Rand-dom Dawn (pbem)

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

This is the next RAND game.

Randomly assigned nations; Anonymous; No Diplomacy.

Map: Dawn of Dominions
Era: Early
Mods: CBM 1.5 with a mod to make gem-production items unique (clam, fetish & stone).
Renaming: off
Research: normal
Graphs: on
Hall of Fame: 15
Other settings: default

Victory Condition: 6 out of 12 capitals (flexible if players want something different)

Players:

Calahan / Replaced by Cleveland = Kailasa
Calmon / Replaced by Vfb = Vanheim
Don Corazon = Sauromatia
Jurri - Marverni (snuffed on turn 47)
Lingchih - Helheim (tot & mort on turn 49)
Lolomo - Arco (dead on turn 53)
Micah = Atlantis
okiN - C'Tis (went AI on turn 31)
Quantum Mechani; Replaced by Shovah turn 60 = Ermor
tgbob - Caelum (snuffed on turn 40)
Wraithlord - Agartha (went AI approx. turn 22)
Zeldor = Ulm

Pretenders should be given randomly generated names to prevent unintentional disclosure of player ID.

Pasha

[okiN]

Whoo! Go team!

[DonCorazon]

Oh yeah - payback time for the Ashdod - Jotun sandwich!!!!

[LoloMo]

Heya everyone! Pleased to meet you all. This will be my first RAND game. Fight! Fight! Fight!

[tgbob]

Fun times ahead.

[Lingchih]

Yes, it is the most beautiful of all the Dom 3 maps. Very easy on the eyes.

[Trumanator]

Damn! I really wanted into this but it looks full already!

[Gregstrom]

Same here - the first time I see the thread, the games already full. :(

[Lingchih]

The game was invite only, to previous RAND game players. Don't worry though, spots will open up for replacements.

[Calahan]

Thanks for having me everyone, and an extra thanks to Pasha for doing the third-party admin work.

Looking forward to some good times ahead :-)

[WraithLord]

Let the fun begin :D

Good hunting guys.

Welcome back Jurri - glad to see you in the roster.

[llamabeast]

I would like to register interest for being in the next RAND game, if there is space (by that time I will hopefully have finished my thesis and be a real person again!).

[Calahan]

.... and be a real person again!

I had no idea you were a real person llama. I have always envisaged the llamaserver as a kind of 'Number 5' robot from the Short Circuit films, and llamabeast was just the robots identity on these forums.

Guess you fooled me good and proper with your omnipresent nature and selfless devotion to the Dominions community :)

If you are real a person, then I guess many beverages of thanks are in order if you ever find yourself travelling the correct way across the Severn Bridge :D

[okiN]

The game was invite only, to previous RAND game players. Don't worry though, spots will open up for replacements.

Not strictly true. Not everyone is a previous RAND player, some of us are just cool like that.

[calmon]

Hi all,

thanks for hosting another RAND pasha!

I've a lot of vacations next time (parental leave :) ) but 2 of them are important because i probalby have no internet:

18th-24th may - there is a ~80% chance that internet access works there. But still a small chance that the wireless lan is not working anymore...

20th-28th june - i definitly don't have access to internet, so i can do a turn before starting this and another one at the end.

[coobe]

i wanna take part ! i should get my new comp tomorrow

[calmon]

BTW i vote for 7 out of 12 VPs needed.

[Shuma]

Is this game open to semi-newbs? I am just about knocked out of my other game and a random nation game sounds fun. What do you mean by no diplomacy? No PMs through the board and in-game messages?

[WraithLord]

I 2nd Calmon.

[Executor]

I'm in.

[Zeldor]

I don't think it should be higher than 5-6 caps to win. We don't want the game to get to nowhere, like for example Artifacts.

[DonCorazon]

I vote for 5 VPs.

[Micah]

Artifacts' quagmire doesn't have much to do with the VP threshold, it would still be going even if it was at 7 or 8 instead of 10.

[quantum_mechani]

I vote 5 vp to win.

[okiN]

Sounds fine to me, though I wouldn't particularly mind six. Five might happen surprisingly quickly.

[Zeldor]

Pasha:

You need to make announcement about water nation.

And of course Caelum starts wiht 1 prov, not 3?

[Micah]

I'll put in a vote for 6-7 VPs now that I've thought about it and had a chance to look at the map.

[djo]

(by that time I will hopefully have finished my thesis and be a real person again!).

I think you misunderstand the concept of "thesis". Once you finish, you will never be a real person again. Grad school is designed to rip await your normalcy, shred by shred, until the last traces are bound in your thesis and shelved, never to be seen again.

[PashaDawg]

Pasha:

You need to make announcement about water nation.

And of course Caelum starts wiht 1 prov, not 3?


Hi Zeldor:

I have given the water nation a choice between Oceania and Atlantis. Once I know his choice, I will announce it.

I think it is wise for Caelum to start with only 1 province. I agree with Jurri's previous advice. (If the Caelum player strongly disagrees, then I will hear his argument. :) )

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

This game is closed to additional players. The limit for the scenario is 12 players. Sorry to those who expressed interest but are excluded. There will likely be another RAND game, and of course, there is nothing that prevents other folk from hosting a RAND game. (The problem is that the host cannot play because he/she must know the ID of the players.)

