Methadone - running

[vfb]

Intro: The llamaserver is down and I'm jonesing. And Toran missed out on Smack, which gives me a good excuse, as if I needed one, to start another game. I'll host it on my server. Hostname and port will be PM'ed to participants. Presenting:


Methadone

Game status page: http://bemura.dyndns.org/stats.php?game=Methadone

Please note: PM your email address to me if you want turn notifications.

Game status page code is courtesy lch (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Number=496923). Thanks lch!


Age: Late
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: On (Was supposed to be off, but I screwed up the game script)
All Other Settings: Default
Host Time: Quickhost (Was 24hrs Quickhost ... if anyone objects, I'll switch it back)

Hosted on: bemura


Special Note: This map is for six land nations only. It scrolls east-west. Every nation starts in the center of each colored province group.

Another Note: Ermor? Sure, no problem! But there are no corners to hide in on this map, you'll have 4 neighbors, and odds are they're coming to get you. LA Ermor was the first nation eliminated in Collider (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=40720).

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.

There's a good post about playing your turns offline here (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=32050). (see Tip 3: Offline turns.)

Important Note: Please make a new version of your god that's password-protected. The main reason I like to do this is so that I can connect to the server, and then just click 'Okay' instead of entering my password. If you've got a password set, you'll see that game status screen without accidentally uploading or downloading your turn. Plus no-one can accidentally click on your nation and see your turn.

Nations/Players: :up: = uploaded
Gath vfb (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=8915) :up:
Abysia Toran (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=11020) :up:
Man jimkehn (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=8903) :up:
Ulm zlefin (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=9587) :up:
Ermor lwarmonger (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=9523) :up:
Marignon archaeolept (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/member.php?u=5175) :up:

[Toran]

Oh, the game is set up, I even have a reserved slot, but of course now a resrve wasn't necessary... I still appreciate the gesture ;)

I'd like to give LA Abysia a try. I don't think it's supposed to be one of the power houses, but maybe I can get a feeling for what the nations play like in the different ages... :)

[jimkehn]

OK....how about Chelms?

[zlefin]

I'd like in. Not sure what nation yet, but i'll pick one soon, and this is filling up fast so i wanna get in. A nice small gmae like this is what i been looking for :)
Zlefin :)

[Toran]

@zlefin - scratch that "nice" game, it's probably going to be like a shark pool or something like that. First to move, first to get stomped.

Hard times these are...

[Tifone]

Not applying. Just saying the name of the game, coming from the circumstance, is hilarious :D

[vfb]

@zlefin - scratch that "nice" game, it's probably going to be like a shark pool or something like that. First to move, first to get stomped.

Hard times these are...

Oh, there are no sharks here! :) And I think you're the one doing some stomping at the moment in Bazooko! Well, you would be if the llamaserver was back from the void and Jazzepi was back from Germany.

[vfb]

Not applying. Just saying the name of the game, coming from the circumstance, is hilarious :D

Thanks :), but I got the idea from Toran, actually.

[zlefin]

i've settled on taking ulm.

[vfb]

Great! Now we just need 2 more, to get in some good gaming while the llamaserver's sick.

[Toran]

Yeah, get in AS LONG as it's sick, so there's actually some playing we can get done while we are on "turkey" ;)

[lwarmonger]

You know what? I will give LA Ermor a shot on this map. I think I will get wiped out quick, but it will be a fun little experiment.

[vfb]

Sounds good!

[Toran]

Now, guys, still one fix there for a junkie... who needs it most?

[archaeolept]

well, just on principle, i'll go for the fix

a nice cocktail of bloody mary

[vfb]

Great! I've got to have dinner now, can't update the 1st post even! Please let me know your nation, thanks.

[archaeolept]

bloody mary = LA Marignon

have a hankering for some sailing.

[archaeolept]

10 mg orally commence now

[Toran]

Applied my dose. Still feeling the urge for the next kick...

[vfb]

Well, we are rolling! Hope you all enjoy your fix. Have fun! :)

[archaeolept]

ok, lwarmonger, i'm beginning to have unpleasant crawly sensations on my skin ;)

[vfb]

Thanks to advice from lch, I've got email notifications for the turns working.

Please PM your email addresses to me (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/private.php?do=newpm&u=8915) so I can update the script to send you notifications when the game hosts.

[vfb]

Bah.

It's turn 1, and the undead are still in their graves.

Clatto Verata Nickel, undead! Clatto Verata Nickel!

Since I don't want this game to get messed up right at the start, I've turned off the timer. :( :( :(

Quickhost is still on.

[lwarmonger]

My apologies. I had staff duty last night, and I can't access this site or play games from government computers (I was hoping that it would take a couple hours for the other two to submit their pretenders... whoops!). However my turn is now in (a similar problem may occur on the 8th of November, although odds are I will be able to make it home long enough to play my turn then).

[archaeolept]

crap. massive unrest first turn :)

[Tifone]

Clatto Verata Nickel, undead! Clatto Verata Nickel!

:D

"It’s an “N” word, it’s definitely an “N” word! Clatto Verata... Ngh*cough*"

[vfb]

No problem, lwarmonger.

Actually, I think most of the people in this game are pretty quick with their turns. So I'd like to leave the game on no timer, just quickhost. Then no-one needs to worry about staling. Any objections?

Also, while my email-notification-sending worked fine in testing, it looks like it didn't work from the game. Bah. I'll try to figure out what I did wrong.

And more argh! I screwed up the new scripts more and graphs are on. Sorry, the game parameters said they would be off.

On behalf of the flight crew, I apologize for all the turbulence.

[lwarmonger]

No problem, and as for the no time limits, for a game this small that would probably do alright.

And now for the propaganda. Gath is appearing to be a little aggressive, what with the swift conquesting and all. Can't have all these Giants eating up potential undead now can we?

[vfb]

Damn score graphs! :)

Well, there are a few corpses lying around our capitol at the moment, you can always send someone with a cart to pick them up before they rot.

[lwarmonger]

I might do that, and perhaps cause a few more, I don't know. I have to think that Gath is at least as dangerous to all those other nations out there as Ermor is, probably moreso.

Besides, when Ermor kills you it is with heart. Oftentimes it is your loved ones doing the killing even! Here in Ermor, we believe in family. And we use every part of your body. Those barbarian giants merely eat what they like and throw the rest away. Completely wasted! In Ermor, we turn bodies into a renewable resource.

[jimkehn]

On the isle of Man we do not eat humans. We just want to live in peace.

[vfb]

Gath is not dangerous at all. We're not even real giants! And our rapid expansion was only due to some assistance from Blackwater.

[lwarmonger]

See... using shady mercenaries to provide them with people to eat. All true humans should unite against the man-eaters!

[lwarmonger]

Ermor respects Man's right to live in peace, as long as the Forest Wardens and Magisters of Man respect Ermor's right to be undead in peace.

[vfb]

See... using shady mercenaries to provide them with people to eat. All true humans should unite against the man-eaters!

It is true that long long ago, there were Nephilim walking the land, and they did eat the sheep and the goat, and the cow and horse, and the chicken too. And the duck and the goose, and the fish, and the pigeons, and those little chocolates with caramel and biscuits and such stuff in their centers. And when they ran out of those, they did eat the monkeys, and the gorillas, and the orangutan. And when there were none of those left, they did dine on the people of the land, baking them in some pies and assorted pastries, except for the old men and ladies who were not good for much except some stew.

But there are no more Nephilim in this world any longer, and though the people of Gath are indeed large, we live on grains and assorted dairy products. And occasionally the odd camel.

So, no nation need fear being eaten by Gath (well, except those that are a race of sentient camels).

But those nations that enjoy the fruit of the land, and the grass on the fields, and the flowers in the meadows, would be wise to maintain a vigilant lookout on the poison spreading from Ermor, which corrupts the land and turns it into barren dust. And look out for the zombies too! Everyone knows that zombies eat brains, and not just camel brains. Real people brains!

Heed not the poisonous words of the undead.

-- He Who Is Named Brian, Prophet of He Who Must Not Be Named

[lwarmonger]

Hey! We are people too! Just dead people. Your leaders aren't, and never have been, human. That makes you wierd and untrustworthy.

On the other hand we undead are as reliable as old Grandmama was back when she was alive. In fact, I think I see her right over there! Think of us as your friendly burial service. We make it so you don't even have to worry about paying for funerals! In fact, you don't have to worry much about anything once you've been "contracted" with us. We are just that good.

[vfb]

There's a thunderstorm here right now... if the server goes down, I won't be able to bring it back up for about 6 hours, since I'm heading out soon.

Hopefully it'll be fine though.

[vfb]

He Who Is Named Brian was disappointed to meet no opponents in the arena death match. Oh well, he can put his shiny new trident to work dispatching the knights who have decided to try to make a new home in the lands of Gath.

[Toran]

*ahem* The Abysian Empire would have sent a challenge to that event, however we were treated so badly by "luck" (there are rumours of foreign forces involved...), combined with a bad decision by a leader that has already walked his last path to inceneration, that we could not afford the travel costs to that match.

