Smack - Running

[vfb]

Bazooko has been slowed down while Jazzepi invades Berlin.

So, to fuel my gaming addiction, I'm creating another game in the Six Lands, MA this time. (Game name has been updated for llamaserver requirements.) Presenting,

Smack (http://www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo.cgi?game=Smack)

Age: MA
Mods: CB1.3
Map: SixLands (http://dom3maps.wikidot.com/system:sixlands)
Provinces: 90 Land, 3 Water
Players: 6 (Land only)
Experience: Any
Nations: Any (Except water)

Renaming: Allowed
Graphs: Off
All Other Settings: Default
Host Time: 24hrs

Hosted on: Llamaserver (Thanks llamabeast!)

All the rules in Bazooko (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=40879) apply. This is a Vegas-style game where NAPs have little or no meaning. Your reputation will not be sullied if you commit dastardly deeds and betrayals. Anything possible in the game goes.

Nations/Players: :up: = Uploaded
Abysia vfb (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=8915) :up:
Marignon cupido2 (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=8723) :up:
Machaka jimkehn (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=8903) :up:
Pythium OmikronWarrior (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=8984) :up:
C'tis lwarmonger (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=9523) :up:
Pan Denisius (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=9620) :up:

[OmikronWarrior]

I was looking for another shot to experiment with Pythium. So, sign me up.

[jimkehn]

2 years (almost) I've had this game and have not played Machaka. Not even SP...so......I will take Machaka.

[lwarmonger]

I'll play as C'tis.

[Denisius]

Pangea for me.

[vfb]

Great, we are full!

cupido2 please pick your nation.

Everyone else, please email your pretenders to the llamaserver, subject "Smack".

[cupido2]

Errr... Marignon for me.

Uploading pretender now

[cupido2]

Wuah every province has a hefty 50 indie guardforce. They are of course no match for my elite marignon supertroopers but are surely unbeatable for you common people. If you need help to get rid of them, just send me some gold and my Grailknights come and get rid of that deadly menace for you.

Marignon cares for you.

[vfb]

Abysia needs no help from puny humans!

Magma shall spew forth from the Smouldercone, and we will light the fires of our glorious civilization in the heathen lands. The peasant rabble had better get ready for some global warming.

-- Begbie, Prophet of the True Flame

[jimkehn]

Pay no heed to the scantily clad warriors of the warmer climes. We only want to be left alone.


-Gary....So-So Lord of Mediocrity, Unexceptional God of the Underachievers, Insignificant King of the Uninspired

[cupido2]

:eek:
SCANTILY CLAD WARRIORS!!! Didn't you know, that in the Holy Book of Teh Bird it is written:
All ye crytures shalst weahr hyghneceth et goesth to ye pedii clothes so none canesth see theyre scin but ye handen et facii so ye god shalst be verye happilie et no wicke spiritii shalst haven its joyen to sicnesse ye souhl???

I send an inquisitor to Machakan lands to oversee that the rules of the Holy Book of Teh Bird are followed!

:rulz:

[jimkehn]

Remember...Gary is the Insignificant King of the Uninspired. They have felt no inspiration to read no stinkin Holy Book. They barely have enough inspiration to read the comic pages in the newzpaperz.

But after all......they ARE clad....just scantily so.

[cupido2]

:eek::eek:

STINKIN!!! COMICS!!! Don't you know that in the Holy Book of Teh Bird is written, I cite page 16'120 verse 12:

"[...] an thou shallst only readen ye Holy Booke of Teh Bird for only ye Holy Booke of Teh Bird shallst shoue ye waye for ye souhl et readen en alter booke only opehns ye waye of maliciosii spiritii of which ye comicii paintures arest ye darcesti waye to opehns ye waye to ye souhl as laughter shallst be sin to Teh Bird, ye only god thou shallst prayen as He arest ye Savviour et ye beginn and ye end but He arest ye infinitii with no beginn et no end, as laughter is tearin ye facii to wicke facii as ye facii of Abysii which shallst be ye signii of ye falsii prophetii who willest arriven in ye worlde to beginn ye Haarmageddone which willest calle forth Teh Bird to savve ye choosen with purii souhls to rulen uver ye worlde [...] and he who sacrilegii ye book of Teh Bird with feculencii wordens shallst be purifiid by ye flames at ye stake of Teh Bird as He arest ye Savviour et ye beginn and ye end but He arest ye infinitii with no beginn et no end, and cleanest ye souhl of ye faul spiritii as [...]"

