Alexandria - battle for balanced glory [TC wins!]

[sansanjuan]

sansanjuan said:

SiyfkA said:
We'll see how well you do against two. Not that I have anything to do with it ofc



S,

The giants expect no quarter!

- Utgard Ministry of Doom Horrors

ooc - This is all very very good stuff for me to experience as a new user. There are a lot of "big sticks" in this game and I hope to get banged over the head with as many as possible. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I kick myself daily for Utagrd's poor early/mid research in the Alexandria game. Rampaging giants and kitted Werewolves are fun and can be dominant early game but late game strategies are magic magic magic... Reminds me of the HOMM games.



Utgard is pleased to announce the eradication of two large woodticks from the outer beyond. Larger tick infestations are expected in the months to come. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-SSJ

-SSJ

[DonCorazon]

cleveland said:
PS Conj9, Const8, & Thau9 by turn 50. Very, very well done TC. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



And Blood 9, Alt 9 and Conj 8 (at least) is likewise quite impressive. I had never played as or against Pan but never thought they were such a strong research nation, though you do seem to have some powerful indie mages serving your cause. I wonder if my guys you sent to the inferno will ever find their way back? Had never seen that spell nor the one that zapped me for 40 irresistible points of damage. Blood is scary.

[cleveland]

Nations of Alexandria, it is with a heavy heart that I report Pangaea is in the process of being mopped-up.

Our noble crusade against Tien Chi was doomed 1/2 turn into our first major engagement, when our 1300-strong Manikin horde was stolen by a casting of Undead Mastery (though, on the bright side, this did force TC to pull the Scepter of Dark Regency off of Tartarian-summoning duty for 1 turn). Our entire regiment of combat mages was consequently summarily executed by their troops before they could act; we were totally devistated.

TC has since begun beating us senseless with our own dismembered Sleep Vines, supported of course by Falling Frosts, Fog Warriors, and a host of other devastating magiks. And Gift-of-Reasoned Chalice-healed Tartarians. And a teleporting Aegis wielding Golem. And an Air Queen. And Pale Riders. And etc.

Our insurgency campaign came to a disastrous finale this turn, when our Air Queen fell to a detachment of Frozen-Heart spamming W1 peons.

We shall continue to fight the good fight, and have a few fun tricks still hiding up our sleeve, but we must confess to that our days are unfortunately numbered. Any nation who hopes to win this game, be warned: Tien Chi won the Artifact race, and through brilliant strategy & tactics has leveraged that victory into victory over Pangaea. Develop your counters now...

Cheers,
Pangaea

[DonCorazon]

Alexandrians,
If by mopped up Pan means we have taken a single (that is right, just 1) province on Pangean soil then he is indeed correct. That is however after losing 6 of our pre-war TC owned provinces to his unprovoked war efforts. Pan is used to steamrolling opponents with no resistance and is now panicked by the loss of his first province.

He himself has quite the collection of SCs. While TC is working our way through his collection of Elemental Royalty - one Water and Air Queen down (both slain while they were attacking TC soil BTW – not in some home defense insurgency) - we are still waiting to face the Fire King, Banefire King, Vampire Lords, Doom Horrors and Teleporting Blood Mages spamming Life for a Life and Infernal Prison etc. He has 2 globals to TC’s 0, huge gem and blood income (how else can he get so many elemental royalty), regenerates hordes of manikins each turn, controls at least one other capital (Arcos for sure, maybe Atlantis or Ctis?) to TCs zero, has diverse indie mages (nice getting an elemental royalty of every suit), etc.

Not to mention nobody else is fighting him thanks to his silver tongue. /threads/images/Graemlins/Martini.gif

So I would take his “our days are unfortunately numbered” with a dose of skepticism.

DC of TC

[Firewalker]

Last my scouts peeked, Marignon had both Atlantis and C'tis capitols. And woe to anyone facing his regiments of Magi communions. Yikes.

[Omnirizon]

Pan has skilled PR, that's for sure.

however, the way the cookie has crumbled was only facilitated through his public campaigning. that is, Pan was open about his war with Arco, and Arco was a terrible neighbor to all (but one, apparently) of his neighbors. So all but one neighbor of Arco informs Pan that they are going to join them in their war. if Arco hadn't been such a (poor) brinksman, Pan would probably have been fighting them by themselves; if not worse.

However, Pan and TC aren't the only falcons in this game. the others just aren't showing their talons.

[Zeldor]

I just had too many neighbours http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Starting position way too hard to defend + some bad decisions. I could somehow secure border with Pan only, but it should have been better [but some bad luck in the beginning + bad pretender moves]. The problem was with Atlantis and Utgard. It's a bit bad luck to get anyone like Ylvali in MP game, but well, cost of newbie game. I couldn't concentrate enough forces to eradicate Agartha and also Agartha wass not pushed hard enough on other borders. I managed to practically kill Atlantis and kill most of Agarthan armies but my armies were spread too thin. No natural chokepoints. It could work really differently with a bit better starting position.

[sansanjuan]

Zeldor said:
I just had too many neighbours http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Starting position way too hard to defend + some bad decisions. I could somehow secure border with Pan only, but it should have been better [but some bad luck in the beginning + bad pretender moves]. The problem was with Atlantis and Utgard. It's a bit bad luck to get anyone like Ylvali in MP game, but well, cost of newbie game. I couldn't concentrate enough forces to eradicate Agartha and also Agartha wass not pushed hard enough on other borders. I managed to practically kill Atlantis and kill most of Agarthan armies but my armies were spread too thin. No natural chokepoints. It could work really differently with a bit better starting position.



Z,
You had a lot of latent muscle in your Capital. If you could have someone used that earlier...

I'm wondering the same re-Utgard at present with 1300 bone fiends and misc Devils/Demons playing outside the walls and Utgard with no Undead Mastery (or skill to cast it)... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif


-SSJ

[Zeldor]

I would be able to defend my capitol for at least 10-20 turns and maybe do smth more. I knew I can kill practically any force that would try to storm my fort. But game mechanics have proven to be extremely bad sometimes. Pan killed there maybe 10-20 units total and nothing important. Game punished me for having high HP elephants.

And no, I couldn't really move that army earlier. I knew Pan would invade me with that, lose. Then probably you'd try to storm my castle, lose the same way and I could think about smth then. But nothing great would go there. I was really behind in research [not even half what others had, maybe 25%] and wasted tons of gems for mind hunters [LA Arco really sucks at that compared to MA]. If Pan did not get stealthy S mage from random event his army would be annihilated before and I would gain a lot of land in the north, which would also enable me to make better invasion on Agartha.

[cleveland]

Zeldor said:
I would be able to defend my capitol for at least 10-20 turns and maybe do smth more. I knew I can kill practically any force that would try to storm my fort.


Nonsense. Our battle was close only because I left my troops unscripted. Unless you really think your 30 infantry + golem could have protected your banish-spam mages from 500 troops on "Attack Rear."


Zeldor said:
But game mechanics have proven to be extremely bad sometimes. Pan killed there maybe 10-20 units total and nothing important. Game punished me for having high HP elephants.


The game punished you for relying on a handful of high-quality, high-HP units; with your elephants dead, and your golem paralyzed, your side routed (rather thematically, I might add).

Your army was inarguably outmatched and SHOULD have lost. In fact, the game mechanics actually benefited you: remember, the auto-rout kicked in when your last remaining unit - a paralyzed golem - was at 2HP, thereby dissolving all of my mindless units?


Zeldor said:
If Pan did not get stealthy S mage from random event his army would be annihilated before and I would gain a lot of land in the north, which would also enable me to make better invasion on Agartha.


Wrong. Once it was clear we'd be at war, I beelined for Conj6 specifically for Specters (stealty with S randoms) to counter the very obvious Arco-Mind-Hunt-Spam. I had a stealthy S mage in every important province & army. You fell for it.

[Zeldor]

cleveland:

You must be playing a different game then or opened a different game and look at a battle there http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

There wass nothing you could really do with your army to win that. My mages routed before anything happened to Golem. If I had no elephants Golem would stop vine men as he did after elephants were dead. And all of my mages would ba alive. Ready to massacre next army.

And you joined that game with sole purpose to be at war with me, so it was obvious there will be war http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Firewalker]

> And you joined [this] game with the sole purpose to be at war with me, so it was obvious there will be war

Isn't that kind of the object of the game? Get over it.

[DonCorazon]

cleveland said:
Wrong. Once it was clear we'd be at war, I beelined for Conj6 specifically for Specters (stealty with S randoms) to counter the very obvious Arco-Mind-Hunt-Spam. I had a stealthy S mage in every important province & army. You fell for it.



Scary smart.

[Omnirizon]

DonCorazon said:

cleveland said:
Wrong. Once it was clear we'd be at war, I beelined for Conj6 specifically for Specters (stealty with S randoms) to counter the very obvious Arco-Mind-Hunt-Spam. I had a stealthy S mage in every important province & army. You fell for it.



Scary smart.



agreed.

i can't wait to try some stuff i learned in this game.

[DonCorazon]

Zeldor said:
cleveland:
And you joined that game with sole purpose to be at war with me, so it was obvious there will be war http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Z, Cleveland's moves have clearly benefited Pangea. If his war had damaged his nation somehow, then you might have grounds for a theory that he went to war more for metagaming reasons, but in this case, his strategy has clearly led to Pangea becoming a dominant force throughout this game. That tells me he has made wise strategic decisions, not pursued a personal vendetta. And as FW points out, we all join the game with the goal of being at war at some point...

[sansanjuan]

Zeldor said:
cleveland:

You must be playing a different game then or opened a different game and look at a battle there http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

There wass nothing you could really do with your army to win that. My mages routed before anything happened to Golem. If I had no elephants Golem would stop vine men as he did after elephants were dead. And all of my mages would ba alive. Ready to massacre next army.

And you joined that game with sole purpose to be at war with me, so it was obvious there will be war http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Didn't mean to light you two up again. Just posting/sharing some After Action Report stuff. I plan on posting more when the game is done. I enjoy that.

As I've said before, after the initial shock from that pivotal turn where you realize your Pretender will not ascend...
1. Mourn
2. Take a deep
3. Make yourself a Mai Tai
4. Realize you have nothing to lose by experimenting
5. Push some new buttons with what you have left and learn, learn, learn and perhaps enjoy some small victories as the candles burn low.

Remember 61 of the 62 players in the Mega game will go through these stages on Dom3 Nation death.

On another note, I currently have absolutely no idea how DC was able to research at such an astonishing pace and still have scratch to buy all those ponies (and pay for feed). I'm hoping after the game he'll share that. I am quite impressed. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-SSJ

PS C's Spectral tactic indeed was/is very very cool. Not sure I've seen it mentioned.

