Figment - Early Game (Started)

[Xavier]

I think the diplomacy in this game would make great reading in an AAR, if anyone can actually work out what the heck is going on....

[vfb]

Oceania is just sad because all our popcorn is wet and soggy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Velusion]

Corwin said:
But I dislike being blamed for something that I have no part in whatsoever.




O'Reeeeeaaaally? Well then Vanheim set us both up real good. I'll let the most deceptive player then take my lands (fitting!). I can't fight two wars regardless so I'm taking one of you with me!

Here I come Sauro! All my apes are gathering, all my long bows are ready. My demons are hungry and the gold is gleaming from my sacred gorillas! Our goal is to head strait for your capital and to rip down your castle and pillage the provinces to nothingness!

Pull back all your forces, marshal all your hosts!

If you want to talk terms do it through PM, but do it quick.

[DonCorazon]

Tis true the words of the Swamp King. Lanka you are the victim of having at least 2 screwy neighbors.

/threads/images/Graemlins/icon17.gif Gather round the fire and Yargulf One-Eye will tell ye the tale:

A particularly inept Van squad led by Stagbold the Flatulent was caught tramping around the Sauro swamps (apparently stealth and glamour were not enough to conceal Stagbold's problem).

This initiated a chain of events that led to a web of entangelement so complicated Vanheim almost declared war on itself:
Sauro went ballistic on Van, rightfully so, and threatened to turn all of Vanheim into lizard stew. Ths led to Sauro reaching out to Lanka to fight Van, Lanka agreeing to screw Van, Van begging Sauro to forgive Stagbold, Sauro retracting its offer to Lanka, Van declaring war on Lanka for entertaining Sauro's misguided offer, and Lanka threatening to burn Sauro to the ground.

And if you can figure that out then you know where we stand.

[Lingchih]

Velusion said:

Corwin said:
But I dislike being blamed for something that I have no part in whatsoever.




O'Reeeeeaaaally? Well then Vanheim set us both up real good. I'll let the most deceptive player then take my lands (fitting!). I can't fight two wars regardless so I'm taking one of you with me!

Here I come Sauro! All my apes are gathering, all my long bows are ready. My demons are hungry and the gold is gleaming from my sacred gorillas! Our goal is to head strait for your capital and to rip down your castle and pillage the provinces to nothingness!

Pull back all your forces, marshal all your hosts!

If you want to talk terms do it through PM, but do it quick.



That's the spirit! Tir had given this game up for dead, but now are emboldened. Tir now comes forth Sauromatia. You may pray for deliverance.

[Velusion]

DonCorazon said:
Tis true the words of the Swamp King. Lanka you are the victim of having at least 2 screwy neighbors.

/threads/images/Graemlins/icon17.gif Gather round the fire and Yargulf One-Eye will tell ye the tale:

A particularly inept Van squad led by Stagbold the Flatulent was caught tramping around the Sauro swamps (apparently stealth and glamour were not enough to conceal Stagbold's problem).

This initiated a chain of events that led to a web of entangelement so complicated Vanheim almost declared war on itself:
Sauro went ballistic on Van, rightfully so, and threatened to turn all of Vanheim into lizard stew. Ths led to Sauro reaching out to Lanka to fight Van, Lanka agreeing to screw Van, Van begging Sauro to forgive Stagbold, Sauro retracting its offer to Lanka, Van declaring war on Lanka for entertaining Sauro's misguided offer, and Lanka threatening to burn Sauro to the ground.

And if you can figure that out then you know where we stand.



You left out the part where you blab every PM that your neighbors send you to any other party for your own gain.

*note to self: Never negotiate with Don*

[Lingchih]

Tir Na N'og resents the total ignoring of their part in the war against Sauromatia. True, we are very weak in the overall scheme of things, but we have killed hundreds of Sauromatians, and repelled several attacks on our capitol by them. Our God Larry is undefeated against them. And we will soon strike back against their oppression of our former provinces.

[Velusion]

Feel the upcoming hurt!
http://arsnotoria.net/dominions3/bring-the-pain.jpg

[DonCorazon]

Velusion said:

You left out the part where you blab every PM that your neighbors send you to any other party for your own gain.

*note to self: Never negotiate with Don*



OMG that is the most disingenuous spin ever! Hilarious!


Corwin said:

Velusion said:
O' Reeeeeaaaallly?

Geez the amount of lies and false promises given out by both Sauromatia at Vanheim is pretty disgusting.

(edit: once the 3 turn NAP is over you can have my lands Vanheim. I'm going to bring all my resources to bear and try to completely squash Sauro if at all possible. Heck I'll even give you my gems when I'm done!)



Wow, wow, slow down Velusion. There are too many accusations floating around already.

I didn't lie to anybody, and I *never* break any in-game agreements, neither in this game no in any other games of mine. And I've been playing MP Dominions 2/3 for several years.

You have attacked me this turn without declaration of war. Vanheim did the same (or so I thought). Your attack I have repelled, since I saw it coming last turn when you have suddenly moved 2 armies to my border and ignored my messenger. But stealth attack by Vanheim caught me completly by surprise, and he conquered my province next to the castle that I just successfully defended against your armies. I assume you have put some scouts over my territory in preparation for your attack? They can confirm my words - see that new red province to the west of my castle?

Now because you and Vanheim both attacked me at the same time and at the same spot, naturally I've assumed that you are acting together in alliance against me. Clearly you are strong and experienced player, so ask yourself please - would you not assume the same if you would be in my shoes?

Since I knew I have no chance in hell of winning the war against both you and Vanheim, and after I didn't get reply to my "WTH?!?" PM from Vanheim, I have tried to convince you to break away from your alliance with Vanheim. Re-read my original PM to you that I've sent two hours ago. It is very clear that I was acting based upon an assumption that you and Vanheim are attacking me together. I spelled it in the beginning of the letter.

But then I have received PM from Vanheim who said that his attack on me was just an accident - he was simply moving stealth troops over my territory, and that he didn't want to attack me. He apologized for this accident and I believe him.

After that I've sent my 2nd message to you, explaining the situation in details and apologizing for my own role in confusion.

I swear that every word of this letter is true, that's what happened this turn. You can ask Vanheim if you like. And you have your own scouts to confirm it.

If you still don't want to believe me - it's your choice. But frankly I was very surprised that you blame me for some "lies and deception".

Now if you want to go after me with all you have - that's fine. You have attacked me this turn yourself, didn't you? If you for some unknown reason will decide to throw this game to one nation or another - I don't think it is a very sportsman-like choice - but it's your call, I can't do anything about it.

But I dislike being blamed for something that I have no part in whatsoever.




What did I say that Corwin hadn't already said?

What PM did I mention?

I had more to gain by remaining silent, but would rather defend someone who was accused of being deceitful and whose post referenced me confirming their words!

[DonCorazon]

Velusion said:
Feel the upcoming hurt!
http://arsnotoria.net/dominions3/bring-the-pain.jpg



Better to feel it now than later.

Wasn't Lanka supposed to be banned?
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Velusion]

DonCorazon said:

Velusion said:

You left out the part where you blab every PM that your neighbors send you to any other party for your own gain.

*note to self: Never negotiate with Don*



OMG that is the most disingenuous spin ever! Hilarious!




OO'RREEEEEEEEEAAAAALLLLLY?

You are trying to goad me to attack you instead of Sauro, but your vile tongue won't dissuade me!

Corwin told me strait up that you detailed our private PM conversation to him (before he went on to beg me to not attack him). After I agreed he played the "oops my bad!" and then you declared war on me.

I call Shenanigans!!!

But you are dead to me Don! Speak to the hairy ape hand Be-otch! Just take your lands and be gone!

[DonCorazon]

Velusion said:
Corwin told me strait up that you detailed our private PM conversation to him (before he went on to beg me to not attack him). After I agreed he played the "oops my bad!" and then you declared war on me.



Hmmm... what are you doing in this post? Oh wait, you are telling the whole world about your PMs with Corwin.

Note to self: Never negotiate with Velusion.

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

Vanheim calls for trial by war.

[Velusion]

Side Story:

So here I am starting out in early with like 48 enemy capitals within pissing distance. I start exploring. I fine Van first and then Helheim. Now I'm thinking F$&%(#( G#$@ D#%^!!!

I know I have to attack someone early because it's just way too crowded. Then I find Abysia. Now... see... I know I should attack Abysia. They suck. I mean EA Abysia just blows. Even if they have a double bless - its probably not as bad as Van or Helheim. So I'm thinking "Kill Tyrant" (whom I like, but someone has to kill him.).

Then I see that its *coobe* that plays Helheim. The coobe that stales. The coobe that once, months ago, broke a NAP with me in another game causing me to get eliminated (though I defeated him). The calls for vengence rose in me. I couldn't help myself. I had figured out his bless wasn't so bad... I thought... if I attack quickly enough with longbows I stood about a 50/50 shot of eliminating him. Even though Abysia was probably a better bet I attacked Helheim.

Luck was with me and I had my vengeance. The desire for blood was quenched. Everything is a little better in the world

Life was good. Even if I go down now... I'll still feel good about this game.

So to those that think the metagame doesn't matter... take my irrational behavior to heart. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Xavier]

and all this just because some stealthy troops got caught. this is rich stuff!

[Velusion]

DonCorazon said:

Velusion said:
Corwin told me strait up that you detailed our private PM conversation to him (before he went on to beg me to not attack him). After I agreed he played the "oops my bad!" and then you declared war on me.



Hmmm... what are you doing in this post? Oh wait, you are telling the whole world about your PMs with Corwin.

Note to self: Never negotiate with Velusion.

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

Vanheim calls for trial by war.



Ahhh No. If you can't tell the difference between my post and your treachery then go directly to jail. Do not pass go.

[Velusion]

Xavier said:
and all this just because some stealthy troops got caught. this is rich stuff!



What makes it even funnier is that Vanheim sent stealthy troops into Sauro... they got caught and Sauro accepts Vanheim's claim that is was just an "accident".

*rolls eyes*

Oh yea all those stealthed avati raiding bands that just attacked you? My bad about those. They were really just trying to deliver some cake. You can ignore all their pointy swords... Can we kiss and make up?

[Corwin]

Velusion said:

Corwin said:
But I dislike being blamed for something that I have no part in whatsoever.




O'Reeeeeaaaally? Well then Vanheim set us both up real good. I'll let the most deceptive player then take my lands (fitting!). I can't fight two wars regardless so I'm taking one of you with me!

Here I come Sauro! All my apes are gathering, all my long bows are ready. My demons are hungry and the gold is gleaming from my sacred gorillas! Our goal is to head strait for your capital and to rip down your castle and pillage the provinces to nothingness!

Pull back all your forces, marshal all your hosts!

If you want to talk terms do it through PM, but do it quick.




Yes, really. Frankly I don't understand your logic. You have attacked me yourself with no provocation and at the same time you seem to be more pissed at me than at any other nations who have decared its intention to attack you. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif

And I think you are mistaken about Vanheim - I believe his explanation about accidental attack with stealth army. He sent me a sincere apology at the same time that I got a reply from you. He had no way of knowing that I will try to convince you to abandon your non-existing "alliance" with him. Most importantly he could not know about timing - I was so pissed at him that I've jumped the gun and send letter to you, after waiting for only an hour or so for him to reply. I got his reply in another hour or so. He could not know that I would already try to contact you by that time, and that you will send reply to me.

Please think about it.

Now here is what I think really happened - you have attacked me last turn expecting to take my castle easily. Instead I've destroyed your army. (although it is clear it was a just a probing force - I can see your large armies of demons sitting in your castles.)

Next turn after you have attacked me you suddenly found yourself a target of attack either by one or by two (if Baaalz is serious) other nations. Which should not come to you as a big surprise, since you are Lanka, you are strong and scary, you sit in the middle, and you have delivered the first killing blow in this game by taking over stalling Hehleim. And did I mention that you are Lanka? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

There is no need to span vast conspiracy theories. You have made a choice to attack me yourself, didn't you? You are strong and experienced player, so I am sure you have seen similar situations in the past - big scary nation in the center of the map need to step very carefully, or it will get ganged as soon as it is distracted.

Vanheim certainly added a huge deal of confusion by accidently attacking my province on the same turn as you have attacked me, but it is just simply way too intricate and devious treachery to realistically pull it off in a context of Dominion diplomacy.

And regarding the confusion - while you didn't start it, I think to be completely honest you have to admit that you have tried to take advantage of it. You didn't correct me when I desperately tried to buy you off when I thought you are acting in alliance with Vanheim, didn't you? Instead you indicated that you might be willing to agree to my plea for you to switch sides, despite the fact that you was not acting in coordination with Vanheim.

Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with what you did. In fact, trying to take advantage of confusion in such situation is a smart thing to do.

What I don't understand that why are you still pissed at Sauromatia? Not to mention pissed at Sauromatia more than at anybody else? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif

Personally I don't think it’s a sportsmanship-like behavior - to throw the game one way or another, especially when it is done by the game's host and experienced player such as yourself. Personally I hate when game is intentionally being thrown into my favor and I always do all I can to refuse such "honors".

I am not afraid of your demon monkeys, and I don't mind fighting war that you have started. What I don't understand is your intent to try to destroy the nation that you have attacked, while sending your gems to the nations that have attacked you. I think it's very strange reaction. Perhaps I could understand it if I would offended you in the game or something, but we haven't even spoke or fought until you attacked me last turn. <shrug>

I can only hope that after calmly evaluating all facts you will reconsider your intentions and will realize that you have no reasons to being obsessed with destroying me while rolling over for others to take over your territory, and even helping them by sending all your gems. But if you still insist on doing after me with all you got for no reason whatsoever while intentionally throwing the game to one nation or another - it's your call, there is nothing I can do to stop you.

