GotM: Gardens of the Moon, Game Over: WL wins.

[WraithLord]

Oh I think the giant's heydays of skull smashing are soon to be over. Perhaps it's about time to give the giants a taste of their own medicine.

Not R'lyeh nor Mictlan would be sacrificed. Ermor will stand by them until the war is over. And no matter how the war will end Ermor will relinquish any claims to Jotun lands & VPs so that it's allies and friends would be strong.

They are not minions, they are respected friends and so long as it is within Ermor's power no harm would come to them.
Barbaric giants, you shall pay for all the insults and violence you've inflicted upon the poor nations.

[WraithLord]

On account of server problems "Hosting postponed for GotMI by 6 hours. The game will now host at 13:25 GMT on Tuesday February 1st."

R'lyeh & Arco, I hope this helps you avoid a stale.

[Executor]

That was a nice little attempt to siege me Rlyeh, I welcome your next try.
Nice battle tho, shame you lost that S6 base mage, hope he wasn't empowered.
Luckily for you some of the troops managed to slip by and get away, so not a complete loss. Just some 5K gold I think, maybe more?

Friendly - Killed
Commaders 16 - 0
Regular Units 50 - 0
Undead 76 - 0

Enemy - Killed

Commanders 11 - 11
Regular Units 58 - 58
Magic Beings 148 - 132

Things seem to be heating up in my lands, with more nations getting involved by the turn, it seems I'll have to cool you folks down a bit.

[Hadrian_II]

Luckily for you some of the troops managed to slip by and get away, so not a complete loss. Just some 5K gold I think, maybe more?

thralls are ment to die

[Herode]

So true...

BTW, I forgot to notify that of course, all nations allied with Ermor are ipso facto at war with Pythium. Obviously the Fate of the World is now known and the Dark Ages are rising. I just wonder how many provinces Ermor will gain before the Everlasting Night falls on our dying world while his thralls serve him and stand by on their modest and so secondary ranks :D

[Aethyr]

The Bakemono call upon all to witness: We have laid claim to the former lands of Caelum, and hereby annex them to our empire. We shall defend them against any/all others. Our cause is our own.

[WraithLord]

You break my heart poor Pythium. You're such a poor poor victim.

Or wait a sec. Weren't you the one who declared war on me?- Weren't you the one who refused my repeated offers of peace?

So you would sacrifice your self in service of your rabid masters and make a victim of your self at his bidding.

And said provinces I have are all from raids into your lands and the lands of Jotun. raids that are proving ever so costly as your mind hunt squads kill any non astral raider that dares show it's face. So far your military and economic power is nearly intact as I've failed to inflict real damage on you since you're deploying your armies wisely. You have this and you have your globals and despite all that Jotun can't be stopped. His pressure on Caelum is unrelenting (and I'm truly concerned for Caelum survival) and all who attack him suffers heavy losses.

There are plenty of lands to take from you and Jotun. Let all who wish to come and take a piece. Ermor has no desire for more lands, we only wish for peace.
That said, once the war has begun we are committed to our allies so this war will only end when one side is utterly defeated.
Then, if Ermor happens to have lots of provinces I will be happy to give some to my allies, esp. the ones that took the heaviest losses in our just war.

[Aethyr]

So true...

BTW, I forgot to notify that of course, all nations allied with Ermor are ipso facto at war with Pythium. Obviously the Fate of the World is now known and the Dark Ages are rising. I just wonder how many provinces Ermor will gain before the Everlasting Night falls on our dying world while his thralls serve him and stand by on their modest and so secondary ranks :D

Lord of Pythium, given the rhetoric that has gone back and forth, one could assume that you believe that anyone that is not allied with you is an ally of Ermor. So that there will be no misunderstandings, and as one of the independant nations that is not directly involved in your war with Ermor, we respectfully request that you clarify which nations you believe yourself to be at war with.

Absent any such clarification, we can only conclude that you have just canceled your NAP with Shinu. ;)

[Aethyr]

So...anyone heard from R'lyeh? He's too big to stale two times in a row...

[Numahr]

The Great Caelian reconquista has begun! Enemies of the Civilization, fear as the Holy Shishis shall have no mercy for you!

[WraithLord]

I've sent R'lyeh a PM. If he doesn't respond I'm afraid we will need to be looking for a sub :(

Man I hate it when ppl go AWOL like that.

