Epic Heroes Mod II(Game Finished)(Lolomo Winner)

[AdmiralZhao]

I bring good news: Mizuko's long reign of terror is over. For countless months this Queen of Elemental Water has rampaged through the lands of Ermor, tearing down temples, killing centurions, and overwatering precious plants. If anyone should care to summon her, she will be available next month. Please do. I don't want to face her again.

Also, as to who is in the lead, I would have to say Arco. Atlantis doesn't seem to be heavily clamming, since they're dropping 30-150 water gems per turn in overland spells.

[Xietor]

I think Atlantis owns all of the Water provinces(:

Trust me Atlantis has clams out the wazoo. At least I know shard made a lot of them.

[Zeldor]

I really wish he made. He didn't use the potential of Forge, he casted it too early, before getting enough gems and mages able to use it.

Arcoscephale is AT LEAST 2x stronger than Atlantis. How can I think about even harming Arco or Caelum if I can do nothing to small Ermor? Who has 1/10 Tartarians of Arco...

[Xietor]

Admiral,

I know I am appear to be in the lead from the score graphs, but i have just gained many provinces recently in the war with eriu. I have not had the benefit of them long.

Additionally, as Baalz can attest, I spend 30-50 gems a turn in battle spells(astral travel 25 s gems), mind hunts x 5, ghost riders, fog warriors, will of fates etc.

And I have lost a ton of units that are summoned with gems, ghosts, trolls etc. If I had been at peace for the last 30 turns stockpiling gems and troops, then i would agree.

And i have lost about 20 temples this war, and had many of my own provinces captured. As they say in the movies, "War is Hell!"

As for gor tartarians, I actually have way fewer than you might expect. maybe 6 or 7 that have gear and are used in fighting. Baalz can correct me if I am mistaken. I likely have as many banelords as gor tartarians.

Most of my tartarians are just used as meat shields and are not commanders. I am fearful of the new patch and do not want to be caught with too many insane units that will go independent.

[Baalz]

It was like LA Ermor only with tartarians. He must have like 500.

Heheh, I did kill a bunch of temples though.

[Xietor]

lol Baalz.

In truth Tartarians are not a major part of my war package. And I do not think you can really point to any key battle where I had more than 1 gor tartarian, or the tartarians were the key to winning the battle.

I think the banefire archers/ghosts have played more of a role than tartarians in the fighting around your capital. Of course, now I do not have any ghosts left, and precious few archers.

I just realized you killed bogus last turn(:

[Zeldor]

Xietor:

There are just few of us left, so no propaganda will work. Especially so weak http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

And what did you need tha Bogus for?

[Xietor]

well,

To put a sock in your propaganda, i saw Shard when the forge was up with 2 naiads with dwarven hammers on province 228. Wonder what they were making? Spaghetti?

[Zeldor]

And I have realised that naiads suddenly disappear. With dwarven hammers and othet stuff...

[AdmiralZhao]

Xietor said:
Additionally, as Baalz can attest, I spend 30-50 gems a turn in battle spells(astral travel 25 s gems), mind hunts x 5, ghost riders, fog warriors, will of fates etc.

...

As for gor tartarians, I actually have way fewer than you might expect. maybe 6 or 7 that have gear and are used in fighting. Baalz can correct me if I am mistaken. I likely have as many banelords as gor tartarians.




Well, so long as it is just 6 or 7 fully kitted out, GoR Tartarians and an equal number of banelords backed up with multiple high level alteration spells and dozens of assassination and raiding spells, I see no reason to worry. Yes, no reason at all...

[Xietor]

You have no reason to worry Zhao, Ermor and Arcoscephale are friends.

In any event, my supply of gems is gone-thanks to Eriu.

[Zeldor]

Xietor:

I guess you like Ermor only because he engaged Atlantis in war so you could freely attack Eriu http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Zeldor]

GeneralZhao:

Something is not right with that Mizuko battle. I killed all your troops, you got left with 2 Demiliches and 1 Soulless Warrior. Mizuko tramples him and suddenly stops, as Demiliches did not exist and she could not reach them. She had plenty of movement points left and flying... and the she gets hit by one disintegrate which had hm... 0,00000001% chance of passing 29MR?

