Cripple Fight! - And the Lame shall inherit the earth!

[Calahan]

Speaking of stales, there is a chance I won't be able to submit turn 65 on time. Calahan, could you keep an eye on the llamaserver and if looks like I'm about to stale, postpone hosting by 24 hours? Thanks!
Will do Valerius. Although have you referenced the right turn number? Since the current turn is 63. Or is this an advanced warning for turn 65?

No worries either either way, as I'll keep an on the deadline over the next few turns for you, and add 24 if you get too close to staling at any point :)

[Valerius]

Yes, that's correct - this is advance warning on 65. Thanks again.

[Calahan]

Looks like we've had two casualties recently in the form of Gath and Arco. Thanks for playing viccio and tgbob. And an extra :up: to tgbob for fighting it out until the very last man.

Now all you have to do tgbob is remember to send in that final .2h file :)

Edit: I'll see about getting Burnsaber to update the game status post.

[tgbob]

Finally! Took Frozen Llama long enough.

[Frozen Lama]

why hurry? didn't lose anyone at all, so there was no rush

[Calahan]

@ All - I've delayed the game 12 hours for TNN/Valerius. Since he's already said he might be late with his .2h file for this turn, so I've added some extra hours as his sturn is still currently outstanding with just a few hours to go.

[Calahan]

@ All - Ok, the deadline was creeping nearer and still no TNN turn, so I've added another 12 hours so that I can safely check again once I get into work tomorrow. Valerius asked me to keep an eye on the deadline for this turn to make sure he doesn't stale, as he said he might have trouble getting it done in time. So that's what I'm doing with these two recent delays :)

So sorry for the hold-up folks, but pretty sure Valerius will be back with us again soon to kill some more spiders :D

[Frozen Lama]

I assume Zeldor will be sending in a turn soon as well?

I'm subbing for Valerius in Tourmaline for the next two turns, so it might be a while till he gets back.

[Calahan]

Zeldor is mostly always last in. I think it's become traditional for him in his games :)

Thanks for the heads up on the Valerius subbing Frozen Lama. He didn't mention anything about needing a few days delay, but I'm guessing that he sent his turn in early for turn 64, and was hoping to be back in time for the end of turn 65, so hence would (hopefully) not be needing a sub or a long delay, and could manage with just a requst for me to keep a friendly eye on the deadline for him.

But I'll check on things again in the morning, although I'll probably delay the game again if I have to, as it'd be a bit pointless to force Valerius to stale now. Especially given that he gave a heads-up about turn 65 being potentially tricky for him. And if he had asked for a 24/48 hour delay beforehand, then he would've been granted one without question (given that there's only a few players left). So I'll certainly tag on another 24 hours if necessary before even deciding how to proceed.

[Zeldor]

Yeah, doing my turn no without pressure. I got home at 1:30, so 12 mins before hosting and was afraid I'd really have to speed things up, but it was postponed luckily :P

[Valerius]

Hey guys, I'm back. No need to postpone hosting any further - I'll work on my turn in the next few hours. Thanks for the delay!

[Frozen Lama]

I want to plaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!

[Valerius]

Turn is in! And the big news is, Atlantis has cast Arcane Nexus.

[Frozen Lama]

What's this? a bullseye for us! time to get me some sushi!

[Meglobob]

About time the remaining, 'big boys', started a punch up!:D

Strange fight Atlantis vs Abysia.

[Calahan]

@ Valerius - Ok, fess up. How the hell did you manage to make your army graph have a smilie face then? Did you go to freehand art school or something?

Everyone else has an army graph that resembles the usual Brownian Motion fanatic being chased by a wasp. And there's your evil Elves making fun of us all by drawing grinning faces with yours. That's just not right I tell you! :envy:

[Valerius]

We (evil) elves are a happy bunch. But we need to share credit for our army graph with our partner Machaka, without whom it wouldn't have been possible.

[Meglobob]

But we need to share credit for our army graph with our partner Machaka, without whom it wouldn't have been possible.

This of course refers to all the gold/gems we supply the evil, evil (they have become extra evil recently:)) elves with. Of course there are limits to our generous, giving nature and so we try to only let them have our resources only every other month.

It makes for a lovely symetrical provinces graph between myself and the evil, evil, evil (oh no they have become even more evil well typing this post:shock:) elves.

[Zeldor]

Huh, attacking without canceling the NAP first is not cool.

[Meglobob]

Huh, attacking without canceling the NAP first is not cool.

To be fair Zeldor, casting arcane nexus is considered a act of war by 80% - 90% of Dom3 players making all NAPs null and avoid. Which is completely correct, as any player who has arcane nexus up for a couple of turns generally wins the game.

I of course am not bothered, as this games probably between you and Abysia. Perhaps Ermor big outsider, who knows?!?

[Zeldor]

Still, not cool :)

Nexus is overrated really. I can later tell how much it's bringing and how much I put into it.

[Frozen Lama]

yeah, sorry Zeldor, but i assumed the Nexus meant no NAP. my bad

[Calahan]

@ All

Frozen Lama is currently out of town, and told me he was a bit unsure as to when he was returning. As such he asked me to keep an eye on the deadline for him to make sure he doesn't stale. There is only a few hours to go until hosting, and no sign of Frozen Lama's turn. So I am extending the hosting by 12 hours for him (plus I've had a delay request from Zeldor anyway).

I may be delaying the game again tomorrow for Frozen Lama if there is no sign of his turn when the deadline once again gets near.


Also I've had two requests (myself and Zeldor) to increase the hosting schedule for this game. We decided not to increase the hosting back on turn 60, and I said I would re-visit the subject on turn 72. But unless there are strong objections, I will be increasing the hosting schedule to 60 hours as of next turn. And then will look to gather views about switching to 72 hours either upon request, or when we reach turn 80.

