Crusaders - Mod Heavy Ea game [Game Over - Kietsensei wins!]

[shard]

Sorry for missing the last turn, i got my timezones all wrong.

Next turn should be in though

[Gregstrom]

Strabo: how many Pontifices etc. were meant to be in that breakout attempt? I got the feeling it could have been a much closer fight than it was.

[Strabo]

9-14. I don't remember precisely

[Gregstrom]

I think I got lucky with spells then...

[llamabeast]

I'm back! I sneakily just granted myself a 7 hour postponement so I can take over from Baalz this turn - hope noone minds too much.

[Gregstrom]

I'll forgive you :)

Welcome back, llamabeast! I'm afraid I missed your show due to evil boss sending me to Dundee all week :(

Well, that and the Gathering, anyway.

[Strabo]

Well, I'm defeated. Thanks for a good game :)

[Gregstrom]

Thanks for sticking it out to the very end! I'd feel guilty about whst I did to your breakout attempt 2 turns ago, if it hadn't been so effective :)

[Aethyr]

This game has run its course for me. In the end, the long war with Sauro proved to be my undoing. I'm setting myself to AI this turn.

Good job Shard.

[Amonchakad]

Speaking of game overs, I've been in this "terminal illness" situation for what, 15 turns now?
Cmon Llama, finish me already:p

[Kietsensei]

Sorry to see you go Aethyr. I hope to see you soon on another game ;)

[Gregstrom]

Wanted: Rings of sorcery/wizardry. Any reasonable fees will be paid.

[llamabeast]

I'm going away for a long weekend this weekend. I've sent in this turn, but I'll need a 46 hour extension on *next* turn. I've ingenious arranged that by virtue of setting the turn timer to be 94 hours.

After this I will stop being a delay pest, sorry!

[llamabeast]

Apologies all, I made a big noob error and accidentally forced hosting just after the game hosted. I've rolled it back, so take no notice.

[shard]

The warriors of Sauromatia have repulsed the watery invaders from the gates of their capital, inflicting heavy losses on the lying, backstabbing scum despite being vastly outnumbered. We are rebuilding the fortifications for the next wave of assaults. Any and all aid is welcome, particularly in the form of death, nature or air gems, or the odd runesmasher/mr penetrator so that little shadow blast can go that extra mile. We will even offer screenies of the battle!

[Anthropos]

well thats the second time i sent in my turn on time and it didnt get processed
this time it cost me a major battle, initiative and many many lost opportunities

sorry to put up so little fight abysia
if my turn had been processed things would have gone very differently

[Kietsensei]

It is true you have repelled one of the army of Oceania and that mermaids aren't that great fighters on the land without their hypocamp mount. Both side suffered heavy losses but reinforcement are on their way...

[Gregstrom]

Thugs sneaking through my territory? I am not entirely pleased, Tir.

[Anthropos]

I did not realise
a) just how much time a week this game would take
and
b) just how random the outcome can be (eg last turns stale result)

While I am sorry for throwing out the balance of power, I am no longer interested in playing.

If anyone would like to take over for me, please let me know.

I will also post this on the main forum asking for subs.

[Gregstrom]

In other news, could I have a 24h delay please? Real life is catching up with me at the moment.

[llamabeast]

I see the e-mail address for T'ien Ch'i has been changed - do we have a sub?

[binarysolo]

Hey all -- I'm a sub for anthropos and I'd like at least a 24hr delay just to get up to speed, understand the different mods, get a briefing of the geopolitical situations (and whatever treaties need to be respected), and what not.

I'd ideally like to be a temporary sub given that I'm already heavily invested in another game right now, but I know anthropos has a lot of RL stuff to deal with so I'd offer him a bit of help.

re: .2h file received on the Game Status... AFAIK neither he nor I submitted a .2h file, so if there's anyway to unsend the file so that the turn doesn't get proc'd till I send my belated file that'll be awesome. :)

[llamabeast]

Looks like Amonchakad has granted the 24 hour extension.