[Aethyr]

The Great Caelian reconquista has begun! Enemies of the Civilization, fear as the Holy Shishis shall have no mercy for you!

Caelum, you have fought a noble fight, and the Bakemono honor your warrior spirit. Take solace in the fact that the so called allies that abondoned you have been broken, and that your former lands will nourish future generations of those that exacted revenge for you. ;)

@ Pythium, we thank you for excising the undead infestation in our newly annexed lands. We shall find some suitable way to repay you. As a token of our gratitude, and because we know you have no intention of challenging our claim to the former Caelum lands, you have our leave to depart peacefully. If you listen closely, you will hear the songs of our little ones praising your wisdom and discretion. :)

[WraithLord]

Dear fellow players. I would like to hear your thoughts on how long we should await a response from R'lyeh. His last post is from Feb, 9th. He has staled twice, and he seems likely to stale again.

Should we wait for a 3rd stale or move to find a sub now?

[Executor]

I'd much prefer to have the old Rlyeh stay if possible, much more pleasure in annihilating his armies.

All who are allied with Ermor are considered enemies of Jotunheim, the giants are no fools, but there is still time to see reason and turn on your puppet master before it's too late, judgment day is upon you all, Lord of the Jotun has spoken.

[WraithLord]

Well, Old R'lyeh is on radio silence for more than 10 days and has staled twice already and will in all likelihood just go on staling. Finding a sub at this phase of the game is not easy...

Luckily though, Numahr has agreed to sub for R'lyeh. Given that the nation he already subbed for - Caelum - is for all intents on purposes finished, he can just turn it's last remnant to AI and take over R'lyeh.

He'll probably need some extra time this turn to get his bearings though.

EDIT: Correction. Numahr has not yet agreed to sub. He would like to take a look at R'lyeh's current turn so that he can estimate how much commitment would be required of him. I will send him the turn tomorrow.

[WraithLord]

Numahr has declined subbing for R'lyeh.

I will announce publicly that we're searching for a sub. Please be patient as this may imply some delay to the current turn.

[WraithLord]

Dear players. Unfortunate as it may be, if we fail to find a sub for R'lyeh then there will be no choice but to turn it AI :(

I played with Hadrian_II in the past and he didn't strike me as the bailing type. I truly hope he's OK.

[Herode]

Hum... Turning a big nation to IA doesn't sound good for any game. Maybe we could delay the turn for one week or so in order to keep some chance to find a sub.

@Shinuyama : Dear Bakemono Lord, you made me laugh. My cause also is my own, I don't remember any agreement between our nations stating that I should fight for your profit and offer you the lands I conquered on Ermor. Of course, if you can exhibit any funny document to refresh my memories, I will gladly bow and process. After all, it would be a light price to pay for the pleasure of having a humorous partner :p

[WraithLord]

Herode, I completely agree with you. A week's wait it is and hopefully a sub would emerge.

[WraithLord]

ok. A certain Vet player has agreed to take a look at R'lyeh turn.
There's still hope to find a sane ruler to R'lyeh.

[WraithLord]

Guys, we've been waiting since Feb. 17th.

Three guys had already taken a look at R'lyeh position. One think's it's too much to handle, the other two are having difficulty with the map. To quote the milder reaction: "It (AT map) gives me headaches to even look at it".

I truly was not aware that AT visuals can be so difficult to look at :(

Anyway, we've waited a lot and the R'lyeh position got 3 strikes in a row. As much as it pains me (as a player) to lose an ally and (as an admin) to turn a nation to AI I think we've no choice left. (Jutun/Pythium, consider it as a free global cast of "feeblemind enemy ruler" ;) )

OK. Now I don't see much point in waiting any longer.
Shall I turn R'lyeh AI and get us back on track?

[Aethyr]

Bummer...the game's not set to host until Sunday, any harm in waiting just a couple more days before pulling the trigger?

[WraithLord]

Thanks Aethyr. The extra wait was worth it since a sub indeed was found.

And what a sub, - Dimaz himself has agreed to take over R'lyeh.

Welcome aboard Dimaz and thanks for stepping in.

[Dimaz]

Hello everyone.
I wanted to join this game from the beginning but my "game slots" were full at the time so I had to skip it. However now that the SoIF has ended I decided to give it a try. Never played UW nation before, but the position looks pretty solid so there is some place for learning mistakes. Anyway, I want to announce that all past Rlyeh diplo agreements are cancelled. I want to take back some UW provinces taken by Pythium during the stales (starting this turn) and then stay in my borders for several turns. After this cooldown period Rlyeh will most probably attack Ermor as he seems to be the biggest threat.

