Archaean - New LA Game - Upload pretenders

[James243]

Keen to get involved in a new game but I never seem quite quick enough to sign up! So figured I'd start one of my own.

I'd really like to keep this to newish players. This is my third game, but I've admin'ed one before so I know how to do that.

Details:

Server: LlamaServer (automated play-by-email)
Hosting interval: 24 hours moving to 48 hours in later stages.
Age: Late
Graphs: On
Settings: Default
Mods: None
Map: Cradle of Dominions
Players: 10-12


I'm signing up as LA Marignon. I'm also not allowing LA Ryleh and LA Ermor. If you didn't read carefully and sign up with one of those I'll save you a slot but ask you to re-choose a race.

Player List:

James243 - LA Marignon
Deadnature - LA Utgard
Rytek - LA Patala
Otherling - LA Atlantis
Calahan - LA Mictlan
PAR - LA T'ien Ch'i
Jazzepi - LA Bogarus
Foodstamp - LA Midgard
Juffos - LA Ulm
Ershalim - LA Agartha
Quitti - LA Caelum
Evilhomer - LA Pangaea

Enjoy!

[Ephraim]

I'd like to try LA Man.

This is my first Multiplayer Game, so pardon my noobishness...

[Deadnature]

Hey, I'm also noobish...this will be my fourth game. Sign me up of LA Abysia.

thanks

[Rytek]

I would like Patalia.

[Deadnature]

Actually, I would like to change that to LA Utgard

[Otherling]

If you're looking for newish players, then I'm your man. This will be my first MP game. Got to get my feet wet somewhere. With that in mind, I'd like to give LA Atlantis a try.

[Calahan]

Excellent, a LA game :-) I'll take Mictlan if I may please.

[PAR]

can i join as t'ien ch'i

cheers

[Jazzepi]

If you need a ringer, I'd like to take LA Bogarus. I wouldn't consider myself a Newish player, though.

Just send me a PM.

Jazzepi

[Foodstamp]

I am not new, but I am not a min/max player either. I would like to play Midgard if you are willing to have me.

[Juffos]

I would like to join as LA Ulm.

[Ershalim]

I'm new (and on time? Woot!) I'd like to join as LA Agartha, if I can.

[Juffos]

One friend of mine would like to join as LA Caelum. Could you please reserve a slot for him?

[James243]

Ok, you're all in (including the two experienced players - that's fine - happy to get the game going really).

Juffos - what's your friends name? Is he/she a user on this site? Or will you be sharing a PC?

I'll go create the game now so that we can get to uploading pretenders, but definitely start working on them now.

[James243]

Wow, creating a game sure is easy - thanks Llamabeast!

You can upload pretenders now.

Create them and send the pretender file (in your newlords folder) to pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net

Make sure you put the word Archaean in the subject line ****CRUCIAL!!!****

[James243]

Ummm...how do I edit the title of the main thread? I can edit the title of the first post, but that doesn't change the title of the main thread...

Anyway, anyone looking - thanks for your interest but the game is unfortunately full.

[Jazzepi]

Ummm...how do I edit the title of the main thread? I can edit the title of the first post, but that doesn't change the title of the main thread...

Anyway, anyone looking - thanks for your interest but the game is unfortunately full.

You can't anymore, unfortunately.

They added this really awful "feature" where you can't edit a post save for 30 minutes after you first put it up. While it solves some minor problems with administering the forums, it's a real pain in the *** for the users.

Jazzepi

[Ershalim]

Uploaded mine! Also, since we have a lot of new people and the link in llamabeast's signature doesn't seem to work (and because I had a hard time figuring out what to do, myself.) here's how to upload pretenders: *Stolen directly from llamabeast*

"Okay guys, the game is ready to accept pretenders. Here's how to upload them:
Firstly, you should only join a game if you've found there's a thread for it on this board, you've read it, and they're still looking for players. Then you should post on the thread saying what nation you'll be. To actually join the game:

- Make sure you have the same mods enabled as the game you're playing in (Preferences->Mod Preferences) although only mods affecting pretender design, such as Conceptual Balance, actually matter
- Go to Game Tools -> Create a pretender god in Dominions. Don't set a password, since for PBEM games they're not helpful and occasionally annoying (e.g. if you need a sub)
- Go to the savedgames/newlords folder in the dominions directory, and find your pretender file (e.g. mid_pythium_0.2h)
- E-mail the file to: pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net
- Crucially, you must have the game name 'Archaen' in the subject line of your e-mail

A few minutes later you should get a confirmation e-mail, and if you check the website (www.llamaserver.net (http://www.llamaserver.net/) ) you should find your nation added to the list of nations which have joined the game.

If later you think of an improvement to your pretender, you can send it in again. Provided the game hasn't actually started the server will accept your revised pretender, and send you an e-mail to say so."