So I will immediatly send an inquisitor to Machaka. And scantilly clad is no excuse for not beeing clad high-necked with no skin to be seen but the face and the hands. You are warned!

[vfb]

Uh oh ... Abysia borrowed a Holy Booke of Teh Bird from the library since it sounded interesting, but there was a wee bit of an accident. Or maybe a scrilegii?

In any case we are shipping the ashes to Marignon so they can dispose of them as they see fit.

-- Begbie of Abysia

[cupido2]

The Inquisitors appreciate the efforts of Abysia to enlighten themselves and learn the truth of Teh Bird, as Teh Bird is, as it is written in the Holy Book of Teh Bird to cite only one of the many references to Teh Bird: "[...] as He arest ye only god, ye A et ye Z et all ye letterii inbetweenee as well as all ye ascii-codicii, so [...]"
I will send a friar to Abysia to teach your people the wonders of Teh Bird and preserve more Holy Books to the ensuing ages.

[vfb]

Abysia ponders ... who is the immortal Yna independent in the HoF?

An independent commander in an indy province who has died twice! We hope someone took some pictures.

[vfb]

The llamaserver seems to have become lost in time and space!

Let us hope for an early return from the void.

I've tried to postpone the deadline by 24 hours via the web admin function, but I don't know if that will have any affect.

[vfb]

It looks like the llamaserver is just sick, not actually dead.

It's processing turns, but you may not get a response right away.

Try to get your turns in early if possible, thanks!

Please note that I'm vigorously opposed to rollbacks.

[cupido2]

Weee, I never received so many e-mails before. About 18 notifications that I had sent a revised turn file (I have not). Llamaserver gone haywire. But as I saw in the other thread I'm not the only one.

[vfb]

I have disabled Quick-Host for this game, since the llamaserver has gone temporarily insane. The problem is it's not clearing out the received turns. So if you have a revised turn in the queue, or maybe even a turn from the last month, it would screw things up. :(

[Denisius]

I think that the problem is now fixed, and that you can resume the Quick-Host.

[vfb]

When I access the llamaserver admin page, I still get this message:

The LlamaServer is a bit unhappy at the moment. I just came back from a few days away to find it acting very oddly (apologies to everyone who was spammed), so I thought I'd reboot it. Unfortunately I then wasn't able to restart it, and I've now exhausted all the ideas me and my (very hardware-savvy) housemate could come up with to revive it. So it looks like the current hardware incarnation of the server may be dead.

Fortunately, this isn't nearly so bad as it sounds. I still have all the data safe, and I'll get it running again very soon, either on my lab computer or on a virtual machine within my housemate's server. So all should be running again in the next day or two.

Thanks everyone for being so patient.

llamabeast

[vfb]

I did not get a turn emailed to me for Smack, so I thought it had not hosted. In addition, the status page on llamaserver showed:


Game: Smack
Turn number 7
Next turn due: 07:55 GMT on Thursday November 13th

Abysia 2h file received
C'tis 2h file received
Machaka 2h file received
Marignon 2h file received
Pangaea 2h file received
Pythium 2h file received


It looked like everyone had their turn in and it was going to host sometime next week, so I did a force hosting, and you all have received the new turn I am guessing.

But the turn file shows I staled, and it says turn 8 instead of turn 7.

Not only that, the Game Status page still shows:


Last updated at 08:25 GMT on Friday November 7th
Current time: 09:07 GMT


I think the llamaserver is still not feeling entirely well. "Last Update" and "Current Time" should basically be the same.

Are there any objections to just carrying on from here? The only other option is to try the "Roll game back to previous turn".

But I'd really prefer to avoid a rollback if at all possible.

Please let me know your vote:

- Play with turn 8 since everyone staled

OR

- Attempt to use the roll back function


Majority vote wins. Tie-breaker is no roll back.


Edit: Oh it's supposed to be turn 8! It's just that when the llamaserver hosted, it ignored all the .2h files. It's just as if I did not give any orders. Graphs are off so it's hard to tell if everyone else staled too... but the Hall of Fame has not changed at all, except all the non-dead HoF'ers got 1 more XP. Please vote in any case.