Dang, I was so prepared for EA Abysia in my readings that I made a ... "smallish" mistake, resulting in me scoring last. But that's what you play those "small" games for, right? ;)

[archaeolept]

if my renowned high inquisitor hadn't been mugged by some punk ninja he certainly would have shown y'all a thing or two :)

[jimkehn]

I'm happy to hear that I am not the only one to have a crappy start......

And then I read LA Man's mages are not affected by Drain. Jeez.....wish I'da known that when I built my pretender!!!!!

[lwarmonger]

You know, it really does seem that Gath is turning into a world beater here. We should all be suspicious of him!

[vfb]

You know, it really does seem that Gath is turning into a world beater here. We should all be suspicious of him!

Well, that's a nice castle you've built for yourself this past summer, Ermor. Gath wishes we could afford one of those! Instead we must pay our troops well to fight the hordes of knights and barbarians that seem to have taken a liking to our city in the sands.

[archaeolept]

those knights are actually questing for a holy relic - do not bother them, and I'm sure they will leave on their own accord soon enough. I am also able to relay gifts and alms for the cause, so that you can help them in their holy work, as I am no doubt sure you wish.

[vfb]

He Who Is Named Brian think otherwise... those dastardly knights brought their wives and children and concubines and aunts and uncles and entire extended families along. It appears they have already got their holy relic, at least that's what they told us, and they intend to make their stay permanent.

[lwarmonger]

Hmm... so Marignon is waging a little holy war perhaps? Ermor approves! Those dastardly giants must be eliminated by any and all means necessary.

[lwarmonger]

And Ermor doesn't have much money... therefore most of it must be invested in castles. Fortunately those who are (to borrow your phrase) "elan challenged" do not require payment.

[lwarmonger]

I notice that Gath, true to its aggressive, evil, giant form has infringed on Ermorian territory. This unprovoked aggression must stop!

[vfb]

May the forked tongues of the undead rot and fall from their horrid, decaying skulls!

Gath has invaded no lands held by the Ermorian menace. We have merely liberated independent provinces, so their inhabitants may live peacefully under our kind and just management. We have warred with no other nations in this world.

Gath hereby warns Ermor to cease and desist their incessant spreading of vicious and cruel falsehoods, or Gath will declare war on the unholy nation of Ermor, wherever it may reside.

-- He Who Is Named Brian, Prophet of He Who Must Not Be Named

[archaeolept]

ermorian province? the people of that land clearly have an ancient and hallowed root in the marignonian empire; we consider them more like prodigal sons and daughters, and expect that they will soon enough express their desire to be reunited with their true faith and kith.

[lwarmonger]

Ermor has no quarrel with Marignon, nor any desire to acquire one.

We have no quarrel with Gath either, even though they are large and evil, and infringing upon our territory. Perhaps an arrangement between our two empires can be made.

[vfb]

Game admin message: Sorry, email turn notification is not working at the moment, because gmail hates me.

[vfb]

Game admin message: Sorry, email turn notification is not working at the moment, because gmail hates me.

Game admin message: I'm now using lavabit dot com, hopefully you all got email notifications for this turn.

[archaeolept]

Game admin message: Sorry, email turn notification is not working at the moment, because gmail hates me.

Game admin message: I'm now using lavabit dot com, hopefully you all got email notifications for this turn.nope :)

I just check the status page anyways

edit: also, 5 blood druids w/ 50 slaves is why you use scouts to, umm, scout, first ;p

[Toran]

kk, the notification per mail is working now!

Toran

[vfb]

Great! Thanks for letting me know.

[archaeolept]

my video card has died - this may delay this turn, as I'll have to set everything up on my laptop. I should be able to get it in this evening though.

[vfb]

No problem, there's no timer anymore. That's bad timing, with the llamaserver finally starting to get better!

[archaeolept]

yah i had just d/led my wheel of time turn :)

anyways, i've got domIII running on my laptop, and managed to find a video driver that works for it ;)

I'll get this in this evening, but i have a ton of sh*t to do now - hopefully one of my x1300 pci-e cards that i picked up for a buck will work in my desktop. it's pretty clear that the memory on my 8800gts is fried.. good times good times ;p

[vfb]

The nation of Gath wishes to cordially notify Ermor that we have decided it is about time someone put an end to your incessant and dangerous collecting and gathering of Zombies and Gold and Jewels and Gems and such Stuff!

So, it's war.

[Toran]

The Abysian ambassador is slightly confused, as he never understood the human habits of "cordially declaring war on someone". But sure enough have the Ermorian necromancers been warned when entering this 'belt world'.

Free cyclops burgers for Gath!

[lwarmonger]

Very interesting. Ermor will NOT bury you. Even if you win you will have little joy of it.

[vfb]

Joy? Gath revels in the joy of battle!

For it is foretold in the Prophecy of Brian that a host of angels shall descend on the undead army, and they shall blow their trumpets, and the unholy enemies of He Who Must Not Be Named will be blown to little bit and pieces.

And there will be yet more fighting, for the legions of undead are vast. But the soldiers of Gath who die on the battlefield shall receive Glory and Honour and lots of nice Presents, and they will be entombed at the Holy Hall of Heroes in zombie-proof caskets.

[lwarmonger]

That assumes that they hold the battlefield. If they do not, the dead of Gath will then feast upon the living!

[vfb]

Ack! The zombies have overrun our positions! Run away, run away!

[lwarmonger]

Darn tootin. You may bury those bodies once they fall (again) on your own soil.

Looks like Man has come to the party. We welcome them to our ranks as well. Muwahahahahaha!

[vfb]

It's the Zombipocalypse!

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/vfb_dominions/zombipocalypse.jpg

[lwarmonger]

Alright, heading out to staff duty now. Will be back in about 26 hours.

[Toran]

Pah. The statisticians of Abysia want to state that they don't accept the international rulings of the HoF commission any longer. Wading through shattered bones that were just held together by chewing gum does not qualify for being "Heroic" in Abysian opinion.

[vfb]

Alright, heading out to staff duty now. Will be back in about 26 hours.

No problem. There's no more timer so you don't have to worry about staling.

[lwarmonger]

Whoa! That last attack was painful. Fortunately I didn't lose anything important.

[vfb]

Please do the current turn with 3.20 (just Ermor and Marignon are left to submit).

I'll host with 3.20, and then update to 3.21.

[Toran]

Ah, the patch is out? Didn't notice :)

You also made me "Sheesh! Did I made a mistake in submitting accidently again?", posting that just Ermor and Marignon were missing, it's the lowly Abysians as well... but sure, we're not important... just step over us....

[lwarmonger]

Oops! I patched in order to play some of my PBEM games and forgot to check here. Now it won't let me go to the server this game is on. Where can I find the 3.20 patch so I can repatch my game to play my turn?

[vfb]

I will update to 3.21 and try hosting with the current set of turn files.

[archaeolept]

oh oh crap it has accepted your turn but won't host. hmmm i think vfb's gonna have to do something.

[lch]

Hosting with the 3.21 version with some 3.20 turn files shouldn't make any problems. Unless there is modding trouble.

[lwarmonger]

Hmm. I guess it took my turn after all. My beautiful fortress, lost to the cannibalistic giants.

[vfb]

Admin: Yes, your turn arrived, but then the server crashed. So I patched the server and re-ran the turn with the existing mix of 3.20 and 3.21 files, and it looks like it worked okay.

Toran, hope you did not have another incomplete turn. The server said all the turns were in except Ermor:

Methadone, Connections 1, No timer
*Ash- Che+ Bf+ Cos+ Bh+ Ga+
Ngot gick fel!
Dominions version is too old
Get an update at www.illwinter.com
myversion320 fileversion321 nation50

[jimkehn]

Ermor: Hold still so I can catch up with you!!!!!!

[zlefin]

alas we of ulm have been defeated. at least we gave away plenty of gifts (from heaven), we hope they were enjoyed :)

[archaeolept]

they certainly were!

the highest desire of our holy flagellants is to die in the service of their god. they thank you deeply for enabling their sacrifice.

[Toran]

Thanks for your presence in the game, although we do not share Marignon's masochistic personality and could have done without those generous gifts... (having a S3 mage watch 5-6 enemy S1 mages pop up in Magic Duel is still something that gives me sweat...).

[lwarmonger]

So Marignon now chooses to jump on poor double teamed Ermor eh? We never hurt a fly. We never even had the chance! We'll fight to the bitter end though.

[Toran]

We never hurt a fly.

You just revived its parents and grand parents to fight for you, didn't you? :p

[archaeolept]

just passing through - this territory seems remarkably lacking in anything suitable for a Marignonian family friendly environment :)

[lwarmonger]

We never hurt a fly.

You just revived its parents and grand parents to fight for you, didn't you? :p

Hey, we were just making those lazy bastards useful. They think that they can rest just because they're dead, but we Ermorians don't believe in free rides!

[vfb]

Well, I think there may have been some sort of hint in the initial game post as to what kind of diplomatic relations anyone playing LA Ermor should expect. :)

Admin: Emails for this turn probably did not go out. I managed to accidentally save my turn before I was finished (hazards of playing on the host system). So I disabled quickhost, but did not have a chance to re-enable it before everyone got their turn in (Marignon finished just before I did). Since Marignon was connected, I didn't want to disconnect him by stopping and restarting the server, so I just hit the 'Host' button. Hopefully this has not caused any weirdness besides lack of the notification email. If it did, please post here or PM me.