As for the "2h file received", I can't actually do anything about that at the moment, but I've turned off quickhost so the server will not host before the listed hosting time. Hence you have plenty of time to send in your own 2h file.

[llamabeast]

Also, thanks for subbing binarysolo!

[Gregstrom]

Arse. Thanks to work issues mentioned elsewhere (redundancy forum rep, and trying to be a floorwalker in a slightly troubled tech rollout at the same time), I don't have the time to give my turns the attention they deserve. I'm going to have to put myself up for a sub. If anyone knows of a potential sub for Lanka, mention this to them.

[binarysolo]

Hey all,

Given that I can't reach Anthropos in time for a brief diplo overview, can people kindly inform me of their standing to Tien Chi via PM?

Only clear diplomatic positions to me are war against Helheim and Abyssia, and I have no idea who are the allies/NAPers.

====

To the Esteemed Gods of the Land:

The former power behind the throne, Anthropos, has fallen, and I, BinarySo... uhm, Wei-Han, of the House of Chang, shall be lord regent to Zhoukou, the Teacher of Philosophy, Ruler of the Ocean's Surface, and Master of the Happy Hamster Dance.

To Abyssia I ask for a 1-turn ceasefire as I consult the grand scribes of ancestral tradition for the resolution of our borders.

To allies of old, I ask for a return to the glory days of friendship.

To enemies, I ask for a reconsideration of slights, now buried away with the rotting corpse of the previous regent.

And to all, a brighter future!

-Tien Chi

[binarysolo]

Actually, Abyssia -- I won't impose and ask for a newbie ceasefire... though lemme know if this war is going toward an inevitable escalation or what not. I am more than receptive toward more peaceful possibilities.

Till then, I hope for some good collaboration from allies and friends. :)

[binarysolo]

Welps... I guess I didn't screw up THAT badly as far as first turns go. :)

Kindly do let me know where people stand diplomatically towards Tien Chi though... I heard from all of one person and haven't been able to access Anthropos much at all.

[Dragar]

Hey binary, thanks for subbing in

The war started only two turns back, TC attacked Abysia, and we've regained the province taken. you can have a turn's grace!

[binarysolo]

Thanks Dragar for the offer, but I got the game and the mods a bit more now, so I don't need that extra turn of time to get ready. (Besides, I think I mindhunted that problematic caster of yours already... :) ).

Ironically, I think anthropos has found a full-timer to sub so my capacity here will be somewhat limited, probably for another round or two. Oh well, hip hip cherrio all!

[binarysolo]

Hrm, weird it says I didn't submit .trn yet... lemme try again right before the time cutoff...

Edit: Never mind - I'm playing Arcoscephale in a different game and keep checking the status of that nation instead. Durrrr.

[llamabeast]

Apologies for the sneak attack binarysolo - I'd been planning it for ages.

[Kietsensei]

This province seems to produce a nice gem income ;)

[Gregstrom]

Algaenymph has kindly stepped up to sub in for me, for which many thanks are due. Please treat him with all the respect/fear he is due as Lanka's new ruler.

[binarysolo]

Apologies for the sneak attack binarysolo - I'd been planning it for ages.

Oh no worries! I played EA Arcoscephale in another game and used Oreiads to pull off a similar stunt (incidentally, also on Tien Chi). I don't think we have an NAP-3 either (at least Anthropos didn't tell me so), and even if we did, all's fair in love and Dom3. :) I'm fine with the whole used-car-salesman approach to diplomacy... while I don't necessarily subscribe to it, it really adds another level to the game. And the timing of it to meta-game things is understandably a coincidence, so that's cool.

