War of the Ring- Ended, the forces of Good are Victorious!!

[Trumanator]

Sauron has returned! As he gathers allies among orcs and evil men, it is the duty of all goodly and free folk to gather in opposition!

What this is: A game of fixed alliances. Two vets fight each other in combination with their respective n00bish allies.

Players: 10

Map: NW Middle Earth (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=40347) of course :D Cleveland has been kind enough to mod the map for us! Thanks Cleveland!

Mods: WOTR (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=42051&page=16)

Age/Era: LA

Nations: So far,
Executor-Ulm Reborn
Baalz- Abysia
Tifone- Agartha
Vanslime- Bogarus
Trumanator- Sylvania
Stattis- Hoburg Kingdom
yandav- Patala
qio- Arcosphelae
Ossa- Pythium
GrudgeBringer- TC

Teams: Evil-Baalz, Tifone, Vanslime, yandav, Ossa
Good-Executor, Trumanator, Stattis, GB, quio

I realize that there has been a sudden spate of n00b games, so I am flexible on the actual noobishness of the allies so long as the teams seem decently even.

Participants:
Trumanator
Stattis
Grudgebringer
Ossa
Baalz-vet
qio
Vanslime
yandav
Tifone
Executor-vet

[statttis]

A team game sounds like fun. Count me in as a "n00b" :)

Is this the map you plan on using? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=40347

[Trumanator]

Yes, I will update the top post with the link.

[GrudgeBringer]

OOOOOOOK, Count me in as a NOOB (I just post alot...LOL)

[Aezeal]

nah that is not a lot, your game experience/post must be at least 10x as high as mine :D

[Ossa]

This sounds interesting-I'd like to join.

[Trumanator]

As a noob I assume? Based on your post count, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Tifone]

Problem is... there are no good and evil nations :D Check my sig ;)

[Trumanator]

Fine then, how 'bout "not as bad as the opposition". :D Close enough for ya!

[BigDisAwesome]

If you guys don't end up using CBM I'd like in.
I've played a decent amount of games so I'm not quite a noob, but I don't consider myself very good. I never end up making it that far so I'm not exactly a vet either. I'm sure there will be a couple other middle ground people to balance things out.

[cleveland]

I'm overextended in MP games as it is, so I unfortunately can't play in this very interesting game.

But I'll volunteer to setup a fair/thematic scenario, if you like, and keep all the start locations secret. PM me if you're interested.

Cheers,
cleveland

[Baalz]

I'll play. I'm very flexible, but was thinking of playing Abyssia as a thematic Sauron with warlocks, blood slaves, demonbred and the smouldercone.

[qio]

Sign me up.

[Vanslime]

I'm about to get eliminated from one of my games, so this should make for a worthy replacement.

Sure, I've played a few, but I'm sure I can get people to vouch for my incompetence.

[yandav]

I'll play.

As a newbie, I presume? Just kidding!:D
I'd be interested to take part in this game but I fear that it will be hard to find nations that match those of middle earth. Anyway, count me in ( as a newbie, of course, but not a totally newbie ).

[Trumanator]

Okay, I figure we can have about two more players. We need one more vet to play the principal "good guy" (or just "not as bad" if you're tifone). After that we can figure out what age and nations to use. Baalz suggested Abysia for Sauron, anyone else with ideas please speak up.

[Tolkien]

I'm in. I haven't played a MP yet, but I've played a bunch of SP with the mods, so I shouldn't be THAT bad.

[Executor]

You could use that mod nation for hobits, and there's an elf mod nation also.

[Tolkien]

I think there's also a Rohan mod somewhere.

[Trumanator]

Are they in the right era? Though I guess we have to figure out what era we're going to play in first.

[Tifone]

I'd gladly join the axis of evil (OMG what am I saying! I mean "different behaviour") if there's still some room :)

[rdonj]

Yes, someone should definitely play as one of the hoburg mod nations.

[Trumanator]

Huzzah!! We now have all the players I think we can handle. So, now we begin discussion of what age and what nations. I myself think that LA is the way to go, and am very much in favor of thematic mod nations. However, I am open to suggestions. Baalz and Executor get first choice of course, and everyone else afterward. Remember to try and fit your choices to whichever side, good or evil, you want to be on. If its not too much trouble, I would like to have everyone else state their number of MP games, so we can try to balance the teams more or less.

For teams, we have Baalz as the Dark Lord Sauron, and Executor as Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, King of Gondor.

While Ermor might be thematic, I would like to refrain from including it, since there are a lot of noobs in the game who will have a lot of trouble, not to mention that Ermor is not a particularly comfortable ally.

[Vanslime]

Well, Team Evil pretty much needs someone with elephants...

Which means Arco or Patala in LA. And that doesn't seem right.

Hmmmm....

[Baalz]

LA sounds great. I'll be going with a thematic (rather than optimized) Sauron pretender and scales, and plan on doing a bit of roleplaying. Lets see if I can also remain competitive. ;)

[Vanslime]

I shall follow you to the ends of the (middle) earth, m'lord! :viking:

Evil may not be ethical, but at least, it is proactive!

[Trumanator]

Hmmm, are there any "evil" mod nations with elephants?

[Executor]

So I represent the forces of good, hope the game ends like the book does.
I'll have to get reaquanted with it in order to make it a little more thematic.

Abysia sure suits as Saurons nation,
so I'm open for suggestions as to what nation to take. Trumanator suggested Ulm reborn mad nation, but they have too much free spawn, but I am fine with this nation. Maybe Man would be more thematic?

[Vanslime]

Well, in any case...

I, as Gath, shall take on the role of the Evil Men.

Any objections?

[Trumanator]

So I represent the forces of good, hope the game ends like the book does.
I'll have to get reaquanted with it in order to make it a little more thematic.

Abysia sure suits as Saurons nation,
so I'm open for suggestions as to what nation to take. Trumanator suggested Ulm reborn mad nation, but they have too much free spawn, but I am fine with this nation. Maybe Man would be more thematic?

Man would work as well. I was recalling my own experience with Ulm Reborn, where I decided not to use the penitents, focusing instead on the heavy duty sacreds. Arco maybe? According to the poll in Tifone's sig, they're the nation most generally accepted as "good".

On a side note, do people want to use CBM? It's boosts to less-used options could allow for more thematic builds to be more successful.

[Baalz]

My vote is for CBM, I find it opens up a whole lot of extra stuff into the "feasible to use" range.

[Executor]

I'm good either way, however I'll decide my nation after we choose to go for or against CBM.

[GrudgeBringer]

Personally I like CBM but its what ever you folks want/:p

[BigDisAwesome]

I'm against CBM, but that's just cause I don't have the time to relearn all the quirks of the game. And honestly, I don't necessarily know a ton about the Lord of the Rings besides the bits I remember from the movies. So somebody just assign me a nation and I'll play it.

Of course of neither of those are ok I'll gladly bow out to make room.

[qio]

Hmmm, are there any "evil" mod nations with elephants?

Just use hydras. Close enough.