[Zeldor]

Huh, Abysia got really strong. Way too strong. But I won't give up easily. As I showed in last battle :)

[Calahan]

Game delayed 24 hours by player request.

[Calahan]

Game delayed 6 hours by player request.

[Calahan]

Game delayed 12 hours by player request.

[Burnsaber]

So, is the game reaching any conclusion? I'm itching just to start Cripple Fight 2: The Timmy's Revenge!

In the second game, I'll likely go with a slighlty smaller map (perhaps 11-13 provs per player) to encourage more action.

[Frozen Lama]

we're getting there.
hey Zeldor, you could just give up, and then Burn could start it? ;)

[Valerius]

As one of the main contenders, Frozen Lama certainly has a better idea of the situation than I do, but it seems like this could go on for a while yet. I think Ermor, currently on the sidelines, has a role to play in how things turn out.

[Frozen Lama]

yeah, we still have quite a while to go. by "getting there" i meant that the late game has started

[Zeldor]

What tells you that? All that seraphs and chayots you massed? :D Atlantis is not created to handle that :) I may be losing ground, but I won't give up easily.

[Meglobob]

I think this game has someway to go, I can't see Atlantis or Abysia giving up and Ermor has still to really make his bid for power.

Meanwhile me and Tir are engaged in a eternal death struggle until one of the big boys come along and put us out of our misery!:D

[Calahan]

Since so many seem to be pencilling-in Ermor to do something in this game, maybe I should start living up to expectations :)

[Valerius]

Meanwhile me and Tir are engaged in a eternal death struggle until one of the big boys come along and put us out of our misery!:D

I agree completely! It feels like this war has been going on forever, with no end in sight. Calahan, if you're feeling merciful please help us by ending our suffering. ;)

[Calahan]

... Calahan, if you're feeling merciful please help us by ending our suffering. ;)
One thing life has taught me is to never get involved in domestic disputes :)

[Frozen Lama]

i think the fishmen are trying to demoralize Abysia by making their fiery overlords wait the full 60h every single turn. ;)

[Frozen Lama]

The truth comes out! the evil fish of Atlanis seek to destroy the world, not conquer it! the world must rally to stop this menace! (although i don't mind if they burn 200S killing my gnomes and militia)

Edit: at least i killed his God.... again

[Calahan]

@ All - Game delayed 12 hours by my own request. Just got in from work and am completely shattered. So I don't really fancy cleaning-up Ermor's post Armageddon mess with a tired and sleepy head. I blame the fish people personally.

[Frozen Lama]

How is the world holding up under the earthquakes the fish are causing?

[Valerius]

This is awesome! I've actually never been in a game with someone chain casting Armageddon. My economy was already trashed from Machaka's volcanic eruptions but now I have less income than when the game began and I had one province.

I do have some good news: two Machakan GoRed gargoyles were dispatched this month. Sadly, a Sidhe Lord was slain by a third (blind!) gargoyle. I'm not sure if the attack 0 gargoyle actually managed a hit on the defense 26 Sidhe or if it was the area effect from those darn shadow brands.

[Meglobob]

How is the world holding up under the earthquakes the fish are causing?

Strangely enough not too bad really!

Not lost anything important and I had been getting loads of 'lucky' militia events, so ended up with 500+ drains on my economy. Armagedden sorted that out nicely!:)

[Valerius]

How is the world holding up under the earthquakes the fish are causing?

Strangely enough not too bad really!

Not lost anything important and I had been getting loads of 'lucky' militia events, so ended up with 500+ drains on my economy. Armagedden sorted that out nicely!:)

I was wondering how you were the only one not to have their income dive.

I also assume your black sorcerers are immune to the earthquakes since they just change into spider form?

[Meglobob]

I also assume your black sorcerers are immune to the earthquakes since they just change into spider form?

Correct...:)

Very useful for holding all my misc magic items safely, as they will not fit into my lab, which is full of magic items taken off your sidhe lords. Good to find Machaka is useful at something, cause its crap at everything else!

Well done on using smasher's btw, I will after remember that one...:)

[Frozen Lama]

Ever feel like the Nexus is being shoved in your face?

[Meglobob]

Ever feel like the Nexus is being shoved in your face?

Just be grateful, Atlantis is wasting his wishes. There are certainly alot better things he could be doing than wishing for provinces or armagedden.

[Calahan]

Yeah, Atlantis just seem to be flashing the cash right now and buying themselves trinkets :)

[Zeldor]

In tests results were way way better. Huh. Well, I never had clam factory before or got into wishing madness until it was game over already, so time to get some practice.

[Valerius]

Very useful for holding all my misc magic items safely, as they will not fit into my lab, which is full of magic items taken off your sidhe lords. Good to find Machaka is useful at something, cause its crap at everything else!

And how many fever fetishes would be among those misc items? ;) But yes, my Sidhe Lords have sadly suffered a high rate of attrition.

Well done on using smasher's btw, I will after remember that one...:)

Thanks. It's kind of funny that I can't kill that blind gargoyle. Does the shadow brand work against MR? It doesn't seem like my Sidhe Lords should fail their MR tests that often...

[Meglobob]

And how many fever fetishes would be among those misc items? ;)

Does the shadow brand work against MR? It doesn't seem like my Sidhe Lords should fail their MR tests that often...

Alot of fever fetishes but sadly they only produce fire gems.:( If they were astral gems, I would be rocking, its really, really sad just how useless fire gems really are in dominions.

Not sure about the shadow brand?!?

[Calahan]

Game delayed 8 hours by request

[Valerius]

Alot of fever fetishes but sadly they only produce fire gems.:( If they were astral gems, I would be rocking, its really, really sad just how useless fire gems really are in dominions.