[lwarmonger]

We've been supposed to be getting notifications e-mails?

And Gath, for the record I would like to note that your giants are evil communists, and I still maintain that everyone should unite against you. And we won't rest until we're de... um... we won't rest!

[Toran]

@ vfb - yep, I got no notification email this time as well. PLUS, the status page looks scrambled, it says


Notice: Mismatch between scores.html and ftherlnd turn number in /var/www/localhost/htdocs/stats.php on line 265

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /var/www/localhost/htdocs/stats.php:265) in /var/www/localhost/htdocs/stats.php on line 20

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /var/www/localhost/htdocs/stats.php:265) in /var/www/localhost/htdocs/stats.php on line 22

[lwarmonger]

My own existance draws to a close, only to begin anew, in ways uncertain... actually no. One life after death is all you probably get. Merry Christmas Abysia. I await whomever wants some at my final fortress of doom. Will it be Man, Marignon, or Gath? Perhaps they will fight each other over the spoils? We can only hope.

[vfb]

Peace be unto our brothers who have fought the undead horde, and to those who have financed our struggle through purchases of our fine exports.

Our first battle against the horde seems so long ago, and we were hopeful of a quick victory. But our hopes were dashed by the cunning undead who crushed our force and sent us fleeing back to the land of the living.

Only through the toil of our craftsmen and the sacrifices of our Sibyls did we manage to advance again and make way into the wastelands. And as the army of Ermor struck west against Man, Gath made further progress towards the gates of the unholy citadel.

But again we were made to retreat in the face of overwhelming opposition. Finally from the woods our Sibyls called an army of Mazzik, and Gath was ready to once again stand outside the gates of the citadel of Ermor.

We have now entered that cursed keep, and we slew the vile necromancers who guarded the inner sanctum.

This day will forever be remembered in Gath, and we will sing sad songs of all the Sibyls lost to exhaustion in the war.

[lch]

Misfortunate, tasty sybils. Most of all tasty.

[jimkehn]

Gentlemen.....my internet at home is fritzy and I don't know how long it will take to get it fixed. I may or may not get it working again this afternoon. I will try and keep up to date one way or another, if I have to make a trip to my daughter's house to mooch off of her internet. Please be patient.

[vfb]

Admin: There's still no timer on the game, so you should be okay here. Good luck getting it fixed!

[archaeolept]

my current turn may be delayed a bit... we've had a great pace, but it's gonna slow down some now i'm pretty sure :)

[vfb]

No problem, I've also turned off quickhost so I can do my turn in bits instead of all at once.

[archaeolept]

just don't go in and do your turn - disconnect after d/ling it and do it "at home", and upload when done

oh, right, also DEATH TO GATH!!!AAAEFWER

;)

[vfb]

I'm on the server :(.

I'd have to do the turn as a different user or something, so the new .2h file did not end up in the same directory as the server game dir. There is no uploading at all ... I just do a 'Save', and it's automatically written to the directory where all the .2h files are uploaded to.

oh and also, DEATH TO MARIGNUM!111!!!11 And if you're thinking you're gonna sail across that puddle and raid me, well, please just let me know what province you'll be landing in, so I can give you some nice biscuits when you get ashore.

[vfb]

Admin: Quickhost is back on. Next turn I'll try running as a different user, I think that'll minimize disruption, and also the amount of screwing around with the script I need to do.

[Toran]

The first advanced scout elements division of the Abysian army managed to defeat the entire Man cavalry division before tactically retreating for some well deserved R&R into one of the newly acquired tourist ressorts.

Insiders are reporting crushing morale effects on the Man aggressors, but Abysia will not cease to resist any offenders that threaten the Abysian monopoly of being the only legitimate holders of the holy recipe of cyclops roasting.

[jimkehn]

Damn!!!!! Fighting 3 armies at once is like.....hard on attrition!!!!

Man won't last long I fear. Even after the glorious victory she achieved against the Abysian aggressors!!!!

[archaeolept]

well, i'm not sure one scout qualifies as an army ;p

I can assure you my forces will mostly be otherwise occupied, saving the world from the HORRID GATH MENACE!

[jimkehn]

HAHAHAHA!!! Well, a scout that exhibits bravery like that is worth an army!!

Hey, VFB, if you are around and reading this, please don't let the turn run for about 12 hours from this post. I am going out tonite with the ol lady and don't know when I will be able to finish the turn. I started it and ended turn, but didn't finish it.

[vfb]

Admin:

No problem! I have way to many games on the go right now, so I will just not do my turn yet. :)

[lwarmonger]

Ermor will fight to the end! The unbelievers fight amongst themselves! Opportunity for the return of the undead increases with each fallen soldier!

[vfb]

Gath knows all too well you are fighting 'till the end. And Ermor has poisoned the land, and killed our armies, and blown up our nice Sibyls, but worst of all Ermor has sown discord in the ranks of the living.

Greed touches the heart of Marignon, and they covet the fountain of death in Ermor's capitol, though Gath paid dearly for it. But we will not surrender it lightly, for it is precious to us! Nasty inquisitors stay away, it is ours. Ours, we say, ours!

[jimkehn]

OK...Man has completed his turn.

[vfb]

Admin: Thanks! It's now safe for the rest of us to upload.

[jimkehn]

OH YEAH....let us not forget that Man is not only at war with Abysia, Ermor and the army of one from Marignon, but that Indy Villains have ruthlessley and maliciously usurped power and control in one of Man's provinces!!!!!!

[lwarmonger]

It serves Man right for his ruthless backstab of Ermor. Woe comes to those who fight their ancestors (and we are all of your ancestors)!

[jimkehn]

Backstab of ERMOR??????

I attacked you fair and square!!!!!


8^)

[lwarmonger]

After Gath launched its ruthless backstab. The undead only ever wanted to be undead in peace! Honest! We never wished war with anyone.

[vfb]

Oh, the lies the undead tell. Ermor was warned fair and square that Gath was attacking!

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=650943

[lwarmonger]

The nation of Ermor unfortunately happens to be composed of mindless zombies. After feasting upon your messengers nice juicy brain my minions did not even think to grab the little note he was carrying. Usually diplomacy is best served by giving my emissaries to you notes to take back, as they are some of the few people in my realm who can read, or even think.

[archaeolept]

I believe my turn was so awesome it crashed the server :)

it didn't say i was connected... then locked up my instance. the status page says the turn is done, but i can't connect - my dom instance will lock up at "waiting for game info" if I try

edit: ah, connecting from another instance while the first is still locked worked - this means the server instance should be restarted.

[vfb]

Admin: I've restarted the server. Please let me know if there are still problems.

[archaeolept]

yeah, I have a problem - you have too many earth mages!111

[vfb]

Well, at least I scripted the ones I sent against you. I forgot to script my mage that was supposed to blast some indy barbarians, and of course he just buffed until he was at 99 fatigue and then cast flying shards :(.

[vfb]

Oh, woe is He Who Was Named Brian, prophet of He Who Must Not Be Named.

The Hunter of Heroes paid him a visit, and he didn't stand a chance. :(

AC sucks after killing LA Ermor. Anyone feel like putting a few heroes into the HOF? Please? :)

[archaeolept]

umm... i haven't done my turn but somehow it is "uploaded" - dunno how that happened. toran, could you not submit your turn/ vfb can you prevent hosting?

nm - i got in some semblance of a turn. the turn hadn't actually been uploaded, but seemed to have been reported as such by the status page. /shrug

[Toran]

Yep, I will wait submitting mine until you post here you're done.

Of course vfb will reply here in less than 3 minutes that he's turned quickhost off anyway :p

Edit: The server status page shows your turn as unsubmitted, though. I'm just doing my turn now anyway, so there's time left, don't worry...

[vfb]

Yep, I will wait submitting mine until you post here you're done.

Of course vfb will reply here in less than 3 minutes that he's turned quickhost off anyway :p

Edit: The server status page shows your turn as unsubmitted, though. I'm just doing my turn now anyway, so there's time left, don't worry...

Marignon is connected right now so I can't turn off quickhost without killing the connection.

Toran, please just hold off on submitting, thanks.

Archaeolept can you please post here when you're ready for Toran to upload his turn?

Edit: Archaeolept's out... I've turned off quickhost. But he said he's finished his turn, I think.

[Toran]

But he said he's finished his turn, I think.

Tough to rely on that ;) Well, if he doesn't post "STOP, pls don't host yet!" in the next ~15 minutes, I'll submit.

[vfb]

Run away!

Marignon is a bit rich in the blood slave department. Didja cast AC with 999 slaves or what!?

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/vfb_dominions/runaway.jpg

[vfb]

Doh!

And worse, I forgot Marignon has the Eyes of God up. So much for Assmodel the stealth-0 Malakh assassin. Least I could have done for the poor guy would be to have had him on attack, instead of just running away from the PD. :(

[archaeolept]

rich? I can assure you that is no longer the case...

the precise number of slaves used is available under the Marignonese Freedom of Information Act. There is a small application fee, in order to sort out the paperwork.

