Atla MA (Started)

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Atla will close later this evening. Then I'll give the players some time to get their pretenders in - select a nation if they haven't already. Maximum players 8. We're at that cap now, depending on whether FAJ is joining.

Game spawned from my Halls of Valhalla thread.

PBEM on Llamaserver.net

Players already joined:
Aethyr - Bandar Log
Juzza - Machaka
The_Tauren13 - Shinuyama
FAJ - Abysia - Burnsaber
Methel - Pangaea
Parcelt - Marignon
GrayZ - R'yleh

Middle Age, Standard Settings except where mentioned below
Dom 3 3.08, Vanilla (no mods)
Score Graphs disabled
Hall of Fame Entries limited to 5
Renaming allowed
30 hr quickhost.

[Methel]

Id like to join, as Pan unless FAJ claims that one.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

You're in.

[parcelt]

Is there still room for one more?

If possible I'd like to play as Abyssia.

[llamabeast]

FAJ _probably_ is playing Abysia I think, though he hasn't confirmed yet.

[parcelt]

ah, ok. let me think of another nation.

approximately how big will the map be?

[llamabeast]

I don't know, LP's the man with the plan. If I were to take a wild stab in the dark I'd say 100 provinces. This is from my own imagination and has no basis in fact.

[parcelt]

Ok, I'd like to join playing as Marignon then.

[GrayZ]

I'd like to join if there is still room.

If water nations are allowed I would like to play R'yleh, otherwise, I'll play Caelum.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Between six and eight players, the map is Aran.
Now let me just do a headcount.
We do have room for one water nation, if I remember, but I'll have to get back to you on that.

[llamabeast]

Instructions for uploading pretenders:

Cool, I've listed you all.

I thought I might as well make it so you can start uploading pretenders. Here's how (I'll add this to the first post too):

- 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, 'Atla', in the subject line of your e-mail

[FAJ]

Yeah, count me in. My other games are ending for me.

By the way, Abysia has one 's' http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[llamabeast]

Also Marignon has one 'n' http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[FAJ]

don't you mean 2? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[llamabeast]

:p Yup, got me there http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

But not 3. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Also, if anyone's had their pretenders rejected by the llamaserver saying the game was already full - sorry about that, I accidentally left it with a max of 4 players. Fixed now.

[GrayZ]

Lazy_Perfectionist said:
Between six and eight players, the map is Aran.
Now let me just do a headcount.
We do have room for one water nation, if I remember, but I'll have to get back to you on that.



I'm making a god for both R'yleh and Caelum, so let me know & I will submit the right god.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

The size is a bit small (11 provinces divided between two areas), but if you want R'yleh, feel free to take it, just expect to do some expansion onto land.

[Juzza]

bring me the first turn!! this I demand!!! or... ask politely... pwease??

heh, I'm not really fussed, I just wanted to post to show my good spirited nature.

Prepare to become spider food you!! .... you... you....... mice!!! ha!

[llamabeast]

Waiting for pretenders from Methel and davegg.

[Methel]

making pretender now, sorry about the delay.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I private messaged Davegg. We'll give him a while to submit a pretender, and then we either a). go in with 7 players (the map can support it) or b). Have me submit a pretender and just substitute until he shows up.

The deadline's not exactly 12 hours, but I really would like to get this game started by then.

[Aethyr]

Thanks LP, I've ignored opportnities to join other games in anticipation of this game's start up.

[llamabeast]

Incidentally LP, I would be disinclined to do (b), just because designing your pretender and strategy is part of the fun. (a) would be better to my mind.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Unless we hear from Davegg, we will kick off this evening (US east coast time).

Do I temporarily take over Ulm, and play while looking for a substitute, or do we just go in with seven players?

Edit: Post at the same time. I'll keep that in mind, llamabeast.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Oh, llamabeast, do I have any administrative control over the games or do I pester you when something needs to be done?

I'll go with your experience on this one, llamabeast, regarding Ulm. Will you kick it off for me?

[llamabeast]

Well I wasn't saying you shouldn't wait for a bit, only that I would be disinclined to make his pretender for him.

I will actually have more time in the morning (UK time), so I will wait till then, and then start the game with or without davegg. I hope that's okay with everyone.

