Rhoscrowther - Late Age game for MP Newbies (up)

[lch]

This is the game thread for the new Newbies game I'm hosting.

Here's the players list:
coturnix - Abysia
fabio80mi - Ulm
Aapeli - Pythium
MrSparkle - Caelum
cleveland - Agartha
WonderLlama - Patala
GC64 - Pangea
konming - Arcoscephale
coobe - Atlantis
shard - Man
darkchampion3d - Jomon

Here is the map that we are using:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Number=465570

You better download and install this map before you connect to the server!

Here is the server status page: http://valhalla.techno-mage.com/stats/stats.php?game=Rhoscrowther

[lch]

I can't deliver my turn notification mails to Abysia / Coturnix, they are rejected:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>host mail.hispavista.com[213.228.192.245] said: 591
Tu mensaje no llegar? a su destino. Tu servidor es considerado emisor de
Spam. Send your questions to blacklist-admin@hispavista.com (in reply to
RCPT TO command)</pre><hr />
Please tell your email provider that what I am sending is no spam and/or whitelist my sending email address, if possible (the same you sent your pretender files to). Otherwise I can't send you turn notification mails and you have to check that you play your turns on your own, increasing the chance to miss the hosting of a turn due to error.

[fabio80mi]

Up finally http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif)
Look forward to have fun with all of you in this game!

[shard]

Yup! same here! Also, won't it be better if we speed up for the first few turns? 48 hours seems a bit long - or will the turn automatically start once all the orders are in?

[lch]

It will automatically host as soon as everybody has played his turn. You will then even receive an email from the server, so if you monitor your emails closely you'll know about it immediately. Otherwise looking at the stats page tells you how far the game has progressed so far. Usually the game picks up some speed after everybody is familiar with the process, the other Newbies game that has started on about Monday is at turn 5 now. But since the players are usually from very different timezones and somebody might have troubles with the game configuration or other problems that spontaneously pop I leave the game timer at 48 hours as a precaution.

[WonderLlama]

Coturnix, is everything alright? You're running out of time for the first turn. Did you run into any technical problems? Have you tried your turn? If you've tried and hit problems, I bet someone here can help. If you haven't, you really should try your turn right away, in case you do run into technical problems.

[lch]

I have reset the timer. Egoix in the other game seems to have received the turn notification ok now since I didn't get an error message from the mail server, I hope that they don't flag my messages as spam anymore. Let's hope Coturnix gets back to the forum and plays his turn, too. I don't want people to stale on their first turn, but I don't want them to cause unnecessary delays for all the other people in the game, too.

[darkchampion3d]

How long do we wait before we look for a replacement.

[fabio80mi]

Let's hope he gets back playing and have the game run on fast speed soon http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Especially on the first turns!

[lch]

2 days, tops. That means until the current timer runs out, which equals to stalling twice.

EDIT: Nevermind, Coturnix played his turn and the game hosted. Good luck to you all.

[coturnix]

Ok, i have played my first and second turns. Sorry all for the delay, between the little lapse to fill the vacant slots and a nightmarish week at work i totally forgot to check the forum http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif

I have answered the PMs and expect to follow the game without further problems. My excuses again for the delay.

[shard]

Err... I just checked my turn, would there be any reason why I don't have any positive scales in my capital, but just the negative ones??

I'm pretty sure I sent the right pretender, I just double checked my sent attachment. Is there an event or a special site which neutralises positive scales?

[fabio80mi]

Welcome to the game coturnix http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif
I'm glad you will be on this one! Look forward to meet u all ingame http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[lch]

shard said:
Err... I just checked my turn, would there be any reason why I don't have any positive scales in my capital, but just the negative ones??


There's something called the "scales bug", which I heared about, this seems to be exactly what's being reported usually.

[WonderLlama]

Well, I learned an important lesson. You have to load this game through the Network option, not the Load Saved Game option. It will let you correct your turn through load saved game, but the server won't actually get it. That could have been a disaster for me, but thankfully it turned out to be no big deal.

[shard]

Well - thats an annoying bug to say the least. Bye bye 200 pretender points???

[thejeff]

It's temporary. Your scales will return to your chosen values over time. As if your dominion had just taken over a province.

Not crippling, but it can really hurt the early game.

[shard]

I'll just pretend that my capital has just been hit by plague then http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Gogogo get your turns in!

[lch]

WonderLlama said:
Well, I learned an important lesson. You have to load this game through the Network option, not the Load Saved Game option.


If you make changes through "Load saved game" you do them offline. That is actually a good way to play the game for people who pay per minute for their internet connection: Grab the turn first when you connect to the server, then disconnect and prepare it offline through "Load saved game". When you are done with the preparations, connect to the server again to upload your turn, which is done automatically for you.

[cleveland]

In the Network screen, what's the bracket symbol beneath certain nations mean? "Connected" perhaps?

[lch]

The thing that looks like a claw or something? Yeah, connected players.