[Toran]

..probably the application fee is 999 virgin blood slaves?

[vfb]

Admin:

I've taken the game off quickhost for the moment. archaeolept has gotten bogged down with both other games and PC trouble. (And it's my fault for bogging him down in the other games :)).

So, I'd like to take a pause from this game for a little bit, or maybe just slow down the pace a whole lot.

The server is still up, and you can download your turn and have a look. And even upload you next turn if you like.

I don't want to get a sub for Marignon because I think they are in a position to win, and they have created an interesting and unique situation that I'd like to play out to the end. Or my end, I mean. :)

Is that okay with the rest of the players?

[Toran]

Hm, I don't really like the game to slow down, as I'm... well... playing it, you know? ;)

But of course I don't want Marignon dropped out or even sub'ed as well... so, from my point of view - please continue playing this game as much as you *can*, or at least give us a vague idea of what the "new" pace is going to be.

[vfb]

Looks like all the turns are in.

If no-one objects in the next 12 hours, I'll turn quickhost back on (7PM JST).

[vfb]

Admin: Methadone has hosted. I've left quickhost on. Please PM if you need me to turn it off. There is no timer.

[vfb]

Good game to Ermor (lwarmonger)!

As you predicted, my nation was pretty much crippled by the war with you. But whenever I see LA Ermor, I cannot resist the temptation to attack. I just can't accept the possibility of failing to do my best to prevent the destruction of the world by zombies!

I was sure you were going to bring out the Shadow Blasts using your god one of those battles. Even with Antimagic up, at D9 I think I would have been creamed.

[lwarmonger]

I actually had them towards the end, but by that point too many of my mages were gone. And the front was a little to short (and your PD too strong) for me to try my normal slash and burn tactics.
But good game to all. Down with Gath!

At least now you have 15 death gems to work with.

[jimkehn]

Nice game, Ermor. See you in Smack???

[lwarmonger]

Of course... MA C'tis is becoming quite wealthy, and will hopefully not be ganged.

[Toran]

Pah. Is there a ritual available (that is castable under AC without getting doom horrored...) that protects you from those "religious followers have decided to cripple your upkeep costs and block your relevant fighting forces in battles so you need to send them against an enemy that hopefully kills them to the last man" events?

I mean, I haven't picked Misfortune3 for a reason, and got that event the 2nd time now - no reason to punish me, even though it makes your army graph look nice (not helping, though...). [add: Yep, of course I know that it's supposed to be a lucky event, but I know as well I'm not the only one "enjoying" it...].

[vfb]

Yes there is, actually, it's called "Send Lesser Horror".

Just cast it (a couple times to be sure) on the province the soldiers are in, and any neighboring provinces.

Hey Presto! No more militia.

You can send us some blood slaves as thanks. :)

[Toran]

Pah...

I was more thinking of something like an open speech by your pretender -

"Look guys, we've been talking about that 'god' thingy quite a few times now, and I appreciate your devotion - your temples, blood sacrifices etc - but you shouldn't take that too seriously, you know, and just form militias... relax, have a drink on me and maybe deliver your virgin daughter to the local temple - but please leave the fighting to the men that have learned something about it, thanks!".

On an unrelated note - I'll submit my turn tomorrow in the morning (<12 hours), so we can get going again, leaving only 25% of the the turns left to play then ;)

[archaeolept]

yah i should be able to get one in tomorrow morning :)

[Toran]

Ok, now it's you having the obligation to make the game host :P I know, once you're the last one to submit, it creates a certain aura of pressure - but rest assured, aura of pressure does not trigger Horrors.
Or does it?

[archaeolept]

if you guys want to find a sub, please do. I seem to have absolutely no interest in this game; happy to go AI or resign or whatever. the war against gath is winnable, but I have no interest in doing so. The blitz-like early game was good fun, but now I just have no time or concentration for it - too much real world stuff has come up that needs getting done, and only a finite amount of disposible time.

otherwise, I vote for declaring gath the winner, as that is the most likely outcome anyways, I think. :)

[vfb]

Sure, no problem! I'll post for a sub in the new sub thread.

I'm glad you had fun in the first part of the game, that's when I have the most fun too!

I vote for not declaring Gath the winner though. If we can't find a sub, Marignon will go AI and the three remaining nations can duke it out. Or maybe Marignon will just win! :)

[jimkehn]

2 anda half nations. Man hasn't much strength left.

[Toran]

*pokes at Marignon*

"It's dead, Jim."




Now, are we going to do an emergency dumb-AI resurrection? It's a shame it's dropping, but I want my first game finished where I'm reaching end game, no matter I'm gonna lose it :)

[vfb]

Yep, no offers for archaeolept's position, which is too bad, since I think Marignon is winning.

I'm pretty much running a ninja nation (no income no jems no armies ... okay so a little poetic license with the spelling there) so I'm willing to concede to Abysia. How about you Jim, do you want to continue?

[lwarmonger]

Lol... this is quite satisfying... I may not have won, but I took you guys with me!

[jimkehn]

I want to keep going. Who cares if we are underdogs???? This is fun stuff, man!!! Lwarmonger......I think you are going to get your pound of flesh in another game, but that is what makes it all worth it, right????

[jimkehn]

'Sides....Abysia's first MP game.....Let's let him have some fun with it, eh?

[vfb]

Okay, archaeolept can you please connect one last time and set your nation AI?

And lwarmonger, can you please connect and "End Turn", the game needs to give you the final message.

Otherwise I will have to try the master password stuff and I'm sure I'll screw it up.

[archaeolept]

sure thing - need the ip:port though

edit: lol for : p o r t

[vfb]

Sure, it's bemura dot dyndns dot org, Portugal 8098.

I almost couldn't remember my password it's been so long! :)

[archaeolept]

done. you two should get an interesting duel at least, w/ jimkehn to mix it up a bit :)

oh, and I believe 323 slaves were put into AC. ;p

[vfb]

Thanks! We just need lwarmonger to do his non-existent turn now, and we'll be off and fighting again.

I'm still running with my original orders that I sent in a week ago, when Marignon was still human. I think that's the fairest way of handling the situation, and also I can't be bothered to change them anyway. :D

[Toran]

I have those orders there as well. Now we maybe should just prepare to die, we're all gonna die, because hell will break loose (literally) and that *** AI will rub us into the mud *g*

THX for going on, though - yep, it's my first "real" MP game (Bazooko is a bit behind, and I'm not that well positioned there...), still sorry for seeing an opp drop...

Bye archaeolept, thanks for the first part then at least..!

[vfb]

The dreaded obscenity filter strikes again! I have no idea what kind of AI it is. An äss AI? I'm all out of three-letter words.

[Toran]

Oh, that was just anticipatory obedience to that filter, you know. Of course I was thinking of an ace AI.

[vfb]

Admin: Since Ermor's actually dead and doesn't need to be set AI, I just ran the game locally an did a 'Host Game'. No need for any master password messiness. lwarmonger, I hope you ignored my requests (above).

So we're back on track!

The status page will be screwed up until the next quickhost. There's no timer.

[Toran]

Dang, I wasn't thinking the AI would use that many remote attack spells - was it absolutely randomly on any province in the game (on Man as well?), or "only" on neighbouring provinces..?

[lwarmonger]

I was on about 36 hours of continuous duty so I didn't even see your message until it was too late anyways.

[jimkehn]

Toran...I got nailed by the dreaded black hawks.

Sheesh....as if I weren't hurtin enough!!!!

[vfb]

Black Hawks! I'd be happy to get nailed with the dreaded black hawks. :(

It's horrors and devil-imps for Gath, along with the marauding Marignon armies. Abysia looks like it's the only nation with enough firepower to take on the mighty Marignon AI at the moment.

[Toran]

Hm, this month I've been hit by 1x horrors, 2x hawks plus a thugged assassin.

Maybe I'm not THAT familiar with the AI (have I stopped playing SP too early? =)), but I've never been that "mass attacked" by the AI when playing SP. Is it just that the AI usually doesn't research enough, and not in the direction of those spells, or is it always playing like that?

As for the firepower - I'm still bringing my militia chaff to the front, to let it burn (hahaha....), but I hope I'll make some advance.

I know I'm giving away much :p, but does anyone know if the Arch Devil "Magoth" (3F 3S) always comes with a wound already? I'm trying to bring some artillery against the AI - at least it's sucking at scripting its armies :p

Well, we will see.

Another question - I had read that fleeing from assassination attempts is not a great idea, and that the same would apply to "special monster" attacks - however, in one of my provinces I was horrored and a commander fled + actually got away, so is that "flee=death" ONLY for assassinations? Or also for "magic assassinations, but not for the special attacks that attack the "whole province"?

[vfb]

Yes, "flee=death" only for assassinations, or when there is no friendly province to flee to. This includes magic assassinations, but not special attacks that attack the whole province.

Assassinations includes:
- Mundane assassins
- Earth Attack, Disease Demon, Manifestation etc
- Your individual commander getting attacked by a horror (outside of a province battle) because of horror marks or being in the HoF or forging/casting with AC up.

Arch Devils (and other unique summons) only come with wounds if they've been previously summoned and killed, I think.