[Velusion]

Corwin said:
I can only hope that after calmly evaluating all facts you will reconsider your intentions and will realize that you have no reasons to being obsessed with destroying me...



Are you asking for a truce? Because right now I wouldn't mind fighting just Van after all his posts.

[DonCorazon]

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

[Xavier]

Where's that popcorn? This is better than TV, and the posts are coming fast enough I don't even have to entertain myself in between!

[gowb]

Holy [censored]...I wish my games had this much crazy diplomacy and drama. O_O Newbie games are kinda quiet and boring, no one seems to be talking at all (yet).

[Corwin]

Velusion said:

Are you asking for a truce? Because right now I wouldn't mind fighting just Van after all his posts.



I am asking for you to do what is best for your nation Velusion, that's all. I would hate to see the game thrown in my favor as much as I would hate to see it thrown in other nation's favor. I like fair fight much more than I like winning.

I am ok with you fighting me - this is the war you have started yourself after all. But you are not in danger of me invading your territory anytime soon - as you can see I don't have many troops nearby, your timing of attacking me was very good. I will do my best to defend my territory though.
I also humbly ask that all parties involved (including myself http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif ) take a deep breath and please calm down a bit.

You can call me naive, but I think this whole thing was blown way out of proportions into conspiracy theories territory. There is simply no realistic way all that could have been planned the way it happened - the timing of PMs is all wrong. If you like I can forward you all PMs I send and recieved from Vanheim regarding your and his attacks on my territory this turn. (with permision from Vanheim of course) and you can see their content and timing yourself. I am sure it will settle any doubts that you may still have - I am telling the truth.

What really happened here is an accident mulitplied by freaky coincidence. (you and Vanheim attacking my territory at the same time)

I think all parties overreacted, each party in its own way (myself included). Fortunately it all can get sorted out very quickly, before even the next turn. So I urge all of us continue this game in calm and rational way. This game was a blast so far (and thank you for organizing it Velusion). There are no reasons to derail it.

[Velusion]

Corwin said:
Fortunately it all can get sorted out very quickly, before even the next turn.



Still no answer to my question. Either publicly sign a 5-turn NAP with me now or I have absolutely no intention of giving you a chance to regroup. If everything was big misunderstanding then these is no reason to not immediately declare peace with me.

I'll actually probably throw my gems to someone else when I start to go under instead of Vanheim. I have this sneaky suspicion some of them would end up in your hands if I did....

[Corwin]

Velusion said:

Still no answer to my question. Either publicly sign a 5-turn NAP with me now or I have absolutely no intention of giving you a chance to regroup. If everything was big misunderstanding then these is no reason to not immediately declare peace with me.

I'll actually probably throw my gems to someone else when I start to go under instead of Vanheim. I have this sneaky suspicion some of them would end up in your hands if I did....



I do not want to sign peace with you, not after you attacked me last turn. If I sign peace now, you will conquer Vanheim, and than you will surely turn against me. Why would I want it to happen? If you are going to be fair, I think you will have to agree - it is not in my nation's interest to agree to peace in the situation that would allow you to become even stronger than you are now. Would you agree to something like that if you would be in my shoes, wouldn't you?

I can agree to 5 turns truce with you if you like. (you can call it 5 turns warning NAP, and cosider myself giving you the warning). I don't care what you do with your gems. But frankly I am a bit dissapointed that you are still using it as a blackmail - even after I spend so much time and efforts explaining to you what has happened and even offered to forward you all PMs that I send and recieved this turn so you could see their content and their timing yourself (with Vanheim's permission of course). If you are still hellbent on sending your gems to someone, send your gems them to whomever you want. Just don't send them to me, because I will not accept them, and it will be pain in the *** for me to re-send them to all nations equaly.

[Velusion]

Corwin said:

Velusion said:

Still no answer to my question. Either publicly sign a 5-turn NAP with me now or I have absolutely no intention of giving you a chance to regroup. If everything was big misunderstanding then these is no reason to not immediately declare peace with me.

I'll actually probably throw my gems to someone else when I start to go under instead of Vanheim. I have this sneaky suspicion some of them would end up in your hands if I did....



I do not want to sign peace with you, not after you attacked me last turn. If I sign peace now, you will conquer Vanheim, and than you will surely turn against me. Why would I want it to happen?

I can agree to 5 turns truce with you if you like. (you can call it 5 turns warning NAP, and cosider myself giving you the warning). I don't care what you do with your gems. But frankly I am a bit dissapointed that you are still using it as a blackmail - even after I spend so much time and efforts explaining to you what has happened and even offered to forward you all PMs that I send and recieved this turn so you could see their content and their timing yourself (with Vanheim's permission of course).



*rolls eyes*

Whatever... you say one thing (we can work it out) and then another (I won't accept peace!). A truce gains me nothing because you'll surely march on me immediately when it's over.

No it looks like I'm going to have to throw everything I can at you immediately.

[Corwin]

Velusion said:
*rolls eyes*

Whatever... you say one thing (we can work it out) and then another (I won't accept peace!). A truce gains me nothing because you'll surely march on me immediately when it's over.

No it looks like I'm going to have to throw everything I can at you immediately.



Velusion, I think you are very smart guy and you must have already realized what has happened this turn, and now you are just trying to play me and get the best out of the difficult situation that you have put yourself into by attacking me. And now you are accusing me of double talk. <sigh>

By "we can work it out" (although I never used these specific words) I meant "we can work out what has really happened this turn", and you know it very well. Once it become clear that Vanheim's attack on me was an accident I never indicated that I want any type of truce with you, and you know it. I said that much in my PM to you, remember?

You have attacked me, you made your choice, now you are trying to backpedal simply because you have realized that you neighbors are going to take advantage of the situation (surprise!)

So now you are threatening to destroy me utterly while helping nations who declare war on you to take over your territory and then you demand that I accept long lasting NAP with you while you deal with others. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif Sorry but it is not going to work with me.

Here is a bottom line - there are three possible scenarios for you:

1. If you agree with what have happened this turn (and you don't have to take my words - you have your own scouts to prove it) than you must understand that it is contrary to my nation's interest to agree to NAP with you in such situation. But at the same time you have no reason whatsoever to be pissed at my nation because I never betrayed or lied to you in any way, and because it was you who attacked me just last turn, not the other way around.

2. If you are still not convinced in this version of events but would be interested in seeing more proof, I am willing to forward you all PMs I've sent and received this turn (with Vanheim's permission).
These PMs, together with its timing, will show you beyond any doubt that I am telling the truth.

3. But if you still don't believe me despite everything that was said and your own scouts reports, than it doesn't make any sense for you to offer me NAP in the first place - because it would make me devious backstabbing bastard of such magnitude that Machiavelli himself would be a pale shadow near me. While it is kindof flattering, I am afraid I do not measure up even if I would try very hard. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

Anyway, do whatever you want, I am getting tired of all this drama.

[Velusion]

Corwin said:
Velusion, I think you are very smart guy and you must have already realized what has happened this turn...



Truer words have never been spoken.

"Van and Sauro sitten in a tree K-I-S-S-I....."

Edit: I forgot to mention that I'm still brining the hairy demonic ape pain!

[Dedas]

Pangaea quietly slips back into the dark forests from whens they came. The frost giants and the men from the south can fight over her land all they want. Pangaea is no longer interested in contending over such meager property.

Good game everyone. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Xavier]

Does this mean you're going AI so soon? And here I was dreading the mop-up process, stealthy armies popping up left, right, and center and my Jarls frantically dashing about trying to put kill them all off.

Anyway, good game Dedas http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Baalz]

Dem demons craaaaaazy. Dat why we gotta get rid uh dem all! Butt dun wanna half no combunayshun uh hairy, demonic, ape, or pain....perhaps ar declurashun uh wor wuz haystee.

Hehehe, perhaps my new sig:

"Butt dun wanna half no combunayshun uh hairy, demonic, ape, or pain"

[Corwin]

Newsflash:

The nation of Sauromatia is about to be assaulted by the huge horde of insane demonic monkeys. 400 of them will smash into our border castle next turn. They are clearly possesed by evil spirits, for all attempts of communication with them have failed. They seem to be very pissed at our nation because they have attacked us last turn. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif Clearly the warped demonic logic is beyond comprehension by mortals and gods alike.

Since they seem to be hellbent on destroying Sauromatia, in their bloodlust they have left most of their lands undefended. So if any neighbor of this corrupted nation would like to take advantage of their madness and get some of Lanka's territory, now is a perfect time to do it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Meanwhile the Sauromqtia Empire is mobilizing for a difficult war. Demons will not find themselves welcomed in our swamps. Our God will protect His land and His beloved children against forces that have escaped the Infernal Zoo.

Death to Demon Monkeys!

[vfb]

This month was most joyous for Oceania!

We thought we might succumb to tedium, tearing down the walls of the last Fortress of Atlantis.

And when our commanders in the Magical Satellite Control Room first viewed their overview of the world, it appeared that the large Rlyeh army on our border had perhaps made landfall, and would not be playing with us. So we were sad at first.

But it turns out Rlyeh loves frolicking just as much as Oceania. Their army had not gone ashore, it had just decided to play with us, oh joy oh joy! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

They even managed to send one Knight to The Great Playground Beyond The Barrier. We eagerly anticipate much more frolicking and playing with the funny Rlyeh fish.

Plankton

[Corwin]

vfb said:
This month was most joyous for Oceania!

We thought we might succumb to tedium, tearing down the walls of the last Fortress of Atlantis.

And when our commanders in the Magical Satellite Control Room first viewed their overview of the world, it appeared that the large Rlyeh army on our border had perhaps made landfall, and would not be playing with us. So we were sad at first.

But it turns out Rlyeh loves frolicking just as much as Oceania. Their army had not gone ashore, it had just decided to play with us, oh joy oh joy! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

They even managed to send one Knight to The Great Playground Beyond The Barrier. We eagerly anticipate much more frolicking and playing with the funny Rlyeh fish.

Plankton



Nice AARs vfb. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Out of character: For some reason reading Vtb's AARs reminds me of some wierd but very interesting alien races from "Star Control 2". Does anybody else remember "happy campers" from that game? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

Were they the Phunk? Or maybe the Orz?

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
Were they the Phunk? Or maybe the Orz?



Orz I think. Good memory AdmiralZhao. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

"Happy campers" who sometimes "dance" with "silly cows" from the "heavy space", et cetera. They made my ship's computer translators crash and burn. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

It took me a while to realize that by "dance" these cute little alliens meant "annihilate your sorry ***". Man, SC2 was such a great game... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Xavier]

I'm gonna ask about this well in advance:

Next Saturday morning (the 12th) I leave town for 8 days (returning the Sunday of the following week). I'll have internet access, but won't have total control over my schedule. I'm asking if we can switch to a 36 hour host schedule during that time. I should be able to play once per day, but I may only have one chance each day. I'm just worried that if I try to play one morning but the turn hasn't hosted, if it hosts shortly after I checked I may not have a chance to play again until the following evening, in which case I may stale a turn. A 36 hour hosting schedule will prevent that.

As much as possible I'll try to play often enough that the game will still host every 24 hours, but I may not be able to do it a few times and I'd really hate to stale at this point.

[Foodstamp]

I think we are probably getting to the point where just moving to a 36 or 48 hour schedule would probably be best.

[Corwin]

Foodstamp said:
I think we are probably getting to the point where just moving to a 36 or 48 hour schedule would probably be best.



I think so far nobody has expressed his wish to permamently switch to a longer host. I would say let's keep it on 24h host for as long as it is fine with players. This game has been moving at a good speed despite having many players, and everybody seems to be making their turns just fine so far. We can always switch to longer host once things will get more complicated later in the game.

That being said personally I have no problem with switching to 36h host for a week to accomodate Xavier when he will be out of time next week.

[Lingchih]

I think we should move to 1 hour host... since I am dead. Damn you Sauromatia!

[Corwin]

Lingchih said:
I think we should move to 1 hour host... since I am dead. Damn you Sauromatia!



You have put a good fight Lingchih. You have almost made me regret leaving you alone so you could rebuild your strength after I accidently destroyed your army early in the game, shortly after you had that crippling event in your capital.

But it is more fun this way.

Funny how none of my four carefully designed God-Killers have managed to take out your Cyclops. Since I didn't get "our god is dead" message I assume your Larry pretender is sitting with your mages with the castle? I guess now I will have to fight him again.

IIRC in Dom2 once you defeat the defenders of the castled province (before the siege), the defeated force had to retreat to neighbor province or die. But now they can just retreat into besieged castle, right?

[Lingchih]

No, Larry is dead. He jumped off a 1000 foot waterall trying to get away from the battle. Please siege my castle and kill me now.

BTW, Larry (what a weak name, it was a joke at the time) was one of the best SCs I have ever created. The guy was unstoppable. I will have to use him as a basis for future cyclops.

[Corwin]

Lingchih said:
No, Larry is dead. He jumped off a 1000 foot waterall trying to get away from the battle.



Damn. I was hoping to nail your pretender during the storm of the castle. I've spend several turns designing these 4 different God-Killers specifically to handle your nasty Cyclops. A pity that they never had a chance, since the battle was over too quickly. Have you seen the one called "Eye for an Eye"? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Lingchih]

yes, I saw him. He would have died. All would have died against Leisure Suit Larry the Cyclops. But... oh well. He suicided himself. Larry actually had no eye at all. It was a fake eye. He oriented himself totally by sounds.

Good luck Sauromatia. You face heavy odds.

[vfb]

Oceania once again wishes to trade water for death gems. We will send 5W for every 4D gems.