[Zeldor]

DC:

I don't know exact situation, but that wasn't huge war between us. Neither of us used bigger resources against each other. So it didn't hurt Pan as much as it could, but it did.

ssj:

Peace makes huge difference. In another game I had all research complete around turn 65, all schools at lvl9. In another with difficult research I had everything researched before turn 90.

I just write what happened. I no longer play that and I did not expect to win. I have no propaganda to do. Some people try to but are rather weak at it. Well, maybe we will get something more honest when game is ended http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Omnirizon]

honesty is a performative in politics; there is nothing 'more' or 'less' to it. not sure what you're hoping to get then.

[cleveland]

Whoops, didn't realize we were back to 48hr turns.

Submitting right now.

[SiyfkA]

hi all im unable to contine due to some events irl. if you find a sub my pass for the game is tetris11

[DonCorazon]

Given Mictlan's position, we may need to delay the next turn then until we can find someone. It would also be less disruptive if Siyfka can take a moment to update the sub on the situation.

On a separate note, TC mourns the passing of Chains, a jolly lovable Tartarian known for his wry sense of humor that included ripping the horse section off of Pangean centaurs to make them back into humans.

He was slain by the reforming horde of Pangean mistformed, army of leaded, reinvigorated, mannikins while walking his dog in the woods. Rest in peace Chains. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif

[Zeldor]

Well, I guess I can volunteer to take over. I guess some people may be not happy about that though so if you have anyone better, use him http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Omnirizon:
Everyone is doing politics but after game is finished there is no use to make any propaganda. But yeah, I am really curious how situation looks like everywhere now. Now I can just read posts. And even when I was still here I lacked information about some parts of the world [Bogarus, Mictlan, C'tis area were one big fog].

[DonCorazon]

sansanjuan said:
5. Push some new buttons with what you have left and learn...




Is this what led to the sudden chill in TC these days?

[sansanjuan]

Zeldor said:
Well, I guess I can volunteer to take over. I guess some people may be not happy about that though so if you have anyone better, use him http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif




Z,
You would be just in time for Utgards exit. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif The giants have Mictlan bonefiends in the capital winecellars (I'm guessing since I'm at work and have not seen the turn yet).

On Utgard's spell limitations... I tried to wish for a wish but first you have to have wish before you can wish for that...

-SSJ

[DonCorazon]

Zeldor said:
Well, I guess I can volunteer to take over. I guess some people may be not happy about that though so if you have anyone better, use him http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif




Fine with me. If anyone objects though we should start advertising soon.

[hoo]

I wouldn't have much problem with sansa or Zeldor taking over.

I think that Mictlan is probably the strongest force in the game closely followed by TC,and Marignon in the top 4. Not sure how Pythium is doing.

A takeover like this do alter the game dynamics pretty signficantly but less so than a crazy AI would, which would be bad, bad news for TC.

[DonCorazon]

Should we advertise first to see if we can find a semi-newbie? Handing Z the reigns of the most powerful kingdom might generate some controversy given the history of violence in Alexandria and various theories of war causation etc.

Guess it should be up to his prior foes to decide.

[Omnirizon]

i think we should try and find a (semi)newbie first. It is simply rather unusual to allow a player who has already played in any game back in it as another nation. Even without any alleged controversy already present, that is just asking for it in very bad way.

[cleveland]

Abstain.

[sansanjuan]

hoo said:
I wouldn't have much problem with sansa or Zeldor taking over.




Tempting offer but I'm barely finding time for two concurrent games right now. I'll probably be sticking to single games from now on (and staying married). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-SSJ

[DonCorazon]

Ok, i will post an ad for a (semi) noob.

[Randvek]

hoo said:Not sure how Pythium is doing.



Fine, thanks for thinking of me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

But seriously, even I don't know how I'm doing in relation to other nations, so I can't imagine anybody else does. Total of 9 nations left? I'm probably 5 or 6, in terms of power.

[DonCorazon]

hoo said:
I wouldn't have much problem with sansa or Zeldor taking over.

I think that Mictlan is probably the strongest force in the game closely followed by TC,and Marignon in the top 4. Not sure how Pythium is doing.



C'mon, no mention of Pan? His agents must have gotten to Bogarus. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Take it from Chains, Pan is still a lean mean green machine.

Anyway, I posted an ad for a Mictlan sub. Not sure how long you all want to wait before either handing it over to Zeldor or setting him AI. Too bad SSJ doesn't want it, that would be quite thematic eg he now has the opportunity to finish himself off. I can understand the need though to preserve the marriage. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Firewalker]

Shall we delay the next turn then? Say 72 hours? If we get somebody beforehand, it can still quickhost.

[sansanjuan]

DonCorazon said:
Too bad SSJ doesn't want it, that would be quite thematic eg he now has the opportunity to finish himself off. I can understand the need though to preserve the marriage. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



TC,
You made me laught out loud. Reminded me of that Python skit.. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif
-SSJ

[DonCorazon]

Firewalker said:
Shall we delay the next turn then? Say 72 hours? If we get somebody beforehand, it can still quickhost.



Agree - 72 hours makes sense for now. So far one person expressed interest but wants to take a look at Mictlan's turn file. I have asked Firewalker to see if it is possible to send to this player directly.

[Ironhawk]

Greetings to my fellow dieties!

I have agreed to take over control of Mictlan and look forward to an enjoyable game with you. My priests shall be instructed to sacrifice 10 slaves each to honor this occassion!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

On more practical matters - this empire is in pretty good shape, but quite disorganized. And with an almost shocking lack of spell scripting. It's going to take me a couple of turns to get my feet under me. How do players communicate in this game? Via email or PM?

[Ironhawk]

Oh, also I see you are talking about the turn schedule - what did you settle on? I can probably do my first turn later tonight but then I go camping until Monday night.

[Firewalker]

We mostly use the PM system and message board -- or at least I do myself. The boards tend to be more for public boasting and razzing, PMs for diplomacy.

We are still on 48hr turns, but it was a close vote last we took one. At the moment the game is postponed for Mictlan's replacement to settle in.

[Zeldor]

Interesting, I was judged as too experienced and instead one of the best players in community has been chosen. I knew some people here have suicidal thoughts http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Omnirizon]

we want to learn from the best. any pain we experience in the process is just weakness leaving the... gamer.

on that note, i learned all about mind hunts from you, and about the naivety in planning on relying on a particular strategy from both you and randvek (blessed blindfighters don't do so well against elephants or hydras). and then of course about adapting and finding new strategies to compensate.

i'm curious to see what tricks a 'good' player has up their sleeves. it might be scary, since i've heard mictlan is always a pretty powerful nation.

[Zeldor]

I am afraid blindfighters are not good against anything without Darkness. Even with E9 bless their encumbrance is too high and short sword is not a best weapon either. And I think Risen Oracle would be better than Cyclops.

You are on turn 54 so Bogarus with huge research bonus may already have ALL research complete. In other game I had all research done around turn 65 with Mictlan. So it should be interesting here http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Agartha is really great in late game.

[sansanjuan]

Ironhawk said:
Greetings to my fellow dieties!

I have agreed to take over control of Mictlan and look forward to an enjoyable game with you. My priests shall be instructed to sacrifice 10 slaves each to honor this occassion!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif




IH,
If you didn't get the memo. Mictlan was in the process of surrendering to Utgard. They have brought an honor guard to the Utgardian capital to deliver their.. um.. GIFTS! Just leave them outside the gate and we'll pick them up later.

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

-SSJ

[Ironhawk]

LOL, nice sansanjuan!

I will be sending my "diplomats" in to deliver our "gifts" very soon. Please have a welcome delegation waiting http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Randvek]

Zeldor said:
I am afraid blindfighters are not good against anything without Darkness. Even with E9 bless their encumbrance is too high and short sword is not a best weapon either.



I agree. With how much I love Agartha in general, it's a pity that Blindfighters don't have more oomph to them. Unless you're fighting in darkness, I don't see a real use for them against even other infantry, let alone big stuff like eles and hydras.

[cleveland]

I didn't realize blood magic was so powerful that it actually lets you summon a better player!

Regardless, Pangaea welcomes you to the game, Ironhawk!

A few things, to bring you up to speed:

1) A cataclysmic collision between noble Pangaea and sinister Tien Chi is about to unfold far to your Northeast. Very far. In fact, so far that the Tien Chi's Tartarian-backed super-army couldn't possibly wheel South fast enough to stop a preemptive invasion. Just so you know. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

2) Nathgul, that lovable starspawn-in-a-jar, was recently misplaced by his Tien Chi stewards. But we can rebuild him...we have the technology.

3) Pangaea is a happy land of fun and peace. Certainly not a threat to anyone. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

We're all looking forward to a sound thrashing from you Ironhawk. Cheers http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif

[Ironhawk]

Ok, I got my first turn in - woo hoo! Never used llamaserver before, its pretty cool. Also my first time really using a blood nation which is pretty interesting. Tho it seems like all the territory in this game is like crazy mountain passes and stuff. Where do all the virgins live???

[edit]
Oh yeah - I'm leaving now for the weekend. If the next turn generates, please hold it for me until I get back on Monday night, pacific time.
[edit]

[hoo]

Ironhawk: Do realize that you have you have several NAPs in effect. NAP 3 with Bogarus and TC for sure. I'd ask you to honor them due to the player change.

I think Mictlan is the best country so I expect you'll win but we'll see.

[Omnirizon]

argatha just formed a border with mictlan a couple of turns ago. we are both (or we were both) quite busy with other stuff, and havn't even communicated. I suppose a new "head cheif/preist/big-man" (whatever s. americanish horticulture civilizations had for leaders) may wish for more formal relations than the previous, somewhat unorganized, one.

thus we extend you a NAP-5. we can do a NAP-3 if you prefer, but we argathans are solid but slow moving, and prefer similar politics and treaties.

[DonCorazon]

Pan:
While we normally find your bits of disinformation amusing, we were a bit dismayed to read item 1 on the Pangea propaganda list, which we felt crossed the line. Should Mictlan read your suggestion of preemptive attack, see his horde of demons and decide to move them into TC with his first turn, then the game has truly been disrupted by Sifyka stepping down. This would be no better than had Mictlan gone AI as it disregards all of the strategic underpinnings that have led to the current situation. In particular, your post ignores the history that should have been told before you advised our newest player to attack me.

TC has made it no secret that we have considered Pan one of the most dangerous players going back to his very early castings of two globals and ability to generate gobs of manikins. His huge gem income has been evidenced with his ability to instantly replace a dispelled global and his suite of elemental royalty and SCs (air, fire, water, banefire kings, faery queens, vampire lords, just to name a few who we have seen). Yes TC has Tartarians though we stopped summoning them a while back - who knows what the new patch will do to them and they are not particularly effective against hordes of mannikins - just ask Chains.