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

How about a compromise on the victory condition - - -> Need 6 out of 12 to win?

[Lingchih]

6 sounds good to me.

[calmon]

How about a compromise on the victory condition - - -> Need 6 out of 12 to win?

Fine consensus! :up:

[WraithLord]

sign me up for said consensus :)

[Calahan]

Six is fine with me.

[PashaDawg]

The water nation will be Atlantis.

[okiN]

Okay, so I guess everything's settled. I wish you all a speedy recovery from any epic burns suffered during the process of me seizing those five extra victory points.

[WraithLord]

Didn't see any post regarding CBM 1.5. Is it ready yet?

[Executor]

Didn't see any post regarding CBM 1.5. Is it ready yet?

Yeah it is,
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=43120

[calmon]

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=43120

edit: same second ;)

[WraithLord]

Talk about right under your nose.

Thanks for the link guys. Sorry for being optically challenged :)

[WraithLord]

Well, perhaps I'll ask one last Q. Is there a catgod version for 3.23?- I did a search and as far as I could tell the most updates is compatible with 3.20.

[Lingchih]

Are we starting tonite?

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 1 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday, assuming that Calmon has internet access while on vacation.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 2 is out.

Deadline is Wednesday at 9:00 pm Boston time.

By the way, I will be traveling to Washington DC from Thursday through Monday. I won't be able to host turns while I am away. Sorry.

I will be testifying before a joint session of Congress concerning the high risk of horror marks to children who don't play Dominions. I will likely also try to get Congress to address the increased bog beast problem in Northern Maine and Louisiana.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 3 is out.

Deadline is Monday at 9:00 pm Boston time. Sorry for the delay due to my travels.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Lingchih]

Hey, what happened to the turn? It's Tuesday now.
Thanks Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 4 is out.

Deadline is THURSDAY, but I would host tonight if players can get their turns in quickly.

Thanks.

Pasha

[WraithLord]

hosting tonight sounds good :D

My turn is in.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 5 is out.

Deadline is Thursday night.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 6 is out.

Deadline is Saturday due to the late hosting, but I'd be happy to host tonight (Friday) if players can get their turns in quickly.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 7 is out.

Deadline is Saturday night.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 8 is out.

Deadline is Monday due to the late hosting. (I'll host again tonight if possible, but I doubt everyone can get their turns in that fast.)

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 9 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday at 9pm Boston time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 10 is out.

Deadline is Wednesday at 9:00 pm Boston time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 11 is out.

Deadline is Thursday at 9:00 pm Boston time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 12 is out.

Deadline is Friday at 9pm Boston time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 13 is out.

Deadline is Sunday due to the delayed hosting. Again, I am happy to host early, but I know Jurri has something going on this weekend and might not be able to get a turn in faster than usual. We will switch to a 3-turn/week schedule after turn 15.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 14 is out.

Deadline is Monday at 9pm Boston time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 15 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday. Then we will switch to a 3-turn per week schedules (Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday).

I am assuming that most, if not all, players want to switch to a more relaxed schedule at this point. If that is not true, please let me know.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Lingchih]

Heh... from the rampant posts on IRC, I think most players want to keep this thing going as fast as possible.

But, I don't want to pressure you, Pasha. I know you host this game by hand.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 16 is out.

Deadline is Thursday at 9pm Boston time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Zeldor]

I'd be happy with current fast hosting schedule. I think that some people would prefer to die faster to join new games :P

[tgbob]

I agree with Zeldor.

[Calahan]

Why is everyone always in such a rush these days? Doesn't anyone appreciate some good old fashioned thinking time anymore?

I tend to find that if you think more, you die quickly less :)

[PashaDawg]

Hi:

The screen on okiN's laptop has died, :skull: and he needs some time to fix the situation. He expects to be back in the saddle next week.

While that is a fairly long delay, I think it is important to accommodate players when such unexpected problems arise (opposed to a long planned vacation without any attempt to find a sub). Maybe okiN will be able to find an alternative computer to play on in the meantime.

Pasha

[Calahan]

That's fine with me Pasha.

Such problems happen unfortunately, and it would be very harsh to force someone to stale because of it. It's only a few days (plus it's the weekend, so go out and mingle people :)) and the game is starting to hot up, so even one or two turns by a sub at this stage (who lets face it will never 100% know what's going on) might be terminally costly to that players nation. Which again IMO would be unfair to enforce on someone for a problem that is out of their control.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 17 is out.

Deadline is Friday, but I'd be certainly happy to host sooner to make up for lost time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 28 is out.

Deadline is Sunday, June 28. It was agreed at the beginning of the game that we would take a break while Calmon went on vacation this week. If he sends in a turn early, I will certainly let everyone know.

Thanks.

Pasha

[tgbob]

Heh, looks like everyone stalled 11 turns!

[Zeldor]

What, tgbob?

[Calahan]

That's some damn fine random message writing tgbob :)

[tgbob]

Hello:

Turn 28 is out.

Deadline is Sunday, June 28. It was agreed at the beginning of the game that we would take a break while Calmon went on vacation this week. If he sends in a turn early, I will certainly let everyone know.

Thanks.

Pasha

There I bolded it for everyone. It's really turn 19!

[Zeldor]

Hmm... indeed right you are.

