Crucible - MA, CBM, EDM, fast pace (30 hour hosting entire game) - Running

[Valerius]

Age: MA
Number of players: 6
Banned nations: Ashdod, water nations
Hosting: llamaserver
Hosting interval: 30 hours throughout
Map: Six Lands (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com//showthread.php?t=36830)
Mods: CBM 1.6, EDM 1.1
HoF: 15
All other settings default

This game is for people who like a fast paced game that finishes in a 2-3 month period. We will be on a 30 hour hosting interval the entire game. Since that reduces the potential audience considerably I'll refrain from making any other changes to settings as I might normally do. ;) Moving at this pace does put pressure on players as the mid-game begins but I also find it really gets everyone into the game having a new turn every day.

Some things to consider:

* Every player will get two 30 hour hosting delays that they can use whenever they want. If you have used your delays it's your responsibility to find a sub.

* This game will not take that long to play. Please commit to seeing it through. Obviously if you are a major power and stop taking your turns I'll be forced to look for sub. Given the small audience for a game like this I don't imagine it will be an easy task finding one. Out of consideration for the other players please finish the game even if you've lost interest in it or Dominions in general.

* Note that there are several holidays in the next few months. I am open to deciding ahead of time that we will put the game on hold on those days. But if you have a vacation planned please arrange now for a sub to take over for you during that time.

* If you are successful you will get to the point that your turns will be fairly complex. If the thought of not having the time to fully optimize your strategies bothers you this probably isn't the game for you. There may be some turns where you have to say "good enough" and send in your turn.

* If you sign up for this game you should have experience in how long it takes you to complete late game turns. Early on this won't be any different than a normal game so consider if you can handle it if you've got 30-40 provinces and are at war (if you've got more than 40 provinces this game should basically be over anyway).


Player Roster (with # of available 30 hour delays)

Arcoscephale - Saros (1)
Ermor - ghoul31 (2)
Jotunheim - Kojusoki (2)
Man - earcaraxe (2)
Pythium - odeoderok (2)
Vanheim - Valerius (1)

[ghoul31]

ermor

[Saros]

Ill take arco

[odeoderok]

Pythium, please.

[Tryfan]

May I have Jotunheim please?

[Tryfan]

Actually, I probably should stay out, got enough games going atm. Good luck.

[Valerius]

Ghoul31, Saros and odeoderok welcome to the game!

Actually, I probably should stay out, got enough games going atm. Good luck.

Sorry to hear that but it's always good not to join too many games and have them become chores (especially one that has the quick pace planned for this game).


I'm open to map suggestions. Looking around the llamaserver I see a lot of maps around 90 provinces but I really don't think we want to go that high - a 70 province map will make the endgame a lot more manageable for the final few players. We could also just generate a random map.

[earcaraxe]

hi! i have intention to join. man. :)

[Kojusoki]

finally a fast paced game! id love to join! ill send the nation asap

[Valerius]

Welcome, earcaraxe and Kojusoki! The game is now full.

Kojusoki, the game isn't yet setup on the llamaserver. I'll do that in the next few hours.

As far as a map goes, Sixlands is balanced but at 15 provinces/player it's larger than I had planned for. Opinions?

[Valerius]

Ok, the game is on the server. I selected the Sixlands map and I'm fine with using that and having 90 provinces instead of 70. So unless someone has a better suggestion let's go with that map so we can start playing! :)

[Kojusoki]

i can start in 15 hrs. Its evening here so i can upload the pretneder and play a few turns tommorow. I hope its not a problem. Im taking machaka probably

[Valerius]

Ok, I marked you down for Machaka (you can of course switch if you change your mind). If we can get all the pretenders in by Saturday that would be great but if people need more time to test their build how about we say Sunday?

[Kojusoki]

im back and starting designing pretender - if there is no rush o would appritaiate starting Sunday anytime basicly. What I do like, is to play first 10 turns one by one - if there are just 6 persons i find it possible!

[Kojusoki]

ok, Jotun Pretender ready, so please change it. Im ready

[Valerius]

I've switched you to Jotun. I don't know that we'll be able to play 10 turns at once to start the game (I can't set a time for it myself) - but it would be nice to get off to a quick start. And if everyone is able to check for new turns a couple of times a day at the beginning of the game we should be able to do so (and of course if you are the last to send in your turn, immediately send in the next turn).