We have tried to bring together some nations to help weaken Pan. Mictlan answered the call. We signed a long NAP and agreed to attack Pan’s chief ally, Utgard, so that Mictlan could eventually have a front to attack Pan (sorry Sansa - bad geogrpahy)

This has led to the current situation when Pan declared war and invaded TC in response to our war with Utgard. The Pangean attack was repelled but I believe TC is the only nation at war with Pan, and still at war with Utgard. While having Mictlan change in 1 turn from friend to enemy would certainly aid Pan’s cause, I cannot see how that sort of victory would give Pan any joy. TC doesn’t expect the new Mictlan to necessarily have the same friendship that we shared with the old Mictlan, but to suggest they attack us immediately would not be in the spirit of a good game IMHO.


The TC Ministry of Truth http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[quantum_mechani]

DonCorazon said:
TC has Tartarians though we stopped summoning them a while back - who knows what the new patch will do to them

Actually it's very simple, 20% chance any given turn that they will not follow orders, just as insanity (except they can also pillage or reanimate randomly). Naturally this only effects commander tartarians.

[DonCorazon]

Thanks QM. Hope you are enjoying the Alexandria show.

Anyway, I knew it would have some kind of insanity effect but wasn't following the discussion on the specifics. Even though 20% sounds a bit better than I had imagined, I still expect to be investing death gems in more reliable units - having a key unit become uncontrollable when I need him will be too aggravating to warrant the cost.

[Omnirizon]

does the alexandria show have a protagonist and an antagonist? if so who are they?

or is it more farcical?

[DonCorazon]

Ironhawk said:
Where do all the virgins live???



I'd try Marignon, inventors of the chastity belt.

[spacht]

Marignon has already been bled dry, so to speak.

[cleveland]

DonCorazon said:
Should Mictlan read your suggestion of preemptive attack...



We absolutely acknowledge the existence of some variety of longstanding pact between Mictlan & TC, and that an immediate attack would be an unsatisfying anachronism.

However, we know first-hand that the ministers of TC are not fools: they cannot actually expect their good relations with Mictlan to last indefinitely, and as such, are most certainly planning some swift stroke of treachery to secure their eventual victory. The nature of the beast, so to speak.

I must therefore profoundly disagree with the assertion that a sudden, calculated attack by a cunning deity would be, "no better than had Mictlan gone AI." True, the AI would have attacked TC immediately, as it gets its transistors off watching militia be slaughtered; but such an attack would be unthematic, unsuccessful, and fundamentally unlike the clever dispatch of a vulnerable & overly-trusting future-enemy.

Besides, who's to say that Pagobar's old psyche wasn't actively planning such a move? Or that his new, transmigrated psyche may realize it SHOULD have been?

After all, Pangaean spies - at great personal risk - have secured the following document from deep within the bowels of the TC Ministry of Truth:

Tien Chi internal memo: ULTIMATE WAR PLAN said:
When any large operation is undertaken, it is usually a surprise attack against an ally. The plan is, by a combination of fighting, bargaining, and well-timed strokes of treachery, to acquire a ring of bases completely encircling one or other of the rival states, and then to sign a pact of friendship with that rival and remain on peaceful terms for so many years as to lull suspicion to sleep. During this time rockets loaded with atomic bombs can be assembled at all the strategic spots; finally they will all be fired simultaneously, with effects so devastating as to make retaliation impossible. It will then be time to sign a pact of friendship with the remaining world-powers, in preparation for another attack.



[can't believe I was able to find my copy so quickly... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif]

[DonCorazon]

Your love of the halfling's leaf has clearly clouded your mind, but buried in your lengthy treatise on strategy, what TC would call Sun Tzu lite, can be found the statement we were looking for:


cleveland said:
an immediate attack would be an unsatisfying anachronism.




As for all the other prattle, we would simply ask all your own allies and neighbors to read it and then promptly attack you for your Freudian slip.

With repsect to the ULTIMATE WAR PLAN, TC has played with many players here and they will know first-hand that this document was clearly a crude Pangean forgery (even without us having to point out the Harpy dung splattered all over its pages or the fact it was scrawled on some spooky undead paper).

In response to this implanted forgery, the TC Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched an investigation and discovered a number of disturbing facts.

1. Pan has a secret black ops research programs on Manikins. You think you can deal with one 5 HP manikin, wait until you see the Jason Bourne manikin Pan's scientists are working on.

2. Top Pangean scientists investigating how to survive in complete darkness. Hmmm...what could that be for?

3. Preparations for a war with Marignon..rumors are the horde headed toward TC was originally in search of virgins. Rumors are Pan is supplying Marignon's foes with remote damage spells and other forms of assistance, including copies of his Sun Tzu lite strategy manual. Would hate to see war flare up between Marignon and Pan, now... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


- TC Ministry of Mostly Truth

[cleveland]

Not to reveal the extensiveness of my extensive spy network, but I must say that I sympathize deeply with Pythium. The autorout/autokill really, REALLY screwed you that turn.

In other news:
Igor Konhelm's Tome & Krupp's Bracers are now up for grabs. The Winter Bringer might also be available, but I suspect it was snatched back up by the cautious Tien Chi horde. If Om the Controller hadn't been so lucky, several more choice items may have also been available...

[Omnirizon]

the Argathan urban planning board has just unanimously OK'd the erection of three grand statues to commemorate the three brave leaders who faced down, and defeated, an entire army of Hydras.

The battlefield was soaked with blood, and a Heat from the Bowels of Hell boiled an air thick of a cocktail of Foul Vapors and magical Mist. The entire Argathan army had routed and was fleeing before the foul stench of an army of Hydra's who were backed by an artillery of Serpent Priests and the King of Elemental Fire himself. Argathan soldiers had dropped like flies, only to resurrected as soulless, and fight on. Argathan commanders too succumbed to the heat and poison, but were given second life of eternal undeath. The Hydras and Pythium's artillery also began to pass out from the unbearable heat and air. When Argathan armies began to rout, the soulless commanders and soldiers did not care, and fought on. Soon both armies, the legions of Hydras and the small handful of Argathan soulless who had remained, were both passed out on the field of battle. Soon even the Argathan soulless soldiers fell before the many-headed Hydras. A mere three Argathan commanders, given everlasting undeath, remained to carry the battle. There names are Nan Bagor, Mistilo, and Zanbarth; do not forget them. All other Argathan soldiers and commanders had fled or been killed. These three, blessed of the grace of the Earthen might of Anfar, would reawaken weakly, with just enough strength to summon a few undead thralls, before passing out again. Two by two the summoned skeletons rattled up to the slumbering Hydras to hack at them with their claws and rusted blades. Eventually the Pythium commanders also succumbed to the heat; but with no undeath to return to, their bodies would only be baked to ashes under the sun. The Pythium armies became confused. "Why do three fragile soulless mage-priests stand before our might and fight on?" They asked themselves. With no leadership, and passing in and out of consciousness, and facing a mere three fragile soulless, the mighty army of Hydras and the King of Elemental Fire fled the battlefield! Nan Bagor reawoken to see them fleeing, and laughed. He laughed a deep frigid laugh, that choked past has dust filled throat and out of his now tongueless mouth; he was now mute, but he laughed anyway. He laughed for he knew that Argathan armies had just captured and secured the escape rout from this province, and that the entire army of Hydras and the King of Elemental Fire now fled to their doom. The fled before three, very brave, very undead, soulless commanders.

The statues will be erected immediately, they are to constructed of the deepest Obsidian, crafted by the finest craftmen, with eyes set of burning rubies, to symbolize the burning hatred in their hearts. A hatred that would not allow them to flee, no matter the odds. They fought on before an overwhelming army that should have smashed them; but they fought bravely and won.

[cleveland]

Omnirizon said:
He laughed for he knew that Argathan armies had just captured and secured the escape rout from this province, and that the entire army of Hydras and the King of Elemental Fire now fled to their doom.



Ah. That somewhat mitigates my comment earlier about the autokill, which claimed about 15 of Pyth's hydras, as they'd have been lost anyway.

But I still really don't like the autokill.

A word of congratulations, however, goes to Agartha. It was a well scripted battle, and certainly an upset. Cheers http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif

[Ironhawk]

Today all the high priests of Mictlan were gathered and I tasked them with determining the future course of this great nation. After consulting the entrails of many, many sacrifices (just goats and chickens this time, dont worry!) a path became clear! I have decided to mass-accept all current treaties that nations had with the previous Mict player in order to honor the current diplomatic situation of the game.

However, in order to give myself the freedom to play Mict as I see fit, I will be imposing a 10-turn duration on all agreements. So, as of turn 65, all current agreements will dissolve. By that point, I am sure I will have talked with all interested parties and signed or resigned a variety of treaties that I can actually have a say on.

[Omnirizon]

for some reason, the Rigor Mortis script never happened; that would have shortened the clock I was depending on for that battle. none-the-less, I was favored by fortune, and Pythium just couldn't quite reach the backfield and squash everyone before we all passed out from fatigue.

the unit scripted to cast Rigor Mortis skipped the Power of the Spheres that was scripted to happen first, meaning he used too many gems to be able to cast Life After Death, and didn't have enough for Rigor Mortis. I wish the game would do things in the order I tell it to. At least LAD and the other battlefield fatigue spells got off, that's what I was depending on.

I also got a few undead priest mages out of it who don't have to worry about old age and can reanimate. Bonus!!! Unfortunately they have so many afflictions as to be useless. Still fun.

EDIT:
and thanks for the congratulations, but I really did get lucky. About halfway through watching the replay, I was glued to the screen to see just how I managed to win. Everyone was fleeing and Pythium was still advancing; it was quite a sight to watch three commanders skelly spamming in and out of consciousness, the little skeletons walking up and getting a few hits in on an unconscious Hydra, before one awoke just long enough to kill all the skeletons, who would be resummoned a turn or two later. I can't believe I managed to win.

And a battle well fought to Pythium, we've been skirmishing around this province for a year now. They're advancing about 20 more Hydras towards this position now though, so the battle ain't over yet.

[Firewalker]

Wow, I should have tried Mass Flight sooner. I never realized it covered most of an army with a single casting. What fun to watch. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ironhawk]

I happened to get lucky and see the battle involving Mass Flight. That was pretty impressive, yeah. However, I have seen some remarkably stupid things happen with it also. One time I cast it and literally my entire army sat around "flying" trying to mob a single air elemental while the rest of the battle raged around them.

