Silicon Wolves, GAME ON! (again) See OP for additional details

[Tryfan]

UPDATE: Game on! Everyone in the pool, and may the studliest win. As far as I can see, everything seems to have started properly.

Status of players having played their turns and time left until autohost can be found at:

http://game.dom3minions.com/bin/siliconwolves.cgi





Game to be played on Gandalf's server, 24h hosting with quickhost active.

Reminder for the newer players: this means the game will be run on a remote network (no messing around with emails, though we can set it up as an optional way of doing it if someone insists and doesn't mind making more work for Gandalf hehe).

Network game
connect to games.Dom3minions.com
port will be PMed

CBM/EDM mods
Aran map (the same one used in Somethingawful's big LP game)
Early Age
Magic site frequency is slightly reduced (35)
15 Hall of Fame
Scores are OFF
Renaming is ON
The rest is default or thereabouts. So, other than the two mods, this pretty much a standard MP game, good for people who aren't up for a giant number of gimmicks.

New players are welcome, veterans are welcome, its all the same to me. Just want a fun game.

I will put up the server address once we have a full game. Any EA nation is allowed, though if someone picks a water nation I would really strongly advise not to pick a second one.

I've had a hankering to try Caelum. Everything else is up for grabs.

Caelum: Tryfan
Atlantis: Finalgenesis
Niefelheim: rotarr
Hinnom: Cthuludreams
Fomoria: Kobal2
Vanheim: 13lackgu4rd
C'tis: Hylobius



I get the feeling the theme of this game will be... put on your parkas.

[Finalgenesis]

Atlantis

any chance for default site freq? no gem gen + low sites seems a bit harsh.

[Tryfan]

Trying to keep endgame micro on the sane side (in the unlikely event I actually survive to it), since I don't want to change from the default dom3minions hosting time of 24h. Besides, 35 isn't that low. Think of it as a late era game with early era units. ;)

[rotarr]

This will be my 3rd game, but seeing as newbies are allowed I'd like to join up as Niefelheim.

And looking at the Somethingawful LP; I pity the people starting on one of the peninsulas :D

[Pjoo]

CthulhuDreams hasn't got manual confirmation to his registeration yet, but he would like to join in as Hinnom. He asked me to sign him up on IRC. Thanks.

[Kobal2]

I'm up for it. Total, absolute and complete MP noob here. I'll be playing Fomoria.

[13lackGu4rd]

Vanheim please

[Hylobius]

C'tis please.

[Bann]

New player, would love to try my hand at an online game. If there is a spot left, I'd like to play as sauromatia.


*edited for spelling*

[Tryfan]

Seven players in, sending out the private messages for the port number now.

[Tryfan]

The game was prematurely started. Won't mention names. But we'll need to wait for Gandalf to reset the game before you can put in your pretenders again.

Repeated for emphasis: do not "start the game". I believe this time that option will be removed and I'll start the game manually.

So, bit of a delay, I will post here when the game is back up for joining.

[Tryfan]

Okay game is restarted. Same port as before. Get pretenders in!

[Tryfan]

Still waiting for pretender from Atlantis, Hinnom, and Niefelheim. The person who was trying to register has not gotten in touch with me nor gotten their pretender in; I will give them tomorrow to do so or I'll open the game back up to a seventh player.

[rotarr]

Unfortunately I won't have time today to submit my pretender. You can expect him/her/it tomorrow morning (European time).

[Tryfan]

Thats fine rotarr, just you left now, we can wait until tomorrow.

Everyone else has gotten theirs in so expect the game to start late tonight (NA time) or early tomorrow!

[chrispedersen]

Got room for 1 more? EA Tien?

[Tryfan]

Assuming rotarr has no problems we is full senor.

[rotarr]

Ready to go!

[Kobal2]

And looking at the Somethingawful LP; I pity the people starting on one of the peninsulas :D

Having played quite a few games on Aran (in SP), the northern peninsula is actually not that bad - the SA players only got thoroughly screwed because there were probably too many nations on a map not meant for that, and the three players scrunched up there were serendipitously well suited to destroy each other right quick. In the current setting, where land nations can expect about 15 provinces each, it's alright.

The smaller peninsula however is a deathtrap, period. Doubly so if your strat hangs around high resource, cap only units/commanders, since you're guaranteed to have your capital border 2+ water provinces which will be, if not entirely inaccessible, at least claimed and contested by Atlantis in our game. Those resources you were banking on are going bye-bye. So's that early expansion.

Yes, I'm sort of sweating this right now, why do you ask ? :D

[Tryfan]

Best of luck everyone.

Keep your toques on...

[rotarr]

Hmm, looks like we already have a stale Vanheim? :(

[Tryfan]

He still has fifteen minutes from when I post this, but yeah almost certainly looks like a stale.

*grumbles something about setting up games and herding cats*

Opinions on how people want to proceed? We can:

1. continue normally
2. restart once Blackguard wakes up
3. restart with a new 7th

Toss your opinions in.

[rotarr]

I suppose it's up to Blackguard if he's still up for this game and you for punishing him for it or not :P

I'd prefer to continue, although the other options are quite fine with me as well.

[Hylobius]

If we can't get through one turn without a stale then perhaps we need to find a new 7th and restart.

[Kobal2]

My completely self-serving vote would be : restart, either with Blackguard or a new 7th I don't care 'cause my startpos is beyond crippling :).

More seriously, I guess it's up to Blackguard if he wishes to go on with a stale first turn or not, with the sizeable impact it can have on early expansion especially for Vanheim.
If we don't hear from him and he ends up staling the second one too, then I think he'd understand if we restarted with a new seventh player though.