Plankton

[Thrawn]

Congrats to Fomoria for obliterating T'ien Ch'. Setting myself to AI. Sorry about the stale turn last time! Good luck everyone...

[Psycho]

Pangaea seems to be faring better on AI

[Dedas]

Yep, I handed the nation over to a more competent ruler.

[Psycho]

Don't feel called out. I just thought it was weird. It's probably because no one now takes Pangaea as a threat and it's left alone while some other conflicts are resolved

[Rathar]

If anyone else is thinking of going AI, contact me instead. Bummed to have been ceremonially tossed out of this game so early and I love playing underdogs. (provided they aren't 2 provinces with 87 unrest each sort of nations!)

[Dedas]

No problem Psycho. I didn't take your comment personal or anything. I just thought it was funny. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[FrozenFalcon]

R'lyeh resigns. Oceania has almost total control over the seas and I see no chance in beating him. Remaining armies of R'lyeh are now controlled by AI.

[Xavier]

Psycho said:
Pangaea seems to be faring better on AI



Yeah, I wasn't throwing enough resources at Pan. But I'm back on task now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Velusion]

This is moving to 48 hour hosting as I can't keep up and it is well over the 24 turn limit.

[Baalz]

Marverni is in need of earth gems. We can trade anything save astral pearls for them, and remember our friends.

[Psycho]

Deleted

[Foodstamp]

I don't appreciate your accusations. I found a scout in the province the same turn from another nation, so if you want to push the accusation, I can get the other player to verify that you are wrong.

If I could set my 100+ archers to that, the battle would have greatly been lopsided in my favor considering that your commanders were near immobile monkeys.

What really happened is I set my archers to fire at large monsters and thunderstrike caused your cheeseball blessed yavanas to hang out near your commanders causing them to take archer fire as well.

It was a good fight and I would expected more class out of another player, but considering your PMs since your pretender died, I would expect no less than accusations from you.

[Psycho]

There was only one PM and what I wrote was supposed to a phrase like one can see in a movie, when the bad guys hurt someone the good guy cares for and then he goes ballistic and kicks their asses. It was supposed to be funny, but maybe I should have put a smiley in it.

A larger number of your archers fired on my yavanas (pd archers I guess) and a smaller group came forward and fired on a single yaksha commander who was standing alone in the middle right of my placement space. They made no difference, because they fired at him till the end of the combat and didn't kill him. Of course I accept I can be wrong, but the yaksha is the same size as everyone else (although has 5 hp more), so I would think that those archers would shoot the closest large units in the biggest group. On the first turn they didn't even shoot at the units in their range, but moved forward.

I guess I was out of line in the last post. Sorry about that. But still it seems to me like they were targeting that one specific commander from the start of the battle. I would like to hear what the player with the spy thinks.

[Foodstamp]

I will send him a PM and see if he is willing to review the battle.

Edit: I sent the following PM to the Ermor player:

Hello hello.

I (Caelum) have been accused of cheating in the Figment game. I was wondering if you could review the battle with the scout you had in the Caelum province this turn to check for any cheating. The center of the accusation is whether or not I had 'hacked' my archers to fire at commanders only.

Thanks,
Caelum




I am posting it here as well so you will know I did not say something like "Lame Kailasa is accusing me of haxxors blah blah blah."

PS: I rechecked the battle and it seems someone had cast astral window on the battle as well unless it was you.

During the replay a squad of archers fires upon your commander at the south part of the screen. They do this for 2-3 rounds. I imagine they did this because they were set to 'fire large enemy monsters' and they considered him to be the better target because of the risk of friendly fire and he was in range.

After your guy moves out of range, they continue to fire upon the 'large enemy monsters' that are still within range. Thus, they could not be set to 'Fire at Commanders' because they would have moved forward to fire at your commanders.

[Foodstamp]

After continued harassment through private tells by Psycho calling me a cheater, I have decided to place him on ignore.

I delayed my last turn as long as possible so the game would not host, allowing Ermor to review the turn. The Ermor player did not get back to me until yesterday, after the turn had hosted.

I do have the turn in question saved in another folder.

My questions:

Now that the turn has hosted, is it possible for me to get a 3rd party to view the old turn in question, if I supply them the map files and the turn file?

[Velusion]

Foodstamp said:
After continued harassment through private tells by Psycho calling me a cheater, I have decided to place him on ignore.

I delayed my last turn as long as possible so the game would not host, allowing Ermor to review the turn. The Ermor player did not get back to me until yesterday, after the turn had hosted.

I do have the turn in question saved in another folder.

My questions:

Now that the turn has hosted, is it possible for me to get a 3rd party to view the old turn in question, if I supply them the map files and the turn file?



IMHO there needs to be more than just one instance of this behavior to constitute any sort of valid cheating accusation. Even if I were to examine the files and see something that looked questionable it could have just been a quirk of one battle.

If people see this sort of results when fighting Foodstamp multiple times we can go back and scrutinize battle results but with just one fuzzy lone instant I don't think it bears investigation without corroborative evidence.

FYI my opinion having played Foodstamp in the past is I don't think he would cheat knowingly - though I'd be happy to investigate any accusation if the accuser thinks he has definitive proof.

[Foodstamp]

I am willing to send the turn file to a neutral 3rd party in addition to whatever files I need to send in order for the player to view the turn. I am guessing the map graphic and file correct?

[Lingchih]

I'll review it. I already have the map, but am not in the game anymore.

What am I looking for? Fire Commanders order?

[Psycho]

I started a new SP and tried several times to react the situation by giving the archers fire largest order and couldn't get them to shoot the commander. I also never had such a situation in my dom3 playing, which I admit is not long.

I have also saved the turn file, because I wanted someone to review it at some point. But I guess if people who played with Foodstamp before find him a fair player, that is not necessary. I'll accept it as a quirk of the game engine.

If someone wants to review it after all, just out of curiosity, I can send the turn as well.

And yes, astral window was mine.

[Foodstamp]

I will attach the old turn here lingchih and PM you the password info. Thank you much!

[Lingchih]

Ok. That was some unusual targeting. I would not have thought the size 3 Yaksha would have gotten that much attention. But he was out on the flank by himself, and certainly could have drawn the attention of a group of archers, without using "fire commanders". I noticed that no other rear commanders were fired at. I think the Yaksha just stood out too much.

I see no evidence of cheating. In fact, if this was my battle, I would not even have noticed any discrepency. Merely a bit of bad luck.

[vfb]

Is this even technically possible?

It's possible to copy Bogus-squad scripts to another commander, but isn't it impossible to copy commander scripts to troops? Even if you Enslave Mind instead of Charming, and get the Bogus squad as troops, they will not have any script anymore that can be copied.

[Redfrog]

Mr Bogus and his followers are looting my lands now, in province 142.

[Tyrant]

"Unusual targeting" is not all that unusual in DomIII.

[Corwin]

Velusion said:
Here I come Sauro! All my apes are gathering, all my long bows are ready. My demons are hungry and the gold is gleaming from my sacred gorillas! Our goal is to head strait for your capital and to rip down your castle and pillage the provinces to nothingness!

Pull back all your forces, marshal all your hosts!





Velusion said:
Feel the upcoming hurt!
http://arsnotoria.net/dominions3/bring-the-pain.jpg




Velusion said:
I forgot to mention that I'm still brining the hairy demonic ape pain!



Heh, it looks like the news spread quickly, by the revelations of the divine oracle called "Army Graphs". http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Before I could check my turn this morning I got several PMs congratulating me on a victory over demonic horde and asking to describe on the forum what has happened. So here it goes, the story of demons and their doom...


First of all, I must say that for all above bragging and boasting and threatening, at the end Lanka went away with more of a whimper rather than a bang. In the beginning of our war, on the next turn after Lanka has suddenly attacked me, they have pulled all sacred demons they have been building since the beginning of the game, gathered them into one huge host and send it after me.
Since all Lanka's earlier conquests were accomplished against stalling Helheim, they had not suffered any losses since the beginning of the game.

All in all Lanka's Horde had 400 soldiers (about 60% demons, 40% longbow ape archers), backed by 17 battle mages, stuffed to the bursting point with various gems(mostly death). Each demon carried a double W9S9 bless, making them very deadly.

As Lanka's leader promised, orders were given to this Horde to raze Sauromatia's capital, ravage its land, and destroy the entire nation.

Even before I saw that horde I knew I am in deep troubles. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif Everybody knows that Lanka's is one of the most powerful nations in EA, to the point that many people consider it to be overpowered. It is nation that is banned in some MP games for that reason. And Sauromatia is very badly suited to fight Lanka - it has no sacred troops of its own, raiders or stealth troops to take advantage of Lanka's weak PD, no direct battle magic, no priests. And its hydras would be useless against archers and cheap non-capital sacred demons.

Still I had no choice but to fight with all I can. Fortunately I had 4 turns to prepare (or so I thought) before Lanka's juggernaut would reach my capital.

On the first turn of the war my border defenses were smashed to pieces and my border castle besieged. I knew I had no chance in hell of winning that early battle, but since I had scrambled about 120 archers to defend the castle and had PD of 30, I hated to retreat without trying to inflict some losses on attackers. So I've positioned my composite bow poison archers all the way in the back and scripted them to fire at Lanka's longbow apes and retreat. I hoped that my 70 soldiers from PD together with my decoys will delay demons for the first 2 rounds.

Big mistake on my part. I have managed to kill about 40 ape archers, but I've lost 90 of my own archers, who just couldn't retreat in time. W9 blessed demons have movement 30 - can't run from them. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif

Still during that disastrous battle I have seen a glimpse of hope for my nation. To put it blandly - looking back at Lanka's actions during all these turns since the beginning of the war, I have to say that I am very unimpressed by Lanka's leadership. They have made many mistakes that have cost them this war and their goal to destroy me - which could be easily achieved should they act differently.

The first mistake was made before the game started, during Lanka's design. They have taken W9S9 bless. Should they take N9 + something (best of all - N9E9) I would have no hope in this war - my only weapon against were my archers, and they would be useless against regenerating demons. S9 could be somewhat justified by making demons more difficult to ban by nations with cheap high level priests. (although demons have pretty high MR to begin with, which could be relatively easily boosted with spells). But W9 instead of N9?

But this was before the war began. Still even with S9W9 bless Lanka could have won this war with little losses. But their actions were their undoing.

Despite declaring the war on another nation, Lanka never bothered to build PD. They had PD of 1 in many of their provinces, including those on their border with me. Sure, Sauromatia do not have raiders, but what about remote summons? Using Arouse Hunger and Call of the Winds over several turns I was able to get 6 Lanka's province while they have been slashing and burning their path toward my capital. That helped a lot to partially compensate money and gem losses from Lanka's invasion. Even after Lanka knew that I was using these summons, they didn't raise their PD enough to stop these weak summons.

But their gravest mistake was that they have given me time to prepare.

Since the beginning of the war, my whole strategy for the approaching apocalypse battle was to rely on Fog Warriors spell and forging two air boosters by my pretendrer so my air mage could cast it. Unfortunately I was very far from reaching Fog Warriors. So I've cancelled all gem searches and forging, and directed all my mages to study to the point of dropping dead in the library, but give me that critical Fog spell. Without it I knew that no matter what melee troops I would build or summon in my capital, 400 demons and apes backed by a lot of necromancers casting powerful "Shadow Blasts" and air mages casting thunder strikes will tear through my melee screen in no time and will get to my precious archers, who were my only hope of stopping Lanka.

To my horror, I knew that I would not be able to research this lvl 7 spell in time. I needed 2 more turns that Lanka would needed to reach and destroy my capital. And I knew I could not delay Lanka's horde using my walls - Lanka's strength 18 demons would tear my walls on the first turn of the siege.

So I knew I was doomed - I didn't want to abandon my capital to the demon apes - it would leave me without my best weapon in this game - poison archers. One turn of pillaging by 400 demons and my capital would be turned into complete wasteland. But I could not defend it either - without Fog Warriors spell I had no hope to delay demons long enough for my poison archers (boosted by Flame Arrows) to slowly grind them down.

Fortunately Lanka itself has come to rescue. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif They got greedy. And they got arrogant. Because I was offering no resistance after initial border clash and my armies were retreating in front of the approaching demon avalanche (for I had no intentions of destroying my troops in hopeless battles), Lanka got overconfident. They have split their mighty host in 3 armies to grab more of my provinces. I took advantage of their greed and left my capital completely empty, forming two armies of my own and positioning them on both sides of Lanka's 3 armies, as if they are about to ambush his smaller eastern and western army. That has stopped Lanka's cold, and they have completely wasted one turn on putting his troops back together before continuing their march on my capital.

I've left my heavy infantry mercenaries with task to follow advancing Lanka's host and to take back my provinces behind Lanka's back. All other troops have retreated back to my capital - by that time Lanka's horde was sitting next to it, about to attack it.

By that time I've have pulled each and every battle-capable mage I had and 98% of my soldiers from entire nation into my capital for my last stand. But I still needed one more turn that I had available. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/fear.gif And because all my mages were researching like crazy in the capital, I didn't even had time to cast any summons. I had hundreds of archers, covered by about 50 weak melee troops. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

I was beginning to wonder if I am preparing an elaborate death trap for myself. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

Fortunately Lanka have made another of their blunders - they have given me turn that I needed. Perhaps they have been a bit intimidated by the unexpected size of my host that have appeared in front of them as if ready to defend my capital. (by that time my army was about 500 large - slightly larger than Lanka's by head count, but his were elite double blessed demons, and mine were archers )

Perhaps they have thought that I am ready to defend my capital, taking advantage of my first round as a defender, and capital high PDs. But whatever was their reason, for one critical turn they have wavered. They have wasted their last turn when they could still crash me by waiting for 40 more of their archers to join the main Horde. Ha! I had 2 castles building troops around the clock for my last stand, and during that extra turn my mages have managed to triple my melee defenders strength by casting all local and remote summons they knew on my capital.