[Lingchih]

Umm... Pasha? Pasha?

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 20 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday.

I am going to a conference this coming week. djo has graciously agreed to host the turns while I am away. You send him your Tuesday and Thursday turns (turns 20 and 21). I will return on Saturday and can host the Sunday turn (turn 22).

I sent out an email to all players with djo's email address.

Thanks.

Pasha

[djo]

Hi folks, your temporary host here...I also read the forums regularly, so feel free to PM me if you lose my email address.

[djo]

Just a reminder that turns are due by 9 pm Boston time tonight (Tuesday). Send them to me instead of Pasha.

[Zeldor]

My motherboard just died, so I asked djo for 24h, so I can install dominions on other computer temporarily, till I fix it. Dunno how long will it take to fix it [well, buy new one, I guess - I think it's north bridge broken, was faulty for some time and now that weather...]. I may need relaxed schedule till I get it done.

[Ferrosol]

Okin has asked me to sub in for him due to him needing a vacation

so on behalf of the great nation of *censored* I would like to say *censored* *censored* call a plumber *censored* *censored* <censored> <censored> a marsupial covered in gin *censored* *censored* <censored> <censored> and the horse you rode in on.</censored></censored></censored></censored>

[djo]

I'm on the case
Can't be fooled
Any objection
Is overruled
Yes, I'm the Arbiter and I know best
-- Chess


We'll pause for 24h for Zeldor--hosting now scheduled for 9pm Boston time Wednesday.

Ferrosol, if there's some kind of steganographic message in there, you will be severely punished! I'm watching you, buddy!

djo, who has been waiting for an excuse to abuse power, and Pasha just handed over the reins, the fool...

[Zeldor]

Ok, got my turn in, my MB is barely working, gotta order new one. Don't use that as excuse to slow things down :)

[djo]

Having announced a delay, I will not go back on it unless all turns are in. That being said, I am only waiting on one nation. If I receive their turn tonight, I will host tonight. Otherwise, they have until tomorrow.

[djo]

Turn 21 is out. Next one is due Thursday, 9 pm.

Let me know ASAP if there are any problems!

[Micah]

Man down, man down...err...cave-dwelling monster-thing down!

Agartha is AI, and I want to whittle down my list of guesses, who was at the helm? =)

[djo]

Turn 22 is out. Next turn is due Sunday, usual time, usual place. Send turns to Pasha!

Geez, Micah, you're fast. I was going to let Pasha announce it, but...Agartha was played by Wraithlord.

[WraithLord]

I say, if you're gonna lose might as well be quick about it :)

Anyway, my mistakes apart, EA Agartha sucks, even it's elite troops can't hit a damned thing. Being gang banged didn't help matters either :D

Good luck all.

[Calahan]

Hard Luck WraithLord. I'm playing EA Agartha in Legends of Faerun, so can sympathise with you on their suckyness.

Think it'd help EA Agartha loads if those Umbrals could be de-nerfed in CBM back to Conj5 to give them a fighting chance. Conj7 is a painful amount of research to expect a nation to have to get to just to survive.

[WraithLord]

They need something to compensate for their abysmal attack. Perhaps national net throwers?- They are after all a race of amphibious cave dwellers. The may not eat the fish but perhaps they use them for other things, like rituals or whatever :)

It's not their only problem though. They have no national access to astral (critical) and nature (quite important). So if you take an SC to survive to initial phase you have nothing to show for the end game (unless you get lucky with indi mages.)

Add to all that cold blooded, so in fixed locations map you can bet on all your neighbors taking cold-3.

Worst - It's no secret that EA Agartha sucks so you can bet on said neighbors attacking you at the slightest sign of weakness, or just attack you anyway.

I'm sure I have made my share of mistakes with EA Agartha in this game, but frankly - it's not like there's much to work with .

Oh and a moment of self confession: when I got the mail from Pasha assigning EA-Agartha to me I immediately put on a sad face knowing this game is lost for me. Hope to have better luck in my next RAND game :)

[Zeldor]

I didn't expect Agartha was you, huh. I agree thay are rather weak, but they should be able to expand against indies a bit faster - I think you had some problems with it early on.

[WraithLord]

You are correct. I've no problem discussing the grizzly details of my awful start but that would have to wait until the game ends (if it all it would still be interesting by then :) ). If I talk now I may disclose something forbidden so I'm keeping my mouth shut.

[PashaDawg]

Yes. Wraithlord was Agartha. :)

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 23 is out.

Deadline is Wednesday, due to the delay in hosting.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hi There:

Turn 24 is out.

Let's have the turn due on Friday to keep the game moving, in spite of the late hosting.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 25 is out.

Deadline is Sunday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 26 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 27 is out.

Deadline is Thursday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 28 is out.

Deadline is Sunday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 29 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 30 is out.

Deadline is Thursday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 31 is out.

Deadline is Sunday.

C'Tis has gone AI. It was played by okiN.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 32 is out.

Deadline is THURSDAY.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Zeldor]

Not Tuesday?

[PashaDawg]

Whoops!

The turn is due Tuesday, not Thursday.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 33 is out.

Deadline is Thursday. (Even though the hosing was a little delayed, let's try to host the next turn on Thursday.)

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 34 is out.