[Saros]

I uploaded my pretender. I agree we should try bang out the first dozen or so turns asap to get this thing off the ground.

[Kojusoki]

perfect - this is the kind of game i was looking for!

[Valerius]

The game appears to have disappeared from the llamaserver. I recall this happening once before and the game reappeared - not sure what the problem was. I'll wait a bit to see if that happens again before contacting llamabeast.

[Saros]

Well it was back for a little while but I couldnt access it and now its gone again!

[Valerius]

I decided to recreate the game on the llamaserver. Everyone please resend your pretenders to NewCrucible. Thanks.

[Kojusoki]

looks we need to reload

[Kojusoki]

game is up!

[Valerius]

Yeah, it looks like the second attempt worked. If the first version of the game reappears (and maybe even autostarts because all pretenders were in) please ignore it and I'll delete it from the server.

And one last reminder to please check the server when sending in your turn. If you're the last person, wait a few minutes for it to host and send in your next turn so that we can keep a good pace going early on.

[Saros]

Did you put indie strength up or am I just unlucky? All the bordering provinces to my cap have like 80-90 pretty nasty troops. Good thing elephants are so good at large scale stomping heh.

[Valerius]

Nope, I kept indie strength at the default of 5. So it looks like just bad luck. But like you say, elephants are quite good at killing indies. ;) Still, it's a bit of pain not to have at least one easy target to start off one's expansion.

[Saros]

I'm going to be away for a day this weekend so I may have to get a short extension. It depends on a couple of things so this is just a heads up.

[Saros]

Sorry guys turns out i'm away for two nights starting tomorrow. I should be back around 0300 GMT on the 24th. So if I could have an extension after this turn is played that would be great.
Sorry again I didn't know I was going to be away when I signed up for the game :doh:

[Saros]

To clarify as I cant find an edit button anywhere I will be available to play turn 8 but after that a 30 hr extension should be plenty of time. The extension counts as running from the end of the 24h turn timer right?

[Valerius]

Actually you just reminded me that I forgot to change the llamaserver's default hosting interval of 24 hours to 30 hours after the game started. So that's now changed. Normally this won't matter since we've been playing quickly (no surprise there since only people who wanted to play quickly would have signed up for this) but it could help if someone needs extra time or to use one of their extensions.

It sounds like one extension will be plenty of time. Maybe now that I've corrected the hosting interval you won't even need one at all. So I'll use an extension if I think you aren't back and are about to stale.

[Saros]

Thanks a lot. I will need the extension as I'll be back around 52 hours from this post timestamp according to the plane tickets.

[Kojusoki]

Sounds good to me - I dont have to take my laptop with me also :)
Im out since Saturday morning (i can do the turn about 7am) and then im back Sunday afternoon. GMT+1

[Valerius]

30 hours have been added to hosting as per Saros' request. Kojusoki, Saros did you a favor as his extension avoided the need for you to use one of your own. ;)

[Saros]

Just borrowed a laptop to look at the Llamaserver and it says hosting in 50 mins eeep! I wont be back for another 15 hr or so so I hope the extension is working properly else I am going to stall out for this turn?

[Valerius]

No, I think it's working fine. I just checked and it lists the hosting time as 14:55 GMT Sunday and is still waiting for your turn.

[Saros]

Ahaa my mistake I forgot i'm running NZ time so i'm a day ahead.

[Kojusoki]

He saved my backbone as I didnt have to carry my laptop :)

[Saros]

If only your gratitude would extend as far as not invading me huh :re:

[Kojusoki]

We are not ividing you - your soldiers kidnapped smiths doughter, Kundegunda, from village of Halbathria. We are just pursuing them and try to have the poor kid back... There are tales about what Arco magicians do with Giants children... Thats terrible and we will not stop our mission until the last house is searched! Of course if you sent her back we will move back...

[Saros]

::::ARCO INTERNAL MEMO::::

Sir.
I'm sorry to report that experiments with 'volunteers' have determined the amount of blood spilled in the casting of blood magic does not influence the power acquired from the sacrifice. The plan for 'discount' blood magic using 'acquired' giants is now on indefinite hold.
Some researchers have also expressed concerns that such experiments are 'inhumane'. Thankfully a recent ruling from our great lord of ambidexterity puts to rest the notion that giants are people so such concerns are unnecessary.

