New MA game - Microless finished, congrats GFSnl

[rdonj]

Crossposting from invision:

Hey. This is for anyone who would like to try a bit of an experiment with micro reduction by removing items from the game. There should be an increased emphasis on magic and national strengths. This has nothing to do with SCs and such being overpowered, it's just a fun little experiment.

Anyway, aside from the removal of items (all items) there will be no other changes. So, here's the proposed game settings:

Game info
Name - Microless
Schedule - 1st turn 48h, then 24h until players prefer 48h. And so on.
Players - 9
Nation Selection - First come first serve, no water nations
Diplomacy - Machiavellian. Trades are binding.
Map - A No Indy map to be determined after signups are finished.

Game Settings
Age - Middle Age
Independent Strength - Standard
Research - Standard
Magic Sites - Default
Money - Default
Resources - Default
Supplies - Default
Random Events- Default
Re-naming - On
Score Graphs - On
Hall Of Fame - 15
Mods: A modified version of CBM 1.92 which I will create.

Players:
1. Kestrel - Ermor
2. jimbojones1971 - Jotunheim
3. Korwin - Bandar Log
4. Ghoul31 - Marignon
5. Valerius - Vanheim
6. Maerlande - Pythium
7. GFSnl - Ogre Kingdoms
8. Snegir6 - Mictlan
9. AreaOfEffect - Machaka
10. Ossa - Shinuyama?

Mod can be found here (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9SYNgpubytsNGVURU1wRjlSeEk)!
And the map here (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9SYNgpubytsVVluZ3drdEh4ZXM)
And the map image for anyone who needs it: Linky (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9SYNgpubytsb05KQ0tyOVRUOUU)
Renamed copy of ogre kingdoms 1.0 - as well (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9SYNgpubytsLUVBamJyNnVvaDg)

[jimbojones1971]

Interesting. I'll give this a shot as Jotunheim, but only if I can be "Secret Ninja Player".

When you make your CBM variant, might be worth using the one Calahan made that fixes the Ettin site.

Getting magic diversity with no items, and no indies, will be most amusing. Are mercs allowed?

[ghoul31]

marignon

[Valerius]

Aaargh, without MR boosting gear cannot resist the pull of an experimental game. :) With these settings I'm going to say blood magic ftw. Vanheim, please.

Btw, if a random event gives you a magic item can you use it? This would be a rare enough event that I think it would be cool if you could.

If mercs are allowed it would also be amusing to see the bidding wars that take place for the mages. ;)

[Valerius]

Also, if Wish is staying in the game what is the policy regarding wishing for magic items?

[Valerius]

This is an interesting exercise. Of course it changes the balance of power between thugs/SCs and troops/mages but you also have to really think about which globals and summons are most important to you since you can't use items to bootstrap your way up.

It had occurred to me to try a game without any path boosters but this goes far beyond that. Should be fun. :)

[rdonj]

Valerius - sure, if you find a magic item go ahead. Same with wishing. If you really want it that badly go ahead. And mercs are indeed allowed.

MA mod nations are also allowed.

[Valerius]

Valerius - sure, if you find a magic item go ahead. Same with wishing. If you really want it that badly go ahead.

Hmm, just how badly do I want the gate stone? Have to think that one over.

Thanks for organizing the game.

Btw, I think jimbojones1971 wanted to play Jotun.

[rdonj]

Um. Oops :)

[Valerius]

I'm not happy with my Van builds, please switch my nation to Pan.

[rdonj]

Okay, switched you Valerius.

[AreaOfEffect]

I'll bit. Machaka.

[jimbojones1971]

Any plans for when this will kick off? Still trying to work out what I should do with my pretender :-)

[Valerius]

Still trying to work out what I should do with my pretender :-)

Same here; the lack of boosters means you'll need your pretender for a lot of high level magic.

And on that note... Sorry rdonj, but could you please switch me one more time, to Man? This is a habit of mine, that I'll switch nations a couple of times before the game begins. But I'll stick with this one. I think. :p

[Ossa]

Machaka please

[rdonj]

Mmh, I'd forgotten to update the player list here when the last guy joined up on the other forum. Well. I guess we can take you ossa, but you're absolutely the last and you'll need to pick a different nation.