[Xietor]

Not exactly Zeldor. Ermor and Abysia were allies against Eriu, and since I was at war with Eriu also, we were friendly.

Then when the Forge was cast, I worked with Ermor closely in attacks on Shard. In fact, had Sieger followed my instructions closely, and cast magic duel twice with his pretender before casting master enslave, your epic hero would be dead. But he did not follow my advice and his pretender was killed.

And there were many trades back and forth between Ermor and myself. While the players have changed, Arcos. still views Ermor as a friend.

And what Baltz fails to state, is he still has 6 decked out glamor thugs(mr 25 so immune to mind hunt) raiding my home area, his sc pretender in his capital, and at least 7 of his thunderstiking capital only mages stealthed by his capital, and at least 1 angel.

Unless he plans on suiciding all his Tuatha next turn, he still has the capability to cause me plenty of Harm-and aggravation.

[AdmiralZhao]

Zeldor:
I agree. I'm not sure why Mizuko stopped after trampling that one last Longdead; normally she would go on to trample several more. I noticed that after the "Ermor is routed" message popped up, she seemed to go off her normal pattern and was only trampling a couple at a time. Maybe it was some weirdness related to troops that would normally flee, but don't because they are immortal?

Mizuko did get unlucky, since even with my slight penetration bonus she has a less than 1% chance of dying to any one spell. Still, she did get hit with a good dozen or more disintegrations, so it's not outside the realm of possibility. On the other hand, I think she got fairly lucky by taking hundreds and hundreds of damage without ever catching an affliction. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Zeldor]

Regeneration and Recuperation really decrease chance for getting afflictions, so not so strange.

The most probable explanation for that weirdness is that famous battle repeat bug. But I am still curious what is exact chance to get past 29MR. Heh, in 2 turns you will meet here again anyway http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Baalz]

Eriu is going AI the current turn and Zeldor has asked me to take over Atlantis as he signed up as a temp sub and Shard is still MIA. Does anyone object?

[Xietor]

Though it will not be in my interest to have a player that has already weathered a war with me and knows my tactics take over Atlantis, it likely would not take a new player of high skill long to figure it out in any event. And you have unique knowledge of the provinces you once owned as Eriu.

But, as game admin. I am very liberal in honoring a player's wish with respect to a sub. So as long as you are not looking at the turn file for both nations at the same time, it is within Zeldor's broad latitude to ask you to sub for him.

Should Shard return, however, Atlantis is still his race to play I think. Though I have never faced the situation of the owner of the race taking such a long break from the game, then taking it back. But Evilhomer took the summer off in the Big Game and reclaimed LA Ryleh, so I think I would follow Velusion's lead should Shard return and want Atlantis back.

With that stipulation, once Eriu is set to ai, pm me your email address and I will have Atlantis' future turns sent to you.

*there were a couple of objections about Dr. P taking over a race after he was eliminated in EH I, as they said he would carry a grudge. I overruled those because subs are not easy to find, and the player getting the sub likely knew what grudges the sub may or may not have. So I am being consistent with the first game.

[Baalz]

I set Eriu AI this turn, I'll wait until after then next host before picking up Atlantis.

[Zeldor]

Xietor:

I had to sub for around 2 weeks and it is over a month. I have checked my PMs, it seems I took over 8th March. And I got less time now [and I would need couple postpones within a month, trip to Hua Shan next week, Shandong province in 2nd week of May etc]. And the most important thing - I really don't like Atlantis http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif As I don't like Man, but here turns require a lot of time.

And I wouldn't worry about Atlantis attacking you. Ermor is really not interested in stopping the war. And I would be surprised if that war could be finished in less than 20 turns [it can rather go on forever].

[Baalz]

Zeldor said:
And I would be surprised if that war could be finished in less than 20 turns [it can rather go on forever].



Sight unseen the gauntlet has been thrown down and the new king picks it up. Doom comes for you necrophiles, both North and South. The guard has been changed and Atlantean pride surges once again like the tide. Cyclic. Eternal. Implacable.

[Xietor]

np Zeldor. I thank you for playing and being such a good sub. It is not your job to make my life easier, but to safeguard Atlantis in the event of Shard's return.

