Divine Might(PBEM) - (Game on!)

[Denisius]

This game should only be joined by people with no more than 5 played games. This would be my second multi-player game.

Settings:
Age: Middle Age
Version: 3.17
Map: Modified Parganos (A version which has a somewhat fairer spread of terrains than the default, so you don't get one person with all the farmland). This will be a dead seas version, meaning the seas will give no income and contain no magic sites
Players: 8
Game Settings: All default, except independents strength, which will be set at 7, and renaming, which will be on.

We will also be using the Llama server hosting.

I am also open to suggestions as to what should be changed/added.

List of current players:
Denisius - Pythium
Apsophos - Abysia
Mule Warrior - Bandar Log
MadFrancis - Caelum
Deadnature - Ulm
46852 - Vanheim
Dedas - Ct'is


The game has begun, good luck everyone.

[Apsophos]

This would be my fifth MP game (if the random one starts).
I'd like to play with Abysia.

[Mule Warrior]

Hi,


I'd like to play with Bandar Log

[MadFrancis]

Count me in please, playing Caelum.

[Denisius]

List updated. We need 6 more players.

[Deadnature]

hi,

this will be my fifth game as well, put me down for Ulm please

[46852]

Will be my 2nd game, I could play Vanheim.

Worthy Heroes mod is worth looking at I think. It doesn't change much, just spices up the heroes a bit.

[ID that should not be]

The only MP game I have ever played is that EA MadWar which started a few days ago and is likely to be aborted soon for imbalanced starting locations. I would like to play Tien chi.

[Dedas]

Even though I've been around a while I'm pretty much a newbie at MP. Especially as I choose MA Ct'is.

[majuva68]

Ermor for me, please

[mighty_scoop]

Just a short comment ( i don't have enough time to play a third game ) ... llama has made a modified version of this map with dead seas and 8 fixed starting position ... you could consider using this map, because it is well balanced ... (btw. is the actually a balanced version for 10 players ? )
have a lot of fun !

[Crust]

I have only played some hotseat games, would like to try out a real MP game. For my nation I'd choose Man.

[KIM]

I'd like to play with Ashdod.thanks :cool:

[Nihil]

If there is still one free place I would like to take Agartha

[Juffos]

I would like to play as Jotunheim and Quitti as R'lyeh, only if possible.

Quitti will confirm this when he comes home.

[Denisius]

@mighty_scoop
You are correct. For some reason, I mistook 8 for 10.

@46852
As I am unfamiliar with the 'Worthy Heroes' mod, I am reluctant to use it. Maybe for our next game.

The sign up has been concluded. All those that have been accepted, please submit your pretender to the LlamaServer game, 'Divine Might'.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with LlamaServer, here is a link to the FAQ: Link (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35160)

To download the map we are going to use, click on the following link: Link (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com//showthread.php?t=39857)

As soon as all the pretenders are uploaded, I'll post here with the time the game will begin.

[Mule Warrior]

I tried to send my pretender, but received an email saying that the game is already full. How is that possible?

[Denisius]

Did you try writing 'Divine_Might' as the subject name, instead of 'Divine Might'?

[Deadnature]

try resending, I've noticed Llamaserver (awsome though it is) can sometimes have odd little bugs.

For example, I recently had trouble submitting a pretender for another game using my yahoo email account: llamaserver kept saying "no such game exists" when one clearly did exist. I retried many times before switching to my gmail account and the problem was quickly solved.

[Mule Warrior]

Did you try writing 'Divine_Might' as the subject name, instead of 'Divine Might'?

It worked.

Thank you :)

[46852]

Tien Chi still missing the pretender... hup hup! :)

[Denisius]

I've messaged ID that should not be, and if he does not answer within 6 hours, I shall let another player take the chance.

[Denisius]

All players have submitted a pretender, and the game will begin today (28/08), at 19:00 GMT+2.

[ID that should not be]

Sorry I missed the notice of gathering pretender files, and a friend of mine (blessed be his kindness:))saved me from being kicked out by sending a pretender to the server in my name. So I need to have the email address changed. I have messaged Denisius and gave him my real email address(or should I also inform the server of the change?).

[46852]

I think Denisius just could delete the current pretender and then you could resend yours. Might be the easiest way?

[Denisius]

I've deleted your pretender. Once you resubmit it, the game will begin.

[Dedas]

Wasn't this game supposed to begin today?

[Denisius]

It was supposed to. However, Llama server will now be down until the 30/08.

[46852]

When is the game exactly going to start? I might want to resend my pretender after the server comes up again...

[Denisius]

As soon as the Llama server goes back online, I'll start the game.