[Tryfan]

It was, in fact, mostly my fault. Blackguard did not have the map, asked me to mail it to him. I thought I did. I didn't.

I think we should probably restart, if that is okay with everyone. You can all rush me to punish me for the screwup. Sound fair?

[Tryfan]

Game is restarted.

Send in pretenders and lets hope things smooth out a bit from this point on.

[Hylobius]

No problem boss, I wasn't any happier with my start position than Kobal2 :D

However when I log in it still shows us on turn 2?

[Kobal2]

Same here. Logging on the server takes me to the current turn 2 instead of a new nation selection window.

[Tryfan]

Game has reset properly for me. Perhaps you need to delete your .trn and .2h files for that game.

[Kobal2]

Yeah, it's good now. Weird, I had already tried deleting every file from the previous game.

*shrug* gremlins.

[Tryfan]

Four in, three to go.

[Tryfan]

Everyone's in, looks like the restart was successful, game on!

[Tryfan]

Lame, it didn't like my turn file and said I staled. Tough start.

No biggy though, just going to go with it.

[Kobal2]

Looks like Vanheim staled this one.

[Gandalf Parker]

Vanheim will probably mention that he sent me a request during my down time to get email notifications and 12 hour reminders which I hadnt done yet. Getting on those now.

I think Ive noted before that email to gandalf at Community.Net will work much better than PMs here. Especially if you want a response

[Tryfan]

But I thought you lived here!

This is the first time I've used Caelum since my first MP game in Dom 2. Still as weird as they were then.

[Hylobius]

Does Cthuludreams (Hinnom) have forum access yet? I was unable to send him a PM.

[Tryfan]

Do you have to deliberately turn on private messages in this forum? I think you do.

[rotarr]

I tried looking him up as well, but he doesn't seem to appear in the Members List...

[Tryfan]

Well he answers his in game messages so maybe someone let him know he has to turn on his PMs here.

[Tryfan]

...and he has two hours to get his turn in or he'll stale.

[Finalgenesis]

Just saw him idling in IRC and left him a message to come back and follow up / turn pm on.

Edit: He quit right away after the message was sent, I am unsure whether he manage to read the pm before he dropped.

[Hylobius]

I had a power surge fry my modem at home and I'll be picking up a new one tomorrow morning. Could I please get a 24 hour extension?

[Kobal2]

Too late :(. And I think Vanheim staled too. Which sort of sucks, don't it ? Do we roll it back, or do we just keep on trucking ?

[rotarr]

Seeing as the Vanheim player was posting about subbing in another game on these forums (coupled with the fact that this is like his 3rd stale) I doubt he cares much anymore.

[Kobal2]

Yeah, to be bluntly honest, seeing as he's been staling more often than not and never said word one in the thread, I really can't muster much sympathy or patience for Vanheim/Blackguard. Besides, from the looks of the HoF somebody's rolling him in his absence.

C'tis however had warned in advance, couldn't have foreseen his modem throwing a cog and has been very civil to me in-game. Since we've been having something of an indie-pwning race which I'm likely to come out on top if we just roll with his stale, I'm kinda bummed for him, that's all.

[Tryfan]

Yes I feel bad for C'tis, he did send a message asking for one. But it doesn't do any good to send ME the message, it's not hosted on my computer and I don't have any more control over it than any of you do. If there's an unavoidable mechanical failure you need to tell Gandalf if its just a short term problem.

Though its not the best outcome, at least C'tis wasn't at war with anyone at the time. Heck I staled the very first turn through no fault of my own and I just kept truckin. Heh.

As for Vanheim... what can you really do. Some people are just like that. Barring some explanation for why he showed so little respect for the rest of us, not much one can do besides ****list him and avoid his games in the future, as well as not invite him to yours. An AI player at this point of the game would be extremely disruptive; I don't think we have any real choice but to let him stale away.

[Hylobius]

Just got my new modem installed.

As soon as I got the response from Tryfan that I needed to contact Gandalf about a delay I sent an email and a PM to Gandalf. No response to either. The stale is a little disappointing, but the Vanheim situation is much more disruptive to the game. If someone can reach Gandalf I think that we should pause the game and decide what to do about Vanheim.

[Hylobius]

Hinnom is also a bit of an issue. Apparently he is still not a member of the forum and I think that he has staled as well.

I'm certainly willing to keep playing, however when a game with this few players has this many issues so early in the game, perhaps we should re-start and advertise for more players.

[Tryfan]

Okay I asked to back up to last turn so Hylobius can get his turn in. I am not sure if Hinnom got his turn in or not but I seem to remember seeing him as a + just after it rolled over - he might have gotten it in. He has to activate his account, though.

Do you guys want to try to find a replacement for Vanheim?

[Gandalf Parker]

A backup to previous turn is simple for me. But not for you.

So far 4 people have done new turns. They would have to delete their files in order to download a replacement turn file for last turn or the game can get really FUBAR'd

[Hylobius]

It's not necessary to re-do the last turn for me. I'm more concerned about getting Vanheim and Hinnom running every turn. I think we should try and get a replacement for Vanheim and get Hinnom onto the forum.

[rotarr]

I was a bit hesitant to say this since it's in-game information and not really positive for me, but Vanheim is almost out of the game. Unless he has a massive stealth army hiding somewhere that is. I suppose Blackguard or any Vanheim sub would give this info out sooner or later anyway. Vanheim conquered only 2 provinces on turn 8 or 9 so I took the liberty of taking him out; he only has a capital under siege now. IMO best to set him AI.

[Hylobius]

If Vanheim is almost done then there is no use in looking for a sub. Shall we just go ahead and play the turn as it is?