[Stagger Lee]

Thanks for stepping in, Dimaz! :)

[WraithLord]

The nation of Ermor hereby announces that it's gates are open to Caelumite refugees. Sadly, it wasn't within our power to stop the brutal slaughter inflicted upon them by the evil frost giants.
Their spilled blood shall be answered in kind.

[Executor]

Yes, it's sad when your thralls invasions go south and they're forced to beg their master for help.
I think it's time for you now Ermor, you should brace yourself for what's to come.

[Stagger Lee]

I have to go away next week, and am trying to arrange a temp sub. Please let me know if anybody knows someone who could do a couple of turns.

[Executor]

And the entire earth trembled!

Illwinter, than Burden of Time, than Armageddon...
Aren't you all anxious to know what's next?

[Aethyr]

@Shinuyama : Dear Bakemono Lord, you made me laugh. My cause also is my own, I don't remember any agreement between our nations stating that I should fight for your profit and offer you the lands I conquered on Ermor. Of course, if you can exhibit any funny document to refresh my memories, I will gladly bow and process. After all, it would be a light price to pay for the pleasure of having a humorous partner :p

Noble Pythium Lord,

As you know there is no formal agreement, but our offer of reasonable recompense was sincere and we hope you will consider it. The Bakemono rule by strenght, and we would loose repsect of the tribes if we allowed you to so blantly dispute our claim. The Oni do indeed have a sense of humor, but human mages (especially those who are much advanced in years ;)), rarely live long enough to hear the punch line.

Speaking of which...perhaps we should discuss this most troubling BoT, eh?

@ Jotun, oh, yes, we can hardly wait to see the rest of the world-wide destruction & slaughter you have in store. Rest assured that we are planning a suitable response. ;) However we are much more interested in how others will view these actions, perhaps they will be motiviated to re-evaluate their threat assessment...or finally climb down off that fence they've been sitting on. :)

[Executor]

Heh, how others view *my* actions?
My actions are a direct response to all those openly allied with Ermor, secretly allied with Ermor or just plain neutral, which is everyone.

But yes, Jotunheim is still the biggest threat in the world beyond any doubt, you should surely focus on us...

[WraithLord]

Executor, I congrat you for managing to lend a staggering 1-2-3 hit on the whole world. that's just great, I hope more's coming, cause it's important to always look on the bright side of life :)

It's amazing how much strength you have even after such a long war. My "allies" suffer hvy losses to you & you have 3 globals up. I beg you to stop giving your giants steroids, that's inhuman, err ingiant ;)

Only crazy evil giants can inflict such atrocities on the world. I can't help but shudder at the thought of your nation being left to it's fell designs unopposed :shock:

[Numahr]

The Caelian guerrilla is extinct, I bid farewell to this plane. I enjoyed presiding over the tragic destiny of the Caelian civilization. May the best win!

[Executor]

Executor, I congrat you for managing to lend a staggering 1-2-3 hit on the whole world. that's just great, I hope more's coming, cause it's important to always look on the bright side of life :)

I'll see what I can do as not to disappoint you and your allies in the coming turns. :) Maybe I can combine a few more hits, there's certainly potential.

Oh, and I almost forgot, welcome to the fight Ulm! I guess it's time to finish what we started so very long ago. I'm interested to see how long it takes you all to hunt down my global mages, I recon you all die before that happens...

[Aethyr]

Farewell Numahr, you were a tireless warrior. :)

[LoloMo]

Thank you for the warm welcome, evil world destroying Giants! We shall certainly attempt to hunt down all your skrattis and vamps before we all die of osteo-arthritis! Even if we do though, there's plenty more young uns just waiting to be recruited when we've cleared the skies. They're just waiting hidden among the common folk! ;)

[Executor]

Oh boy, oh boy! This is fun!
WL, how did I do? Sadly, I don't think there are many more tricks I can pull, but you know I'll try!

Lolomo, good thing those vampires are immortal.:p I expected you'd be prepared for them, but I also expected I'd kill a bit more, nice touch with the gate stone btw. My turn now...
You should have really used that lich for enslaving while you had the chance.