Now that multi-province attack really convinced me to play a few more turns before passing it to the permasub, SciencePro (fellow noob and RL friend). Cause that sure as hell is expensive raiding, using up all those decked out Sidhe Lords like that, and I can't wait to see what kind of devilry you'll conjure up the next few turns to mess me up. :) Are you gonna Faery Trod armies in? Are you gonna try to find my research centers and lay waste to them using high level overland spells? ...ooh, questions, questions. :)


In other uncorrelated news -- I need to ask for a 24 hr delay because I can't access my Dom3 unit till Sunday. :( I'll send the game admin a msg as well...

[llamabeast]

Hmm... we shall see what will happen.

Are you sure you need 24 hrs? It's just that the game is hosting on Sunday night anyway (European time). I'm quite happy to do a postponement if you want though.

Also, I've just set algaenymph as the new player for Lanka - welcome algaenymph!

[Amonchakad]

Hmm... we shall see what will happen.

Are you sure you need 24 hrs? It's just that the game is hosting on Sunday night anyway (European time). I'm quite happy to do a postponement if you want though.

Also, I've just set algaenymph as the new player for Lanka - welcome algaenymph!

Llama...if you want to admin this game, it's no problem at all, but just tell me, so we don't end up both making the same change twice:o

[llamabeast]

Ah... sorry Amonchakad. I've just been doing things when I happen to see them. I always check the admin log (Admin options -> Admin log) first so as to make sure I don't repeat you, but I hope I haven't come across as rude. As for the sub, algaenymph just happened to PM me.

To be honest I'm super impressed that you've carried on admining when for you this game's been an odd one to say the least! (I can't tell you how embarrassed I am by my endless Eastern debacle against you and Yomi - will it never end??). Anyway, I appreciate you keeping an eye out and carrying on admining, but also I am happy to take over if you want to move on.

[binarysolo]

Hey, sorry to depart the game so quickly, but it looks like my permasub is more than ready to start already, and so has already submitted a turn for Tien Chi. I assume a difference of emails doesn't muck up the turn.

Anyways, kindly welcome SciencePro as yer new liaison to Tien Chi. :) I updated him as to what's going on diplomatically.

[SciencePro]

Greetings from the new emperor of Tien Chi.

If anyone is interested in trading i am offering F,A, or W gems if anyone has S they can spare.

[AlgaeNymph]

I thought I sent in my turn!

Could we roll the game back a turn, please? I have everything all set up and ready to go, it won't be long. If anyone's worried about having to do their turn all over again, just use the last .trn file and the .2h you sent.

Also, could we please have the turn warning be 12 hours instead of six?

[shard]

The Reign of the Mad Witch King comes to an end.










...or maybe not?

[Amonchakad]

I thought I sent in my turn!

Could we roll the game back a turn, please? I have everything all set up and ready to go, it won't be long. If anyone's worried about having to do their turn all over again, just use the last .trn file and the .2h you sent.

Also, could we please have the turn warning be 12 hours instead of six?

Well... I don't know if the other players would accept a rollback. They probably already got to see their new turn...and I'm sure that many would be upset by the changes in random events anda battles, especially at this point of the game. What do others say? It's acceptable to rollback?

In other news, I'm setting Arcoscephale to AI. I apologize for waiting so long, considering that I could never get myself to do the turn, and I've been in a "waiting to die" position for so long.

[Kietsensei]

I think a rollback won't be possible considering all battle results and random events involved in a turn. Imagine your 25MR SC dying to a single desintegrate spell or a nasty death event in your capitol after a rollback and that nothing like that happened before the rollback...
And I am not even talking of players changing their order on the strategic map or battelfield now that they can predict the move of their opponents.

[AlgaeNymph]

I don't think it's quite that perilous. From what I've read, the situation is basically Tir overwhelming everything. Are there any other big wars going on?

Also, could we go with 72 hour hosting? It'll let us space out our micromanaging more.

[AlgaeNymph]

The turn's going to be this Friday, so I'd like to see everyone's opinions as soon as possible. I don't want to ask for delays (and get dirty looks) or micromanage at the last minute.