Speaking of maps, I'll take suggestions for maps now. And the game will start when I've finished the mod and decided on a map. I may end up no-indifying a map for the game, which wouldn't take too long. Anyway most likely the game will start in 2-3 days.

And sure valerius, I'll switch you again :P

[AreaOfEffect]

Machaka please

Sorry Ossa, called it last night.

[Valerius]

Wow, it's been a while since I've been in a game that will need a map this large. Hopefully the no forging aspect is successful in reducing micro. ;)

Maybe elmokki's Plane of Rusty Nails? Slightly higher prov/player average than I go for these days but not too extreme. And it looks like Cal uploaded a version with 10 land/1 water fixed starts to the server so maybe you could use that as a base to make a NI version (and maybe eliminate the water start as well, though I suppose it won't do any harm leaving it in in case someone else wants to use the NI version with a water nation).

While I don't like the Dominions water nation mechanics and am glad there are none of them in the game (which in any case would be a problem with the lack of magic items) the fact that the map does have some water provinces will give amphibious/aquatic units a chance to shine.

Or maybe Shadowshore? A bit lower provs/player average might help make the endgame more tolerable for the final nations.

[Ossa]

Hmm... then I'll go with Bakenobo

[rdonj]

Hey. Coming to you from my phone today. Have no internet for my computer, so the game will be delayed. Finished the mod last night but haven't gotten to maps yet. Ideally I'd have released the mod today but that's not going to happen now. Hopefully will have internet access again tomorrow to get this game going.

[rdonj]

Hey everyone, I have internet access again now. I'm aiming to have a map chosen/prepared by tomorrow. I'll be starting by looking at plane of rusty nails, as that is the only map vote I received.

[rdonj]

And I'm attaching the mod to the first post now. It's a combination of CBM and item removal, you'll still need nation mods alongside it.

[Valerius]

I started up a quick test game with the mod and noticed the Sceptre of Corruption can still be forged.

Also, did you change the paths for some of the sprites? The Microless mod was looking for the Skadi sprite in the CBM_Sprites folder but it's actually located in the Worthy_Heroes folder. Easy enough to fix by copying it over but figured I'd mention it in case it was the result of a find/replace.

[rdonj]

Valerius - can you please tell me the item ID for Sceptre of Corruption? You can find it by going into the game and using shift+I while looking at the item. I did my own test previously and caught three items that had snuck through, but I didn't see the sceptre. After which I went through and triple checked that all my item IDs were there. It's possible I missed another one due to being excessively tired at the time, I guess. I also didn't have the CBM issue you had, which is weird. I most definitely did not touch anything about file paths and for me it works/worked just fine. I used the ettin fix CBM 1.92, of course.

[Valerius]

Sure, the sceptre is item number 113 and became available at Constr. 8.

As far as the sprites folder, you can ignore that. I downloaded CBM again and all the sprites are in the CBM_Sprites folder just as in the Microless mod. I'm really not sure how my version of 1.92 had the Worthy_Heroes folder listed as the location for some sprites. I try to be careful not to change the official CBM mod when working on experimental games but it's certainly possible I accidentally did so. Only, I can't ever recall changing sprite folder locations...

[rdonj]

Uploaded the map and a new version of the mod with the sceptre fixed for download, you can find them on the first page of the thread. I'll get the game up on llamaserver soonish.

[Valerius]

Did you use Calahan's fixed start version as a base for the NI version? If so, do you want us to have access to the .map file? Just want to check before I download it.

[rdonj]

I did not use fixed starts, no. That said it would take about 10 seconds to NIify a fixed starts version if people feel strongly about it. I just used elmokki's version 4 and was unaware of calahan's fixed starts version. I actually downloaded it from one of his links :P

[Valerius]

I'm ok with random starts, though the last two times the game chose random starts it was unkind to me (a peninsula, with two neighboring provinces being an example :p). If you go to the bottom of the llamaserver map list and scroll up one page Cal has his fixed start version. He mentions that he's not posting the .map file in order to not reveal the starts and to contact him if anyone wants the .map file.