Also, not sure what you accomplished with those spies? Given my capital is up a little with unrest (spies should really cause more unrest or not be shown in reports) but I dropped my income to 0 already.

[LoloMo]

Well Big Fat Momma, somebody had to go and let your peasants know that mere tax exemption is not an equitable exchange for having their daughters fed to your ravenous mangy mutts! Or are you trying to imply that raising your unrest to 78 didn't make a dent in your blood hunting? ;)

[WraithLord]

I didn't see the turn file but what rabbit did you pull out this time?

I'm getting ready to laugh hysterically when I see the turn :)

[Aethyr]

Oh boy, oh boy! This is fun!


Man...I've never been much for banning this or that, but you're comming pretty close to converting me! :)

These last few turns have been brutal.

[Stagger Lee]

Thanks Maerlande! I'm back now to direct the last stand.

Evil giants wrecking the world because you can't control it. And your friends from Vanheim, unaffected by your wasting spells, attack us instead of your ultimate enemy. Great plan!

We will fight until the death!

[Executor]

Well Big Fat Momma, somebody had to go and let your peasants know that mere tax exemption is not an equitable exchange for having their daughters fed to your ravenous mangy mutts! Or are you trying to imply that raising your unrest to 78 didn't make a dent in your blood hunting? ;)

How dare you!? I would never blood hunt in my capital! While, I should cut out your tongue for the mere accusation!


Man...I've never been much for banning this or that, but you're comming pretty close to converting me! :)

These last few turns have been brutal.

Prepare to be pushed over the edge soon than...


Evil giants wrecking the world because you can't control it. And your friends from Vanheim, unaffected by your wasting spells, attack us instead of your ultimate enemy. Great plan!


Stereotype, not all giants are evil! Control? Wreck!? I resent that, The more you all attack me, to more desperate measure I must resort! I've been defending constantly since turn 20 and I'm evil!? Shame on you sire.
Vanheim has been nothing more than a good neighbor all this time, unlike some.

[LoloMo]

Also, not sure what you accomplished with those spies? Given my capital is up a little with unrest (spies should really cause more unrest or not be shown in reports) but I dropped my income to 0 already.



How dare you!? I would never blood hunt in my capital! While, I should cut out your tongue for the mere accusation!
.


Agent Greene: Agent Bleu, are you sure these reports are accurate? BFM is in a hissy fit over our implication that she is exterminating her own people in her quest to conquer the world!.

Agent Bleu: Sir, we've got a 95% confidence on that analysis, sir! These are the facts: Last month, our clandestine censors counted 19,350 peasants, and 32% of the populace rebelling. Come late winter, 510 peasants have died, and 79% of the city is rebelling. Sir, Agent Reid and Agent Brown are two of our best infiltrators working on the Giants, but they're not that good! Something else must have been causing mass atrocities to the poor peasants. That's a death rate of 2.6% and a 47% jump in unrest in the span of a third of the season, and all while BFM have been trumpeting her cessation of any tax collection, sir!

Agent Greene: Right. Although I wouldn't put it past BFM to keep ravenous stealthy diseased ridden demons in the capital just to enjoy seeing her populace live in dread and terror. Carry on. And Agent Bleu, good job.

Agent Bleu: Thank you, Sir!

[LoloMo]

I would like to ask for a 24 hour extension. Just got home from my brother's wedding, and won't be able to finish my turn before I fall asleep on my keyboard!

[Executor]

Huh, wrong 2h file sent...
Not so smart keeping a copy of Dominions and playing on it too I guess.

[WraithLord]

Did you ever send turns from this backup?- Did they work ok?
Did you send this turn close to the time of the turn host?

[Executor]

Well I keep a copy of Dominions which I use for testing and a single game, Lateral, but unfortunately it contains savegames from previous games as well, such a GOTM 30 turns back, so, wrong 2h file...
I should have really delated those files.

[WraithLord]

:eek: what a bummer, and here I was expecting another Armageddon or some other apocalypse :rolleyes:

[Executor]

Not exactly an Armageddon this time, but I think Arcane Nexus will serve me good.

Now, who next wants to take a go at my capital? I doubt Ulm will be making another attempt any time soon. Luckily, the items I looted off Ulms dead bodies was more than enough to compensate my loses, there were these nice shiny rings of power amongst other, many, many other things...:)

[WraithLord]

bravo :clap:

Keep up this pace and who knows?- we may all drop dead from the numerous hits you inflict upon us and the world.