But most importantly - I finally had time to forge last air booster, teleport my pretender into my capital for Flame arrows, and be able to cast that bloody Fog Warrior spell that would allow me to delay Lanka's unstoppable demons! The research and forging was still one turn away, but since Lanka didn't attack me, and since they have wasted another turn earlier, I knew that now I had time to get all my prepared pieces in place by the time of the final battle.

Next turn when Lanka had finally attacked they found my capital to be deserted. The tidal wave of 400 demons backed by prophet and mages carrying dozen of gems each have smashed ... nothing.

I imagine the look of the face of the Lanka's general. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

All my troops were sitting inside the castle. I just got my spell and a final booster this turn, and my mages were ecstatic. Because of the extra 2 turns given to me by Lanka I had now enough troops to stop Lanka from destroying my walls in one turn. But I was not going to wait for them, or let them pillage my capital. All the soldiers that I have been gathering to my capital , backed by each and every mage I had in my empire, have burst out of the capital, challenging Lanka to a defensive battle.

Lanka's general must have thought that I am nuts - first I have abandoned all my provinces without a fight, and even sacrificed my capital, and now I am not even waiting for demons to break my walls, that would allow me to take advantage of castle defenses, narrow gates, and the initiative in the first combat round? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/confused.gif

Nevertheless, it had happened - with battle cries that have shaken ancient walls of Sauromatia's capital, my troops were pouring out of the gate to meet the attackers. Lanka has finally met its match...


Nevertheless, the demons were ready. They had advantage of the first combat round. The opening salvo of dozen of Death Blasts have darkened the skies before falling down on my troops. It was deadly. Without protection of my battle magic, the first several rows of my defenders were completely annihilated. The thunderstrike and opening salvo of 180 longbow ape archers have completed the devastation. About 10 percent of my army was annihilated in the first round, before melee would even started.

As the final killing blow Lanka air mage has casted Arrow Fend on all their troops, greatly reducing the effectiveness of my fire.

And the avalanche of 200 sacred demons rolled forward, covering an entire distance between our armies in one round, and stopping just few squares away from my troops and my archers. 200 blessed demons were posed to smash my weak melee defenders (those of them who somehow survived the initial devastation) and immediately massacre my archers. Next combat round sacred demons were going to build a high temple to their God from corpses of hundreds of my archers they would slaughter. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif

The demons never reached my archers.

Now it was my turn to cast spells. Flame Arrows went first, then Fog Warriors. Then Anti magic, to give my low-MR troops a chance to resist enemy Shadow Blasts.

And then my several dozens of nature mage have begin their deadly work, summoning ants, swamp flies, anything to delay demons. At the same time my best summoned and national melee troops, which I have positioned all the way in the back to prevent them from being destroyed in the first combat round by enemy mages and archers, have poured forward. This wave of battle summons and melee troops has met an approaching demonic juggernaut just few feet in front of my forward archers.

And demons have stopped.

The battle lasted for 20 turns or so. Each turn quickened demons and mages were destroying hundred of my weak summons, trying to break through to my archers who were raining death on them from above. And each turn my carefully scripted mages were summoning more and more creatures, to replace the fallen. Arrows Fend and high hitpoints have given demons good protection against worst of my missile fire.

But flame arrows and poison were slowly grinding the demon horde down, while their shock troops could not break though my melee screen.

The ape longbow archers were the first to rout – after all, half of my archers were scripted to fire at them. The demons backed by enemy mages lasted longer. But eventually, the whole horde routed. The proud demons, who have arrogantly bragged to destroy Sauromatia and its capital, were retreating. Fleeing before swamp flies and ants… http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

The demons still had most of their mages, some carrying gems with them, and about 70 of their soldiers survived the massacre. But… Both provinces they could retreat to were snatched behind their back by my troops. Lanka's leader has never learned the virtue of province defense...

Overall I have lost about 140 soldiers in that battle. But not a single demon from the Lanka’s Horde has survived their apocalypse.

And that concludes the story of the great Demon Monkey March on Sauromatia's capital. I hope it has satisfied the curiosity of those who were wondering what had happened.

Oberon,
Lord of Sauromatia

[Redfrog]

/threads/images/Graemlins/Fox.gif
http://xs126.xs.to/xs126/08161/fox-news113.jpg

[Corwin]

Heh, apparently that battle had more observers that I have suspected.

Nice picture Holyfrog, but could you please edit that screenshot to make it a bit more narrow? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif That image is so wide it made this thread difficult to read due to reformatting of all posts on this page, making them wider than one screen. (at least in my IE browser)

[Velusion]

To help translate long post: Vanheim and Sauro are the defacto leaders (as a team) in the game now and Lanka is outta here!

Don't trust a word either say - especially Vanheim. They will promise anything to anyone to get what they want, but in the end they are always allies!

P.S. I spend about 5 minutes on each turn over the last couple weeks and never watched any replays I'm not surprised I lost (it was just a matter of time in any case).

If anyone needs me for admin purposes for this game PM me as I won't be watching this thread anymore.

[Corwin]

Velusion said:
To help translate long post: Vanheim and Sauro are the defacto leaders (as a team) in the game now and Lanka is outta here!

Don't trust a word either say - especially Vanheim. They will promise anything to anyone to get what they want, but in the end they are always allies!

P.S. I spend about 5 minutes on each turn over the last couple weeks and never watched any replays I'm not surprised I lost (it was just a matter of time in any case).




So much for graceful losing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

Bragging in many posts how you will destroy Sauromatia and raze its capital, dragging your entire nation across half of the map to get to my capital, and then later when instead of geting your prize and razing my city you had your *** handed to you on a plate claiming that it happened because you didn't devote enough time into making your turns? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif Tsk, tsk.

[Foodstamp]

Nevermind, not worth getting mad over a game.

[DonCorazon]

Velusion said:
\
Don't trust a word either say - especially Vanheim. They will promise anything to anyone to get what they want, but in the end they are always allies!
\




Do not let the death cries of a bitter and defeated nation sway you.

Our trading partners and NAP friends can attest to the honor of Vanheim.

Back to the game and having fun:

Vanheim shall be releasing a new version of the DRX 9000, the latest in Dwarven Hammer technology with a new flexi-grip shaft. While it provides the same forging bonus as a regular Dwarven Hammer, it is much more stylish and reduces blistering on those tough 40+ gem forge jobs.

PM your offers to DC.

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

[Rathar]

Greetings again

Holyfrog feels unable to continue with this atm and asked if I would step in as a permanent sub. I hear "I" have peace with all my neighbors as well as 3 n.a.p.s with the frolicking fishmen, the blood hunters of Mictlan and with mighty Ermor.

We would love to keep those treaties if possible and will even go so far as to consider them kept (Gimme a turn or two folks!:)) unless We receive notice otherwise.

It's been looking like a fun game to be in and I bear no ill-will towards the frolicksome water peoples!

[Corwin]

The Empire of Sauromatia is looking to aquire some earth gems, for despite our best efforts in searching our earth income is quite low. In exchange we can offer any other gem types or blood slaves. We can also forge various con6 items (including skull mentors, flying boots, amulets of reinvigoration, et cetera) in exchange for earth gems.

[Kojusoki]

I cannot login - have you got problems also?

ok, works

[Corwin]

Out of all nations who have started the game, only half are still alive.

Congratualtions to everyone who has made it this far!

[DonCorazon]

Cheers!

Look for the new DX 10,000 Dwarven hammer with a commemorative engraving celebrating the slaughter of Lanka - place your orders now as this will be a limited edition release signed by Master Dwarf Smith Gloin!

[vfb]

Oceania seeks the Crone of Ermor, who is being shy on account of her age, and declined to frolic with Oceania's fine gentletrolls.

Where oh where have you hidden yourself, Shadow? It's time to trip the light fantastic!

[Kojusoki]

Currently, he is in a SPA in a worm province of Abbysia. Oceania's gentle trools should go back to the ocean, as they smell pretty bad - water bless doesnt mean that they dont have to brush their teeth regulary http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[vfb]

Are you kidding? It's the smell o' the sea, the spice of life! Grows hair on yer chest! If Ermor doesn't like the winds blowing in off the coast, we happily suggest they relocate further inland.

[AdmiralZhao]

The Forge is simply to powerful to remain standing. I am withdrawing from my NAP with Ermor.

[Baalz]

Yeah, I guess I'll go ahead and attack him to.

[Corwin]

Baalz said:
Yeah, I guess I'll go ahead and attack him to.



You are kidding, right? Marveni's troops have been pouring into Ermor for the last several turns. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Kojusoki]

The nation of Emor will stand forever! Even when our lands will be pillaged and people killed... Astrologes scry, that Emor empire will reborn, will stand up from the ashes and will bring hordes of deadly avengers to punish those who dared to invade the holy lands...
But these days, preapre to the final battle...

[Baalz]

Bah, the only way Ermor is coming back is as undead.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Kojusoki]

Being alive is being undead... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
We are working on this;)

[vfb]

DryaUnda has kindly agreed to take over the position of Oceania. He'll take over starting this turn.

Thanks everyone for all the fun in the first half of the game!

[Kojusoki]

Thanx vfb - the crone was starting to think warm about your fine gentletrolls http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

I'm having trouble connecting to the server. I've tried opening multiple instances and connecting with each of them them, and I've tried re-booting the computer. Is anyone else having trouble? Could we re-start/check on the server? I'd really like to not stale this turn. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Rathar]

Down for me as well.

[DonCorazon]

Same here.

[AdmiralZhao]

Well, in case a rollback is needed, I've saved a copy of my 2h file to http://www.2shared.com/file/3221734/bcbb31eb/early_mictlan.html

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
Well, in case a rollback is needed, I've saved a copy of my 2h file to http://www.2shared.com/file/3221734/bcbb31eb/early_mictlan.html



If you hane't done it already Admiral Zero, you need to contact our host in PM. Due to the fact that his nation was kicked out of the game he is no longer reading this thread.

[AdmiralZhao]

Yep, I did it last night. I even woke up early to try again, though it looks like I missed the host by about 20 minutes.

[Corwin]

Sorry to hear that.

I am unable to connect as well. Looks like server needs to get a kick in the butt.

[Kojusoki]

This is a mighty power of Emor's Global Enchantment, preventing us from anihilation.

[Corwin]

Lol.

[AdmiralZhao]

Little known fact: In case of 3 consecutive stale turns by all players, the victory is awarded to the player with the most Sanguine Dousing Rods. It's in the Dominions by-laws, section 18.3.4.

[Xavier]

haha, right i'm sure

[Velusion]

Sorry - just saw the PMs.

I'm not sure why people can't connect (people in Priori and Fallacy doen't seem to have a problem).

I've restarted the game - let me know if it fixes it.

Also - I havne't checked the backups but I should be able to roll back to right before a hosting if need be.

[vfb]

Is it the 'Stuck in Waiting for Game' problem?

Before I subbed out, I had maintained a continuous connection to the server with a dead 'Waiting for Game' window. That prevents the problem for other players too.

If someone else could keep one of the dead windows open, that will fix the problem. My PC will be shut down sometime in the next few days, so I won't be able to tie up the dead connection.

[DonCorazon]

So are we playing on or do we need to roll back for anyone? I am fine for rolling back if this caused someone to stale.

[AdmiralZhao]

I would like to rollback, as this turn is fairly important for me. I've posted my .2h file on the previous page of this forum if Velusion needs it to process the new turn, or if Velusion can just roll the game back, I could connect and send in the turn from there. Thanks.

[Velusion]

I just checked my backups. Unfortunately for figment I didn't create the folder where all the backup files would be deposited into - so the backup script has been running all this time in a failed state. I fixed it - but it's a little too late here... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

So I can't restore. My apologies AdmiralZhao http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif. Hopefully some of your warring neighbors will give you a one turn break to at least recover a bit.

[Xavier]

post deleted

[Corwin]

Sorry Admiral Zhao.

At least you are not in war with any other nation, so you only lost a turn of forging/summoning.

Perhaps other major nations could send Mictlan 5-10 gems each, to compensate for the lost turn, that was not his fault? I am sending 10 gems myself.

I think me and Mictlan are likely to come to blows at some point in the future, unless one of us will be crashed before that. And if such war will happen, I would hate to have any unfair advantage over my opponent.

[Xavier]

Niefelheim was going to invade Mictlan this turn. While we will not be sending gems, we are giving an extra 1-turn grace period on our NAP to make up for lost time deploying and recruiting troops.

[AdmiralZhao]

Thanks for making the effort Velusion, and thanks for the gems/extension et al. Don't worry about it too much though; this is the perfect excuse for me to use in case I don't win this game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Kojusoki]

Emor is in need of gems. We can forge anything you want (and is still avaible) with 50% interest.
PM if you need something

[Xavier]

Sauro is driving me nuts... he's logged in at least twice today in a period of 6 hours, but still hasn't submitted a turn http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[DonCorazon]

He must be getting ready to attack someone...

[Xavier]

He's cutting it close... logged in with no turn submitted and 20 minutes to host....