[yandav]

Huzzah!! We now have all the players I think we can handle. So, now we begin discussion of what age and what nations. I myself think that LA is the way to go, and am very much in favor of thematic mod nations. However, I am open to suggestions. Baalz and Executor get first choice of course, and everyone else afterward. Remember to try and fit your choices to whichever side, good or evil, you want to be on. If its not too much trouble, I would like to have everyone else state their number of MP games, so we can try to balance the teams more or less.

For teams, we have Baalz as the Dark Lord Sauron, and Executor as Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, King of Gondor.

While Ermor might be thematic, I would like to refrain from including it, since there are a lot of noobs in the game who will have a lot of trouble, not to mention that Ermor is not a particularly comfortable ally.

I've completed 6 or 7 MP games but I'm not really gifted :o
I'm not sure that we have to choose between EA, MA and LA because I've read somewhere that it's pretty easy to change the era of a nation.
Some ideas about the nations that could be included in this game:
- ermor EA: gondor or black numenoreans
- EA ulm: bad men from the east
- tir na n'og: elves?
- MA, LA man: gondor
- MA ulm: dwarves?
- MA marignon?: gondor or black numenoreans
- LA marignon: black numenoreans
- haida gwai ( a mod nation ): ents
I'd be happy to play this last one because it seems to be a very strange nation but I'll take whatever nation you give me.

[yandav]

Huzzah!! We now have all the players I think we can handle. So, now we begin discussion of what age and what nations. I myself think that LA is the way to go, and am very much in favor of thematic mod nations. However, I am open to suggestions. Baalz and Executor get first choice of course, and everyone else afterward. Remember to try and fit your choices to whichever side, good or evil, you want to be on. If its not too much trouble, I would like to have everyone else state their number of MP games, so we can try to balance the teams more or less.

For teams, we have Baalz as the Dark Lord Sauron, and Executor as Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, King of Gondor.

While Ermor might be thematic, I would like to refrain from including it, since there are a lot of noobs in the game who will have a lot of trouble, not to mention that Ermor is not a particularly comfortable ally.

I've completed 6 or 7 MP games but I'm not really gifted :o
I'm not sure that we have to choose between EA, MA and LA because I've read somewhere that it's pretty easy to change the era of a nation.
Some ideas about the nations that could be included in this game:
- ermor EA: gondor or black numenoreans
- EA ulm: bad men from the east
- tir na n'og: elves?
- MA, LA man: gondor
- MA ulm: dwarves?
- MA marignon?: gondor or black numenoreans
- LA marignon: black numenoreans
- haida gwai ( a mod nation ): ents
I'd be happy to play this last one because it seems to be a very strange nation but I'll take whatever nation you give me.

Sorry, I meant Gaea, not haida gwai. ( I didn't find a way to edit my message :sorry: )

[GrudgeBringer]

We could let Baalz and Executor assign nations once we have teams drawn...If it is spanning all ages then it could become troublesome.

[Executor]

I'll take Ulm Reborn as Trumanator suggested earlier.
LA Eriu would seem like an elven nation, although there's something wrong with that mod, they have all the Bogarus units?
Anyway, Man Tower of Chelms , Ulm Reborn and LA Eriu all seem like the good nation to me.

[Tifone]

GrudgeBringer's idea is not bad at all :)

[Trumanator]

Well I have nothing against using nations from other ages. Would it be easier to just use the Single Age mod? Also, so far its 3 to 1 for using CBM, so unless more people speak up I'm going to say use it.

[Executor]

I'm not sure Single age would be a good idea, EA has a lot more magic/gems than LA, I don't think it would be good on a small map like this. Maybe just limit it to LA with mod nations or LA+MA?
Again your call, just a suggestion from my part.

[Trumanator]

Well I was thinking in terms of how to have both MA and LA nations. The only way I know how to do that is to use the single age mod. If there is another way we could do that instead.

[Baalz]

The legions of Mordor are assembling. Agents of Sauron have been dispatched promising thrones to those who join the dark lord, as well as their darkest desires.

To the council of Bogarus Sauron has been promised dominion over all the lands of Man in the dark lord's name.

To the terrible and ancient demigod of Lanka, Sauron has promised freedom from his imprisonment and dominion over the Naga and Bandar usurpers who cast him down eons ago in exchange for bringing the nation of Patala to his cause.

To the necromancers of Agartha Sauron promises the keys to death itself and the return of the Pale Ones, along with dominion over all things beneath the earth.

To the bloody Skratti Sauron has promised the reawakening of the Rimtursar and an ocean of human slaves.

Will these nations accept the offered dark pact, or will others be tapped to fill their role?

[BigDisAwesome]

Tell you what guys, I'm gonna bow out. I'll try and get into a game not using CBM and about a story I don't really know much of. :)
Sorry for the hassle.

[Trumanator]

No problem. Good luck!

[Executor]

Hmm, Lanka, Agartha Pale Ones, does this mean we include EA than?
I'm not an expert in modding and stuff like that, but I don't think mod nation can be included with Single Age Mod, as far as I see when enabling it.

[Tifone]

"You offer much, Sauron... And from beneath the earth, we answer thy call. We cannot offer the great strenght and experience which you may expect, but we promise endless loyalty and we will follow the guide of your evil intellect and dark arts. Our thickest armors, our sharpest swords, our strongest spells, all which is ours waits for you command."

Agartha has risen.
Will the others answer the call?

[Tifone]

Executor, if you read in depth you'll see Baalz is clearly talking abot Patala and LA Agartha - not Lanka and EA Ag. ;)

To the terrible and ancient demigod of Lanka, Sauron has promised freedom from his imprisonment and dominion over the Naga and Bandar usurpers who cast him down eons ago in exchange for bringing the nation of Patala to his cause.

To the necromancers of Agartha Sauron promises the keys to death itself and the return of the Pale Ones, along with dominion over all things beneath the earth.

EDIT: Sorry for the Ninjaing, Trumy :D

[Trumanator]

The legions of Mordor are assembling. Agents of Sauron have been dispatched promising thrones to those who join the dark lord, as well as their darkest desires.

To the council of Bogarus Sauron has been promised dominion over all the lands of Man in the dark lord's name.

To the terrible and ancient demigod of Lanka, Sauron has promised freedom from his imprisonment and dominion over the Naga and Bandar usurpers who cast him down eons ago in exchange for bringing the nation of Patala to his cause.

To the necromancers of Agartha Sauron promises the keys to death itself and the return of the Pale Ones, along with dominion over all things beneath the earth.

To the bloody Skratti Sauron has promised the reawakening of the Rimtursar and an ocean of human slaves.

Will these nations accept the offered dark pact, or will others be tapped to fill their role?

I think he's still talking LA here.

As for combining ages, I'm okay with it, but someone will have to tell me how to do it if we can't use single age mod. Probably it will be better to just stick to late age and utilize backstory like Baalz just did to justify some anachronisms.