That, or your fat hot sexy mamma goes down first ;)

[Dimaz]

Please add 24h for this turn.

[WraithLord]

done

[WraithLord]

24h added as per player's request.

[Dimaz]

I'm sorry to ask again, but it looks like I won't be able to finish the turn today. Please add another 24h for this turn.

[WraithLord]

NP Dimaz.

Edit: The game will now host at 23:08 GMT on Saturday April 23rd.

[Dimaz]

Wow. Killing not one, but two WraithLords. Nice start. Too bad Wraithlords are immortal...

[WraithLord]

Good work Dimaz. You annihilated my army offhandedly :)
It's the first time I saw wither bones applied so successfully. Thank you for the enlightening lesson, I'm sure there'll be more lessons to come ;)

[Dimaz]

Please add 36h.

[WraithLord]

Hosting postponed for GotMI by 36 hours. The game will now host at 01:27 GMT on Saturday April 30th.

[Calahan]

@ All

I'm subbing in for Marignon / Stagger Lee this week, so I guess if anyone has any diplo or trades involving Marignon, you'd best PM me until Stagger gets back. Although hope I'm not out of line here now in asking this, but why is this game still being played?

As I can't ever recall playing a game where one nation had such a big lead over all the others, like the one Ermor has in this game right now. And indeed looking around the current Marignon turn, I can see at least two wars going on that don't involve Ermor. So that really makes me ask what exactly is trying to be achieved with continuing this game?

Since Ermor have probably won at this stage even if everyone else did attack them starting right now. But to be fighting anyone apart from Ermor at this moment seems close to being the very definition of a waste of time. As I can't imagine the turns being that quick to play for several players given the lateness of the game, and AC+BoT aren't exactly helping with the micro either. I also bring this up now because it appears Executor staled last turn, and has gone missing in all his games. So unless you go sub-hunting, then one of the most important nations is going to stale again, and maybe even stale out (I'm guessing Jotunheim are important due to the impact their globals are having on the game).

So while I'm only here as sub for the next week, which probably means one or two turns at most, I still generally don't like seeing players investing valuable Dom-time in a game that it appears should have been declared finished several turns ago. As then that valuable time turns into wasted time, which is something nobody wants to see. And I often find games go on longer than they should in general, as perhaps players are just too polite to call for a vote or discussion, on what will be the likely inevitable outcome of the game, and thereby taking the initiative to potentially save everyone a substantial amount of time and effort by ending games in good time, and before they get stupid.

But as most of you know I'm never too polite :p and as such I have no trouble calling for games to finish when I think that they should. Which is why I now ask "Why is this game still going? And what is hoping to be achieved by it continuing?"

(unless of course I'm missing some rather huge piece of information that would mean Ermor are not going to win this game comfortably. And if I am missing this information, then I'd be grateful if someone could please enlighten me with either a thread post or a PM)

[Dimaz]

I can answer for myself - never played UW nation before and this game is as good as others to try them. Also, Ermor still has allies so my war with Mictlan is indirectly against Ermor. Other than that, I agree with your analysis.

[Hoplosternum]

I hope you are all sitting comfortably. Then I'll begin....

Once upon a time, after the usual early knock outs and hoovering up of the high strength Indies, the Gardens of the Moon game was quite close - having three large powers. In order of size, but not necessarily power - Ermor, Jotun and Pythium. And several medium sized powers - Shin, Ulm and TC. The victor of the UW war - R'leyh. And some small crappy island powers - Vanheim, Marignon and Mictlan :doh: And the sad remains of Arco and Caelum.

Then war began between the big three. Jotun and Pythium against the already huge hoards of Ermorian undead. It looked like an even fight or one that favoured Jotun and Pythium. And there did not seem much doubt that Jotun (serious blood power with a big empire and income so potentially a huge blood income) and Pythium (good end game) were the ones the rest of us feared most at that point.

So as the rest of us wound down our own wars we all planned to join in. I am afraid a very predictable pair of gankings were plotted. The love on this board for all against all games, or so many VPs it hardly matters, means such gankings are common :(

So I joined Ermor (and the besieged in his capital Caelum) against what looked like the more dangerous faction. We only needed to wound Jotun before we could turn on Ermor. But we did need to knock him down to size before that blood income overwhelmed us. R'lyeh promised to join in a few turns later - and after various delays - did. And Ulm and Shin a few turns after that (once they had digested TC). Now I don't want to give away too many secrets but it's just possible the plan was to then turn on Ermor, after Jotun and Pythium were reduced :)

But it all went wrong due to two factors. One was Jotun's type of defense and the other was the change of ownership of R'leyh.