[Corwin]

Yes, I was. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I had endless chain of meetings today at work (we went into code freeze mode yesterday). In between I was trying to squeeze few minutes now and then to make my turn, while keeping an eye on the game timer. Since until the last hour before force-hosting game timer is very inaccurate (it can say that there are 2 hours left before the next hosting, when in fact it's 1 hour and 1 minute), I had to log in several time, which has driven poor Xavier nuts. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Sorry about it. This turn is going to be sloppy for me - no site searching and just a basic forging. But at least I have managed to cover most important things. (or so I hope)


EDIT(after looking at new turn): All right, it looks as if an impressive Marveni teleportation blitzkrig invasion into the southern lands, which has came close to annihilating two smaller nations, has been repelled. Nations of Ermor and Kailissia are saved from druidic tirany.

Unfortunately I have no idea where Marveni came from, for their remote homeland lies far away, somewhere beyond realm of Mictlan.

But even now, my scouts are spreading in all directions, listening, searching. Druids may hide for a while, but they can not hide forever. Sauromatian Empire is coming, forest dwellers. Can you feel the smoke from the burning sacred groves in the air? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif It is the omen of the things to come.

[DonCorazon]

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying:
Valhalla, I am coming!
On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
How soft your fields so green,
Can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war.
We are your overlords.

Mictlan - we give notice that our NAP-3 will expire turn 48.
Vanheim is coming! May your jungle warriors die with honor.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/beerglass.gif /threads/images/Graemlins/Dagger.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

Man, I'd hate to be those Mictlan. Fortunately, us Miclan have NAPs with all our neighbors. Except for those so called "giants" of Nieflheim.

[DonCorazon]

Admiral, despite your lawyerly skill, you certainly don't want to have to listen to me sing my Led Zepplin "Vanheim" war anthem again.

Van cancels all NAPs with any nations whose names begin with the letters "Mi.."

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

[Baalz]

The snake king of the swamp should focus more on chewing, and less on swallowing things which still claw. The declaration of victory was likely a bit....premature. Defeating a handful of unsupported province defense they wonder why the nation of Marverni strikes fear across the globe. Is this all there is to the boogie man? But wait, what is that gleaming from the trees. Are all those eyes?!?

[Corwin]

Baalz said:
The snake king of the swamp should focus more on chewing, and less on swallowing things which still claw. The declaration of victory was likely a bit....premature. Defeating a handful of unsupported province defense they wonder why the nation of Marverni strikes fear across the globe. Is this all there is to the boogie man? But wait, what is that gleaming from the trees. Are all those eyes?!?



My Witch Kings love chewing. And they prefer chew things that are still alive. And clawing adds just the right bit of "sharpness" to the food. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

As for unsupported province defense - I would not call your Earth King who I have killed in one on one elemental royalty duel to be a cannon fodder.

Yes, I see the gleaming eyes in the forest. Does it mean that the second wave of teleportation attacks is coming? I surely hope so, for I am running out of things to kill. And I am one of the nations who have NAP agreement with Mictlan, who seems to separate me and your remote homeland.

[Baalz]

Man, I have to say this is the most enjoyable game I've had in awhile. I'm (hopefully) not going anywhere for awhile, but just had to say GG guys! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Xavier]

Wow, one of my gem-carrying mages just ignored his script completely in order to burn 6 gems against an army that didn't stand a chance of causing even one casualty http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

First time I've ever seen anything quite so terrible done by the combat AI.

[Corwin]

Baalz said:
Man, I have to say this is the most enjoyable game I've had in awhile. I'm (hopefully) not going anywhere for awhile, but just had to say GG guys! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



I agree, it is a very interesting game. Also it seems to be surprisingly well balanced - no clear leader but several strong nations, all in war with each other, each leading in some areas but being weaker than other nations in other areas. And the smaller nations are playing significant role as well, taking opportunity shots while big neighbors are distracted with each toher.

Also IMHO diplomacy/role-playing side of this game is very intriguing as well.

[Corwin]

Now that was an interesting turn. I have fought 2 50-turns battles with Marveni forces.

The battle that I won I consider to be a lost one, since their damned Earth King simply retreated after killing tons of my poison archers, without taking a single scrath in battle.

And the one I have lost I consider to be a victory (although very costly), since despite a losing large portion of the army against PD supported by powerful mages and SCs, I have managed to force to rout most of enemy commaders, kiling them in the process. At the end I I was forced to retreat due to 50 turns limit in front of enraged Adomination (one of the original two who has survived), who could not care less about turns limits, and who kept eating my troops and thugs alike in its berserker rage.

The tides of war are often strange and misterious.


All in all Marveni had convincingly shown that they indeed have teeth and claws, and are not afraid to use them. However their isolated pockets of resistance in southern lands keep shrinking. Soon they will have to either teleport massive reinforcements in, or prepare to evacuate their remaining forces, or make their last stand in the South.

[Xavier]

Arsnotoria.net appears to be down.... PMing velusion now.

[Baalz]

Corwin said:
Now that was an interesting turn. I have fought 2 50-turns battles with Marveni forces.

The battle that I won I consider to be a lost one, since their damned Earth King simply retreated after killing tons of my poison archers, without taking a single scrath in battle.

And the one I have lost I consider to be a victory (although very costly), since despite a losing large portion of the army against PD supported by powerful mages and SCs, I have managed to force to rout most of enemy commaders, kiling them in the process. At the end I I was forced to retreat due to 50 turns limit in front of enraged Adomination (one of the original two who has survived), who could not care less about turns limits, and who kept eating my troops and thugs alike in its berserker rage.

The tides of war are often strange and misterious.


All in all Marveni had convincingly shown that they indeed have teeth and claws, and are not afraid to use them. However their isolated pockets of resistance in southern lands keep shrinking. Soon they will have to either teleport massive reinforcements in, or prepare to evacuate their remaining forces, or make their last stand in the South.



Yes, well, this was no less annoying for me. If it hadn't been for that damn ankh my earth king would have won handily and all those retreating mages (2 fire kings! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif ) would have had the safe haven I planed. Also, if the stupid druid had actually hit abomonation #2 with the iron warriors instead of the PD next to him you'd have had 2 invincible abominations instead of one and likely none of my mages would have retreated at all.

Ah well, I will say I very much like this earth king configuration...he's proved quite resilient. To follow up last turn's 50 turn marathons an air queen (aegis + armor of virtue + ember) trapezed in to visit my King of Rock. After wailing away at the poor dude for 50 turns she decided that was futile and bugged out...right to the territory the King of Rock was headed to. *sigh*. At least this time he managed to plug her once and trip the ritual of returning so it didn't go the whole distance. I guess I need to work on bringing my offense up to where my defense is. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[DonCorazon]

How do you log onto server without getting your turn uploaded? I just logged on to see how much time was remaining (but with no time to take my turn) and now it says I have taken my turn. I won't have time to actually do my turn until this evening so would hate to have the turn host before then. Can someone please hold off on submitting their turn for 24 hours? Any way to avoid this in the future?

Thanks, Vanheim

[AdmiralZhao]

Once you logon and download the new turn, you should see the nation selection screen (and your nation's flag should still have an "X" over it). At this point, exit the network game, and then play your turn the same way you would a single player turn. Once you are happy with the turn, reconnect to the network game, and your moves will be immediately uploaded.

[DonCorazon]

I did that last night and I guess when I went to log in this morning to check the timing the turn got uploaded without me having done anything. Btw, i was afraid that might happen so checked velusion's server web page first which said the turn was hosting in 4 hours - that is what got me scared enough to try logging in again.

[Corwin]

DonCorazon said:
How do you log onto server without getting your turn uploaded? I just logged on to see how much time was remaining (but with no time to take my turn) and now it says I have taken my turn. I won't have time to actually do my turn until this evening so would hate to have the turn host before then. Can someone please hold off on submitting their turn for 24 hours? Any way to avoid this in the future?

Thanks, Vanheim



Yes. What I do is connect to the server, and when it asks for my password just hit "enter". It says "incorrect password", and shows you how much time remains until next hosting.

[DonCorazon]

That is the trick I needed. Thanks.

[Corwin]

Ahhh, the smell of Leprosy in the morning, covering my two armies. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Sick.gif Thanks Oceania.

Some of these troops may die from the desease. But they will rip the tails from your land-crawling fishes first. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[Kojusoki]

AdmiralZhao - what is your attitude towards the Forge of the Items now? I wonder if you still belive that "The Forge is simply to powerful to remain standing" and the owner shouldnt have the NAP with anybody http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

You make a good point. I promise to attack the current owner of the Forge with the same vigor and ferocity that I attacked Ermor.

[DonCorazon]

The latest Led Zeppelin anthem for Vanheim is now Stairway to Heaven as that appears to be where we are headed after several trouncings by the creepy jungle warriors and their voodoo magic. Our manly warriors could not handle all the strange mojo and Vanheim is set to crumble rapidly without the beer-swilling leadership of D’rek.

And yes, this will delay the release of the long awaited DX 14000 Vibro Series of authentic Vanheim dwarven Hammers.

[AdmiralZhao]

Poor Vanheim. Destroyed by a simple typographical error, declaring war on Miclan when they meant to declare war on Mictlan.

On a separate note, we are selling mineral rights to the land around Abysia. Five major armies have been destroyed there, and we estimate there is a couple hundred gems worth of items mixed in with the topsoil. Act now!

[DonCorazon]

hey - we did all we could to improve Vanheim literacy - it just wasn't enough!

[AdmiralZhao]

Well, I'd say things are going exactly according to plan. The Formorian giants did precisely what I expected of them, and have walked (or trapeezed) right into my trap. Now all that remains is to snap shut the jaws of the trap on them.

[Rathar]

No doubt, but I am not alone and it was at least an entertaining turn or two.!

[Corwin]

Damnit, I have stalled this turn - couldn't connect in the last few minutes before hosting. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

I know your pain Corwin, kind of. I waited till the last minute to do this turn, and when I tried to connect, it stalled. I thought I was too late and the turn was already processing. So I took a shower, brushed my teeth, and spent the entire time berating myself for waiting too long. I just logged back on to get the new turn, and there were still 3 seconds left on the clock. Hooray for not wasting 2 hours on a stale turn! Also Hooray for my perfunctory dental hygiene!

(although upon examination of the turn, it looks like my air mage still decided to ignore my orders during a rather crucial castle siege.)

[DonCorazon]

Vanheim bids the nations of Figment farewell..we are set to AI with 2 provinces left and no resources left. It was a very fun game and we learned a lot from such skilled opponents. Good luck to all!

[Corwin]

Good game DonCorazon, and farewell.

[AdmiralZhao]

Good game DonCorazon. way to go out with a bang (or 4). At least my DX10000 Vanheim dwarven Hammers will go up in value now that no more will ever be created.

[AdmiralZhao]

The doom of the giants is at hand. In the East, the true Nieflheim giants have been driven to extinction, as their last hero has ran from the field of battle and into the pages of history. All that remains of their culture are a few hunchbacked and diseased mages, hiding in their castles and awaiting the inevitable end.

In the East, the Formorian giants meet a slower but no less deadly fate. Leaving the cold and barren mountains of their home for the rich and warm provinces of Mictlan, they now face the slow but sure rot of their warrior ethos. Their progeny, raised in the wealthy lands of Mictlan, have no work ethic or taste for battle, and instead want only to play video games and get BA degrees in Marketing and the Visual Arts. What a sad fate for the noble giants!

[Rathar]

Chicken-catcher the first patrolled the walls of Miclan (correct spelling for this game!) and listened to the Miclanese scribes pronounce their declaration. Their words confused him as was not he outside the walls of Miclan itself?

"Surely they would have released whatever sleevy tricks they had before this?" he wondered. "Their presence has been eradicated from the entire east!" and with that reassuring thought he resumed his slow patrol of the capitol's walls.

[AdmiralZhao]

No no, the trick is that your people will get lazy and fat off of my former land. Ahh, forget it.

[Corwin]

West, East...

You all are lazy and decadent northern heathens. In the virtous swapms of the South there are no lazy or fat people, for all unfit for sacred service to their God get frayed alive and then eaten by Witch Kings or their trusted servants. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[AlgaeNymph]

Does anyone know why I got a stale turn while I was in the middle of one? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

I think that once the time limit is up, the game automatically hosts, whether someone is in the middle of a turn or not.

[Rathar]

Fomoria just received 100 earth gems from X nation. If you are X nation and you didn't mean for that to happen let me know and they are yours once again.

Otherwise thanks tons!

[AdmiralZhao]

Heh, I think those were meant for me.

In other news, my first attacks on Sauromatia will land in Late Fall. I encourage all other nations to join in, as this will be our last chance to stop Sauromatia.

[Rathar]

They were and they shall be arriving next turn. The last remaining giants have voiced their displeasure as well with the lizard peoples and they shall receive our cessation of NAP status next turn with their mail.

ooc I see lizards in all of our futures.. Better to burn out, than to fade away *sings*

[Corwin]

Hmmm. A global war against poor little me?... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif

C'mon, you will like swamps. And the small chance of being flayed alive is surely not too much price to pay for the honor of being citizen of the glorious Sauromatian Empire. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

To Fomoria's ruler - I think you are confusing me with C'tis. We ride lizards, but we are not lizard people. This insult shall be washed with the fomorian blood once our NAP will expire. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif


P.S. On a serious note - I was hoping that this moment would arrive later. Nevertheless I am ready to defend myself against the anti-Sauromatian alliance.

At least I have managed to dispell that damned Marveni's Forge before everybody have turned against me.

[Psycho]

You still have one friend in this world Sauromatia. Have no fear because Kailasa is coming to your aid.

[Corwin]

Thank you, lord of Kailasa. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif These news will cheer the hearts of our citizens, for with monkey people's might behind our back we can not possibly fail.

It's good to have friends.

[Psycho]

There is no need to thank us. People of Sauromatia helped people of Kailasa through some rough times and now it is our turn to return the favor.