[Dedas]

I have sent in a revised pretender but I don't know if it will be registered before the game starts as the server is down. Could you perhaps hold an hour or two after the server comes back up so that I can resend it? I would be very grateful as the game will be much more fun for me. :)

[Denisius]

Very well. If the game has not registered your pretender, I'll be sure to wait.

[Dedas]

Pretender registered. Feel free to start and thank you for waiting. :)

[Mule Warrior]

should we upgrade to 3.20?

[Denisius]

I believe so. One of the things changed in the downtime, I believe, was the version of the game, which was updated to 3.20. So we should do the same. The game has begun!

[Dedas]

You must upgrade to 3.20.

[46852]

So do we start with 7 players only? Wasn't ID supposed to resend his pretender? The map might get a bit unbalanced with 7 nations only.

[Denisius]

Ahh, the game has already begun. Good luck, everyone!

[46852]

Ahh, the game has already begun. Good luck, everyone!

7 players is ok then? If it is so, good luck from my behalf too... Because you will all need it! ;)

[MadFrancis]

Hey, if you get a chance you should create a link to the actual map file. It's a real pain in the *** to find otherwise.

[Denisius]

The following is a direct link:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6489&d=1217288470

[MadFrancis]

Thanks.

[Dedas]

Pythium has been stalling 7 times in a row now. Maybe we should declare him dead or find another player?

[Dedas]

I just realised that Pythium is played by Denisius, the game creator. Weird.

[46852]

Hmm... are we playing a dead game then? :(

I was a bit surprised to see the game begin with 7 players, as this leaves 1 area on the map quite empty. Now the game admin has disappeared too...

[Dedas]

No matter. He is not needed as the game runs itself.

[Deadnature]

Right, but its annoying since we can't autohost and we'll have to wait a full 24 hours for every turn now; is there any way we can set his nation to AI or get the admin code?

I've sent him a PM, whatever good that does...

[Dedas]

Without the password... tricky. Perhaps Llamabeast can help? I'll PM him.

[Dedas]

Good news everyone!

The game is rolling along again with the Llamaserver up and running. Also, I'm taking over the role as game admin after successfully retrieving the password from the Llama.
My first action as admin is to kick Denisius out of the game. I'm also issuing a friendly warning to MadFrancis to stop stalling or else. :)

Enjoy the game!

[MadFrancis]

Good news everyone!

The game is rolling along again with the Llamaserver up and running. Also, I'm taking over the role as game admin after successfully retrieving the password from the Llama.
My first action as admin is to kick Denisius out of the game. I'm also issuing a friendly warning to MadFrancis to stop stalling or else. :)

Enjoy the game!

Yeah my internet service was interrupted by my provider through no fault of my own. Do what you will, but don't waste my time. Public threats of being booted are not appreciated. In fact, I've just set myself to AI. I don't want to waste time on a game that I may or may not get booted from eventually. Consider this my withdrawal.

[Dedas]

Did you notice the smilie, MadFrancis? Did you notice I wrote "friendly warning"? I was jokingly trying to get your attention.

Denisius however, was kicked out because he has stalled since turn 2. So no surprise. I would never boot anyone who stalled 3 or 4 times in a row. Especially not without a warning.

You misunderstood me and for that I'm honestly sorry.

Do you want us to roll back a turn?

[Dedas]

The server somehow skipped turn 19 and 20 for everyone except the AI so I'm rolling back to turn 18 to sort it out.

[llamabeast]

Er, bit of a mess. The LlamaServer's become overkeen on processing admin commands and is doing it repeatedly. I modified the code for this earlier, so it isn't entirely mysterious. Just trying to fix it now. Anyway, it'll appear the game's been rolled back to turn 7(!) - I'll fix it as quickly as I can.

However, the game was only on turn 19 anyway, so I don't know why you thought it needed rolling back Dedas.

[Dedas]

Because the turn I got said it was turn 21 even though it said it was turn 19 on the server, and everyone had stalled for two turns.

[llamabeast]

Right. You're right. Sorry.

Let me try to work out what on earth is happening. Why do things go wrong?! It's a computer, it should always do the same thing! Gaah!

[Deadnature]

Weird, I only got the 19-turn file so everything appeared fine to me.

[Dedas]

You're the greatest Llama. Just want you to know.

[llamabeast]

Thanks! But no worries. I want to make sure it all works smoothly. Hmm, I still don't get what caused the original issue. Hopefully it was some freaky one-off. It's pretty hard to dig through the logs to uncover it.

[Dedas]

That was fast! Amazing work!

[Deadnature]

Ok, so I just got turn file 18, is that where we want to be? Should I work with this turn file as current and submit my turn. Just want to be sure :)

thanks again,

[Dedas]

Yes, that is close enough to were we want to be. As you said, use the turn file you got and send it in and everything will be fine. We are rolling again. Good luck everyone!