[llamabeast]

You can now edit the first post in each thread, which is a big improvement at least.

I've fixed the thread title, using my moderator powerz. I did using "Thread Tools", next to "Search this Thread" in the black bit at the top. Not sure if that's also visible for James243 or if it's a moderator thing.

[llamabeast]

Oh yeah, the FAQ link is broken. Oh dear! Well, I have no time to fix it now, so it will have to wait till I get back from holiday.

Same goes for many of the map and mod links on the LlamaServer. Unfortunate.

[llamabeast]

Thanks for posting that by the way Ershalim. You did well to find it!

I guess this is why my post count is high. :shock:

[Ershalim]

I actually lifted it from a post you did in "Newbtopia." I couldn't find the FAQ itself from searching for it. (Possibly because it ignores the word "FAQ" :doh:) I also had to ninja edit it because I told everyone to send it as a game file TO Newbtopia. Darn copy and pasting. Hehehe.

[llamabeast]

Okay, you actually prompted me to fix the link. Fixed!

The actual FAQ remains mildly broken, in that the links to the subsections don't work. But you can just scroll down.

[Ephraim]

Boy, I'm sorry to do this, but I think I'm going to withdraw. I just bought this game a week ago, and have had a great time vs. the AI, and want to try multiplayer....but....I'm starting school in a week, and today I just kept thinking that I'm not sure if I'll be able to play as much as I'd like.

I'm afraid that in a few weeks my life will get busy and I won't have time to play...so I think I'll drop out now before I make life diffiicult for the rest of you.

I hope you can still find someone (that never seems a problem here)

Sorry again, and good luck all!

I was signed up as LA Man btw

[Quitti]

Heya, I'm the one Juffos reserved a slot for (Caelum). I'll be playing from my own pc/dom. Juffos should be confirming this today or tomorrow. Recently got this game myself, and this'll be my first multiplayer game :)

I'll be uploading my pretender as soon as I wake up, getting rather tired atm and need to still revise my pretender...

[Foodstamp]

Pretender sent, thanks for allowing me to play :)

[James243]

Wow - thanks heaps Ershalim. And enjoy your holiday Llamabeast! I'm not sure what else you do in life but the amount of work you do around here sure means you deserve one!

I'll be uploading my pretender later today.

Ephraim - no problem at all. Life beckons...

I'll put up a post for 1 additional player.

[James243]

Ok, we're full again, and 11 of the 12 pretenders are uploaded. We'll kick of just as soon as Evilhomer (who's kindly agreed to play) sends his in.

[Calahan]

Just received the first turn file, but it appears we have a problem.

In the main game info post on the first page of this thread, it specifically says that LA R'lyeh and LA Ermor are not allowed in this game. But yet LA R'lyeh is clearly one of the nations in the game when you consult 'Pretenders of the World'. Think we need a re-start, and some clarification.

[James243]

Aw, jeez...

I should've made it explicit in the thread where I was asking for one additional player that Ermor and R'lyeh aren't allowed. Evilhomer (the sub) picked R'lyeh

I just restarted the game, but it looks like I need recreate it, meaning everyone will need to upload their pretenders again.

Sorry folks. This should be the last thing though - looks like everything else was in order.

[James243]

Hmm...I've found the problem. The restart has made the Age "Invalid Age". On the admin page it's not registering any pretenders, therefore the 'delete pretender' link is inactive.

Additionally, the restart seems to have reset my admin password.

Ok, I'm going to create a new game called Archaean2. Please upload your pretenders to it. And please no-one select Ryleh or Ermor - it seems that once pretenders are sent they cant be deleted.

[James243]

Ok, the new game "Archaean2" is now up. Please upload your pretenders again - so sorry for all the fuss. As soon as the twelfth pretender is uploaded the game apparently automatically kicks off, but the first turn seems to have a 2 or 3 day hosting period.

[Ershalim]

The great Old Man king of Agartha has been resent, though he was muttering the whole time about thinking he had done this before. He was also babbling something about it being a 15 mile trip uphill in the snow.

The Argathan people ask that you kindly ignore his rantings. He hasn't had any cake today.

[James243]

Haha - poor old man king of Agartha. Might be a bit of deja vu among the pretender gods today... ;)

[Quitti]

Aww, well, wasn't in such a good starting location anyway... *grumble*

[Deadnature]

Hey guys, sorry for the hold-up, but I seem to have a problem uploading my pretender. Whenever I send my newlords/ file to pretenders (a) llamaserver (dot) net I get a response telling me that 'SPAM-LOW: Archaean2' doesn't exist

Then it goes on to tell me that Archaean2 does exist and that I can join...

I used no mods when I created my pretender (I thought that was the problem at first) I have had no problem uploading in the past. Weird huh?