[Firewalker]

It did make casting evo spells a bit self-defeating, with both armies mixed together like that. I think I killed half of my casualties myself.

[DonCorazon]

I wish I had the patience to play SP to try out some of these spells, but I get bored around turn ~20 so end up doing my experimenting (or more often, getting experimented on) in MP, sometimes with disastrous results.

[spacht]

Yep, that Mass flight was a nice counter to my mage-heavy army. This is the first MP game where i managed to survive into the late game, so i'm sailing in unknown waters here. But all these humiliating defeats make for a great learning experience. So please continue bashing in my head, don't hold back http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Ironhawk]

DonCorazon said:
I wish I had the patience to play SP to try out some of these spells, but I get bored around turn ~20 so end up doing my experimenting (or more often, getting experimented on) in MP, sometimes with disastrous results.



DC, the trick to testing things out efficiently is modding. Mod the spells you want to use down to research level 0 so they will be immediately available on turn 1. Then start a game with that mod and the nation/age you are playing. For summoning spells you can even mod down the gem cost to 1 (i dont like to do that for battlefield spells since it doesnt give you an accurate fatigue result).

And then you can change this mod on the fly as your game progresses. So if there is some new spell you need to test, you just add it to the mod, open up dom3 and then play the game. On the next turn it should update, I think.

[Firewalker]

I am in the same boat, when it comes to learning. I was beginning to think Water/Earth/Astral magic just wasn't going to win against Fire/Earth/Astral. The air/astral wild card certainly helps -- otherwise Bandar/Patala ends up outgunned as the game goes on.

My surprise is that your SCs just aren't helping you as well as they should. But those fliers just can't be killed! They fly away like little butterflies at the end. I need a better net.

[hoo]

spacht said:
So please continue bashing in my head, don't hold back http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif




Your tactics has been quite good, but your strategy needs some work. You put a beating on us both in some battles but didn't pursue your advantage. When you win a big victory, that's your time to get on the offensive. You should have hammered Patala when you had the chance instead of letting him regroup and attack you again and again until he gets it right. Defense doesn't win in this game.

When facing 2 opponents, you gotta knock one out early otherwise you'll eventually be ground down. I think your best strat would have been to use your big northern army to rampage through Patala's land even while losing ground to Bogarus (me). I'm not sure Patala could have stopped you and you would have all but knocked him out while I'm not sure how much you would have lost to me. Your western most fort for sure, but doubtful I could have taken your capitol in time.

This game is interesting b/c I've never played a blood nation before. Was a lark b/c I wanted to play with Babi, but the stupid mod doesn't let me have any heroes. so my luck 3, turmoil was just dumb.

[spacht]

hoo said:
You put a beating on us both in some battles but didn't pursue your advantage. When you win a big victory, that's your time to get on the offensive.



I thought the same thing about you. After you defeated my northern army in our first battle you could've marched straight to my capital. It took me several turns to get my army to pre-battle strength.

But you are right, i have been too cautious in my approach.

[sansanjuan]

spacht said:

hoo said:
You put a beating on us both in some battles but didn't pursue your advantage. When you win a big victory, that's your time to get on the offensive.



I thought the same thing about you. After you defeated my northern army in our first battle you could've marched straight to my capital. It took me several turns to get my army to pre-battle strength.

But you are right, i have been too cautious in my approach.



I was waaay too cautious too. Utgard with that bless is well suited for an early rush.
-SSJ

[Ironhawk]

sansanjuan said:
I was waaay too cautious too. Utgard with that bless is well suited for an early rush.
-SSJ



Yeah those woodsmen are pretty scary even at this point in the game. Dealing with them is a very prickly problem.

[hoo]

spacht said:
[
I thought the same thing about you. After you defeated my northern army in our first battle you could've marched straight to my capital. It took me several turns to get my army to pre-battle strength.





It was a brutal battle for me. I thought about being aggressive but a) i was out of all gems/blood units. I made the assumption that you have a lab in your fort allowing yourself to get new gems/mages. I would have been forced to attack with any gems. I have watched enough of your fights to patala to see how bad that would be. I have no thugs or SCs and you would have still had a ton of angels.

Just about every mage I had came out of the battle with at least 1 affliction. So I chose to consolidate my large gains b/c even if I won the next fight at 1 fort, I couldn't have taken your capitol.

[Omnirizon]

I'm going to SoDak for a week but am looking for a temporary sub.

I'm wondering if we can't have the timer set to 72 hours for that week, so the sub doesn't have to do as many turns.

I will be leaving June 2nd, and return June 8th.

[DonCorazon]

i am actually more in favor of 72 hours for this game now permanently. need to preserve the marriage.

[sansanjuan]

Ironhawk said:

sansanjuan said:
I was waaay too cautious too. Utgard with that bless is well suited for an early rush.
-SSJ



Yeah those woodsmen are pretty scary even at this point in the game. Dealing with them is a very prickly problem.



IH,
Nice of you to say. After about 10 skeletons each they get very tired and very vulnerable.

I was quite surprised how well they did against elephants. I think 8 took out 10 elephants with that bless early on iirc.

-SSJ

[cleveland]

DonCorazon said:
i am actually more in favor of 72 hours for this game now permanently. need to preserve the marriage.



You too?

Now repeat after me:
"But I WAS paying attention!"
"Of COURSE I'm interested!"
And that old chestnut:
"I'm just checking my email."

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

[hoo]

DonCorazon said:
i am actually more in favor of 72 hours for this game now permanently. need to preserve the marriage.




Yep...this game is not conducive to marriage. Explaining why I absolutely have to do this critical turn right now is tough.

in favor of 72 hours too

[Firewalker]

Anyone else have an opinion? Mine is 72 -- I'm finishing this turn 30 minutes before the deadline!

[Omnirizon]

I suppose permanent 72 is fine with me too.

[DonCorazon]

Looks like we skipped a turn. I got the stale message and didn't have the long list of evil things done to me by my enemy .

[Firewalker]

Yep ... PM'ing Llamabeast now. We will not do another turn -- we found out last time that doing that just loses a turn.

[DonCorazon]

BTW, opening an endgame turn in MP is kind of like getting a kick in the nuts. I cringe at this point.

Every time, you know there is going to be a long list of horrible events - leprosy, infernos, demon strikes, assassinations, ambush attacks, loss of your beloved Nethgul, etc. that just gets longer as the game progesses. That is why seeing the stale was almost a relief...

I think I am going to limit myself to one MP game in the future. I cannot bear to see all this tragedy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ironhawk]

Yeah whats the story with getting turn 57 instead of 56?

Will we go back and re-generate the turn?

[Omnirizon]

last time this happened llama was unable to generate another turn, and we just rolled with it the way it was. Since everybody staled, it was roughly OK

[DonCorazon]

Argh, what about those globals and auto spawning units? Stales hurt TC alot as we have neither.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah DC makes a good point - doesnt someone have a gem-generator up? Basically you are just handing that person another 30 gems or something. Not to mention any gem-generating items. Or armies that might have moved somewhere low-supply and are now starving.

Personally, I'm trying to dig my capital out of 200+ unrest while still maintaining a blood income. Its a really precarious balance and I'm disturbed to think what might have happened in an intervening turn. Not to mention not seeing any of the battle results for the previous turn.

Is there seriously no way to recover??

[Zeldor]

Continuing will surely result in a stale. We tried it last time. That game is doomed. I think llamabeast has to rehost last turn and maybe that bug won't reappear [and we will see how rehosting with new patch goes].

[Firewalker]

Ironhawk --

It's an intermittent bug llamaserver has -- it has happened once before. The last time we made the mistake of going ahead and trying to send our turns in again and it lost the previous turn as a result. We were forced to accept everyone staled a turn and continue. I think if we wait and have him roll it back, we'll be okay and not lose a turn.

[sansanjuan]

Firewalker said:
It's an intermittent bug llamaserver has .



Perhaps my Illwinter global ritual is more powerful than I thought (even affecting the server the game is running on) !! Giants, wolves, cold temps and, if you're getting hammered, stale turns. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
-SSJ

[Firewalker]

Hah, yes. All motion slowly grinds to a halt as we approach absolute zero.

[DonCorazon]

SSJ,
We beg you, for the love of God, please remove the Ilwinter! Rumors of the possibility that there is a chance that Niefel giants might show up are really scaring people in Tien Chi. Not to mention some of the beaches are closed, ice cream sales have plummeted, and white dogs are being killed unnecessarily.

Oh the horror!
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[sansanjuan]

DonCorazon said:
SSJ,
We beg you, for the love of God, please remove the Ilwinter! Rumors of the possibility that there is a chance that Niefel giants might show up are really scaring people in Tien Chi. Not to mention some of the beaches are closed, ice cream sales have plummeted, and white dogs are being killed unnecessarily.

Oh the horror!
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



HA! The ritual will continue until all become frozen and lifeless (except for the already lifeless who will just be frozen)! We mourn for the white dogs though the small yippie ones had it coming...

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

-SSJ

Edit - thick fingers

[Firewalker]

Okay, so apparently we did indeed end up staled, as Llamabeast explained in his admin message.

Now, I will set the timer to 72 hrs from now.

[DonCorazon]

I guess on these Llamaserver games it makes even more sense to get gem producing globals up and set guys to monthly Autosummons. Two server-caused stales now is a lot of extra gems and free spawn for those who have them.

[Ironhawk]

I only wish that last turns orders had gone through http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif None of my men were set to site search.

[sansanjuan]

DonCorazon said:
I guess on these Llamaserver games it makes even more sense to get gem producing globals up and set guys to monthly Autosummons. Two server-caused stales now is a lot of extra gems and free spawn for those who have them.



My other game on the server was unscathed. I'm guessing a crontab checks for turn processing. Would be nice to narrow whether the turn was kciked off because

1. the cron thought time had expired (O/S date/time setting?)
2. the cron thought all non-AI turns were in
3. the turn somehow processed manually w/o the cron (perhaps patch installation related?)



-SSJ

[Randvek]

Ug, swear to god, Llama server only decides to stall when I have a 1 hp commander with a fever fetish. Lost one this turn, too.

[Firewalker]

Hmm ... was the other crash around the time of the last patch? I wonder if sending in old patch turns to the server after it is patched actually does cause trouble -- just not always.

[DonCorazon]

Randvek, you are not alone. The mighty Pa, General of the Northern legions, Prophet of Gromulos, and long-time member of the Hall of Fame, succumbed to disease (no doubt picked up from a camp follower on Pangea's extensive spy network payroll) before we could get him our Chalice miracle cure.

He was renknowned for his +10 heroic reinvigoration, no doubt also developed with the assistance of that same camp follower.