Jotun did not try and defend all his empire. He gave up many provinces without a fight which meant that although he got smaller he took little damage to his skrattis or other forces. So no significant reduction in mages, troops, expenditure of blood slaves or forts. Neither I nor R'leyh could do any permanent harm to him. In his inner core he had Gift of Health backing a large hoard of Vampires. It proved difficult for myself or R'lyeh to do any permanent harm to his forces while we lost a lot of our own. It was only when Shin, Ulm and Ermor all joined that he started to crack (Pythium was slowly crushed by Ermor with I think Shin grabbing his last few territories).

Worse was to come as Jotun started putting up obnoxious globals. First was Illwinter. We could all have lived with that ;) But it was followed by Burden of Time. Then Arcane Nexus. Then Astral Corruption. So we had Jotun - getting more powerful each turn and making himself so obnoxious he had to be taken down.

Now had he been a friendly talkative diplomat :angel he may have talked us all round in to switching sides while he still had a decent stab of winning late on. His pretender was E/N so was not one of the obnoxious global casters who therefore may have been deemed expendable by him in return for peace. But he made it clear to me (at least) that he was not interested in diplomacy. NAPs and a bit of trading that was all he was prepared to do. It seemed to be a position driven by philosophy rather than game situation :)

During the war R'leyh quit after losing a large army and force of mages to a Jotun counterattack. The two may be unrelated of course ;) We will never know....:) Still Dimaz stepped in after a short pause. Now there was a clear long shot win strategy for R'lyeh. He needs 9 capitals. He has two and can fairly easily take and hold the three Island powers capitals as all the island nations are weak and very vulnerable to him. That is 5. He then just needs to seize four more. Not impossible with his teleportation / gateway abilities and so many capitals being on or close to the coast. And the situation of everyone fighting the by then dominant power's enemy rather than Ermor must have seemed stupid to him. And those obnoxious spells are less bad for R'lyeh. He can laugh at BoT. And Arcane nexus - even if he got no cut - would simply give gems to a power fighting his enemies. So I can see why Dimaz has played like he has. And he has been taking on Ermor pretty much singlehandedly.

But for the rest of us it slowed down the assault on Jotun just at the time his obnoxious globals were starting to bite. Further pushing back the time any switch to opposing Ermor could take place and forcing us all closer to Ermor. And to take up the slack the departing R'lyeh forces left, Ermor stepped in. And so he gained some more territories there too.

So the game has drifted to an Ermor win. The most likely outcome for some time. And I don't think anyone could say Wraith has not deserved it. He's fought well (and often) and done the diplomatic spade work.

Of course if people want to carry on I am happy too. It is difficult to muster much enthusiasm now in my one sided fight with R'lyeh but having held on in such a hopeless position, fighting hopeless wars, for so long, I am not going to quit here. But considering Ermor now owns the Nexus backed by quite a few gems ;) Even a final crusade - for those of you who remember or care for such plans - now seems rather futile....

[PriestyMan]

All i want to know is how much *** kissing WL had to do to make the original Ryleh player build dozens of hammers and send all the items away. its become an IRC meme about games with WL. Me and Maer both looked at subbing and were shocked at what we saw. Not only was ermor clearly running away with the game,but somehow ryleh had no items.

i can't verify that he was sending things to Ermor, but i cant think of anyone else they would have gone too. and i doubt he made a dozen hammers and no other items

btw i dont mean to be offensive to WL, i'm just curious

[Dimaz]

In fact he clearly *received* at least 3 rune smashers (probably from Ermor). Just to make your remark more comlete, I don't argue that the situation with hammers and gems was pretty interesting.

[Hoplosternum]

Well R'lyeh had just lost a large force within Jotun's lands. In that battle he lost a lot of commanders. It is possible that many were equipped thugs and mages and that is where most of his items went.

I can confirm that no items were sent to his other ally at the time - Mictlan :(

Shin would surely be a more likely provider of Rune Smashers as he can build them from his main mage???