[Rytek]

I got the same message 3 times in a row. Keep trying. You will get thru. I did.

[Otherling]

Seems weird. I can only think of the obvious things to try: double-check the spelling, try recreating the pretender, maybe send it from a different address?

[Deadnature]

Ok, I'll keep at it and see what happens...hopefully we can get our first turn soon. Its strange because there are no obvious mistakes (spelling etc.) but my pretender went in for the last game just fine.

Furthermore, my turns for the other two games I am playing have no problem.

Thanks for the tips, we'll see what happens...

[Deadnature]

Well, I've tried everything: different email address, new pretenders, sending it several times, sending it in lowercase, carefully checking the spelling. My pretender is indeed from the LAutgart and so on.

I will keep trying but as of now I've gotten 20 or so "game does not exist" messages.

[Deadnature]

problem solved: gmail is better the yahoo mail :)

Sorry to make everyone wait

[Ershalim]

Today, the Great Old Man King of Agartha woke up from his two week nap to find his immediate view of the river was blocked by some barbarians. He promptly yelled for "those kids to get off his gosh darn lawn!!" before falling back asleep.

The council of public relations of Agartha has no further news to report at this time.

[James243]

Ershalim - I have a sneaking feeling that I'm going to very much enjoying playing with you...Keep it coming!

[Rytek]

Ouch James. Sucks when your Awake pretender bites it on turn 4. Bad luck there. I would say I hope it was an immortal pretender but I doubt you would risk one of those on turn 1. My top guess is that it was one of those provinces with hidden air mages that got you.

[James243]

Seriously! He's been chowing on weak independents for a while, and thought the lizard warriors looked weak. Without given too much pretender design away, he's been, well, difficult for most opposing troops to even attack let alone hit. But I don't think a single lizard had an issue. Cold blooded plus poison I guess... Now I'm recruiting priests like there's no tomorrow... :( Well, live and learn. I'll know not to underestimate lizards from now on...someone is playing C'tis right!? Curse your foul brethren!

[Rytek]

Oh noes. Double ouch. you went and got your pretender cursed by independents to boot! Never attack lizards with your SC god. The Lizard mage will curse you every time. Also, you probably accumulated fatigue because of the swamp you fought in (im guessing here. it could be a forest but more than likely a swamp) The swamp added +2 to your encumberance which will fatigue your god faster. Once past 30+ in fatigue even protection 30 Cyclops will start taking damage.

[James243]

Ouch... Yeah I'd noticed that he was cursed and had 4 afflictions. Well, the joys of being a noob!

How do you get rid of afflictions and curses? I recall such a discussion in the strategy thread but can't find it. Guess I have a few turns to figure it out... :(

[Foodstamp]

Ouch... Yeah I'd noticed that he was cursed and had 4 afflictions. Well, the joys of being a noob!

How do you get rid of afflictions and curses? I recall such a discussion in the strategy thread but can't find it. Guess I have a few turns to figure it out... :(

With Marignon it is going to be difficult. Your going to have to get access to a unit that has the "healer" ability. I am pretty sure the Fairy Queen is going to be your easiest bet, but you will need nature magic to get her. Also, you could race for the chalice, which requires a nature/astral caster to forge.

As far as getting rid of the curse, there is no way to do that. If your pretender has good magic paths, use him as a caster/researcher while you figure out a way to heal him :).

[James243]

Yeah, he's a decent researcher...I guess that'll be his role for a while...sigh! Live and learn...

[James243]

Faerie Queen, as in Nature 5, Conjuration 8? That's my best bet?! Yikes!

[Rytek]

When you call your god back there is a decent chance that some of the afflictions won't be there. Most times with 4 afflictions at death it will come back with 2 with a "call god". So, if you are lucky you may come back healed of the nastiest of the afflictions. And you may need the luck. With your awake god dead You are vulnerable to being rushed by an aggresive neighbor...

[Ershalim]

The Great Old Man King of Agartha was sad to hear that one of his old war buddies was killed. He wasn't entirely sure who he was sad for, but he told the public relations committee to send our deepest sympathies.

*Patpat* There, there.

[James243]

Hmmm...well, thanks Agartha! And thanks for the help Rytek...

I am now diseased, the effect of which seems to be to generate further afflictions (I figure losing 2hp per turn isn't a big deal in an SC, particularly in his own dominion.

Is diseased also an afflication? Will he come back diseased?

[Rytek]

Yes, its an affliction. Disease is probably one of the ones you would hope would be gone when your pretender returned.

[Ershalim]

Ah, disease. The people of Agartha know it well. Our Prophet is diseased. He frequents the bars a bit too often, we think. But the Old Man King would like to point out that it's not an age thing. He can still whomp on little whippersnappers.