Deadline is Sunday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 35 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday. (Let's keep the game moving in spite of the slightly delayed hosting.)

Thanks.

Pasha

[calmon]

Hi Pasha,

did you get my turn? I sent it like always some hours before hosting time and forwared again after i got your "Turn-Missed" Message.

Maybe an email problem? But we are both on gmail...

Calmon

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 36 is out. I rehosted because Calmon's turn had been snagged by Gmail's spam filter.

Deadline is Sunday due to the delayed hosting.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Calahan]

Can I just confirm that we are to use the turn marked "RAND - '[Nation] Turn 36 Redux"?

Mainly asking since I received two turn files overnight, and the time stamp on the 'Redux' one is marked as being sent earlier than the regular one. Probably just the email network playing tricks, but thought it best to check so that I don't screw the game up.

[Micah]

The redux file should be the correct one, not sure what's up with your timestamps.

[Calahan]

Yeah, would have used the 'Redux' turn automatically if it wasn't for the weird timestamps. I'll probably ask Pasha for a turn resend though just to make absolutely sure. No point taking the risk of using the wrong one.

[Lingchih]

Who was Agartha?

[Calahan]

WraithLord was Agartha Lingchih. Went AI many turns ago.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 39 is out.

Deadline is Friday due to the delayed hosting.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Ooops. I lost track of what day of the week it is. The turn should be due on Wednesday instead of Friday, which should still give players enough time.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 40 is out.

Deadline is Sunday at 9 pm Boston time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Caelum was played by Tgbob.

[archaeolept]

why isn't everyone ganging up on Micah?

;)

[Calahan]

Unlucky tgbob. Surprised to learn you were Caelum though, since I thought you would have been right at home with them given your fine performance with the same nation in 'CarCrash'.

We all know Baalz has written some really amazing guides, but think the one he wrote for EA Caelum needs to come with a possible health warning. As no expansion until turn 5-ish is always risky, and in games on a small map (such as this one) it hurts even more IMO.
why isn't everyone ganging up on Micah?

;)
We are ganging up on him aren't we?!? Or maybe it's just good for morale to imagine that we are :)

[PashaDawg]

Micah is playing Abysia... ;)

[tgbob]

Oops, should've payed more attention to the Dom.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 41 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday at 9:00 pm Boston time.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 43 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[calmon]

edit: gmail up again and i sent my turn.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 44 is out.

Deadline is Friday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 45 is out.

Deadline is Monday, due to the delay.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Calahan]

Another mighty nation bites the dust. Can I please ask who was playing Marverni? (eliminated turn 47 for 1st post reference)

[Zeldor]

DonCorazon

[DonCorazon]

Heh, clearly Zeldor underestimates my Dominions talent :) as accounts of my death are quite premature. And since I remain in the RAND game...I must mention the following..

My daughter. doncorazoncita, was born yesterday and I am happy to report mom and child are great. I may need an extension this turn, unless I can find a way to sneak back home and get my laptop. Cheers!

[Calahan]

Many congrats Don on the arrival of the little Doness :) Great to hear everyone involved is doing just fine.


Naughty Zeldor, trying to guess and make false statements of those who have demised. Yet another game where you don't know everything that's going on it seems. "Your power is fading Ming".

[PashaDawg]

Marverni was played by Jurri.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 48 is out.

Deadline is Thursday.

Amhazair will be subbing for QM while he is traveling.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Amhazair]

Hurray! My first Dominions turn in months has been (succesfully?) finished. Felt weird though. Didn't remember where to start doing stuff.

Hello again all, looking forward to pummel you all into the dust in the few turns I'm allowed before QM gets back. :smirk:

[LoloMo]

Congratulations Don Corazon! Time to plan your Dom3 education path for your daughter :)

[DonCorazon]

Thanks Lolo - I'll start by reading the manual to her - may need to quiz her on shield defense since she started drooling in that section :p

[Micah]

Have you updated the manual with the various errata? You don't want to be teaching her wrong.

[DonCorazon]

Running her through some DRN drills now. Quick baby, Att 15 vs. def 12, what are the odds? Then, Fear 17, what radius and morale modifier? Precision 18 at range 30, do you take the shot? Focus, damit focus.

This baby will be the Tiger Woods of Dominions. I expect her first words will be - tart factory. :)

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 49 is out.

Deadline is Monday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Lingchih]

Helheim was played (badly, it looks like), by yours truly.

[Calahan]

Thanks for your time and effort Lingchih.

[PashaDawg]

Yes. Helheim was played by Lingchih.

Thanks for playing.

[DonCorazon]

I'd like to request a few hour extension on the turn tonight. Thanks.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 50 is out.

Deadline is Friday night.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 51 is out.

Calmon is away, and Calahan is traveling, too, as is Zeldor. I can't keep track (or I am too lazy). We'll take a short pause. Deadline is Friday October 2, assuming Calmon will be back by then.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Zeldor]

Ok, I'm back.

[PashaDawg]

I received a message from Calmon. He will return on Saturday.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 52 is out.

Deadline is Thursday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[DonCorazon]

fyi - I am the weakest link - I just pinged the Pasha for a few hour extension tonight.