[llamabeast]

I thought it was a bit of chain.

[shard]

Great to see this game is finally rolling! What are the victory settings? And are there any usual mp house rules? Perhaps a bit late to ask since we've already started, but since we are all new to this...

Something tells me Patala's pretender is a big nasty monster! I hope I don't get on the wrong side of it

[lch]

MP House rules:
- be respectful of each other, it's just a game
- do your turns in time or announce that you're unable to do so
- don't vanish from the game without notice

I told you, failure to do your turns in time repeatedly will result in me looking for replacements for you. This is in consideration of the other players involved in the game.

Victory settings are the default, not specified any further, so it's either "last man standing" or general consensus to declare a winner.

[shard]

Argggh i somehow have to redo my orders from scratch

Do messages you send out to other players have to be resent as well? Or are they sent 'instantaneously'?

[Jurri]

Yeah, you have to redo the messages as well. No such thing as instantaneous messaging here!

Pro-tip: never, ever, ever use the ingame messaging system. Instead, use private messages on these boards or emails. In addition to it being faster, and you never facing things like this, you will get an archive of the messages that is helpful if you want to check particulars of earlier discussions.

[fabio80mi]

The Friendly nation of ULM is offering some TRADE opportunities for ALL nations!

Ulm is running a surplus of GOLD and is willing to trade it for some magical gems , in particular we're looking for ASTRAL gems mostly :

Ulm will buy astral gem for 20 gold each, batches of 10 astral gem for 250gold each and batches of 30 astral gem for 800 gold

Ulm will also buy , if astral gem supply proves insufficient any other kind of gem for 15 gold each, regardless of the quantity

[fabio80mi]

Proclamation of intention from ULM player

In this game my personal goal is having a network of diplomatic relations with all players, possibly not engage in wars and become a trading nation, that would prove a change from my other and current game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

The nation will actively seek NAP with neighbours and will act mostly as a trading partner, also Ulm crafted goods and magical prowess can be acquired..for a price.. in time of need http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

As a personal house rule ULM will honor all treaty regardless of our personal convenience(for instance if we do enter a defensive alliance we will come to the aid of our allied, even if it means certain defeat...).
The only condition in which ulm may break a treaty is if there are 2 warring allied fighting each other , in which case we may stay neutral or pick one side.

[shard]

Jurri: Thanks for the tip!

I don't suppose the friendly nation of Ulm cares to tell the rest of us what particularly friendly uses he may have for those gems?

You've bought out 3 merc armies... did you find a couple of juicy juicy gold mines or something??

[lch]

It's natural that Ulm is swimming in gold early. Their units take lots more resources than gold and they don't die easy to independents. Usually that gold is best spent on mercs/forts.

[WonderLlama]

Patala is also interested in buying gems. We want nature gems so that we can grow yummy magical bannanas. We will pay 20 gold per nature gem.

[shard]

Nuts, something is with my mailbox - i thought i sent a bunch of pms but i don't seem to have a record of them; if you've received a repeat just ignore...

PS - I seem to have problems logging into the forums when i'm not at home - is login reliant on ip address?

Edit: Nevermind, the solution is called 'properly logging out'

[darkchampion3d]

shard said:
Jurri: Thanks for the tip!

I don't suppose the friendly nation of Ulm cares to tell the rest of us what particularly friendly uses he may have for those gems?

You've bought out 3 merc armies... did you find a couple of juicy juicy gold mines or something??



And in the process taught the noobs amongst us (me at least) to bid higher on mercs. Should have thought that other would have strategies that rely heavily on merc for early expansion :\

By the way, is there a list out there that tells what is in each merc unit?

[WonderLlama]

I have a question about the end of the game. If players ally, can they share the victory? Or is it required that we arrive at one winner? Either by fighting or agreeing.

I ask because we're heading into the diplomacy game, and that might make a difference.

[cleveland]

Of course victories can be shared.

I propose that we all ally together, then declare ourselves the winner.

[coobe]

damn i got tough indies around me... its really hard to expand in my corner...

[Aapeli]

Well doesnt strong indies mean better provinces?

[cleveland]

Hey Ich,

What were the settings for this game?

[lch]

Independents are at 6, a tick better than normal so you learn to fight properly instead of sending half-assed attempts. Hall of fame for 15 entries, the rest is all at standard.

Standard victory aswell. The game will end when it's the general consensus that it's over. Which may require to muzzle somebody.

[konming]

Is luck scale ever worth it? I have luck 3 and this is my last turn's events (all four in their glory:():

A very ill omen...
...one fifth of the population are leaving... (on a rare 10k+ province)
A very ill omen...
Locust swarm... tax loss were one hundred pound of gold.

That has done it. If one more turn like this, AI it is.:)

[WonderLlama]

I've had good, erm, luck with the luck scale in the past. But it's random. In my opinion, the luck scale can be good, but it is more useful to get rid of some of the very bad events, like plagues, and open up some very good events, like permanent income boosts. You are still going to get some very bad events even with luck. I have luck too, and events have also been very unfavorable to me (not quite that bad though).