[Jazzepi]

Still looking for that ring of water breathing. The people of Bogarus are skilled in construction if you want something made in return.

Jazzepi

[Ershalim]

The very great and wise Old Man King spoke to his small cultist country of Agartha this day. It was slightly after 2 in the afternoon, as that's when most of the population would be up after the nation-wide kegger they'd thrown in celebration of the defeat of the archer-ridden provinces of the north.

He told them, "the Silent Fish peoples creep ever closer to our borders, and if we aren't vigilant, it'll be like the great tomato famine of aught 4!"

The people of Agartha, unnerved by this, demanded to know what was to be done.

The Old Man King, in all his infinite wisdom, responded that, "a bicycle won't get you through them pearly gates."

It was then the people of Agartha knew fear.

[Rytek]

Hah, nice bless Mictlan.

[Calahan]

What can I say, I'm a sucker for the classics :D

[Ershalim]

The Old Man King seeks advice from the other pretenders of the world. His vast armies of blind men with sticks were thwarted by huge hordes of barbarians with heavy/light infantry and crossbows.

This setback has made his plans of a trampoline garden fizzle. He was most irritable and demanded that the entire army intelligence division to be flogged. In the interest of preventing more innocent blind men and women from being flogged -- what exactly would YOU do when confronted by 60/70 of those ruffians? They're scallawags, even!

[Quitti]

The Mageocracy of Caelum wouldn't care for such a pesky amount of little humans. Strike them down with thunder! Let the raptors descent upon them! Crush them beneath the wooly feet of mammoths! Make an impression that doesn't leave them second-guessing who's the rightful owner of the province.

[Ershalim]

Thunder mammoths you say? Of course! The Agarthan people will always remember your kindness, even if the Old Man King forgets. The blind stick-bearers will start breeding exploding mammoths immediately.

[Otherling]

On this day of winter, the Angakut went to walk upon the frozen coast, and there they found a spirit. A great spirit, now bereft of a home. And the Angakut knew both joy and sorrow. Joy, for this spirit no longer stood against the lord of ice and bones. Sorrow, for their cousins of lost Atlantis had followed this spirit, and the Angakut were now the last of their kind.

A mighty sacrifice was prepared to propitiate this fallen spirit. A hundred seals were slain, their blood and entrails burned upon altars of stone, that the smoke might guide the spirit to its final rest. A hundred skulls were set upon the coast, that the ice would bind them together into a tomb for this great spirit. The first barrow was raised upon the coast of ice and bone, and the name inscribed thereon was Dwr Serol.

[Rytek]

Um,I didn't think that would work. Starting next to a S9,F9,W9 Mictlan is probably every Patala's player nightmare. Jaguar warriors are fierce indeed with a blessing like that.

Beware the words of the tiny markata chittering the praise of our lord Rytek. Or the slithering tounges of transformed Naga mage/priests whispering about the coming of the lord Rytek.

[Calahan]

Looks like it's game over for Mictlan. Despite the best efforts of my heroic priests, there just wasn't enough enthusiastic volunteers queuing up to have their blood spilt in the name of Dwr Serol.

Possibly a lucky escape for the wee monkeys I think :-) As it was certainly a brave move by them to initiate a war against a rampant jag warrior army. But fortune certainly favoured the brave on this occasion :-) and if starting next door to tripled blessed jags is LA Patala's version of a nightmare start, then starting next to two awake Dom10 pretender's is certainly LA Mictlan's idea of double a nightmare!

I'm actually at somewhat of a loss to know how I could have avoided the dom-kill to be honest. I was sacrificing constantly from turn 2, and blood hunting from turn 6. I had one faith decreasing event, not in my capital, but it rubbed out a white candle none the less. Also lucked out on my first two blood hunting turns, which didn't help. Actually had a haul of 7 slaves arriving at my capital this turn, which would probably have saved the day. A classic case of a turn too late if ever there was one :-)

Maybe the neighbours I was given really was just a case of really bad luck, since there's no way the 1 slave income my capital gives stood a chance of being enough to hold their dominion out. I could of course have taken an awake pretender to trigger more temple checks, but then that does seriously defeat the point of playing LA Mictlan in the first place. I even held a VP province for 5 turns, which is supposed to act as a Dom5 temple. But I didn't get a squeak out of it at all, so I have major doubts that VP provinces work for EA/LA Mictlan like they do for all the other nations. If anyone has any advice on how I could have avoided (as I see it) the inevitable dom-kill from my starting location, then I'd love to hear it for any future LA Mictlan games I play. (EA Mictlan would probably have been fine in a similar start-up due to the 3 blood slave capital income)

I'll finish by wishing everyone the best of luck. Hope you enjoy the rest of the game, and many apologies if Mictlan's sudden demise causes any big unbalancing issues with regards the nation who takes up my previous home :-)