Sincerely
S2E1F1

P.S. the giant contractors working on the walls outside are very distracting, please see to their removal posthaste.

[Valerius]

Just over four hours for that turn! We're averaging about two turns a day.

@odeoderok: nice counterstrike! I was worried both whether I had enough troops and whether any number of troops would be enough to handle your pretender. Looks like I was right to worry. Your pretender design looks familiar from Momentum3. ;)

[odeoderok]

Why thank you sir, the sneak attack wasn't too bad either, you rat! :) Yes, I have to say I was inspired by Zeldor's pretender from Momentum3, although having completed const8 and alt6 before fighting would be nice.

@ Everyone: Please destroy the nation of Vanheim posthaste. Invisible fairies trampling on our geometrically correct cabbage fields is really quite too much.

[Kojusoki]

::::ARCO INTERNAL MEMO::::

Sir.
I'm sorry to report that experiments with 'volunteers' have determined the amount of blood spilled in the casting of blood magic does not influence the power acquired from the sacrifice. The plan for 'discount' blood magic using 'acquired' giants is now on indefinite hold.
Some researchers have also expressed concerns that such experiments are 'inhumane'. Thankfully a recent ruling from our great lord of ambidexterity puts to rest the notion that giants are people so such concerns are unnecessary.

Sincerely
S2E1F1

P.S. the giant contractors working on the walls outside are very distracting, please see to their removal posthaste.

We have already received another case from our customer service department. The ticket#1223 relates to your capital and says that the walls need examination. We will try to get there as soon as possible and fix them. We have a skilled technical team with special bonuses in examination.
However, due to the late working hours, there are people very unhappy about our presence and they are disturbing our man while on teh job site. The most annoying are the undividuals riding elephants - if such attacks will not stop, we will be forced to leave your capital and walls not properly checked and the ticket will be considered null and void.

Technical Team Lead, Mr. Z

[odeoderok]

To all civilized nations,

the Emerald Empire has defended itself succesfully for nigh on a year now against the perfidious sneak attack by the primitive and corrupt nations of Man and Vanheim. But the light of civilization is failing, and the torches of the savages light the night outside our walls. The emperor has withdrawn into his chambers and will see no one. If someone does not soon invade the odorous lands of these mongrel nations, the Emerald Empire will be no more.

Bartholomeus, head of the council of theurgs.

[Valerius]

And we're on turn 30 already! I know I've been lagging a bit and have been last to send in a turn several times recently but I should be back on track and sending them in more quickly.

[earcaraxe]

The scout in Ene Umrul has acted against the orders of his military leaders, and acted on his own behalf. We will throw him into prison, cut his fingernails and force him to listen to our grand orchestra playing Tokyo Hotel songs.

With apologies,

the bard council of Man

[Kojusoki]

That was a really nice ans fast game! Hope to play with you again.

Good luck!

[Valerius]

Thanks for playing, Kojusoki! I'm glad you enjoyed the game. Tough luck for you and Pythium in that you were double teamed but you both put up a good fight.

I couldn't handle more than one game at this speed but I am enjoying the pace as well (and it's forcing me to stop rethinking every move and just send in my turn ;)).

[odeoderok]

Well, the Emerald Empire went the way of all empires after being raped by barbarians and betrayed by it's allies. Alas for the works of men.

It was a fun game and I really enjoyed delaying the inevitable. Thanks to everybody, especially Man and Vanheim :D

[earcaraxe]

Thank for playing, u really put up a big fight!

[Valerius]

Thanks for playing, odeoderok!

Like earcaraxe said, you put up quite a fight. That pretender of yours really worried me and I was glad he didn't have the kind of gear Zeldor's does in Momentum3. As it was, he was already able to kill basically unlimited numbers of troops once your mages buffed him with BE. I was also very glad your thugs weren't fully equipped since until the last few turns you actually had more of them than me.

Btw, I agree with you last stands can be fun! :) No micro and with nothing to lose you can try different out strategies.

[Saros]

The game looks like its waiting on pyth but he is eliminated?

[Valerius]

Yeah, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, you have to send in your final empty turn as the server will be waiting for it. But since everyone's turns are in and this is such a fast playing group I'll just go ahead and force hosting.