[Omnirizon]

wow these soft-kill tactics are impressive, i've never thought of them. i'm glad you guys are all such good players, i get to learn so much.

[Randvek]

When I turned in Turn 57, I got a confirmation for Turn 56. I forget: did this happen last time, or is this another potential problem?

[Firewalker]

I went to the Alexandria page on llamaserver.net and requested a resend of my current turn. It was labelled "56" this time, rather than 57. Perhaps to be safe, I will hit resend for everyone.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah from the email that llamabeast sent to us, he implied that we should not play turn 57, but rather request a resend of 56 and then play that.

[Omnirizon]

hello everyone.

I've found a sub. his name is Valerius. if he wants, he may peek in here for a hello.

he should only have to do one turn for me (I wouldn't put anybody through any more than that). be nice to him http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ironhawk]

Ooof! Tough turn for you sansanjuan. Guessed where your raiding party was moving two turns in a row now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Omnirizon]

my trip was delayed, so I don't need a sub now. In fact, I will be able to make it without a sub if we delay the hosting of the _next_ turn (not this one) by a day.

Is this OK with all?

[sansanjuan]

Ironhawk said:
Ooof! Tough turn for you sansanjuan. Guessed where your raiding party was moving two turns in a row now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Alas... I fear Utgard's days are numbered. My Illwinter ritual is only producing colds and sniffles. (I liked someone's man-flu comment). I've moved into the experimental stage. I've had a great time getting crushed though.

On a lighter note the wife gave me an ok to get thrashed in the mega-game (if a spot is still there). I think "EA-Wet tissues" Nation is still available. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-SSJ

edit typo

[Omnirizon]

alas, argatha is really enjoying the cold weather; we're hoping it would stay. The Cave Drakes don't like it too much, but the aged Necromancers insist that it keeps their skin's 'youthful pallor', and the Tomb Oracles have always enjoyed the frigid weather. Plus, anything that slows down Hydras is a good thing. How many do you have there, Pythium? About a hundred? The Hydras grow like their heads, for every one we manage to slay, two more show up.

[DonCorazon]

Are we moving to 72 hours? I think this turn is only giving us 48 hours (rec'd Mon morn / due Wed morn - west coast).

[Randvek]

Omnirizon said:How many do you have there, Pythium? About a hundred?



You overestimate my hydra forces.

[Ironhawk]

Im fine with whatever people want for timing - 48 or 72.

Randvek, it really does look like you have a lot of Hydras. I finally got a scout up to your area and I can see one prov with this big smear of hydras on it. Really impressive, actually.

[Randvek]

Ironhawk said:
Im fine with whatever people want for timing - 48 or 72.

Randvek, it really does look like you have a lot of Hydras. I finally got a scout up to your area and I can see one prov with this big smear of hydras on it. Really impressive, actually.



I'm willing to accept territorial concessions in my favor in the name of peace, if everyone is so afraid of my hydras. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Firewalker]

I would have swore I had changed it ... well, it's on 72hrs now. Thanks for the heads up.

[Firewalker]

Wow, spacht -- looks we are in the classic Chess bind of both queens in danger of being captures. To retreat or to capture, hum ....

[Ironhawk]

/threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif Hey has anyone looked at the current turn? I'm at work now so I cant but I was curiuos about the results of the Deathmatch! /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif

[sansanjuan]

Ironhawk said:
/threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif Hey has anyone looked at the current turn? I'm at work now so I cant but I was curiuos about the results of the Deathmatch! /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif



IH,
Atlantis took the deathmatch.

You took Utgard however.... very nice battle. I actually thought Utgard might win the day for the first 5 minutes.... No charge from my flank units however.. <sigh> Nice work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-SSJ

[Zeldor]

Go Go AI! I didn't know Atlantis is still alive. Maybe I shouldn't have sent them so much gold http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Ironhawk]

Awwww, poor Mischief. He was so hopeful when I talked to him about possibly competing in the Deathmatch. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[cleveland]

Ironhawk said:
Awwww, poor Mischief. He was so hopeful when I talked to him about possibly competing in the Deathmatch. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



To Mischeif's great misfortune, the Atlantian champion was wielding a Demon Bane. And was their prophet.

[DonCorazon]

Accidentally ordered one of the Celestial Masters to pillage my capital. Argh…massive unrest and income drop.
I guess he just went ballistic, staring a little too much at the stars.
Or it was another one of Pan’s infiltration moves…dropped some strange mushrooms in Li Poo’s tea or something.

[Ironhawk]

Hahaha, nice DC. I bet you that it was Pan - that is thier version of "insanity dominion"!

[cleveland]

We certainly won't deny that we've got the mushrooms on the payroll, along with the bok choi, okra, and 3 varieties of thyme.

However, upon review of Li Poo's dossier, we have to conclude that - as expected - he was simply performing a heroic act of civil disobedience against an oppressive bureaucracy. No tanks to stand in front of, so he decided to go on a maniacal killing spree. It happens.

I'll bet Little Grom wishes he'd exercised a bit of civil disobedience of his own and ducked that draft... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[DonCorazon]

Oppressive? Hmm…perhaps. We will send that to the Ministry of Self Reflection for analysis.
After all Li Poo was last seen running naked through the Imperial Administrative Offices shouting “Fook da Man!” with a couple of Grateful Dead maenads in each arm.

Btw, the death of Little Grom (son of Gromulos) was particularly sad – watching a decked out golem being smited to death is not cool.

[Ironhawk]

I am happy to report that the fortress of Utgard has indeed fallen. Seeing his inevitable demise, the false god of Utgard drew down a curse on all the souls in that battle, but it did little good. The brave troops of Mictlan soldiered on, hacking thier way through giants and skeletons alike.

Unfortunately, the cost for taking that fortress was high. The corpses of many bone fiends and jaguar demons are piled up against the walls of the fort. My priests tell me that it will take almost a week to clear them all away. However, its not really all that bad, because I would have executed all the jaguar demons for thier failure to fly over the wall during the battle, anyway.

[DonCorazon]

Strange - I was looking at the Llamaserver status page and thought it said turns were due in about 15 min (14:15 GMT). Then I hit refresh and now it say 20:15 GMT?

[Firewalker]

Omni is getting back from a trip today. I extended the deadline to let him get his turn in.

[Omnirizon]

i did my turn in, like, 30 minutes. I gotta get to work, but didn't want you guys waiting on me anymore. 30 min is the quickest I've done a turn this late in the game, but I don't *gulp* have any big battles _planned_; so I didn't need time to do a bunch of scripting. Pythium might be thinking otherwise for this turn however.

[DonCorazon]

This is quite an interesting game given its turn 59 and seems there are still a large number of superpowers.

I just looked up the the details on the globals, and its a bit frightening the gem income that is being produced these days. I expect some spectacular end game clashes are in store.

Speaking of epic battles, the Utgard-Mictlan showdown was pretty spectacular. Sifyka put together quite the demonic horde for master Ironhawk. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ironhawk]

Yeah, given the low magic site setting, nations who have gem-generators up have a significant advantage. I have yet to see any big battles tho, other than my own at Utgard. Tho that was more fiasco than fantastic http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Hahahah, agreed. I continually marvel at the sheer number of units Sifyka (that was the last player?) produced. Sadly they are all Bone Fiends. Not what I would call an efficient use of blood slaves.

[Ironhawk]

Hey would anyone mind my using email to contact them? I know you all mostly use forums PMs in this game but I just cant stand the interface for it.

[DonCorazon]

Fine with me.

[cleveland]

Ironhawk said:
Hey would anyone mind my using email to contact them? I know you all mostly use forums PMs in this game but I just cant stand the interface for it.



No problem:
dom3cleveland [at] gmail [dot] com

---------

In other news...
I hate to ask this, but could we please delay hosting until Saturday? I ask because I'm taking a potentially life-changing exam on Friday, and really should be studying, not dicking around with Dom3. It'd be a one-time thing, and I'd really appreciate it. Any objections?

[hoo]

I support pan's postponement move.

[Zeldor]

But how is Atlantis doing?

[DonCorazon]

no problem cleveland

[Ironhawk]

Cleveland... I'm very troubled that you would not put Dom3 ahead of your personal life! You must get your priorities straight, I think. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Hehehe, j/k. No worries on the wait, tho I admit it will be saddening to wait that long. Good luck on your exam!

[cleveland]

Ironhawk said:
Cleveland... I'm very troubled that you would not put Dom3 ahead of your personal life! You must get your priorities straight, I think. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Hehehe, j/k. No worries on the wait, tho I admit it will be saddening to wait that long. Good luck on your exam!



Stupid real life, always getting in the way of dominions life.

Thanks for the encouragement & support.

BUT, I got an email from llamaserver that Alexandria is still due shortly. Has the deadline been extended? If not, I'll definitely have to stale, as I'm at work right now.

[Omnirizon]

the deadline didn't get extended. i got in late last nite and was just going to go to bed, then thought "i better check out dom3 first, just in case no extension." sure enough, there was none.

i think it is a good thing to stale once or twice because you decided to see to RL first. I wouldn't worry about it, and one stale isn't a huge deal.

[hoo]

Err...I seemed to have stalled as well thinking the turn had been pushed back...dang.

[DonCorazon]

I wont look at my turn until we resolve in case there is a chance to re-host. Would rather not see anyone stale.

[Zeldor]

You know that llamabeast no longer rehosts unless it is real emergency. And here it isn't.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah I was surprised to see a turn in my inbox this morning. Thats a real kick in the pants given that there was support for delaying. I got my turn in, but mine isnt one that matters since I'm not currently at war tho. Being in a major war and staling a turn tho can be crippling.

[spacht]

I had a bad feeling last night, so i did a minimal turn and sent it in. But i don't blame our admin for not delaying. You just don't visit the forum every day.

[DonCorazon]

well I will wait to hear from FW before I look at my turn. If it does end as a stale, the one good thing is all those gems to play with. I find it hard to save gems otherwise.

[Firewalker]

Apologies everyone. I was late at getting my own turn in myself and did not check the forum right away until tonight.

EDIT: Now, I went back and looked at the thread. For some reason I completely overlooked Pan's request for the postponement! It must have looked like a sig line to me at the time. Ugh.

(In the future, hitting me on the head with a PM or email is probably best -- I randomly get overly busy myself.)

[Firewalker]

I will PM llamabeast and see if we can get the turn rolled back.

[llamabeast]

I would greatly prefer not to rollback unless it's really messed someone's game up. I mean, if you just staled the turn where a huge and crucial fight was happening then maybe*. But generally I am against rollbacks as they cause confusion, they are a little messy to do, and you have the hanging question of whether players might, even unintentionally, use their knowledge of "the future" when taking the rolled-back turn.