Well, fire gems may not be too good but you can always alchemize to S and since fetishes cost half as much as pearls it amounts to the same thing in terms of forging cost. Though I'd imagine it's a lot more of a micromanagement hassle than pearls.

You've also been making good use of some of those F gems using fire snakes as chaff. They're really not bad at all, with both a fire and poison attack. I've lost more than one Sidhe Lord to them when I lost track of which forces you were casting Haste on and didn't have both Elemental Fortitude and Resist Poison cast by the time they reached my thug.

It was actually kind of demoralizing seeing you summon them so quickly and realizing how many fetishes that indicated you had.

[Calahan]

Ermor hereby declares war on the next nation (hereafter to be known as 'nation of bastards') that wishes for Armageddon. As such an act will result in Ermor unleashing their undead horde(1) upon this nation of bastards, leading to their very swift defeat(2) and ultimate retribution(3) for the, literally, fallen warriors of Ermor.


Notes

(1) Ermor are only able to unleash a single undead horde upon the nation of bastards, as Ermor does not possess anywhere near enough resources to unleash undead hordes. We apologise in advance for any feeling of disappointment the nation of bastards may experience at the lack of Ermor's undead hordes, or indeed the underwhelming size of Ermor's single undead horde.

(2) The speed at which the nation of bastards will be destroyed is entirely dependent on outrageous good fortune for Ermor, and total incompetent decision making by the leaders of said nation of bastards. Ermor dissolves itself in advance of any responsibility with regards having to positively contribute in any way to the defeat of said nation of bastards.

(3) While the wishing of Armageddon will undoubtedly lead to the swift defeat of the nation of bastards at the hands of the undead horde of Ermor, the resulting arrival of Armageddon will instantly null and void any agreement between Ermor and said nation of bastards, regarding the latter's swift defeat at the hands of Ermor's undead horde, and the temporary or indefinite postponement of Ermor's ultimate retribution. (clause 1.1)


'Thank You' for your time in reading this death threat. Failure to read this death threat, and thereafter any attempts to claim ignorance of it, shall not in any way be acceptable as an excuse for trying to prevent the unleashing of Ermor's undead horde upon any nation of bastards that decides to wish for Armageddon.


Clauses

1.1 - "Should all of Ermor's mages yet again disappear into the unstable and cavernous Ermor Andreas Fault, then all agreements shall instantly be cancelled and / or suspended, until such time that Ermor can once again fulfil its contractual obligations to destroy the offending nation of bastards."

[Calahan]

Game delayed 16 hours by player request.

It's the late game folks, so the required thinking and MM time are both starting to get very high. I may be suggesting the move to a 72 hour hosting schedule soon. Any opinions anyone has on this would as always be appreciated :)

[Frozen Lama]

Abysia will join Ermor in the crushing of any such nation that wishes for armageddon, not that it really hurts Abysia, but because we want to crush some people (or more likely fish). I won't mind a 72h scheduale, but i'm also able to keep up with the current scheduale. but considering that several of the last turns have been delayed multiple times, maybe we are ready for it.

[Valerius]

It's the late game folks, so the required thinking and MM time are both starting to get very high. I may be suggesting the move to a 72 hour hosting schedule soon. Any opinions anyone has on this would as always be appreciated :)

Really? I find my required thinking and MM time goes down with each armageddon. I'm about ready to go back to 24 hour hosting. ;)

[Valerius]

Ermor hereby declares war on the next nation (hereafter to be known as 'nation of bastards') that wishes for Armageddon. As such an act will result in Ermor unleashing their undead horde(1) upon this nation of bastards, leading to their very swift defeat(2) and ultimate retribution(3) for the, literally, fallen warriors of Ermor.


Tir na n'Og hereby declares that we are in fact the nation of bastards that wished for Armageddon. We challenge you to respond!

[Calahan]

Really? I find my required thinking and MM time goes down with each armageddon. I'm about ready to go back to 24 hour hosting. ;)
LoL, I did actually check earlier out of curiosity, and I had more troops and mages on turn 23 (Ermor's peak:shock:) than I do now. The past 50+ turns hasn't been kind to the Ermorians at all :(

[Valerius]

Really? I find my required thinking and MM time goes down with each armageddon. I'm about ready to go back to 24 hour hosting. ;)
LoL, I did actually check earlier out of curiosity, and I had more troops and mages on turn 23 (Ermor's peak:shock:) than I do now. The past 50+ turns hasn't been kind to the Ermorians at all :(

So, you're going AI? Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

But yeah, same story here. Fun facts about Tir:

* Roughly the same number of provinces as commanders

* Capitol province has an income of 14 gold (no unrest)

* No gem gens + no gold = no chance

By the time Machaka's unkillable black sorcerers get around to finishing me all I'll have left is my army of sea trolls (who are holding up quite well). Sadly there will be no mages left to lead them.

[Meglobob]

I am okay with 24hr hosting as well!:)

In this game my turns have never took longer than 45 mins to do and as far as fever fetishes go, I really do not have alot, I doubt if I even have 1/3 the fever fetishes that other nations have clams which are far better.

I would be only too happy to finish Tir Na Nog off, sadly any time I attack him with anything, armies, SC's mages and all combined, a couple of sidhe lords turn up and slaughter everyone!:(

[Calahan]

So, you're going AI?.... :)

Go AI?!! I am on the verge of victory! :D


I'll leave the hosting schedule at 60 hours for now then, and just grant extensions to the top 2.5 nations whenever they need one due to late-game stuff. Since they seem to be the ones most in need of the extra time, and are the usual delay requestors. So the schedule will stay at what it is now, which is basically 60 hours + regular extensions for those nations with actual resources left to use. If regular delays are ok with everyone that is.