[earcaraxe]

For the cowardly leader of Ermor agreements mean nothing as the undead horde wasnt bothered by an active NAP and set its ugly foot in our beutiful song-filled lands. Frightening the little bunnies, newborn stags and all the fuzzy overly-cute little animals who were living in a nauseatingly sweet idyl.

Consider the agreements u agreed on with necromancers void as they have no respect for them either.

[ghoul31]

Well technically you broke our agreement by sieging my castle with your scout.

[Saros]

I dont care what anyone says that is a lot of undead elephants.

[Saros]

You knows whats annoying? Getting a bunch of worthless freespawn from events when you have to pay their upkeep thats what!

[Valerius]

Guess it's time for them to visit your water province and be left behind? ;)

[earcaraxe]

I'd prefer playing with quickhost off. I can keep up with the 30 hours interval, but it burdensome for me if there are 2 turns a day. what do u think?

[Valerius]

I know you're in the middle of a war, which makes turns take much longer, but if we do go through a period of peace and everyone has their turns in quickly I'd like to keep the game moving rather than wait for a fixed hosting time. Of course, if you send in your turn just a little before hosting time it will accomplish the same purpose without having to change the setting - but I understand it's easier if you can sometimes send it in earlier than that and not have it host immediately. If Saros and ghoul31 both agree to the change I'm willing to do it, otherwise I'd like to stick with the current setting.

[Saros]

I'd prefer to leave it on quickhost, nothing says you have to do the turn right after it hits your inbox and 30hrs should still be enough at this point of the game.
Is there a way to enforce a minimum hosting time less than the max? Something like 12hr minimum delay would be fine.

[Valerius]

Is there a way to enforce a minimum hosting time less than the max? Something like 12hr minimum delay would be fine.

I don't think the server can do that, but I could replicate the effect by just not sending in my own turn until 24 hours had passed. That would limit us to 1 turn a day, as earcaraxe is requesting, while also allowing him to send in his turn whenever convenient.

[earcaraxe]

you are very kind. No need to do that, most of the time i can send my turn in with enough delay, so do as u feel convenient.

I understand ur opinions, no problem for me if it remains on quickhost.

[Saros]

Haha I just had bogus show up. Sorry bogus you're a bit outclassed these days, thanks for the free items!

[earcaraxe]

its not bogus, its santa arriving a couple weeks early :)

[earcaraxe]

one month ago i was i n 5 different games, now in only two. having experienced that now is think quickhost is totally ok.

[earcaraxe]

What a coward move by the greeks.

[Valerius]

What an annoying turn. :mad: My attempts to kill Arco's SC and thug both failed. The tart titan managed to escape after being down to 1 HP and the bane lord escaped because the AI brilliantly decided I didn't need to cast Storm as I'd scripted. I killed a golem but lost a fully equipped thug in the process.

Anyway, looks like everyone is back at war. :) Btw Arco, you have an impressive number of SCs and I notice your tarts seem quite free of afflictions. ;)

[Saros]

Its almost like magic! Actually the brilliantly named bane lord died as he retreated into hostile territory the useless bugger.
Dont worry I expected to be jumped and have sneaky plans in place for just this contingency. =D

Also Man we're cool right! I didnt really mean to attack my meanie tartarians made me do it. Apparently they are BFF's with some of ermors Thaumaturgs.

[earcaraxe]

The Brilliantly Named's demise will give place for a new Even More Brilliantly Named, hoorray!

So u tell me the tarts are the thaumaturgs's BoyFriends (BF=?)?. Wow, which one dates the chimaera/mostrum? Wont too much work in foreign lands derail their relationship? I'd call them back :)

[Saros]

BFF = Best Friends Forever

[Valerius]

I was hoping to avoid using one of my delays but I need more time to prepare a defense against Arco's onslaught. Hosting postponed by 30 hours.

[Saros]

Hey now you jumped me with pre placed stealthy thugs. Besides i'd hardly call what i've been doing so far an onslaught =P

[Valerius]

I just sent in my turn so wait a few minutes and we can assess the situation. I don't think things will look good for me... ;)

Edit: Well, not a complete disaster. Didn't start off too well with two failed attempts to jump your tarts but I did get a few wins in later on. I'm still on the defensive though as I wasn't really prepared for this fight but felt I had to act when you attacked Man.

Btw, none of the thugs were pre-placed; they all cloud trapezed in the turn I decided to attack.