[rotarr]

I'm also willing to restart if people think that Vanheim deliberately threw in the towel too soon (although I have to say that I didn't have an ideal start and expansion either; barbarians and cavalry all over the place). I guess he hit a snag while trying to expand or something.

[Tryfan]

Let's play it as it is. Game on unconditionally once again.

[CthulhuDreams]

So after TWO BLOODY WEEKS I can finally post

RARRGGHHH

Anyway yeah I staled a turn for personal reasons, but it wasn't a big deal - my luck with misfortune is a bigger near term issue.

Happy to restart or whatever you guys want to do.

Also, you should be able to PM me now!

Niefel: I will PM you ASAP, but first I need to get dinner.

[Tryfan]

We aren't restarting, everything is a go as normal.

[Finalgenesis]

Since a few nations have asked already and we have just begun production on said item:

We can spare 2 hammers for now on trading, we seek primarily D and N gems, we are also interested in 2 pairs of Flight boots and air boosters. For flight boots / boosters we are willing to make arrangements where we provide hammer(s) now for your boots and/or boosters on a fixed future date (due to research requirements), taking the time value of ... hammers into account of course.

[Finalgenesis]

We now need only N gems (desperately so), and are offering a hammer at 14N, or 2 hammers at 25N

[CthulhuDreams]

I just backstabbed someone through a NAP.

Rest assured that they had it coming, or they only had a land border with me so I figured I may as well start the party before the inevitable counters were researched.

Sorry dude, but thems the breaks in the big city.

[Tryfan]

Let it be known that Hinnom has wilfully and irrevocably broken a NAP 3 this turn, with no excuses but greed. Certainly there was no "they had it coming" beyond choosing a target to betray.

Any agreement with them should be treated as non-existent as no agreement can be binding with someone who cannot and does not abide by them himself.

Furthermore, as this is Hinnom, without a doubt one of the top two most powerful nations in a magic weak EA game, it is in the best interests of every nation on his borders to stop him now. Should he gain control of the NE corner of the map, where his betrayal happened, none of you will ever stop him and he will roll the map fully secure on three sides.

This is your one and only chance. Join with Caelum now to break the oathbreakers lest you be the next target of betrayal, and rest assured they will be much stronger than you will be when the time comes. Don't cower in the corner waiting for your turn to fry. He is distracted north. You will not get a better time.

Anyone who does will be handsomely rewarded. If you don't, after I am gone, I will remind you of your opportunity lost when the giants come marching to YOUR gates...

Anyone willing to coordinate feel free to PM me.

[Finalgenesis]

Deja vu

[Finalgenesis]

We have some need of astral pearls (though nature much more so).

[Hylobius]

I just backstabbed someone through a NAP.


I'm glad that you don't see any need to honor NAPs; otherwise I'd feel just awful about this.

[CthulhuDreams]

It gets the blood flowing.

[Kobal2]

A friendly note to our dear brothers of Hinnom : those big bad Rephaites of yours might rock Caelum's world, but as you may have noticed they're not much of a threat to a people who's got true Warrior Spirit.

And a truckload of sacred giants of their own. But really, it's more about the spirit thing.

[Tryfan]

Hey we have warrior spirit! Only 95% of my troops ran away, instead of the usual 100%.

[Tryfan]

First global comes out. How can the mother tree be underwater!

[Finalgenesis]

All life springs from water!

Stealing our tree will be considered an act of war.

Our F/E/W combination forge welcomes patronage in exchange for A,S,N,D

[Kobal2]

Wait, you want *moar* N gems ?!

[Finalgenesis]

Our inhabitants have the inexplicable habit of crushing pearls and "green smoke" into powder and snorting (or it's watery equivalent) them, the lack of which makes them extremely cranky.

I fear for my status as their god should I not keep them supplied with... refreshments.

[Tryfan]

Looks like Gandalf's server may have bit it.. not sure if my last turn got through or not. I think it did though.

[Kobal2]

The server seems back online, got my turn without a hitch. Hinnom's set to AI (predictably, it's not like he's got much to go on anyway)

[Gandalf Parker]

Actually the server was fine (running hundreds of games) but the SiliconWolves game stopped because Hinnom went AI without Tryfans pre-approval. When Tryfan said he could go ai without sub, it came back up

[Tryfan]

Yeah the server was always fine. The game itself crashed because "set to AI" is actually disabled serverside.

Hinnom will most likely be gone this turn. That or I suck. Possibly that AND I suck.

You can be the big bad wolf, or you can be the snake biting people in the butt through NAPs, but if you're a big bad wolf biting people with NAPs, you can't expect any other outcome really.

[rotarr]

Exactly, Hinnom was too big to try and pull off what he wanted to do. A bit better diplomacy and who knows how things could've turned out?

[CthulhuDreams]

Lesson learnt ;) GG

[Kobal2]

Whelp, almighty Sinann is fairly comprehensively screwed at this point.

In hindsight, letting Atlantis gain a beach head in the early game was a big mistake, which let him complement his already powerful units with even better magical beasts. His thugs are numerous and well equipped. I'm not sure what to do at this point, nor what the other nations could do either. I'll of course make taking my forts a costly proposition and make as much of a nuisance of Myself as divinely possible, but without real means to either damage his home or threaten his raiding parties, my end is but a question of time.

The Deep Ones have risen alright. They'll swallow you all.

[Finalgenesis]

D-day came and went, and we were lucky enough to beat plain PDs all along the coast, hurray! :fish:

Our massive horde of equipped thugs that have landed on the coast can be counted on one hand with two fingers chopped off (or 1 finger chopped off if you count a half gimped thug)! Truly this is a frightening horde that will overwhelm all opposition!