Apologies for the disturbance TNN and Machaka. You can now go back to your private little war until the next council meeting :)

[Calahan]

Game delayed 12 hours by request.

[Valerius]

I would be only too happy to finish Tir Na Nog off, sadly any time I attack him with anything, armies, SC's mages and all combined, a couple of sidhe lords turn up and slaughter everyone!:(

Ok, well that problem is definitely resolvable. Sidhe Lords are in increasingly short supply and new ones will most certainly not be arriving. Though Atlantis could have helped move things along if they had continued with the Armageddon castings. A little disappointing there weren't any the past couple of turns.

Game delayed 12 hours by request.

Well, that was planning ahead! :) Seriously, I think everyone's fine with moving to 72 hours and it will save you and Zeldor the trouble of going through this every turn, so I would just change the hosting. Meglobob and I are just playing a different game than the rest of you. Hosting should be set to what works for the top 2.5 nations not the two playing a blitz game. ;)

[Zeldor]

I was not requesting anything, for a change :)

[Valerius]

Oops, sorry. I just wanted to say that I think everyone's fine with the time frame that works for the leading nations so if 72 hours works better for you guys feel free to change it.

[Calahan]

It was me who needed the delay this turn. The deadlines of practically every game I am in fell at some point this evening, so needed to push this game back until tomorrow to give myself some breathing space (plus some non-Dom time to stop my head exploding).

I'll switch the game to 72 hours from next turn on then. Since it probably does make more sense to accomodate the leading nations rather than trying to get a 'one size fits all' schedule. Shame we can't vacuum seal the Spider Elv war to the outside world, and then let you two blitz it out on a separate schedule :)

[Zeldor]

Don't worry, me and Aby should be over with our war in 50-60 turns max. At least I hope so.

[Calahan]

I'll have wiped the floor with the both of you long before then :p

[Calahan]

Turn has just hosted, so I've now bumped the hosting interval up to 72 hours.

[Frozen Lama]

Zeldor decided to come out and play finally! i see with my little burning eyes a few seraphs!

[Zeldor]

I will be probably going on holidays soon [19-30 September] and it may be impossible for me to find a sub for that 3 turns - description of the game and situation scares even the bravest players. So if I can't find one, I may really need to request a pause for the game [as we had one for Abysia earlier].

[Valerius]

Well, I'm sure you're all eager to hear Tir's opinion so I'll say that I think you're at the stage of the game where you really want to make the decisions yourself. Even if you could find a sub I think it's better to wait so that you get to decide the fate of your nation.

[Burnsaber]

Ah, how I wish to be a fly on the wall now. The Cripples are now carrying some pretty big sticks. This thing ain't Cripple Fight no more, perhaps more accurate term would be..

Mortal Cripple Combat?
Crippocalypse?
...??

Damn, I really need to think up a punchline before making the joke.

On other news, MA vanheim just won a game. This leaves us 10 nations without MP wins and 9 nations after this game has reached its thrilling conclusion. What can I say? The number of Cripples are going down by the minute.

[Calahan]

I'd have absolutely no problem as either admin or player with the ~10 day delay for Zeldor. As like he says, we've already had one for Abysia, so only fair that Atlantis also be allowed a similar pause.

Plus I'm a very big fan of the point Valerius has made, in that players should have the right to decide the outcome of their own fate once the game goes past a certain stage. And not have to trust that a sub would keep things under control in that players absence. Which is even more imprtant a point if the nation in question is fighting for the win.

So unless anything changes, the game will be getting put on hold while Zeldor is away. Unless of course I can beat Atlantis and Abysia in the next two turns. Hhhhmmmm, let me see what I have available........ :)

[Trumanator]

All stand ready for.... THE LAMEPIRE STRIKES BACK!

Okay, I know its already been said earlier in the thread, but I just had to say it again :D

[Meglobob]

I, of course agree completely with what Valerius / Calahan have already said and the game should be paused until Zeldor gets back, hopefully refreshed and ready to pit tart vs tart, seraph vs chayot etc...

Btw the only really annoying thing about those armageddons was it killed nearly all my scouts, so I will not even be able to watch all those titanic battles:(

[Frozen Lama]

A delay is of course ok with me since i recieved one earlier.

[Zeldor]

I am leaving on Saturday morning, early morning. I don't think I will be able to do next turn before that - too many things to do before.

[Calahan]

I am leaving on Saturday morning, early morning. I don't think I will be able to do next turn before that - too many things to do before.
Do you mean next turn as in turn 80, or the current one as in turn 79?

[Zeldor]

Current one. Oh, it hosts on Saturday. I think I will be able to do it. I am leaving Saturday morning.

[Calahan]

Give me a shout if you can't get the current turn done Zeld, and I'll do the necessary to pause the game until you get back. I'm pretty sure I'll be around tomorrow evening if you want to do a last minute decision thing (and I'll put the pause in anyway if you don't get back to me and you get too close to staling).

But be cool if you could squeeze your turn in before you go though, as then I can plot yours and Frozen's demise during the pause :)

[Calahan]

Game delayed 12 hours. 6 hours were by Firey request, the other 6 hours are to ensure that I am awake when the deadline hits, so that I can pause the game if it looks like Zeldor didn't manage to get his turn done (before going away).

[Calahan]

Ok, it appears that Zeldor did manage to get his turn in before he left, which is great. So once the current turn hosts, I will be pausing the game until he gets back at the end of the month.

[Frozen Lama]

Sorry to do this, but i'm just really burned out tonight, and i won't get my turn done. could i get 24h?