[Saros]

Okay that turn was a disaster. I dont know why but I have some sort of problem with disappearing tartarians.
I dont get it... The combats in 50 and 62 have somehow killed my Tarts even though I won the combats.
Im also missing a golem and I have no idea what happened to it. They're not on my nation overview or anything.

[Valerius]

I can explain the tarts in 50 and 62. They both defeated my cloud trapezing thugs and then proceeded to their destinations (41 and 57), where they met their ends. "A gentleman of poor character" was done in by the mute affliction he picked up fighting my thugs interfering with his buff routine. "No tartarians here, nope none" didn't have resist lightning scripted and was killed mainly by thunderstrike, with a herald lance contributing.

But I have no explanation for the golem as I didn't fight him.

[Saros]

Oh righto they fought twice. Somehow didnt catch that. As for the golem he seems to have wandered off someplace I cannot find, probably depression from seeing his pair die to mans green knight. Oh well.
I doubt i'm going to beat you and man to be honest. I really should have just gone after you first but I was kinda bored and wanted to try some anti SC tactics against the treants. Unfortunately I have been busy with your thugs =/

[Valerius]

Oh righto they fought twice. Somehow didnt catch that. As for the golem he seems to have wandered off someplace I cannot find, probably depression from seeing his pair die to mans green knight. Oh well.
I doubt i'm going to beat you and man to be honest. I really should have just gone after you first but I was kinda bored and wanted to try some anti SC tactics against the treants. Unfortunately I have been busy with your thugs =/

I think you're right that it would have been better to go after me first. Ermor and Man will still be fighting for a while and if you had hit me with all those SCs by surprise there's a good chance I wouldn't have recovered.

Were you able to find that golem? It bothers me that he just disappeared. I can't think of why that might have happened: it's a small game, no rollbacks have taken place, etc. What was he doing last? Is there any chance maybe he was magic dueled, assassinated, something like that?

[Saros]

I wouldnt worry about it a golem isn't a big deal at this point of the game. Ill go trawl through the turn files when I have some time.
Now I seem to be losing my tarts at a disturbing rate. They're a lot more fragile than I thought initially.

The fun part is I get to cook up all sorts of world ending goodies while I get driven back.

[Valerius]

Well, I'm not sure about being driven back - so far most of the fighting has taken place on my territory. But that world ending stuff sounds worrisome...

Glamoured thugs are pretty good at killing tarts, though it seems less hassle to just have blood mages cast life for a life so I ordered a shipment of vampire lords to greet the next batch of intruders. :)

[Saros]

Bleah talk about some serious discipline problems with my silly undead gods.

[earcaraxe]

lamaserver nowadays has a habit of ignoring 2h files or portponing commands.

[Valerius]

I haven't noticed any problems, but also haven't tried to postpone hosting in the past week or so. When you send in your turn please wait about 15 minutes until you receive the confirmation e-mail and the llamaserver indicates it arrived. If that doesn't happen let me know and I'll delay hosting while we try to figure out the problem. Maybe we can try changing to a different e-mail address?

[earcaraxe]

no, this adress is ok.

[earcaraxe]

Dear fellow players!

I'm quitting dominions for now and that means both of my remaining games. Its been a pleasure playing with u, I hope we meet again sometime in the future. This game was one of the most interesting ones I played and it certainly has the potential to provide many excitement and intesity.

happy christmas to everyone and even more happy wargaming in the future!

earcaraxe

[ghoul31]

Well I think we can just declare Valerius the winner then.

[Valerius]

I'm ok with ending the game if you and Saros would like to. But I shouldn't be declared the winner as if we just set Man AI I would be in a 2 vs 1 situation and would probably lose to you and Arco and then you two would decide the game's winner.

I can also look for a sub but I think in order to get any takers I'd have to at least offer 48 hour hosting (typically games at this stage are at 72 hours). What do you guys think?

I've postponed hosting while we decide what to do.

[Saros]

Well its been a great game, I wouldn't mind calling Val the winner as he has pretty much beaten me at this point mostly due to this being my first game and me not really knowing what to do with the endgame.
2v1 would be interesting but the micro would probably be more trouble than its worth.
Besides I already started giving all my stuff to ermor!

[ghoul31]

I am pretty weak at the moment. So if you set man AI, you would still win. We need to get a sub. If all three of us attacked you, it might be a fair war.

