BAG (Started!)

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I'm going to try several things to see if I can get the turn going your way, Aristander.

[Janlm]

you should also be able to resend the turn yourself.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

It is exciting that someone's trying out the map! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Let me know if the large mountain range ends up being a problem. The map was designed for a scenario where nation placements would be assigned by hand, so that only mountain-type nations would be stuck starting in the mountain range (e.g., Abysia, Agartha, the Giants, etc., assuming they all have mountain survival). I will make the scenario when I get back from holiday (not that it would be helpful for this game).

I hope the map is fun to play on. Constructive criticism is welcome. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Thanks.

Pasha

[llamabeast]

Unfortunately neither Aristander nor LP can get Pythium's turn sent immediately after each hosting, cos it keeps deleting it from the nation list! However, _hopefully_ I'll finally be getting internet access at home today, so should have a chance to get it fixed very soon! Thanks for your patience Aristander.

PS Just had it resend the current turn to you.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

What, I cannot resend the 'invalid' nation? So the response I got from Aristander was really due to your action.

It fits. I got his response today at 8, and you sent it out at 7.

[llamabeast]

Nah, Invalid Nation Name was actually Abysia! It got corrupted by Pythium being in there I think.

[Szumo]

Do I (Abyssia) need to do something?

[Nikolai]

Guys, I will go AI. There is no need to replace. Man is shot. ALL my neighors are mountains full of HEAVY infantry and crossbows, and I am next to big water, which mean vulnerable to water nation. Next is wasteland. Provinces I have taken have 23, 25 income, and I have Order, prod, and life... Never had worst start.

[Snacktime]

Hey guys - really sorry, but I am going out of town this weekend and unexpectedly won't have internet due to a broken wireless card without time to fix.

I have already gotten in my turn 3, so there is no need to delay the current turn. I will be back around midnight EST Sunday, October 21, and can do my turn then. Just hoping we can hold off on whatever the next deadline is for a few hours so I don't stale at this early stage.

By the way, Nikolai's transition to AI is the earliest I have ever seen in my life.

[Lord_Bob]

I have sent Patala's turn several times... it seems not to be registering.

[Warhammer]

I can say one thing, Nikolai must be playing my nation because I am in the same boat. That said, it will just be a little slower start than I am used to.

[Janlm]

jeez, how can you give up that fast...

[Aristander]

FYI, As you probably know I have not received turn 4.

Thanks.

Aristander

[llamabeast]

Yep, will get it sent in a sec...

Thanks for your patience Aristander http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

PS Szumo - nope, you don't have to do anything.

[Aristander]

Thanks llamabeast.

No worries.

I am off to a glacial start with pythium however, given enough time and some luck, things should turn around.

I just don't want to hold up the game if I can avoid it.

Aristander

[llamabeast]

Hurray! I do believe I've fixed it!

Let me know if you have any further problems Aristander.

By the way guys (and I'm about to write this on the web site front page as well), I'm going to be doing a sponsored Don't-Look-At-The-Internet for a week from tomorrow at 6pm UK time. This'll mean I can't even look at PMs, so if you have a problem please write me an e-mail (I'm allowed to check that once a day).

[Lord_Bob]

My turn appears to be being kicked. I have sent it twice.

[Papastoss]

Yeah, I've uploaded my turn twice now and neither time has it gone through. I suppose I'll have to e-mail Llama then?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Two options - email llamabeast, or email me and have me try to submit the turn for you. It's probably best to email llamabeast, though, so he can get to the bottom of things.

As it is, I've changed the hosting interval from 24 hours to 50...

Could you post the email message you've got talking about your turn? Try sending through another email account, such as Yahoo?

[Sensori]

Uh, guys, it seems that you have the same problem the other games do. It looks like the LlamaServer stopped refreshing at 17:05 GMT... If where Llama is works by daylight savings, that's 5 minutes after he went to have his no-internets-week (excellent timing, ain't it?).

I don't think any amount of sending turns will help here... I just can't believe the server hasn't gone down or something. And the game I'm in (where I'm also one of the folks who hadn't sent his turn in before 17:05)... Is gonna be the FIRST one to hit the turn goin' time. So, keep checking out Mongoose to see what happens when the turn runs now.

Oh yeah, the server doesn't even send requested turns right now.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Drat. My 'change in hosting interval' didn't stick. Thanks for the heads up Sensori...

[Sensori]

Yeah, I'm seriously going... Um... I'm damn nervous about this turn, what with all the weird stuff going on. If it runs without my turn going in... I'm going to be very very pissed off. If it doesn't... I'll be extremely relieved.

urrghhhh

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

On the plus side, LLamabeast does have backups- and judging from past problems, will all end up resuming play from the turn in which the freeze started.

[Sensori]

He does? Whew, that's a relief. Nice to know! Still, got a nice adrenaline rush from the looking at minutes pass by... ;p And it's nice to know that it was a good thing (sort of) I started spilling my nervousness across the game threads, otherwise I wouldn't have found out that he keeps backups!

Now, if I could just stop being nervous, everything'd be peachy...

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Llamaserver back up. Explanation on llamaserver.net

[Janlm]

i see two stales from last turn, I think it is from before the troubles with the servers, but i'm not sure.

[Lord_Bob]

I see that both Atlantis and R'yleh are veteran players and one is Lazy_Perfectionist.

Lazy_Perfectionist, I understand you may be exhausted from work. But, and this is a big but, turn 6 for a water nation shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, 30 minutes to do carefully. It seems both you and Jazzepi are in other games where the timer can't be changed forward 5 days.

If people want to raise the timer to 48, or even 72 hours after say, Turn 12, Turn 15, whatever, I think that's fine.

But allowing, and doing, this kind of nonsense on Turn 6 needlessly prolongs the game. Turn 6 simply can't be that complicated.

[Jazzepi]

Die in a river. I'm trying to finalize buying a house and do 13 credit hours worth of college at the same time as well as pack for moving and play in 5 games. I have no problem sending e-mail.

Jazzepi

[Janlm]

I was just wanting to know if it was caused by the problems with the server, i guess they weren't.

[Lord_Bob]

Why don't you die in a river?

If you have the time to post on this board, punk, you have time to do Turn 6. Early turns aren't hard. Punk.

Many people are intimidiated by out-right rudeness by a punk, punk. I am not one of them.

I'm inclinded to be more sympathetic to Lazy, because his failure to respond withing 2 hours of my posting indicates HE MAY ACTUALLY BE BUSY.

[Szumo]

Ho ho, take it easy guys. Just a game and all that, right?

[Dedas]

Lord_Bob said:
Why don't you die in a river?