[Calahan]

No chance Don. I'm going to be in work until almost midnight tonight, and probably need another late one again tomorrow to sort a nasty problem that suddenly came up. So doubt Pasha will see my turn before Saturday afternoon at this rate :(

[PashaDawg]

Maybe this game needs to switch to a 2 turn per week schedule?

[Zeldor]

Huh, I think that'd be too relaxed. Let's try to keep it 3 times per week, but just grant extensions if needed?

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 53 is out.

Deadline is Thursday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Zeldor]

How about ARco player? :)

[PashaDawg]

Arco was played by Lolomo.

Thanks for playing, Lolomo! :)

[Zeldor]

Interesting :)

And congratulations for everyone that got into top6. I wonder if everyone will survive till the end of game.

[LoloMo]

And thus ends the ill fated nation of Arcocephales, whose Pretender of Virtue got killed by some bony corpses on Turn 1 :doh: RIP, poor hapless Angel of Awe.

I had my whole strategy based on quick expansion by my Awake Pretender who could take on any indy troop, except of course for that one in thousand undead indy force hahaha.

[Calahan]

So do I see before me yet another victim of blind turn 1 attacking? When will they learn Dr.Watson?

[LoloMo]

Haha! This was only the second time in MP that I attempted a blind turn 1 attack with an awake SC. The first time was with a Wyrm about 2 years ago. He died on his first foray too! Grrrr!!!

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 54 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

I have sent everyone an email about my planned trip next week. Djo will be taking over as host while I am away.

Pasha

[djo]

Turn 5 is out. Although Pasha had trouble hosting the turn, I did not. And that worried me. Let me know asap if anything's wrong.

Next turn is due Tuesday (due to lateness of this turn). If we're not on 3/week schedule, let me know!

[djo]

We were nominally supposed to host tonight, but I only have 2 turns, so...whenever you're ready, I guess...

[djo]

FYI, I'm just having trouble with one player's turn. I've asked for a resend; hopefully I'll host tonight.

[djo]

It's out! The long-heralded turn 56 ought to be in your inboxes about now. Next turn is due Sunday or Tuesday or whatever is realistic.

Please send your next turns to Pasha! My benevolent reign is over. I'm sure it will be remembered as a golden age for commerce, diplomacy, and the arts. You may begin the commemorative sculptures.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

I am have returned.

Thank you, djo the Benevolent, for hosting!

Pasha

[Calahan]

Thanks for hosting djo.

Although don't get too comfortable in your retirement, since as soon as Pasha's computer starts rejecting perfectly good turn files again, we'll all be straight round to your place with files and tails in tow :)

[djo]

That will require not only statuary, but also fountains and colonnades.

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 57 is out.

Deadline is Friday. That will give everyone a chance to get back into the game and for us to find a replacement for Calahan.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 58 is out.

Deadline is Wednesday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

vfb will be replacing Calmon, who decided he needed a break.

Welcome, vfb!

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Howdy:

I am looking for a replacement for Calahan in this game. Please contact me if you're interested. I'd be happy to give you the nitty-gritty privately.

Pasha

[DonCorazon]

zzzzzzzz!

[PashaDawg]

No takers? Fun game! Excitement! Make new friends!!

[cleveland]

I'm your huckleberry.

That is, if you can all wait until Jan 6th? I'm on vacation for the holidays and don't have my own computer.

Let me know,
cleveland

ps - howdy all, long time no-see!

[vfb]

Yay, hooray for Cleveland! And welcome back. :D

[PashaDawg]

Welcome Cleveland! Send me your email address.

Pasha

[Zeldor]

It will be interesting, long time no see! :)

[PashaDawg]

I just sent you a PM, Cleveland.

[cleveland]

Thanks everyone. Happy to help such an all-star cast.

Sorry the game will be on hold until Jan 6th, but I'm pretty familiar with the nation, so it shouldn't take much time to figure out the position and annihilate you all :)

[Zeldor]

I know who you are, so don't try any nasty tricks against me :P

[DonCorazon]

Welcome back Cleveland - though I've been barely around myself.

[WraithLord]

Ah, missed the post here and my chance to check up on this game after being unceremoniously kicked out at the very beginning :)

GL Cleveland, give them hell :p

[cleveland]

OK, I'm back!

All the files work fine. Will try to get the turn in tonight...though it was a hellacious flight, so I can't make any promises. But no worries, the Grand Armies of :censor: will be overrunning each of your capitals shortly.

Thanks for the warm welcome all!

[Zeldor]

I almost forgot what nation I am :P

[PashaDawg]

Welcome back, Cleveland. Let's shoot to get the game moving again by Friday or Saturday. That way, everyone will have a chance to review their turns, etc, and get back into the swing of things.

Pasha

[cleveland]

Hi Pasha,

Saturday is best, given the complex strategic position (in game & at work).

Also, edit the thread title!

cleveland

[Micah]

Whew, I was gonna be amazed/scared if you managed a 1-day turnaround in this game. I'll aim for tomorrow as well then.

[cleveland]

Whew, indeed.

Turn complete & sent. Let me know if you didn't receive it, Pasha.

[PashaDawg]

Got it!

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 59 is out.

Deadline is Thursday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[Zeldor]

Too bad that game got plagued by many uncool things, I hoped for it to be the best game ever. But...