[vfb]

Thinking about this more, I should probably have just turned quickhost on, instead of doing a "force host"

I forgot I had turned it off. But now I'm worried about turning it back on, because the status page still says it's on Turn 7.

I'll wait and see what happens on the server and if the game eventually figures out that it forced hosting. In the admin log, it doesn't even record that I did that. Weird.

[vfb]

Did you all see the message from llamabeast?

Just in case:

Hi. On trying to host Smack just now, Dominions crashed. This is not a LlamaServer issue, but rather Dominions itself crashed with a "Nagot gick fel" error.

These errors are normally caused by a (generally inexplicable) problem with one of the players' 2h files. Therefore the LlamaServer moved all your 2h files away before hosting again. This is why you will receive a new turn file in which you've staled.

There are two options from here. Either you can treat the stale turn as a random event and carry on with the game, or you can roll back the turn and try to host again. If you try the latter your game admin will have to do the rollback via the admin options on the LlamaServer website, and you will all have to do your turns again. Note that in this case it is _really important_ that you actually do redo your turn, rather than just sending in the same one again (which people sometimes seem to do because they don't believe me). If you just send in the same file, hosting will simply fail again.

I hope you manage to get the game back on course, whichever option you go for.

Well, it sounds like a rollback is not going to cut it.

I think the best option is just to go forward with the current turn with everyone staling, treating the stale turn as a random event. Let's get this game back on the road! Does anyone have objections?

Hopefully llamabeast can send the failed turn to illwinter so they can debug the crash.

And everyone quit using provhax! ( <-- joke :) )

[jimkehn]

Let's just roll on. If we all staled, we all staled together, so no one has any big advantage. I know events may have happened, but then.....they may have happened anyway. I strongly urge to move on from here with the staled turns.

It will make me feel better for lasting an extra turn.

[jimkehn]

Well, I just got confirmation that I submitted my turn. And I also got confirmation that I revised my turn, which I did not. Funny. The LLamaserver.net Status Page seems to be refreshing properly, though, as the status for Smack looks right.

[vfb]

Llamabeast found out that the reason the turn crashed is because of lack of disk space.

He kindly regenerated turn 8.

Please use the new turn 8! Do not use the one where everyone staled.

I have increased the timer by 24 hours for this turn only, in case anyone would like to raise objections.

[vfb]

Admin:

We're just waiting for Pythium (OmikronWarrior) now.

Quickhost is on, so whenever he gets his turn in, the game will host.

The deadline is 21:52 GMT on Monday November 10th. The llamaserver seems fine now, so I won't make any further adjustments to the timer or quickhost unless I get a PM from someone.

[cupido2]

Ahem, we are sure that llamaserver is to blame, but we see Abysian forces on the Marignon-green provinces. I'm sure Teh Bird isn't too happy about that, as in the Book of Teh Bird is written:
"[...] et thou shalst resceat on yer own green as it est Teh Bird, ye only one [long, interesting, passage about the Greatness of Teh Bird] who gavesth thou yer green and thou shalst not trample on ye green of alterii nationii as Teh Bird, who est ye beginn et ye end [another very interesting passage concerning the wisdom of Teh Bird] will comesth from ye heaven, where Teh Bird [a passage of the ultimate knowledge of Teh Bird follows here] et burnesth on ye stake ye heretics who sacrilegii ye greens et if ye nationii tresspassiae est on flamii like Teh Bird [a passage that describes minutiously the flames, their color, form, etc. of Teh Bird] Harmageddon shalst be nigh et great war et death shallst comesth over all nationii et The Bird [a passage about the splendor of Teh Bird follows here] willst crush ye paganii [...]

[vfb]

Abysia sees no light green, or pale green, or puce green, or even grass green. The world is a red flame, and black where the flame is no more.

If the knights of Marignon are too slow to move out from their capitol, we suggest they shed some of that heavy armor that is weighing them down. There are many provinces yet held by puny independent pagans. If you get rid of some of that steel, you should be able to reach them in no time at all.

[vfb]

:fire: :acorn:
:fire: :mushroom:
:fire: :palm:
:fire: :shamrock:

The nation of Pan, having committed gross violations of Abysian sovereignty by attacking and capturing Pzucz in an unprovoked and undeclared act of war last month, and seeking to further their illegal land gains by sending yet more troops in a botched invasion of Pergami, is hereby summarily convicted in the Abysian High Court, of war crimes and other preversions, and is sentenced to burn!