Edit: Sorry, that's another of Calahan's fixed start maps. His Plane of Rusty Nails version is the sixth from the bottom of the list.

[jimbojones1971]

I really don't mind either way.

A compromise might be to run the map through the script that let's you specify how many land (for land provinces) and sea (for sea provinces) neighbors a province needs to have to be considered as the location for a starting province. This can lead to some strange clumpings of nations though, if there are regions of the map that have lots / not many neighbors.

[rdonj]

Yeah I think I'll not worry about fixed starts. Fixed starts are nice and I'd generally prefer them, but if no one really cares too much, I think random is just as good as a placement algorithm is likely to be.

[rdonj]

The game is set up and awaiting pretender submissions! Also I've added a renamed version of ogre kingdoms 1.0 to the first post just in case anyone is too lazy to remove the underscores in their copy by hand, as IIRC the llamaserver does not play well with those and I was forced to upload 1.0 for you lot. I did NOT upload the graphics as well so you'll still need to get the sprites yourselves if you haven't done so already (link is here (http://llamaserver.net/sombre/Dominions3/Mods/ModCatalogue/%5bMC%5d%20Warhammer%20Ogre%20Kingdoms%201.0.zip)

[jimbojones1971]

Cool. Will have a play and upload tonight.

[Valerius]

I'll take my chances with a random start. My luck is bound to change soon. :)

So about my nation... Please switch me back to Van. *ducks* I actually did a lot of testing with Man and may play them in another game but the crones will be too frustrating to deal with here. The old age is annoying, but they have a way to deal with that. The map move 1 is much more irritating and without magic items there's no way to boost it. And without path boosters or communions their minor WE magic isn't of much use.

And after all that testing I actually thought of a pretty good Van build.

On the bright side, soon the game will start and I won't have the option to change my mind anymore. :p

[rdonj]

I think I'll hold off on changing your nation again until the game starts. You know, just to be on the safe side :P

[Valerius]

At this point I'd say that's a reasonable precaution. We've gone from a secret player to a secret nation. ;)

[AreaOfEffect]

Would you like to include what other downloads I'm missing. My dominions is crashing at game testing. I have the downloads mentioned in the first post, the sprites for Ogre Kingdoms, and the sprites for CMB 1.92.

Please include everything a fresh copy of Dominions would need.

Edit: Fixed my own issue.

[Valerius]

Just want to confirm I've sent in my pretender for Van and, since I have no intention of asking you to remove it so I can change nations yet again, that makes my pick definite. Of course I'll probably keep sending in revised pretenders until we start but at least the nation choice is now set in stone. :)

I'm pretty happy with my build - it's not at all optimal but I think it will be fun. It will certainly be interesting playing Van not only without indie archers but without even forged missile weapons. But I've got to say right now I'm *really* glad CBM reduced the cost of the Vanherse from 160 to 120 gold. This in no way makes Van a good research nation but at least I'll still be able to research at a comparable pace to the indie shaman I've typically used when playing them.

[rdonj]

Okay, since snegir has made an exit (and valerius has managed to stick to vanheim :P) we'll get this thing started soon! I'll make sure Kestrel is in soon, the game WILL be running by tomorrow.

[rdonj]

Maerlande is going to be away with intermittent internet access for the week, so hosting has been changed to 48 hours to accommodate him for the time being. The hosting time is intended to revert back to the original 24 after he has returned, so don't get too used to it yet!

Also as a note, Kestrel is presently out of town and any diplomatic requests should go through me as of the moment, as Kestrel also has very intermittent internet access.

[Valerius]

Vanheim announces exciting new Slay an Ogre Kickstarter project!

By now, nations are becoming increasingly aware of the danger the Ogres pose. Vanheim has experienced their aggression firsthand, falling victim to an unprovoked attack spearheaded by their green dragon pretender.

There is no question things looks dire for the Vanir but there are a couple of bright spots. First, no one has ever questioned the fighting spirit of Vanheim. Second, it turns out D9W4N4E4 Vans are quite good at killing ogres. :)

However, we are experiencing a shortage of funds, hence this Kickstarter project.


Why should you help?