If you have the time to post on this board, punk, you have time to do Turn 6. Early turns aren't hard. Punk.

Many people are intimidiated by out-right rudeness by a punk, punk. I am not one of them.

I'm inclinded to be more sympathetic to Lazy, because his failure to respond withing 2 hours of my posting indicates HE MAY ACTUALLY BE BUSY.



Your utter lack of respect for another human being disgusts me. I'm reporting your post to the moderators.

[Jazzepi]

Lord_Bob said:
Why don't you die in a river?

If you have the time to post on this board, punk, you have time to do Turn 6. Early turns aren't hard. Punk.

Many people are intimidiated by out-right rudeness by a punk, punk. I am not one of them.

I'm inclinded to be more sympathetic to Lazy, because his failure to respond withing 2 hours of my posting indicates HE MAY ACTUALLY BE BUSY.



It was a joke. I don't need your sympathy. I normally get my turns in very quickly, but if the host time is going to be 30 days, then I'll take my time. If you want to complain about the host time, then complain to whomever set the host time to that, not the people taking advantage of it.

Jazzepi

[Daynarr]

Calm down guys, this is a place to post comments about game you play. This doesn't mean you can personally attack other players you dislike for whatever reasons.

I'll point out a board rule section that directly applies to this case:


3) USER FIGHTING:

If you post in this forum, we expect you to contribute positively to a conversation. If you disagree with someone, great, explain your point of view, have an open discussion. Please do not disparage the other person. Personal attacks are unacceptable. They just lower the brow of all involved. If you don't like someone, talk about it on ICQ, MSN, AIM, YIM, your journal, or your blogger, but not here. People who bait or bash members or mods may be banned without notice.

Flaming, humiliating, ridiculing, or belittling other members will not be tolerated. This includes blatant disrespect of others whether it is through negative language or general attitude. We see no difference between straight out calling someone stupid and using creative language and attitude to imply that person is stupid.

Trolling is prohibited. Trolling is whenever someone is clearly, deliberately posting in a manner for the purpose of angering and/or insulting the other participants of the board. Trolling could be directed towards one user or a group of users. Trolling DOES NOT encourage further discussion, it only encourages personal attacks (if left unchecked) and will not be tolerated.

If you get out of hand you will be warned, if the negative behavior continues you may be banned. Nobody likes it when this happens, so play nice! What actually constitutes out of hand or negative behavior is at the discretion of the staff.



Cool down and keep it civil please.

[AdmiralZhao]

Seeing as how Jazzepi is a threat to my coastline, I don't suppose we could ban him from the game? Please? Pretty please?

[Lord_Bob]

Well that's good, because I was joking to.

And I understand that you have to look after yourself, and if that means delaying a turn for days, then that's what you'll do.

[Lord_Bob]

Oh, and I am pretty sure Lazy_Perfectionist is just burned out.... but the early turns are important, but not difficult.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Sorry. I'm back. Turn didn't come in for several reasons, but I'll focus on just one for now. I took a while because I wanted to see how the llamaserver ended up. If Llama can only check email once a day...

Anyways, I encourage people to send in their turns early this turn- though its no loss if they don't. Since I went last, I'll send my turn once I get my new turn file. It received my turn file 25 minutes ago, but I haven't seen my turn yet (possibly just att acting up again, not llama- att's been culprit once before)? Anyways, meandering aside,

Get in turn early as convenient in order to give time to work out any issues. If this turn gets through without any intervention required (no emails being refused, turns not being sent, etc.), then things'll be speed back up to a normal pace. If someone does have issues llama needs to work out, we'll keep a relaxed clock until either the issues fixed or llamabeast has unfettered internet.

Off to sleep now. I'll see you all this weekend, and I'll catch up on everything, hopefully to everyone's satisfaction.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Ulm (vanilla, evil Ulm), Vaettiheim, C'tis, Pythium, Midgard are all waiting for .2h.
Please get your turns in tonight or Friday. The current deadline is 0400 GMT, or midnight EST. As I've heard of no issues, and the latest llamainfo reports a day without problems, I won't be postponing if a problem arises _after_ noon on Friday. After this turn hosts, it'll resume a thirty hour schedule.

However, I hope we are all able to blitz the game this weekend and get past the expansion stages. In a game this size, I understand planning a blitz is impossible, but I hope we can pull it off to get several turns out this weekend.

In order to achieve this, I'll be checking my email regularly and trying to get my turns out as quickly as possible. If we can't pull this off, its as I expected due to the large size and varying timezones, and a not an issue for me to care about. But I hope it happens.

For history and future reference, not trusting my memory.

Atlantis and Midgard have signed a standard NAP.

Unknown dominion seen to the north, the castle of the ai Man, Towers of Chelm seen to the SouthEast. R'lyeh seen to the west, and my expansion hindered by bad luck in battle. I'm still able to expand at an acceptable clip, but I'll be nowhere near my mathematical ideal. At least I'm doing better than my last game with Atlantis where I only barely claimed my adjacent provinces. We'll see how it looks at the end of the year.

[Warhammer]

I'd be in a lot better shape if I could get by these crossbowmen and heavy cav indies that have 50+ troops in them...

[Hadrian_II]

Lazy_Perfectionist said:
However, I hope we are all able to blitz the game this weekend and get past the expansion stages. In a game this size, I understand planning a blitz is impossible, but I hope we can pull it off to get several turns out this weekend.



I will be away until sunday, so im very sorry, there will be no blitzing.

[Aristander]

Yes Warhammer I agree with you. The heavy cav & crossbowmen are slowing me up something awful. However my spy's report that Ulm is not having any trouble. Ulm Commander Meligol with his infantry and Rangers are kicking some.

Wish I could say the same.

Aristander

[Janlm]

Is it me or are independents just stronger than usual in this game, or is that normal for late age?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

They seem fairly typical for the late age, at least where I'm standing. That said, the late age is in some ways tougher, some ways not.

If you're a lightly armored nation, crossbowmen are in ways less of a threat than archers. If you're Atlantis, barbarians are a huge threat, while a nation with halfway decent archers will rip those barbarians apart. Occasionally your luck is bad and you're surrounded by your national weakness, as evidenced in my last Atlantis game where at least three adjacent provinces were filled with sixty-plus barbarians. As Atlantis, again, 20 heavy cavalry aren't a huge threat. You've got many seal hunters to harpoon and a small core of Mournful to slice and dice.

[Lord_Bob]

I apologize for my earlier statements.

The person who assigned capitals got trapped by the addition of an extra player and two players had to get the short straw.

I am one of the unfortunates.

If only two players got the short straw, only three moves to an enemy capital, then it was just being trapped by the mathematics of the situation.