-- Begbie, Prophet of Abysia

[cupido2]

OH TEH BIRD HELP US! Our scout brought us terrible news and we have the holy duty to inform every nation about that horrible incident:
A group of unarmed pilgrims was ambushed by a horde of drooling and bloodthirsty abominations. Half man, half animal. They... they were... the faint of heart should not read what follows... many an inquisitor passed out when this hideous fact was revealed... they were accompanied by women, all naked :faint:!! Drooling, out of their mind... Many of these foul beasts were slain by the believe of the pilgrims in Teh Bird alone. Marignon won't stop to cleanse this insult on Teh Bird's will and protect all children from this exhibitionismn. Those daemons, calling themselves the "Pangea" will burn on the stake in the name of Teh Bird.

[vfb]

Admin: Hosting delayed 24hrs because of llamaserver problems

[jimkehn]

Hey guys.....sorry for the delay, but I never got turn 19 for smack. I've requested the file be re-sent.

[lwarmonger]

Yeah, I've been getting that a lot. I just have playing times where I check llamaserver for all the games I didn't recieve e-mails for, just to make sure that I get them.

[vfb]

Admin: Hosting delayed 12 hours.

[cupido2]

Ah thanks to Teh Bird, the perverts are no more. Law and order rules the former godless lands of Pangea while the Inquisitors advise the inhabitants with the Book of Teh Bird, the sword and the flames in the ways of a devout life. How grateful they were to be freed from their existance of promiscuity and nakedness.

[vfb]

A tide of nekkid refugees has spilled onto the barren wastes of Abysia. They will be rounded up by our warlords, appropriately clothed in chaste white robes, and given the honor of sacrificing themselves to Nigi. He'll never know the difference!

also, Admin: Hosting delayed 12 hours.

[vfb]

Admin: Hosting delayed until 06:25 GMT on Tuesday December 2nd.

The game is still on quickhost, so if it hosts I will again delay hosting to December 2nd.

[cupido2]

The Arch Inquisitor is more than annoyed by the foul fumes spreading from the C'tis lands, poisoning the pious countrysides in our west. To add insult to injury C'tis is building temples for their false god as if there was no tomorrow. Marignon will set a fiery end to this polution of both the air and the religion. Teh Bird will smile and we prey for his break-free.

[lwarmonger]

Hey now, not very nice Marignon. It isn't our fault that your people like the pleasant musk coming from our prime wetlands and wish to devote significant portions of their income to expanding it. Perhaps you should build temples of your own to compete... unless your amusing faith in a giant turkey has left you too poor perhaps?

[cupido2]

As we saw in battle the foul stench is not the only thing the dwellers of C'tis like. We don't want to know what the people do with those snakes when they are lonely at night. All we know is, that the Knights of the Chalice will root out this nest of abberate sodomites in the name of Teh Bird and that the inquisitors will teach the poor mislead people how, when and with whom they have to consummate marriage.

[lwarmonger]

Your people will die in great numbers at our armies hand. Disease shall afflict your soldiers and lay waste to your lands. Your rivers will darken and turn to poison and your crops will wither in their fields. The lands of Marignon will become a wasteland and you will rue the day when you launched your unprovoked attack upon the peaceful lizard people of Ctis.

[lwarmonger]

And now Machaka jumps in, violating our Non-aggression Pact without so much as a word. If anyone should attack either Machaka or Marignon, I can assure them that those two nations are quite engaged at the moment, and will be for some time. Defensively my armies are quite powerful, and more than capable of holding them off while death and disease are spread among their civilians.

[jimkehn]

Don't forget the rules of THIS game were that agreements were meaningless.

[lwarmonger]

That is true of all games, however since Machaka so heartlessly and ruthlessly betrayed poor ctis (and are now quite engaged in what will no doubt turn into a bloody stalemate because of it), it is the perfect time for one of their neighbors to stab them in the back.

[OmikronWarrior]

That is true of all games, however since Machaka so heartlessly and ruthlessly betrayed poor ctis (and are now quite engaged in what will no doubt turn into a bloody stalemate because of it), it is the perfect time for one of their neighbors to stab them in the back.

I think the point of this style of game is to be heartless and ruthless. Or in my case, mercenary. The theurgs and legions of Pythium stand by for offers for their services. Also accepting offers to do nothing.