[AlgaeNymph]

I've just been informed that the whole world (but me) is at war, so...never mind.

It even turns out that- no, that'd be telling ;)

Also, a big thank you to Amonchakad for extending the warning time. :)

[Kietsensei]

After many years of bloody conflicts, the last witch kings of Sauromatia has been killed and their false fountain idol has been destroyed. The time of necromancy and cannibalism is over!

Thank you Shard for this interesting war and see you on another game soon (vicious circle3 ;)) Your poisonned arrows definitly gave me a hard time!

[shard]

Good game all and please don't take my in-game ramblings too seriously. Oh, but you can take to heart that I will do my best to make people who attack me pay :D

I'll probably have to tone down all this aggressive early expansion in future games with graphs on :p

[llamabeast]

Gosh Oceania, I thought we had a 5-turn NAP! Should have known better than to trust water dwellers... still, it seems lady luck is on my side with my fortuitous smiting of your air queen.

[SciencePro]

Gosh Oceania, I thought we had a 5-turn NAP! Should have known better than to trust water dwellers... still, it seems lady luck is on my side with my fortuitous smiting of your air queen.

well when you live by the sneak attack...

[Kietsensei]

Gosh Oceania, I thought we had a 5-turn NAP! Should have known better than to trust water dwellers... still, it seems lady luck is on my side with my fortuitous smiting of your air queen.

Surely it is a misunderstanding... we had a nap for a 5 turn duration that has expired for a long time ago already and that has never been renewed. I would have never signed for a pact with a 5 turn of warning before breaking. I feel sorry if you understood something else.
By the way what did you mean with the air queen?

[Amonchakad]

Kiet, I didn't search the thread to see if it's effectively this way, but if you agreed to a "X turns NAP", that means a NAP which is permanent until one of the two wants to break it, in which case he must warn the opponents X turns BEFORE attacking.

[llamabeast]

Yeah, I understood it to mean a 5-turn warning period, since that is a standard meaning for "5-turn NAP". Not a problem though, I don't mind.

I believed I had successfully Mind Hunted an Air Queen. Did I not?

[llamabeast]

Also Amonchakad, you may be interested to hear that Arco has broken out AGAIN and captured five or six of my provinces. I have finally got an army bearing down on them though - the rebellion will be stamped out once and for all!!

[Kietsensei]

Dear Sidhe Lords of Tir Na N'og, you have all my sympathy for the battle in Helheim ;) Even if their rightful leaders have surrendered, the regents of Arcocephale and Helheim are surprisingly resilient and quite hard to defeat.

[llamabeast]

Aieeeeee!

SO frustrating. I mean, my own fault for not having more troops, but to forget to leave a single commander behind so they didn't all die on the retreat... deeply painful. :(

[llamabeast]

Hi all, apologies for the extraordinary delay in my taking my turn. I've been quite under the weather and unable to muster the required concentration. Again, many apologies for keeping you waiting. Should be able to take it tomorrow I hope.

[SciencePro]

Don't sweat it, man! Its your hard work that makes all these games possible anyway. Feel better soon!

[llamabeast]

AlgaeNymph (you're playing Lanka right?) - unfortunately I can't properly watch our battle in Yomi because my computer's too slow! But I have to know - did I do you some damage??

[AlgaeNymph]

Not really. You did curse some thugs though, and the injuries will take a while to heal.

[Kietsensei]

You managed to kill undead chaff and some raksh demons. But I was surprised that your pretender didn't do more dmg

[SciencePro]

Crap i just realized i am stuck at work and forgot to submit my 2H file. could I have a six hour extension please if you get this in time?

[Amonchakad]

Crap i just realized i am stuck at work and forgot to submit my 2H file. could I have a six hour extension please if you get this in time?

Duly noted and executed.

By the way, how's the game going? It's kinda odd admining a game of which I have no information whatsoever:p

[SciencePro]

Thanks for the help!