It's not a matter of if, but when, you'll need to face the Ogre menace. Better to face, or at least weaken, them now before they have a strong blood economy to take advantage of those cheap, powerful out-of-the-box, summons, than later.


How can you help?

Donate gold. More Vans means more dead Ogres means a happier world. And of course we exercise the strictest confidentiality and will never reveal our donors. So you can take a stand against the Ogre menace without risking retribution.

Attack the Ogres! If you want to take stronger action against these brutes the Vanir welcome allies. And rest assured that we will never surrender and never make peace with the Ogres so you need not fear being left to fight them alone.


What's in it for you?

In addition to the intrinsic benefit to your nation of reducing the strength of the Ogre Kingdom Vanheim is pleased to announce additional benefits for major donors:

Donors who donate 1,000 or more gold over the life of the project will receive the choice of 1 Dwarf/Vanadrott to charm/enslave/hellbind upon successful completion of the project or one turn's worth of spellcasting from our glorious god (if you choose to summon a unit it will be made available to you just as a Dwarf/Vanadrott would be). Note that you must provide the gems for pretender cast spells.

Donors who donate 730 gold at one time can choose to have their gold spent on an expeditionary force of 7 Vans leds by a Vanjarl. You will receive progress updates on the exploits of your sponsored band of warriors.

Donors who declare war and attack the Ogres will receive the same benefits as those who donate over 1,000 gold. So donating 1,000 gold and attacking the Ogres will yield you two commanders or two pretender-cast spells or one of each!


Time Frame

This is an open-ended project that will be completed with the destruction of either Vanheim or the Ogres.

[GFSnl]

We no evils....

Horsies tasty....

Ogre hungry...

[rdonj]

That was pretty amusing, V :)

[rdonj]

Okay Valerius, you'll be happy to know that I've finally updated the OP to show that you're playing Vanheim. Don't even try to switch nations now!

[Valerius]

That was pretty amusing, V :)

Thanks, I started doing the usual "seek allies" diplo stuff and then decided I'd have some fun with it instead. :) Unfortunately, my Kickstarter project isn't proving popular. You'll all regret not helping Van when the Ogres are stomping you into the ground!


Okay Valerius, you'll be happy to know that I've finally updated the OP to show that you're playing Vanheim. Don't even try to switch nations now!

Lol, funny you should mention that since I just noticed it today and was going to ask you to change it so at least my tombstone would be correct.


Btw, you remember how in the YARG3 postgame discussion I mentioned how the only only nation I thought was weak in Tourmaline was the Ogres? Well, when GFSnl chose them I figured I'd better refresh my memory. Taking a closer look I don't think they were as weak as I thought at the time and they had been buffed since then. So, as I mentioned to him in a PM, I was actually quite concerned about running into them early and it was one of the factors in my taking a D9 bless since their average MR is about the only good point of attack against them early on (just as with MA Ulm I'm really not a fan of those level 0 buffs). But given his tough troops I didn't expect him to spring for an awake pretender and have the kind of expansion he did.

[Valerius]

Vanheim announces the cancellation of its Slay an Ogre Kickstarter project. Unfortunately, response was not as good as hoped for (actually, no donations were received).

----------

In other news, Vanheim and the Ogre Kingdom coincidentally announced a cessation of hostilities.

Declared spokesogre Gom Gutsplinter at a hastily convened press conference, "We no kill ponymen now. Kill later."

Vanir spokesman Balder reassured a nervous audience that this was almost certainly an error in translation.

[Valerius]

Btw, Jotun staled last turn and their current turn is also not in yet.

[jimbojones1971]

Sorry for the stale guys. Everything should be back on track now.

[rdonj]

Yeah Valerius, the ogres are probably pretty good for this game. They get to keep most of their strengths and don't really lose that much. They weren't that great at forging to begin with, and their blood magic is still very strong. Of course they will still have a huge problem dealing with the age old go-to counter to ogres, so we'll see what happens I guess.

[rdonj]

Note to all players - As I previously mentioned, the hosting timer has been set back to 24 hours for turns as maerlande has returned. That will not affect the amount of time that... er.... valerius has to finish his current turn, but subsequent turns now will be on the 24 hour timer.