[jimkehn]

Well, I think most games NAPs are meant to be honored. The very first post in this thread states that agreements were to have little or no meaning in THIS game.

[lwarmonger]

Well, almost everything I have money and gem wise is currently going into fighting my two opponents, even though defensively I remain very strong (as my two opponents are finding out while they sit ineffectually outside my city walls while disease spreads among them). However Pythium must ask itself where easy pickings can be had? It certainly isn't in Ctis, as a victory over me is in many ways just as bad as a defeat (as Machaka and Marignon are finding out... the disease isn't merely spreading among their troops but in their homelands as well... thousands die each day), but in those nations which have denuded their defenses for a maximum effort against me. In the meantime my garrisons within my other cities remain in place and vigilant against sudden attacks.

[vfb]

Abysia has decided to show its support for poor beleaguered C'tis by launching a sneaky, underhanded, dirty rotten backstab, in Marignon's general direction.

Sadly, it was a complete failure.

Happily, there was very little loss of life.

[lwarmonger]

C'tis welcomes Abysia's entry into the war of defense against fanatical aggression... fear not, your defeat is but a momentary thing. Marignon will find it most difficult to get much use out of its disease ridden force currently in C'tissan territory, and C'tis would also like to announce a significant victory over the Machakans as they attempted to storm one of our Fortified Cities. The defensive power of C'tis is considerable indeed, especially as it was apparent that nearly every Machakan soldier in that army (approximately 300 strong) was severely diseased.

In other news death and disease continues to ravage Machaka's home front, creating massive unrest and causing substantial losses among the civilian population. It is questionable as to how much longer Machaka can keep up the war effort in the face of such a ravaged civilian economy. Marignon is also feeling the effects of C'tissan power, although on a somewhat lesser scale.

[cupido2]

All Marignon is feeling is the love of Teh Bird.

[cupido2]

Well and after seeing the turns and reading the forums thoroughly, Marignon is feeling a bit sad and a bit holy wrath comes up. We don't know what wicket spiritii befell Abysia for doing these silly things. If Abysia reconsiders its plans and joins in the fight against C'tis, which is, as all but the blind can see almost over, as C'tis holds only little lands and his animals are deserting, they shall be forgiven. If not: Soon the victorious main force will be on its way back (or more likely rush forward through the last few C'tis provinces and end up in the back of you, Abyisa) and I hope for you, you are ready.

[vfb]

As Abysia's population declines, we must look for new lands. The fair and bright cities of Teh Bird shine with the light of the stars and sun, and the people of Marignon are pure and unspoiled. What better place to live?

We are not interested in going to go live in a bunch of sickening bogs and swamps.

-- Abysia

P.S. Actually, a bunch of devils made us do it.

[jimkehn]

The C'tissian propaganda over rates his own victory. While he loses a province a month or more, he claims victory!! Yes, the Machakans are sick and dying, but dying in honor, none the less. It is an honor to die in service to rid the world of the C'tissian menace. The Machakan force will return in greater numbers, and victory will be ours!!!!!

[Leaving role playing mode] Lwarmonger, let me give you kudos. Your sleep clouds were very effective. Perfect use of that spell. By concentrating sleep clouds just before the castle gates, my spiders all were unconscious, just standing there giving you uncontested target practice!!!! Also the rain was a good decision, as they mitigated a lot of the effects of flaming arrows. I also am not sure what you are using to spread disease and unrest?? Maybe black servants with bane venom charms??? Maybe harvesters of sorrow?? But they damn sure are working!!!!!!

Good gaming....fun to play against someone who knows what they are doing!!!!

[lwarmonger]

Lol... this is the first time I've played C'tis multiplayer (although I'm currently also playing C'tis in Origin), and after I lost the first few battles in the open field rather decisively against Marignon, I decided that fighting a defensive war of attrition was the way to go. As long as I hold my cities I can win in the end, and turtling is something that C'tis does surprisingly well. Even if I lose I think I may write up a little strategy guide detailing some of the things I learned from this game, as there is very little in terms of help in the index.

[OmikronWarrior]

And so the Pythium war machine roars to life!

Though Marignon offered tribute to war with Abyssia, the Machaka situation was to good to pass up. His forces marching around in a swamp getting malaria, I was at good spot in research. Abyssia on his way to getting even stronger making time my enemy. Could care less about the plight of the lizards. What's next, defending owls? I jus saw a chnace to grab some territory.