[Rytek]

Well, I had my Pfofet sitting at your capitol on turn 4 or 5 although I did not preach at that point. On turn 3 as I saw it was Mictlan who bordered me with a weak dominion I slipped a few of my steathy priest your way as well,just in case. The turn you eliminated Hectors Heavy horse, I realized that there was no way to beat you militarily. Either now, or midgame you would have had your way with the monkeys. My one and only advice would have been to open negotiations with me the turn you killed my mercs and tried to get some time to build your dominion. If you had offered me an iron clad NAP and the province that we blundered into each other I would have accepted and moved my profet out. That province is only 2 turns from my capitol and you should have realized your presence there with a bless like that would have put me on the defensive. As I saw it, you bypassed 2 other neutral territories closer to your home to take a closer to my capitol province. I too had my choice of 3 provinces, 1 closer to your capital which was doable, the blooddruid province which was doable with the mercs but would have left them doubtful on turn 3 for another province. And the province I chose which was closer to my capitol.

Oh, and one other thing. I was following your post asking weather a victory province acted like a temple, so I knew you were worried about dominion.

I think you really did get an unlucky start. Starting next to 2 awake high dominion pretenders. And one of them with a +50 stealth profet sitting in your capitol by turn 5. Not much you could have done with the build and position you had. And I agree that I got away by the narrowest of margins.

[Calahan]

Thanks for the AAR and feedback Rytek. Very much appreciated, and it certainly helped explain a thing or two. I should have paid more attention to those turn 2 prophet announcements!

This was also my first ever game as EA/LA Mictlan so had no idea if the lack of dominion spread was 'normal' or not. Knew LA Mictlan's dominion would be bad early on, but no idea how bad. And I was also somewhat relying on the VP province I picked up to hold my dominion over until the slaves came in. Will do some major testing regarding that at some point (will post my results)

With hindsight I should definitely have contacted you about diplomacy. I wasn't actually intending to fight you to be honest, which is why I moved away from your capital instead of towards it. When I clashed with your mercs, I only took that province since it seemed the most reliable to capture with just a handful of troops (still very much learning just how big a force is needed to conquer certain Indy's)

Although to be honest diplomacy is the one area of Dominions that is doing my head in with MP games. Most of my games are turning out to have less to do with strategy, tactics, skill etc. ie. the things a game should be decided on, and far more to do with how sweet tongued you can be. I personally think that far too much diplomacy goes on in MP games, especially considering the whole "there can be only one" nature of the game itself. But if you don't do diplomacy, you will lose to those who do. Think I might limit myself solely to RAND games in the future, where diplomacy and communicating is banned. Be interested to see how some players cope in that environment.

But thanks again for the lesson Rytek :-) much has been learned. Certainly look forward to playing in future games with you (and all the other players in this game of course)

[James243]

Yeah, bad luck Calahan. One of the things I wanted in setting up this game for new players was that it would have open discussion of rules, how things work etc (how we lose!). And the fact that there are a couple of more experience players involved is actually adding a lot to that experience.

For the record, you were desperately unlucky that one of those Dominion 10 neighbours didn't send his Dominion 10 (actually 9) super combatant pretender to attack some lizards in a swamp...

Interesting comments about Diplomacy Calahan. To be honest, I've found that every time I've taken a strong bless it's lead to unfriendly neighbours. In the book I Claudius, the Emperor Claudius maintain good relations with many people simply by seeming innocuous....

[Rytek]

Diplomacy. True. But even in the movie,"Highlander" they had negotiated truces and friends. You must think of diplomacy as being another "tactic" to use.

Even in a Rand game you will need to use diplomacy. It will just be harder to do. You admit that you were trying to show me that you did not want to fight me by pulling back. In a Rand game you will be hoping the other player is savvy enough to read what you are trying to tell him. It is either that or to war with every neighbor you come in contact with. And I am a savvy player and would have realized that is what you intended. But it would have been as you say, a case of being 1 turn too late, if I had waited and instead you had pressed the attack. I would have been in a bad situation with you parked next to my capitol.

In a multiplayer game like dominions, diplomacy must always be in your bag of tricks. And don't forget stealth and scouting. Many players disregard them until it is too late.

[Ershalim]

Sorry to hear about you getting snuffed out of existence like that. I think the blind peoples of Agartha would be really irate if they suddenly ceased to exist. :x

About the diplomacy, I think seeming innocuous is better than seeming nonthreatening. If you act like you'd be an easy target, you're probably inviting different people to attack you than you would if you seemed to be a powerhouse. I think the diplomacy bit is what makes it so much more interesting than SP. It sort of makes it that even when you can't really impact the game with your troops (because indies destroy you and you remain a tiny country forever...) you can still remain a player through diplomacy.