Our strategist suggest that much of Fomorian resources are diverted to defense against other nations, hence the surprising lack of defenses on the coast; or that this is a ploy to draw us in before counter-attacking. Nonsense the queens say! All fear the might of mighty reef dwellers (okay there's a sprinkle of pillars and magical beasts :D).

[Kobal2]

Phoenix Pyre on 13 reinvig and 20 magic resist is kind of a dog of the female persuasion to crack ;)

The real problem, however, which any of your future enemies will also inevitably face, is that I can't damage you. I can't lay siege to you, and any goons I bring into the water will get slaughtered by the Ironbane/Friendly Currents/lots and lots of Deep Ones combo. SCs face significant penalties underwater as well.

I hope, for their sake, that the other nations realize this.

[Kobal2]

So, today I learned about gems ! Namely, that the "can't burn more gems than your path level" thing includes the gem consumed to go up the path. And no, that one upgrade gem doesn't let you burn a second gem.

Which in short, means : crap, crap, crap, I'm even more screwed than I was before, it's not even funny.

I also learned I suck at predicting my opponents, defending my territory and raiding. But I already sort of knew that :)

PS : Hope it stings, Niefel !

[rotarr]

Lol, not exactly sure what stinging you're talking about there Kobal.

Although my assault on Hinnom a couple of turns ago was quite a big fiasco yes :)

Your prediction of being gone in 5 turns isn't quite true though!

[Kobal2]

The stinging bit was about the assault on Hinnom yeah :) Atlantis caught more of the same, but sadly their big guns all had thunder rings so they didn't lose as much as you did.

And I'm already dead for all intents and purposes : no money to buy new mages/kings to replace the ones I lose, and not enough gems to summon troops to protect the ones I got.
Not that troops matter that much when they get atomised by Basalt Kings left and right, but...

[Hylobius]

I'm unable to connect to the server. Is anyone else having a problem?

[Hylobius]

It's ok now, I got in eventually.

[Kobal2]

Huh. Pretty expensive day for you, C'tis.
Well rue the day you turned on Me, invader ! Rue it right to hell ! And hey, silver lining: those 100+ odd gems you just poured down the drain did end up offing four whole Morrigans. That's summin', right ?

-- Sinann, Once and Petty Queen

PS: neener, neener.

[Hylobius]

Anyone else having server issues or is it just me again? I completed my turn, hit end turn, and was booted to the desktop with the cryptic error message "Nagot gick fel!". Is Kobal2 cursing at me in Fomorian? That was several hours ago and I have been unable to connect to the server since.

[Kobal2]

Yeah I'm having trouble accessing the server too.

[Gandalf Parker]

My apologies.
We have had multiple computer problems here.
The Dom3Minions server is in the shop. I paid extra for "fasttrack" service but it looks like Monday (hopefully, virtual crossed fingers) before it will be back.

[Tryfan]

Thanks Gandalf, we'll do a 48 hour turn once its back up to let everyone get a hold on it again.

Hopefully the crash didn't cause any stales. I am sure Fomoria is just itching to see if he still has a pretender. :)

[Kobal2]

Considering she's the one and only piece on that particular board who isn't 100% shock immune, I do expect the old girl to act as a lightning rod. For those 40 or so Thunderstrikes per turn.

Yeah, she's not making it :).

[Finalgenesis]

Little does Tryfan know:

"hidden nipple ring of shock immunity"

ouch

[Tryfan]

Now that you mention lightning, I gotta admit, as I go through this first game as Caelum, they really are a one trick pony. Lightning, lightning, and more lightning. I fall to my knees in thanks for those few eagle kings that manage an earth random for the lofty skill of "2". Fire access? Pretender only. Nature access? Pretender. Death access? Pretender, or build up from Death 1. Astral access? Pretender. Just forget blood even exists.

Trying to build an army that can reliably fight when the opposition has mages or geared thugs is like fighting with both arms tied behind the back.

Oh, btw, Fom, she's just fine, I was not about to risk an all-out attack without seeing what you had in store for me first. ;)

[Gandalf Parker]

OK the Dom3Minions server, and the Silicon Wolves game, is back up and running (crossed fingers)

[Tryfan]

Did she go down again?

[Gandalf Parker]

Hmmm.... it was running. I couldnt find anything specific but things did look strange.
Maybe it just got confused by something. I restarted it anyway.
(sorry for restarting the timer)

[Hylobius]

It seems to be ok now.

[Kobal2]

For My sake, you lily-livered ponces, will any of you put me out of my misery already ? I've thrown the towel a good 20 months ago and still you lot pussyfoot around ? In the time it took y'all to sort of maybe inconvenience mighty Fomoria, I assaulted and destroyed two of C'tis' forts.

Must I drown every defender I've got left and starve the PD too before you bunch of tiny codpieces try to maybe sort of perhaps throw a tentative option on a presumptive, provisional pre-invasion non-threatening manoeuver ?

I mean really. Send a bloody scout already.

-- Sinann, Once and Really Patient Queen.

[Tryfan]

What I saw in there didn't look like throwing in the tower to me... looks like you really, really want a bloody slaughter at your capital!

[Kobal2]

That's not my cap. And those are mostly unscripted A/N research mages, what are they gonna do, bleed all over your Sunday clothes ? :)

I haven't recruited a single thing over the last 15+ turns, and lost much of what I did have through desertion. All I do is summon 4-5 morrigans a turn, raid a bit with them and shift gear/scripts around to whichever castle is being attacked this turn by whom. That's about it.

Which is boring yet time consuming. Hence why I really really wish someone could finish me or that I could go AI and be done with this particular game.

[rotarr]

I could be more aggressive, but when I did before the others thought I was working with you (lol). So that's why I'm not doing anything anymore in this war. And with that global you put up you may even be fighting 2v1 now. Who knows? You could come back on top! :D

Thanks for not going AI so far though.