[jimkehn]

O, won't anyone help poor, peaceful Machaka? We are saving the world from the dreaded Lizard induced Liardroccus Virus, and no one will help. To top it off, Pythium kicks Machaka while we are lying on the ground, grovelling in our own puke. O what sadness befalls the women and children of Machaka as their men valiantly stave off the malicious diseases. Defeating the lizards in droves......only to find hordes more just around the bend. O, the unfairness of it all!!!

[cupido2]

How looks can deceive. Marignon thought that Pythium was the only civilized nation besides Marignon. But it turned out that only the noble wild men of Machaka are pure of soul and can be trusted while Pythium showed his disgusting face. The face of an opportunistic warmonger, praying to the god Mammon, sacrificing their souls to gain personal wealth and killing the heroic people of Machaka, who we think of as our childern.
Teh Bird shall have his revenge on you, Pythium, and we hope your people are infected by the C'tis disease before they are burnt on the stake.

[vfb]

Admin: It's turn 42 and some people are cutting it pretty close getting their turns in. I've changed to a 48-hour clock.

[lwarmonger]

Victory! The Machakan army currently ravaging our northwestern frontier has been destroyed. Also, the Marignon army currently besieging our capital has been defeated and the Order of the Chalice shattered. It is unlikely that Marignon will recover from this defeat and the massive wave of disease that will soon be afflicting them.

In sadder news, the Fortified City of the North has been taken. In the end its mages were too ridden with disease to prevent its capture. However with Pythium's entry into the war the C'tissan High Command is certain that it will soon be retaken!

[jimkehn]

The Machakan nation is no longer....

With a few remnants waiting to be destroyed, we will fight to the end.

[End Role Playing Mode] Nice work, lwarmonger. Those clouds of death are NASTY!!!! I sent my mages in Machaka out to meet the Pythium hordes in a suicide attack. Didn't even script them. I think Machaka took too many defeats in the early war with Ermor and never recovered. We will meet on the battle field at Gol Phalas (or whatever), and see what happens. But, with all of that army diseased and worse, Machaka's days are numbered.

[OmikronWarrior]

Well, I certainly made the right call by invading Machaka (no hard feelings, I hope). I must say, the invasion seemed way to easy, though certainly invading somebody whose already at war would seem to have that affect. I mean, the AI decided your 25 mages were to weak to merit spending gems on script to attack. What upsets me now, is you seem to have done very little in the way of site searching. C'est la vie.

[jimkehn]

Nope....not too much site searching, and definitely no hard feelings!!!

I knew the game was over when I invaded C'tis. Got all the diseases and stuff, so my heart wasn't in it so much. Had no decent way to combat the Harbingers. Maybe spamming blindness??? But then your MR was pretty high, so fat chance. Just wasn't muchuva game for me.

[lwarmonger]

Lol... I've discovered a way to win against two opponents with C'tis... given time and no intereference from third powers I'm pretty sure I could have rolled both of you back. As things are I don't think I'm going to get to see the benefits of my victory (it is a very Russian "victory"), so now my allegiance is open to the power who is the weakest against the stronger nation remaining.

In other news, I will be in the field from Tusday morning until Thursday night, so I would appreciate a delay until Friday (at least from tomorrow).

[lwarmonger]

You know, I really do think that Middle Age C'tis is turning into my favorite nation. Nothing like a nice long campaign of attrition coupled with carefully selected and scripted battles to wear an opponent down and then roll them back. I am discovering possibly one of the best (if not the best) nations to turtle with in the game, and will be writing a little strategy guide after this game is over.

[vfb]

Admin: I'll postpone the timer on Tuesday so C'tis won't stale.

[OmikronWarrior]

C'Tis: I don't know the state of your scouting, but keep in mind Machaka's homeland is almost entirely in my hands now, cutting him off from further research and reinforcements. Plus I destroyed some temples that might have served to push back your dominion. Keep in mind that dominions is never a static game and as you improve and adapt so do your opponents.

Plus, turtling is a loser strategy for dominions. Booming can work for long range as thats what I essentially did for the first 35 turns of this game, but trying to research better spells and finding sites for gem income while being invaded is pretty difficult.

[vfb]

Those are some pretty nice Harbringers you've got now Pythium! I'm jealous of your Heroic Quickness, I almost always get crap like Heroic Stupidity. :P

[jimkehn]

I think there are counters for everything in this game. If C'tis turtles, as in this game, there are ways to combat that. I just didn't have the strength of numbers to do what needed to be done.