And I must say you would be hard pressed to find a better player for Atlantis than Baalz. So you not only subbed quite well, but turned the race over to one of the better Dom III players. So you did a great job, and I thank you again.

I have had the dubious distinction of fighting baalz as Atlantis before, and it does not bring back fond memories- to put it mildly.

[AdmiralZhao]

I don't suppose I could have Atlantis and Baalz could have Ermor? Please? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Also, good game Zeldor. You were a feared and tenacious foe, and killed many a good Ermorian.

[Zeldor]

I should have killed few thousand more http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Zeldor]

I got no notification about e-mail change for Atlantis so I think that Xietor forgot about it [or Baalz forgot to send his e-mail address to Xietor].

[Xietor]

you are doing 1 more turn. After this turn, i will change address, and baalz will have the next one. In fact i can go ahead and switch it now.

[Zeldor]

HEh, I can do a fast turn. I just wasn't informed about that thing...

I have just finished watching 54 battles in my other game...

[Xietor]

you have 3.5 hours. If that is a "quick" turn, I would hate to see your long ones. hehhe.

The way I read baalz post was he was going to start next turn, not this one. And since he did not message me that he did not receive the turn, i think my reading of it was correct.

The email is changed now, so baalz will get the next turn.

[Baalz]

Sounds good, thanks Xietor.

Don't worry Admiral, Ermor will be under my control soon enough...;)

lol, maybe I should look at my turn file before talking smack.

[Zeldor]

Xietor:

It is 11PM here and I have to get up in the morning http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif 3.5h though would be not enough in my first newbie game with huge war now.

And hmm... you have changed it so I can't do that turn now, so Baalz has to do that.

We were talking about switching before I received that turn [it was still turn 76] so I was quite sure that Baalz is taking over from turn 77.

[Zeldor]

Xietor:

It is 11PM here and I have to get up in the morning http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif 3.5h though would be not enough in my first newbie game with huge war now.

And hmm... you have changed it so I can't do that turn now, so Baalz has to do that.

We were talking about switching before I received that turn [it was still turn 76] so I was quite sure that Baalz is taking over from turn 77.

Baalz:

You can get on irc channel if you have question, I should be there for around 1h more.

[Xietor]

no, the turn was already sent to you. The next turn will be sent to baalz. When it hosted the game sent the new turn file to your address.

So you have the current turn.

[Zeldor]

Oh, so it will accept it even with changed e-mail address?

[Baalz]

Yeah, it doesn't care. And just to be clear, I have not received the turn so I definitely can't do it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Xietor]

Actually you could baalz. you just use the admin option to resend turn. i have to leave now for movie.

So i dont care who does it. Eriu is on Ai. Either of you can do it now, as you both can access the turn.

[Zeldor]

I can do it then. And Baalz can take a look so he is prepared http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Unless he is willing to do that one.

Ha! We made a chat channel here! Well, almost...

[Baalz]

Well, given Zeldor's reluctance and the fact I'm just sitting around I'll go ahead and pick it up.

[Zeldor]

What reluctance? I am simply lazy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I guess nothing to be proud of http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[LoloMo]

On the turn that Caelum terminates their NAP with Ermor, a full 3 turns before any hostilities were to occur, 3 of our provinces were attacked by anonymous Ghost Riders, and a fourth province was hit with Raging Hearts. Whoever could have cast those spells? Certainly not Ermor, right? The nation of Caelum, who have NAP with everyone else except Marignon on the other side of the world, is quite clueless!

[Xietor]

Xietor will only say that it is a point of pride, even more than winning a game, that he deals honestly in his gameplay(though i do like, on a personal level, several players who enjoy treachery /wink Dr. P). So Arcos. cast no spells on Caelum, you can be assured.

I do not cast hostile spells, whether they can be traced to me or not, during a nap. If i do that, and end up winning, the win would feel tainted to me. But that is my own code of ethics, and i recognize that view is not shared universally.

[Xietor]

Atlantis does not have to make a guess, educated or otherwise, at who attacked him this turn. Bones raises his skeletal hand.