* - Though this is actually a case where it's especially dodgy, as you've got to see your opponents entire battle set up.

Please PM me again if you decide a rollback is very much needed, in case I forget to check back here.

[DonCorazon]

Cleveland, you were prob the most impacted - your call. I don't think this was a particularly impactful turn for TC, but will wait to see your thoughts on whether to try and roll back or carry on.

And more importantly, best of luck on the possible life changing test. Sounds promising...

- DC

[cleveland]

Hey guys,

Again, thanks for all the support. I refuse to allow the game to be rolled back for something that's purely my fault. Other nations are at war, and rewinding could screw 'em up, which certainly wouldn't be fair.

On the topic of fairness: though Pan has a thorough hatred for Tien Chi and the ruthless efficiency with which it's been dispatching our armies (indeed, we may possibly have been annihilated his month, I haven't see the results) we must commend TC's noble General for his honor and sense of fairness regarding this situation. Thank you, DonCorazon; your grace and civility really take the edge off the ***-whooping. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

We shall press on, in spite of the stall.

Cheers,
Pan

[DonCorazon]

Pan,

If your test-taking abilities are half as good as your ability to spin the truth, then you have nothing to worry about on Friday. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

TC is nowhere close to annihilating Pan and has made no progress in our effort to shutdown the mighty manikin machine or the endless fountain of nature gems -> fairy queens -> Army of Fogs.

TC Ministry of Counter Propaganda

[Ironhawk]

LOL

DC, when I read your post I saw "Army of Frogs" instead of Army of Fogs. I was like ... wow! Pan must be summoning massed Bog Beasts or something crazy like that - hahah!

[Omnirizon]

I could write a treatise on the sociology of knowledge based on this thread alone; what with Cleveland and DC sparring back and forth on whose really got the upper hand, and both trying to make it appear as if it is the other. And through all this no one _really_ knows who it is; there is no fact, no truth, save that created in the rhetoric.

[DonCorazon]

Ironhawk,
Army of Frogs! Don't scare me! I have seen enough twisted abominations coming out of Pan!

Omni, That is one of the fun parts of No Graphs games. The funny thing is that despite all the propaganda in this game, for all I know Bogarus could be the dominant power, or Patala, or Agartha. You guys are all getting a boatload of gems after all.

Hmm.....TC may need to expand the Ministy of Disinformation's operations...

[Randvek]

DonCorazon said:Omni, That is one of the fun parts of No Graphs games. The funny thing is that despite all the propaganda in this game, for all I know Bogarus could be the dominant power, or Patala, or Agartha.



My guess is still on Mictlan. Dude's got some forces!

[Firewalker]

I don't know that all the gems in Dominions could save Patala at this point. But being able to summon a troll court every other turn does help forestall a quicker end.

[Ironhawk]

Randvek said:
My guess is still on Mictlan. Dude's got some forces!



From what my scouts have begun reporting back I definitely think I inherited a strong nation. However, betting on me is premature, given that the bulk of my army is made up of Bone Fiends. Not that they are bad - they seem decent in CB? But having all my blood slaves invested in what amounts to an Ermorian-style army is a bit dishearting. Not to mention being saddled with death-3 as mictlan! At the least I've put a stop to blood hunting in the mict capital for goodness sakes http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Regardless, I have a slave sacrificed every month to honor the Pancreator and ask for his blessing on my jaggies and bone fiends. With hope, we will overcome!

[Ironhawk]

BTW - I'm going away this weekend so I wont be able to turn. I submitted my most recent one last night so I should be ok. We are on a 72hr schedule right? Even if the turn were to generate tonight I would still be back in time (sunday night) to play the next one?

[Firewalker]

We are indeed on 72hr/turns. If there is any chance of a delay -- PM or email me and I will be sure to give you a few extra hours as needed.

[Omnirizon]

my computer just blew its RAM as I was finishing my turn. its freaking late rite now, i'm reallly freaking tired and a little bit drunk, and not about to redo my whole freaking turn (note: please replace "freaking" with the actual F word). I'm on my laptop right now. If I get up in time, I will submit my turn, if not, then I will just stale. If you see this in time and it looks like I won't get my turn in on time, it would be nice if you could delay by a couple of hours and I will get it in asap.

on the upside, this cheap-*** RAM has been in service for several years now, I guess it is about its time. Also, I'm only assuming its the RAM. my friend blew his once and his screen went rainbow colors. mines gotten fuzzy lines all over it and just continously reboots (it makes it to the windows start-up screen, but then just reboots; it never actually loads windows). It looks kinda like my friends computer did when his RAM went out.

[llamabeast]

Just saw this, so postponed hosting by six hours. Good luck with your RAM Omni.

[cleveland]

Tien Chi:
Did you really think the expansive Pangaen spy network wouldn't pick up on your plot to sneak into Arcoscephale? We invite such a move, and assure your we'll be ready http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

All:
Good thing your RAM broke Omni, there was no chance I was going to (1) wake up in time to (2) sober up in time to (3) play my turn otherwise. And to whom it may concern, the test (MCAT) went pretty damn well. Ran out of time on 1 of the 4 sections, but am confident that I did good enough for my own purposes. Thanks again for all the kind support.

[Randvek]

I'm thinking I might bow out of this game. I stalled again last turn, and I know I played it. Third time that's happened recently, and I have zero excuse, which means I think I'm not really able to focus right now. When I've got the Daughter of Typhon stomping around, I shouldn't really be stalling, but apparently I have been...

[DonCorazon]

TC's old friends have been dropping like flies this game.

[Randvek]

Bah, at the rate I keep stalling, I'd be dead soon, anyway. I somehow manage to pick the worst turns possible. It's ridiculous the way I've been playing, and I'm mad at myself for being so inattentive, even though I'm not doing it intentionally (or even knowingly). That to me suggests maybe a break is in order.

[DonCorazon]

Randvek, if you plan to go AI, do you mind staying human-controlled for a couple turns more? I am not sure where your horde o' hydras is but I'd like a chance to beef up my border before they start eating TC peasants. Not to mention, this is another strategic shift, which evil, dastardly, undead bad bad Pan will surely take advantage of.

[Firewalker]

I know how you feel Randvek -- life has gotten hectic and I have been having to pay less attention to these games than I would like. For what it's worth, I did give you a couple extra hours hoping you'd get the turn in ...

[Randvek]

Firewalker said:life has gotten hectic and I have been having to pay less attention to these games than I would like.



That's part of the problem, though. Life hasn't been hectic. That makes my inability to pay attention all the more inexcusable.

[Ironhawk]

Didnt Zeldor want into this game a while back? Perhaps we should contact him.

[Ironhawk]

Hey I just sumbitted my turn and got back two responses from the llamaserver. It said I submitted and then that I had re-submitted immediately. Anyone else seeing any strangeness?

[Firewalker]

Not here. Everything looks normal for me so far.

In other news, I have decided to go AI this turn. Life is getting too demanding to keep up and play well enough, or spend the time, required to make it fun for me these days. And the position in this game is not going anywhere.

It looking like I'll be knocked out of Kingmaker rather soon, so I perhaps will be spending some time away from MP games.

If anyone wants to take over the admin position for this game, I will hand it over -- but I can continue.

Also, I've set back the timer for the moment to see if Randvek is going to try finding a sub, go AI, or what. I don't expect that we'll actually wait 24 hours, unless he has disappeared.

[DonCorazon]

FW, Sorry to see you go but understand the demands of the real world. I can take over as admin - not sure what I need to do but let me know.

I hope to see you again in the future.
Cheers,
DC

[Omnirizon]

i object to setting the time back.

Pythium is in no position to find a sub right now (thread title: looking for sub, turn 60, about to be knocked out of game; PM me.)

He intends to go AI, from what I understand, meaning there is little point in waiting for him to do his turn.

I know I stand to benefit from him staling, but he doesn't stand to gain much from actually doing his turn. and seeing as he intends to go AI, I don't see any point in delaying the game for him.

that's my two cents.

[DonCorazon]

i doubt pythium cares either since he intends to go AI. I prefer to have him stale vs. AI as AI Pythium is going to mean hydras running around TC.

[Firewalker]

Okay, well if it makes no difference to others, I'll set the timer back to what it was then. I haven't heard back from Randvek.

EDIT: Also, DonCorazon is now the admin for the game.

[hoo]

The monkeys just went AI? Err..that's not great for me. all my boundry neighbors have disappeared except for TC..and well Marignon.

[Ironhawk]

Doh, FW - your nation is AI as of this turn we just recieved? Thats a shame, if so. Your nation seems pretty big and in the middle of a pitched war, no? Would have thought it would be better to find a replacement.

[Ironhawk]

Heh. So Ive been having my mages site search like crazy in the hopes of scaring up some decent indy mages. And this turn I found one!!!

... who turned out to be exactly the same as one of my national mages. Except more expensive. Gah!

[Firewalker]

Hoo ... other than an army attacking in the South, Patala is about done for. Pretender was killed, etc.

Iron ... No, not very big at all. I was slowly being left in the dust by most of the other players. It was only a matter of time. Then Marignon managed to kill my pretender and most of my mages. So, it is not a position that is very defensible. And I doubt the AI will make terribly much trouble. There is one army that could attack either Pangaea or Marignon. But it is not very big.

Have fun guys. I'll stop in now and again to see who wins.

FW

[spacht]

Sorry to see you leave, Firewalker. I enjoyed our war, learned quite a lot from it. Hope to meet you again in another game.

[spacht]

Oh, and hoo, thanks for the advice to invade Patala instead of staying on the defensive. It worked really well http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Randvek]

Omnirizon said:
i object to setting the time back.

Pythium is in no position to find a sub right now (thread title: looking for sub, turn 60, about to be knocked out of game; PM me.)



About to be knocked out? My god you're an epic [censored]. I'm not about to get knocked out, and I'd be moping the floor with you if I weren't stalling so damn much. Omni, I vow that I will never play another game with you in it. If I sign up for a game and see you sign up, I will drop out. If you sub for someone in a game I am in, I will drop out. You have made things as personal as possible every chance you got, and that's a big no-no.

Go remove yourself from the gene pool, please. Even on a forum full of video game dorks, you manage to show yourself to be socially unacceptable by our standards.

I sincerely hope you are proud of yourself, as I get the feeling that being an arrogant jackass brings you the only joy you can find in your sad, pathetic existence.

[Ballbarian]

Temporary placeholder for Alexandria.

Ah yes. A new moderator with a temporary lapse in judgment and less sleep than he should have had before attempting such an incredible feet of stupidity accidentally moved this thread.