[llamabeast]

And yes LP, of course you'll have admin access, although you might want to delegate it to one of the players. I'll send you a password when I start the game.

Ooh, I've just noticed the game settings. No graphs eh? Scary!

[Aethyr]

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

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Well, I'll defer to your judgment, whatever it is, since you have more experience organizing these. My inclination is to get it started tonight, though. Sunday evening is the latest I'm going to go, though. I hope to start organizing the second game, since I've already got someone interested.

[llamabeast]

Not so much judgement as have no time till the morning! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif (just running in and out of my room again)

[llamabeast]

Started! The first turn has 48 hours on the clock, subsequent turns will have 30 hours. Have a good game!

[FAJ]

I am going on vacation in a week, for a week. If you can't find a sub, I don't mind staling. Just host whenever you have all but Abysia.

[Juzza]

damnit!! I forgot what to do... what to make the folder name and such

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Make a folder by the name of Atla in your savedgames directory. This will almost always be a subdirectory of your Dominions installation. If you're using Windows Vista, it may be located elsewhere. In that case, use Vista's search feature to find it.

So, now, check your email. Download the attached file (i.e. mid_machaka.trn) to ..\savedgames\Atla

Now, open up Dominions 3, play an existing game, Atla.
When you're done, just end the turn, and now send an email to turns(at)llamaserver(dot)net with the attached order file (i.e. mid_machaka.2h). Within five minutes you should recieve confirmation of your turn.

[Juzza]

sry about that... I thought I tried that, guess i didn't, anywho, I'll finnish my turns faster than that in the future

[llamabeast]

Burnsaber just sent me his e-mail address and asked me to sub him in for FAJ, which I did - but reading the thread it looks like that may have been quite premature. Hmm. Perhaps I'll change it back and send you Burnsaber's address LP.

[llamabeast]

Oh right, looks like I got the wrong end of the stick - it seems Burnsaber is subbing from now. I've changed the e-mail address back to Burnsaber again.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Loooking good, people, not a single stale turn yet.

[The_Tauren13]

Machakas comin close here......

[Juzza]

Sorry!!!!! my internet died something stupid with my provider, missed one turn, I'm still here!

[The_Tauren13]

Yeah, I have Qwest DSL right now and they like to rape me with $80 monthly bills once in a while for no reason. Bastards.

[Juzza]

heeey guys, just wondering, if sometime, we could all decide on a day, and an hour we can all be on and play like 10 turns straight? I don't really have the time or smarts to organize this, all I know is that I'm the

GMT +10 zone

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I'm not going to be especially involved in such an idea. I have no problems with it going on, but I don't have experience temporally coordinating people across multiple timezones. I will post a link or two you may find handy.
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/
The personal world clock page may be useful.
http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/

[Aethyr]

I'm kinda intrigued by this idea. Maybe if we scheduled it over a Friday evening-->Saturday monrning--->afternoon time frame to account for time differences. It would have to be an informal agreement between players without any changes to the time frame (30 hrs right?) which the server is set to quick host now....

So what does everyone else think?

[Burnsaber]

Aethyr's scheme seems nice. We should probably get everyones GMT figured out. If there's a 12-hour difference, that's definately a problem. I'm GMT +2.

[Aethyr]

I'm GMT -7

[Juzza]

if we have huge differences it shouldn't be a problem it'll just be someones morning and someone else's evening.

And if I'm the odd one out I don't mind staying up late on a firday or saturday

[The_Tauren13]

GMT-6

[GrayZ]

GMT -5 here. I'm also interested in the idea, but could have trouble fitting it into my schedule.

[Juzza]

well, it's an idea to first find out if it's even possible and make sure we have every players agreement on it, then figure out the time thats best for everyone.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

As the machine's currently set to quickhost, as soon as everyone gets a turn in, it will process the turns and start over.

So, a). it's possible, and b). no changes are necessary to the hosting machine.

30 hrs is a lot better than 24, but if it would help, I can delay hosting for a day or two before the event so everyone has the chance to rest up.

I won't do anything about that right now, but I know I could've used a break before the weekend when I was in a 24 hr cycle.