Damn, ninja'd

[Vanslime]

The Council has chosen, and I have agreed. The people of Bogarus, unmatched in strength and tenacity, shall conquer in the name of Sauron.

[Baalz]

Yeah, it's all LA. I've got a thematic and competitive team strategy worked out for those 5 nations so I'm hoping people will pick them up, but I'm flexible if somebody really wanted to play something else. Or you could, you know, go play on the wussy good team and hug a unicorn or something.

[Executor]

Oh, you are right Tifone, I read Lanka and connected it to EA automatically...

We can use the Single Age mod, but I'm not sure mod nation will be enabled this way ( I may be wrong ), we should decide now what era/eras to go with.

Ok, so I guess we're sticking with LA now. That sound good.
Who's on my team???

[Trumanator]

The noble legions of Pythium stand ready by the side of Ulm Reborn. They bring huge beasts of war, mages of great power, and men of unsurpassed valor.

[Trumanator]

Hmmm, on second thought I'll hold back on nation selection while I check out Sylvania. We're still waiting on some people anyway.

[statttis]

The men of Man, Towers of Chelms come to the aid of their allies. Time to hug a unicorn :angel

[Trumanator]

The Elves of the Sylvan wood stand by the forces of good. Long ago, an alliance was made between men and elves. We come to honor that allegiance.

[statttis]

So we're using mod nations... if it's ok, I'd like to be The Hoburg Kingdom instead(http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=33974).

[Trumanator]

That's fine.

[GrudgeBringer]

Are we picking Nations or are the 'Captains' assigning nations once we get this all figured out?

[Trumanator]

You're free to pick your own nation, the captains are just making some suggestions. If you're not sure what nation to be, it's probably best to go with one of the ones they suggest.

[GrudgeBringer]

OK I will Be Man since he went with another nation...

I was thinking TC LA and trying to figure a thematic way into this game....Like an ambassador was blown off course and lands just in time to see the Horror of the evil ones and knows that it would reach out to the Celestial Empire if not stopped ect,ect,ect

[Trumanator]

Well the cavalry of LA TC fits well with Rohan.

[llamabeast]

If you use Sylvania, make sure to use the "CBM" version. If you can't find the file (I think Sombre hid it) let me know.

I think the Hoburg mod might be pretty unbalanced. It's certainly worth checking.

[Trumanator]

Is the CBM version on the llamaserver? I just downloaded what was in the original post, probably not the CBM version.

[Tifone]

I think CBM still has the problem with my nation having an A8 recruitable mage for mistake. We should wait till the new version.

[Trumanator]

I'm good with that. We still need to finalize nations, then I was going to PM Cleveland about setting starts on the map.

[statttis]

I've tested out the Hoburg mod and it is overpowered. You get freespawns of crossbow troops with 17 def, 15 prot, 12 morale, 14 MR. And you can recruit 2 res cavalry with lances, and cheap heavy cav, and sacred giants...

There's a Hoburg mod in MA that looks more balanced. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=32067

If anybody knows how to move it to LA I can use it instead.

[GrudgeBringer]

I will be taking LA TC instead of man since we are using 1.4.

I think it is still thematic, so if no objections the Celestial Court is now in session!!:p

[Unoptimized]

Hm, I've been in a few games, and would enjoy being on team evil. Is recruitment still open? :)

[Trumanator]

Sorry, but its closed. If someone posts looking for a sub though go ahead and PM me. :)

[Tifone]

But r we really full? N0b0dy's picking the nations of our team yet

[yandav]

But r we really full? N0b0dy's picking the nations of our team yet

Well, I may say that I'm quite lost. Some people take nations that fit well with Tolkien's world, other choose their nation and build a story to insert them in Middle Earth history. I'm afraid that we end up with a game not very different from the classical ones.
So, I'm starting to wonder whether I'll take part in this game or not. I don't blame anyone except me, I should have wait a little before joining this game.

[GrudgeBringer]

I think rather than the name its the armies or perhaps the mages that are thematic.

Take TC, I was going to play Man but in CBM they are neutered somewhat. However, someone mentioned that the Calvery of TC resembeled Rohan ALOT. Put that with a weaker Inf that a Horse Heavy nation would have and you have ...Rohan except the all have Fu Man Chu mustaches.

Is Argatha a thematic nation straight from the book? NO...but it can be considered evil and thematic enough for the game in my estimation.

How about ARCO..they just don't fit although they are Human.

I think we must think outside the box.

If you think about it Ghosts helped the good side to fullfill there vow.

Treelords attacked on the side of good when it was discovered that thier brethern had been cut down.

It doesn't just come down to Orc's, Goblins, Elves (who by the way only sent two companies of Archers in the whole book till the very end) and Humans.

Its a war of Good agianst Evil and we can only get as thematic as the game will allow.

IMHO only, of course

[Trumanator]

What I was really aiming for was a noob/semi-noob 2 team game with each team "anchored" or "captained" by a vet. The whole war of the ring idea was kind of a thematic justification for that. If you want to drop out you can, but I think this has the potential to be a lot of fun. Don't worry too much over whether something is thematic, just pick what nation and team you want and go from there.

[yandav]

What I was really aiming for was a noob/semi-noob 2 team game with each team "anchored" or "captained" by a vet. The whole war of the ring idea was kind of a thematic justification for that. If you want to drop out you can, but I think this has the potential to be a lot of fun. Don't worry too much over whether something is thematic, just pick what nation and team you want and go from there.

Ok, I'll stop complaining :o and I will take Patala as Baalz has suggested.

[Tifone]

Welcome to the team... monkeys :mean:

[Trumanator]

I've PMed Ossa and quio, so hopefully we can get the teams sorted out and they can then work out strategy. I'm thinking we wait a day or two for the teams to plan strategy and make pretenders. I also need to let Clevelend know so he can set the map up.

[qio]

How about ARCO..they just don't fit although they are Human.

I think we must think outside the box.

That's right. No vast human armies of warriors took part in the battles in any of the LotR movies. And there were certainly no creatures resembling elephants. Really got to stretch the imagination here. /sarcasm

Just for you, I'll pick Arcoscephale.

[GrudgeBringer]

suit yourself, I also was being sarcastic:p

[Ossa]

I'd like to join the forces of evil with Pythium

[Tifone]

AFAIK we were going for LA only Ossa ;)

If you decide to change nation but remain on the evil team, Baalz has suggested some nations, give a look if you find one of those appealing (or choose another yourself :) )

(Forces of Light BEWARE! The Darkness grows... outside your lands.. and inside your souls... :mean: )

[Ossa]

Believe me or not: I know this;)

I *still* want to go with the serpent cult!

[Tifone]

:confused:

[Trumanator]

yeah Tifone, Pythium Serpent Cult IS LA

[Trumanator]

Oh, and Stattis was wondering if anyone knew how to move the MA hoburg mod nation to LA. He thinks the LA hoburgs are OPed, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Also, no one wants to tell me where the CBM version of Sylvania is. :confused:
Stattis: make sure that you get a CBM compatible version of the mod.

[qio]

Use the single age mod?