[AdmiralZhao]

Well, the fire spells in the attack, as well as the lack of a NAP with Marignon, certainly seems to point the finger rather conclusively. The nation of Ermor grieves with our Caelian brothers. Though our nations are on the eve of war, and though Caelum is an enormous and populous nation, the loss of a single bird-man is still a tragedy to us all. Our heart goes out to those slain. How horrible it must have been as those brave Caelian defenders were torn apart by the lances of the undead. One can only imagine the pathos of the scene. One certainly couldn't replay the scene with the "v" hotkey. No, certainly not.

As a gesture of international solidarity, we offer the services of our best necromancers. These talented men and women are willing to work day and night, by sun and by corpse-fat candle, to return the slain bird-men to their families. In nearly mint condition.

[Baalz]

Xietor said:
Atlantis does not have to make a guess, educated or otherwise, at who attacked him this turn. Bones raises his skeletal hand.



Thank goodness, I was going to feel guilty about immediately attacking you with my new nation, you're quite considerate to remove that weight from my shoulders. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Xietor]

we had no doubt about your intentions when our scouts showed your water queens moving towards our lands. We did not think that armada was for Abysia!

Or was it? That would be a clever diversion to attack a small nation to gain a foothold on land. Oh wait! You already own 2 provinces next to abysia's capital(well only 1 now heh). Soon to be zero.

As an aside, a state of war has existed between Atlantis and Arcoscephale going back to when Shard was still playing the race. Though the war has peaked and ebbed over the years with various levels of activity.

[Sir_Dr_D]

Do to the fact that I find late game micromangment too stressfull, I am currently looking for subs in my games. Would anyone be willing to take over marignon? Do to displomancy mistakes earlier, wining the game no longer looks like apossibility. But they are still powerfull enough to strongly influence the game. Plus you get to play around with Angels, and angels are fun.

I will continue to play if no sub is available, but I find that this game has been affecting my life too much.

[Xietor]

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/79fe5a936fa1ec9302d1b22c5a2cd5f22g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=z12mw2fdmdz&thumb=4)

[Tichy]

Hello All,
Just to let you know that I am the Marignon now. I intend to honor all agreements that Sir Dr-D forged.

[Xietor]

With a 20 percent chance of dispelling my own global, Xietor, master of unluck, rolls snake eyes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Xietor]

So Atlantis got me pretty good that turn. 48 battles. Forty-Eight!

I ended up with a few Kings of the Deep, a few abominations, and even a tartarian(now back as a unit though. Killed many more kings, all with full items/gems, killed at least 4 iron dragons, and several abominations.

Captured many starshine hats, etc. But I still lost that turn. WTG Baalz! And thanks Zeldor. hehe. You did pick a good sub. Teleporting thugs all over my lands, some casting niefel flames x 2, others just buffing and attacking.

Complacency. Bones must rally his men, his undead legions,
and his converted Firbolgs and Tuatha and defend our lands.

[Zeldor]

I just did some fixed to what shard left, reformed army, did some summoning so Baalz could get some toys to play with http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Baalz]

Aaarg that was painful to watch. All those astral kings I screwed up the scripting on. In case you're wondering why they all died, they were supposed to have breath of winter scripted rather than quicken self...they all killed themselves! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Xietor]

They died because they fought men dedicated to Bones, Lord of the the Dead, and who are well trained despite being part of the local province defense force!

[Xietor]

Does everyone want to continue? I am still having fun, but that may be because things are going well.

http://www.mediafire.com/imgbnc.php/872f5fc4b98d9a574a5e0a7b37534b972g.jpg (http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=vntytddxj9j&thumb=4)

We have 3 subs in the game now playing Atlantis, ermor, and Marignon respectively. And Atlantis staled last turn, and Caelum has staled twice in the past 2 turns.

And with most players left in this game also playing in the Kingmaker game, interest may well be waning in this game.

[Zeldor]

I told to finish that around 20 turns ago when things were obvious. But you prefered your propaganda http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

P.S. Still not decided on my pick in mega-game, I tried some pretender designs, any advices on PM? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Baalz]

FYI, I staled due to a goof up, I thought I submitted my turn. But I'm more than content to call this game done, I lost any hope of winning last turn...I threw most of what I had at you.