[Calahan]

No worries Frozen Lama. I've added 24 hours for you. You also have over a week to play with if you want more time. Since no point rushing this turn only to then have around 10-12 days for the next one. So if you want that time split evened out a bit between this turn and the next then give me a shout.

If I had your position right now, then I know I'd rather have two 6 day turns rather than a one day turn followed by a 11 day turn.

[Calahan]

Ok everyone, the turn has recently hosted, so I have now added a long delay so that the game is effectively paused while Zeldor is away.

Current hosting deadline is October 1st at 23:55 (llamaserver time). I'll take a wild stab at saying Zeldor will probably need an extension when he gets back, unless he can get his turn done in ~24 hours. But will sort that out when the time comes.

Enjoy the second intermission folks, and get yourselves well rested for the epic conclusion to Cripple Fight :)

[Zeldor]

I just got back, but I'd like fresh 72h from now [or from tomorrow, best], as I just turned on my computer and I have lots of things to do. There are some problems with my other game, where game admin did not change email to a sub and let my nation stale 3 turns.

[Zeldor]

Ha, just got a chance to see my turn. I guess Abysia may count that storm attempt as one of the worst attempts in the history :) I hope it is a sign of the fall of false Abysian pretender.

[Valerius]

Burnsaber, I just noticed you updated the first post a while back. LOL.

I'm a little concerned, though. I'd like to reprise my role as Tir but llamabeast is doing worringly well in Crusaders. Speed it up, Atlantis/Abysia so we can begin this before Crusaders ends! Worst case scenario, I guess I could apply for the role of Eriu...

The good thing is, Cripple Fight II is down to only 8 players so it should play quickly. BTW, I assume it will be CBM 1.6 (i.e. no clams)?

[Burnsaber]

Burnsaber, I just noticed you updated the first post a while back. LOL.


All jokes in the post are by Calahan. I decline to take any kind and/or sort of credit from their comedic value.



The good thing is, Cripple Fight II is down to only 8 players so it should play quickly. BTW, I assume it will be CBM 1.6 (i.e. no clams)?

Yeah, certainly. The map will be a bit smaller too (about 12-14 provs per player).

[Calahan]

@ All/Zeldor

Myself and Zeldor are back from our respective trips, so this game is now up and running again.

I've set the hosting for the current turn to this Saturday, 3rd October, at 23:55 llamaserver time. So gets those turns in! I actually did this yesterday after noticing Zeldor's request during a flying visit to the forums, but it's only now (that I'm home) that I'm having the time to post about it. So apols everyone for not keeping you all up-to-date with delays as is my usual admin MO (although I do have a resonably good excuse :))


@ Zeldor - I was going to set the deadline for this game to late Friday evening, but know you (and myself) have a turn due in Pasha's RAND game then as well, so bumped it forward another day to avoid the clash. Since I know the pain of having 2+ games with deadlines at similar times, so took the wild guess that with both games on 72 hours schedules, it wouldn't take long for duel deadlines to cause one of us a problem.

[Zeldor]

I could be interested in playing EA Abysia in sequel, assuming I have free time :)

[Calahan]

Just a few hours to go until hosting, and the top two are still without turns submitted. For Zeldor this is not unusual, but Frozen Lama mostly has his turn done by now, so it's strange not to see his turn sent in this close to the deadline.

@ Zeldor / Frozen - I should be around this evening until the current hosting deadline hits, so just give me a shout if you need a delay. (and even if I'm away from my computer for the next hour or so, I'll make certain to check back for delay requests before and around the time of the deadline.)

I'll also probably throw in an automatic delay if the deadline gets too close and any turns are still missing. You all know how much I hate seeing stales at any time during a game, but even more pointless at this stage and with so few players left.

[Squirrelloid]

I'm totally in the next game in the series if there's room. Preferably as a non-water nation since i've *played* most of those already. (And don't be too fast, some people need to hurry up and finish killing me in some other games)

[Calahan]

Oh Frozen where art thou. Zeldor's the king of late turn submission not you.

@ All

Fair chance I'll be delaying this game in the next few minutes. Probably add 24 hours, as I'm expecting to be out of the office tomorrow for most of the day. So won't be able to do my usual preference here of delaying the game until the morning and re-checking the status then.

Although only Frozen's turn missing, so it will obviously autohost when he submits it.

Edit1: In fact better delay it now due to the screwy llamaserver.
Edit2: Ok, game delayed by 24 hours for Frozen Lama. Guess his racing addiction consumed all his free time this turn :)

[Frozen Lama]

oh.......oops. totally forgot it was due today. sorry guys. thanks for the save Calahan. i will get it in tonight i promise.

[Calahan]

No worries Frozen. I'll mostly be on the case with heading off any stales. Even more so now with this being the only game I'm admining. Less deadlines to watch :)

[Calahan]

@ All

I had to throw on a hasty 12 hour delay for myself yesterday, and will probably need a few extra hours again for today. Work has been the total opposite of kind the past few days. I've even had to come in on a Saturday :(

So I've added another few hours for myself just in case the current deadline is too tight (50/50 that I'll need it). But I should be able to get something sent in once I finally get home.

[Frozen Lama]

I will be traveling without internet acess from Oct 19th-24th. i know the game has been delay way to much lately, but i'd like to ask to delay the turn for me since most likely i would only need a sub for 1 turn.

thanks!

[Zeldor]

Oh, you are not going to give up before that? :(

[Calahan]

Going to need a few extra hours on this one. Ran out of time tonight to get my turn done, and a 17:00 deadline tomorrow isn't too friendly due to the current pain in my life that is called work.

So added 6 hours for myself. Apologies all. Especially Frozen, as I'm sure he's itching to see the benefit of his sparkly new toy asap :)

[Calahan]

An hour to go until hosting, and two turns currently missing. Zeldor has asked me to keep an eye on the deadline as he might not make it, and delay if his turn is missing. Plus no turn yet from Meglobob, which is strange.