[Tifone]

Oh lol sorry I got confused :o :D

[Redeyes]

Oh, and Stattis was wondering if anyone knew how to move the MA hoburg mod nation to LA. He thinks the LA hoburgs are OPed, and I'm inclined to agree with him. Also, no one wants to tell me where the CBM version of Sylvania is.

There is an "#era 2" line in the mod.
Change that to #era 3

[statttis]

I've successfuly moved the Hoburg Alliance to LA. I also had to change the nation number to #79 (same as the other Hoburg mod) to get the description to show up. I'm not sure what to do to make it CBM compatible. I ran a couple test games with CBM and it worked fine so I guess it's compatible :confused:

Unfortunately the MA hoburgs may not be well balanced for this game. They get a cap only mage who can potentially have level 3 in any elemental path and level 6 :eek: in nature. They also get strong recruitable anywhere mages. In a normal game this would be balanced by the weak hoburg troops, but in a team game it might be unfair.

[Trumanator]

I wouldn't worry too much. I'm inclined to say that Baalz' team has more experience on average, so hopefully things will even out.

[rdonj]

So, does good win if a hoburg named Frodo captures Abysia's capital and discards Precious? Sorry, had to ask.

[Trumanator]

That would be really cool, what does the evil team think? Even if you were sarcastic that would be hilarious. If not victory, maybe we could figure out some other advantage to give the good side?

[cleveland]

So I've started putting the map together for you guys. Statttis, could you pm me the updated Hoburg mod? I'll try to CBM it in the context of this game, as a neutral party.

Cheers,
cleveland

[statttis]

I don't think you can attach files in a PM so I just posted it here.

[rdonj]

That would be really cool, what does the evil team think? Even if you were sarcastic that would be hilarious. If not victory, maybe we could figure out some other advantage to give the good side?

Well, I wasn't quite being sarcastic but I certainly wasn't being entirely serious :) If people like the idea they can go with it, but I'm not even in the game, so you can just go ahead and ignore me.

Hi, I'm not here! *vanishes*

[llamabeast]

After rather a delay, I've dug up the CBM Sylvania mod, which all of you will need if Trumanator is going to play them. Here it is.

[llamabeast]

You'll also need the main Sylvania mod, cos it contains the graphics. You can get that here:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=31863

[Trumanator]

YAY!! thanks llama!

[cleveland]

OK guys, so I've put a map together for you, and have been try. But I've been playtesting it with the nations you're set to use, and I've got to tell you, I really can't see the Good Team standing a chance. They're really outmatched.

Evil team has Starets, Nigirishi, Ktonian Necromancers, Hydras, and Blood Magic (combined with Astral to boot). Good has...? Elvin Sorceresses? Glorified Pans? I just don't see it being much of a fight, which would be such a shame.

Maybe consider reshuffling the teams? Boosting the Mod nations? Let me know.

Cheers,
cleveland

[Baalz]

Might be thematic if good had more people.

[GrudgeBringer]

What is the breakdown of nations that are considered good and the ones consdirered....not quite so good?

Also, in your and Executors opionion the overall comparitive strength (since a lot of us are going to be using your own writings agianst you) of the good sides and the evil sides.

Thematic nations or not, I would think we would want an even match....:eek:

[Trumanator]

Hmmmm, who do you think we should add? Executor earlier suggested Eriu, Marignon, and Pangaea. I'm more concerned by what looks like a greater concentration of MP experience on the Evil side.

[Baalz]

Well, that's a matter of opinion but I can give you mine which of course is based on my own experience and prone to be proven wrong by clever players. Not familiar with the mod nations but my feeling is in LA:

Grossly overpowered - R'yleh

Top tier - Ermor, Gath, Marignon

Above average - Abyssia, Bogarus, Mictlan, Agartha

Average - Acro, TC, Atlantis, Utgard, C'tis, Pangea, Midgard

Below average - Caelum, Ulm, Man, Jomon, Pythium, Patala

So, based on my own (completely pointless) ranking looks like the forces of darkness (Abyssia, Pythium, Bogarus, Patala & Agartha) are composed of three above average nations and two below and I can't really assess the power of team goody two shoes as it's 3/4ths mod nations I'm unfamiliar with and 1 yet to be picked.

Marignon would be a good choice for team good and brings some heavy firepower (angles, blood magic, good combat magic). Mictlan also would not be a terribly unthematic choice, if the forces of men wanted to recruit the jungle barbarians to help round out their diversity. Both would bring powerful non-unique national summons to the table and good blood magic and astral helping shore up what team good probably needs shored up.

[Baalz]

I'm more concerned by what looks like a greater concentration of MP experience on the Evil side.

I also wanted to reiterate that I'm picking a thematic rather than optimized build for Abyssia, including a *gulp* death-3 scale as a rather large self imposed handicap. I do pity the fool who picks a fight with Sauron though...;)

[qio]

Well, that's a matter of opinion but I can give you mine which of course is based on my own experience and prone to be proven wrong by clever players. Not familiar with the mod nations but my feeling is in LA:

...



Yawn. Compare statistics if you want. The only clear thing is that in the LA era Ermor and R'lyeh are overpowered. For example, Pythium and Ulm are on par with the average nations you list.

What you should expect to give a lot of variance is: random events and map placement. The crucial question is "how bad" the participants are. If this variance is greater, then it makes no difference what other conditions exist in the game - like what nation they play.

[Trumanator]

@GB- you haven't picked a nation yet, Marignon or Mictlan sound good?

As for the mod nations, it LOOKS like Sylvania at any rate is pretty good. I'm basing this a lot on the fact that Sombre nerfed their troops a fair bit in his CBM version, but made most of the commanders and mages cheaper.
Ulm Reborn has excellent troops and what appear to be good early-mid game mages, though their end game might be a little weak.
The hoburgs I don't really know much about.

[Tifone]

Mmh, Mictlan's blood sacrifices for the good team sounds heavily unthematic IMHO.

PS: BTW if we're counting the experience of the Evil team freely count me as a -1 :D

PPS Evil Team should totally have R'lyeh and Ermor, c'mon it's in the contract :mean:

[GrudgeBringer]

I had picked man but after seeing that the CBM had nerfed them some I changed to an average nation TC I have been messing with TC for 3 or 4 days now.

I have never played Mict or Marigon and to be honest I am not that familiar with the Blood part of it.

I would like to Stay TC Or perhaps Arco but I think someone picked Arco...just because of me:up:

[qio]

I would like to Stay TC Or perhaps Arco but I think someone picked Arco...just because of me:up:
Your reverse psychology won't work on me. I am keeping it!

I'll admit that thematically it would fit better on the evil team. Wasn't paying attention if all the slots were filled. Of course, you can change EA Arcos to LA Arcos and pretend the flying creatures are griffons. Pretty far out there - I know.

[Redeyes]

How about Gwahir of the Eagle Kings?

[Tolkien]

How abot LA Atlantis? They remind me of the Icemen of Forochel, so it's thematic.