[PriestyMan]

executor was on IRC at the time and was just as suprised as the rest of us. he at least didnt mention that

[WraithLord]

Wow. So much went on when I was out partying.
It's late night here so I'll try to briefly address some of the comments made.

Calahan & Dimaz, I had similar thoughts but this was born of complex and somewhat rare (at least for me) circumstances. I think Hoplosternum has articulated this well though there probably is more to the story.

PriestyMan, I don't recall R'lyeh sending me anything, let alone hammers and if he had sent something he got something of similar value in return. I've no idea why he had no items, maybe he had no E forgers, maybe he had a strange strat. Sorry but I wasn't the recipient of or in any way involved in that :)
Certainly not kissing them squiggly monsters behinds ;)
Oh, and Dimaz, rune smashers weren't my dpt until recently so he can't have gotten them from me.

I fought hard most of the game. Not as much as Exec but neither have I been idle on the battlefield. I have spent time and effort to engage in diplomacy which (as it turns out) is a part of the game I really like and having played so many RANDs lately forgot how fun it can be.

I will of course abide by whatever the fellow players prefer. Cont. the game or cede it. I'm good with both, though I must say that I tend to agree with Calahan, Dimaz and Hoplo.

[WraithLord]

ok. I checked my game logs (good thing I keep them :) ). I did make one deal with R'lyeh on turn 46. He has sent me 60N in return for 12 bags of wine.

[PriestyMan]

well that is funny. dozens of hammers but no items. he could forge his own hammers too iirc, so its not like he bought them from someone

[LoloMo]

I vote to give Ermor the win.

Jotun gave ermor the win by putting up BoT. We had to destroy Jotun when he did that. Of course we planned to fight ermor after that, but the long war against Jotun and his BoT and AC sapped whatever resources we had left to fight Ermor with.

Of course if we aren't agreed to a win yet, I will continue on fighting!

[LoloMo]

AC was up, so maybe he decided to stop forging for fear of getting attacked by horrors.

[Aethyr]

In fact he clearly *received* at least 3 rune smashers (probably from Ermor). Just to make your remark more comlete, I don't argue that the situation with hammers and gems was pretty interesting.

Dunno about the lack of items, but he received the rune smashers from me (shinu) waaaay back before the inital assault on Jotun began.

I can't add much to what Hoplo has said, there were wheels within wheels, but IMHO any possibility of withstanding Ermor went out the window due to the global defense Ex put up--I was just brutaized by it.

I'm fine with whatever folks decide.

[Dimaz]

Rlyeh had E3 mage so probably he forged the hammers himself. The question is, where all the other gems went. Anyway I vote for finishing too.

[WraithLord]

ok friends. It seems like the decision has fallen to cede the game to Ermor.

Indeed it seems I got lucky in the sense the Jotun globals backfired on him strategically and actually bought me precious time to solidify my position.

It was a strange game for me all along. I am not used to being in leading position and this is by design. I hate to have the target marked all over me but in this game it sort of happened and I wasn't able to stay back. Like Pythium's attack on me and my consequent conquest of most of his lands. I had to fight him back, though had been up to me I'd have stayed smaller.

I have enjoyed the extensive diplomatic action. As Ahethyr said, plots within plots, and I was aware of the fact that probably all my allies were just waiting for the right moment to back-stab me so I was anxiously waiting for that each an every turn until BoT & AC came up and I could relax some.

All in all, fun game (regardless of the way it ended) with awesome players.
Thank you so much all. It was great having you on board!
Thank you Calahan for raising the flag early and saving us all precious time.

BTW, I would like to arrange a sequel game. I'm now short on time. Later today I will lay out the details here and invite all of you who wish to do so to join it.

BTWX2 what a mystery with R'lyeh (missing, non-existent?) items. :confused:

[Calahan]

BTWX2 what a mystery with R'lyeh (missing, non-existent?) items. :confused:
Ask llama if he'll zip and send you the turn archives from the llamaserver. As that'll give the answer.

[WraithLord]

Good idea but the prospect of sifting through all of his turns is not how I'd rather spend the next two hours :)

[WraithLord]

I would like to do a sequel but before I open a dedicated thread for it I'd like to present it here to get some ideas and to make sure the players of this game can be first to join.