Or maybe that's wishful thinking. *Grins*

[llamabeast]

I'm a bit confused about this game. I just got back from holiday to find it "Waiting for pretenders", but a bit screwed up by a bug that reared its head while I was away. Anyway, I fixed the screwup, but accidentally started the game too. Sorry about that. You can always "restart" it (which returns it to the "Waiting for pretenders" state).

[llamabeast]

Oh, I see there's an Archaean2 as well. Interesting. Probably Archaean had been abandoned then. You may want to "Declare game finished" on it.

[llamabeast]

Okay, I killed the newly started but erroneous game "Archaean". Please continue about your business!

[James243]

Thanks Llamabest! Was going to point out the bug to you but I saw that it was fixed.

On the topic of bugs - the status page for this game is a bit wacky right now - waiting for lots of different armies that aren't in the game (and of ages that aren't in this game either!). No hurry!

[James243]

Umm...everyone, I've sent in my latest turn, for this and another game, and they haven't hosted. Not sure what's going on, but I may delay hosting if we approach the auto-host time.

[Jazzepi]

Send Llamabeast an e-mail.

Jazzepi

[James243]

Think it's time for me to call it quits on this game guys. With my pretender falling prey to lizards early on I was way behind anyway, but my turn just staled (the email was sent, but no biggie - like I say I was a long shot anyway) and it was a really crucial one. There's just no way back after losing three provinces when you only have like 8 anyway. Do let me know how the battle between out pretenders goes midgard.

Can I get a volunteer to take over the admin of the game? All you need to do is occasionally delay hosting if people need it. Post here or PM me and I'll send the password.

Well, it was fun while it lasted - good luck everyone! For the record it was also evidence of just how ridiculously easy it is to set up and run a game using llamaserver - I encourage others to do the same.

See you all in another game no doubt!

[James243]

Ok guys... No volunteers yet. In my mind the admin thing can easily be a group exercise - if no one volunteers within a few days I'll just post the password here and that way anyone can take care of delaying hosting.

[Jazzepi]

Ok guys... No volunteers yet. In my mind the admin thing can easily be a group exercise - if no one volunteers within a few days I'll just post the password here and that way anyone can take care of delaying hosting.

I'll take over if you can't find anyone.

Also, the forges of Bogarus are still open. Need something forged? We've got level 4 construction.

We're also looking for some items. Specifically rainbow armor and the +4 reinvig boots.

Jazzepi

[Ershalim]

The Old Man King of Agartha, after witnessing his strategy's failings, has decided to step down from his throne. Well, figuratively. He couldn't step down from it now anyway, since it's currently occupied by the big, smelly fishie butts of Atlantis!

Woe to our mages. Woe to our umbrals. Woe to the sizzling hamsters we created as we tried to breed exploding mammoths. Woe to the chaff archers we used.

Woe.

Incidentally, The Old Man King has donned his cheerleader's outfit and is currently rooting for Caelum. Rah to the thunder mammoths! Rah to the eagle people!

Rah!

[James243]

Bad luck Agartha. The old man was a great entertainer at least!

I'm personally rooting for Patala at this point - go Patala! Beat that Midgard a@@!!!

[Foodstamp]

The next few turns may be the most critical in this game.

LA Pangaea has dissolved our NAP though it matters little since he is already launching aggressive actions against our nation 3 turns before the NAP has ended.

That being said, if Evil Homer wins this war, the rest of the nations in this game have an uphill battle ahead of them.

Evil Homer will control virtually the entire southern continent with the exception of a few fringe provinces held by Atlantis and Patala. He will control 3 capitals and be in a perfect position to strike against the northern nations.

I would imagine he has signed NAPs with his neighbors in preparation for this war, but I implore you to dissolve these NAPs and attack him before he has too strong of a position in this game considering his MP experience in relation to the rest of us. If you feel bound by honor or loath to end a NAP signed so soon, keep in mind that he has 0 respect for NAPs ending ours a mere turn after it was signed and moving stealthed border armies into our provinces before the NAP has ended.

Death to the dishonorable.

[Jazzepi]

Pangea needs to be set to AI. They've staled the last like 9 turns or something.

Jazzepi

[Jazzepi]

Bogarus would like to purchase the following.

3-4x Dwarven hammers
1x Crystal coin

We have high level construction, and plenty of gems. Can trade gems or items of your choice.

Jazzepi

[Rytek]

Damn those werewolves are tough. I underestimated them. I hate it when casters don't follow script. Not sure why foul vapors wasnt cast. And not sure why the Sidda spammed paralyze when I told it to do thunderstrike.