Except they are amphibious and sail.

[Trumanator]

Hmm, I must have forgotten to put you down as TC on the first page GB. Anyone else want to change? I'm not saying you should, but don't feel like you have to play one nation or the other.

[Baalz]

Alright, looks like we've got a full roster for team evil, everyone PM me your email addresses and I'll send out the playbook so you can put together a pretender with it in mind. I've got a team strategy and a role I'd like each nation to play on the team, and I'll leave it to each player to figure out how best to accomplish those goals along with intra-team advice and suggestions.

[Trumanator]

The forces of evil were never this organized:( The forces of good will have to be more unified than ever!

[Executor]

What about starting positions, are they determined yet?

[Tifone]

I'm fully with Lord Baalz and his incarnation, the mighty Sauron. I can't wait to listen his strategies. Might He rule over the world and our enemies bite the dust. (I already sent you my mail address previously, but if you don't have it anymore say and I'll resend it)

BTW, I think starting positions should be pre-organized appropriately - so team members are near but don't hamper each other. Having one member of the team so in the rear he can't reach the battlefields or sorrounded by enemies would really ruin a wonderfully-starting game imho ;)

[cleveland]

@Executor: Yes, I put together starting positions for this game. Have you guys decided if you want to change/add nations? I'm willing to rework it, if so, because I still think it's gonna be lopsided as-is. I've done my best to set it up as fairly as possible, but I'm not a magician.

@Tifone: I'd originally considered setting the starts as you've recommended, a "ships-of-the-line" arrangement like this:

(north)
G G G G G
E E E E E

But I think it'll be way too easy for the "late-game" nations to withdraw to the rear, turtle, summon a bunch of blood uniques, and win an easy, boring victory.

So I'd instead opted for a "pell-mell" setup, more-or-less like this:

(north)
G E G E G
E G E G E

...and balancing who-neighbors-who based on early-game strength.

If you guys prefer a ships-of-the-line setup, let me know, it's your game.

Cheers,
cleveland

[Mithras]

Seeing Baalz take charge like that makes me wish I had joined the game, oh well, have fun.

[rdonj]

Yeah, this game will be interesting to watch :)

[Tifone]

If you guys prefer a ships-of-the-line setup, let me know, it's your game.

Well this decision, as a n00b I leave to the vets, anyway thanks a bunch for your effort cleveland! :)

[GrudgeBringer]

I would prefer that Baalz is located in a region surrounded by a mine fiels that I control...IF that is a Ship of the line setup:up:

[Baalz]

I would prefer that Baalz is located in a region surrounded by a mine fiels that I control...IF that is a Ship of the line setup:up:

The Dark Lord is displeased. Minions, bring me the head of this funny little man that I may ask it in person what it means.

[GrudgeBringer]

Eeeeeeeeek....Frodo made me say it...really

[Baalz]

Just waiting on Ossa to PM me an email address to get started.

[GrudgeBringer]

BTW gentlemen, I have been seeing a lot of traffic about 1.4 and 1.44 CBM.

Which one are we using?

[Trumanator]

I would like to use the latest version. Does anyone know when QM is releasing it?

[GrudgeBringer]

I was reading a post that saod it changed some of the pretender traits on 1.44.

I would like to at leastget a feel for it before we where required to send them in if possible.

[yandav]

I won't be able to play between the 8th of february and the 15th. If the game has already started, I will try to find a temporary sub but if you want to start during my holiday, I should perhaps let someone permanently sub for me because it would be weird to play a game with a god that I didn't build.

[Trumanator]

Well the timing is mostly dependent on when the new CBM comes out, and/or when the teams are done with strategy and Clevelend finishes the map.

[cleveland]

Map is done. I'm trying to CBM the Ulm & Hoburg nations on the assumption that you're not adding/changing the roster. I have the goal of making the Good & Evil teams balanced. It's tough. I'll post my results when I'm finished so you guys can playtest & critique.

[Trumanator]

I thought that there was already a CBM version of Ulm?

[cleveland]

I don't think I have a version. It would be pretty out of date by now anyway.


From Sombre when I asked him for a CBM version of Ulm Reborn.

[Trumanator]

Oh, well forge ahead in that case.

[Trumanator]

Since yandav won't be able to play till after the 15th, I think I will set the 16 as the start date. Cleveland will be done with the mod nations by then, so some of us will have time to test them out. Sorry for the delay.

[GrudgeBringer]

I am getting Married on the 7th of March and we are moving everything on the 21rst of Feb....

Its probably going to get a little crazy for me and if we are startig around the 16th the turns will go pretty fast.

We arn't kids and there is no honeymoon so I have no problem there, but merging 2 households, selling stuff, getting moved in and right into the wedding.....

I think we will be pretty oeganized and I don't think I will have to delay much but there MIGHT be a couple of times that I will need a little time.

I was hoping to get into the game and get it rolling and not hold anyone up but with just starting, we will be flying thru this with the lineup we have.

If you want to get someone else I have no problem with that and I am sorry for the trouble.

If you want to perhaps take a 24 hour delay a couple of times I will be smooth March 8th (LOL, as I said we arn't kids).

Let me know guys...

[Tifone]

Wow, gratz' and best wishes, I'll throw some rice from much distant :D

[Trumanator]

Yeah gratz GB. Don't worry about it too much, I'm willing to be liberal with extensions.

Drat, no dancing banana graphics. :)

[Executor]

Getting marries? Wow, congratulations, but I don't remember you seeking Ulm's approval for that!:mad:

Kidding, best wishes!:)
I'll have a drink in your name :cheers:

[Incabulos]

:bow:
:banana:
Yeah gratz GB. Don't worry about it too much, I'm willing to be liberal with extensions.

Drat, no dancing banana graphics. :)

[GrudgeBringer]

Thanks Guys...

I look forward to getting married and as a wedding present to my bride...I will bring her Saurons Head.;)

Honestly, I appreciate the understanding and I will do my best not to hang us up to bad.:up:

[Trumanator]

Between this game and watching LOTR I've starting making a Mordor nation. If only I didn't have to do sprites. I hate doing sprites. Anyway, I think it might be very interesting.

@Incabulos- YAY!!!
@GB- :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:
and don't bring her Sauron's head, bring her...THE ONE RING!!




or not, I guess that might be bad.

[Tifone]

[...] I'm willing to be liberal [...]

Ah ah, I knew that deep inside you there was an ebil libberul !!1! :D:up:

[Trumanator]

I'm sure you recall the controversial thread I started a few months ago. :D That was epic.

[Tifone]

Yepz, or I wouldn't have said that :cool: Much better than the ones in the political forums I give a look at sometimes!

Has any1 overheard when we'll get the new version of CBM? I'm lusting for this game :p

[Trumanator]

Peter Jackson's LOTR is officially the definition of EPIC!!! Absolutely nothing will ever compare.

[llamabeast]

Are you waiting for a new version of CBM? I shouldn't bother, people have already made several little fixed versions of it. Hmm, I'm not sure where you can get them though. I'll try to find out.