For a perfectly hexogonal map, filled with six sided provinces, wraparound, in order to have everyone 4 moves away from the enemy capital you need 18 provinces per player. For three moves, you need 9.33 provinces per player.
However, there is less than six linkages per province, normally, but not that much. So less than 18 provinces, perhaps around 15-17. However, this is clearly very close and make proper distance assignment difficult. Thus it is very difficult to give EVERYONE 4 moves to enemy capital.

I drew the short straw. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

But someone probably had to.

[Lord_Bob]

<In an attempt to mock me, llamaserver just accepted my turn.>
<It seems to be running fine now.>

Has the llamaserver gone wierd again?

I'm not getting any response when I mail in my turn.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Uhm... dunno. I get the response, though slower than usual, 15-30 minutes, maybe, though it might just be my email provider.

Maybe your ISP blocked llamaserver.net after the llamaspam incident, or you forgot to take off a mail filter or blacklist rule you put on your email?

[Janlm]

heh, is it just me or is there a serious problem playing at an area with nothing but mountains and caves? I think the mountain ranges on this map is a little too concentrated..

[Hadrian_II]

w00t this turn my lab got destroyed by an magical accident and an earthquake has destroyed the temple.
(no i dont have any misfortune)

[Janlm]

someone up there dosn't like you...

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I dropped a comment about that to Pashadawg. I hear he's working on a scenario version- that aside, next time I try to run a big game (won't be soon), I'll take a peek at increasing the global economy and see whether its unbalancing.

Hadrian - Yowch. Well, at least you didn't have misfortune. An earthquake is bad, but an earthquake + troglodytes = horror.

Do we need to send the red cross to collect donations, start a disaster relief fund?

[Snacktime]

please delay hosting, the llamaserver was down for a while today right when i was going to email in; now I can't get to it for another five hours or so. Hope someone sees this in time.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

The network the llamaserver was on suffered from a security breach (this morning). At the time that the message was up, I was still able to get a llamaserver email in. You might try that again. However, now I don't even get the page describing the problem, let alone the llamaserver.

I can't postpone, but I will be keeping an eye on the address to see if its back up, and postpone if it is.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Llamaserver back up. Snacktime, you'll be happy to know that it got your turn. Only one who has stalled is Mictlan, Dedas.

[BigandScary]

I know we don't like to postpone the game, but I will be gone this weekend from thursday afternoon until sunday, and I was wondering if the turn limit could be changed to, say 48 hours, or something. I don't want to be a problem, but I just don't have time to set up a sub.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I think I stated somewhere before that I'll be lenient about the time thing. Especially since you mentioned before hand.

On a related note, I didn't connect these two dots before. Mictlan' pretender was wiped out, and they stalled three turns in a row. Often defeated players don't load/email their turn the one last time necessary to remove them from the list.

Uhmm... I'll take care of that and get Mictlan out of the game. Sorry.

[Reverend Zombie]

I received a turn 6 and a turn 12 for this game--turn 12 was first. Which is the correct one to play?

[llamabeast]

Turn 12.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Ermor, Big and Scary requested some sort of delay.
I'll ask llama for removal of Mictlan and I will set the quickhost to something like 70 hours.

[Janlm]

Mictlan has staled for the fifth time in a row...

[Szumo]

EDIT: wrong thread, nevermind http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[BigandScary]

I am back now, so if the delayed time is still up just for me, it is no longer needed. Thanks for the consideration.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Sorry about the delay in removing Mictlan. There were some issues. Notably:

1). He password protected his pretender
2). The master password for the game (not the llamaserver admin) that allows me to bypass a player's password has been permanently lost to both Llamabeast and me.

So, while normally I could take a stalled player out of the game myself (and i tried to), I'm going to have to contact Dedas and find out his turn password. It's not really his fault, but I'm going to have to contact him to resolve this problem. A message for everyone else:

If you're defeated, you still have to load your turn one last time, see the defeat message, end it, and send that into the llamaserver to properly remove yourself from the game.

In the meantime, I'm changing the hosting back down to 30 hours quickhost. As well, until this issue is resolved, I'll force hosting if everyone else has sent in their turn and I'm on the web, awake.

It should be resolved shortly, now that I know I need to contact Dedas to resolve this problem, rather than Llamabeast.

[MrSparkle]

I know we are all supposed to be angry rival Gods out to smash temples and crush heretics but what is the right way to go about gem trade and item sales. It seems almost like spam to use a send all message in game and I'm not sure the game thread would want the clutter of every tchotchke I want to trade for.

[Szumo]

Post here, don't do it in game. Simple enough. If you post to often people will get annoyed and attack you, so it will sort itself out too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[MrSparkle]

Thank you for the advice. Ok then I'm looking to trade for nature gems. I can give an equal number of water gems or death gems. If you want to trade in any number send me a PM and I will get them out to you as soon as possible. You can then send the gems that turn or the next one. Btw - Ulm Reborn has gotten the earth gem trade so that is temporarily off the table.

[Aristander]

Our heralds announce a great victory for Tarquinius Rex. The Imperial hydras just defeated double their number of mammoths. It was most excellent.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Our heralds announce we hate peace. I can't resist signing a non-agression pact, but my MOM-character is honorable-passive-agressive. Bah! I wanna backstab someone, but I'll stick to my boring agreements.

I need to organize that 'las vegas', backstabbing encouraged game. To bad I wasn't able to join that diplomacy game.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Sorry, had to implement a 24 hour delay. For my own selfish reasons. Staff been cut at work, floorspace been cut. I've been lifting and moving stuff most of the day. For an out of shape desk jockeey like me... Well, all that stuff is nearly done, at least till the next unpleasant surprise.

[Aristander]

Argatha Attacks!

The evil denizens of the underworld dismiss our overtures and assault our lightly defended province. I thought the Imperial Legions might hold their own, but alas not on this day.

[Hadrian_II]

Why should the imperal legions be able to stop agartha?

[Aristander]

Why should the legions stop agartha?

I just reasoned that as infantry go, Ermorian and Pythian legions are superior to most "regular" infantry. Granted blindfighters are not "regular infantry" however I had a small numerical advantage, which for a moment I hoped would help give me an edge.

Admittedly I have little experience with the Late Age. I did not intend to dis the ability of Agarthian troops with which I am not particularly familiar.

"LazyPerfectionist here is your chance to educate us on Agarthian troops."

[Hadrian_II]

Well, the danger to you is not so big, as vaettiheim just conquered my capital.

As vaettiheim also destroyed my army by accident before, im feeling very death.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

What kind of troops were involved? Any support magic? Did blessing take place?

Blessing is pretty inexpensive, and could account for a decisive advantage. Blindfighters are sacred.