The sequel will be named Deadhouse Gates - DHG.
Settings should be similar to this game with some differences (in Bold)
Victory condition: 50-60% of # players (15) capital VPs. Each capital is considered to be one VP. Capitals will be marked.
Nations: All MA+ENP1 nations.
Mods: CBM 1.84


Same as GotM:
Map: According to players number/wish/vote.
Hosting Pace: First 15 turns every 24h, turns 15-30 48h, turn 30-45 72h, turn 45-60 96h, turn > 61 120h.
Hosting is planned for busy ppl!
Disallowed exploits: copying Bogus' orders and overfilling enemy lab to prevent his own forge.
Killing own mages under Ankh or LaD to gain freebe mages and troops.
It's ok in a battle but it's not ok to set it up on purpose (whoever likes to do it knows what I'm talking about)
Probing armies with scouts/commanders must be done in such a way so as not to block movement.
Hosted on llamaserver.
Diplomacy allowed.
NAP's are not considered binding.
(I for one have no intention of breaking my NAPs but every player is free to act as he will in this regard)
Graphs: on
HoF: 15
Indies: 9
Map: ???
# of players: ???
Research: Normal
Magic sites: Normal

Please reply here or PM me if you wish to join or alter the settings.

[LoloMo]

I'm in! But what's ENP1?

[BlanketThief]

Expanded Nations Pack 1, it's the warhammer nations one.

[LoloMo]

I would like to reserve tomb kings then please :-)

[WraithLord]

Yes, compiled by llamabeast and sporting, arguably, the top WH and general mods - http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=379

ENP1 is the WH mod pack, containing:
"
Itza, Servants of the Old Ones by Sombre
Bretonnia, Knights of the Grail by Burnsaber
Nehekhara, Tomb Kings by llamabeast
Skavenblight, Rise of the Under-Empire by Sombre
Ogre Kingdoms, Gathering of Might by Sombre
Dwarfs, Grudges of the Ancestors by Burnsaber
Altdorf, Pride of the Empire by Sombre
Sylvania, Vampire Counts by llamabeast
"

LoloMo, I'm signing you in. Feel free to experiment with the mod and make a nation choice.
I'll go with Bretonnia.

[WraithLord]

Good choice. I really like this mod but I never figured out quite how to play them right :)

I read the guide and experimented quite a bit but generally ended up frustrated for being sub optimal.

[LoloMo]

I love the pretty sprites! I'll make them work somehow :p

[Aethyr]

First, congrats WL on a well deserved win. :)

Second, I'm in, and I'd like to reserve Skaven. I reserve the right to change my mind--I've never played them but they look interesting. I'll either confirm in a few days or select another choice.

A.

[LoloMo]

Wait a minute, what is this dwarfs I see? It's like Ulm on Getafix's potion! I would like to play the Dwarfs please. :D

[WraithLord]

Thank you Aethyr. Skaven are indeed very interesting, I think you'll have fun with them.

Sure Lolomo, you get dwarfs.

I'll wait a few days for players of GotM (or passersby to this thread) to have a chance to join first, then I'll open it publicly.

[Hoplosternum]

I would like to play. But I haven't decided which power.

[WraithLord]

You could try Ermor ;)

[Hoplosternum]

You could try Ermor ;)

:) Well I may well pick a none Warhammer power but I doubt it will be that one.

By the way if you did want a slightly different feel to the game I can strongly recommend the Victory Conditions of the Scourge of Nations games (not all the other settings though). The winner is the player who made the most initial captures of Capitals. Unless the original owner recaptures his capital no one else can claim that VP. And even if you are completely eliminated you still keep your VPs.

So it encourages people to fight early and often. The winner is not just the most powerful nation at the end and turtleing is discouraged. Now of course that power is often the winner and was in the first game. But it was very close as at one point another power had 4 VPs withI think just 5 left available for the largest power. But the early leader lost one of his Capitals to the original owner - putting it's VP back in play - and we called the game at that point.

Had GotM been played under those rules R'lyeh and Shin or Ulm (depending on who had actually grabbed Agartha, TC, Arco and Caelum's capitals) would have had a great chance even with Wraiths dominant position because he would have struggled to capture enough unconquered Capitals. Of course the game would have been played differently and peoples builds and nation choices would have changed.

[Stagger Lee]

Just got back. Congrats WL.

And thanks to Calahan for subbing this week!

[WraithLord]

Thanks Stagger Lee.
If you want you can jump right into the sequel. Should be interesting enough.