[cupido2]

Oh Teh Bird! Have your forsaken us?! Please send a sign! Show us the way! Send us help! Oh Teh Bird! Don't we follow all the rules of the Book of Teh Bird?? Don't we clad ourselves like you said? Don't we pray in the temples each day?

[vfb]

Abysia notes the passing of Teh Bird. It laid waste to much of Abysia's army, in the battle outside the walls of Marignon. But in doing so, Teh Bird's army did drop a weapon that would be its doom.

The few survivors of the carnage entered the fabled fortress of Marignon, but teh immortal bird blocked our way. It slew many of our finest warriors (stoopid Phoenix Pyre, you should be fire damage!), but in the end it was destroyed by a zap from a Spirit Helmet that Abysia's brave apprentice had only donned after the first battle.

So long, Bird! We enjoyed the pleasure of meeting you on the field of battle.

-- Darbethor, Apprentice of Abysia

[cupido2]

Hmmm? You saw Teh Bird?? Where! What did He say? Has He come to save Marignon? Or are you refering to that ordinary phoenix that joined our ranks for the glory of Teh Bird?

Ah, there goes Marignon. It's damn hard to find a good fire spell against those Abysians... So we are preparing for the final stand. Little hope is left to fend off the fiends from east and west.

[vfb]

Admin: Game postponed until midnight Sat GMT for C'tis

[lwarmonger]

LOL. Turn is in. And this "fiend from the west" only became your enemy because you became ours!

[jimkehn]

Well that was a damn good battle!!! Just when I was on the brink of victory, my guys snapped defeat from Victor's jaws!!! Now I have nothing left save a dozen naked archers standing valiantly against Pythium's hordes!!!

[lwarmonger]

Lol... I'm lucky that when you retreat you don't retreat back into the fortress, otherwise I would have been screwed. I think the nice thing about the nature of my battle magic is that it forces a larger number of morale checks than most.

[OmikronWarrior]

Well that was a damn good battle!!! Just when I was on the brink of victory, my guys snapped defeat from Victor's jaws!!! Now I have nothing left save a dozen naked archers standing valiantly against Pythium's hordes!!!

"Hordes?" What a crude way to describe the finely tuned battle machine that is the Emerald Empire Expeditionary Force (EEEF for short). Plus, I think you had a shot at knocking off the one sieging force. It wasn't very big and did not have significant mage support. I guess you thought it best to defend the fort you took from C'Tis. Meanwhile, I can not wait until your gone so I can start spreading my domain with gusto. On a similar note, what happened to your capital. It was under 20 000 when I took it.

[lwarmonger]

Lol... C'tis happened to his capitol. Marignon as well. And most of the rest of Machaka's most fertile provinces.

[jimkehn]

Omikron, I don't know WHAT C'tis put in there, but it was nasty!!! Lwarmonger, now that game is over...was it a Harvester of Sorrows??? Disease Demon??? I have stuck a bane venom around the neck of a black servant before, but I don't think it was THAT effective!!! It was a good move what ever you did!!

[lwarmonger]

Game isn't quite over yet... once it is truly over I will be writing a little strategy guide though, and will explain exactly what I did and why.

[jimkehn]

OK...well I am finished, you could send me a PM if you feel comfortable doing that. I won't ruin it for the rest of the crowd here. It was nice work, anyway. Congrats. Of course.....you will have Pythium to deal with. He is no pushover with those Harbingers.

[vfb]

Hosting interval set to 120 hours because OmikronWarrior is having PC trouble.

[OmikronWarrior]

Game isn't quite over yet... once it is truly over I will be writing a little strategy guide though, and will explain exactly what I did and why.

Let me confirm that they were indeed Harvesters of Sorrow, sans any equipment. He had 6 of them operating in my territory, all of which ran head first into a patrol and were presumably killed, but as the creature has flying some might have retreated. Not sure what C'Tis hoped to accomplish by throwing 120 death gems worth of summons at me like that. A lot of those patrollers are now diseased, but not enough to stop me from taking the fortress, and not enough to justify the expenditure.

[lwarmonger]

Not your territory yet, and yes that was a significant error on my part. What happens when I'm a bit tired when taking my turns. However that being said I crippled Machaka and hurt Marignon with them, so they weren't a complete waste.