[GrudgeBringer]

I'll play if someone drops out....you can PM me and I will be checking the this game forum:D

[GrudgeBringer]

sorry thought you where restarting:doh:

[Foodstamp]

Damn those werewolves are tough. I underestimated them. I hate it when casters don't follow script. Not sure why foul vapors wasnt cast. And not sure why the Sidda spammed paralyze when I told it to do thunderstrike.

/shrug

My volva's think it is very important to cast body ethereal, so I know what you mean ;). I am pretty shocked with FOTA up you don't have more enemies :)

[Rytek]

Because I am obviously terrible as shown by the last turn. No need to worry.

[Rytek]

So, here we have it. The largest nation in the game and the second largest nation(Atlantis and Midgard) have reformed their unholy alliance. After feasting upon the corpse that is Pangea (they did not even have to deal with an AI as Pangea has staled for the past dozen turns) Atlantis now turns his hungry eyes upon the lands of Patala. What will the other nations do when Atlantis and Midgard have gobbled our lands and then their alliance turns their eye upon them. Shall we be gobbled up 1 by 1 by their alliance?

[Foodstamp]

You have 3 enchantments up including the Forge. A slew of thugs and supercombatants decked out in unique gear. I am pretty sure your cries may fall on deaf ears ;).

[Rytek]

If that were true I would be the one taking land, and killing armies. Not the other way around. Thugs and SC's don't fare well against the equivelent of 250 Super blessed magic wielding sacreds that Atlantis has invading.

[Foodstamp]

If you guys help Rytek, your supporting the same policies that have been in place for the past 8 years. A vote for Atlantis/Midgard is a vote for change, and more importantly, a vote for the common militiaman instead of the SCs on Wall Street.

[Rytek]

I am not asking the others to help me. Rather, I am asking them to help their selves. Now is the time for the other pretenders to grab a slice of Atlantis or Midgard. While Patala hosts Atlantis and Midgards armies the only thing that may happend is that I beat them off and defend my lands. I hardly have the resources to fight a 2 front war against 2 larger opponents and still build up. On the other hand, if I lose the war Atlantis will have grabbed the lions share of my lands and then who will be strong enough to oppose him?

[Otherling]

Alternately, we of Atlantis propose that now is a good time for other nations to take a piece of Patala. Left alone for too long, Patala has amassed a powerful collection of enchantments. It's only a matter of time before they raise an Arcane Nexus, and then all other nations are in dire threat. It was this conclusion that led us to declare war in the first place.

Further, while we admittedly control more territory than Patala, we cannot match their gem income or research, and it's those, rather than easily claimed territories, that will win the prize.

[Rytek]

Patala's Worm is highly incapable of casting an arcane nexus. Furthermore, my best recruitable mage is S2 and my best summons is S3 with 1 misc slot. Hardly a threat to building an S9 mage anytime soon,especially fighting a 2 front war against larger enemies. Atlantis on the other hand has a natural S9 pretender capable of casting it right now.

[Foodstamp]

My apologies for staling. I got called in to work today and missed turns on two different games /cries

[Foodstamp]

No one else cares that Patala has Tarts?

Several nations border Patala. Forge is up. He is mere turns away from throwing up Arcane Nexus. Are you guys content with keeping peace with his nation for now so you can lose last?

[Rytek]

Jazzepi, can you delay hosting? I see you are online here. Only 3 hours left and I don't want Atlantis to stale. Add 24hrs for him please. And maybe we should move to a 48hr turn?

[Otherling]

No worries on my account. Just had a long day. Though I have to admit I wouldn't mind going to 48hrs. I'm finding a lot to cover each turn.

[Jazzepi]

Moving to 48 hours.

Jazzepi

[Rytek]

Thankyou. But man this game has moved at a real good pace.

[Rytek]

Ooops. You forgot your guards again!

[Foodstamp]

That battle at the fortress made absolutely no sense. Not one of my guys dies, yet my entire force routes? I was pretty sure I had you after the paralyze took hold, poor luck I guess. Poor luck is the last thing I need at this point in the war ;).

[Rytek]

The Rudru has 13 fear and a soul vortex up. When your werewolves took damage from the soul vortex they took a morale check.

[Foodstamp]

Aye but i would not expect that one squad of a dozen werewolves to route the entire force. My guys were starving, I think that is what set them up to route, the dozen facing the vortex was just icing on the cake.

[Deadnature]

Well, its been fun everyone, but I'm down to my capitol now and my enemy (Ulm) can defeat my forces on the field but is as of yet unable to storm the castle. So I'm switching to AI rather than waiting out a long siege. Good game ya'll

-Deadnature, Utgard

[Rytek]

LOL, ok,I got a laugh out of watching monkey PD kill a tartarian.

[Otherling]

Sigh. It becomes increasingly apparent that I have no idea how to actually win a battle.

[Rytek]

Baalz' guide to Atlantis will only get you so far, grasshopper.