[Valerius]

I really haven't been holding things up! We've been moving at a relaxed pace and all of sudden everyone's turns are complete in 12 hours. I'll get right to work on my turn. :)

[AreaOfEffect]

Starting late tomorrow I'll be on my way to Gen Con. While in Indianapolis I should have opportunities to submit my turns and respond to diplomatic missives. Though I can't make any guarantees. Also, it will be hardest for me to submit my turn from Tuesday Night to Wednesday Night as I should be in transit for most of the time. Just a heads up.

[GFSnl]

Hey, guys...

I'm moving tomorrow so I might not be able to do my turn in time.
Probably I already have internet over there but if not I need an postponement.

[rdonj]

Okay, while no one has actually asked me to increase the hosting timer, I'm going to make the executive decision to increase it anyway as I am pretty much having to extend the hosting timer every turn anyway to accommodate all parties. So the game will be officially adopting a 48 hour timer as of now.

[Valerius]

Vanheim would like to thank Bogus & Co. for their generous donation of equipment.* They are welcome to visit again anytime!

*Recovered 12 of 14 items, which is definitely a record for me.

[ghoul31]

Vanheim would like to thank Bogus & Co. for their generous donation of equipment.* They are welcome to visit again anytime!

*Recovered 12 of 14 items, which is definitely a record for me.

So you will be the only person in the game that has gear. Must be nice

[Valerius]

So you will be the only person in the game that has gear. Must be nice

I don't know if I'm the only one (others may have also dealt with Bogus or gotten items through random events) - but I'm the only one foolish enough to advertise it. ;)

[rdonj]

For anyone who hasn't noticed yet - changing all items to unforgeable levels means that you can't get items *even from random events*, because the way random events distribute items is basically a random roll on a given level of construction. Since there are no random events that give the unique unforgeable items, it is in fact very likely that you are the only person with any magic items at all :)

And for anyone else who hasn't noticed yet... wow, I think this could be the first game ever where the ogres are in strong contention for winning.

[Valerius]

For anyone who hasn't noticed yet - changing all items to unforgeable levels means that you can't get items *even from random events*, because the way random events distribute items is basically a random roll on a given level of construction. Since there are no random events that give the unique unforgeable items, it is in fact very likely that you are the only person with any magic items at all :)

That's right! I completely forgot about that. Remember the map work you did on Threefort? In that game I set all non-unique items to level 0 and people got messages about finding an item and it never appeared in their lab. Squirrelloid realized it was probably going by level and since the game didn't find anything at levels 2/4/6 they never received an item (I assume sometimes random events give level 0 items so in those cases I suppose it would have worked).

In that case ghoul is right and it must be nice indeed to have that equipment. :p Though technically the Ogres have the best item since they have the champion's helmet.


And for anyone else who hasn't noticed yet... wow, I think this could be the first game ever where the ogres are in strong contention for winning.

The Ogres have done well, and I think are well suited for these settings, but I feel this game is very much up for grabs.

I really find this an interesting experiment. I automatically find myself thinking, "ok, I'll use that gear to accomplish x" and then realize that won't work. :)

[rdonj]

What? You wanted to knock down that fort wall so you started researching construction to build wall shakers and then realized two turns later that you can't actually build items so you just wasted two turns of research? I can't imagine that happening :)

Oh, I certainly wasn't saying that the ogres had the game in the bag. Just that, you know, for once they're actually a top three nation ;) There's certainly a number of strong nations around.

[Valerius]

What? You wanted to knock down that fort wall so you started researching construction to build wall shakers and then realized two turns later that you can't actually build items so you just wasted two turns of research? I can't imagine that happening :)

Lol, no it's the path boosters that get me. I keep finding myself thinking "I'll give mage x path booster y and then they can cast z." Happened again this turn.

As far as Constr. goes, I look at it like all those empty levels are an extra cost because weapons of sharpness is just that good. :p

[Valerius]

In the event there's a Microless 2 what about seeding indie provinces with items using elmokki's Scavengenator program? So there are a finite number of magic items - rare artifacts of an earlier, more magically powerful, age and only given to the top mages and SCs as opposed to every two bit thug walking around with a frost brand. :p

Plus, early wars would be chaotic with commanders having random equipment to slug it out. And there's an additional incentive to focus your pretender build on early expansion to get as many items as possible.