[Valerius]

Based on Saros' and your earlier comment I figured we'd end it (not declaring any victor). No saying what a sub would do but if they kept to Man's current path and NAP with me then I think Arco/Ermor are almost certainly finished (though Man might beat Van in the final).

[Valerius]

Thanks for playing everyone!

I enjoyed the fast pace up until sometime during the latest war when it got to be too much (the fact that I got involved in wars in my other two games, both mid-late stage, certainly didn't help).

This game was notable in that it was the first time I ever engaged in something resembling a rush. I play Vanheim a lot but for some inexplicable reason usually turtle. ;) Anyway, I figured it was a fast pace game and that I would try something different. Overall it was profitable, though it took considerable resources and set back my development. But if Man hadn't joined me against Pythium I think it would have been a definite mistake as Pythium and I might have just ended up in a stalemate.

Saros, you played really well. You had a couple of tough rounds where I took out several SCs but I think if you had surprise attacked me rather than Man things might have gone differently. Btw, your first round of mind hunts took out all my thugs without mind hunt cover. This really limited my raiding as I had only a few S mages suited to the task (equipping sages with cap and coin to have them teleport in was too expensive). And of course I enjoyed the names you came up with for your SCs. :)

[Saros]

Haha well do you know why it was so tough for you to finish pyth off...
I was essentially keeping him afloat with a lot of discount forging and intelligence to get his thugs and pretender out and battling at the same time as fighting off a determined rush from Jotun. It let him get all the goodies such as brands etc while not having to research construction.
Earlygame was one helluva balancing act for me I must say.

But yeah I think I did pretty well for my first MP game ever, in particular I learned SC's were a LOT more vulnerable than I had expected, especially to blood mages although some of those losses were really terrible luck. I still cant come up with a good counter to earthquake/rain of stones trashing my communions. Perhaps first turn Army of gold/lead but even then you get a whole turn of dropping stones on the poor buggers.
Pity we didn't get a few more turns out. I was about to get 4 suicide master enslave teleport squads of an astrologer with all the S boosters and 2 mystics to put him up to S9 that would plop down on your troop concentrations and a pair of man's armies just to cause some havoc.
The idea was ME would splatter the mystics and then the astrologer would recall home.
Also armageddon was on the cards as a few turns from now as well as possibly burden of time =P
One thing I love about dom3 is all the stuff you can pull when you are losing.

The part where you really won the war was all those remote attacks on my cap. You got probably 50+% of my mages in that one turn as I had just moved all my covering chaff out and the frost dome didn't do diddly squat.
Having like 4 death income the whole game in my entire territory didn't help much either.
BTW where did that fortress in hexwoods come from, It was quite a shock seeing a 600 defense castle suddenly appear. Was there any real chance of my siege force taking it or what? I was gonna give you a little payback with rain/EQ when I stormed it but I couldnt tell whether the walls were going to fall. Siege golems give 90 siege power right? So 6x90=540 siege but you had maybe 100 siege power inside?

[Valerius]

Haha well do you know why it was so tough for you to finish pyth off...

Yeah, I gathered Pythium was getting some help. I think it was the one thing you and Jotun were in agreement on. ;)

But yeah I think I did pretty well for my first MP game ever, in particular I learned SC's were a LOT more vulnerable than I had expected, especially to blood mages although some of those losses were really terrible luck.

I agree I got lucky in some of those battles. The sad thing about the last battle with your tarts is that I lost that Dust Priest but he didn't even need to be there and if you take him out of the picture that was a completely risk-free battle as my vampire lords would have been back in action next turn. Because the fast pace of this game already meant a limited audience, I just went with CBM/EDM and didn't make any changes to them. But normally I would price vampire lords higher than CBM does.

One thing I want to mention is to always watch your lines of retreat (especially when fighting A/S nations or in the late game when everyone has some ability to teleport). If you only have one province to retreat to make sure it's strongly defended and even then it's better to create another line of retreat. For instance, if you have one province to retreat to and another three are controlled by me I would suggest picking one of mine for a remote attack. It doesn't matter if you care about that province but it gives you an escape route if I defeat your army and also send a force to take control of your retreat province.

I still cant come up with a good counter to earthquake/rain of stones trashing my communions. Perhaps first turn Army of gold/lead but even then you get a whole turn of dropping stones on the poor buggers.