[cupido2]

As I'm almost eliminated in this game and am going out of town for a few days, I set myself to AI. Thanks for the game everyone. It was big fun and may Teh Bird guide my trooper well. GO Friar GOOOO!

[vfb]

Thanks cupido2, it was a pleasure to have you in the game!

[jimkehn]

I set Machaka to AI as well. Good luck guys, and I will be checking the thread from time to time.

[lwarmonger]

AHA! I may have been fatally weakened by fighting you both at once, but C'tis emerges triumphant! Our Lizard Liberation Army parades triumphantly down main street! We suffered a mere 80% casualties in our pursuit of victory, however our morale as is strong as ever... well, kind of strong... well, rumors of desertion from our ranks are greatly exaggerated. However we have no fear of further interlopers as our disease ridden marshlands stand ready to repel any further aggression from our neighbors, and our pitiful, erm... lean armies stand ready to defend our citadels! All hail our Dear Leader as he is in perfect health and will continue to lead our armies to glorious rearward advancements!

[OmikronWarrior]

There is a disease causing parasite in my territory. I have little choice but to prepare to retaliate unless somebody comes forward with a swift apology and a promise to remove him according to my directions.

[vfb]

Abysia has but one unit cursed with misery; Makabiel the Heliophagus, and he is currently fortifying the homeland defense to deal with the large build-up of Pythian soldiers in Cimri. You should be able to see he is clearly in my castle.

Are you sure it's not a random event?

-- Abysia

[OmikronWarrior]

Abysia has but one unit cursed with misery; Makabiel the Heliophagus, and he is currently fortifying the homeland defense to deal with the large build-up of Pythian soldiers in Cimri. You should be able to see he is clearly in my castle.

Are you sure it's not a random event?

-- Abysia

No, "a deadly disease is spreading in province X" is not a random event.

[lwarmonger]

Well it certainly hasn't been mine... my style is more like having five or six of those little buggers ruining your lands in a semi-systematic manner. Using one in that fashion is counterproductive, and merely provokes without significantly damaging.

[lwarmonger]

Speaking of which, in a few days (meaning by the 7th of February) we will either need to go on a month long hiatus, or I will need to begin looking for a sub. Since it is just the three of us preparing for a final showdown I would rather just stop for a month, but I understand if you two don't really want to.

[vfb]

lwarmonger, I can stop for a month when you go, just remind me when you're about to leave, please.

OmikronWarrior, how about you?

[OmikronWarrior]

In the end, I just can't pull the retaliation trigger unless I'm 95% certain of the culprit, though I'm 80% sure. Regardless, as neither stepped up and admitted culpability, the moment I catch the stealthy bastard (and I will) the offending nation will take an pounding. Bring poison bringers like that is a declaration of war.

[vfb]

lwarmonger, are you back?

Next turn due: 15:20 GMT on Thursday March 12th

[lwarmonger]

Back! Running into a little problem with my game though. Could we delay the turn until Friday (I'm getting a four day this weekend so Thursday is now my "Friday" and I'll have time to deal with it then).

[vfb]

No problem, I've added 48 hours to the timer.

Next turn due: 15:20 GMT on Saturday March 14th

[vfb]

Oh no, what's happened? Since I was the only one to get my turn in, with 10 minutes left on the timer, I've extended the turn once more.

Next turn due: 15:20 GMT on Sunday March 15th

[OmikronWarrior]

Whoops, I just noticed we are back on. It will take me a bit to figure out my national strategy again, and what the heck I was going to do with all these Bog Beasts I cannot remember why I summoned :).

[vfb]

No problem, we've waited this long, so a little more time sure won't kill us. 24 more hours added.

Next turn due: 15:20 GMT on Monday March 16th

[OmikronWarrior]

Well, I guess I'll get the turn in once our game is back on.

[vfb]

lwarmonger has completely vanished.

I don't think C'tis has much chance of victory. lwarmonger had agreed to join with me (Abysia) to fight you (Pythium), but he probably had the same deal with you. :)

Should I post for a C'tis sub, or have someone set them AI?

[vfb]

lwarmonger and OmikronWarrior have not replied to my PMs.

I'm declaring victory by default for Abysia on turn 63.

Graphs are off, but I have the Eyes of God up. Manual final province count:

Abysia 41
Pythium 34
Ctis 15