[AreaOfEffect]

To the nations of Ermor, and to those looking in on the battle for Machaka's Capitol, I have to ask but one question.

Are you not entertained?

[AreaOfEffect]

On a more serious note. I want to thank you all for a pleasant gaming experience. I can't claim to have been too involved in the politics of this particular game. My interactions with you all have been, sadly, minimal.

For those who don't know, I picked a fight with Ermor. A fight I have certainly did not win in the slightest. Through the help of Jontunhiem I have been beaten me back to my capitol. My situation has been grim for some time now. Knowing this for a dozen rounds now, I've decided to continue my fight regardless of this minor detail.

The defense of Machaka this last turn has been the high point in my campaign. That said, I'm afraid my doom is at hand and I wanted to wish the other nations luck and fortune. May your deaths be glorious and may you witness the beauty of conflict at its peak of tragedy.

[Valerius]

Are you not entertained?

I was until you killed my scout. They're not easy to come by with no indies, you know. :(


For those who don't know, I picked a fight with Ermor. A fight I have certainly did not win in the slightest. Through the help of Jontunhiem I have been beaten me back to my capitol. My situation has been grim for some time now. Knowing this for a dozen rounds now, I've decided to continue my fight regardless of this minor detail.

Yeah, if you launch an attack and the attacked party manages to win then you just say "well done". :) But I did want to say nice job continuing to fight despite the outcome being virtually certain.

Btw, I thought the Ogres' start location was bad but yours is just horrible.

[jimbojones1971]

It has been fun, AoE - looking forward to playing with you again in future games :-)

And yes, i have been entertained!

Through the help of Jontunhiem I have been beaten me back to my capitol. My situation has been grim for some time now. Knowing this for a dozen rounds now, I've decided to continue my fight regardless of this minor detail.

I was a bit undecided about whether to stay neutral in the war, to tip in with Machaka (you), or to ally with Ermor. In the end, Ermor was a lot more diplomatically active than you which made me think he'd be a better long term ally, so that was my reason for choosing him over you. Or i like purple more than orange. One of the two, I can't actually remember which.

[rdonj]

AoE - Ermor could have lived without that battle going so poorly :P It is going to make things much more painful than might be explicitly desired.

And I'm glad you had a good time in this game, and have been able to keep a positive attitude :) I hope you've enjoyed this game and the weird settings haven't put you or anyone else off too much. I think machaka actually did fairly well under the circumstances.

That was going to be a very hard battle for ermor to win on its own, as well. A machaka rush before the end of the expansion phase is certainly a ballsy tactic, and not one that Ermor had anticipated. The phoenix pretender turned it into quite the slog as well, with large numbers of troops perishing for every inch of ground taken. You've fought well so far. It's funny that things shifted so quickly between Ermor's greatest triumph (destroying the phoenix god) and its greatest defeat (yeah, this turn, in the capital, with the flaming arrows).

Thank you for fighting on even under the specter of defeat. It's always gratifying to see players fight on until the end, doing their best to inflict pain on their enemies! I'd wish you luck in the coming battles, but I'm afraid I'm a bit biased at this point :P

On a more serious note. I want to thank you all for a pleasant gaming experience. I can't claim to have been too involved in the politics of this particular game. My interactions with you all have been, sadly, minimal.

For those who don't know, I picked a fight with Ermor. A fight I have certainly did not win in the slightest. Through the help of Jontunhiem I have been beaten me back to my capitol. My situation has been grim for some time now. Knowing this for a dozen rounds now, I've decided to continue my fight regardless of this minor detail.

The defense of Machaka this last turn has been the high point in my campaign. That said, I'm afraid my doom is at hand and I wanted to wish the other nations luck and fortune. May your deaths be glorious and may you witness the beauty of conflict at its peak of tragedy.

[jimbojones1971]

From the charts at least, it looks like it was Armageddon II - The Rematch in Machaka's capital this turn.