The game is going okay. Lots of fighting going on. Oceania seems to be winning at the moment.

[Kietsensei]

I have bad news for you, the Sidhs have hung the last rebel of arcocephale :smirk:

[llamabeast]

Gave myself a 24 hour postponement.

I'm really having trouble keeping up with the 48 hour schedule. Would anyone else favour a move to 72 hours?

[AlgaeNymph]

Me!

[Kietsensei]

The game is starting to require a lot of micromanagement and thinking so I am not against a 72h quickhost after this turn.
Even if you gave yourself a 24h delay I hope you will be able to send your turn tonight Llama :)

[SciencePro]

yeah sure 72 is fine. There is only an hour left on the timer, Llama, are you sure your extension went through?

[Kietsensei]

Algaenymph, that was a nice counter attack. The poor queen didn't even have time to regen! :o At least know I know how some of your bloodslaves were used for. It is time to hire some vampire hunters to stop this new threat

[Amonchakad]

Changed hosting to 72 hours due to popular request.

[llamabeast]

Aieee, extension failed! Staling debacle!

I'll have to look into whether it was user bungling or some kind of fault. My general assumption is user bungling.

[llamabeast]

Also, thanks Amonchakad.

[Kietsensei]

:( it wasn't a good moment for staling :(

[AlgaeNymph]

I'm mad, not because I lost twice but because I forgot to provide air gems to my daikinis. :mad:

Convince me that I would've lost even with all my powerful air spells provided for and I'll feel much better.

[Kietsensei]

It is hard to say what would have been the result with air gems in the battle. I would have definitly lost more mermaids, which maybe could have forced the big guys to rout. However I doubt the air spell would have been enough to kill them if they don't rout.
I sincerly hope you don't have 2 or 3 more army of demons like the one I defeated in reserve :) It was kinda impressive.
Now I have to find a way to deal with your cute dragon. His regen rate is err above average I would say :eek:

[llamabeast]

Aargh, sorry guys, I forgot to take my turn, so have just given myself a 24 hour postponement.

[Dragar]

requesting a 24hr delay - travelling and won't be able to get this turn in on time

[Amonchakad]

requesting a 24hr delay - travelling and won't be able to get this turn in on time

Done:)

[llamabeast]

I am very impressed at the amount of international cooperation that must have gone into dispelling my Arcane Nexus so fast.

[Dragar]

Requesting 12 hour delay if possible please

[llamabeast]

Oh dear, sorry.

[Kietsensei]

I would like to request a small break until sunday 27th of december as I will be kinda busy and away during Christmas. I hope this will not be too much trouble for everyone.

[SciencePro]

yes i will be away too. can we start back up again on 12-28?

[llamabeast]

I'm away from the 29th Dec till either the 1st or the 3rd Jan. So how about we try to get one turn in by the 28th, and then another one early in the new year, then go back to normal?

By the way, this is proving a REALLY strange game! I've never known one like it, every previous game I've played has been over by turn 60 or so. We seem to be in a massive stalemate. I'm still quite enjoying it as my turns are quick, but I hope no-one is finding it a drag.

[Dragar]

I'm happy with whatever consensus is

[Amonchakad]

Dragar - I was suddenly left without internet for the last 2 days, sorry for not being able to delay the game. A pity that llama missed it too:(

[Kietsensei]

ok for one turn until 28th and then another turn early january.

[Kietsensei]

Don't forget to change the delay to the 28th ;)

[llamabeast]

Done!

[SciencePro]

Crap I could have sworn I sent my turn before I left but I just got a hosting warning. My trip is a bit longer than I thought. I will be back 12-30 so could I get a delay until then please?

[llamabeast]

Done!

[Dragar]

Dragar - I was suddenly left without internet for the last 2 days, sorry for not being able to delay the game. A pity that llama missed it too:(

don't worry, I left it pretty late. No dramas

[AlgaeNymph]

Oh my, it looks like Llama's winning right now. If only he had some opposition...