[coturnix]

I picked luck 3 in a single game not long ago and it worked better than i expected: nearly every turn i earned some magic gems, and zealots and militia appeared to join my armies. I even got a pair of magic items via event. This scale helped me a lot in the early play. Of course i´m a newbie and maybe the general consensus of more skilled players can differ, but i am certainly inclined to pick at least a scale of luck when i start a game.

And talking about Roscrowther game, i find LA Abysia quite difficult to handle. Most troops are damn expensive at least at this stage of the game and the majority of sorcerers have old age and catch afflictions easily. I better start thinking some general strategy before i find that most of the cake has been eaten by others.

[lch]

konming said:
Is luck scale ever worth it? I have luck 3 and this is my last turn's events (all four in their glory:():


I have taken luck 3 in a game I'm playing which is now at turn 60. I had hoped for those "great riches have been found" events to boost my development, didn't even have to be the 3000 gold one, 1500 gold would have been enough. It never ever came. On the other hand, I had lots of those "a hero shows up and wants to fight for your cause" events, which help in late game now. In my other games, I usually take slight misfortune scales, which increase the chance for random events, too. I am currently getting regularly overrun by barbarians and other traveling folk, which might be due to me picking low dominion and unrest in the provinces. In another game I had misfortune with high dom and there were quite a number of good events (as in magical gems).


konming said:
A very ill omen...
...one fifth of the population are leaving... (on a rare 10k+ province)
A very ill omen...
Locust swarm... tax loss were one hundred pound of gold.



First, you need to spread your dominion so that the luck works. If your provinces don't have the luck symbols they don't have increased chance for good events. It needs to be YOUR dominion, too. Second, the types of events you get depend on your other scales. "A very ill omen" is common and negligible. Population leaving usually only happens if you took Turmoil instead of Order. Locust swarms might be due to dominion not being spread in the provinces well enough. And on top of it all, it's what it says: pure luck.


coturnix said:
And talking about Roscrowther game, i find LA Abysia quite difficult to handle. Most troops are damn expensive at least at this stage of the game and the majority of sorcerers have old age and catch afflictions easily. I better start thinking some general strategy before i find that most of the cake has been eaten by others.


I heard that LA Abysia can be quite a challenge, yes. I hope it's still a good learning experience to you. You might want to test out your troops in SP games first before using them.

[shard]

Oh, and a belated congratulations to Dante of Ulm for winning the First Edition of the Arena World Cup!

Oh also, in some of the other games, settings include no graphs and renaming. I suppose I can understand the no-graphs, but whats the significance of renaming?

[archaeolept]

enabling renaming allows you to change the names of your (non-unique non-hero) commanders.

press 'r' when viewing the unit stats

most usually, this enables you to name your many similar mages by their magic paths, so you know which the heck randoms they have.

[lch]

archaeolept said:
most usually, this enables you to name your many similar mages by their magic paths, so you know which the heck randoms they have.


Which is an awful thing to do, IMHO. You shouldn't compensate for a game limitation (blending in their magic paths on the map screen, maybe via hotkey) with a workaround like that.

[lch]

BTW, in case one of you doesn't want to receive the turn notifications anymore because he quit the game, please PM me.

[GC64]

Man's pretender dead just as Pangaea's pretender awakens? Clearly this is a sign.

[shard]

Thats wierd - the gamestats page shows me stalling for 3 turns. Pretty sure I haven't - ask Pangaea! Though I can sometimes be the first/last to take my turns, GMT +9 here.

We welcome Pangaea's pretender to the world, short-lived though its time may be.

[fabio80mi]

? there is already a war going on beetween man and pangaea?

[lch]

shard said:
Thats wierd - the gamestats page shows me stalling for 3 turns. Pretty sure I haven't - ask Pangaea! Though I can sometimes be the first/last to take my turns, GMT +9 here.


I'll look into this, thanks for reporting.

[WonderLlama]

fabio80mi said:
? there is already a war going on beetween man and pangaea?


That's my conclusion based on the provinces graph.

[shard]

That was amazing! Oops, can't say more until the gag order for the journalists reporting on the frontline is lifted. We will allow for the following bit of propaganda however:

Such wanton slaughter. The citizen militia of pangaea so wantonly treated as cannon fodder by their evil overlords; unceasingly resurrected, never knowing the full peace the arrows of Man are meant to give! This only tightens our resolve, to liberate the people of Pangaea under the rule of our most benevolent Goddess.

In other news, the artificers of Man have succeeded in perfecting the techniques of mass producing owl quills. We are interested in any offers of custom our friends may have.

[konming]

The nation of Arcoscephale is looking to buy E gems at the rate of no less than 20 gold/gem or trade others gems on 1:1 ratio. Anyone interested please PM me.