[Hylobius]

I could be more aggressive, but when I did before the others thought I was working with you (lol). So that's why I'm not doing anything anymore in this war.

More to the point, I think that you are not being aggressive to Fomoria because you don't have a border with him. When Fomoria raids one of my provinces and then you take it before I can take it back you are being aggressive towards me not Fomoria.

[Kobal2]

Well, if it's a consolation to you, he did that without my suggestion or even asking me first. Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, of course - damn you and everyone looks like you, that sort of thing.

-- Sinann, Once and Still Kinda Queen.

[rotarr]

I could be more aggressive, but when I did before the others thought I was working with you (lol). So that's why I'm not doing anything anymore in this war.

More to the point, I think that you are not being aggressive to Fomoria because you don't have a border with him. When Fomoria raids one of my provinces and then you take it before I can take it back you are being aggressive towards me not Fomoria.

Of course, you're right about that. The whole misunderstanding we had was because I was too aggressive there and didn't quite keep track of who's province was who's before the war started. I will just run into more complications if I start attacking/raiding more to the west.

[Finalgenesis]

Apologies staled last turn @.@

[Kobal2]

What the ? How did I end up in possession of Caelum's Sea King ?! I didn't charm it, enslave it, or even kill it. It just ran away from the assault on the fort. Yet now it's cozy inside with Me and the handful of lads who survived the triumphant victory.

I don't get it.

[rotarr]

Maybe he was looking for some 1 on 1 action with Sinann. Trolls can get lonely too.

:banana:

[Kobal2]

Well, more's the pity for him then. Sinann's dead baby, Sinann's dead.

[Hylobius]

The rest of us would be in a world of hurt if you hadn't thrown in the towel a while back :hurt:

[Tryfan]

That was a rough battle but I knew it was going to be. Five geared thugs lost their lives to thin that herd of mages out, their sacrifice will never be forgotten.

I should have waited another turn for the buffer to arrive though.

Given the sea king's behavior in the subsequent fight it sure looks like he was charmed. He performed poorly in the first fight anyways, a just punishment.

[Kobal2]

The rest of us would be in a world of hurt if you hadn't thrown in the towel a while back :hurt:

Well, that's one of the... no, it's the *one* advantage of knowing you're already dead : you don't fight to win, but to take the other guy(s) down with you. Any losses become acceptable, no matter how ridiculous. E.g. I lost 20 mages, three irreplaceable kings and my god but I cost Caelum 44 of his mages including 6 geared thugs, that's a win in my ledger. ~200 more gems thrown into the Great Beyond just to take one castle of mine down, that'll learn ya ! Hope your accountants have a heart attack !

My only regret will be that I didn't cost Atlantis quite as much as I would have liked to. Since the war started I think I only got to kill two or three geared kings of his, maim a couple more, and of course I couldn't raid him for beans. Despite him being the guy who started this mess and the one I really, really wanted to focus on, I reckon he's going to be the big winner of this war. Pity.

ETA @Tryfan: yeah, I guess the battle replay got FUBAR'd and didn't show him getting charmed, something like that. Since Sinann was set to Cast Spells and there's not too many useful spells she can cast once she's out of W gems, makes sense.

[Tryfan]

[QUOTE=Hylobius;765172]Well, that's one of the... no, it's the *one* advantage of knowing you're already dead : you don't fight to win, but to take the other guy(s) down with you. Any losses become acceptable, no matter how ridiculous. E.g. I lost 20 mages, three irreplaceable kings and my god but I cost Caelum 44 of his mages including 6 geared thugs, that's a win in my ledger. ~200 more gems thrown into the Great Beyond just to take one castle of mine down, that'll learn ya ! Hope your accountants have a heart attack !

I think you perhaps overestimate how much I lost there. Five thugs were lost (not six), unless you were counting the prophet who was a first turn holdover without gear. The gear was the main loss, but it wasn't 200 gems; I was pretty cheap with the eagle kings (and I just got a bunch of it back, along with at least one artifact). The guy with the storm staff survived too. And I think you would be discouraged a bit if you knew how long it takes me to replace the seraphs. ;) Heck I was just happy to be getting a real income again; it was getting annoying to have to sacrifice population to patrolling or wait three turns to buy anything interesting. Trust me, those seraphs aren't terribly mourned. Heh. Expect to see them suicide into armies in the future as well.

Losing the sea king was disappointing (and represented probably the biggest single loss in gems) but he was a bit of an experiment (to see how much regen I could pile onto one guy). You'll notice the one that followed behind and participated in the death of poor Sinann had more standard gear.

It was a costly fight, but not decisively so.

[Kobal2]

I think I staled this one. Could we get 48h per turn ? I'm sure the bastards who're lining up at Fomoria's trough will appreciate it as much as me :)

[Tryfan]

Yes, agreed, I have asked Gandalf to set the game to 48 hours for the Christmas season as we all have more demands on our time than normal for the next couple weeks at least.

We can discuss the time frame for the post Christmas season afterwards. I am loath to set it too high as that generally kills games.

[Hylobius]

I was also about to ask for a 48 hour turnaround. I'm leaving home for two weeks starting the 14th and will have limited internet access, but I think I can make 48 hour turns.

[Tryfan]

I do believe I staled that turn; a dubious consequence of finals week.

[Kobal2]

Well, that's it folks. I'm finally all out of screw you. I expect the final assault on my capital any day now.
And I see Atlantis has already turned on C'tis ! Outstanding. Serves you right for trusting someone snakier than you. But hey, I did warn you all the fishies were going to eat the world.