[llamabeast]

I am INVINCIBLE.

Unfortunately I staled, despite having basically done my turn (saved it to do some tweaks and never sent it in). How annoying.

[AlgaeNymph]

Let's debate over having a rollback!

[AlgaeNymph]

Unless anyone has any great advice on how I can beat Oceania, I'm willing to cede the game rather than micromanage a losing battle against elemental royalty and angels.

[Kietsensei]

If this is becoming too tiresome for you you can turn AI if no one else object. I do understand your situation and would like to salute a brave ennemy. You were in a leading position but you did one fatale mistake: to rely too much on your demons and undead chaff.

[SciencePro]

hmmmm well i threw everything i had against Oceania but he is still too strong.

If dregar or llama still thinks they can stop him then we should continue. But it seems that so far Kietsensei is doing a pretty good job fending all four of us off so far

[Dragar]

Llama should surely be in a position to contest?

[SciencePro]

Well i would think llama should be able to do something with all those awesome globals, but he hasn't gained any provinces lately and oceania keeps going up and up.

I'll keep trowing whatever I have left at oceiania for as long as the game continues, but I am wondering if tir is still really trying?

[Kietsensei]

Llama's strategy is quite easy to understand: the longer Oceania is busy against Lanka and Tien Chi, the closer he will be to win the game. Why should he take any risk when all he has to do is to gather gems and summon nice SCs? Once he feels ready, he will launch one massiv assault to take all my unprotected provinces. Just be patient, it may happen sooner than you expect ;)

[llamabeast]

Don't worry, I'm still trying! My strategy is essentially as Kiet describes, although I'm not as far along as you might think (and I am ashamed to be using such a shockingly turtly strategy, but all my earlier wars were so feeble and I was so close to being crushed by a Lanka-Oceania alliance that I had little choice).

I have no idea what is going on in the rest of the world. I think I only have one surviving scout. Is everyone fighting Oceania? Perhaps I could start supplying gems or items to the beleaguered defenders?

[SciencePro]

okay sounds good. I will keep on fighting until my last unit. I wouldn't worry about sending me anything - you can probably make better use of it yourself.

[Kietsensei]

Oh my, I still cannot believe what I saw last turn...
The two most powerful globals going "poof". :angel

[SciencePro]

looks like i may be going "poof" myself soon. Good game, everyone.

[Kietsensei]

Dear fellow players,

First I would like to thank SciencePro And AlgaeNymph for staying that long even if the game wasn't interesting or entertaining for them anymore.

We have played more than 100 turn now and I would like to know (especially from Llama and Dragar) if they would like to keep playing because they have a good strategy that could reverse the situation or should we stop the game here because the micromanagement (at least for me) is becoming too tedious.

[SciencePro]

I am willing to vote Kietsensei the winner if everyone else is.

[Burnsaber]

This game has been going on suprisingly long and it seems from the posts that it is nearing the end.

Sooo.., once again I'd like to state how awesome it would be for the remaining players to give some feedback on CPCS and Holy War. It's likely that those mods have been in use for more turns in this game than other games combined! I'm certain that you have the valuable data I need to make those mods stronger, faster and better.

Are the spells in CPCS usable? Are they too usable (as in broken)? Were the Holy War sites useless, too useful? Did someone win just because of units/spells supported by those mods?

See my signature for links to the appropiate mod threads.

[Kietsensei]

I will send you a review and commentary on all the new spells/units/site I used during this game. I just need to find the time to write a good report :) But I can already tell you that the holy mod changed a lot the way I used priests. The cheap holy 3 priests replaced most of my battlefield mages.

Spells like divine armement and especially Holy warrior makes some spells like mistform and body etheral completely useless. As a result, nations relying heavily on light thugs to raid have some difficulty and must find a new strategy.