If the Blindfighters were facing Limitanes, the reason for defeat is obvious once you realize that Blindfighters have a 15+DRN damage roll versus Pythium's 14+DRN protection, and Limitanes have a 16+DRN damage roll versus Agartha's 20+DRN protection.

The elites of Pythium would be a bit trickier though.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I've not been able to get ahold of Mictlan/Dedas or the master password, unfortunately.

I'm considering turning off quickhosting and switching to a 48 hour schedule. For now, I'm just throwing the idea out there.

[Janlm]

wouldn't that just delay the game even more?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Well... the point wouldn't be to delay the game more... but we're into turn 17 now. I figure soon someone will need more time to complete their turns than one day. However, I'm just thinking about it. I don't plan on extending the timer until people ask for it. It's mentioned in the same post, but really unrelated to the whole Mictlan thing.

But since I can't remove Mictlan, and now can't postpone hosting by a negative number (force it to host sooner) the quickhost part is completely moot.

Putting aside Mictlan, eventually turns will take enough time that we need to extend the cycle. In that case, I'm just trying to plan (not act) ahead of time, and figure out precisely what I'll do. Normally, I'd switch to a 50 hour quickhost, but... if we can't get rid of Mictlan, then we're not quickhosting. In the future, does 48 hour hosting sound right? Not now, of course, but then... or do I stick to 30 hours as long as possible?

[Janlm]

is it posible to force host, when we are only waiting for mictlan?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I used to have a workaround, but now you'll have to ask Llamabeast.

I wonder if the devs can pull a password out of a game file- and whether they have the spare time, what with two almost certainly overworked people running the whole show. I kind of doubt it.

EDIT: Yay! The system accepts negative integers again. I can force a quick host- if I'm conscious.

[Janlm]

thats great, we can use that i guess. Then I certainly won't oppose to increased turn timer... (But I don't need it yet)

[Hadrian_II]

Lazy_Perfectionist said:
What kind of troops were involved? Any support magic? Did blessing take place?

Blessing is pretty inexpensive, and could account for a decisive advantage. Blindfighters are sacred.

If the Blindfighters were facing Limitanes, the reason for defeat is obvious once you realize that Blindfighters have a 15+DRN damage roll versus Pythium's 14+DRN protection, and Limitanes have a 16+DRN damage roll versus Agartha's 20+DRN protection.

The elites of Pythium would be a bit trickier though.



The battle is actually just my force fighting his oversized PD backed up by a mage casting combustion on my blindfighters.

The Blindfighters where E10 Blessed, so they had armor 24 and only 5 encumbrance. (i think without E bless blindfigthers are completely useless).

[llamabeast]

LP, I never changed anything to do with negative integers. That's a feature!

[Aristander]

It appears then that Vaettiheim is stealing all the glory just as my "Grand Army of the Imperium" is arriving from the north. Well I will at least take back my former territories.

When my spy's reported Argatha's capital under siege I knew Argatha would have to pull back. I did not know that Vaettinheim had been able to storm Argatha's citadel.

Hadrian II, having your army destroyed by accident is a drag. Well war has its fortunes both good and bad.

There are 3 large empires around Pythium namely Ermor, Ulm and Utgard. So unless I play my cards right I could end up in your situation very soon.

[Lord_Bob]

I think raising time is a good idea at this point.

As a courtesy, could whoever defeated Mictlan dominion kill him? Mictlan doesn't have auto-spread dominion, so his dominion has to be pretty weak.

[AdmiralZhao]

That's what I thought too. Unfortunately, now that I've built a temple by his capital I can see that he has 7 fat black candles on that place. Looks like he went with plentiful sacrifices, an Awake pretender, and high dominion.

[Lord_Bob]

The citizens of T'ien Ch'i are no doubt concerned that their new rulers will be even worse than the Barbarian Kings. Let them know that the Monkey King will be somewhat mercifull. However, they must adhere to these three rules, or the consequences will be extreme.

1.On the first Monday of every month, all citizens in even numbered houses most cook an Apple Pie and place it on their windowsill. All citizens in odd numbered houses most cook a Cherry Pie and also place it on the windowsill.
2.All slanderous talk of "Evil Pie Stealing Monkies" must cease immediately. The libels of the Barbarian Kings against the monkeys of Patala will stop. The consequences for those disobeying this edict will be harsh.
3.The Nagas of Patala believe that free speech is at the heart of a just society. So citizens are encouraged to talk openly, so long as they remember that the Markata are watching.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Fixed: (and adorable)

http://i18.tinypic.com/8f350dt.jpg

The trick was rehosting. Apparently the original site cares about their bandwidth and doesn't like hotlinking. I uploaded to tinypic.com, then the ubb code worked. Forums don't support html, as well.

[Lord_Bob]

Patala has good scales and the willingness to overtax our citizens!

We are buying:
Nature Gems 25 Gold
Astral Pearls 25 Gold
Earth Gems 25 Gold
Blood Slaves 10 gold

[Warhammer]

Is there any way to get turns set to 48 hour quick host?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Yes. I've heard only two requests though, so I'm waiting for some sort of consensus to appear. At least five people for me to consider it, though.

[AdmiralZhao]

48 hours would be fine with me too.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Well then, counting me, that's four. One more 'For' and I'll change it over.

[Reverend Zombie]

Here's another vote for 48 hours.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

I hate to ask this, but does anyone have any information about Tien Chi... I hope we don't have another Mictlan.

On that note, does anybody have contact information for Dedas and would be willing to pester them for me? No response to the private messages.

[Szumo]

I'm afraid we might have another case of MIA here, as Patala just conquered Tien Chi capital...

[Burnsaber]

I'll be gone for the weekend and I won't be able to make my turns on Saturday or Sunday. I might be able to make turn on today, but I won't make any promises.

Any chance for hosting to be delayed?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Yes. Dere is. Caffiene NOW, delay later.

[Burnsaber]

Also, Ulm Reborn would be very intrested in Thistle Mace. We can pay in gold, earth gems, death gems and nature gems.

If someone has any extra W2 mages lying around, I'd be intrested in having a copule of my provinces radared with "Voice of Apsu" which can be cast at opponent's provinces. I can pay for the services in afromentioned ways.

[Hadrian_II]

Agartha is gone, we have lost our last troops to the onslaught of vaettiheim.

[Burnsaber]

C'tis will be gone, for the all lizards have seen the light of Aufklarung! Spandex, the Son of the Sun, will be no more. Forgotten by his own people.

We greet the enlightened lizardfolk and welcome them to the light. The worship of the dusty catacombs will make way for the shining wisdom!