Also we are proud to announce that Arcoscephale Forging Group(AFG) is formally open. We are glad to offer our diverse magic paths (all but A,B) to all nations. Please do not hesitate to PM me if you need something forged by us. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Aapeli]

Looks like forgin is a good way to make friends. I guess I could also inform that I am researching construction and even tough its still on lvl 4 I am open to any trades you might think of. You just need to suggest a price yourself cause I havent come to think of anything. Evrything from nature, death, astral and water. Also some fire and in time air (when a theurg of that kind shows up).

[WonderLlama]

Patala is also selling items. Specifically hammers. We will take payment in any form of gem except fire or air (and you can even mix and match). Bidding starts at 17 gems.

[shard]

I'd just like to confirm - the provinces with the more interesting graphics don't necessarily have more magic sites do they?

[lch]

Actually they do

[llamabeast]

Probabilistically. They may still have none in reality - but they are more likely to have some.

[konming]

Those provinces are marked as "Many Sites", so it will have more chance to get sites.

[shard]

So whats going on? Everyone nicely forging away...? We in the north side of the river would be interested in news of the south. The war with Pangaea is all but over and we hope that there will at last be a measure of peace to the shattered people of the land. Unfortunately, the winds of war flame on, for we have heard reports from our scouts of battles raging between the Eagle and the Serpent.



...
The two nations with amphibious nationals have been quite quick to jump into the water in the absence of pure aquatic nations though I was quite surprised to see Patala with an early underwater fortress. I didn't think land nations could build underwater castles... well apart from LA Atlantis.

[WonderLlama]

I didn't build that fortress, I found it. As far as I know, most nations can only find underwater fortresses or create them by magic. But I think there is a higher number of hidden underwater forts than land ones.

[shard]

Oh yes, that reminds me - when you take over a province, either indy or an opponent's, does chance determine whether sites present in that province get uncovered? Or like... if you conquer that province with a w4 mage then its more likely that u'll find a water site? When i mean 'find' i don't mean by finding via site searching... I mean by just walking over it with an army

[WonderLlama]

I think certain sites are automatically visible. And other you have to search for.

[konming]

In case anyone still needs hammers, here we have one for 15E.

[shard]

Earth seems to be quite the 'in' thing :p

[cleveland]

For sale: water gems
Price: 1 astral OR death gem each

PM me your orders.

[llamabeast]

To answer shard's question of a few posts ago: Every site has a difficulty level for finding between 0 and 4. If it is zero it will be automatically uncovered when the province is captured. Otherwise a mage of the appropriate level has to do a search to find it. Hence a level 4 water mage is guaranteed to find all water sites in a province when he does a search. He does have to actually do the search though.

[shard]

We have received reports from our remote border wardens of Pythian watchforts being swarmed by a large body of flying creatures accompanied by mammoths and a slew of horrific living dead. While we prefer to stay out of the affairs between neighbouring nations such a potential threat to our own people cannot be taken lightly.

[Aapeli]

The war is truly raging. Still I cant tell you who is winning as my computer is down but as far as remember I think my pretender is now heading for the capital along with few hydras. Yet I must admit that our armies are not as grand as the ones of caelum but we shall see what happens.

[cleveland]

Wanted!

1 Bag of Winds (const4, a4, misc).

PM me with your price quotes.

-Agartha

[Aapeli]

Whats going on. Cant connect to server. Just keeps saying:

-got bad packet from the server

Its my bros computer but I downloaded the map. Should it have a tga file cause there was none when I downloaded it. The patch is right too.

[lch]

Yeah, download the image from Ballbarian's map thread first.

[shard]

I think Ballbarian updated his map to 3.01 - there were some pixels out of place in a province or something

[lch]

Oh yes, that would be a problem. For this game you need the old image from the v3.00 version, not the new one.

[Aapeli]

Could someone put it here cause I dont know where to get the old one.

[cleveland]

Here it is.

[lch]

We now have some live graphs for this MP game:
http://valhalla.techno-mage.com/scores/scoresgraphs.php?game=Rhoscrowther

More info in the Scenarios, Maps and Mods forum (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Number=564561).

[cleveland]

lch said:
We now have some live graphs for this MP game:
http://valhalla.techno-mage.com/scores/scoresgraphs.php?game=Rhoscrowther

More info in the Scenarios, Maps and Mods forum (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Number=564561).



Victory points?

[shard]

Hmm, tritons can't walk on land can they? Or should I start worrying about that sizeable army overlooking the coast? The Naga and Nagarishi ensconced in that underwater castle do seem pretty far from home as well!

[WonderLlama]

No, tritons can't walk on land. Nothing to worry about. And those naga and nagarishi were there before you reached the coast.

[shard]

Ahhh i'm bored, I thought the turn would be done by my lunch break.

Why is Man 'Man' anyway? I keep thinking of horrendous puns whenever i sign off my pms...