Divine wrath is an awesome spell and can replace easily the standard desintegrate spam.

A single thuged sidhe lord have a very good chance of dying against an oceanian pd of 10 if it is backed by a lvl 3 priest.

[Dragar]

I'm very happy to stop, only hanging in to keep it interesting for oceania and tir if they want to

I did enjoy reclaiming my globals the past few turns though :)

[Kietsensei]

Llama has been stalling for the last two or three turns. So the only one left who should voice his opinion is Algaenymph. It would be great to know before the next turn if we keep going on or we stop here.

[AlgaeNymph]

I think stopping would be a good idea.

[SciencePro]

Okay then it seems like its unanimous.

Congrats to the winner: Kietsensei of Oceania

Good game, everyone.

[Burnsaber]

I will send you a review and commentary on all the new spells/units/site I used during this game. I just need to find the time to write a good report :) But I can already tell you that the holy mod changed a lot the way I used priests. The cheap holy 3 priests replaced most of my battlefield mages.

Spells like divine armement and especially Holy warrior makes some spells like mistform and body etheral completely useless. As a result, nations relying heavily on light thugs to raid have some difficulty and must find a new strategy.

Divine wrath is an awesome spell and can replace easily the standard desintegrate spam.

A single thuged sidhe lord have a very good chance of dying against an oceanian pd of 10 if it is backed by a lvl 3 priest.

Thanks. I'm looking forward to reading your report.

You seemed to get a lot of mileage out of the holy spells, that's pretty good (Considering that you are Oceania and you wouldn't have had much battle magic the classic way). One thing I'm worried about is the Divine Wrath vs Disintegrate comment, I'll likely done it down a bit. Most likely by replacing the nextspell so that it doesn't force that many mr checks.

[Kietsensei]

Thanks everyone for the game. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed it :D
Crusader was my first MP experience and I learned a lot with this game.

[llamabeast]

Hello! Many apologies for my silence, I meant to respond here straight away but have had a hectic few days with little time near my computer.

Kietsensei - you have indeed clearly won. Congratulations, and very well played. I hope you enjoyed the game.

Everyone - this was by far the longest game of Dom3 I have ever played, and I have played a lot of games. So if you found that it dragged, don't be put off! It was quite an extraordinary long stalemate at the end there, in which I believe several of us were simply sitting there biding our time.

Apologies to have put up no resistance at the end. Believe it or not, I had essentially nothing to throw at you. Really. Actually, I have never ever played so catastrophically poorly in a game before. At almost every stage after the beginning I was appalling. I shall elaborate.

The beginning went well enough. I expanded quite fast, using parties of double blessed S9A9 Tuatha sacreds. I met and made an NAP with Abysia to the north, and then encountered Arcoscephale to the east. I planned to attack Arco, but before I could do so he was overwhelmed by Yomi. I decided to attack Yomi, and I think did quite a good job of crippling his economy without a single fair fight. I had little parties of Tuatha all through his land, constantly taking provinces and then moving on. I would very probably have lost in a fair fight, but soon enough Yomi was reduced to a few scattered troops and a handful of provinces, while still fighting Arco who was also down to a couple of provinces.

Then came a ghastly, ghastly land-war-in-Russia period of twenty turns or more(!!), in which I tried to stamp out the last remnants of Yomi and Arcoscephale. In the hands of any competent player it would have been trivial, but I kept on bungling attacks, failing to storm forts despite having greatly superior forces (leading to the troops inside bursting out to capture land once again) and so on. Catastrophic. By the time that was over my development was a mess.