Long live our alliance!

[Corwin]

Hey guys, how do you feel about switching our game to 72 hours timer? It has been getting increasingly difficult for me to find enough time to make my turns, and with global war heating up, the time crunch is going to get worse, at least for me.

What will you say?

[Corwin]

Damnit, I have stalled this turn.

Ok, guys, speak up please. Is 72 hours host ok with everyone?

[Rathar]

Fine with me

[AdmiralZhao]

Fine with me. Hopefully we can make the change this turn. I'll be traveling a bit this weekend and would like to do so without worrying about finding an internet connection.

[AlgaeNymph]

I'd welcome a longer timer.

[Corwin]

DryaUnda said:
I'd welcome a longer timer.



Great, I will send PM to our host. But at this moment it is still 48h timer, and FYI the game will host in 6 hours. This time I will make my turn. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

Wow. That was a violent turn. I think my favorite parts were:

* Banishing a Queen of Elemental Water to the Inferno
* The Epic Story of 3E2D, the doomed Tartarian Spirit, who killed one Tartarian after another in one on one duels, before finally succumbing to a pack of Tartians while only inches away from retreating to safety.
* Ending MossBeard's reign of terror
* Killing or sending to the Inferno multiple tartarians laden with artifacts

Lessons learned:
* Lightning spear doesn't actually cast lightning, and so doesn't cause fatigue when it hits the enemy.
* Even with Fata Morgana, Mictlan PD still sucks.


Less favorite parts include the whole-sale massacre of many noble Beast Bats, and the staling or going AI of my noble allies in the war against Sauromatian Terror.

[Rathar]

Bah! I am on a working vacation and had assumed that we would set things to 72 hours but nooo! Ah well I looked a couple hours too late. 72 hours would be nice for me until july 1st. Always nice to stale with your research all set to a thing which has maxed..

[AdmiralZhao]

I know what you mean, I got back home at 2:00 AM, and spent from 2:00 to 4:00 doing this turn. A 72 hour deadline is starting to look really nice.

* hobbles off to get some more coffee *

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
Wow. That was a violent turn. I think my favorite parts were:

* Banishing a Queen of Elemental Water to the Inferno
* The Epic Story of 3E2D, the doomed Tartarian Spirit, who killed one Tartarian after another in one on one duels, before finally succumbing to a pack of Tartians while only inches away from retreating to safety.
* Ending MossBeard's reign of terror
* Killing or sending to the Inferno multiple tartarians laden with artifacts

Lessons learned:
* Lightning spear doesn't actually cast lightning, and so doesn't cause fatigue when it hits the enemy.
* Even with Fata Morgana, Mictlan PD still sucks.


Less favorite parts include the whole-sale massacre of many noble Beast Bats, and the staling or going AI of my noble allies in the war against Sauromatian Terror.



You are not kidding, this turn was brutally violent. I had about 60 battles, most of them against your Mictlan armies, trying to halt their blitzkrig.

At this moment "Sauromatian Terror" is struggling migthly, forced to fight 4 fronts war.


All in all, after stalling last turn I have managed to temporally halt the avalanche of Mictlan hordes (for the most part), at least for 1 turn.

Many of my SC tartarians have sacrificed their lives fighting the endless wave of Mictlan's blood summons.

The largest loss for me this turn were deaths and banishments to inferno of 5 kick-*** tartarians/unique blood summons, and the fall of my critical fort.

I have to say that Mictlan turned out to be much stronger than I expected them to be. They seem to have recovered from our earlier war very quickly. Last turn they had more provinces than me, while their blood income is probably many times my own.

In fact I think most of Mictlan's forces were not really damaged in our earlier war, since they have wisely choosen to retreat them when they found themselves fighting many enemies at the same time. Ironically it is the very same position that I now find myself in. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

Anyway, using most of the accomulated resources from the last 2 turns I think I have managed to stop the sliding of my nation in the graphs, for a moment. But I am afraid that with Fomoria's entering the fray on the side of my opponents it will tip the scales of this war against me.


Recently I have been putting a lot of resources into preparing a new strategy against Mictlan, for they have adopted too well against most of my current weapons. I hope that their troops will be less resistant against my new weapons and tactics that I will begin to implement this turn.


P.S. I have sent PM to our host regarding switching to 72h host, but did not get reply yet. Perhaps you may want to try to contact him as well if you like. Meanwhile the host is still on 48h timer (24 hours left until next hosting)

[Corwin]

Can anybody connect to the server? It seems to be down ATM.

[AlgaeNymph]

I can't connect either.

[Rathar]

Nor I but I thought it was just me as I can't connect to any dominions server.. I can do everything else internet wise but most annoyingly not dominions and I NEED to get my turn in.. I am going to try to attach my file to this and PM Velusion and hope he can stuff it in the right place.. Sorry if this doesn't work out.. Been trying all day and even my network admin brother in law is lost..

[Corwin]

Rathar said:
Nor I but I thought it was just me as I can't connect to any dominions server.. I can do everything else internet wise but most annoyingly not dominions and I NEED to get my turn in.. I am going to try to attach my file to this and PM Velusion and hope he can stuff it in the right place.. Sorry if this doesn't work out.. Been trying all day and even my network admin brother in law is lost..



Same here.

My turn has been ready all day, but I could not connect to the server since this morning, despite trying many times.

I really hope that server is simply down and the timer is not ticking.

[AdmiralZhao]

Well, it looks like my third stale is coming up. I guess we all know what Sauromatia's new tactic is. =)

I would quibble with a number of Sauromatia's points, which are made so that he appears weaker than he really is. While Sauromatia is indeed fighting a 4 front war, he is gaining ground on three of those fronts, while holding the Mictlani front steady. Even on the Mictlani front, my forces have taken large losses, both in Tartarians and in Beast Bats and other holy warriors. And many of the provinces Mictlan has nominal control over still have Sauromatian forts on them, forts full of Sauromatian archers and mages. In addition, ownership of the Forge has switched to Sauromatia, which can only be viewed as a dark omen for the Allies. In short, we all have a long way to go before the Sauromatian Menance is crushed, once and for all.

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
Well, it looks like my third stale is coming up.





Yours and mine both. I spend like 4 hours making last turn, and I could not upload it. And I haven't heard anything from our host yet. Has anybody been able to contact Velusion?

I can only hope that the server is down, and that the timer is not ticking.



I would quibble with a number of Sauromatia's points, which are made so that he appears weaker than he really is. While Sauromatia is indeed fighting a 4 front war, he is gaining ground on three of those fronts, while holding the Mictlani front steady. Even on the Mictlani front, my forces have taken large losses, both in Tartarians and in Beast Bats and other holy warriors. And many of the provinces Mictlan has nominal control over still have Sauromatian forts on them, forts full of Sauromatian archers and mages. In addition, ownership of the Forge has switched to Sauromatia, which can only be viewed as a dark omen for the Allies. In short, we all have a long way to go before the Sauromatian Menance is crushed, once and for all.





As for your points - I did not nesseserly disagree with most of what you have said. And I am certainly not throwing a white flag yet. Nevertheless I was quite impressed with your blitzkrig - you have catched up with me in number of provinces in just 2 turns, even considering that I have stalled one of them. Still last turn I have thrown most of my reserves at you, and all I could do was to halt your advance (mostly), not even throw you back, while I still lost the castle and a many more SCs than you did.

I do hope that my Forge may help me, if it will not get dispelled quickly. And I can't wait to see the results of several of my new anti-Mictlan weapons and strategies, assuming I will be able to upload this turn and few next ones.

Basically I feel that the scales of the great war are more or less balanced at this moment (me vs you, Oceania and Marveni), despite our violent clashes all over the map. Graphs seem to confirm it. But with Fomoria's entry to the war on your side, I think I will likely to start losing ground again. But we shall see how it will go.

[Corwin]

The server is up and running again. Oceania's turn is the last one left before the next hosting.

[Rathar]

Thank you for fixing it Velusion!

[AlgaeNymph]

Corwin said:
Oceania's turn is the last one left before the next hosting.

Wish I would have found out sooner, I got a stale and Corwin didn't.

Any chance we could roll back? Please?

Then again, my mermage offensive didn't work very well anyway.

[Corwin]

DryaUnda said:

Corwin said:
Oceania's turn is the last one left before the next hosting.

Wish I would have found out sooner, I got a stale and Corwin didn't.





How did you manage to stall? The hosting was still 62 hours away when you have submitted your turn. Have you accidently submittrd your turn before completion?


Also my client now freezes on "waiting for game info" message, and having 2 Dom3 windows open doesn't help. Anybody else having this problem?

[AlgaeNymph]

I dunno why I staled, it is a mystery. :insert ghost graemlin here:

[AdmiralZhao]

Corwin: Yep, I'm having the same problem. It started for me about 45 minutes ago, when I clicked End Turn. Previously I was uploading my moves at about 20 minute intervals, and so long as at least one player hadn't uploaded a turn, it seemed to work ok. The last time I clicked End Turn, DryaUnda had also submitted a turn, and at that point I ran into the freeze problem. Maybe the turn was already processing at that point, even though I was connected to the server? It'll be interesting to see how much of my turn is actually executed. By interesting, I mean potentially maddening. =) My troops are going to look pretty silly if the right SCs don't show up at the right places.

DryaUnda: I think the stale message was left over from the last turn, when you and Formoria staled because we thought it was going to be a 72 hour host rather than a 48 hour host. At least according to the status page (http://www.arsnotoria.net/dominions3/stats.php?game=figment) you've uploaded a turn for this round.

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
Corwin: Yep, I'm having the same problem. It started for me about 45 minutes ago, when I clicked End Turn. Previously I was uploading my moves at about 20 minute intervals, and so long as at least one player hadn't uploaded a turn, it seemed to work ok. The last time I clicked End Turn, DryaUnda had also submitted a turn, and at that point I ran into the freeze problem. Maybe the turn was already processing at that point, even though I was connected to the server? It'll be interesting to see how much of my turn is actually executed. By interesting, I mean potentially maddening. =) My troops are going to look pretty silly if the right SCs don't show up at the right places.




Hmmm, why were you uploading your turns in 20 minutes intervals? You could just connect to the server, get your turn, disconect, make you turns taking as much time as you need, and then upload it.

(sorry if I what am saying seems obvious to you, which is probably the case, just trying to help)

And yes, you are right, it doesn't matter who is connected to the server, as soon as last player upload its turn(or timer runs out) the server will host.

DryaUnda: As for stalling, I think Admiral Zero is right, you have stalled last turn, not this one. Which is not a big deal - for example I have managed to stall one turn ago, immideatly after Mictlan launched massive attack against me. It has costed me dearly in provinces, troops and initiative in this war, which I am now trying to wrestle from him. But stalling is part of the game, even though it can be frustrating like hell (it was for me).

At least you have only lost some troops and couple of provinces, since I don't have many amphibian troops at this moment, and two of my tratarians who were attacking you went mad during your stalled turn, so I couldn't use them.

[AdmiralZhao]

Admiral Zero? Ouch. =)

You're right, typically the 20 minute upload is not necessary. In this case though, I connected to the server expecting to get a new turn, and instead it uploaded the few clicks that I had made while examining the previous turn. So then I had to do the entire turn that night, before everyone else finished, etc. etc.

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
Admiral Zero? Ouch. =)

You're right, typically the 20 minute upload is not necessary. In this case though, I connected to the server expecting to get a new turn, and instead it uploaded the few clicks that I had made while examining the previous turn. So then I had to do the entire turn that night, before everyone else finished, etc. etc.



Oops, sorry about your name AdmiralZhao. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I see your turn situation. Same things happened to me few games ago. Since then I always connect to the server first by clicking "enter" intead of entering password. This way I can see the status of the server - how many hours left, and who sumbitted their turns and who didn't, as well as visual indicator that either or not new turn is ready (if it is, the client shows "downloading new turn" dialog briefly, but terminates it a second later due to wrong password. And if I have made few clicks while watching the turn earlier, my uncomplete turn won't be uploaded.

Anyway, in your case it sounds like it was simple accident, I am sure you know all these little tricks. Now if only we could have the server working, I am eager to see how the first turn of global 4 fronts war went for my nation. (on few previous turns either I was stalling, or one of my opponents, or I was not in war with Fomoria yet) I have spent a lot of time on this one, I hope my opponents will feel it... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[Rathar]

bump!

Umm whats going on with the game? waiting for info for a few days and now can't connect for a couple more.

[Corwin]

Rathar said:
bump!

Umm whats going on with the game? waiting for info for a few days and now can't connect for a couple more.



Yes, same here. I've sent PM to Velusion about 3 days ago, but he hasn't even read it yet.

Has anybody else been able to contact our host?

[Psycho]

I don't believe he is visiting the forum. I remember reading somewhere that he is taking some time off dominions. You should ask someone for his mail, but I don't know who.

[Baalz]

I've got it, I'll send him a msg.

[Corwin]

Baalz said:
I've got it, I'll send him a msg.



Great, thank you Baalz.

[Psycho]

As far as I can see, the server is not working again.

[Baalz]

*shrug*, sent him an email, haven't got a response.

[Psycho]

I thought he did something, because the server hosted. I've downloaded my turn and done it, but now I can't connect to send it.

[Corwin]

Psycho said:
I thought he did something, because the server hosted. I've downloaded my turn and done it, but now I can't connect to send it.



Yeap, same here.

By the way, while the server was up, the timer was set to 48h, not 72h. But at this moment the server is down again.

Baalz, could you please be so kind to remind Velusion about 72h timer when you will tell him that the server is down again?

Thanks a lot!