Oh and good job on the live scores Ich!

[cleveland]

Nations of the world:

2 formidable armies of Acroscephale have appeared at the undefended Agarthan boarder, without provocation or warning.

Their intention is clear: Acroscephale has declared war on Agartha, a nation nearly 1/2 her size.

Rest assured that at this moment, the Agarthan army mobilizes for war; even our deceased ancestors return from the grave to answer the call to arms.

But will you?

Agartha will most certainly fight to the bitter end, but our undead legions are simply no match for the Acroscephalian elephants; the ensuing war of attrition will inevitably end with destruction of Agartha. After taking the Agarthan homeland, Acroscephale will control 54 provinces, surpassing even Man as the worlds most powerful nation. Combined with his geographical advantage, the reality is clear: if we cannot stop him now, we will never stop him, as he will never be weaker.

His offensive forces are concentrated in the South. Boarder nations: you must attack, as your survival depends upon it.

United we stand, divided we fall, etc.

PM me to discuss strategy

-Agartha

[konming]

Well, it is the Agartha who broke the NAP in turn 14. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif We can only assume by breaking NAP, Agartha is planning on attacking Arcoscephale with its formidable combat SC and large army of magicians. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

In any case, with Agartha research skyrocketing, it is only a matter of time that Agartha will come down on Arcoscephale with overwhelming force. We have no choice but to prevent this from happening.

It is do or die time for Arcoscephale nation. We probably will stand no chance against Agartha SC or magic, but we certainly will try or die trying. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[cleveland]

coturnix,

Are you still playing?

[shard]

What happens if he passes the next turn?

So much for my handily written message on the last turn...

[lch]

As per my rules laid out before starting, I will set him to AI before he stales a third time if there's no further life sign.

[shard]

Is there some sort of list where we can find out what the stats are on for mercenaries? I've seen a chinese website, but iirc that only gave the types of troops.

[Cicadian]

You can check the stats of the units in Edi's Dom3 DataBase, found here: http://koti.welho.com/ehalttun/Dom3/

A most useful tool http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[WonderLlama]

Hey! Coturnix! Are you back? I see you got your turn in. (Or did Ich just set you to AI?)

[lch]

I set Abysia to AI. It is very hard to play them, granted.

[Aapeli]

Oh man! My army of gladiators is all gone! and almost none casualties with the caelian besiegers (should have realized that gladiators dont like arrow rains)! Reptior is mad as hell http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif.
Unfortunately he wont have much time on being mad as I think the game is lost for me. But there is still chance to make some radical moves.

[shard]

Atlantis and Jomon both stalled last turn http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif
How is the game doing for time? Is this the usual pace?

Hang in there Pythium! The cavalry is coming! Oh, but should Reptior finally succumb to the lure of the great Serpent Heaven in the sky, I might need a sub in a couple of weeks. Assuming I'm still alive and kicking of course http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[darkchampion3d]

Yeah I was out of town for two days and missed the turn by a whopping 30 minutes http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

If only my crappy laptop could run the game. But alas, it runs win 98 and the only thing it's good for is holding files, email, and connecting to hardware via serial port.

[cleveland]

NEED 24 MORE HOURS!!!

Going to a wedding, already late. Please extend the deadline!

Sorry!
Cleveland

[shard]

The world awaits with bated breath as the main protagonists of the Great Southern War face each other in what may become a 72 hour long staring match!

[cleveland]

Got it in. Thanks alot.

[shard]

Err... any reason why Arco went ai????

[fabio80mi]

mmmmmmm no idea at all
Arco was also doing good as far as i could tell

[darkchampion3d]

I am going to be out of touch for roughly 4-5 days starting on DEC 1. Am I supposed to find a substitute or something for that time?

[shard]

Tip of the turn...

Poison aura armies can be very nasty. Especially to yourself http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Aapeli]

It seems so http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif. Mercs were destroyed totally cause I didnt get the time to do proper army setups.
Reptior is even more mad http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif as he didnt get the sappers wich he would have used to concuer the caelian capital.

[lch]

darkchampion3d said:
I am going to be out of touch for roughly 4-5 days starting on DEC 1. Am I supposed to find a substitute or something for that time?


Yes indeed. Do you have a friend who can take your turns? Otherwise I'd ask for somebody to sub. If there's something like this, please send me a PM or email, too, to get my attention. I got real busy this week and didn't have a look at the forums until now.

[shard]

I'm currently looking for a sub from 12/4 until 12/15. I'd like to get in a couple of turns before I leave though since its at a pretty interesting point in the game for me.

[cleveland]

Agartha is interested in purchasing the following:

Fire Helmet
Bag of Winds

PM me with prices.

[shard]

Hadrian_II has kindly agreed to sub for me for the next several turns. I've given him a summary of my situation and some instructions - I should be back in couple of weeks!