I am posting this in hopes that the players will be able to maintain contact until I can get the attention of the incredibly talented (and I hope forgiving) administrators, and get your original thread back to it's original glorious position in the forum.

(I am really sorry about that guys. Please forgive this newbie.)

Let the games continue (and feel free to throw rocks at me via pm if you feel the need, I have it coming. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif )

[DonCorazon]

FYI I am the admin should anyone need anything.
Ballbarian, no problem, it was mostly 40 pages of propaganda.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Omnirizon]

ah yes...

well it seems I owe Randevek an apology. I hope you can forgive all my ***-holeness.

I can be jagged and terse sometimes, never knew I came across so harshly. I was trying to make you mad a while back, but it's because I wanted you to attack me a particular turn (I had a nice trap set up). You didn't fall for it though.

-Omni

EDIT: there's really no need to reinstate the old thread, if we have this one. like DC says, just 40+ pages of propoganda. that's what has made this game so fun, by the way. I'm lovin it.

[Annette]

The temporarily and accidentally misplaced thread is now back (as you can see). No harm done, Ballbarion. The moral of the story is, please leave out the name-calling.

Annette

[DonCorazon]

Randvek said:Even on a forum full of video game dorks....



I prefer to be called a connoisseur of the electronic arts.

[Ironhawk]

LOL

Nice DC. I'm with you http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[cleveland]

It seems Tien Chi agents have managed to burn down one of my labs, but we were fortunately able to "distill the embers into many fire gems." Neat event, actually.

Marignon, now that Patala's gone AI, it would seem best to wipe him out ASAP, before the AI screws everything up. In fairness, you've been at war with him and the spoils should be yours, so I will not invade his territory for a half-dozen turns. But, after that, if he still boarders me, I'm going to invade him, as there's nothing worse than deflecting endless volleys of chaff. Good hunting.

Tien Chi, your Tartarians are formally invited to supper in Arcoscephale. Just teleport another in - no reservations necessary - as my Tarrasques just love the aged-to-perfection flavor that only an eternity in Tartarus brings http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

--------

RL: I'm going camping this weekend and, strangely, wireless internet access is somewhat limited in the forest. I've submitted my current turn and will be back before the next one hosts, so there's no need to delay anything, but I obviously won't be responding to PMs, forum taunts, etc.

Have a great weekend everyone.
cleveland

[hoo]

"Marignon, now that Patala's gone AI, it would seem best to wipe him out ASAP, before the AI screws everything up."


Too late. Patala already invaded me. Didn't have much defenses since Patala and I have been solid allies the entire game. And now I'm at war with them with my troops battling Marignon. Argh.


I'll also be gone next week on vacatin.

[Ballbarian]

connoisseur of the electronic arts



I am using that in my profile now.
Thanks DC! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[DonCorazon]

No problem Ballbarian http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Alexandrians, Looks like I may need a few extra hours this evening to get my turn in - thought it was due Saturday but see now it is Fri night my time. If there are no objections I will add 6 hours to the deadline.

Thanks.

[hoo]

yeah, postponing the turn would be very nice.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah no worries DC - Take your time. Cleveland's away too so I'm sure he doesnt mind either.

[Omnirizon]

i wouldn't mind more time this turn either.

i've been spending lots of time during this turn cycle preparing and testing pretenders for my new game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[DonCorazon]

Cool - I added 6 hours but if we need more time, just let me know.

[Omnirizon]

the armies of Argatha, after beginning to inflict losses in Pythiums capital, while suffering none of their own, but losing a few iron dragons to control spamming, decided to suddenly quite the field of battle before a single heavy hitter could take a swing. The commanders had just finished their buff sequence.

the routing mechanics are too goofy. If I had gone into that battle with only the two commander units, I might have won. because I decided to take the dragons with me, I lost as soon as a couple became controlled.

Its reasons like that that I don't give my SCs the nifty Wraith Crown I forged for them; they rout when their little entourage gets killed. Without it, they fight just fine.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah the routing mechanics can be really frustrating at times. Especially when the number of units you field in the battle starts to get really low. There were tons of complaints about this during the beta but its actually quite difficult for the programmers to accurately determine (in code) when the correct time to rout is.

[DonCorazon]

In response to a recent influx of Pangean aliens sneaking across the TC border, the Ministry of Domestic Observation has combined forces with the Ministry of Homeland Defense to implement a Watcher construction program combined with drafting the legendary Giant Eagles of Mt. Woo as patrollers.

Beware stealthy ones. We will be watching.
/threads/images/Graemlins/icon10.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/icon10.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/icon10.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/icon10.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/icon10.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/icon10.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/icon10.gif
Minister Fu

[DonCorazon]

Any objections to extending the deadline? Im stuck at work for a while and turn hosts in 4 hours. Looks like only one person has posted their turn, anyway.

[cleveland]

Of course, I do not object.

[Ironhawk]

No probs here. Strangely tho, it looks like Bogarus is going to stale, even with the extension.

[Ironhawk]

Hahahah!

You dirty bastards http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I felt that one coming for a couple turns but there wasnt much I could do about it.

[DonCorazon]

It appears there has been a coup d'etat in the halls of Tien Chi. General Za, with close ties to and casino holdings throughout Mictlan, has been executed and replaced with the zealous crusader Minister Chow who promises to clean up the corruption infesting the bureaucracy.

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

[cleveland]

Ironhawk said:
Hahahah!

You dirty bastards http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I felt that one coming for a couple turns but there wasnt much I could do about it.



http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Aw man, we were at our wits end trying to dream up new nonsense to feed you to explain why nobody wanted an alliance. And when you told me in your last message that "No I've never seen this before...normally the weak guys form an alliance against the leader" I almost hit the floor! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Anyway, now for some obligatory propaganda...

Nations of Alexandria!

The crusade against the evil demons of Mictlan has begun!

For too long our virgins have suffered unimaginable horrors at the hands of the Mictlan priests. Their cruelty is such that even sworn enemies - Pan & TC - have joined together to rid the world of the Demonic Menace.

This month, dozens of Mictlan provinces fell as simultaneous strikes hit across the vast Mictlan frontier. And the populous couldn't be happier; in outposts as remote as Resting Heights, chants of "Greetings, Liberators!" could be heard in the streets.

The Bloody Curtain has been thrown back, revealing the Lord of Hell with his pants down. The initiative is ours! Join the crusade! Be all that you can be! Etc!

-This message courtesy of the Pangaean Department of Strictly Factual Information-

[Ironhawk]

Hehehe, cleveland this nation is a paper tiger. Believe it or not I've been telling the truth about it being horribly disorganized and unprepared. Its taken me pretty much since I took control to get the nation to the point where I would describe it as remotely fit for late-game combat

You two have been fighting each other for a while know with late-game armies and late-game tactics. I expect you to pretty much roll over me. Not that I wont do my utmost to inflict losses on the way down but unless you are seriously unprepared (which seems really unlikely) this is going to be a one sided war.

I do, however, have one nasty trick left up my sleeve. And you definitely wont like it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[sansanjuan]

Ironhawk said:


I do, however, have one nasty trick left up my sleeve. And you definitely wont like it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



IH,
Lots and lots of those big woodticks... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

C and DC singing from the same hymnal ... reminds me of the saying "keep your friends close and your enemies closer.."


Have fun - all three of ya. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
-SSJ

[Omnirizon]

i'd like a delay while something is figured out.

I had a tomb oracle get attacked by an ashen angel. He easily won (the TO, that is) and the angel routed. As soon as it said, "XXX routs" (XXX is the person sending the angel, i conceal identities to protect the innocent http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif My TO just dissappeared. Now he's no where to be found. I really need that guy. This is definetely a bug. I can send my file or a recording of the replay to a nuetral party to confirm. but this is kind of game turning actually. I had a lot on this guy.


EDIT: I just rewatched the battle closely. I go ahead and reveal the details; I suppose I would anyway by posting in main about a bug.

My TO has Tart' Chains, and got attacked by an Ashen Angel. No big deal, he won easily by smacking the flucker over the head with them and enslaved the Ashen Angel. It immediately said "Independents Rout". But instead of the Angel disappearing, my TO disappears. The battle ends with the angle still standing there on the battle field, and my TO gone. Like I said. Definite bug. I don't suppose there is anything anyone can do about it? Game just goes on? If that's the case, oh well. I'd still like a delay to see if anything can be done. Plus I spent the last hour looking over this, and now I have to leave house and don't have time to finish turn. Might not be back in time tonight.

[DonCorazon]

I will add 24 hours to the turn. Maybe you can send it to Zeldor to look over?

[DonCorazon]

Or SSJ?

[Ironhawk]

The most common problem with battle report inconsistencies is versoin differences. I can't see how that could be a problem here but maybe just check? Or maybe mod versions?

[Zeldor]

Omnirizon:

Run the game with -ddd, view the battle and check the log later.

There is really no way for TO to lose that battle.

P.S. Tartarian chains suck, use some normal weapon for a cool SC like TO http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

P.P.S. LA Agartha is really great nation. I am really having fun with them in Kingmaker.

[Omnirizon]

the tart chains captured me 5 iron dragons and a terrasque in my last battle.

how can that possibly suck? i love those things now. boots of quickness + 2 attacks? I don't fite [censored] anymore, i enslave it. I was about to take my new high powered army and finish rolling over Pyth, but then the guy with to goods disappears. that bastard. took all the weed with him too.

[Zeldor]

Hmm... enslaving iron dragons? I don't think they are supposed to do so...

Anyway, I guess you should ask llamabeast to take a look at the file. And check it first with -ddd

[Omnirizon]

thanks for the help Zeldor. I've PMd llama, and posted in main about it.

[Ironhawk]

Hey Omni, I don't want to appear unfeeling to your situation - I've been bitten by some bad bugs, myself - but I think you may have to just bite the bullet on this one. I doesnt seem likely to me that the devs are going to intervene or (after looking at your post) that this is something that could be fixed with a server setting. At best its just going to be confirmed a bug and then added to the list for possible fixing in the next patch.

I think that we should proceed with the game but restrict ourselves from forging any of the artifacts that Omni's TO had on it at the time, giving him a chance to re-create them due to bug-loss.

[Omnirizon]

I figured that would be what happened. I'm doing a turn right now and should have it in within a couple of hours.

and sorry to everyone for holding up the game.


all you suckas lucked out. we were just about to storm the world too

[Ironhawk]

Did you have any artifacts, other than the Tart Chains which should be considered off limits?

[Omnirizon]

nope. i think those were it.