- very unbalanced map [even if very beautiful]
- sooo many delays
- players getting replaced, which can wreck game for others
- some things that were not really set in house rules and should be [for all MP games really]

Maybe I will get some more fun out of this game, but I am afraid I will have to find satisfaction in other games or wait for next RAND :(

[PashaDawg]

I am pleased to announce that Shovah has agreed to step in as QM's replacement. Welcome, Shovah.

I want to give him a little time to get familiar with the game. I plan to host the current turn on Thursday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 61 is out.

Deadline is Tuesday.

Thanks.

Pasha

[cleveland]

Anyone else noticing weird behavior with the current turn (#62)?

[vfb]

No, my #62 did not look weird in any way.

[PashaDawg]

I need to find a replacement for shovah. Any suggestions? Any volunteers?

[WraithLord]

I might be willing. Though at the time I've considered subbing for another player and consequently have taken a look at one of his turn files - so this may disqualify me.

[Zeldor]

I am not sure if it really matters. Taking over Shovah would be just one task to do.

[WraithLord]

Your call guys. I just want to land a hand to you all and to Pasha, the greatest (human) PBEM host ever :)

[cleveland]

to Pasha, the greatest (human) PBEM host ever :)

Hear, hear!

[Micah]

What does Shovah have? Must be pretty serious if he's still sick, it's been a week or two now, no?

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

Turn 63 is out.

Do you guys wish to continue? If yes, how about Sunday for the next deadline?

Thanks.

Pasha

[PashaDawg]

Hello:

It sounds like everyone is agreeable to calling this game a draw, and so I hereby draw it so!

If anybody wants copies of game turns, I'd be happy to share them. (I am sending Micah a few game turns today.)

Thanks.

Pasha

[Zeldor]

Post a list of players :)

[WraithLord]

Please send me some game turns. 10x.

So who drawed?

[Zeldor]

Everyone :) But I proclaim Ulm as a moral winner. Beating ugly odds and preventing evil Atlantis from victory, saving the world that did not even care...

[WraithLord]

congrats all :)

So when's the new RAND? ;)

[PashaDawg]

The final players:

1. Zeldor = Ulm
2. Micah = Atlantis
3. vfb = Vanheim (originally Calmon)
4. Cleveland = Kailasa (originally Callahan)
5. Lingchih = Ermor (originally QM)
6. Don Corazon = Sauromatia

I think I will wait to host another game until after Land Rand is done. :)

Thanks all.

Pasha

[DonCorazon]

The Sad Saga of Sauro

I had never played Sauro before this game and had only played a couple times in the EA so I’d certainly do things differently knowing what I know now.

My original goal was to rush Atlantis with my Gorgon and some UW gear, thinking they would be easy targets. I got diverted though when my Gorgon, the only E mage in my nation, could not find a single E income site or any E mages, and started sweating what a game might look like w/o Dwarven Hammers. So I kept looking for E sites instead of plunging into the water with her and when my rapid expansion landed close to the gates of Agartha, I figured their Earth income made for a worthy diversion rather than muddle in the murky depths of Atlantis.

Agartha was a soft juicy target for my pointy venom coated arrows, but unfortunately, Atlantis, who would be my doom this game, had arrived their first. I hadn’t spent much time looking at Atlantis – mentally I had them bucketed with their MA brethren which I had heard were worthless. So it was to my chagrin when I saw they had these killer recruitable SCs. Regenerating, revinvigorating, not undead, with ultra high protection, high MR, etc – they sliced through my guys like butter.

None of my units had the HP to go head to head with these beasts and they dominated and demoralized me. Only once was I able to beat a few of them with some Duskdagger wielding Banes, but my foe quickly switched gear to anti-undead Scourges and the Bane forces were neutralized.

I went back and forth with Atlantis raiding my lands - his guys had winged boots and he had some Astral mages shrouding them out. I tried to keep the mercenary Air mage out of his hands but he still seemed to have them well kitted. My resources were sapped away, along with my morale as I watched the border with Ermor grow fortified.

I had moved many of my main forces to a fort west of my capital, where I had the chalice to keep my tart factory away from foreign eye. When Atlantis landed on my shores I did not expect him to bee-line for my capital (for some reason I don’t recall now why, I thought QM was playing Atlantis, and in my experience he normally probes first before he swings the axe). Little did I know it was Micah, and he storms in swinging the axe like a stone cold killer. I thought about abandoning my capital but decided to conjure up a storm of chaffe with the Ancestor spell but that just got nuked in an Acid Storm bath. Sigh….

Meanwhile, Ermorian forces were mobilizing on my borders, Atlantis raids were draining my coffers, and then DonCorazoncita was born and it was all I could do to hang on. A scout took the Chalice north to keep it out of enemy hands as long as possible and the mighty Sauro fell into irreparable decline….

______________

Part of my build was taking Luck scales and hoping to get some magic diversity through Sauro’s heroes. In my test games, always seemed to get them early on but remarkably in this game, I never got a single hero, even with ultra pumped Luck dominion. In fact, I actually had my labs burn down twice, once in a really critical moment.

I still am not sure how I could have stopped those BKs other than just rushing Atlantis early on with the Gorgon as I had originally intended. Stellar cascades might have worked but I did not invest in enough of the expensive, non-sacred S mages plus its tough moving communions around…

Anyway, it was a fun game (at first). Frustrating though, with a lot of mistakes.