[Toran]

Muchas gracias for this clarification, again :)

Other than that, this turn was a world of hurt for me - lots of Horrors (not the lesser version... playground time is over) and half his army. Gath will probably claim the other half crushing on him, sure, but at least I managed to get his Heliophagus down.

Not really my achievement, though, since a Heliophagus, just armed with two fire gems (..) isn't that strong in close combat. Puh. Now, who invented that Astral Corruption thingy?!

[Toran]

Ah - what happens if you are assassinated, but are immortal and inside your own dominion? Is that irrelevant for this part, or does it indeed help you, getting resurrected in the capital..?

[vfb]

Gath is getting horror attacks too, but just the lesser ones, which is good. My PD throws their javelins, and they die. I've almost taken back all provinces in my lands from Marignon, so I can begin to push into his lands and hopefully cut down on his blood hunting. Maybe before they went AI they had a whole ton of slaves or something?


I don't know the answer for sure to the assassination question, except that if you flee the assassination instead of dying, then your immortal unit is not resurrected in the capitol. So if you just die normally in your dominion in an assassination battle, I think you'll be resurrected okay. Maybe ask in the main forums?

[Toran]

Well, I'm getting lesser and standard horror attacks. Plus the "inevitable" attacks when I dare to make those gargantuan lightless lanterns - mostly lesser horrors, sometimes normal ones.

I'm just waiting for that Doom Horror that tips my acolyte on the shoulder after scrying for fire sites over the country....

The AI most probably had quite a few "ressources" available, it's just that I've (personally) never seen the computer remote attacking that aggressively. Given, I haven't played it that much since I noticed that MP is "the real thing"....

As for the assassination question: I asked in the IRC & set up a test scenario. Both confirmed that it GETS resurrected. Unfortunately it would rake up on horror marks quite a bit, which isn't really my dream for my defender (and I pretty much forgot about those marks :p). But good to know there's at least an answer in theory ;)

[vfb]

Thanks for the info! Is this the guy you are waiting for? He's still busy in Gath I suppose. :(

http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w148/vfb_dominions/hunter.jpg

[Toran]

Dang, I should take pictures as well. I had that lowly druid, and was thinking "Well, a few nature gems won't hurt - let's cast Haruspex. It's not many gems, so nothing will happen. He's got some heavy infantry as body guards."

He *really* got doom horrored. WTF? :)

If I get just 5 horrors a turn (at least three of them by "Send Horror" (I'm talking not the Lesser version..), I consider myself lucky. That sucky army of mine also eats all the income, yadda, yadda. And every time I kill a Heliophagus, I see a new one already....

[vfb]

Yeah, take some pictures! Especially of the unique ones, it's always fun to have them show up.

Gath has a new secret bomb project in development against Marignon, by the way. Well, it was secret for a while.

And better get a move on, Man! There will be nothing left of Marignon by the time you arrive. And after than, then what? Is it to be eaten, or burned alive?

[Toran]

I forgot the name - it looked like a giant squid that was thrown to the beach, with some organic protuberances...

But now, don't let us guess, whats the new secret weapon? It's not as if the AI was reading this thread. Worried that we realize that it will be not just a secret weapon against Marignon, but against Man and Abysia as well?

The secret weapon I need is money - I'm paying 1k gold just to replace my losses every turn. A commander mage here, 15 troops there.. all to siege a fortress that's in a 2k people province. I bet it will yield thousands of gold income per month.... (yeah, I know, I probably need to learn how to defend my provinces more effectively).

EDIT: PS - How %§$§ fast are you two doing your turns? I just finished to get a rough overview over what happened and gave the basic orders :)

[jimkehn]

I'm fast. When you got nuthin much to do but attack a few Abysian low PD provinces, it doesn't take much thought time!!!! When I get into a real battle, I will need to re-script the mages, though.

Gath...I prefer to be boiled in oil and eaten. Make sure it is Canola Oil. I wouldn't want my eternal soul to be laden with cholestrol.

Amazing that Marignon got so strong, eh?? Sorry he had to drop out...he woulda been tough to deal with by now!!!

[Toran]

Well, he probably would have been tough, but he wasn't expecting me to attack him. We were allied, and after crushing Ulm wanted to have a fair two vs. two on you. But then I realized how I had been "betrayed" from his side, and decided to turn the tide before it's too late.

That's why I was able to take at least one fourth of his provinces without any resistance, taking away much of his income.

His Horrors are effective raiders, for sure, but I guess that we are building up, while he's chewing up all his ressources. It's just that his fortresses take so long to take over ;)

Nah, no matter if we would have won if he was around - it would just have been much more fun to fight a human. The clever AI scripting makes a D4B3 heliophagus much less impressive....

Gath has a new secret bomb project in development against Marignon, by the way. Well, it was secret for a while.

Come on, please tell me, what was/is it? I offered my as** to keep you two safe for a while now :)

[vfb]

It was so secret that Gath would previously not even acknowledge that we were working on a secret project that would be the undoing of Marignon. We are now announcing that yes, we are working on a secret project to destroy Marignon. It's kind of a bomb. If I told you any more, I'd have to kill you.

[Toran]

We are now announcing that yes, we are working on a secret project to destroy Marignon. It's kind of a bomb. If I told you any more, I'd have to kill you.

Jim, please help me - you probably know what he's talking about, right? I mean, if he can announce it here (announcing that there is a secret... what a paradoxon), he can't be the first to use it? :)

I freely admit that I'm using top secret brute force against him, yep! (do I have to kill you now? hm..).

PS: I think it's time to clean the HOF now. Those battles were soooo long ago, their heroes would be only good for children good night stories. It's the present, you know!

[Toran]

Deedum. Yep, now the path is free for you to enter and detonate your bomb. Probably to drop it on me afterwards :P

What can that be.... I had considered making use of my 200 fire gems somehow, by casting "Fate of Oedipus". Until I realized he's got a Sacred Statue, that probably wouldn't be THAT bothered by the loss of her eyesight.. :/

[vfb]

Evacuate! Evacuate!

Gath can take no more horror attacks on the homeland. The bomb is being dropped.

Hold on to your boots! :bomb:

[Toran]

If I knew what the bomb was, I would know how far to evacuate...? grmbl, let us know :)

[vfb]

It's a pretty big bomb. There may be some collateral damage.

[Toran]

Oh boy - probably you want to cast this Global that attacks all blood hunters all around? What is it called again...?

[jimkehn]

The kindly ones???


I think he is gonna cast Utterdark!!!! <gasp>

[Toran]

Nah, I don't think he'll cast Utterdark - this wouldn't benefit him enough, AND he's mentioning collateral damage: This must mean "Yep, it will hurt our common enemy Marignon a bit, but even more it will mean lots of hurt for YOU, my two remaning enemies!". (and since Abysia has Darkvision, this wouldn't fit)

I have read the description of the Kindly Ones - but it's not completely clear to me what it does EXACTLY - attacking just three single targets per turn (as the manual might imply), or attacking every turn until the hunter is killed for that turn?

[Toran]

He's not responding any longer. That can only mean that

a) one of us was right, guessing his "bomb", or

b) he's laughing his as* off because we can't imagine what he's going to do to us :)

' guess I'll finish my turn and see what hits me.

[Toran]

Grmbl. Are we supposed to say "Thanks, Gath, you're soooo helpful, that will help us sooo far against Marignon", or is it just to be taken as a declaration of war..? :p

Wasn't there a "Peace, until Marignon is done with"? Giants....tsts..

[Toran]

Out of game question: From what I gather, it's about five years per turn added, and there's nothing that can protect your units from it, right?

Can a unit die "in between turns" due to age, or does it still have to get diseased before and then loses just 1HP per month? If I might ask :)

(and searching the forum for "burden of time" showed me that a certain player seems to have a preference for this Global *g*)

[vfb]

No no, I prefer AC! But it's already up. :)

If your troops get old and sick from the BoT, you can heal them with the Chalice or Gift of Health.

[Toran]

Of course you won't tell me how to play against you successfully :), so I try to ask just general questions:

1) boots of youth don't help, right?

2) the aging is speeded up,yup. Usually, it's getting diseased and then die due to HP=0. Is this accelerated as well? I mean, is it just that you get diseased faster, but then just -1HP/turn [improbable]? Can you get from healthy to dead in just one hostrun, or will you turn diseased first and then die in one of the next turns?

3)GoH just halves the speed you age with, so it's still more than doubled with BoT up?

4) %§$/%&%!!!!!

[vfb]

Boots of Youth don't help.

I think BoT makes every month into a year. So every month is Late Winter, and your units age, old units can gain afflictions, and diseased ones lose 1 extra HP in Late Winter. So they may be losing 2HP per month, not 1, if they are diseased.

Your units will still age with GoH up, but GoH can cure their "Diseased" and other afflictions and give them more HP so they take longer to die.

If you have a crapload of Blood Slaves to waste, you could use them to cast that "youth" spell, whatever it's called, that takes off 10 years. Not an effective use of slaves IMO.

"%§$/%&%!!!!!" That's what Marignon said!

Remember this bomb was directed at Marignon, and Gath deeply regrets any pain we have caused to our erstwhile allies, even if they did tell me they would gang up on me when Marignon is dead.