[fabio80mi]

See u soon shard! and take care!!! =)

[Aapeli]

At this point I would like to inform in public to Caelum that REPTIOR WILL SIEGE CAELUM FOREVER!!! With three provinces left, one of them is the capital and only half mine, it seems like that is the only chance I still have. The grand 700 defence points are slowly crumbling and it is only a matter of time when I finally get to storm in there. Just if Reptior survives the fiersome gods justice (and the rest of the caelian armies that might appear). But know that Im not afraid of the mammoths and they shall scatter in front of my dreaded hydras (hope im not talking too soon).
I still wish I had the merc sappers. I hope you bandars are using them wisely.

[WonderLlama]

I don't know about wisely, but they have been spending all their time sieging. Arco knows how to build some frustratingly thick walls.

[lch]

Atlantis has been stalling for two turns. If somebody wants to sub and/or take over (or if somebody knows somebody who would be interested), leave a note here. I only looked at the graphs and their position seems ok. Otherwise I'll set them to AI. I'd be fine with people wanting to switch nations in the game.

[Aapeli]

Well I guess I could play with Atlantis. But only if no one else wants to. Im in too many games alrady.

[cleveland]

Please do!

[Aapeli]

Right then I shall be playing Atlantis. Seems like pythium is quite lost as I was talking hay when I said that Reptior could siege caelum forever. In the end he was beaten by two gangs of mercenaries (wich the other I tried to buy myself and paid quite a lot too) and lots of undead. Well atleast he did put up a fine battle. So I just need somehow the password and I may begin. I dont know how to get it but I count on Ich on that matter. Just pm it to me and all is well.

[WonderLlama]

I'd say the hydras put up most of the fight. But it was a fine battle. Especially considering you had no reinforcements for the better part of a year.

[lch]

Aapeli said:
Right then I shall be playing Atlantis.


Okay, then I am mailing the password to you. Jomon is another abandoned post, but judging from graphs alone, Atlantis has a better position than Jomon. So I will set Jomon and your old nation to AI here.

[Aapeli]

Right then. The overlord Aapeli has taken over Atlantis and abandoned the serpent cult. Take a note that I know nothing about the naps and other deals you players have made with Antalntis and advise you to inform me if there should be some. Those treaties are no longer and if wanted they should be fromed once more.

[cleveland]

I will never again play a MP game with the following players:

darkchampion3d
konming
coobe

Abandoning a game without finding a replacement is really inconsiderate. Not only does it waste everyone's time, it ruins the game's diplomatic landscape since the AI is so damn stupid.

Of these 3, konming earns the bad-sportsmanship trophy. Disappearing because you're losing is on par with "I'm taking my ball and going home." I will never play against that crybaby again.

[lch]

Ok, both should be played by the AI from next turn on.

cleveland, take it easy, it happens quite often and could happen for a wide range of reasons. Some people have a history, though, granted. But there are good examples, too - LoloMo gets a gold medal for always taking his turns in time.

[shard]

hey guys hows it going? popping by to check...

Has Pythium's hydras finally fallen? In hindsight perhaps we should have used the blessing fix for them. How is Man doing?

[lch]

Yeah, I was thinking about using some fixes, but I strictly said "no mods" in the beginning to not complicate the game for beginners, so I stuck to it. Pythium is almost gone completely. Jomon seems too nice a position to be set to AI right now, but it's better than having them stale any longer.

[cleveland]

lch said:
cleveland, take it easy, it happens quite often and could happen for a wide range of reasons.



Please allow me to clarify.

I understand if you can't play anymore, just post a notice so that a sub can be found. No big deal.

But disappearing without telling anyone (while still actively posting on the forums) is both inconsiderate and disrespectful. Disappearing because you're losing is vindictive and pathetic; I for one won't waste any more of my time on such players.

[WonderLlama]

To be fair, darkchampion3d did tell us he was going to be out of town. The post is in this thread. Yes, he should have tried to find a replacement, but he did at least tell us. And he left because he is out of town and can't get the game to work on his laptop, not because he's sore about the game.

[MrSparkle]

Yikes! Aapeli is Atlantis! I guess I'm really dead with the current war against Man, Pythium and now maybe Atlantis. No hard feelings about killing Reptior, and uh-um oh boy, please say the fish kingdom takes bribes http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[lch]

Somehow something went wrong and Pythium has not been set to AI. Have you deleted Pythium's game files, Aapeli? Might have been that you overwrote my orders by connecting again.

[cleveland]

WonderLlama said:
To be fair, darkchampion3d did tell us he was going to be out of town. The post is in this thread. Yes, he should have tried to find a replacement, but he did at least tell us. And he left because he is out of town and can't get the game to work on his laptop, not because he's sore about the game.



You are absolutely right, I owe him a sincere apology.

[Aapeli]

Umm could be Ich. I will delete the files and you can try again. I reselcted the nations some time dont remember when.