[Xietor]

Zeldor, it is not propaganda.

From Legendary War Master Sun Tzu:

"All warfare is based on deception.

Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable;
when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we
are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder,
and crush him."

When Sir_Dr_D committed Marignon to attacking Atlantis, I had a very good feeling about the result of this game. Had he chose to side with Atlantis, I would have had to defend
3 fronts, and things may well have turned out differently in our war.

Marignon had no chance to win, but had enough power to influence who did.

But Bones will continue plow ahead unless I hear from caelum and Ermor. The winner of that war could also have a shot. Though if Caelum stales a 3rd time in a row, they will be set to ai.

[Baalz]

Well, as I'm not seeing an objection I'm not taking the hour or so to do my turn. GG Xietor, hopefully you'll beat me less times next game! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Xietor]

well, as of now we are still on!

[Xietor]

Atlantis will be set to ai this turn. 3 stales in a row=ai.

[Tichy]

Did anyone PM Baalz? That last post of his sounded like he was retiring from the game.

[Xietor]

Yes, he put Atlantis to ai.

[Xietor]

Ermor has staled 2 turns in a row. By rule they can be set to ai now. But they will be given 1 more turn since the game is down to so few players as it is. And I gave Atlantis 3 turns as well.

[Xietor]

And on turn 88, we bid Valerius a fond farewell! Thank you for gutting it out for such a long time with Abysia. A lesson in tenacity. Without a real of hope of winning the game outright, Valerius stayed and remained a thorn in the side of his enemies for a good 50 turns after his kingdom was overrun by Eriu!

Welcome back Zhao! Of course on your 1st turn back you direct Ermor, my longtime friend, to attack me(: But who else is there to attack? It is endgame, and former allies and friends must now vie with each other-for all of our former enemies are no more. And perhaps you can weaken me enough for Caelum to seize the crown.

[AdmiralZhao]

Yes, my two stales were just a clever ruse to get you to lower your guard. Muha! The hordes of Ermor are on the march!

[Xietor]

From page 1 of the rules:

"Staling 2 turns in a row without notice or explanation will result in a sub or ai taking over your race."

Not only did you fake me out, you almost made ai!

Though I do not want to win by default. And I am still rather busy mopping up Atlantis. So you were/are still not my highest priority. That will change soon.

[Xietor]

On turn 90, Ermor went AI.

On turn 91 only 4 human players remained. Tichy, who was playing Marignon, and who was allied with Arcoscephale, Zoshan, who was playing Pythium, and who had only a few provinces, and Lolomo, who had a good sized empire as MA Caelum.

While I was anticipating putting MA Arcoscephale into the Hall of Fame for the 1st time, and the chances of Arcoscephale prevailing were good, in the end I decided against pushing for victory.

I won the first Epic Heroes Game, and after much reflection, decided it would be in poor taste to win a second mp game using my own mod. In addition to the inherent advantages to knowing your own mod, I also perhaps received some diplomacy advantages as well from being the mod's author and host of the game.

Lolomo carried out a strong campaign, and through his usual
stellar play, managed to conquer one nation early, and win a tough war in the midgame. Lolomo also persisted in the game when he had little hope(in the view of most of the players)
of prevailing.

And such tenacity deserves to be rewarded.

I do want to thank everyone who played in Epic Heroes II. If you have any comments on a particular Epic Hero, they will be considered as the final tweak to the mod is made.


Congratulations Lolomo!

[LoloMo]

Haha, thanks! That Forge of the Ancients was my last card. If you overcast it, I would have surrendered.

Caelum's Epic Hero the Yeti was quite tough for the early game. I made him a prophet and had him summon a couple of winter wolves and set him conquering indies. The winter wolves served as fodder, and I went through a few sets of those. With about 3 or 4 winter wolves, he could take down even knight indies. After conquering maybe 6 provinces, I just had him summoning winter wolves. I collected about 40 winter wolves, but these were slaughtered by Mictlan's triple blessed jaguars in their first battle.

Afterwards, I empowered the Yeti in air, fire, and blood and was grooming him to be an SC killer, since he got the heroic attacker bonus. Never got around to testing him out.