[jimkehn]

Whuh????

What's the big deal??? I am grateful for BoT!!!

[Toran]

Hehe, well, the game level aside, where I love to joke around - just for me to understand the effects of the globals...

- noone has any direct advantage of it, other than maybe not being affected in comparison to the others

- the more units+provinces one has, the more one is affected

- nations with old mages are in a bit of trouble ;), while nations with undead or undead summons won't need to care at all.



Of course Marignon is not really the target, since he's almost dead now anyway (I'm not claiming it's going to be easy to storm the castle, but his armies and income base are dead), so it's just about Man and Abysia - where the latter one has a few mages which might be a bit on the old side... :p

[jimkehn]

Uh......not to rain on your parade, Toran.....but Man's Mages are no spring chickens, either!!!!

But why should we care?

No one lives forever!!! Besides...Our mages are eagerly waiting to meet that one armed Cyclops in the sky.....

Wait......that was another time, another place......

[Toran]

"spring chicks"... nice, got to remember that phrase :)

Dang, misread - first read was you were writing "Mar's mages...", but you said "Man's".

Yep, your important ones are old already as well. I'm glad I never did any empowering, would be quite a waste now in retrospective, even though I considered it from time to time.

Pah. I take it, this game's gonna go into the final phase, right? Where Gath' undead minions will swarm us... wait, will he do that? We will see. Most probably something completely different. Swarms of fearless Militia probably.

[vfb]

@Toran:

BoT: Sucks not to be Gath here, except for my old men researcher dudes are gonna kick the bucket pretty soon. Actually Aby is not so bad, since you've got devils coming out your arse, and young B1 hunters.

AC: Sucks to be Man, because he's got no blood to operate under AC, and not much astral (that I know of) for Returning, so it's more dangerous for him to forge/cast rituals.

Eyes of God: Only Marignon benefits, but I don't know, the AI may cheat and know where enemy provinces are.

As far as having more units and provinces, if you'd like to give me some of your provinces I'd be more than happy to take them off your hands. :)

BoT is going to make the Marignon capitol way easier to crack in a few months, when all the mages are dead. Just wait for the research graph to level off.


@Jim:

That's the spirit! :D

I still think I'm pretty dead, considering Aby's got double everything (provinces, gems, armies ... am I missing anything?) and devils galore. Man's got one pretty huge army on my border too, just to throw in a little additional excitement.


Edit: Toran, do you mean Marignon's undead? He threw a crapload of undead horsemen at me last month, with yet another Helio. I've got one Bane and one Mound King, last time I counted.

[Toran]

1st comment: As long as everyone is thinking he's going to lose, it must be okay, right? *gg*

2nd - don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem either losing or just suc*ing ;) , but I need to understand how everything works before being able to make fun of it :)

3rd - of course I might be wrong, but from what I see from the graph, most of his mages are already dead. The remaining ones most probably hold lanterns as well, which "inflates" his research capacities/mage numbers further.

4th - nah, I was thinking of undead on your part - with all the Death gems you seem to have (sure, fielding undead vs. Marignon or Abysia isn't that great). I know, you were just thinking "I can't use undead, so I'll just BoT" *g*

5th - it was his last Heliophagus, by the way. A shame how the AI wastes them, considering how many months the AI could have pestered us with horrors if it had used the slaves for those... ;)

6th - drama is one thing, but "double everything", looking at the numbers... sure, army is twice the number. Well, you're Gath ;), AND I have so called "Luck" scales, which allow me to field all the militia I could ever dream of. Those few devils are just there to motivate them.

Ah, we will see. Let's get done with Marignon - purge the mutant, kill the heretic!

PS: Mr. AshLord insists on declaring that there are NO unholy creatures crawling from his godly behind. Even though he's a Phoenix and doesn't mind the heat, those horns would give an uncomfortable sensation.

[vfb]

1 - IMO as long as everyone is still having fun, it must be okay.

2 - You are not losing or sucking.

3 - Oh great! Marignon's research slope is the same as Gath's, so all my mages are dead too. :wink: Anyone holding a lantern should be dead already. My horror-marked researchers died long ago.

4 - Of course I saved up all my death gems and piled them into BoT. I'd hate to see it dispelled! Death chaff summons don't last long against Aby or Marignon.

5 - Nope, he's got another in his fort. Unique summons can be resummoned once they are killed.

6 - Where would we be without drama? Probably not playing games. :) Out of the ~400 units you've got on my border, it looks like you've got about 20 militia. You must be using them to patrol your capitol? Oh no, luck scales! So not only do you have double graphs income and gem income, you've got gem randoms and money randoms too! More drama! :D

PPS Are you sure? My scout tells me your Phoenix took a trip to the woods and laid a load of Storm Demons.

[Toran]

1 - I was refering to the old phrase "As long as everybody is unhappy, a compromise is a good compromise" ;)

2 - I mean, even IF I'm losing I don't have a problem having fun of it. Mostly. Although I almost managed to bite my own *** after learning in Bazooko that Abysian mages burn. Means, if the province is attacked, your indy mages should be positioned somewhere ELSE, not in the same (standard middle) spot as your mages. Result: 1 dead Air Queen killed by lots of Burning Ones, >10 dead indy mages, 1 lesson learned.

3 - Nope, check it out - your slope is higher than his. I can't tell if his horror marked researchers get killed - I managed to forge me a few lanterns, but none was horror attacked. Is there Luck/Misfortune involved as well? I don't claim that my few lanterns are "representative", but he must have forget LOTS of them, since the increase in his research graph wasn't "natural mages".

4 - Dang. So my 5 extra pearls wouldn't be sufficient to dispel it? Good to know, so I can cancel it before it's hosted......

5 - Oh, I know they can be resummoned, my scouts just didn't show them "towering above the army". But right, now you're sieging the castles. Is there a way, BTW, to get an army scout report once you're sieging a fortress?

6 - Most of my troops are either just sucky militia (I send them to the front every time! Either they kill something or they get roasted by my blind mages casting misguided fire spells..) or minor Abysia Light Infantry. I don't claim I don't get money at all, but the lucky events have been rare the last dozen turns, and more than half my income gets eaten by upkeep.
Yes, I know, I should be thankful for BoT relieving me there... :p

PPPS: Ah, so it was YOU! He can't **** when anyone is watching, you know!!

[vfb]

2 - Yeah, friendly fire is always a fun discovery. :) You know, I'm still confused as to whether Inner Furnace makes Aby's indy troops heat-immune. I think it does, even though it shouldn't. They don't get a FR immunity, but they do get Heat, and they seem to stop catching on fire.

3 - Nah, it's an optical illusion caused by his higher previous rate.

4 - Yep, good plan.

5 - Send a spy (not scout) over the province. I don't know what reports 3rd party spies get in a siege though.

6 - You're welcome :)

[Toran]

2 - Re: Inner Furnace. Hm. I never used that one when there were indies around on my side, but maybe I should spend some time to check this out. The case mentioned was just a combination of "Make sure your troops are positioned and scripted even if you don't intend to use them in a fight, the enemy might intend to attack" and "Not everybody on this planet has 100% FR".
Still, Inner Furnace + Heat from Hell AND Burning Ones is a nice sight on the battlefield. I mean, you won't do that every day, but it's... a warm picture ;)

3 - I have stretched the graph to the whole screen (large screen :p), and by holding/moving a ruler that is positioned in parallel with the graphs, yours one is higher already. Definitely. Still, Jim hasn't commented on his mages being dead, following the initial conclusion... ;)

4 - I did not really intend to dispel it. Using anything less than 50-100 gems excess over the minimum requirement seems pointless to me when casting a Global (dunno if I'm right, just as a general rule of thumb), and after a certain event in the past I don't have 150 pearls to get rid of that stupid spell :)

5 - So only a spy will give me intel after a siege has begun? Dang, I don't have spies, but at least I know there IS a way.

6 - I've never played a nation that has spies, but your numbers (20 militia) sound pretty exact (I haven't counted mine)- is that the kind of information a spy gives you, with rough numbers for each troop type in an army?

[vfb]

I don't have spies either! We can start another game when this one is done, and you can pick a race that gets spies. Or maybe just try it in SP. They still don't give you exact numbers.

[Toran]

Ehm - now, will there be an "end game" before Marignon is killed off, or is that still an actual goal? You're talking all "have to prepare to kill Abysia or die trying"... if Marignon isn't a priority any longer, please give me a hint at least how one deals with such a Sacred Statue :)

New game: Will have to see, first get this one here finished for sure. I'm in three games right now, and I definitely can't take more than that - although Bazooko pretty much could lead into a workload reduction soonish... ;)

In these three games, I've been picking Abysia all the time (all three ages) to get a feeling what they are like - will be damn tough to play something ELSE than Abysia ;)

[vfb]

You can poke your head in the castle (siege it, break the walls, send in a scout on retreat to storm). Once you actually seen the statue, you'll have a better handle on how to kill it.

There are spells and items that target lifeless units, but depending on what kind of gear the statue has you may not need any of that.