In the mean time, you should create the game and upload pretenders (having designed them with CBM 1.41.) You can change the mod at the last minute.

[Trumanator]

Hmmm, okay. Has Zeldor posted his 1.41 fix to the llamaserver? We could all just use that? We're still waiting for the map as well though, and I said we were going to start after the 15th.

[cleveland]

I've made a "mega-mod" that combines 1.41+CBM mod nations...I'm not quite done with Ulm & Hoburgs, but I've got a HUGE interview tomorrow. I promise I'll finish it on Wednesday and post it here for review....that should give 5 full days for comments before the game starts on Feb 16th (?)

Cheers,
cleveland

[Trumanator]

Thanks a lot Cleveland!! :banana:

[cleveland]

OK, without further ado, the War of the Ring mod!

It's a compilation of CBM 1.41, Sylvania CBM, Ulm Reborn & Hoburgs. I've reworked the last 2 to make this particular game with these teams balanced - they shouldn't necessarily be taken as stand-alone balanced.

Just unzip the file into your dominions3/mods directory. You'll get an overwrite warning if you install have the above mods installed, do it. You won't change anything about those mods, you'll just get the new sprites I put together.

Here's a brief changelog of the major things, but there's a lot more. I'll say it again: ALL CHANGES WERE MADE TO MAKE THIS SPECIFIC GAME BALANCED. Evil had the definite advantage, dominating Good in Water, Fire, Earth, Death, and Blood magic. I've boosted Good to be competitive with Water, Fire, Earth and Death magic, and made them Nature powerhouses to somewhat balance their complete lack of Blood magic:

Hoburgs:
Totally reworked. This nation is now like Patala: awesome magic, crappy troops. Poor magic diversity: A/F lost, D gained. National troops & horticulturist set as CBM's units, a definite nerf. Hoburg Champion replaced and given a new bona fide scout. Erdefreund made capital only, given 50% poison resistance, and lost one of his heads (yes, he had 2 for some reason). Tierfreund given 50% poison resistance (thematic). Mages totally reworked: Obstgaertner now N2W1 with 100% NWE, 10% NWE; V. Obstgaertner now has oldage and N3W2 with 2 x 100% NWE; 10% NWE. Both lost A/F magic, as unthematic and too powerful when combined with cheap x-bows, and experiences cost increases. New powerful cap-only priest with Death magic, accompanied by some creative writing to make it plausible. Cap gem income now N4W1E1.

Ulm Reborn:
Major change to White Priest, now E2F1S1 with 2 x 100% EFS, 10% EFS; much higher pricetag.

Agartha:
A8 Blindlord fixed.

Bogarus:
Resource costs of cavalry fixed.

Find the rest yourself, I've spent too much time as-is. :D

7757

[rdonj]

Wow, that change to verehrt obstgaertners is huge.

Erm, carry on.

[Trumanator]

Thanks Cleveland! Since we're waiting till the 16th to start that gives Ulm and Hoburgs time to adjust.

[GrudgeBringer]

I am somewhat computer challenged...I D/L the Mod into a new file on desktop and extracted inside the file....

There is 6 different things in my folder now

1.Hoburg Data 2.Ulm Reborn 3.Sylvania 4.Worthy Heroes 5.War of the Rings Mod.dm 6.WOTR.tga

I usually right click and copy to my dominions/mod file.

I am not sure which (or all) I should put in there.

Could someone help me (and remember I am comouter challenged).

Thanks!!!:confused:

[cleveland]

Just dump it all in the mod folder as-is. Those sub-folders contain the images for the units associated with the mod nations.

Please don't hesitate to PM me if you have any more problems.

[yandav]

I'm back!

[cleveland]

No comments on the mod, huh? That's either very good, or very bad. :D

OK, here we go. I've started the game for you guys, it's on Llamaserver, and only I know the start locations.

If you've never done this before, it's very simple:

1) Download the mod from my last post, and unzip its entire contents into a folder titled "mods" in your Dominions 3 directory.

2) Open Dom3. Select "Preferences" --> "Mod Preferences" Disable any "enabled" mods. Enable the "War of the Ring mod" by clicking on it. MAKE SURE ALL OTHER MODS ARE DISABLED!!!

3) Back at the main menu, select "Game Tools" --> "Create a Pretender God" --> "Late Age". Then select your nation. Make your Pretender, and give him/her a cool name, like Annihilator.

4) Follow Llamaserver's instructions for submitting a pretender (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35160). The name of this game is WarOfTheRing so be sure to make that the title of your email to pretenders@llamaserver.net

Warnings:
1) If you don't enable the mod when making your pretender, or have any other mods enabled, bad things will happen.
2) The mod/map for this game was made assuming the following teams...
Good Team: New Ulm, Sylvania, Hoburg Alliance, Arcoscephale, Tien Chi
Evil Team: Abysia, Bogarus, Pythium, Patala, Agartha
If you don't stick to your nation, the game won't start. If you don't stick to your team, it won't be any fun.
3) It's a pretty small map for 10 players, but I've worked hard to keep the start locations balanced given the teams. All seemingly good/bad start locations have a counterpart on the other team. Don't assume you'll have an easy time just because you've started near a corner or lead a powerhouse nation...
4) This is a team game, and was built assuming you'll work together. Hint: Both teams have 1 nation that stands to get crushed early unless given solid support by their team, coordinate early & often. New players: share your gems with your teammates!

If anything goes wrong, don't hesitate to PM me. Trumanator: check your PM for the admin password.

Good luck & have fun,
cleveland

[GrudgeBringer]

Good Job Cleveland, THANKS from all of us about to get crushed!!!!

[Baalz]

I received a pretender file from you, but unfortunately your pretender file is for Late Age Abysia, while the game 'WarOfTheRing' is set in the Middle Age. Please try again with a pretender for the Middle Age.

Details of your e-mail:
Subject: warofthering
Sent at: Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:25:39 -0600
Attachment: late_abysia_1.2h

[cleveland]

Damn... 1 min


OK, fixed. Try again.

[Baalz]

This is just to confirm that I've received a pretender file from you for Abysia in the game WarOfTheRing, and everything seems to be fine with it.


Thanks! :)

[Trumanator]

Thanks Cleveland!!

[Trumanator]

So yeah, people can go ahead and upload their pretenders now.

[Executor]

Why does it keep telling me that my pretender is the wrong age when I send it?

[llamabeast]

The game is set to late age. Is this a multi-age game? If so you need to set it to multi-age.

Regrettably, to do so you need to remove all the pretenders first; age-changing is the one thing you can't do once some pretenders have been received.

[Trumanator]

Thats odd, Ulm Reborn IS an LA nation. The only nation that isn't is the Hoburgs, and I was under the impression that they were modded to LA by Cleveland. Not to mention how weird this is if you read Baalz' and Cleveland's quick conversation above.

[statttis]

Why does it keep telling me that my pretender is the wrong age when I send it?