-- Sinann, Once and Future Queen (very, very future when I play Fomoria again)

[Finalgenesis]

A good fight you put up! My stacks of wounded and afflicted kings can attest to your bravery...

And to clarify, we are on good terms with C'tis.

[Tryfan]

You didn't like playing Fomoria?

[Kobal2]

@FinalGenesis : oh ? Is that not your flag I see flying over the tip of their peninsula ?

@Tryfan: I did, a whole lot. It's a really great nation, albeit having real problems with diversification and needing perhaps a bit too much from their pretender. The lack of Earth in particular crippled me in the long run - of course, not scoring a single S specter out of four or five casts didn't help... And by the time I'd lucked into an E2 Spectre & S wizard indies it was too late to properly scour for sites or exploit those paths.

But other than that, between the truly awesome sacred giants, the great chaff, the rolling thunder and of course the MUAHAHAHA DIEDIEDIE Morrigans, they do have a lot of cool tools in their bag. I probably haven't used it to its full potential and I really squandered my resources, but there's a *lot* of raw power beneath that purple flag.

I was really disappointed by Dance of the Morrigans though. The strat guide here made it sound like it was the second coming of Christ, but it must have been nerfed to hell and back since the guide was written. As it stands, I hadn't tested in in SP and each cast of it turned out to be a real disappointment & a complete waste of death gems (not to mention the gems spent making the staves and helmets to cast it in the first place) which only summoned a piddling trickle of them over the first few turns of the fight, then nothing at all. Large amounts of meh, there. I got much more mileage out of Mists of Deception. We won't get fooled again !

My starting location in this game also screwed me a bit, I think - not just because something like 80% of my real estate was by the shore, but because my cap didn't connect to enough provinces & resources to let me build a full queue of Unmarkeds each turn like I would have needed with the strat I was following. Again, I should have realized this from the get go, adapted around it instead of stubbornly sticking to the initial strategy. Die and learn, I guess.

All of that being said, and since I'm still very much a noobie noob who doesn't have the patience to play long games against the AI to learn the game that way, I don't want to stick with the same nation twice. I need to really explore the deep end of the magic paths more thoroughly to know what to expect from other players, different dynamics and path combinations and so forth.

[Finalgenesis]

A valiant effort Fomorians! Holding on for so long against the world is no mean feat.

Those morrigans are mean! And of course the giants 1 on 1 beats my king with ease.

[Tryfan]

I have set this next turn to 96 hours to jump the Christmas weekend. No one should need to be worrying about their turn right now, have a Merry Christmas everyone. ;)

It is, of course, still on fastplay so if we do end up all getting our turns in, it'll still progress (and stay on 96 hours).

[Tryfan]

Ready to turn the regular schedule back on yet?

Oh, and would we prefer 24, 36, or 48 now?

[Gandalf Parker]

Just a suggestion but setting on 1.5 day or 2.5 is more fair to international communities than forced hosting on 1 day increments.

[Finalgenesis]

Vote 48

[rotarr]

I'd prefer 48 too for now.

[Finalgenesis]

It's pretty discouraging to see the stales. I think I've seen enough of them in a row to put my tack aside and just come out and say another game ruined by quitters with the end so close in sight.

I mean, if you feel discouraged (perfectly understandable), how hard is it to take 30 sec to make a post and ask us to find a sub for you? It's douche to do that, but silent quitting and thus causing multi staling in critical points of the game is 10x worst. Seeing the effort it takes to post a do a quick post to notify the remaining players, I must conclude that its intended as a last "FU" ritual cast on the remaining players out of spite.

It's one thing if you're down to your capital and you can't do better then an AI...

Will I ever see a game played to completion?

Rotarr:
Shall we look for subs? Or call it draw? Or turn those 2 to AI and duke it out? Bah...

[Gandalf Parker]

FYI
1.stats.txt:Caelum didn't play this turn
1.stats.txt:C'tis didn't play this turn
2.stats.txt:Caelum didn't play this turn
2.stats.txt:C'tis didn't play this turn
3.stats.txt:Caelum didn't play this turn
4.stats.txt:Caelum didn't play this turn
6.stats.txt:Caelum didn't play this turn
7.stats.txt:Caelum didn't play this turn

[Finalgenesis]

Is there a way to check stale history data other then connecting to server during turn resolution and keeping track?

Also what does the 7.stats.txt mean? Does that mean 7 stales total? It doesn't look like the turn #.

Thanks in advance.

[Gandalf Parker]

http://game.dom3minions.com/games/siliconwolves/

The stat file is created by the game if the --statfile switch is used.
It tells who did, who didnt, and who is computer

I use the post.sh to roll the stat and scores so that 9 turns are stored. ! being the latest and 9 being 9 turns ago.

[rotarr]

Well, my motivation has been a bit low as well the last couple of turns doing them half-assed and all. Other players staling out and the amount of micro is getting to me (and even more of that coming up now that my mages can stop researching). I'm content with calling it a draw, although I think I may have a bit of an edge ;)

But if you really want to finish the game we could turn Caelum AI and look for a sub for C'tis perhaps.

[Finalgenesis]

I'll also admit to lacking in motivation since Caelum and C'tis going puff.

Indeed from the graphs and general overview I do agree that you seem to have an edge, however... well it's all moot point now and I guess we won't find out?

I'd be perfectly fine with calling it draw, I had thought that given you seem to have the edge you may want to turn both Caelum + C'tis AI and duke it out, but it seems we're both micro fatigued here compounded with a quitters epidemic.

It's a shame, I was looking forward to a choatic endgame free-for-all rather then a wave of staling FU rage quitters :(

So, if you would like to do the honours and notify Gandalf (unless you change your mind)?