[Toran]

I've been trying to kill Mictlan's monolith in Bazooko, and I got pretty much toasted by it - just by spells. My troops weren't hard enough to poke through its armor really. Of course I didn't have all kind of mages available...

[vfb]

Gath wishes to announce that we will not permit Marignon's capitol to fall into Abysian hands. We will begin taking preventative measures to avoid such an occurrence.

[Toran]

*ahem*

(first - vfb, your Doom horror screenshot looked as if the camera was rotated somehow, or was it just the horror teleporting around so it ended up north of that commander? If it was rotated - how does one do that?)

Now Gath shows its real, ugly true face, a death mask of war: While Abysia has offered Gath to capture the Marignon capital, Gath does not mention this offer at all and instead uses a lame excuse to turn against the peace loving citizens of the lava lands.... while we are just making sure that everybody interested can swim in cozy pools of lava, and breed special cows that can live even under the harshest conditions (see below), Gath continues its tradition of betrayal that it showed when casting the BurdenOfTime ritual, under which all free people in the world have to suffer.

Abysian cow, grazing:

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww18/BradDarkener/Scabiel-doomhorror.jpg

But we will stand upright, we will defend our lava pies, protect our sweet virgins from the aggressors. Can you imagine what those death glorifying, insensitive giants would do to a harmless girl, waiting to be sacrificed in honour of its god (yeah, they might have to spend some "quality time" before in the temple, but their final purpose is defined).....

Defend those lovelies - this is Magmalia, an Abysian sweetheart (of the month)!
http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww18/BradDarkener/abysian_virgin.jpg

[vfb]

To rotate the camera in battles, first press shift-F. This turns on free-camera-move, where you can use the Home-End-Del-PageUp-PageDown-Insert, and num pad 7 and 9, to rotate and move the camera.

But I tried pressing shift-F to rotate the devil-girl image above, and it's just not working! :shock:

PS Very nice picture of the grazing cow too! :D

[jimkehn]

Jim's mages get affected every turn, but really....not too many have died yet. They will, though as my mages are all old to begin with.

You don't suppose VFB had THAT in mind when he cast the global, do you?????

[Toran]

You don't suppose VFB had THAT in mind when he cast the global, do you?????

Nah, I don't think he put more thought into the choice of his global than just writing all their names on a wheel of fortune and then using it to decide which one to cast....

[vfb]

Gath initially merely considered that Marignon's mages were old, and ours were not, so it made sense to speed up their departure from this world. It was only too late that we realized our poor allies also had mages with old age. It's nothing to do at all with any rumors of gankfests.

[Toran]

Do we have an auto-host (that'd ask to be turned off for now, or at least postponed for 1, maybe 2 days), or can I just take my time to consider all the options (and then finally pick the wrong ones, of course :p)..?

[vfb]

Take your time, there is no timer. It's much faster for me to do my turn, because I'm all out of options. :D

[Toran]

Now that the time "pressure" feeling was gone, I finished my move ;)

Not much happening, though, heavy infantry moves so damn slowly :p

At least I got me a prophet that's not going to age :)

On the matter of BoT: It seems to add several years to the age, potentially depending on how old the unit already is (means - the older you are, the more you age by BoT). All old units I checked took 1-3 additional years and lost 2-5 HP due to disease. But I thought to have had a 5 years aging as well last turn, not sure though.

[jimkehn]

DANG!!!! Marignon assassinated my Pretender!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dumb little prophet scout with a black heart and soul contract!!!

I never scripted Jo-El for anything and the knucklehead is sitting there casting worthless spells like breath of winter and resist magic.

Damn what a discouraging turn of events!!!!!!

[lwarmonger]

Wow. That is a damn innovative strategy there.

[vfb]

Archaeolept has left us with all sorts of interesting surprises set up. :)

Marignon has only about 4 provinces left but Gath is still getting horror attacks, and when the AI broke siege in one fight, the Marignon mages had many blood slaves in the battle.

[Toran]

Re: Prophet sneaking - Dang, how ..*** unfortunate. Did you mean Lifelong protection, or really Soul Contract?
I have had several assassins from Marignon as well, although they couldn't show the right papers to my border patrols, thus getting sent back where they belonged.
Do you mean I need to worry about my new prophet as well getting sneak attacked? :p

Re: Horrors - With open hostilities declared by the coward forces of Gath, Abysia decided to resort to every means we have to defend our magma virgins and lava pies, thus even the temporary recruitment of Horror forces might be included....

[vfb]

Oh! So Gath has multiple sources of our horrible problems then. Just when I thought they'd be tapering off...

And you should be able to see the Helio in Marignonland now, since Gath has had to execute a tactical maneuver to improve our strategic positioning, aka getting the fork out of town.

[Toran]

Re: Horrors - Well, it was the misguided government of Gath asking for those measures, you know... we were all about cleansing the unholy forces of Marignon from this world, when the death cultists of Gath decided that it's a good idea to burden old people with age....

But don't worry, where those horrors were coming from, there are more... :p

About the Heliophagus - yep, I saw it. Still, with AI scripting, I don't consider it as dangerous as it would be in human hands.

[jimkehn]

Toran, i meant lifelong protection...the one that kicks out two imps per round of battle.

Jo-El was a reasearcher, not fighter.

[Toran]

Yep, I assumed that Jo-El wasn't a fighter, considering his magic paths and appearance. Still, I happened to have a lot more units non-scripted than just my pretender *sigh* :)

[vfb]

Well, that's just because you've got too many units. :P

[jimkehn]

Damn I keep forgetting about those stinkin HORRORS!!! Well, I had body guards this time, but lotta good Militia is against horrors!!!

[Toran]

Is there an award for acute stupidity out there? I'd like to be nominated....

"Yes, you have this unit that can cast GoH, you also have quite a few gems to invest. Now cast it - your unit may defend, and even if you don't make it, the spell is cast at least."

I managed to forget about the point that says "... or until the unit dies". .... .... ....

[jimkehn]

HAHAHAHA!!! I think you fit right in, Toran!!

[jimkehn]

Never been one much for MMP games online. I found kind of a fun one called wizard101. Kind of childish, but it is fun.

[vfb]

Is there an award for acute stupidity out there? I'd like to be nominated....

"Yes, you have this unit that can cast GoH, you also have quite a few gems to invest. Now cast it - your unit may defend, and even if you don't make it, the spell is cast at least."

I managed to forget about the point that says "... or until the unit dies". .... .... ....

Well, since you've shown yourself to be able to attack with impunity a province bordering my cap, and still have massive numbers of devils all over your lands, you've pretty much got this one in the bag.

So chalk up your failed GoH as a nice learning experience, which is pretty much what the rest of this game is. Even if Man hadn't allied with you against me, I still don't think I could have won 1 on 1, since half my lands have no people living in them.

Sending your Eternal-Pyre casting Arch-devil in combat to the front lines is not a really great idea either, but since you don't really need those gems anyway, it won't make a big difference.

[Toran]

Sending your Eternal-Pyre casting Arch-devil in combat to the front lines is not a really great idea either, but since you don't really need those gems anyway, it won't make a big difference.

Ouch, thanks for reminding me of this one - that's the same thing I was forgetting about the GoH. Shows I just don't have any experience with Globals, doesn't it?

So chalk up your failed GoH as a nice learning experience, which is pretty much what the rest of this game is.

Thanks, it's (been) definitely teaching me quite a few things. To be honest, you noticed that I was playing badly the last few turns, it was just that I've been able to apply enough brute force to get through in spite of that.

Even if Man hadn't allied with you against me, I still don't think I could have won 1 on 1, since half my lands have no people living in them.

I had been wondering why you didn't try to ally with Man - I had been fearing that all the time, telling him that I would be the major threat yaddayadda. Of course, casting BoT wouldn't be helping to convince him that you're the good guy ;)

Well, since you've shown yourself to be able to attack with impunity a province bordering my cap, and still have massive numbers of devils all over your lands, you've pretty much got this one in the bag.

I will believe you if you say that, since I don't know what your armies can do - I haven't met your thugs in a fight right now & can't predict how they would fare against my devils. Or the other forces coming to support them.

In the battle in Nifel this turn, where three of your horrors attacked my devilish forces - there were three horrors rushing in. Were these just 3x Send Lesser Horrors, or how was that achieved?

Other than that - if the game is over from your experience, I don't want to push you into playing on longer than you enjoy it. I know that I've got plenty of stuff left to learn, but I can understand as well if you want to focus on other games.
In worst case, I'd ask you for the files so I could play the game vs. the AI at home, although that one isn't playing nearly as clever as you are, of course.

That BoT was a master piece to the right time, though. It's almost too easy to cast...?

[Toran]

Never been one much for MMP games online. I found kind of a fun one called wizard101. Kind of childish, but it is fun.

What's "MMP"? But yep, it looks *slightly* childish :p In dire need of games where the other players respond "instantly", no waiting for a game to host..? :)

[vfb]

The 3 Lesser horrors were just from 3 casts. I really needed a couple of AC upgrades on my horrors, but the roll of the dice didn't go my way.

I only cast BoT after Man told me he was joining forces with you, to gang up on me once Marignon was destroyed. It's always a difficult decision what to do when one is not in a position to win. Hastening my death is not a totally terrible thing, because I really couldn't compete at blood hunting, and AC makes it tough to use the D gems income which is all I got out of taking over most of Ermor.