So chances are I'll be delaying the game by 12 hours at some point within the next hour (unless the missing turns appear of course, in which case the game will autohost)


Edit: Game delayed 12 hours. Will check again in the morning to see how those missing turns are looking. See little point in letting anyone stale between now and the end.

[Zeldor]

That was a really really brutal turn... Looks cool on graphs :)

[Calahan]

Ermor proclaims to all that there is no longer any need to horde your non-Astral gems, and indeed actively encourages you all to spend them with gay abandon :) As the proceeds are now going to the most worthy of all causes :D

[Calahan]

Ok everyone, I've just thrown a delay on the game to account for Frozen Lama's trip. The current llamasever time deadline is now 03:55 on Monday 26th.

The original intention was that the current turn would host before Frozen Lama went away, so that everyone could work on their turns during the week. But events are afoot, and the big three need to have a chat about whether or not the game will be ending this turn with a concession. And no chance of getting that sorted before the turn was due to host. (and wanted to spare the bigger nations the pain of having to organise possibly redundant turns)

Not 100% clear what's what yet, as it could be that Ermor really are that awesome :) or that Atlantis have just kicked all the fight out of Abysia. But will post back once I get some more info and a better idea of what's happening. (since I only became aware of it all myself quiet recently)

[Calahan]

@ All

Ok, I am hereby asking for a concession in this game to MA Atlantis/Zeldor.

The nations of EA Abysia and EA Ermor have had a meeting, and both have agreed that the tide from the sea is too difficult to stop, and only precious time, energy, and lives would be lost in a vain attempt to prevent them ruling our land.

So a call goes out to the West, and into the forests, to ask if the Elves and Arachnids have any objections to the God of MA Atlantis ascending to the ranks of non-Cripples?


I have delayed the game by 48 hours in order to have time to hear opinions. Also, if there is to be a concession at this point, please can anyone let me know if they wish the game to continue for any reason. eg. Testing. Or maybe to resolve long running private wars to obtain bragging rights for the sequel :D

[Meglobob]

I concede to MA Atlantis/Zeldor.:)

:bow::clap::party:

[Valerius]

Or maybe to resolve long running private wars to obtain bragging rights for the sequel :D

I wonder who that's referring to. :)

I concede as well. Congratulations, Zeldor.

[Zeldor]

Thanks everyone, it was nice playing it, even though I didn't even count on a win when I was subbing into it. Especially with a pathless Kraken as a pretender [but he was really hard to kill, ask Gath and Abysia :)].

Here is my turn file, just rename it to .trn, it's not zipped. I will maybe tell more tomorrow, but feel free to ask questions.

[Burnsaber]

Finally, it's over! I'll start by PM'ing all previous/eliminated players if they want to hit the sequel with the same nation. Once I have a response from everyone (or some amount of time has passed without response), I'll start up a thread for the glorious part II, hereby declared to be named as:

"Cripple Fight II: The Lamepire Strikes Back!"

Yeah, it's pretty lame (heh, get it? lame). If someone has better puns to use in the title, please, for the love god, share them!

[don_Pablo]

Congratulations. )
And thanks a lot for the last turn.

I missed this game since i discharged from hospital but decided not to take it back.

[Burnsaber]

Alright, I sent the e-mails to players of eliminated nations. If you played in the game but "your" nation got disqualified by other means (like Meglabob's Machaka or viccio's Gath), you can PM me to reserve a spot in the sequel. I can't really say which nations will be available, since it depends on how many eliminated players want a second shot.

Anyways, here is a list of the nations singned up for the sequel.

EA Ermor
EA Abysia
EA Tir na n'Og
EA Atlantis

MA Bandar Log
MA Eriu

LA Arco
LA Atlantis

Congratulations. )
And thanks a lot for the last turn.

I missed this game since i discharged from hospital but decided not to take it back.

Oh, that's what happened to you, glad to hear that you are okay. If you want to play in the sequel, just pm me.

[Gregstrom]

Cripple Fight II - Lames Without Frontiers?

[Calahan]

Well played again Zeldor. You didn't have quite as much fire-power at the end as I envisaged, and a few less clams than I thought too. But you certainly had a lot more Pearls stashed than I hoped, which would probably have meant a shorter life for my Nexus than I'd have wanted. (unless I got lucky on the rolls). Shame real life has gone nuts for me in the past week or two. Wouldn't have minded at least trying to deviate your freight-train a bit at the end :)


@ Meglobob/Valerius - I let turn 85 host intentionally since you had both submitted turns. So, who gets the final bragging rights for the sequel as a result of it then? ;)


I've sent a PM to Burnsaber with a final update for the Original Post. Having to sadly step-out of the sequel as my Real Life free-time has become a drought in recent weeks, with no rain expected until 2010 :( Have offered my admin deputy duties to Burnsaber again for the sequel though if he needs them. And if the cast will have me :)


Post-Mortem

Good game everyone. Certainly had it's ups and down moments for me. No way I should have survived my early dog-pile to make it as far as I did, but the details of that event has already been logged. Left my final move too late in the end to make a difference.