The nation of Ulm Reborn is in dire need of Astral gems as the newly enlightened C'tissian want to build a pearl statue representing Aufklarung. We will pay 1 gem and 5 gold in return for each Astral gem. Ulm Reborn is willing to offer death/ earth/ water/ fire/ nature gems in return for the astral gems

We will pay 15 Death/ Earth / Water / Fire gems for a Thistle Mace!

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Mictlan... Jomon...
Pangaea?
There was that server futz-up... I'll wait a 50hr cycle before adding them to my list. I still see their nation around.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Whee! Good news everyone.
Mictlan gone, only one staller left, Jomon. It's a pity they are password protected as well.

Everybody else got their turns in on time, so I have only one nation on the list.

[AdmiralZhao]

Thank you, thank you, please, no applause is necessary. I was just doing my part to speed up armageddon. Really, if you want to show your appreciation you can trade me a thistle mace. I can pay from my copious reserves of air gems, or from my somewhat less copious reserves of water gems.

[Lord_Bob]

Does anyone know if Marignon is still playing? It looks like they are going to stale. It seems these games are primarily going to be decided by who is next to someone who if things don't go entirely their way, just quits, without even bothering to tell someone, or even setting themselves to AI.

That's the Imperial Highway, be next to someone who just stops playing.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

http://www.llamaserver.net/doAdminAction.cgi?game=BAG&action=showstales

It looks like they're in the game. This is only their second stall (non-contiguous) from the beginning of the game. People do miss the deadline sometimes.

[BigandScary]

I am in need of a dwarven hammer. Will anyone sell one to me?

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

My internet died. I should be able to make my turn in Saturday.

[Szumo]

Beware the liars of Atlantis, who break their treaties and attack treacherously.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Beware the gibbering AI of Atlantis.

[AdmiralZhao]

Midgard has triumphed in the arena! Let this be a warning to all who would challenge Midgard's might. Do not press us, lest you be hewn like so much kindling.

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Anyways, I've gone AI in this game. I'll still be administering it, however- so if you need changes made, Private Message me.

[AdmiralZhao]

Hmmm, apparently it was not quite warning enough. Ermor and their ally Abysia have declared war on Midgard. I do not expect to survive their assault, however I would at least like to drag Ermor down with me. If you are a neighbor of Ermor, you will never have a better time to attack. They will be busy meeting the full force of Midgard's armies, and will not be able to protect themselves against any serious assault from the flanks. When I do go out, I will be happy to deed any of my remaining gems and items to those who have aided me against Ermor.

If you do not stop Ermor now, you will not have another chance. They are large and growing larger each turn.

[Szumo]

Do not listen to lies of Midgard. Anyone with scouts out can clearly see Midgard is the biggest of nations, controlling 4 capitals and a threat to us all.

[Burnsaber]

It has started. Ulm will be united once more and this time it will last! Our armies are spearheading into the shadow-filled land of Ulm. Their armies cover and hide before our righteous fury, but their dusty holes in their bloody woods will see the light of Aufklarung!

This is the chance for Ulm's neighbours to prove themselves free of sin. Help us clease our vile brothers and you will get a powerful friend.

[AdmiralZhao]

Let's do a quick fact check on Abysia's statement. Does Midgard control 4 capitals? No, we do not. We control less than 4 capitals. So, you might not want to go to Abysia for fair and balanced information.

In any case, the people of Abysia are at least living, which is why I do not ask for the world's aid against them. As I'm sure this board has seen posted countless times, LA Ermor is an abomination, and must be stopped before they can blight any more lands.

[BigandScary]

Descrimination is an ugly thing. Just because we are dead doesn't mean we don't have feelings...in an intillectual sense.

[AdmiralZhao]

Wow, I had no idea how disliked the people of Midgard were. This turn, not one, but two (2!) new nations attacked us, breaking their long held NAPs. For those of you who just joined us, that brings Midgard's total number of opponents up to 4 (four). Ryleh and Caelum were the NAP breakers. I can somewhat understand in Ryleh's case, since they at gained a huge amount of territory from the move. Cealum on the other hand picked up exactly one province. If you have NAPs with either Ryleh or Caelum, well, you really don't.

To conclude, I would like to revise my earlier statement. LA Ermor, LA Ryleh, and LA Caelum are abominations, and must be stopped before they can blight any more lands. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[BigandScary]

I didn't break a NAP. Did I? I'm pretty sure I didn't.

[AdmiralZhao]

No no, Ermor is scary but honorable.

[BigandScary]

I'm having trouble with the new turn. I've had it resent 3 times, but each time it tells me it is corrupted and shuts down. What should I do?

[Burnsaber]

BigandScary said:
I'm having trouble with the new turn. I've had it resent 3 times, but each time it tells me it is corrupted and shuts down. What should I do?



Yous sold contact llamabeast with a forum PM. He doesn't read these forum threads anymore so you need to contact him directly.

[BigandScary]

Ok, things are not going well. I staled my last turn, not being able to even see what is happening to me. I can't access the turns(it always says that it is corrupt) and, for the moment, I can't find a solution. I can't reinstall yet because my disk is broken(that is a story I don't even want to think about) and For that reason, I was hoping that we could again postpone, for a few days. I like to think that my nation has enough import that repeated stales or going AI would be a very bad thing, gamewise, and I hope others feel the same. Except for my enemies, I expect they like the stales.

[llamabeast]

The new turns is corrupt as well? Hmm, that's weird. I will try to take a look later.

[MrSparkle]

BigandScary do you receive your attachments through a web browser based E-mail service or a POP3 server Microsoft Outlook E-mail program? I had a similar problem that was solved when I went to Outlook to grab this current turn.

[llamabeast]

BigandScary, I've manually sent you your turn, and this time the turn file is definitely not corrupted (I checked it myself), so hopefully you will be all good.

[BigandScary]

is Lazy_P gone for some reason? I still can't play my turns. I quess I will have to find a sub.

[BigandScary]

well, strangly, after 3 turns I couldn't play, this one worked. I am back, even if I have had 3 stales.

[Szumo]

I'd suggest a break in hosting schedule for the holidays http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[llamabeast]

I've set it to effectively quickhost-only (really long turn timer). The next turn's due on the 2nd of January.

[Burnsaber]

I'll be going to military service on 7th of January, but despair not, for Ulm Reborn will not go AI. Digress has shown himself willing to accept the light Aufklarung and will take command over Ulm Reborn on 7th of January.

I'll inform him of all current NAPs, trade deals and basic geopolitical situation which Ulm Reborn have. He has not said yet if he will honor them or not.

[Digress]

I can be relied on to honor any NAPs and ongoing trade deals that Ulm Reborn has entered into. I am confident that Burnsaber will see that I am well briefed.