[The_Tauren13]

Heres what weve got so far:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>Juzza GMT +10
Burnsaber GMT +2
Aethyr GMT -7
The_Tauren13 GMT -6
GrayZ GMT -5</pre><hr />Assuming by giving their time zone the above players have agreed its a good idea, we still need responses from FAJ, Methel, and Parcelt. Burnsaber doesnt appear to be on the initial player list... are you subbing for someone?

[Burnsaber]

Yea, I'm subbing for FAJ.

[parcelt]

GMT - 4

[The_Tauren13]

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Juzza GMT +10
Burnsaber GMT +2
parcelt GMT -4
GrayZ GMT -5
The_Tauren13 GMT -6
Aethyr GMT -7
</pre><hr />

With Burnsaber subbing for FAJ, we just need a response from Methel.
So, Methel, if youre out there, drop us a line.
As it is, we might be in some trouble anyways; Juzza and Burnsaber may have to agree to play at some odd hours at their time zones...

[FAJ]

I will be back tommorow evening, and would very much enjoy churning out a few turns (to hit the ground running while re-entering).

I am east coast USA, which I believe is GMT -5

[Burnsaber]

FAJ will be in charge of Abysia from turn 16 and onward.

Farewell, it was nice playing with you guys.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Au revoir, and have fun.

Do I need to switch the email addresses, Burnsaber, or has that already been taken care of?

[llamabeast]

It's already sorted, Burnsaber PMed me.

[llamabeast]

Oh, and thanks, I will indeed attempt to have fun! Up at 7 for the train tomorrow, brr.

[Methel]

Im on gmt +1, that might be a problem..

[The_Tauren13]

Here are all the time zones then, if anyone is still interested in some quick blitzing.
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Juzza GMT +10
Methel GMT +1
parcelt GMT -4
GrayZ GMT -5
FAJ GMT -5
The_Tauren13 GMT -6
Aethyr GMT -7
</pre><hr />

[GrayZ]

I'm still interested in blitzing. I guess what we need to know next is how willing Juzza &amp; Methel are to play at odd times.

I think given the timespread this could only occur on the weekend. One option I thought of is starting at GMT 2200, on a saturday, which would be early morning Sunday for Juzza (8am) and 11pm for Methel, and saturday afternoon / evening for all of us north americans.

If Juzza would rather play late at night, then we could start around GMT 1500. This would be saturday morning for us north americans (8am for Aethyr), 4pm for Methel, and 1am sunday for Juzza.

Unfortunately, whatever way we set it up, we'll be asking someone to be spending a late night or early morning.

As well, we'll need to decide how long to go for, since that could help Juzza &amp; methels decision (i.e will I be staying up until 2 or 4...)

Anyone else have any thoughts?

[The_Tauren13]

So.. Juzza? Methel? Any thoughts/feelings?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

You could try using aim or yahoo or some program to create a little chatroom. Then, you can see who's logged in, and make a little comment when you're done with your turn or calling it quits. Etc. Etc.

[Juzza]

Um, I'm kinda not gonna last too much longer, Damn R'lyeh!! can I forfit??

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

If you forfeit, be sure to load your last turn, set yourself to AI, and send it in. So, yes, you can forfeit.

If you should forfeit? I've got no idea what the situation looks like. I'm going to find the time this weekend to make a very small mod nation that I may use in these games... but that's currently irrelevant. I will say that if you can think of any ways to do any drastic last stands, those can be satisfying. Even when I lost Jaguar to R'lyeh, I found quite a lot of satisfaction in blade winding their masses. Sometimes you can't turn around those desperate situations, but usually you can learn something interesting about the game's battle and spell mechanics when you've got nothing left to lose and can recklessly experiment with your remaining troops.

[Juzza]

No, no chance of winning, they've got me beat!!!! k, next turn, I go to AI.

[GrayZ]

Juzza said:
No, no chance of winning, they've got me beat!!!! k, next turn, I go to AI.



I told you not to mess with my islands http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Juzza]

Well, I should have listened shouldn't I, I only have one more thing to say, ahem, that is... You're a Bully and I hate you!!!!

...