If you'd like to swap general plans and details that will never come to be, I'd be interested.

Anyway, thanks for the a good game!

[Hylobius]

C'tis is still playing and I submitted my turn last night. I have bee looking forward to the end game. I do appear to have staled the previous turn but I could have sworn that I submitted it. If you were concerned about the stale you should have sent me a message.

[Finalgenesis]

Ah apologies, Caelum staled 4 times in a row and I presumed the worst from your recent 2 stales, well I guess this game is a go then.

Game on! Though I could wish that Caelum didn't stale through the beginning of our invasion heh.

[rotarr]

Ok, let's get it on then :)

[Hylobius]

I was unaware that Caelum had staled 4 turns in a row. That is unfortunate, particularly as I don't have a border with him :D

Sounds like this is a good time to break my two remaining NAPs and join the fun. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe these are both NAP-3?

[Finalgenesis]

Yep, welcome to the party.

The score so far:

Niefel - 62 provs
Atlantis - 30 provs
Ctis - 15 provs

This will be fun! The Romance of 3 kingdoms

[Finalgenesis]

Applause to Hylo for a great move,

nullifying their supreme income and turning the battlefield to our advantage in one stroke! Our basalt kings thanks you and has already reaped enormous dividend, never mind the mother oak which was a small price to pay.

It's a good thing we decided not to take over nature's bounty after we removed Nief's gift of health (phew).

[rotarr]

Very nice indeed. Maybe it's time for me to come up with a decent strategy now instead of just throwing my Jarls at everything in sight (or not in sight at this point ;)).

[Finalgenesis]

Gee I wonder what such strategy will compose of?

a) Gold income is screwed.
b) blood hunting is not affected by the dark.
c) demons can see in the dark.

Hmmm... :doh:

[Hylobius]

You guys were sounding board so I had to try something to attract your attention :evil:

[rotarr]

Seeing as C'tis found it necessary to break our NAP3 without any prior notice Niefelheim will now concentrate all its war efforts towards C'tis alone.

Good luck :D

[Hylobius]

On January 15th on this thread I posted this:

"Sounds like this is a good time to break my two remaining NAPs and join the fun."

My two remaining NAP's are obviously with you and Atlantis as there is nobody else left in the game. I thought this was clear.

I do not attack with a NAP in place, ever.

[rotarr]

Well, you're saying that it would be a good time to break your NAPs, but you do not say you're actually doing it at that point. That's how I perceived it. Because I also didn't receive any in-game message or forum PM indicating which turn the NAP would be broken I obviously thought we still had a NAP.

[Hylobius]

So I said that this was a good time to break my NAPs, Atlantis said welcome to the party, and you assumed that we still had an NAP?

No I did not send you a PM informing you that I was breaking the NAP. Then again you and Atlantis had just declared the game over and called me a staling FU rage quitter without any attempt to communicate with me, so PMs did not seem to be in use :p. Mostly I decided to announce this publicly instead of in PMs so that you both knew that I was breaking with both of you.

I am sorry if this was not clear, I thought it was.

[rotarr]

It's clear we had a misunderstanding, let's just leave it at that. I expected a 2 on 1 sooner or later anyway :)

[Hylobius]

It's clear we had a misunderstanding, let's just leave it at that. I expected a 2 on 1 sooner or later anyway :)

Agreed. I will try to be clearer in the future.

At this point 2 on 1 may be the only way to give you a challenge :eek:

[rotarr]

Unfortunately I got stuck at work yesterday so I staled last turn. The Niefels are still up for a fight though!

[Hylobius]

The good news is that skelly spam can take down geared Grendelkins. The bad news is that if Army of Lead does not cast before your opponents Earthquake your mages are in big trouble :eek:

[Finalgenesis]

It's a good thing my mages tend to be higher hp, though I lack quantity :p

I'm surprised mass skelly can eat a regening grendel :shock:

[Hylobius]

I too now lack quantity :hurt:

I was also surprised when the skellies slowly ate 3 well geared Grendelkin. There was only minor magic involved.

[rotarr]

Perhaps I got lucky then by forgetting (having 20 mins for the turn deadline :() to combine my forces at that battle by getting that earthquake off first as defender... I'm quite amazed how weak my SC's have been against what's basically chaff. This being my first end game probably adds to that.

Too bad my new global didn't take out a better target though ;)

Could we extend the turn deadline by 24h from now on, please? I'm still doing my turns half-assed really.

[Finalgenesis]

Unfortunately last time I pmed Gandalf it seems we need the admin pw to do those things. The problem is the host bailed without leaving pw to any of us.

You could try pming Gandalf and see if we can extend turn to 72 hrs host time and see if it flies.

[Hylobius]

I have no problem with a delay if you can arrange it.

[Gandalf Parker]

Has anyone tried contacting Tryfan?
The extension can be done but technically its HIS game and I would have to at least try to contact him first about it

[rotarr]

I've sent him a pm, but he hasn't been active for weeks on these forums. I don't know of any other way to contact him unfortunately.

[Finalgenesis]

I'll pm gandalf again and see if turns can be set to 72 hrs (Maybe if we pester him enough...).

If this is Tryfan's revenge, it's a really petty and dick way to do it, stealth bailing without giving admin access to anyone... And here I thought silent bailing was as dick as it can get already heh.

Rotarr you doing okay?

[Finalgenesis]

Just checked, Rotarr staled for 4 turns in a row.

Rotarr, do check in if you're still good to go, otherwise...

I'll assume you surrender! Understandable considering the host interval and how we got screwed by Tryfan, having to micro your huge (well it used to be huge 4 turns ago...) empire.