I can equally be relied on to do all I can to ensure that the light of Aufklarung remains undimmed.

See you on the seventh.

[Jazzepi]

The timer for this game needs to be put to something more reasonable.

Jazzepi

[BigandScary]

Yeah, is this a week per turn?

[Burnsaber]

Just a tip, you should conctact Lazy_Perfectionist with a PM or e-mail to get him change the timer. Since he's elimanated, he might not be watching this thread so carefully.

[llamabeast]

LP has not been around recently, I'd suggest it might be a good idea for someone else to take over admin. Any volunteers?

[Jazzepi]

llamabeast said:
LP has not been around recently, I'd suggest it might be a good idea for someone else to take over admin. Any volunteers?



I would be happy to.

Jazzepi

[llamabeast]

Great! Okay everyone, I've PMed the password to Jazzepi, so he is now the game admin.

[Jazzepi]

I can't shorten the timer, so we'll have to wait the full duration of the holiday timer. Once this upcoming turn hosts, we'll go to a 48 hour timer.

Let me know if you have any questions/concerns.

Jazzepi

[Janlm]

jazzepi you can put in a negative number when "postponing" the game, then you will shorten the time to next host by that number of hours.

[Jazzepi]

Janlm said:
jazzepi you can put in a negative number when "postponing" the game, then you will shorten the time to next host by that number of hours.



Thank you, I didn't know that! I'd rather not create anymore confusion so we'll just stick with the posted host date. After that it should speed up considerably. Hopefully the quick host will be able to kick in before then, and we'll immediately switch over to 48 hours after that.

Jazzepi

[Digress]

Just wanted to flag the fact (again) that Burnsaber has passed the leadership of Ulm Reborn into my extremely moderately capable hands (those of you who have played me before this not an invitation to second my personal assessment of my playing skills).

I will attempt to PM those who have current dealings with Ulm Reborn in the near future (Burnsaber sent in the current turn) to reaffirm Ulm Reborn's stance on these matters.

I am looking foward to playing - we seem to be living in interesting times.

[Szumo]

Well, it seems it's time for fires of Abyssia to be quenched. Down to some few last provinces i see no chance of accomplishing much anymore, so i'll be going AI next turn.
Thanks for the game, have fun http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Digress]

There appears there might be an issue with Ulm Reborn and the new patch v3.14 (there certainly is an issue on my Windows machine).

Have contacted llamabeast, whose machine has been patched and will be processing my turn - when he gives me the all clear to send it in. Also Sombre, the author of the mod to check for issues - perhaps to confirm that it isn't a problem at my end.

Will keep you updated on the progress in working out the glitch. Will also contact Jazzepi directly.

[Jazzepi]

Hosting postponed for BAG by 48 hours. The game will now host at 05:35 GMT on Saturday February 2nd.

Please note that this information will not be updated on the game status page for a few minutes.

Hosting postponed 48 hours so that we can make sure the mod will work properly under the new version. It'd be very smart of all of you to make sure you keep your 3.10 installs around in case we can't upgrade for this game because of the Ulm Reborn mod.

Jazzepi

[Digress]

Upon testing the issue appears to resolve itself without crashing the game. Ulm Reborn loses its national spells for a turn then regains them - I assume it was an odd effect generated when I patched from 3.10 to 3.14.

I will submit Ulm Reborn's turn to the llamaserver ASAP and inform Jazzepi.

Thanks all - especially Llamabeast.

[Jazzepi]

As soon as we can I'll get Llamabeast to setup the server again and we'll get this show on the road.

Thanks everyone for their patience D:

Jazzepi

[AdmiralZhao]

Could you set LA Midgard to AI? I think I've done about all I can to slow Ryleh and Ermor down, and I don't want to re-install version 3.10 just to manage my 4 or so remaining provinces.

Good game everyone, it was fun!

[Digress]

The game will contine using 3.14 - the problem cropped up after I patched to 3.14 but my .2h was hosted successfully and the weirdness disappears.

So the llamaserver will host using v3.14 - so we should continue to use 3.14.

[Jazzepi]

Yup, this is correct. I indicated in my message to keep a 3.10 copy around because I wasn't sure what we would have to do.

I don't have control of the admin options, but when I do, I'll send out an e-mail through them, and put the hosting back 24 hours. After I do that, whatever the hosting time is, we'll stick with.

Jazzepi

[Digress]

AdmiralZhao said:
Could you set LA Midgard to AI? I think I've done about all I can to slow Ryleh and Ermor down, and I don't want to re-install version 3.10 just to manage my 4 or so remaining provinces.

Good game everyone, it was fun!



Given we are continuing with 3.14 you can set yourself to AI and submit your turn as per usual. No need for the admin to do a thing.

[Jazzepi]

Digress said:

AdmiralZhao said:
Could you set LA Midgard to AI? I think I've done about all I can to slow Ryleh and Ermor down, and I don't want to re-install version 3.10 just to manage my 4 or so remaining provinces.

Good game everyone, it was fun!



Given we are continuing with 3.14 you can set yourself to AI and submit your turn as per usual. No need for the admin to do a thing.



I actually can't http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif I believe the master password was lost for this game a long time ago, which means people have to set themselves to AI.

Jazzepi

[AdmiralZhao]

Ok, in that case I will hold those three swamp provinces till the last man.

[Aristander]

Let the word go forth, from this time and place, that the blasphemous rites practiced by Ermor must stop.

The summoning-up of evil things and conversing with all manor of ghouls, undead and other demonic dwellers of the black catacombs must end.

Pythium asks any who would help to do what they can, overtly or covertly, to help stop Ermor from continuing to preform such unholy rites as my soul shuddereth to contemplate.

Long live the Divine Emperor.
Long live the Monkey King.

[BigandScary]

So the Baboon and his lapdogs have come out to play. Let them come. Let them learn what it is to face death. Their crops shall rot in the fields while their people die. Remember your foolish hubris when your very souls are crushed beneath the bony foot of death.

[Digress]

I have been looking for a sub without success - tried a couple of people who I have subbed for in the past and they have full plates at the moment. Anyone out there know someone that would be happy to sub in a big game with some micromanagement for 1 or 2 turns ?

Have managed one sub for one of three games and am struggling.

Have the current turn in and will get the following one in after she hosts but could we delay hosting by an additional 48 hours ?

Or I can stale ... which wouldn't be the end of the earth unless you know all my neighbours took advantage of that fact.

[Digress]

Have returned. Will PM Jazzepi pronto.

Cheers all.

[Jazzepi]

We're back on a regular hosting schedule now, guys.

