air magic in battles.

I hope this is OK with you.



I have no problem at all with this and hope you have time to try out other nations which could do with a little 'something' extra in the future.

It would be good if the developers just played the first 30 turns or so of some nations and then if you lack time for the later game, hand over to a sub. It will give you inspiration and get those creative juices flowing.