*************************************
For those who haven't seen the turn yet - this was even more violent than the previous one, as unlikely as it sounds. About 60 battles total for me.

Fomoria has launched massive teleportation attack with their Kings, as I had expected. Mictlan is increasing the preasure on my borders even more.

There were at least 4 major battles this turn.

As I suspected, I am beginning to lose provinces once again, now that Fomoria has thrown its formidiable might on the scales of war. Unfortunately I've lost several large battles this turn, as well as another castle to Mictlan's assault. On the positive side I have managed to deal significant losses to my opponents in the process. I also have conquered Mictlan's capital, as well as broke the siege on my own.

Overall the game world looks like the hell completely broke lose, with mighty armies crashing all over the map. Next few turns should be very exciting.

[AdmiralZhao]

Fortunately, I'm unable to download the turn and see exactly how much of a disaster this half-staled turn was. From the fact I lost my capital, I'm guessing the reinforcements didn't teleport in as planned.

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
Fortunately, I'm unable to download the turn and see exactly how much of a disaster this half-staled turn was. From the fact I lost my capital, I'm guessing the reinforcements didn't teleport in as planned.



Actually you won three large battles and you have managed to kill my pretender. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/mad.gif So the turn worked out quite well for you.

[Rathar]

Nice to hear there was a turn, wish I could get a copy! heh

[Baalz]

From Velusion:
> The server that it was running on has crashed... I don't have any incentive
> to invest anymore time or money into getting it fixed - however I do have
> copies of the games still running (I can access the server but it won't stay
> up longer than about 5 minutes). I've attached them here... hopefully
> someone else can host them for ya.

I've got the files if anybody wants to volunteer to host just let me know where to send them.

[Lingchih]

I posted this as well in the Fallacy game thread. If you do happen to find some one to host your game, perhaps they could host fallacy as well.

[Lingchih]

Gandalf and lch both volunteered to host Fallacy, so you might ask either of them if they could also host this game.

[Corwin]

Lingchih said:
Gandalf and lch both volunteered to host Fallacy, so you might ask either of them if they could also host this game.



I've contacted Gandalf.

He has kindly agree to host our game for us.

Here is a quote from his reply:



OK.
game.dom3minions.com 10448
It was on 48 hour hosting?

You might have the players consider it to be a "test" rise of the game for a couple of turns in case I got something wrong. If anything turns up as a problem then the zip file can always be used to reconstruct it again or with someone else.




It sounds to me as if Gandalf may already got game files from one of us. I am at work at this moment, so I can't test if the game is already running or not at the ip/port he speciified. If not, perhaps someone could sent him needed files?

Anyway this certainly are good news. Gandalf rocks. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Psycho]

Everything works fine. And there's 72 hours left.

[Corwin]

Psycho said:
Everything works fine. And there's 72 hours left.



Great, thank you.

Gandalf has some questions for us players.



ok its 72 hour now

do you want the zip files mailed to you each turn? (backups)
does any player want turns emailed?
does any player want email notices when the turn processes?




Please feel free to contact him directly if you like.

[Corwin]

Ok, just got home from work. (Hurrah to short work day due to upcoming 4th of July! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I am very tired from crunch mode of our soon-to-be-released software product, need a break from programming or I'll go nuts http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif )


The game is working fine, 67 hours left until the next host. Everybody except Kalissia need to upload their turns over the next 2.5 days.

[AdmiralZhao]

Sorry to try and delay the game even further, but could we have a 24 hour extension in addition to the above 67 hours? I'm traveling this 4th of July weekend, and won't be back till Sunday.

Also, good luck with the programming, Corwin. We're about to enter crunch-mode at my own software shop; hopefully we can finish this game up before then. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
Sorry to try and delay the game even further, but could we have a 24 hour extension in addition to the above 67 hours? I'm traveling this 4th of July weekend, and won't be back till Sunday.

Also, good luck with the programming, Corwin. We're about to enter crunch-mode at my own software shop; hopefully we can finish this game up before then. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



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


Delaying hosting is fine with me, but you should sent PM to Gandalf - he is our new host, and I don't think he reads this thread.

I will forward your PM to Gandalf and ask him to delay hosting. But please keep in mind that the current hosting is 19 hours from now (so it will host around 11AM Pacific time on Sunday). I don't know if Gandalf will see this PM in the next 19 hours (it's kind of short notice, especially since it is a long weekend).

So if you can, you may want to try to make as much of your turn as you can by Sunday morning and upload it, in case if the game will host before Gandalf will get your note.

Good luck!

[Corwin]

Ok, I've contacted Gandalf and forarded him AdmiralZhao's request. He had reset the timer, it is now 68 hours away.

But I would suggest let's try to get out turns as soon as we can though, we have been hanged on this turn for a while now. Mine is pretty much ready.

[Psycho]

I am going on vacation, so I am switching my nation to AI. I don't believe anyone would care to sub for me. This was my first MP game game and I guess I didn't do too bad, especially considering that I fought Caelum (any archer heavy nation is nasty for Kailasa in early game) and that I had terrible events although I took luck +2 (I never once got any event gaining me more than 200 income, but my capitol temple burned twice, I was attacked by trogs etc.). Good bye everyone.

[Corwin]

Oh well, here goes my only ally.

Good game Psycho. Have fun on your vocation.

[AlgaeNymph]

Is there any way to receive e-mail turn notifications from dom3minions?

[Corwin]

DryaUnda said:
Is there any way to receive e-mail turn notifications from dom3minions?



Yes. Look at my post on the previos page, where I quoted Gandalf's questions.

[Gandalf Parker]

OK Im jumping in here. Please dont expect this. Go thru the person running the game and they will use pm's to tell me things. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
And please dont post email addresses here. PM them to me.

YES: Email notification when the game processes a turn

YES: email attachment of your turn file

YES: SMS (text message) to your cell phone when the turn processes

YES: Webpage updated when the turn processes.

YES: browser download of turn files

POSSIBLE: browser upload of turn files

POSSIBLE: Instant Message when the turn processes

POSSIBLE: FAX when a turn processes.

POSSIBLE: Having your computer play a wav file to literally TELL you when the turn has processed.

POSSIBLE: Having your computer receive the turn file, copy it to the dominions directory, play a wav to notify you that the turn is available, then start dominions going directly into that game.

Did you think of something I left out? Just ask. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[lch]

Gandalf Parker said:
POSSIBLE: browser upload of turn files


If you're looking for a solution how to actually do this, I already had this implemented for a game of mine on the community server. It's a PHP file in the main web directory.

[Corwin]

I have finally won a big battle against Mictlan, breaking a siege on one of my castles. Several SCs died/got banished on both sides, but the enemy army of 190 sacred bats and other troops is no more.

Unfortunatly Mictlan is still growing in all graphs, even on an army one, using his huge blood income to compensate for any losses in troops.


One good factor for me is that the Inferno is getting full quickly. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I am getting back my SC commanders that were send to Inferno by Mictlan Lord, and it is happening faster and faster. This turn I got two of my fully equiped and woundless SCs back (Tartarian and a Demon) that were send to Inferno during the last 2 turns.

I like this feature - the more often Banish to Inferno or Claws spells are used, the less effective they are.

Nevertheless Micltan is still pressing me very hard, but at least now I am starting to fight back more efficiently.


By the way AdmiralZhao, are you selling tickets to all our big battles?!? Over the last 3 turns, whenever you and me had a big clash, I saw a someone peeking with an Astral Window, sometimes even two! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

If you have hot tickets trade business going, I want my cut, damn it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

Status Page
http://game.dom3minions.com/bin/Figment_chk.cgi

Scoreboard and Stats files
http://game.dom3minions.com/games/Figment/

[Rathar]

Wow thats really keen Gandalf! Thanks for the info!

[Rathar]

Expletive expletive expletive!! Another lesson learned.. If you have two games coming down to the wire on time be sure to recheck which game is closest to hosting before doing either..

Sorry about the stale, I really don't mean to be a lame gamer.

[Gandalf Parker]

As I understand it, two missed turns means getting set AI?
Fomoria and Oceania?

[AdmiralZhao]

Formoria at least is interested in continuing the game; it sounds like the stales were just technical difficulties. I'm not sure if Oceania wants to continue or not.

[AlgaeNymph]

Sort of. I'm opening up Oceania up for a substitute.

(Technical difficulties? I was wondering how I could miss two turns.)

[Corwin]

DryaUnda said:
Sort of. I'm opening up Oceania up for a substitute.

(Technical difficulties? I was wondering how I could miss two turns.)



If you are going to look for sub, I would encourage you to start a thread on this MP forum. Otherwise nobody is going to notice your intention. Meanwhile if you could make this turn it would be great, since it would give your future sub a nation in better shape.

(The next hosting will occur in 48 hours)

************************************************** ***

About the game - I have to say that this is one of the most challenging and balanced Dom2/3 game that I ever played over the last 3 years. My compliments to AdmiralZhao of Mictlan.

His forces are pushing my defences extremely hard. Many dozens of fully-equiped enemy tartarians and other SCs riding the endless tidal waves of hundreds of doom bats and sacred troops, backed by various high level mages and priests, slowly devour my land and my people, despite my best efforts to stop them.

Each turn brings 40-60 battles, 3/4 against Mictlan, the rest against his allies Fomoria and Oceania.

I am desperetly fighting for every inch of the land, but I am slowly losing castles to relentless Mictlan assault. Nevertheless my main defence lines are still holding, at least for now. What worries me the most is that despite terrible losses inflicted on Mictlan as a price for conquering my land, his forces keep growing while mine are getting smaller, according to graphs. The Mictaln has turned half of the map into blood farms to feed his enormous war machine, and between magical PD global enchantment and level 9 blood combat magic, his blood priests are very difficult to kill.


Nevertheless there is still hope for besieged Sauromatian Empire. I have managed to repell two major attacks by Mictlan on my southern castles over the last two turns, killing a lot of his SCs. And I still control enemy capital.

Also my troops fare much better against Fomoria and Ocenaia, as well as Marveni's AI. However these allies of Blood Lord still distract the large part of my forces. Fomoria is especialy troublesome, with their teleporting Kings SCs.

If I could concentrate all my avaliable troops against Mictlan without worring about his allies, I think I could fight him to the standstill. Alas, I doubt it is going to happen.


All and all, the global war rages on. The next few turns are going to be very interesting to watch.


P.S. If any of the remaining human players would like to share their views on the current situation in the game, it would be great. These AARs are often a lot of fun to read.

[Redfrog]

Rathar said:
Expletive expletive expletive!! Another lesson learned.. If you have two games coming down to the wire on time be sure to recheck which game is closest to hosting before doing either..

Sorry about the stale, I really don't mean to be a lame gamer.




I have subbed this game away long ago. Fomoria is controlled by Rathar. So please send all messages about this game to him, not me. Thanks! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif <font color="red"> </font>

[DonCorazon]

Vanheim still follows the game from beyond the grave. I hope those DX 11000s are holding up well.

[Corwin]

DonCorazon said:
Vanheim still follows the game from beyond the grave. I hope those DX 11000s are holding up well.



Hehe.

Well, if you are interested - Mictlan has managed to push me back all the way to my original border with the old Kingdom of Vanheim. Most of the major battles so far have been there, on my old border with you, over my heavily fortified last line of defence before my capital and its two nearby support castles. Two last attempts to penetrate this line by Mictlan have been repelled, with massive losses on both sides. Most of my castles north of that defence line have fallen to Mictlan hordes, who now controls almost all territory of what used to be Vanheim. But his troops have been meeting increasing resistance as he tries to push further south into my historical homeland.

In the center my castles are slowly falling as well, but I have managed to sneak capture a Mictlan's capital, using flying ship to leapfrog over his teritory with large army. Unless he will get it back he won't be able to build any additional capital-only mages.

Of course, being Mictlan and having easy access to tartarians and various blood summons, as well as sacreds that could be built anywhere, loss of the capital is not such a big deal to him. But still, it got to hurt somewhat. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

To be fair, I did stale the turn you took my capital. So you might not want to brag about that victory too much. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
To be fair, I did stale the turn you took my capital. So you might not want to brag about that victory too much. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif




Hey, haven't you taken one or two of my castlles, as well as successefully attacked me in about 40 places all over the map, during that "stale" turn? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Damn, I need to learn how to stale better. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif If only I knew this advanced staling technic of yours, the turn when you have attacked me 3 turns ago would went so much better for me. As it is, when I have staled recently it costed me dearly, in lost initiative, casles, territory and troops. My nation would be in siginificantly better shape now if not for that lost critical turn right after your attack. But I've chosen not to dwell on it much, concentrating on doing my best with the current situation in the game.


Anyway, how about some AAR from your side of the confilct AdmiralZhao? It's always interesting to see the war from different perspectives. This thread has been too quiet recently, despite frantic activity in the game. Let's try to change it, shall we? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[AdmiralZhao]

Please see the above posts about the technical difficulties on that turn. I'm not sure what to call it, since I was able to finish some of my attack orders, but not the forging or other orders.

I agree that your stales hurt you great deal, and that if there is one thing this game has been marred by, it has been the many technical difficulties and stales (BtW, thanks Gandalf, your hosting has noble and flawless and perfect). Really, I think that whatever the eventual outcome of the game, one stale more or less on either of our parts would have tipped the balance of the war. What I'm trying to say is, we're both winners. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I've been writing up an AAR, but I foolishly keep reading the forums before posting it. Time for bed for now though.

[Corwin]

This turn in one of the major battles against my forces Mictlan has casted Mist Of Deception on me. I was very dissapointed to see it, since it is well known that this spell is horribly broken. In all recent Dom3 games I have played over the last half year it is the only spell outlawed.