I gather Ermor won, as Machaka has no provinces and basically no army, but wow - that is an impressive drop for the second turn running in the size of the Ermorian legions too.

Anyone want to supply some details? Alas, I did not have a scout to hand to witness the epic battle first hand.

[AreaOfEffect]

It was pitched battle with me leading off with flaming arrows and some undead spam. I had one trampling behemoth left, and three trolls. I had hoped that my only astral mage would body ethereal most of them, but alas he kept targeting the same solitary troll.

If perhaps I had left the trolls on the sideline, it might have gone even better for me. I also forgot to give the needed nature gem to my mage casting haste upon the elite squad of summoned units. I wanted behemoth + haste, I got undead spam instead. My other units included the hodge-pod of PD in the center and my masses of archers firing from the upper flank.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, my opponent set up his communion of thaumaturgs. Honestly, his technique for setting those up needs a little work, but I shouldn't complain since I'm defeated. Arranged in front and to the sides where his masses of longdead cavalry. In the middle was solid line of Ermorian infantry.

The battle begins and for quite a while it became a rousing success on my side. However, the endurance of the communion made the difference. Skelly spam was rampent and when all other units where fallen, they continued the fight on the behalf of Ermor. When my archers were all out of arrows, then the end became emanate. I finally retreated and no land left around would provide safe haven for my broken army.

The battle takes about 5 minutes to see, even with fast forward on, and is quite epic.

[rdonj]

Yeah I've been playing the last few turns and I just can't be bothered to work out proper scripting. Sorry about that. My heart just really isn't in it. I don't think I can play dominions MP anymore :P

It pretty much went how AoE described. Flaming arrows made short work of the ermorian legions, not to mention the longdead cav. Though the initial forces did cause some damage, it was mostly the communion that carried the day for ermor, driving off most of machaka's remaining troops and mages. Something like 20 ermorian soldiers survived the battle.

[rdonj]

Good game, AreaOfEffect. A bit of a shame you didn't really have much left to contest the fort with, but you did do quite a bit of damage in previous turns. I'm confused though, where did that earth mage assassin go to? I don't recall killing it. Ah well.

[AreaOfEffect]

It died as a result of holy vengeance. The assassination attempt was a test run for a province gank. I thought him and three body guards would have done a fine job. But alas, base MR became the death of him.

[rdonj]

Okay, I will be amazed if the world can survive now :P This is why you can't let a sacrifice nation have time to get set up!

[Valerius]

Please postpone hosting by 24 hours. Thanks.

[Valerius]

Sorry, I need some more time this turn as well. Please add 6 hours to hosting. Thanks.

[rdonj]

Ugh, valerius I did not see that. I checked the thread when I woke up today, but haven't done so since then. I'd have seen a PM!

[Valerius]

My fault; I should have made the request earlier but I thought I'd make the deadline. In any case, next time I'll send a PM as well.

[jimbojones1971]

We have our first domkill, in Marignon.

I will follow shortly I suspect (maybe two turns, although could be as few as one) - I did build a lot of temples, but GFSnl has quite wisely burnt most of those down :-)

[rdonj]

Okay, so I said the game was probably over a couple of turns ago. I haven't really seen anything that made me change my mind. Does anyone have anything resembling a way to cause significant damage to the ogres at this point? I saw their army graph dipped this turn... slightly. But all that extra territory from jotuns/mari just means more temples to sacrifice from and a quicker erosion of the rest of the world's dominion. Does anyone think we have any chance of stopping them? Or are we just delaying the inevitable.

[Valerius]

Yeah, I managed to push them off a fort they had laid siege to but I think the main reason I won was that GFSnl for some reason didn't send some of those hordes of vampires along as reinforcements.

Despite that win I am being raided heavily, have an Ogre army approaching my cap from the east and, most importantly, am losing ground in the dom war despite saccing from all forts.

If Maerlande and Korwin think they can turn things around I'm willing to keep playing but I am pretty much in defensive mode at this point.

[rdonj]

Okay guys, this game is officially over, victory goes to the ogres who really are just unstoppable at this point.

I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts about the game and the settings used. Obviously we've already had some of that from maerlande, but if anyone has anything else they'd like to add, AARs, now is the time.