Hylo, assuming Rotarr doesn't checking in by the end of next turn (2-3 days from now), even though I'm stronger I would like to suggest a draw (joint victory). The game is shot to hell at this point (assuming Rotarr surrenders) and I'm sure we're both worn out, plus we've had a semi unintended alliance of a sort in fact if not in name.

[Hylobius]

Agreed, if Rotarr does not reappear there is no use in going on, although I don't think I am strong enough to claim any part of a victory.

[Finalgenesis]

Toughing it out and fatiguing out your opponents is a good way to victory in my eyes, and I'm just about burned out on this game at this point as I'm guessing you also are (unless Rotarr is up to providing more entertainment!:D In which case I'd perk up and go on, he has a HUGE scary quality summoned army and a LOT of SCs that I can see still, it'd provide quality battles to come...) , might as well call it a draw at this point if Rotarr is gone, I have no will to continue under that scenario.

[rotarr]

I'm really sorry guys, but I couldn't really make the 48h deadlines anymore. I was hoping it could have been extended, but alas. Last weeks have been quite busy at work, combined with the micro and a general burnout from Dom3 games made doing the turns feel too much like a chore to me. It's a shame though, since I see I still have a chance at coming back (500 ready and willing virgins in the pocket) and provide some quality battles ;). You still didn't conquer my most important provinces! I wish I had the time to have micro'ed the last 10 or so turns. I still had a blast playing this game though.

Since I stalled out the last turns, like you suggested I agree it's most fair to give you two the victory.

[Finalgenesis]

I understand Rotarr, I was feeling the 48 hrs myself and my turns only have say half the micro yours do. T'was a good game and it's a shame I won't see your huge army and mad SCs in action more!

[rotarr]

Congratulations to both of you then! :)

Too bad I didn't see the Hinnom battle, I hope my badly scripted forces put up some resistance at least.

Since the game is over now, I'd like to discuss some tactics if you're up to it. For instance how to make a better SC; I've experienced they're quite easy to hit and therefore get killed too soon. Hell, even one of Finalgenesis' raiding SC's died to a bunch of freespawn flagellants last turn :P And she was full equipped.

[Finalgenesis]

Yeah I pretty much threw the asnja out randomly without scouting seeing there's no intelligent opposition anymore (I'll have to check the turn later today to see what happened), I didn't even swap out her anti-thug setup to anti-swarm setup.

I've avoided your gigantic Hinnom army haha hoping you'd pull some out toward South, the worst that can happen is C'tis making headway in the south and weaken you as we stare at each other (of course, if you can still push C'tis back with hinnom forces stuck up north...). I'd never attack that army head on anyway without recharging my GoH hp bonus for my main army first. Plus I hated moving my big armies, the scripting and micro involved is just too much with a 48 hrs host interval. I didn't even move my 2nd or 3rd smaller main army up from the backfield...

For anti-chaff setup I think the common lore is to have a couple out of ethereal, luck, vine, awe+fear, regen, mistform, prot + low fatigue ...etc

The less common ones are Fshield, Ast shield, BV ..etc

You'll have to tailor a bit to what type of chaff you face, and of course a anti-thug/SC set up is somewhat mutually exclusive to an anti-chaff set up, going generalist build will never be as effective.

eg. ethereal is useless vs magic weapons, thus ice weapon nations or unfrozen warriors and so on. fear+awe is amazing and highly recommended as chaff defense... but completely useless on emotionless chaffs (skeletons...etc). Fshield from charcoal shield is a bit niche but especially effective against low armor (low hp and multi attack a plus) chaff like skelly spam and VoTD, but useless vs armored troops. Prot is very important but you have to keep fatigue low, should almost always have some level of prot as a base.

Well... There's nothing better then experience, since we've called it game anyway, want to have random SC melees and we throw our SCs at each other without having to be careful? Or hell I'll just move some of my stuff onto your stack of 2 dozen Jarls this turn, I'm sure we'll both pick up a few things watching that!

[rotarr]

I wouldn't have retreated the Hinnom army for sure, it was like the most important strategic province to keep you from swarming into my domain! Hylobius had far fewer armies to worry about and his raiders were more beatable as well (air trapezing my Niefels in before they could move away).

About the SC's, I guess I had the right equipment and ideas for my SC's, but didn't really specialize their orders to coincide with either anti-chaff or anti-SC roles. I also overestimated the fatigue-lowering effect of Soul Vortex :(

But sure, let's throw a bunch of SC's at each other (C'tis included). You can pick the location. Sounds fun :)

Oh, and btw, what kind of special sites did you guys have? I had 2 Enchantment reduction sites (30 and 40) and a Construction site (40 I think); the main reason I could summon so many Unfrozens and fully equip all my SC's...

[Finalgenesis]

Edited (just checked my turn)

Well I'll head toward your 20+ jarls up north with my main army this turn, and we can begin the turn after. Would you prefer me to bring in only the SCs from Army 1 or would you want the whole army?

I'll bring in my 2nd army into the castle next to Hinnom to prepare for the round after that, it contains my wendigo squad which I wanted to test out (never used them before), though they are all geared for anti-thug and would fail vs unfrozen hordes.

Oh I have no special sites haha, I figured you'd have one or two, little do I know you had 2 amazing ones. you may own all the special sites in this one =P I was hugely planning to rely on GoH, which I've saved a huge pile of N early on for.

[rotarr]

On closer look it seems I misjudged the Hinnom situation, I thought you took the castle already. Still a good possibility for a future major army vs army/SC battle here :) I only have about 6 Jarls up north left though, so I guess SC vs SC battle would be best over there. I'll try grouping my forces up north a bit.

Having a long term strategy would've been a good idea for me too :p GOH is a real game breaker, I'm stuck with so many useless wounded Jarls now.