I'm a sore loser... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[GrayZ]

Juzza said:
Well, I should have listened shouldn't I, I only have one more thing to say, ahem, that is... You're a Bully and I hate you!!!!

...

I'm a sore loser... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif



Now that Juzza has gone AI, it makes blitzing much more viable (I swear that wasn't my intent, but feel free to show your appreciation via gems &amp; gold.)

That said, I'm not available this weekend for any blitzing, in fact, I may stale a turn depending on how they fall http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Is there any chance we can turn off quickhost on this turn?I'm going to do my turn (23) this afternoon, but if everyone submits early like we have been doing, then I won't be back on Sunday in time to get the next turn in.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Yes... I can turn off quickhosting. But I can also postpone it as well. That seems to me like the more reliable method for a simple quick fix. If you could just tell me when you'll be able to get a turn in, and what timezone (or in GMT), and I can take care of it.

[GrayZ]

Thanks LP!

As I mentioned, I don't need the current turn postponed (23) but I will need turn 24 postponed until Monday 0300 GMT.

[FAJ]

Thats cool by me. I move back into school this weekend; I will probably be busy.

[Aethyr]

No problem...although we all know this is just an evil plot by GrayZ to buy more time to plan the downfall of his next victim. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[GrayZ]

Aethyr said:
No problem...although we all know this is just an evil plot by GrayZ to buy more time to plan the downfall of his next victim. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



Planning the downfall of my next victim? Hardly. Try chasing around Machakas god who is wandering through my provinces.

Is everyone available for blitzing next weekend?

[Aethyr]

I'm afraid this weekend might be problematic for me.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Checking in on me games. Do I need to postpone for anybody this weekend?

[FAJ]

It would be great if you postponed the turn untill tuesday. I will be away for labor day weekend.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Turns postponed until Midnight, Tuesday- Greenwich Mean Time.
Or 8:25 on the east coast of the US. It's no problem for me to tweak the time further (plus or minus), but barring specifics... Monday Evening in the US, just after Midnight in Europe.

[GrayZ]

Can you delay hosting by 12 hours? I have a pretty complicated turn &amp; no time to do it until tonight....

[llamabeast]

Done, as I happened to see this.

[Aethyr]

I have to take a short trip. I'll be able to get turn 49 (next turn) off just fine, but I'm requesting that hosting for the following turn (50) be delayed until: Sunday 18:00 GMT. Thanks

[Aethyr]

OK--

As it turns out I was able to get turn 50 in. I will need a delay in hosting for turn 51 until 18:00 GMT on Sunday. Thanks

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Noted. Welcome. Did a small postpone now, and once turn 51 delivered, will make sure its postponed until Sunday.

[FAJ]

I am sorry to bring it up sort of last minute, but can you postpone the hosts over the weekend? I will be away untill monday night, starting friday.

[GrayZ]

I second that - it's Thanksgiving weekend in Canada, and although I will have my laptop, I'm going to be short on time.

While I am thinking of it, I am away next weekend, Thursday-Sunday, without any chance of doing my turns, so I'll need it postponed then too.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Postponed by an additional 100 hours.

[GrayZ]

GrayZ said:
While I am thinking of it, I am away next weekend, Thursday-Sunday, without any chance of doing my turns, so I'll need it postponed then too.



I'm sending a message to LP to get this delayed.

Who knows, this is probably a good thing - let all the other MP games sort out the kinks of patching before we have to.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

For now, 120 hour quickhost. Will still host if all the turns get sent in. But otherwise, should provide plenty of time.

[FAJ]

Darnit. I had sent turn 56. I checked the forums, watched my e-mails, waiting for 57. Today I get 57, tells me I had a stale turn :x. I have 56 sent in my 'sent mail'.

Was it because I used the older patch?

Luckily R'lyeh didn't suckerpunch me during my stale http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif.

[Aethyr]

Yo R'lyeh, you out there?

[Aethyr]

Mercy me...I yeild!

Hail Abysia, after your devastating attack I have no choice but to formally acknowledge what has been evidnet for some time: you are the clear victor in this game.

You have been dominant from the very beginning--well done.

[FAJ]

Score one for MA Abysia!

I thought giving Father Illearth two shields would stop him from trying to punch that damned aegis, but he kept at it!