As you guys know, in our game I had 3 Air Queens for most of the game, not to mention many of Air tartaians. I also have armor of Virtue, and I have maxed research long time ago.

However, despite fighting for my survival and losing badly to the Mictlan's horeds and their allies, I never casted MOD in any of my battles. If I did, I could inflict thremendous losses on Mictlan armies without any risk for myself. Most of my fallen castles would still be in my hands as well, at the very least.

But I didn't do it, since this spell is clearly broken. If you cast this spell it is almost impossible to lose the battle against *any* army, as long as you understand its broken mechanics. The price of the victory is not high enough for me to use such cheesy tactic.

That's why I was very upset and dissapointed to see Mictlan using it against me this turn in a major battle, despite the fact that he is clearly winning the war against me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif


Now I don't want to be too harsh on AdmiralZhao. Technically he didn't break any rules. We do have rule in our game that ban any player for using MOD and retreating from the battle. But I don't think that's what he did - I think his air caster retreated by himself.


Nevertheless this tactic used by Mictlan is very dissapointing, especially from the nation who is already half-won the game. As far as I know this is the first time in our game anybody used this broken spell. This should stop.

As the result of it I have lost a mage, suffered afflictions on my best SCs and saw all enemy commanders retreat to safety, and lost the battle despite having no enemies left in the field.


Oh well, what done is done. But I would like to introduce two notions for the remaining players.

First of all - I strongly believe that MOD should be completely outlawed, as it already is in most of the serious MP games. It was never used in our game until now, and it should never be used again, since it is cheesy and broken.

Second - since Mictlan has used it on me this turn, I should have a right to do the same against him on one turn, as a compensation for his action.

Up until now I had nothing by respect for AdmiralZhao, for his smart and creative tactic and strategy. He also has honored his in-game word.

So I would like to make it clear that I am not accusing him of cheating or abusing the game - techically he didn't broke any in-game rules that we all agreed upon. And it is possible that he didn't know that MOD is so broken. If this is the case, I hope this was just an accident that will not be repeated in the future.

Let me know what you think.

[AdmiralZhao]

I agree with you Corwin.

Usually in our large battles, you are at the very back, and my bats move forward to attack at a glacial pace, enduring turn after turn of spells to reach your lines. I was hoping to switch that around on you this time, by hanging back myself, and letting MoD do the work while we both hung back. The eventual intent was to force your armies/mages further forward, so that Banish to Inferno could start being effective again. The intent wasn't to hit and run; it was to arrive with 200 Army of Gold/Mass Regeneration beast bats, and sit at the far back of my lines, petrifying and charming anyone who came forward to meet us, while the MoD took care of your back line of mages.

Instead, you showed up a bit earlier than expected, and MoD
showed once again why it is hated and reviled. Feel free to use MoD in one of our future battles as payback. I won't use it again in any capacity due, since even when you try to use it in a decent fashion, it has the potential to be an exploit.

I would point out that in this instance the damage was not too great; you only lost one A2 air mage and you destroyed my army at that square. You did not take the province though, which you would have done without MoD.

[Corwin]

AdmiralZhao said:
I agree with you Corwin.

Usually in our large battles, you are at the very back, and my bats move forward to attack at a glacial pace, enduring turn after turn of spells to reach your lines. I was hoping to switch that around on you this time, by hanging back myself, and letting MoD do the work while we both hung back. The eventual intent was to force your armies/mages further forward, so that Banish to Inferno could start being effective again. The intent wasn't to hit and run; it was to arrive with 200 Army of Gold/Mass Regeneration beast bats, and sit at the far back of my lines, petrifying and charming anyone who came forward to meet us, while the MoD took care of your back line of mages.

Instead, you showed up a bit earlier than expected, and MoD
showed once again why it is hated and reviled. Feel free to use MoD in one of our future battles as payback. I won't use it again in any capacity due, since even when you try to use it in a decent fashion, it has the potential to be an exploit.

I would point out that in this instance the damage was not too great; you only lost one A2 air mage and you destroyed my army at that square. You did not take the province though, which you would have done without MoD.



Thank you, I appreciate your feedback and explanation. It is what I hoped it would be. I will probably use MOD against you on one of the further turns, and that will be it.

As for the results of the battle - at this point I don't care about your bats anymore - you have demonstrated you can replace them much faster than I can kill them. I was hoping to nail your commanders, but instead my SCs were running after illusions and geting affliction. Not to mention that my air mage died and I didn't get the province.

It could be worse I suppose, but considering how tough things are going for me (I have lost lthe leader position in almost all graphs), I was hoping to win at least this big battle that I have carefully scripted and prepared.

Anyway, it is now settled as far as I concenred.

If Fomoria (and Oceanina, if they have high-air mages ) will agree to join this MOD ban, it should eleminate this problem for the rest of this game.

[AdmiralZhao]

Hi all. After communing with the ancestor spirits, I've decided that the only way to cleanse the MoD taint from my family's honor is to withdraw from the game. This decision is in no way related to the fact that turns are taking me 6+ hours to complete, and can no longer be reasonably combined with work and the other demands of real life. If you want, I can try to find a sub, though I think that at this point Corwin has earned his victory.

And now, here is the AAR I mentioned up stream:
Corwin's AAR is spot on; this has been the most hard fought and even game I have played. My past games have been anti-climactic, with one nation having a clear advantage in skill and material. They quickly steamroll their way to victory, their graphs shoot upwards, and the remaining players cede. Because of that, I've never fought real wars past turn 60 or so, and haven't really seen the mass tartarians that they always talk about on the forums.

This game has definitely been different, and is the first time I've seen the *real* late game. At least in the southwest quarter of the map, every province is regularly attacked by hordes of imps, troops of undead calvary, sky-covering swarms of demonic bats, Lords of Hell, unspeakable Horrors, and insane, nigh-unkillable dead Gods who wield fiery swords and awesome magics. Mortals now survive only behind the walls of their keeps, and beneath the magical domes which (mostly) keep the raining fire at bay.. It certainly captures the feel of the End Times. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

In more detail, Mictlan continues to press south, though we have been badly defeated in two major battles over the last months. The formerly pristine lands around Sauromatia are now a ruin, but the strong points guarding his capitol have held out, as their SC defenders proved slightly more super than the SC attackers I have thrown at them. Many brave beast bats lay stricken on the ground, echo-locating their last cries as they expire from the various injuries suffered from sword, stinger, claw, lightning, poison, fire, ice, exhaustion, banishment, and cleansing water. Even the survivors have PTSD, and face chronic nightmares where they are slowed to a crawl by fierce storms, while trying to escape from legions of buffed undead. Still, new beast bats are always showing up at the swampy recruitment centers, and we are moving more of them south. The bat's H3 priest-commanders tend to survive, so they at least can head back and pick up fresh troops to shuttle to the front lines. We will be making another push soon, and in the mean time our raiders continue to pillage his un-castled provinces, and are slowly expanding their area of desolation.

So, that's the general situation as of last turn. If no one is taking over Mictlan, then tomorrow I'll make a more detailed post about what went on in this game (from the Mictlan perspective), what strategies I was bringing against Sauromatia, and how I expected things to go.
Cheers,
Zhao

[Rathar]

I'm good either way as I am but a bit player in this. Never used MoD in any game and shan't.

[AdmiralZhao]

Ok, I promised Corwin that I would do a short AAR for this game, so here goes.

Mictlan had a relatively slow start, and didn't really get rolling until turn 30 or so when we conquered Abysia's 10 provinces after many costly battles against their native magma-men. I expected Absya to be a minor addition to our empire, but their lands turned out to have the Steel Ovens (20% forge bonus) and Mount Chaining (40% blood bonus). Finding these two sites as Mictlan is simply huge, and they played a pivotal role in my strategy from that point on. Shortly after Abysia fell, Nieflheim and then Vanheim declared war on me. I was pushing dominion in Abysia (for reasons I'll discuss later), and this was crucial during the war since both my enemies had to go through Abysia to reach my other lands. I dropped all my nature gems (300+) on a gift of health, and fought multiple large battles at Abysia with my double health armies and large numbers of casters as backup. At this point I basically had every mage of note within range of Abyisa, since the forging and blood sites were just a province or two away. Nielfheim and Vanhiem lost the core of their strength in these battles, including their Gods, prophets, best thugs, and most powerful mages. While they assaulted this strong point, I was using Mount Chaining and my S2B2 casters to drop as many horrors as I could behind their lines. Both empires were hollowed out in this fashion, and I was quite pleased with myself.

Then everyone else declared war on me. Even Marveni, who was supposed to be my loyal ally against the Sauromatian threat, broke from their sacred treaties. According to the score charts, Mictlan had grown enormously during just a few turns, and so was now a major threat. Unfortunately, the charts were a bit misleading, since I had only black hawks and turkey-mages in my new lands, and was only barely able to keep their former owners locked up in their castles by using horrors and a few well equipped ArchDevils. I gave the war up as lost from the start, and retreated everyone of value from my undefendable East lands to a new battle line on the Abysian border. The western most choke point of my empire was suddenly the eastern most choke point of my empire. Vast caravans of Mictlani priests and holy warriors made the journey west to the safety of Abysia, while the slaves, independent troops, and map move 1 mages stayed behind to put a noble face on things.

The eastern empire was quickly gobbled up by Sauromatia, Formoria, and Marveni, but I was able to consolidate my control of the west, and then make peace with the other nations once we no longer shared a border and once Mictlan had been halved. In most games I would not have bothered to try and make a come back from this point, since Dominions is essentially a game of geometric growth, and any major setback puts you out of the running for first place. Fortunately, Mictlan has plenty of late-game abusiveness to go along with its early game triple bless abuse. Specifically, the Onaqui bat-mages, who summon beast bats each turn. In addition to being great blood and death mages, the Onaqui summon ~4 bats per turn when they are in dom-10. And with 40% off from Mount Chaining, an Onaqui will pay for itself in beast bats in 8-9 turns. This makes it quite viable for Mictlan to Bat-spam, in addition to clam spamming and blood stone spamming. In terms of return on investment, the Onaqui compare quite favorably with clams, though of course the bats are not quite as versatile as astral pearls. Still, with Mictlan's heavy blessing and some simple buffs (blood lust, mass protection, darkness, etc.) the bats are quite sufficient to massacre mortal armies and quickly tear down castle walls. I'm not sure how well known this tactic is, but I've found it to be extremely powerful in large games where the cost of clams is increased, or where there will be plenty of time for the Onaqui to pay for themselves. Anyway, I had about 40 or so Onaqui squirreled away back there, and their free-spawn provided the core of the Mictlani armies. I'm pretty sure I went the entire game without using the actual Summon Beast Bat spell. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Which brings us up to more or less the present day of the Great War. In many ways, Sauromatia had a superior position at the start the War. Mictlan was always behind Sauromatia in research, and so Sauromatia had nearly every useful artifact. In addition, Sauromatia had all or nearly all of the Elemental Royalty, as well as a legion of fully fitted out Tartarians. A large part of the war for Mictlan was the attempt to take back the useful artifacts, and whittle down Sauromatia's advantage in SCs (especially those horrible Air Queens). Mictlan's main adavantages in the War was its allies, its globals, Sauromatia's initial stales, and the awesome power of late game blood magic. At the end of the war against Vanheim we discovered a site with a 30% conjuration bonus, but I was not able to make full use of it until very late in the war, since the site was far way from my best mages, and too close to the front lines to safely move mages in.

That was the big picture, here a few tactical notes:

- Sauromatia quickly discovered the correct counter to the beast bats, which is to bring along a Staff of Storms. The Bats have a tactical move of 2, which makes them *slow* when they can't fly. They can still fight in a storm, but they can no longer run interference on enemy mages and prevent any retreating troops from making it to safety.

- Forge of the Ancients is of course huge, and in retrospect I should have started trading for earth gems more quickly. At the last turn I had 250 earth gems saved, and was supposed to get another 350 from Oceania on the next turn. Hopefully that would have take it down.

- Banish to Inferno/Cocytos is great in the late game, since it is one of the more certain way to get rid of tartarians/Royalty (at least in the short term). I found out the hard way though that you need to have your casters at the very front if you want to catch enemy SCs at the back row. Even that can be uncertain if there is a storm limiting your vision range.

- Lightning helmets were crucial in many SC duels. I waited far too long in either getting shock resistance or equipping my own Tartarians with them.

- Phoenix Pyre is not quite the unbeatable tactic that I supposed it to be. I lost several thugs/SCs because they were fighting on their own, fell below 1/4 hitpoints, and then retreated.

- Empowering a Tartarian to cast Wish is another somewhat ill thought out idea. It's kind of annoying to have your gem production schedule disrupted because your caster wants to "Whisper to the Dead" for a month. I know at my workplace they wouldn't stand for that sort of behavior for long.

- Horrors turned out to be quite good against SCs. Baalz's post on that topic was very insightful, and I got some use out of it at the end of the game.

- The Astral Windows that Corwin kept seeing was from me checking the besieged castles to see if any reinforcements had teleported in.

Whew! I think that is about it. GG Corwin, et al.

[Gandalf Parker]

It appears that only Oceania is still playing.

[AlgaeNymph]

AdmiralZhao said:
At the last turn I had 250 earth gems saved, and was supposed to get another 350 from Oceania on the next turn. Hopefully that would have take it down.

Wait, did I forget to send you gems? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif I really was spacing out.
Gandalf Parker said:
It appears that only Oceania is still playing.

Barely. I'm willing to declare it a game.

[Gandalf Parker]

It looks like for the last 5 turns or more that you are the only one turning in moves. So if you want to end the game, we can end it

[AlgaeNymph]

Sure, since nobody else seems to mind.