My grand plan, and the only play I saw to offer me a chance, was a 999 Nexus overwrite. Which was on course to happen by around turn 78. But then that second lot of dual Armageddon's happened around turn 73/74, and I suffered a ridiculous hit to my research. I went from roughly 700rp per turn, to less than 250rp. Had one fort with 30+ mages in it reduced to just 5 mages. That random roll set was a real kick in the guts. This then meant my plans were delayed by ~7/8 turns, as getting the research done for the Nexus was always the lagging factor. But this delay meant an extra ~1200 pearls for MA Atlantis. And that's a hard gap to make up :(

This game also marks the second on the bounce where I had no Nature income at all the entire game despite full searching (CarCrash was the other). At the end I had just +2. And was on zero until around turn 40 when I gained a +1 income from a LA Atlantis fort. And then managed to get +2 around turn 60 when I finished off Bogarus. The struggle both these games were without Nature was not something I want to experience again in a hurry. And in this game, that Nature income was topped off with a final non-clam Astral of +11 and Death +6 :( Had plenty of Fire and Air gems though. Something like +50 +25 on those. EA Ermor without Death gems is a tough prospect for sure :)

But lessons learnt, and experience gained for the next campaign. A campaign I'm sure to encounter you all again in soon. If I'm not doing so already ;)



@ don_Pablo - Good to see you around again, and hear you are ok :) Also wondered what happened to you, since you were doing more than fine in both this game and "Legends of Faerun" when you disappeared, so guessed it wasn't a usual case of bailing. Good luck for the sequel if you sign-up for it (EA Ermor are free given that you'd be in need of a new nation)


Finally, I'll be taking the game off the llamaserver towards the end of the weekend. So last chance to let me know if you want it to keep going for any feuding reasons :D

[Zeldor]

What S did you use for Nexus? I'd overwrite it next turn with S11, so no rolls could help it if you had less than 10.

Nexus income was not so great, in the beginning it was <100, 70-80 most of the time. So it took ages to get a return. Later it got better - 120-150 [and about 180 when forge went up, so I guess the cost was about 250E]. Probably mostly because I started to wish for gems and forge/summon like crazy.

When I took over I had no big expectations. Extremely bad nation, pathless Kraken as a pretender... at least previous player killed another water nation fast and built some foundations for mid-game. But I think that other players' underperformance was also a key factor [Atlantis being top1 in research I mean]. Getting some diversification was tough.

I did some fixing - site searching what was missing, setting up clam factory, putting Maelstrom as research goal, securing some piece of land to get a place to summon stuff... also had lots of mages waiting for something, so decided to help Ermor with his struggle and attacked Gath. Resistance was surprisingly small, so I didn't get a chance to finish my grand army [iron dragons, siege golems, aboms...]. While fighting Gath and after I was consolidating power, getting artifacts and clamming more to put Nexus up.

With Nexus it was S3 hero that appeared few turns earlier, so 1 empowerment less :) Later I wished for that R'lyeh S5 hero [the one that enslaved Atlantis] as another wisher.

Of course when I put Nexus up, Abysia attacked me [hard to blame him] and I was really not prepared for that. He was at least 50% stronger at that point and I lost some land pretty fast. If he pushed harder at that point, it could have went otherwise. But I managed to prepare defences within few turns and counter-attack. You see results now :)

[Calahan]

What S did you use for Nexus? I'd overwrite it next turn with S11, so no rolls could help it if you had less than 10.

Used a S6 base. But that, like a boosted S11, means nothing with regards the +5 per level bonus you get for being over the global path requirements. As only base level counts for that bonus (Micah taught me that from my brief time in Artefacts). So if I'm correct, it would just be a straight roll-off if you put up a 999 Nexus with anything less than a S10 base. And didn't see any S10 base casters in your roster, unless I missed it ;) And even if you had a +5 bonus, I'd still have some chance of keeping the Nexus with a good roll (if my understanding of the dispel mechanics are correct. Which is from the manual)

Not sure if the current global holder wins a draw or not though. I assume the holder does, as in theory the global needs to be beaten I believe, not tied with.
Nexus income was not so great, in the beginning it was <100, 70-80 most of the time. So it took ages to get a return. Later it got better - 120-150 [and about 180 when forge went up, so I guess the cost was about 250E]. Probably mostly because I started to wish for gems and forge/summon like crazy.
The poor-ish Nexus income is because I was hording my gems all the while you had the Nexus up :) Think my Nexus income was close to 200 IIRC. Summoned 2 Troll Kings and forged a few Air Boosters, plus some other long overdue stuff the same turn I put it up. Was going to follow with more Troll/Sea Kings and something Air-gem wise in short order to maximise return from the Nexus while I still had it. Probably spam Fire Snakes as well just for something to do with my huge Fire income. Predicted I'd have the Nexus for 5-6 turns when I put it up, but like I said, didn't expect you to be sitting on such a pearl stash.
When I took over I had no big expectations. Extremely bad nation, pathless Kraken as a pretender... at least previous player killed another water nation fast and built some foundations for mid-game. But I think that other players' underperformance was also a key factor [Atlantis being top1 in research I mean]. Getting some diversification was tough.

I did some fixing - site searching what was missing, setting up clam factory, putting Maelstrom as research goal, securing some piece of land to get a place to summon stuff... also had lots of mages waiting for something, so decided to help Ermor with his struggle and attacked Gath. Resistance was surprisingly small, so I didn't get a chance to finish my grand army [iron dragons, siege golems, aboms...]. While fighting Gath and after I was consolidating power, getting artifacts and clamming more to put Nexus up.

With Nexus it was S3 hero that appeared few turns earlier, so 1 empowerment less :) Later I wished for that R'lyeh S5 hero [the one that enslaved Atlantis] as another wisher.

Of course when I put Nexus up, Abysia attacked me [hard to blame him] and I was really not prepared for that. He was at least 50% stronger at that point and I lost some land pretty fast. If he pushed harder at that point, it could have went otherwise. But I managed to prepare defences within few turns and counter-attack. You see results now :)
Still bashing MA Atlantis as a nation then ;) don_Pablo will have to confirm this, but I think the entire build was designed to win the underwater blitz duel. So pathless Kraken seems odd, but it certainly did the job, with full water control by turn 11. Think Baalz also went for pathless Kraken in his MA Atlantis guide. So guess it must have some good merits.