Jazzepi

[MrSparkle]

I won't have access to my computer this weekend. Can you delay the hosting by 24 hours?

[Jazzepi]

I'll take care of that.

Jazzepi

[Jazzepi]

Postponed the game by 72 hours. Just get your turns in when you can.

Jazzepi

[BigandScary]

I am sending the turn, but I was wondering if we could then postpone this game until saturday(sunday, 4am english time) as I will be unable to play my turns.

[Jazzepi]

Sure.

Jazzepi

[The_Monkey_King]

Last night I sent in my turn and then looked at LLamaserver to see if it had been accepted. A message in the BAG screen said Llamaserver was having e-mail problems, and that I would have to wait to send in my turn. The message said I would have plenty of time to send in my turn. Since this game has often, very often, been delayed for a week or more without any explanation, I thought "plenty of time" meant more than six hours after it was supposed to host. It turns out I was wrong.

The game has hosted, and my turn file hasn't run! This is Turn 68 and it takes more than an hour to do a turn! My current opponent turn DID run! So his armies did move, and my DIDN'T!

Nobody has played their turn for the "new" Turn 69 yet, no doubt because they thought it would be a while before the turn ran. I would like the turn to be rolled back right now, and a 12 hour wait for everyone to get their turns it, like the message said! I re-sent my turn right now.

[Jazzepi]

I responded to the PM. Check your e-mail for further instructions.

Jazzepi

[The_Monkey_King]

Come on, Jazzepi, say it in public. You have nothing to hide!

I'm glad Jazzepi doesn't know who I am, even though my posting name is the name of my god in the game. He played the game for over four months as R'yleh, so it's quite remarkable that he doesn't know who I am. Quite remarkable. Of course an ordinary person would have trouble figuring out which of these nations was led by The Monkey King:
Midgard
Caleum
Ermor
Patala
Utgard
New Ulm
Pythium
Pangeae

I wonder what nation of monkies is in that list?

And fortunate, because if he did know who I was, I would suspect him of getting back at me for the fights we had with his declaration "I need verification that you aren't a cheater, even though you had nothing to do with what happened".

Of course, he also says he can't do anything. Dumps it all on llamabeast... but still feels the need to make a bunch of demands to HIM, so that I can't get my turn unstaled. Good way to "stay out of it" while not staying out of it at all.

I feel that he is being impartial, because he claims to not know who I am, even though it is almost impossible for him not to, and refuses to help. Also, he adds restrictions to make it difficult for others to fix the problem.

This has all the hallmarks of a fair and impartial moderator. A real straight shooter.

Oh, and I can criticize him without worry, because he has already declared that he will do nothing to fix the problem.
If you had trouble seeing that, just re-read his post.

****Edited to remove violation of PM rules.

[The_Monkey_King]

I appreciate the fair and impartial moderators current response, as it is more honest:

***edited to remove violation of PM rules.

[The_Monkey_King]

You have no control over the demands you make? So consumed and totally controlled by your emotions and petty grudges that you HAVE to act in a certain way? Yes, yes that's exactly who I thought you were. And by the way, I don't really hate you, but I would never trust you with a nickel.

***edited to remove privacy violations.

[Digress]

Whilst I don't really want to weigh in to this at all it is worth pointing out what an admin/moderator can do on the llamaserver.

As I understand it llamabeast is the only one who can go in and roll a turn back - it may well be an easy thing to do but the llamaserver is hosting 30-odd games at present, and doing so smoothly. The llamaserver doing a wonderful job when compared to those games I have played by PBEM or by TCP/IP in the past (the hosts of whom I thank for taking on the job).

I would understand if he (llamabeast) is loathe to regularly roll turns back especially when there is no consensus amongst the players playing the game. It would certainly set a precedent that may cause problems, for llamabeast, in the future.

I have no problem with the turn being rolled back and imagine that other players here may well share my opinion, it might well be worth asking.

edited to correct spelling

[The_Monkey_King]

And I'm aware of the stealth preachers you put in my land. So many that I had to put a temple up and four preachers in every area just to maintain my own dominion in the mountains.

[In an attempt to maintain that ever elusive 'balance' New Ulm has recruitable everywhere, stealth, inquisitor Holy-1 Preachers]

[llamabeast]

Oh man, I hate these ruckusses.

Okay, firstly, about rollbacks: my policy on rollbacks is that I am extremely loathe to do them. I have done a few, and on almost every occasion regretted it. In a situation of such uncertainty, I am especially loathe to do it.

Secondly, here is the LlamaServer message:

"The LlamaServer seems to be having difficulty reaching its mail server at the moment. Fear not. Games won't host until it is fixed, and hosting times will be delayed to allow plenty of time for e-mails to come through once the mail server can be reached again."

Now, this doesn't say what The_Monkey_King says it said.

I'll explain how it actually works. If the LlamaServer can't reach the mail server, it decides it had better not host - after all, if it can't check its e-mail, it might be missing out on some 2h files people sent at the last minute, which wouldn't be fair. So it waits until it can reach the mail server again. Further, it waits a bit more than that - for every 5 minutes it can't reach the mail server, it waits 5 minutes even _after_ it finally is able to reach the mail server. So if it is out of touch for 6 hours, it waits 6 hours for hosting even after the problem is fixed. This is to allow time for e-mails which were previously unable to reach the mail server to filter through the system and arrive.

Right, so the correct thing to do on seeing that message on the LlamaServer is to send in your turn immediately anyway, since the LlamaServer will get it sooner or later when it's fixed.

I am open to suggestions as to how I could make the message clearer. I think it is reasonably clear, but perhaps not amazingly so - so suggestions are welcome (I actually found writing all the LlamaServer messages surprisingly tricky).

In any case, The_Monkey_King's interpretation was a risky one at best - his idea that the turn would be delayed for a significant amount of time was in fact a misunderstanding. I can see how it happened, but nonetheless it was a misunderstanding. I can't go doing rollbacks every time there is a misunderstanding. This message has been there lots of times before, with no problems.

So anyway, to summarise, I am disinclined to do a rollback. I hope the fact I've written all this shows I've taken some effort to think about it. This is despite me getting no fewer than 7 PMs asking me to do stuff this evening, and despite the fact I am meant to be packing for my early morning return to university tomorrow. This has been a reasonably nightmarish evening to be honest.

As I say, I'd welcome suggestions as to how to improve the message. And I'm sorry you ended up staling The_Monkey_King, that's highly regrettable.

Finally, The_Monkey_King, I'd like to ask a favour: could you please remove my e-mail address, which is quoted in one of your messages above? I really, _really_ don't want to get spam on that address, which I will do very quickly if that is left there.