Rain of Stones is my favorite spell in the game. It doesn't get much better than to chain cast it and see a large communion just disappear. :) If you want to protect your communion you could try to forge the cheapest armor possible and put it on your mages but aside from the expense (and additional encumbrance) they still have low HP (but I've seen this done effectively with C'tis' mages that have above average HP). The Sword of Aurgelmer was also quite useful in giving your mages some protection. Maybe the best thing is to try to avoid not having the defender's advantage when using your communion. For instance, have a couple of tarts teleport into your target province to clear it out before your communion arrives by normal movement. BTW, I had very bad luck getting A random dwarves and without a second earth booster in CBM 1.6 I couldn't use my Vanadrott's for first round rain of stones casting so I had much more limited rain of stones capability than I would have liked. I've always found earthquake underwhelming and rarely use it, especially once I've got Rain of Stones researched.

Also armageddon was on the cards as a few turns from now as well as possibly burden of time =P
One thing I love about dom3 is all the stuff you can pull when you are losing.

Yeah, you can definitely do some damage on your way out and I was very concerned about you casting armageddon. I would have actually done better under BoT than anyone else in the game. Even my dwarves are better off than most mages and my Vanir shouldn't have been bothered much. My sages would have been killed off but research was almost done so I could have lived with it.

The part where you really won the war was all those remote attacks on my cap. You got probably 50+% of my mages in that one turn as I had just moved all my covering chaff out and the frost dome didn't do diddly squat.

Your research was strong throughout so when I saw you had moved your chaff out of your cap I thought there might be an opportunity to cripple your research capability (and hopefully kill some fully equipped mind hunters, etc, in the process). IIRC I sent a scout to attack your cap. I was hoping you'd think I was testing the defenses and while that's useful info I really wanted to see what domes you had in place. The frost dome would likely have stopped one of the three attacks (I was of course hoping it wouldn't be murdering winter but one of the fires from afar castings) but I got lucky and all three passed through. Having only one dome that has only a 30% chance of stopping a spell is very risky at that stage of the game. Even just the addition of a dome of arcane warding would have helped a lot. Forest dome also shouldn't have been a problem to cast with your enchantresses. I like the dome of solid air best since it blocks 80% of spells for a one time cost of 10 gems (of course if one gets through it will break but usually you've caused your opponent to spend more gems trying to break it then you had to put into it).

Having like 4 death income the whole game in my entire territory didn't help much either.

That was very unlucky to only have a D income of 4, especially since you had the Chalice. With a better D income you could have used the cost effectiveness of tarts to just overwhelm me with numbers of SCs.

BTW where did that fortress in hexwoods come from, It was quite a shock seeing a 600 defense castle suddenly appear. Was there any real chance of my siege force taking it or what? I was gonna give you a little payback with rain/EQ when I stormed it but I couldnt tell whether the walls were going to fall. Siege golems give 90 siege power right? So 6x90=540 siege but you had maybe 100 siege power inside?

The fortress was from three red seconds (Blood 8). I'm actually a little too fond of that spell and will sometimes spam more forts than I have the troops to defend, but here I just went for one fort deep in your territory to use as a base. As you noticed, it has a very good defense (much better than wizard's tower) and I effectively find it much cheaper to cast than wizard's tower (I'd prefer to spend 120 blood slaves than 50 e gems).

Your calculations are very accurate: the defense of that fort went from 600 to 37 so you almost broke through in 1 round. I was putting together a strong force in my cap to attack your forts in 49 and 60 and hadn't yet decided if in fact I'd need to gateway them to 90 to defend against you or if I could hold onto the fort in 90 another way and stick to my plan of going for 49/60. I probably would have sent them to 90 and hopefully forced a decisive battle.

As far as paying me back with rain of stones, tart lightning cyclops' are very well suited to that task but like many things you'd want to strike before I could buff (at this stage of the game I'd have fog warrriors for any significant battle). As an aside, I got to Constr. 8 very late in the game and I was surprised to see armor of virtue still available. This has many uses but one that works well is to give it to a tart lightning cyclops and have him cast rain of stones once or twice and then either attack or more spells. Once he's wounded he'll return to your cap. To protect yourself against one shot kills you could give him an elixir of life. And if he picked up an affliction the chalice would take care of that.

But yeah I think I did pretty well for my first MP game ever...

I agree completely! :)