[hoo]

Ironhawk said:
Hehehe, cleveland this nation is a paper tiger. Believe it or not I've been telling the truth about it being horribly disorganized and unprepared. Its taken me pretty much since I took control to get the nation to the point where I would describe it as remotely fit for late-game combat





Well it is a mighty paper tiger. Seeing hundreds of demons with archdevils spreading the globe is pretty scary. If it makes you feel any better there was a coalition ready to hit Mictlan even before you took over. Basically, Mictlan was just far more powerful than anyone else. It's also very hard to stop a blood nation once they get the blood hunting going as Mictlan clearly had.

In other news: Patala is surging! Well not really but they're still alive. Bogarus has returned from vacation in the nick of time to face the mighty, mighty forces of Marignon in a huge fight that saw the valiant outnumbered Bogarus forces make their final stand against hordes of Marignon troops, fallen angels, demons, living statues etc. It wasn't a pretty sight.

[Ironhawk]

Perhaps, but that is what it is. Its like a giant with a glass jaw. I'm certainly not going to tell you how to hit it right tho.

Congrats to Agartha on getting the Well up, btw! Thats a hell of a spell.

[Omnirizon]

well we can't take credit.

one of the Ktonian Necromancers is a philanthropist at heart, he just loves people. He wanted a way to reducing misery worldwide, so started the Well of Misery foundation to siphon the essences of misery away from the world. He considered the death gems just a side effect, never his goal, he's fulfilled just knowing that children are happier. He donates the gems to Argatha, and in return gets a large tax write-off.

[DonCorazon]

FYI my laptop had a major malfunction this morning. I am hoping I can restore it and get my mostly completed turn for Alexandria but if not, there may be a delay. Will be on the phone with Dell tonight to see http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[DonCorazon]

Video card is dead. Replacement on its way in 3-5 business days according to Dell. I need to get the Dom 3 CD tomorrow night and install it and everything else on an old desktop at my place. I could try and do my turn from my work laptop but that would be maddening (can't watch battles, can't double click units, scrolling map is painfully slow, etc.).

So bottom line: next turn will likely need an extension of 24-48 hrs. Sucks cuz I already had most of the turn done but didn't hit end turn / send it in so my apologies. Ironhawk, feel free to just surrender or at least turn those big flying kitties around. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[cleveland]

Considering that 4th of July is a big holiday in the US, it may be best to simply delay until the holiday weekend is over, lest DC be scripting to the light of fireworks...

[Ironhawk]

No problem here. I'm going to be travelling tonight anyway so I dont mind a delay. Will give me a few days to see if I can pull any more rabbits out of my hat for TC to play with http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[DonCorazon]

Rabbits are cool, it's the flying fanged fire-blessed pussycats that give me nightmares. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[hoo]

just a warning as of last night the deadline is still today.

[DonCorazon]

Thanks hoo - I am up and running on the old desktop but will need some time to re-do the turn. Since we are almost on the 4th of Julio, I am going to add 48 hours to the deadline. Hopefully everyone is cool with that.

[Ironhawk]

Yeah please delay. I'm still in transit under the assumption that we were delaying until at least after the 4th. The very soonest I could do my turn would be later tonight if I'm lucky.

[DonCorazon]

IH - right now its set for 20:50 GMT on Saturday July 5th. God only knows what time that translates into on the west coast but I'll keep an eye on it and add more time as needed.

[Ironhawk]

OK! Much apologies about the extended delays, guys. With the forums down I was crippled while on the road. I got home on a flight this evening and was able to squeeze the turn in. Here we go!

[Ironhawk]

The people of Mictlan are weeping bitter tears this month at the loss of Buer, Friend of Mictlan. He bravely chose to stay behind and defend the fortress of Utgard against the hordes of Tien Chi and sacrifice himself in order to destroy them. Sadly, his mind was shattered by the blind luck of a TC sorceror and he turned on his own bodyguard. Our only hope is to face him again in battle, and to kill him, freeing him from the clutches of the most hated Tien Chi!

[DonCorazon]

Buer has been spirited away to a distant, nameless ministry building and incorporated into the bureaucracy. He is now known as the Buer, Minister of Rural Economic Development (not quite as impressive as Buer, Lord of Hell, but in TC we don't like superstars).

Sansan, if you still read these boards know that Utgard has been freed from the horrors of Mictlanese rule. Your ample supply of giant virgins are intact and will likely remain so for the rest of their lives - unless of course they like tartarians. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[sansanjuan]

DonCorazon said:
Buer has been spirited away to a distant, nameless ministry building and incorporated into the bureaucracy. He is now known as the Buer, Minister of Rural Economic Development (not quite as impressive as Buer, Lord of Hell, but in TC we don't like superstars).

Sansan, if you still read these boards know that Utgard has been freed from the horrors of Mictlanese rule. Your ample supply of giant virgins are intact and will likely remain so for the rest of their lives - unless of course they like tartarians. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



I do still read and enjoy the thread. The giantess maidens are looking forward to meeting "those Tartarian boys" they've heard so much about. They are not too fussy about nuances like their men being living/dead or undead, only that they leave the toilet seat down. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-SSJ

PS DC- Are you still happy with the Tarts given their mood swings brought on by the latest patch?

[DonCorazon]

They seem to go beserk almost every other turn and especially when I need them. So in the heat of battle they can be a liability if you are counting on them for something specific - like a particular battlefield enchantment. But I am learning to adapt: the key is not to make them the cornerstone of your strategy. If they show up for battle, great, but you cannot expect they will.

Overall, I quite like the change though I suffered most from it in this game, I think.

[cleveland]

Something very strange happened this turn...

I first get this mysterious message:
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/9107/antraxip0.th.jpg (http://img142.imageshack.us/my.php?image=antraxip0.jpg)

OK, so Antrax apparently was taking a short holiday in beautiful Drangiana.

BUT, he actually ends up in Silver Fangs, along with some serious Mictlanese firepower, as you can see:

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/9933/silverfangsex1.th.jpg (http://img68.imageshack.us/my.php?image=silverfangsex1.jpg)
Sadly, Antrax was ill-equipped for going toe-to-toe with the Lord of Corruption, and was swiftly returned to the presumably fiery depths of wherever exactly he's from.

Is this some sort of advanced Mictlan Jiu-Jitsu? Or perhaps a code malfunction???

Regardless, before he was so mercilessly slain, he was heard saying, "Pangaea has such an insurmountable gem income that I will return shortlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy........{dead}"

[DonCorazon]

Hmm. I am not aware of any spell that can do that...
Bug or wily secret veteran move -
Ironhawk?

[Ironhawk]

Hahahah, glad to see I've thrown you into confusion. However I'm surprised that you are surprised, Cleveland. After all I gave you a full turn's warning that I was going to do it. Perhaps in the future you will lend my words more credibility?

[DonCorazon]

Alexandrians,
By my calculations, the turn is supposed to host in 3 hours. I don't think I got the usual turn notification today, not sure if anyone else did either. It is supposed to give a warning 9 hours before the turn hosts. Anyway, Agartha and Mictlan have yet to take a turn and I am about to head out for the evening so I am going to add 9 hours and consider this the notice plus I will send one manually from llamaserver.

[Ironhawk]

Thanks for thinking of me. I actually did forget but then realized my mistake an hour or two ago. I'm in prior to the original deadline, I believe.

[Omnirizon]

yah just got my turn in. i did it yesterday but needed to think about one decision, so decided no to send it in immediately. then I had really bad hangover this morning and couldn't get out of bed to send in the turn before I had to go work.

thanks for the extension, i had expected to stale.

[Ironhawk]

Alas, the key northern front of the Mictlan world war has collapsed. Tien Chi's use of Enslavement totally butchered the last real army standing b/w them and my proud capital. While I'm sure the war will drag on for many turns it is now, quite clearly, over.

[DonCorazon]

From the Desk of the Minister of Foreign Invasions:

After a previous engagement that resulted in the complete slaughter of TC’s 2nd Brigade, including our nation’s most beloved heroes, the Three Amigos (3 abominations known for their silly death ray antics), TC is proud to announce a victory against the demonic fiends of Mictlan. After air dropping numerous flyers proclaiming the benefits of serving in a well-ordered bureaucracy with guaranteed lifetime pensions and free healthcare (including heart replacements for blood sacrificed relatives), we were able to convince a few Mictlanese to join our ranks. We also found a spell developed by an obscure TC scholar that had been languishing in the great library. That spell, Demon Cleansing, proved to be quite useful in clearing out an infestation of Mictlan’s netherworld friends.

Nevertheless, a huge force of fiends of darkness, vampires, lords of hell failed to show up for battle, disappeared from our scout’s view, and remains unaccounted for. TC’s citizens, fearing repercussions, have been told to remain indoors until these scoundrels can be located and dealt with. Any information on their whereabouts will be rewarded with a lifetime supply of delicious egg rolls.

[DonCorazon]

Given some of the forum traffic lately, I thought I’d make it clear that I consider Mists of Deception a lame spell to use period and a cheat if used in conjunction with retreating. I think everyone else here agrees as nobody has used it that I know of but if somebody feels otherwise better to deal with it up front. Anyway, this is Zeldor’s game and I know he considers it against the law.

Reason I even bring this up is I just noticed a game I was in, Figment, where it has become an issue, and on the main boards there is one guy saying if its not explicitly banned it should be allowed. But unless someone disagrees, the MoD - retreat tactic is banned (and I will never cast MoD period given the chance it turns out to be abusive) along with flooding the magic item chamber and other cheap moves obvious to most people.

And now back to our regular programming…

[Omnirizon]

as always, DC humor has a delightfully rarefied glibness. very entertaining to read.

[Ironhawk]

I dont retreat from battlefield enchantments of any kind. IMO, if you cast a spell of that nature your mage needs to stay on the field unless killed or routed by enemy actions. So under that premise I'm against the MoD exploit as well.

[cleveland]

Ironhawk said:
I dont retreat from battlefield enchantments of any kind. IMO, if you cast a spell of that nature your mage needs to stay on the field unless killed or routed by enemy actions. So under that premise I'm against the MoD exploit as well.



Took the words right out of my mouth. I've never used MoD & won't until it's fixed.

[Ironhawk]

This turn, the people of Mictlan were given a brief respite from the constant battering of Pan and TC. The beuracrats of TC, bogged down in thier own red tape, could not manage to push forward on the critical northern front. Instead they sent in thier enslaved Air Queen, Shaik, to do thier dirty work. Unfortunately for her, she was outsmarted by the cunning and devious Belial, Lord of Hell, who slew her in personal combat.

In other news, Mictlan made a mockery of the Pangean advance this turn, burning down a key fortress directly in the face of an oncoming horde. Additionally, serval key Pangean leaders fell prey to a surprise round of assassinations, costing them dearly in gems and personnel. Amusingly, this is the second time in this game that the owner of the Flying Ship has been assassinated by Mict.