[llamabeast]

Also, enough on this issue. I don't like to see threads get full of the kind of unpleasantness we've had in the last few posts. If you have further concerns, The_Monkey_King, please PM me and I'll do everything I can to address them. But no more from either of you here please, or I will abuse my power and kick you (I have decided (unilaterally) that a benevolent dictatorship is the best form of government for such situations).

On with the game!

[vfb]

llamabeast said:
Oh man, I hate these ruckusses.
...
Finally, The_Monkey_King, I'd like to ask a favour: could you please remove my e-mail address, which is quoted in one of your messages above? I really, _really_ don't want to get spam on that address, which I will do very quickly if that is left there.



Worse, it's in a quote from a PM, which are supposed to be private. Board Rules: "Private Messages received on these forums are to be considered private and are not to be posted publicly or forwarded to other users unless the sender of the private message agrees."

The_Monkey_King should just delete all those PMs he posted.

[llamabeast]

Good point, that is pretty naughty.

[The_Monkey_King]

Deleted, because I'm not allowed to respond to public posts without being kicked from the game. This rule was just created.

[llamabeast]

Yep. Feel free to PM me, The_Monkey_King. I don't want you to feel your views aren't being heard. But thanks from refraining from continuing the discussion here.

[BigandScary]

I will be gone for a day and would ask for a 12 hour extention on the turn time. Thanks

[Jazzepi]

No problem. 12 hour extension put in.

Please PM me in the future. It's easier for me to catch those.

Jazzepi

[AdmiralZhao]

Good game everyone. While Midgard is no more, we at least got to see Ryleh crippled before we went out. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[llamabeast]

We have a problem:

Något gick fel!
dnf: bg area 0
Något gick fel!
dnf: bg area 0

Meaning Dominions wouldn't host. I tried rolling back and rehosting - no luck.

So, I guess the options are to just host the turn without your 2h files so everyone will stale, or else people can redo their turns in the hope that they will change something which will make the error go away. Neither is ideal. Anyone have any thoughts?

[The_Monkey_King111]

Pangaea just went AI. That leaves only Ermor, Patala, Utgard and Caleum.

I think he went AI a little prematurely, but I understand that the loss of the Water Queen to the Stygian Path'ed Fiends of Darkness was upsetting. And it only cost me 29 astral gems, 6 air gems, and 15 death gems to set that fight up... and the gems spent in combat as well. + the 10 astral gems spent on Returnings and Vortex's of Returning.

Also, I think his attack on the non-castle defenses of Behemoth's Rest would have succeeded because I had simply forgotten about Black Centaurs being stealth. It was alarming when the AI popped all those stealth units up. I would have lost two entire Troll King summons and an E4 cyclops. However, two Send Horrors did kill a E4 cyclops of his that turn... and I have the Chalice. He would then have had to bring in siegers next turn to break down the walls, and that would have given me more than enought time to prepare all manner of nastiness on the storm. I had death mages and a large number of Monkey astral in that fortress... and the monkey researchers were unsurprisingly above the death mages. Add in some Crystal Matrixes and things get bloody fast on the first turn. I also had air mages there.

Me and Utgard VS. Pangaea and Ermor were fairly evenly matched, but Utgard was having the better of Ermor. I'm not sure Utgard was aware of it, by Flames From The Sky was being used to kill... LARGE numbers of undead... just look at the Hall of Fame. I was holding Pangaea... except that my wishers, the Chalice, and the Forge were giving me far more gems and gem efficiency than Pangaea... so he was probably exhausting himself and I could have kept up the current rate of combat forever... while forging 14 clams a turn.

Without Pangaea, Ermor has no chance at all against Patala/Utgard, and I would like the game to end before I have to spend six hours on another turn. The insane turn lengths are probably one of the main reasons Pangaea quit. They had a lot of fight left in them, but eventually the Forge, and the Chalice would have told. I was also putting up Gift of Natures Bounty next turn with a little more than 200 gems. It would have had a 60% chance of taking down an Ermor/Pangaea global, a 20% chance of taking out defeated R'yleh's Mother Oak, and a 20% chance of bouncing off my Forge of the Ancients. That would have put me another leg up, and I'm done summoning Wizard Towers and Dark Citadels to protect me from raiding. Had to summon 4 castles over my empire to bring me up to end-game level.

I would also like to say that no matter what Pangaea *thought* he saw, he had failed to kill a single Nagarashi. They all returned back to Patala, where the Chalice cured their afflictions... except the nasty Never Healing Wounds.

Anyway, I would like the other players to weigh in. This game is not any fun at the six hours per turn point. But I will slog through if I have to.

[AdmiralZhao]

All hail the Monkey King!

[MrSparkle]

Let me apologize to the current moderator of the game. I have been having some trouble completing my turns in time the past couple of weeks with many sent near the last minute. I can't say that I agree with all the Monkey Kings conclusions but in regards to the turn lengths he is correct. My time constraints at the moment are likely to last until late June/ early July before I could properly play turns and avoid occasional stales.

The creators of this game have the deepest fantasy computer war game I have ever seen and since this is my first multiplayer game I do not think I can accurately judge my position in regards to an endgame. I don't know how to respond to what the AI decided to do with Pangaea but I will post my last turn received before I went AI if anyone is curious.

[The_Monkey_King111]

*I* would like to see your turn. If you say you could have been first... our gem exchange was pretty even. But I did have the Forge, and the Chalice. And that is really tough to beat. Or course, I still had Ermor on my back, and that is a big deal to.

[BigandScary]

It might take a little while, but I will lose. I am willing to graciously bow out. I can accept defeat.

[The_Monkey_King111]

I'd like to add that BigAndScary has really progressed as a player, and I am very glad that I didn't have to deal with his current tactics forty turns ago. Because I would have lost the game, hands down.

Meant to send this a while back, but oh well.

[BigandScary]

Thanks, I went the wrong way with magic research and had to compensate quickly. I was wondering if my strategy was being at all effective.

[AlgaeNymph]

Y'know, I learned something today. If your supercombatants are with an army that throughly thrashed, they'll retreat even when they're winning.

All those gems and equipment. Plus there's that huge naga economy to deal with. However, my nation's still in good shape, albiet behind all the other ones. Should I continue?

[Jazzepi]

Hosting has been postponed 48 hours to give players a chance to discuss the state of this game. I won't terminate the game until there is a strict consensus.

Jazzepi

[AlgaeNymph]

Bumped for visibility.

[AlgaeNymph]

Hm, this game may end for another reason; I tried to play turn 96, but the game just conked out on me without a word. It's only when I haven't loaded the map right that I see that kind of program shutdown, but I can't help but think it has to do with the new patch.