However I had developed very effective Sidhe thugs (that I had never tried before) and I was a world power in terms of income. Arrogantly I decided I could take down T'ien Ch'i, so I set about doing so. I poured huge amounts of resources into kitting and cloud trapezing thugs onto T'ien Chi's land - maybe as many as twenty in the end, with eight taking part in the initial surprise attack. The initial attack went very well indeed, with most provinces captured, and I was sure T'ien Ch'i was doomed. At this point a new player took over and I felt sorry for him. However he quickly took decisive action and hunted down my "invincible" thugs, killing them off one by one. I had failed to provide any effective backup for them, and soon my attack was a mess. However I finally managed to research Gateway and brought in a huge army to the very north of the map. Seeing the failure of my war on T'ien Ch'i I diverted the army to Helheim's unguarded capital (his last remaining province) and laid siege to it. A couple of turns later I tried to storm the castle. I forget exactly what went wrong now, but it was a catastrophe of epic proportions and horribly frustrating (also completely my own fault). My entire northern army was lost to a man, including tens of irreplaceable Tuatha Sorceresses.

Then, back in the south, bad things happened. I forget exactly how it went, but it was something along the lines of Oceania and Lanka teaming up to stomp me. Lanka invaded me with a huge army of many hundreds of undead, while Oceania managed to nick Arcoscephale's capital literally a turn before I was about to _finally_ capture it, reducing me nearly to tears. Somehow I managed some rather pleasing diplomatic turnaround (I think logic was on my side to be fair) and Oceania changed sides. With Oceania attacking his homeland Lanka was unable to properly support his invading army, which I gradually killed off, while my Sidhe Lord thugs proved easily able to kill his (Devala?) thugs with Cleansing Bells. The Lankan attack was repelled, Arcoscephale was transferred from Oceanian hands, and all the land claimed by Tir na n'Og since about turn 20 was finally restored.

It was clear now that I couldn't win in any fair way. My wars had been a series of shambles, and I had nothing like the strength expected for that stage of the game. My only remaining option was to be a complete weasel. So, I decided to go for Arcane Nexus (which, for future reference, I now think should be banned). A ridiculously overpowered spell, once I had it up I had ~100 pearls coming in from it a turn. Via wishes for gems, this translated to an extra turnly income of 25 of each gem type.

I could see it would still take me a long time to convert my gems into power, so I set about creating an invincible fortress. Choosing a random castle in what used to be Arcoscephale, where my pretender had ended up during the war against Lanka, I dug in. I put up all the domes apart from the blood one, brought in literally all my mages, and trained about 1000 troops to occupy it. I also had ~20-30 engineers from a nearby site, adding 30 more siege resistance each. As far as I was concerned I was invincible there.

I then set about systematically putting up all the most powerful globals I could. Gift of Health, Well of Misery, Forge of the Ancients, and finally Burden of Time. This last one I was hoping would cause huge problems for everyone but me, but in fact it seems to have been a bit disappointing.

I funnelled all my new gems into building up a decent magical setup. I summoned three Ether Lords and empowered two of them to be able to cast Wish. I also got five Demiliches summoned, and began equipping them to cast Tartarian Gate. I Wished for the Chalice, so as to have a monopoly on Tartarian healing. I used the Forge to start mass-producing clams. I got to about 20 when the final disaster happened.

Abysia must have had a LOT of gems. When he put two of his globals up (which I think I had been responsible for dispelling before) he knocked out both Arcane Nexus and the Forge. On the same turn I had had a huge spending spree, and used up my entire stock of pearls, mainly on empowerments. So in order to try to put it back up, I alchemisted literally all my remaining gems, recasting the Nexus with 400 gems. It failed.

I was now in the position of having a colossal horde of mages stuck in a fort, with a load of mundane troops, but no late game power to speak of. A had a single Tartarian, a manticore, and a load of Ether soldiers. I could cast Mass Protection and Fog Warriors, but little else, as I still hadn't finished research. In the meantime Oceania had started pouring into my lands (having conquered most of the rest of the world). So I guess when a few busy days happened, the motivation to take my turns wasn't quite there...

Well played again everyone, especially Kietsensei, and many props to everyone for sticking out the long late game. Hope to meet you again in-game sometime.