I had to pay you a heavy tribute to get you to attack Gath instead of me. Which of course gave you the ready made land base you needed. With hindsight I probably gave you too much, but at that stage I really was on the brink having used up every stored resource I had to get to the winning stage against LA Atlantis, while holding the front against my Eastern foes. Another few turns and I would probably have been in an improved enough state to bargain a bit harder. But at the time I didn't think I had much choice other than to cough up the large blackmail being asked ;)

Agreed there was some very uneven play around the place. But not surprised MA Atlantis had such a huge research lead, as they were war free from turn 11, and had more than enough resources and space to build a very useful empire. And during this peaceful MA Atlantis time, everyone else was expending a ton of resources in their respective wars.

But the lead MA Atlantis had still had to be converted, which you did admirably. Still surprised how quickly Abysia went down, as I had them well in front at one point. Was even predicting all those anti-Armageddon Fire Plates I was forging would come in very useful when the inevitable fight with Abysia came :)

[Valerius]

When EA Atlantis was knocked out so early MA Atlantis had a safe base from which to clam, research and choose whom to attack. Combine that with a player as good as Zeldor and I don't think the result is surprising.

As far as the research failures of other nations keep in mind no one else had that safe base. I'm really not a fan of the implementation of water nations in D3 so I'm glad a water nation won since it means one less for CF II. :) Combine that with no clams in CBM 1.6 and it should make for a good change.

But I think the rest of us failed in not all attacking MA Atlantis once the Nexus was cast. Zeldor's mastery of diplomacy wins out again. :)

BTW, Calahan, Meglobob gets the win the Tir/Machaka war. I could have dragged it out for a while but Machaka was gaining in power each turn while I was losing strength rapidly.

Meglobob, really nice work in destroying my economy. Zeldor's Armageddons finished it off but you had already done the majority of the work. No more Sidhe Lord thugs/anti-SCs for me. :(

[Zeldor]

Calahan:

I don't think you are right on that. Boosters count for globals bonus. Of course I'd test it before casting and I'd empower if needed. I don't want to end liek that Abductor I wished for - there is bug that he comes in 2nd form, which results in diseased and pathless SC after GoRing, huh.

You got so many pearls probably because I was spamming a lot to make a blow to Abysia that turn. Like gettind demiliches, lots of remote attacks, etc.

When it comes to that attack on Gath - I was also thinking about attacking your Ermor. Simple because it was easier and closer target. But I thought that Gath and Bogarus are stronger than they were and eliminating them why they are somehow distracted with you may be a better idea. I didn't consider attacking you later much. I rather expected you to jsut fight TNN if Abysia attacks Machaka. And I didn't expect to see Arco die so fast to Abysia, so it also left me with no time to prepare against Aby or do anything else.

Valerius:

Yeah, I am a bit addicted to diplomacy, got it from playing other games earlier. I think I am better in diplomacy than in actual fighting [it got really better recently, especially with RAND, but still doing some unnecessary mistakes].

I am not totally sure that Armageddons were worth it... Abysia did not have the big blood economy I was afraid of. But well, looking now it helped a bit probably.

I am just happy there are no more clams in 1.6. Sure, some nations still needs some boosts, but game should be better and more pleasant.

[Calahan]

Calahan:

I don't think you are right on that. Boosters count for globals bonus.

I'll be honest and say I've never tested the bonus path part of the global mechanics. But in a conversation I had with Micah a few months ago, regarding the Forge of Ancients my nation put had up in the Artefacts game (I was a sub for last few turns), I asked how many Earth boosters Baalz had used on my E9 God to put it up with. E12/E13 etc. And he said none, unless Baalz wanted to waste the boosters, as it was only the base magic level that counted for the bonus, and boosted levels didn't give you any bonus.

I was surprised to hear that as well, but since Micah is just about the most reliable source around for Dominions knowledge, I have little reason to doubt he's correct. (and haven't had specific need to test it myself since)

[Zeldor]

Burnsaber:

When it comes to 2nd edition, I think you should include those with 0.5 victory in HoF too. I think those are draws, not wins, so they shouldn't even be there. They all should have been here in the first place. That's hmm... 3 more nations?

[Valerius]

Got your eye on one of those nations, Zeldor? :) I'd prefer to stay with the original criteria. Makes for a faster game with one less water nation (advantages in my opinion). Also, if you are including LA Caelum in that count ... well, I don't think any version of Caelum is weak.

But I mainly hope we can play with CBM 1.6 as the only mod and not get into a discussion of compensation for the lack of clams.

[Burnsaber]

Burnsaber:

When it comes to 2nd edition, I think you should include those with 0.5 victory in HoF too. I think those are draws, not wins, so they shouldn't even be there. They all should have been here in the first place. That's hmm... 3 more nations?

You know, I thought about that when I made the fisrt game, but EA Oceania is in those 3 nations! I really just can't make a game where one player must play EA Oceania.

Because that would be just utterly evil. Like "killing kittens for fun" type of evil, and I like to think of myself as a man of some morals and common decency.

[Trumanator]

You could always throw your UWGEM in. That would help some.

[Burnsaber]

You could always throw your UWGEM in. That would help some.

Njah, it would the break "continuity" of the series, so to speak. Besides, putting a nation in the game because it's weak and then boosting it with a mod is sort of conflicted.

I've been thinking about writing EA Oceania guide, if not for any other purpose but to stop people from commiting practical suicide by taking a double bless for KotD's. (really it's instant lose to go for that. With path access of W4N2A1E1F1 and absolute 0% chance of indy mages, you need magic diversity just so bad it's not funny).