No hard feelings mr sparkle. Of course we take bribes but not money (Atlantis has got a big load of money if your interested in selling anything). No peace offers have came so I guess its war for everyone!

A bit confused for changing nation but I think I can get back to the game again.

[cleveland]

Attention all bootstrappers!

Agartha is proud to offer the following oft-sought-after magic boosting items (price in gems, type negotiable):

Fire:
-Flame Helmet (30)
-Skull of Fire (30)

Earth:
-Earth Boots (12)

Astral:
-Crystal Coin (25)
-Starshine Skullcap (25)

Death:
-Skull Staff (12)
-Skullface (35)

Nature:
-Thistle Mace (15)

And of course...
-Ring of Sorcery (60)
-Ring of Wizardry (100)

PM me if interested. Be advised that several items have a 1-2 turn lead time, and that I might need a portion of the gems upfront to start the forging process.

Package deals available! Most level 6 items also available!

[shard]

Taking back control of Man, many thanks to Hadrian for subbing.

Hmm... the map looks... interesting. I take it Atlantis has a new ruler, while Jomon has gone AI? So 2 major southern nations AI I take it? This is getting really messed up http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[WonderLlama]

Yup, you said it. I don't think any of us down here in the south are very happy about it, either. I guess that's just the way it goes.

Or is it? This is only my second game, but it seems like a lot of people are going AI without being near elimination. Is that common?

[Hadrian_II]

Most people dont fight until they are death, but some turn themselves to AI when they think that they have lost (what might be lame) and others fight until they dont have any real armies left.

[Aapeli]

I wasnt just statisfied to turning myself to AI, I just abandoned my former god and took a new one. Its weird tough. Atlantis was doing good (and is still doing good for some time). Wonder why the previuos owner left.

For those who dont know yet, Atlantis is no on war against the nation that I think rules the north side, Man. Dont know wich Nations are on the north side too but Man has the most provinces, Dominion, income and unfortunately the biggest army too. So despite the fact that I was in my previous nation a very good ally with Man, I have done something as stupid as this.
Lolomo has already bought the courtesy of our nation. You others need not to do that but I invite you to join me in this dangerous attemp to bring down the far too mighty nation of Man.
But despite of all this its nice to see you back shard.

[shard]

While I can't fault Aapeli for waging war against me now I was just wondering what is the normal etiquette for this.

As he mentioned, we were good allies beforehand, and now he takes over a nation that is invading mine. This annoys me somewhat, since I can't exactly make him forget what I have told him about my tactics or what he knows of my troop depositions and strategies. You just can't RP that well :p

Ahem, as for the dangerous nation of Man...
We think the nation of Patala is even more terrifying! Why... Their two major neigbours went 'poof' with nary a sword being drawn, while the glorious nation of Man has gotten to where it is by blood, sweat and steel. Yet honest blood and steel is no match for the terrifying magicks and summons that would soon be unleashed by the empires that have not been touched by pvp turmoil.

[WonderLlama]

That came out of nowhere!

Yes, Arco and Jomon are falling. Arco was peaceful, and Jomon was an ally. Now I find myself fighting off unexpected attacks from them. There has been a lot of very rough fighting. It's not like fighting a normal AI. The troops were all bought by players, with lots of mages, and intelligent research. Plus, I haven't even been taking advantage of it. I have 4 of Arco's lands. That's all. Friendly relations depend on balance. I've taken effort to make sure my neighbors have reasonable numbers of provinces. Man hasn't, so it's not really surprising that there is more war in the north.

My advice to you is to give away a large chunk of your territory to your smaller neighbors, Caelum and Atlantis. Perhaps then you would be right that I am the biggest threat. Until then, they really have little choice but to defend themselves against the giant with a history of engulfing the little guys. Try to look at it from the perspective of others.

[Aapeli]

I do not know the position of your troops shard. If you told me tactics I dont remember them. Yet I know more about the territory than I perhaps should (I remember where the azure academy was). But if there is any way I can balance the fairness of the game I will do it.

[Aapeli]

Are we going to have a brake during holidays. On monday we are off to the countryside to spend a hilarious christmas with no computers around that have dom in them.
So I can send my last turn on tuesday 23th. We should be back on sunday 30th so that us ok for me to get back on the game. So if you could stop the timers for christmas it would be cool but if not I shall find a sub.

[WonderLlama]

I also support taking a break. Although I probably will have access and could take a turn, I have no objection to putting the game on hold.

[lch]

Aapeli said:
Are we going to have a brake during holidays.


I'll turn off the game timer in a few days. Then you can play your turns when/if you find the time for it, otherwise the game would be on hold. I'll reactivate the game timer around the 2nd of January at the latest.

[cleveland]

I'm getting married today and going on my honeymoon. I've advertised for a sub on the forums without success.

My apologies, I hope you can find someone to fill my place.

[shard]

A Happy New Year to you and Congratulations!

[lch]

The game timer will be restarted in less than 24 hours, as announced before.