If it makes you feel any better it took me 4 hours to script every mage for that fight.


Still, You have Arcane Nexus, Well of misery and eyes of god up. Not too shabby in that department.

I look forward to your next visit to my capitol. Please bring me more seraphs. :D

[Jazzepi]

I'm back now.

Jazzepi

[Otherling]

Has anybody heard from Rytek at all? He's staled the last several turns, so I'm assuming he's lost interest in this game. Can't really blame him at this point, but I'd like to get in touch to see about just wrapping things up. I really don't want to take the time to try to conquer the whole map at this point.

[Otherling]

Any of the former players still paying attention to this one?

Okay, having spoken with Rytek, we've agreed to call this thing. He was unfortunately left without an internet connection for several weeks, which leaves him in a position in the game that he can't really come back from. And since everyone else has long since dropped out, I think that leaves me the winner by attrition.

So how exactly do we go about wrapping this up? At the moment it continues to run on Llamaserver. Do we need the admin to shut it down, or what? For that matter, who is the admin at this point? I've forgotten.

Finally, since this was my first MP game, I'd appreciate any commentary on things, assuming anyone actually remembers any specific details.

[Rytek]

Well, I will give you a bit of feedback.
I had about 120 clams from having the Forge up. The turn I lost internet connection I was going to try and overcast arcane nexus with 1200 Astral gems :. I was going to use the Seraph that I had charmed from you.

On to some strategies. You used a wish to wish away the Aegis from me. You would have been better served wishing the Chalice away from me and setting up a Tartan factory. Did you ever get about wishing the Chalice away from me?

The reason you never beat me in an army battle head to head was obviosly my obscene communions. After the patch you should have added as many of those mages that you can recruit from underwater castles to your army which was sieging my capitol. Given them some astral gems and used them to mind duel. Also, had you taken the chalice from me you could have Gift of reasoned some of the large amount of tartarians you had layihg around once their wounds were healed. A Tart with some air and some boosters and gems could have cloud trapezed and then cast "fog warriors". This would have made your sacreds immune to the huge amount of blade winds I was using to smash your sacred armies.

You needed more thugs. Just some cheap banelords or even dark servents with some equipment raiding into my lands. I was having no difficulties isolating and killing Midgards thugs while really sticking it to him with my own armies and thugs. Meanwhile you got fixated on trying to siege my capitol and never really put pressure elsewhere. You needed to use your sailing ability more and used your large army to take my lightly defended fortresses. Did you notice how I was taking them from You and Midgard? I would land with a huge army which had 8 commanders with Gatesmashers. 1 turn to take down your walls. Which gives you no time to react.

Speaking of which. Add more independant commanders to you armies. Although that was terribly hard to do at my capitol because you could only add commanders with sailing.

As far as stopping my seducers. Not really sure what you could have done besides adding guards and change scripting which of course would have hurt you when I eventually sallied forth and killed your army. But that one I had with the soul mirror was absolutely brutal. Not sure how you could have beat him... And I will remember that particular artifact in the future for assassins. I kind of stumbled on to that one.

I think your long siege at my capitol cost you your ally in Midgard player. With my seducers ravaging your commanders and you having no good Astral or air mages to cast the army winning spells your army would have been better off taking land and targetting other castles. I never was worried about the siege because I knew that army had no chance of beating the defenders. I was a little concerened when you added the Seraph to the army, but then if you remember I kept probing you with scouts and I saw you didnt put any gems on the Seraph, so there was no danger of a fog warriors being cast.

I have to say though. You had a good victory. You were very aggresive and took out your weeker neighbors fast. You should let Baalz know that his guide helped you. You executed it perfectly. Although I was tempted to stop my clam hording to put up a "lure of the sea" I think that really would have casued you some fits! I had a pretty good dominion. But, I stuck to my plan which was to Clam like no tomorow.Which of course took every last water gem I had. I also had a respectable amount of blood stones and fever fetishes.

Did you ever get a chance to fight the Tartarian I had equipped with the 2 procas axes and the gift of Kurgi? +40 fear! I had evil plans for that guy. 2 turns after I set it loose it got lost in space and time! doh! Also, did you ever try for my capitol again? I had a decent force on patrol, mostly as meat shield for the large charming squad I had set up to nab any more Seraphs to show up.

Well, cheers! and good game. Again, I am sorry that I lost connection and ruined our end game :/

[Otherling]

After I lost my seraph I realized that attacking your capital was not a strategy that would work out for me. I changed to summoning more seraphs and attacking territories almost at random, figuring you wouldn't be able to react everywhere at once. Of course, after a few turns I finally realized you weren't reacting at all, and figured something was off.

It was a fun game for most of it, though, and definitely a good learning experience for me. I too am sorry we never really got to fight it out, and I look forward to getting another chance against you at some point.