[Dedas]

Say hello to our new Pythium player WingedDog! Good luck!

[WingedDog]

Seems like there's a problem - I received and keep receiving after resend request the turn file from turn 7.

Now I browsed saling data - there's no Pythium. I'll contact Llama.

[46852]

This rollback came at the worst possible time for Vanheim. We just managed to beat a 300-man strong Ulm main host army by carefully focusing and timing the arrival of our forces to the battlefield. After the rollback it will be obvious that Ulm won't fall in our trap, and will have 100% scouting data on our forces. I was using all my resources to stop this attack, and now I can't stop it anymore, as the host army has punched through my border provinces and has several options for attack now.

[WingedDog]

I have send a PM to Llama, but I think a little delay is required. 6 hours would be enough for me.

[Dedas]

@WingedDog
The game has now been postponed 6 hours.

Strange, Pythium is showing up at Llamaserver and that wouldn't be the case if it was set to AI. Hopefully Llama (you rock!) will sort it out.

That first Llamaserver problem where turns didn't go out to people and me trying to roll back to where it started with a roll back that didn't work as it should, really caused an avalanche of errors. Hopefully everything will be sorted out real soon.

@46852 and Deadnature
I'm really sorry for all this. But it was in some way needed to save this game as two of our players just dropped out. Now we are up to 7 again.
Maybe Ulm could be a sport and just pull back his troops for a turn?

@Everyone
Great news, we now have a new player for Caelum (replacing MadFrancis). All please welcome Calahan!

[llamabeast]

Pythium got set to AI on turn 15 I'm afraid, so it's not possible for WingedDog to sub.

The last avalanche of errors was purely coincidental. There was a design flaw in the way the admin commands were handled which meant that under rare circumstances it was handle them repeatedly. I tried to fix it and briefly made it worse, so it would always happen, and that was when you did the rollbacks. I did a crude fix yesterday, but I was having problems fixing it properly because it always worked properly when I tested it. Then I had a little epiphany in bed last night, so it's now properly and elegantly fixed.

[llamabeast]

If you like I can set everyone to use the same orders as they originally did for turn 18, except Caelum. I think that might be the fairest thing to do.

[Dedas]

If you like I can set everyone to use the same orders as they originally did for turn 18, except Caelum. I think that might be the fairest thing to do.

That would be really appreciated. That way Calahan can take over Caelum as well. Great! Thank you for everything Llama!

@WingedDog
Sorry for all this. It seems you can't sub after all. Hope you're not angry. :o

[Calahan]

Hello Everyone

I'm the new lord high commander in chief of Caelum, and am very happy to make aquantence with you all, and looking forward to some enjoyable wars ahead :)

If anyone currently has any diplomatic relations (NAP's etc) with Caelum then can you please let me know. Especially any non-obvious wars I might be involved in! :D (haven't seen the turn file yet to spot any obvious wars!). I'm happy to honour any agreements in the immediate short-term, but generally when I sub into games I'm a big fan of a 'clean-slate' status so that I can have a chance to decide my own diplomatic future, rather than picking up a load of diplo baggage that isn't always welcome IMHO.

Calahan


@Dedas/Llama - Think there still seems to be some problems with the turn files. Within the past hour or so I've asked for 3 re-sends for Caelum turn 18, but keep getting sent a turn 7 file instead (even though the email subject line says Caelum turn 18). Might be worth checking that all the turn files due to be processed for a turn 18 re-do are actually turn 18 files, or guessing some predictable crazyness will ensue :eek: (Edit: Have just PMed llamabeast to flag it up in case his omnipresence fails him)

@Dedas - Can I please ask for a 6 hour delay, as due to the non joys of work, I'll struggle to get a turn done by the current deadline.

[llamabeast]

Oh dear, this game is jinxed! It turns out that Caelum went AI on turn 16.

Awaiting instructions.

[WingedDog]

2 Dedas
No I'm not angry, I just wanted to help.

[Dedas]

@Everyone in the game

We now have a decision to make, and I like to hear your opinions. Here are the options:

1.
Continue from here (turn 18) with 5 players. Caelum as AI and Pythium as AI.

2.
Roll back to turn 15 to allow WingedDog and Calahan to join giving us the initial 7 players.

My vote is on option number 2 as that will make a much more exciting game than having two AIs in the game. Also, the sacrifice will only be 4 turns and we are still only in early game.

Please share you opinions!

The deadline for the decision will be within the next 24 hours. In the meantime I'm putting the game on hold.

Both WingedDog and Calahan should stand ready to jump in if we go for option 2.