GG all.

Pasha – thanks for hosting – I’d like to see the turn files whenever you have a chance.

cheers!

[Micah]

Atlantis: A study in frustration

So, time for the glorious AAR of the bottom-dwellers. What a game.

To begin, I looked upon the mighty forces at my disposal. After about 3 seconds I realized that the only thing the entire nation has going for it is the basalt kings, especially given the ability of my neighbors to rain down poison arrows or lightning evocations into the ranks of my painfully slow national troops. So, Basalt kings it was. They have painfully high encumbrance for a unit that really wants to be quickened, and obviously they want regen. So, a bless was in order. Looking at the national "magic" it was also painfully obvious that I would need a rainbow pretender, and thus my only choice was the lobster archmage.

I decided that I would need an explosive start to the game to leverage my early SC potential before counters were in place, and thus I settled on an awake pretender to speed my research to construction 4. There was a slight design point shortfall at this point, since I needed order since I wanted to make a king a turn from about turn 5 onward, and the gold was important, and I had gutted my other scales already. I was forced to choose to take death or drain. Drain won out since I didn't see the wisdom of nuking my nice underwater breadbasket with death scales, and I figured I would not be too impacted by magic scale either way since all of my researchers were high cost/high RP mages, so the magic scale was less important than with nearly any other nation. I was banking on using my pretender's early research to quickly bump up to construction-6 for lightless lanterns to offset Atlantis' abysmal research anyhow, so I figured that getting lanterns researched sooner by having an awake, 30 RP pretender would largely offset the drain penalty. This all went as planned, except for not having any F income to speak of. This would be my undoing.

The game opened as planned. I researched straight up to cons 4 with my pretender, popped out some gear, site searched the water with my basalt kings, lucked out and got a nice 1500g event and some pearls, along with the amazing luck to get the national nature magic hero with my misfortune-2 pick and rumbled on into the crippled Agartha (which had been my plan from the beginning, rush Agartha, kill his assumed SC pretender with 5 quickened BK's with fire brands and then get into the water on the far side of the map.) I start site searching in the water with my hero and get some nice income, but no free forts.

Agartha is crushed, as planned, but I had been planning to recruit traitorous pales ones in the caverns to siege the walls, as they are incredibly good at it and extremely low-resource troops. Luck was not with me in this, though, and all of the indy troop types in the 5 cavern provinces I had crossed were completely worthless for sieges. I was forced to recruit troops from back in the water and begin marching them eastward, ever so slowly.

At this point the endless, pointless harassment of my nation began. Arco tried seducing my attack force with several orieads, killing off many of my kings and losing one or two seducers himself, with nothing to show for it as far as I could tell...there was no followup attack or attempt to take over Agartha, just a large-scale screwjob.

Sauro decided to sweep into Agartha after I lost my siege from arco. I had no choice but to attack him, although I really didn't want to start a fight. Without Agartha and access to the water in the east, as well as a way to pay arco back, I knew the game would be a loss. I successfully mopped up sauro's army with my second wave of BKs, as the shields of gleaming gold I had outfitted them with shut down his poison archers almost completely, and the bless regen finished the job. I crossed my fingers and hoped that he would write off the loss as a failed poaching effort, especially since he had little to gain by attacking me (just two coastal provinces and the tunnel to agartha) and I didn't kill anything particularly valuable.

After re-securing agartha I took my revenge on Arco, pushing him back to his cap in short order, but then not being able to finish the job for ages since I already had one siege too many on my hands with Agartha's cap. I ended up getting gate cleavers before mustering up enough of an army to successfully bring down Agartha's walls. Just as I was about to break through Sauro attacked me, pushing me off the siege AGAIN, from what I recall. Things looked grim for the Atlantis timeline, although casualties had been light, only losing kings to the great Arcossian massacre thus far.

More to come in part 2.

[Calahan]

Kailasa AAR
Some Luck, Some Luck, all the Monkeys in my Kingdom for Some Luck
Prologue

The Overlooked Pretender

With the players found, and battlelines drawn, the Great Pasha did continue his series of RAND games by handing out the straws for the coming battle. And I got handed the novelty Monkey shaped straw. Not the best nation on offer, nor the worst, a good mid-nation for this game I felt. So Kailasa. Never looked at them in-depth before, but knew their uber Monkey troops were handicapped somewhat with half-decent sacreds and recruitable (blessable) capital thugs. Plus of course the well known and very nice, but Astral heavy, national summons. After a quick bit of play-testing, I settled for trying to setup a mass clamming base as soon as possible to leverage the National summons, and to that effect, decided upon an awake Mother of Rivers for maximum water gem income.

So, I was happily going about my expansion testing, forming and perfecting various mid/late game strategies, and getting used to the map which I'd never played on before (see Chapter 1). Then at the 10th hour, Proposition 164c was offered to the participants.

Proposition 164c - "Gem gens shall be made unique for this game"
(for the readers, this game started before the now standard unique gem gens that is part of CBM 1.6+).

For the record, I voted against making gem gens unique for this game. Not because I disagreed with the concept (since I totally agree with it), but more the fact that the decision to make gem gens unique for this game came after the drawing of nations. Which it not a great order of doing things really, since some nations are no doubt affected more than others by unique gem gens, and the option was there for this game to vote according to which nation you had, rather than voting purely on the idea itself.