Your devils are going to cause havoc for my thugs, because that's what they are ... thugs, not SCs, and they need a chance to buff up before they can fight effectively. It's the paralyzing poison from the tail attack that's most worrisome. Plus all my thug gear is still undead-killing weapons -- charcoal shields and flame brands aren't the best weapons against Aby. :)

I'll play a few more turns and see if I can kill some devils off before I'm completely wiped out.

[Toran]

The 3 Lesser horrors were just from 3 casts. I really needed a couple of AC upgrades on my horrors, but the roll of the dice didn't go my way.

They probably rolled your way when my Naiad tried the GoH (just using 53 gems, I wasn't lucky with my nature gems, even though searching all my provinces) - she got doom horrored, and her body guards didn't stand a chance....

http://i701.photobucket.com/albums/ww18/BradDarkener/Hruvur-doomhorror.jpg

I only cast BoT after Man told me he was joining forces with you, to gang up on me once Marignon was destroyed.

Ah, ok, well, I wasn't sure he'd really join me until he went into your territory deeply. You know, people tend to be unpredictable ;)

and AC makes it tough to use the D gems income which is all I got out of taking over most of Ermor

I found that you either need Blood or Astral on your mages to deal with horror attacks (blood for LifeForALife/Leech, astral for Returning), or some devils as bodyguards against everything up to a normal horror. Against the big guys, only Astral is helping. Would you agree? Is there more one can do?

Your devils are going to cause havoc for my thugs, because that's what they are ... thugs, not SCs, and they need a chance to buff up before they can fight effectively.

Where's the line between Thugs and SCs? Reading the forums, it's often a wide grey area, with only pretenders definitely being SCs. I was thinking of my Arch Devils as thugs as well (if not just mobile Fire artillery platforms when unequipped).
What do you think about my devils' equipment, is it acceptable, or what would be better improved with them? I found myself a bit lost browsing the forums for "how to equip well".

It's the paralyzing poison from the tail attack that's most worrisome.

Hm, I never watched that in battle, but that was just because usually nothing survived a single devil strike. Wasn't fighting giant creatures until now. It's that strong?

Plus all my thug gear is still undead-killing weapons -- charcoal shields and flame brands aren't the best weapons against Aby. :)

Yep, sure, but I was expecting you'd have exchanged that already for other stuff, possibly Earth based, because you probably had quite a bit of Earth income (wouldn't Gath be blood hunting to forge BloodStones, especially with your pretender being forgy as well?)

I'll play a few more turns and see if I can kill some devils off before I'm completely wiped out.

Well, your BoT helped definitely in reducing my devil recruiting powers, several SoulContractors are going to deliver their souls pretty soon...

Another question - battle positioning, old stuff... "attack rear" is obvious in what you WANT it to do - now, what's causing flyers still to engage the front units even when they have this order? Do they need to be in a certain distance from those rear units to engage them instead of his front line forces, or....?

[jimkehn]

HOLY SUMAC, BATMAN?? Whatever disease causing spell you cast on me, Gath it is devastating. Of course, I'm all diseased anyway from not having enough to eat in a blighted land.

[vfb]

In CBM, farstrike works pretty well against lesser or normal horrors, assuming you've got bodyguards that can stick it out for 2 or 3 turns at least.

I've made some minor death stuff and not gotten killed, just by scripting raise skeletons. They eventually overwhelm a lesser horror.

I always think I'm missing something if I've got an empty slot on a thug/SC :). Got regen, luck, reinvig? Add some MR, or attack or resistances. Tough to craft some items with AC up though.

Attack rear is iffy. You might get there, you might not. There's a morale check involved. More units == less chance to get by.

[vfb]

HOLY SUMAC, BATMAN?? Whatever disease causing spell you cast on me, Gath it is devastating. Of course, I'm all diseased anyway from not having enough to eat in a blighted land.

That would be leprosy. I think I only got 1/3rd of your guys. Good thing devils are immune, or you would have missed out on all the fun. :D

[Toran]

In CBM, farstrike works pretty well against lesser or normal horrors, assuming you've got bodyguards that can stick it out for 2 or 3 turns at least.

Hm, ok, got to add FarStrike to the list. I guess when playing against you again, I just need to expect AC from you, at least if you get the remote chance of acquiring some blood :p

I've made some minor death stuff and not gotten killed, just by scripting raise skeletons. They eventually overwhelm a lesser horror.

With my death stuff, I didn't take chances. My revenants (that I summoned just to cast Dark Knowledge) were unprotected mostly and I just lost two of them over the course of the game, but my more important guys were set to cast "Undead Horde". Didn't want to take the risk of a normal horror coming for me ;)

I always think I'm missing something if I've got an empty slot on a thug/SC :). Got regen, luck, reinvig? Add some MR, or attack or resistances. Tough to craft some items with AC up though.

Are the various pieces of equipment I used acceptable? Are there certain ones you'd say they are useless/bad picks?
I was especially worried if the armor was a good pick, with so many different armor pieces around to pick from.... *sigh*

Attack rear is iffy. You might get there, you might not. There's a morale check involved. More units == less chance to get by.

Hm, well, if you have an Arch Devil that's equipped to take out even heavily protected guys, and then see him killing off one peasant after the other (vs. Marignon), you wonder if you're doing something wrong. Although morale shouldn't be my devils' problem..?

I also noticed how stupid it was to make Igarak a prophet - I absolutely forgot about the dominion effect on the prophet. I seem to be forgetting about quite a few things..... :p

[vfb]

Hey, I can make stupid mistakes too! Charcoal shield? Wadda I need that for against Aby? Fire Shield's not gonna help. Might as well throw it on some other unit. (Instant 500 fatigue as I'm swarmed by devils and only have 50%FR ... duh.)

So, Gath surrenders to the mighty power of Abysia. Congrats and good game!

I'll have to let the AI handle your cleanup duties! Have fun. :D The game will continue running on the server, unless Man goes AI too. In that case, let me know and I'll ship you the files.

[Toran]

Could you do me a favour and zip the files you have there right now, so I could use the current turn as a "start" to work from? Maybe even without Gath already being AI (dunno if you can still change that), and your password, if it's nothing critical.

I was just about to see what the Demon Lords would do, was going to summon my 2nd one, after Belial was supposed to bring up GoH this month. (This time for real! And staying! Just spent 50 pearls on him so he would be able to use his Returning escape pod, no need to duke it out against a Doom Horror).

Thanks for the game then, for sure! It was fun, even though you might say that I just took the easy route of picking the easy sides in conflicts (joining Marignon against Ulm, while you took on Ermor - then fighting Man+Gath, finally attacking Marignon). The game of diplomacy/cowardness, I know....

At least I managed to dig into every path except Air (my pretender design was crappy :p), gave me a good insight in how to do it (you can read the guides, but playing is different).

A few questions left, though, if you don't mind -

a) Did you really intend to use your prophet against my arch devils with their dozens of "minor" devils? Could they have managed, even when they had not been fatigued?

b) I thought when an army is intercepted that it's going to stay where it was intercepted, but my devils were flying to another province attacking it (after you hit me in my originating province). Is that only for flying units, or is the mechanism actually different from what I thought it is?

c) I had a few SoulContracts, as one might have guessed - are they considered worth the blood in general? I mean, my devils worked off in the end, but I poured about 650 slaves into them, which wouldn't be considered a minor amount as well...

d) Research centers/mages - obviously, if you mass your mages researching/ritualizing in just a few fortresses, they're vulnerable to remote attacks (Leprosy being a major threat). Do people usually disperse them more, or put up multiple layers of domes, or what would be a smart way to do it?

e) Display of dominion strength - you get your own dominion displayed in every province you own, got that. But what does it require to see the dom strength in an enemy province? I see it only sometimes, no matter if there's a scout or not. Is it only when there's positive dominion of mine next to it?

Again, a big THANKS to all participants :)

(now, what am I going to play in my next game? I only know how to play Abysia a bit *shiver*)

[vfb]

a) Yes, and probably not.

b) It's only intercepted if it loses.

c) I think they are worth it if you can make them early enough.

d) domes, usually.

I've got a .tgz of each game turn, I can send you the one previous to me going AI.

[jimkehn]

AS for dominion strength, you can see dominion in provinces adjacent to yours and your units, I believe. But I don't know if its always accurate/

[jimkehn]

Toran, I played my turn but I have no chance against you. I will play if you want to see what the demon lords are like

[Toran]

Re: dom strength - I don't see it always when it's adjacent to my units (e.g. with scouts), only if it's non-scouts. But if it's non-scout units, it's usually my own province, so it could be more related to that "own province rule".

As for playing on - if you both see that game decided, it's ok for me to call it. I'll let VFB send me the game files so I can come up with a strategy how to defeat the Sacred Statue of Marignon; the Demon Lords will be probably just nice, but not worth the additional effort of you playing "with" me.

So, thanks again for the game - it's been my first completed MP dom3 game, you know :)

[jimkehn]

OK, let's call it a victory for Toran and move on. COngrats Toran. Nice job!