[llamabeast]

It seems to me the options are two:

1) Go back to turn 16 or even 15 to get Caelum and Pythium back in. Major disadvantage: You'll all have to replay 3 or 4 turns, which is really not ideal because obviously people will have learnt things by experiencing wars the first time round.

2) Deal with having only a few human players (5), I'll move you back to turn 19, and carry on as if nothing had happened.

I can't help but feel (2) might be the wiser option, but will do whatever you think best.

[llamabeast]

Oh, simultaneous posts! The only extra thing I have to add to Dedas' post is that if you don't roll back, you can fast forward to turn 19 and not have to deal with the issues of the initial rollback (i.e. Ulm's war with Vanheim will be fair after all).

[Dedas]

Ha ha! Yes. :)


As Llama said, we can of course continue on as if nothing happened, but in my opinion that would be kind of boring.

Firstly, we are not many people playing on a map that is pretty big (made for 8).

Secondly, the AI suck. :)

Thirdly, I feel that we're still pretty much in the beginning of the game so doing a couple of turns again won't take long.

Fourthly, WingedDog and Calahan are nice guys and they would add so much fun to this game.

:)

Just my 2 cents.

[Calahan]

I don't really have a say in this, but if I did, I'd put my X next to "llama option 2".

As much as I'd love to join all you guys and gals in this game, and despite all the undoubted fun I'd miss out on, rolling back 3-4 turns is a bit of stretch to ask, and think it should only be done if there was some sort of game threatening bug involved. As there are a countless number of advantages and dis-advantages to everyone in doing that, all of which could be classed as unfair. So best to just carry on with the fab five :) all have your wicked ways with Caelum and Pythium :p and let the best, or if not the best then the most devious, player win :D

But I'd be happy to join, and happy not to join. I only get unhappy when my mages ignore my scripts!!! which means I'm unhappy every time I open a turn file!

[46852]

If the options are: Return to previously played turn 19 OR Return to turn 15/16 to get more human players, I'm ok with both.

But my vote goes Llama option #2 :)

To be honest, the game has been a bit of a mess from the beginning... starting with 7 players wasn't a good move, admin dropping out on turn 4 wasn't a good move either.

[Dedas]

Llama option 2 it is then. I'll notify the Llama.

[Deadnature]

Ok, I just got a resending of turn 20, I'm on turn 19 and I thought we had time to turn it in. A little confused...

[llamabeast]

You should have got a message about it as well. Basically we're back on the original timeline, as if we'd never rolled back, but unfortunately the server somehow hosted the original turn 19 with no-one having played, and I don't have the original turn 19 files anymore. so we have to go on from turn 20. However, everyone staled turn 19, so it should be fairly fair.

[Deadnature]

Ok, I see now, thanks Llama!

[Dedas]

I've postponed the game for 12 hours due to me being away Sunday. I hope you guys are ok with it. :)

[46852]

I'm sorry guys but it seems like I need a rep for rest of the game. I simply don't have the time to do the turns as I have been forced to do crazy long hours the last few days... and it seems like this will continue for a while still.

It also seems like I will stale this turn, as I'm still at work :(

Dedas, are you able to get a rep for me?

[Dedas]

Sure, I will delay the game some in the meantime.

[Dedas]

Ok, I found a sub. Please welcome JimMorrison as the new ruler of Vanheim!

[46852]

Thanks Dedas & Jim :)

When we started this game, I figured I'd have time to handle two games at once, but my current situation irl doesn't really give me many chances to concentrate on playing a turn 100%. So I decided to concentrate on the "main" game, Standards.

FYI JimMorrison, Vanheim and Ulm just have signed a NAP3, so you should be in a pretty peaceful position. I don't think I had any other pacts with other nations.

[JimMorrison]

...When we started this game, I figured I'd have time to handle two games at once...

There's a subtle irony here, where I didn't even realize that 46852 was my neighbor in his other game. I think he chose the wrong one to keep, as Vanheim seems really strong here, and in the other game..... Well, I just declared war on him. :o

It's a strange world, that's for sure.

Anyways, hello everyone. I will be your Vanjarl for the rest of the trip. The movie tonight will be Weekend at Bernie's, and for dinner you'll have your choice of beans or rice. Anyone found combining the two will be jettisoned. Enjoy the ride!

[Dedas]

As we soon descend into early midgame, and I'm also going away over the weekend, I'll decided to switch over to 48h hosting. Autohosting will still be on of course.

[JimMorrison]

So ummmmm.....

I kind of thought I would post and ask if maybe it would be best to just call the game, and move on?

With Ulm set to AI now, and C'tis with *18* stales?? Are you still with us, Dedas? Bandar Log has staled 6x now as well. I would be very comfortable with just ending this, despite the fact that Vanheim probably has it in the bag - I really wouldn't be very proud of the win.....