[Stelteck]

Greetings greetings.

The old lord of agartha is no more. A new lord araise !!!

Stelteck.

[shard]

Sorry for the late notice but I'm currently up in the mountains in the middle of a vacation over the week without any ability to connect to the server on my laptop. Or rather, without any intention of paying for the exorbitant wifi charges... I'm not sure how it looks with the missed turn but I would recommend someone in the game to take over on a permanent basis as I will be away quite often thanks to the ski season; My recommendation being Caelum.

[WonderLlama]

I'm starting to worry about Rhoscrowther. It looks like Man is going AI. They are, of course, the largest nation. We've just had so many nations go AI, and powerful nations too. I'm just having a hard time keeping my interest up when all the conflicts are with the AI, and the balance is thrown off (even if it is in my favor). You don't need to worry about me going AI too. But I was wondering if others feel the same way. I'm weighing in my mind whether it would be good to just call the game. What do the rest of you think?

[Aapeli]

I can continue the game if you others wish. Still I feel the same with wonderLlama that the game has lost its edge. I shouldn have swithced nations like I did and I never felt this nation like it was mine. Anyway im not going to just walk away as that would indeed ruin this game completely.

I did have fun in the beginning tough and this was my first mp http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif. Im sure it was very educative to all of us.

[lch]

I am sorry, I have not been aware that Man was stalling since three turns. Lots of people are looking for subs right now, so I don't know if we can find somebody to take over Man here.

[shard]

I am back with some time over the weekend, I can continue taking a few turns to oversee Man's demise before I go off again.

[fabio80mi]

Unfortunatly the game is really getting uninteristing and in my opinion it has already been misshaped for the too many player quitting it, maybe simply starting a new one is wiser and more interesting?

[shard]

Is there a clear winner? When I left I'd say Patala, with Agartha quitting but I'll have to admit I have no idea as to Ulm's capabilities. For myself there was a lot of enjoyment to be had with all the battles but in the end the micro got very exhausting - a lesson to be learnt there I think :p

[WonderLlama]

Is Agartha quitting? That's Stelteck, and he hasn't said so here, at least.

[Aapeli]

So have we agreed now to quit and start a new one? Im in favor for that. I havent looked at the graphs so you others can declare a winner. I reckon its from provinces or dominion. Or then of course you could have a point for every graph you lead.

[lch]

I'd suggest that you send an in-game message to everybody stating that unless somebody objects on the forum, the game will be shut down. Then unless there are objections I'll stop the game the turn after the message was delivered.

[WonderLlama]

shard said:
Is there a clear winner? When I left I'd say Patala, with Agartha quitting but I'll have to admit I have no idea as to Ulm's capabilities. For myself there was a lot of enjoyment to be had with all the battles but in the end the micro got very exhausting - a lesson to be learnt there I think :p



Well, Ulm and I (Patala) are allied. So it doesn't really matter much which one of us had the better capabilities. I pretty much felt that after Man wasn't around to fight off our initial invasion, we had the game in the bag. I have about 30 useful artifacts, full magic diversity, lots of clams, and 3 Elemental royalty. Ulm has a huge blood income and blood army.

So I think we probably won. But honestly, I don't care much. There was just too much that altered the game to make it very fair. So if people would rather just call it a draw, that's fine with me.

[lch]

Well, let's see what shard has to say about that. I do know from the games I played myself that the situation can turn out to be quite differently from what they look like sometimes.

Since shard said that he'll have a look at the game again I'll leave it open for now.

[fabio80mi]

Mmm Shard is back ful time or for this weekend only?
-that changes thing a lot on my situation because we (i am Ulm) have been friendly neighbours , when he said he left i've taken over boder provinces to prevent others from doing that but tecnically if he is really back at playing all changes :-)

Basically i guess our nap is broken and war is on :/

[shard]

I've set Man to AI, left it for too long and its a mess + I can't guarantee I'll be in the whole week. Can't beat Patala let alone Patala-Ulm with Forge, Stellar Focus and soon Arcane Nexus up. I think alliances really mess things up when too many players go AI, makes diplomatic efforts feel like a waste of time too. That said, I have learnt a lot on the tactical side of things... GC64, Aapeli and MrSparkle really gave me some good battles - just like how wargames should be! My first major battle where GC64 killed my god was a real eye-opener. Thanks for the game, and I hope to meet you all on other battlefields!

[fabio80mi]

Hope to play with u again Shard!


Now the bad part.. is there any more point in playing rhosc? With all the players that quitted it i find it to be no longer a great fun, what do yiu think?

[lch]

fabio80mi said:
Now the bad part.. is there any more point in playing rhosc? With all the players that quitted it i find it to be no longer a great fun, what do yiu think?


I thought that the general consensus was that the game is over. That's why I disabled the timer.

[lch]

We have updated to Dominions pi, you'll have to install the update by next time the game hosts. Be aware that the graphs from previous turns will vanish..