I also get this when sending in my pretender for Hoburgs. Maybe it's a problem with the mod nations :confused:

[cleveland]

Sounds like a llamaserver issue. I think the same thing happened in Kingmaker.

Trumanator: contact llamabeast, he'll know what to do.

[llamabeast]

Ah, okay, I worked it out. It's because the mod has spaces in it, so the llamaserver failed to download it from the web server. I have to say I hate filenames with spaces in. Obviously they're a trivial problem that can be overcome, but I have to remember to include a little check for every bit of code dealing with possibly-space-containing-things, and being as my own tests never have spaces in I never notice.

Right, random whinge aside (that wasn't a complaint to you Cleveland, you understand),, I'll sort that out now.

[llamabeast]

w00t, fixed.

[Tifone]

/Alive-Among-Many\, God of Agartha, walks the Earth. Only in front of His Most Carnivorous Nefariousness Lord Sauron our legions will bend.

(= pretender sent ;) )

[Trumanator]

Can people please get their pretenders done. I really want to get this started before everyone loses interest.

[GrudgeBringer]

I tried to send it in agian (my pretender).

This time get the error

you are trying to email a pretender for a game called 'Emailinglate_tienchi_0.2h.WarOfTheRing

All but WarOfTheRing is already on the subject line...sigh

I am moving tommorow and it will be late before I get hooked back up and check this...

If you have another player and want to get started then by all means do it as I don't seem to be having much luck getting in this one.

[Trumanator]

well, if anyone can help GB with his problem it would be greatly appreciated!

Also, we're waiting on Ossa as well to submit his pretender.

[llamabeast]

GrudgeBringer - I can't follow what you're doing. Can you just e-mail the pretender to me? My e-mail address is llamabeast at llamaserver dot net.

[Ossa]

Will follow this evening;)

[GrudgeBringer]

Sent Pretender to Llamabeast, I am interested to see what I was doing wrong...

[Trumanator]

Okay, the game has started, but I have set the hosting interval to 36 hours so teams can get their stuff together. If it ends up where we can lower it then thats great.

[cleveland]

So, any complaints on the start-locations? How about province-connectivity (which was slightly altered from the original)?*


*Your complaint will be handled in the order it was received. Please allow 6-8 weeks for response. :D

[GrudgeBringer]

so far none here..could you, errrr.. do ALL my starting positions from noe on kind sir.

BTW, since you know about comps and I am to sat the least computer challenged I want to set up a filter on my E-mail...

I have never even heard of it could you PM me if you could help.

[Tifone]

Ehm... damn I staled... :( how many hours was the hosting time?

[Tifone]

Plz rollback to turn 2? It wouldn't be too burdensome for you I hope, but it could greatly hamper my chances to lose one of the first turns :(

[Trumanator]

Seeing as how I staled as well out of stupidity, I am fine with it, unless someone else objects.

[qio]

I am against a rollback for the obvious reasons. Any battle results could change. Any random events that have occurred would be reversed and might not happen. There appears to be some dead HoF units. And so forth.

[Baalz]

I'd suggest that rollbacks be reserved for really critical things like for instance a server hiccup causing the turn to host early with half the nations not having turns submitted. Rollbacks have caused problems in every game I've been in when they were used. It's extremely frustrating to have a battle you "won" turn out differently, and double plus extremely frustrating when your neighbor does something differently than the first time after having seen the result of a battle. I've seen a lot of bad blood created from rollbacks, with accusations of cheating, people quitting the game in a huff etc., probably best to just suck it up and accept a stale here or there when real life causes you to miss a turn.

[Trumanator]

okay sounds good. No rollback. (sorry Tifone)

[Tifone]

Np =(

[Trumanator]

At least its one on each side though right :)

[qio]

Agartha has staled 2 turns in a row now. ??

[Tifone]

Ok, I'm damn sorry. My mail failed the sending without warning me. I found out today. :(

[Tifone]

guys can we put a little delay till I get what happened to my mail?

[Trumanator]

Okay, game postponed by 12 hours. Will host at 2:55 GMT. Quickhost is still on so if Tifone can get his turn in before it will be alright.

@Tifone- If you are still having problems and don't know when they will be fixed, I will pause hosting and see if I can find a temporary sub. Good luck!

[llamabeast]

You could always set up a temporary gmail account Tifone.

[Trumanator]

Since the hosting was getting close with no sign of Tifone's problem being resolved, I have postponed another 24hrs. I will begin looking for a sub and communicating with Tifone, hopefully we can figure something out.

[Trumanator]

It seems that I spoke too soon, judging by the new turn file. Nice to see you figured things out Tifone.

[Tifone]

I've done it, it was the new firewall which was silently "isolating" opera so everything looked fine on paper but it was sending an empty file. It was hard to spot :(
I have no problem continuing to play, I'm just sorry I don't think I can do any good now with 2 early stales in a row due to technical problems - which is a pity because I loved the theme of the game.

EDIT: oh btw of course thanks for the delays Truman

[statttis]

I wouldn't worry too much about a couple stales, the good guys have had some setbacks as well.

[Tifone]

We... lost... Pythium on turn 5? :eek:

[llamabeast]

Wow! That's pretty unlucky!

[qio]

Wow! That's pretty unlucky!

If you count the odds, it was quite probable. Call it luck if you want.

[Trumanator]

I am going to be gone over the weekend, and I don't know if I will have internet. I am going to extend the interval to 48 hrs until I get back. Quickhost will remain on, just in case I am still able to access things.

[Trumanator]

Hosting has been postponed 48 hours at the request of Executor.

In other news, contrary to Cleveland's predictions, the Good team is kicking a*s! Patala is under siege, Agartha is weak after staling, and Pythium is out. Bogarus is dealing with two players, and Abysia seems to be the only evil nation relatively unscathed.

[Tifone]

We'll so much totally want rematch ;)

[GrudgeBringer]

So are we done with LOTR?:confused:

The last post on here was 2 weeks ago today (not counting mine of course).

If we are done then I will be free to join another game, if we are on hold for a reason I must have missed it.

Could someone explain the situation please.

[Trumanator]

well the patch postponed everything, and I was enjoying the break too much to move up the host time. It is still on though, we're just waiting on Bogarus atm.

[Trumanator]

It seems Bogarus is having issues, he's staled the last 2 turns. I'm going to delay the game 24 hours and see if he answers my PM, if he doesn't, I'll postpone again and see about lining up a sub.

[qio]

You can find me a sub as well. Lost all interest in this game.

[Trumanator]

Okay. Would you prefer to find a sub yourself, or do you not care?

[llamabeast]

qio, if you lose interest it's your own responsibility to find a sub. To ask the admin to do it is just not fair.

[qio]

Turning on AI is probably not really an option, as this is a team game. I would normally just do that. I will not submit turns from now on.

I am not going to find a sub for this game. Given the prolonged delays, I would not recommend for anyone to join.

The opposing team has a member that has staled several turns, and now a replacement is being searched for I guess. You can repeat the same process for me. Or do nothing. Maybe it will even make the game more interesting.