Since as it turned out, I was guilty of voting against an idea I fully support purely because of the nation I was handed. Which was a decision further polarised due to the unfortunate problem of me already having used up 90% of the testing time I had available before the start date, on what was potentially threatening to be, a totally useless build.


The Chosen One is Found

Upon the clock striking the 11th hour, news came from above that Proposition 164c had indeed been passed. Trouble. Big trouble. Partly because I needed to re-think my whole strategy for the game, and almost entirely because real life wasn't going to allow me any time to do that, yet alone play-test what I came up with. So my build would be mostly done on theory-Dominions, and for the first time while creating a Pretender, I turned to the guides for some ideas, and eventually settled upon a heavy bless strategy for the sacreds with an imprisoned Oracle A5W6S9N4, which I seen mentioned somewhere (although not these exact paths). For the scales I opted for the extremes of O3S3F3D3L3M1 and Dominion7.

Sloth 3, Fire 3, Magic 1 were no brainers. As for Order3 Death3 Luck3....

My initial thoughts were that my early gold requirements would be higher than normal, due to expensive mages and sacreds, so Order3 to help that out. Also hoped to pick up some nice early gold windfalls with Luck3 (yeah right!), plus I imagined my gem needs would start overtaking my gold needs as I phased out the sacred troops, so again Luck3 for extra gems (ha!).

Another factor was that I felt the smaller map would increase the value of Luck, since less chance of hitting the four events limit (read zero event limit). And of course even though my Monkey PD could easily handle any and every Tart thrown at it, I didn't want to wear the little guys out, so thought Luck3 would again be useful for the Markata's to get some peaceful barb-free leisure time to practise their SC killing skills.

Death3 was more of a risk, but thought it was worth it since supplies weren't a problem with so many Nature mages on hand, plus a smaller map would likely mean a shorter game, so less time for income loss to kick in. I was also hoping to bag a Death Mage with the random event that triggers with Death+Luck (+ maybe Magic) scales. Also, there's an extra big cash event with the Death+Luck combo (dying Prince or some such), which would be really useful to get early on. Plus I'd heard good things about Order3 Luck3 working well together to maximise both gold and gem income. (I don't really want to say those are all lies but, those are all lies!!!)

In hindsight, almost this entire theory turned out to be wrong in this game. As Order3 Luck3 just doesn't, or didn't here at least, produce the events to make it work (maybe it starts paying off once you hit 30+ provinces, but that defeats the objective of trying to use it to get an early cash boost), and those sacreds are damn damn expensive!!!


Initial Thoughts and Planning

So with no real testing done other than expansion, the game kicked off. What testing I did do showed me that a handful of sacreds (4-5) could take practically any Indy apart from the special Pisachas and Ganas province which appears now and again. Since the ethereal Ganas slowed the killing down, and both have high morale to negate the Awe on the sacreds. The map suggested to me that my closest neighbour, C'tis, was going to beeline for (114) to secure all the East provinces, meaning that it was essential that I beeline for (107) to try and claim a chunk of provinces down the East side of the central mountain (95) (84) (74). Otherwise, I would likely find myself with just ~10 provinces, since expanding too far West was going to run into 2-3 competitors, which I wanted to avoid in the early stages, or at least until I knew what C'tis were up to. I was also apprehensive about rushing C'tis until I knew what Pretender they had. Since EA C'tis usually means an awake SC, plus skelly spam is a natural counter to my sacreds (although I could always turn to archers to deal with that, but harder to rush with Archers).

My tentative early-game plan involved hitting a few low level goals like Eagle Eyes, Blade Wind and Summon Earth Power for battles, after which I'd be happy to engage C'tis (with Blade Wind used to answer skelly spam, and as a substitute for Archers). Since I'd be sure to have, and need, a lot of mages in the field to both lead (as they're Magic Beings) and bless the Sacreds. Then Construction 4, and a trace of Alt/Thau/Ench for Thug buffs.

Further ahead to mid-game, I thought I had a chance to grab three early low-level globals with Gift of Health, Mother Oak and Dark Skies. The latter to supercharge the awe on my sacreds, and to be put up as soon as my Pretender awoke. Since I was sure to have 30 Air gems by then from events or the odd site (Dreeeeeeeaaaaming. Dream dream dreaming). Finally, and depending on what was happening, power onto either Alt9 for the "Army Of" spells and Wish, or Conj9 for the National summons and Tarts

I wasn't too happy about having two uncovered magic paths, Fire and Death. Fire I was intending to suck up the 50 gems (that never appeared) to empower. And Death I had some hopes of grabbing a Mage from a random event as mentioned, otherwise it would again be another suck-up empower job. But I figured I'd get a good Death income from the C'tis capital (since I'd either have captured it by mid-game, or I'd be dead) so I had less worry about where the 50 Death gems were coming from. Empowering a nature mage would also solve my Death mage problems by giving me access the Lamia Queens, which I could hopefully use to summon Tarts to leverage my Gift of Health. If everything went to plan of course :-)

(rhetorical question - Has anyone's plans ever once gone to plan?!?)


Chapter 1 to follow........