[Trumanator]

Well I've got a sub for Bogarus, now I need to find one for Arco... Anyone reading this whos not in the game, send me a PM.

[Trumanator]

Happily, we can now get the game moving. Ossa is making a return to take over Bogarus, while Sansanjuan will be taking over Arco.

[Executor]

Why do damn monkeys have a 500 defense Fort???
Why don't they have a Giant Banana tree with 100 defense???

[Baalz]

So, there doesn't seem a terrible lot of point in keeping this game going does there? It's essentially 5:1 at this point, I suppose we concede.

[llamabeast]

Ooh, what happened? Good won then?

[Trumanator]

This is true I suppose. If everyone else is winning its alright with me. Thanks a ton for playing Baalz! :) And I'm personally glad that we beat Cleveland's expectations :D Any thoughts on what allowed the good guys to dominate so much? It seems like much of it had to do with the game being much more of a blitz style than a regular one.

[Baalz]

Well, team evil pretty much imploded before we ever really got to the point to work together. We lost Pythium on what, turn 3? I didn't really get too much direct visibility as to what was going on to the East, but I never really got too much opportunity to help out because of my slow start. I personally had a lot of trouble getting traction initially because of my initial placement. This placement would have been super sweet for another nation/build or in a game with a longer horizon, but about 80% of my options for immediate expansion were high population farmlands with knights - while I had high resources troops and wanted to blood hunt! :) Even my lich pretender (Sauron) couldn't really take many of those provinces without some research being done and by the time I got on top of it I had managed alright by my strongest ally had 3 provinces left. I'm doing ok, and could even conceivably put up a fight on the 2:1 war going on now but it seems kind of silly with 3 more enemies growing unmolested in the mean time. :)

[llamabeast]

I see you conquered the shire though. :)

[Trumanator]

True, but the Hobbits had already relocated, and are currently having their revenge. It seems like one of the main issues was the evil team's focus on later game power, while good was a bit more set up for the early/mid game. Also, those good nations in the line of fire seemed to do a much better job of surviving. I'm looking at you GB, NICE job;)

[statttis]

I definitely went for an early/mid game strategy. I had a phoenix pretender for expansion, +3 productivity scale, and researched evocation almost exclusively.

[Baalz]

I see you conquered the shire though. :)

Well, I was looking for my ring!

[GrudgeBringer]

Thanks....As I was smack dab in between Argatha and Abysia my whole strategy was to run one way and take a undefended province and make a show a force...

Then run the other way and take a undefended province and make a show of force...

And try and delay those two from hooking up.

Thanks to all for sending the Money, Gems, and Weapons.

Executor, you did a real good job of coordinating.

Truman, Statttis, All I could do was hear the sounds of you guys fighting, but you did it well.

Sansanjuan...thanks for filling in, you where a great asset.

And Finally.....Thanks You Baalz for not squashing me like a bug and making me the sacrificial lamb I thought I was going to be.

[sansanjuan]

Had a really great time playing this game. The 30 Agartha cave drakes gave me fits until I was able to spam paralyze. Nice defense Agartha. I was not looking forward to fighting in the dark in your cap.

I really wouldn't mind playing again and switching sides (good to evil, evil to good).... we could also mix up the teams a bit if desired. The smaller map and player count made it really fun. Thanks for pulling me in Tru.

-ssj


BTW for those of you that haven't seen it.. that is the best looking map I've ever played. Kudos to the original designer and Cleveland.

[GrudgeBringer]

I take it the game is over so I am not submitting my turn unless notified otherwise.

[yandav]

Any thoughts on what allowed the good guys to dominate so much? It seems like much of it had to do with the game being much more of a blitz style than a regular one.

I (Patala) started in a corner, which is good, but my neighbouring provinces where exclusively deserts! My closest neighbour was new ulm which is quite scary in early game, whereas Patala only has elephants.

[Tifone]

Hey there! Nice game all guys. Sorry if lately I'm not on the forum often, things are getting complicated (but no reason to worry). Please feel free to sign me in to an eventual rematch, Baalz was a great coordinator, we just had a very bad star in our evil sky ^^
Oh and gratz to Arco. You were great researching and putting in the field good magic counters for my troops, be it Banish spam, Paralyze and the like (well to be fair your troops sucked instead, all those yummy barbarians and elephants for my drakes and wights! joke ^^ ). I enjoyed it a lot and I think I also learned much, even if the game was short and I basically had 4 provinces in the maximum moment of my empire xD
Thanks again everybody!

[sansanjuan]

Hey there! Nice game all guys. Sorry if lately I'm not on the forum often, things are getting complicated (but no reason to worry). Please feel free to sign me in to an eventual rematch, Baalz was a great coordinator, we just had a very bad star in our evil sky ^^
Oh and gratz to Arco. You were great researching and putting in the field good magic counters for my troops, be it Banish spam, Paralyze and the like (well to be fair your troops sucked instead, all those yummy barbarians and elephants for my drakes and wights! joke ^^ ). I enjoyed it a lot and I think I also learned much, even if the game was short and I basically had 4 provinces in the maximum moment of my empire xD
Thanks again everybody!

Tifone,
Your wights and drakes did indeed eat many many barbarians. I made a very poorly coordinated attack acouple weeks ago where I attempted to teleport in my best four mages to join in a communion with others coming in by land. Amoung the communion master script was the 4th level bless fanatisism (attempting to overcome your very strong dominion and the ensuing barbarian routs) followed by juiced banishments. What actually happened was
1. my 4 teleporting mages arrived all by themselves :doh:
2. They were immediately eated by the drakes :hurt: as they attempted their scripts with no chaff in front of them (you'd think they'd realize "oh sh*t!" where is the fodder?!)
3. My Barbarian horde arrives in the next battle sequence with almost no mage support
4. The "Barbara Anns" ran away as soon as the drakes inflicted the smallest "owie"
5. My higher morale units were then eaten by your drakes ;)

This (above) was a four turn blunder on my part. Note to self: teleporters arrive before land movement.

They only way was I was eventually able to make the barbarians (and elephants) useful was touch of madness. They were my only units capable of melee damage on the drakes (minus a little trample damage contribution from the elephants). Fighting in your Caps auto Darkness would have been very very hard. Paralyze and large AOE spells are about it. Maybe berzerk elephants might have trampled some.

BTW In the last turn I was very very lucky to paralyze your Pretender. I got him on try #6 but think my odds were probably something like 1 in a 100.

I'm discovering these smaller games are *much* more to my liking. Impossible (for me) to do tactical scripting if I have more than a couple big battles in a turn. Also in the big games I can never emember what I was going to do from one turn to the next.

-ssj

[Trumanator]

Well, the game has been officially declared over, with Good as the winner by concession. Thanks all for playing, and see you all in future games.

Now I can delete all those messages from my inbox :D

Edit: I posted this game in the Victories thread, so there's a possiblity that you guys could get at least partial credit for a win! W00t!

[GrudgeBringer]

Good Job Truman

Good game all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1