Tarrax3 - Newbie/Intermediate LA 12 Players (running)

[Tarrax]

So it's been a while since my second game... With the recent release of CBM 1.94, I thought I should organize another game. Here are the game settings and my thoughts behind them:

* LlamaServer
* CBM 1.94
* Streamers & Standards
* Late Age (My previous games were EA and MA so this time it's LA).
* 12 players (1 water)
* Map: Shadowshore (http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/index.php?showtopic=491) (This is one of the reasons I am organizing a new game: to play on this gorgeous map)
* Mercs are OK
* No diplomacy
* No score graphs
* Last pretender standing
* Turns every 48 hours (quickhost) adjusted as necessary (I am busy these days plus longer hosting time will hopefully prevent stale turns with 12 people)
* Renaming on

The rest of the settings will be standard or will be clarified if needed.

I will update this post with the nations as people sign up. We will start once we have all slots filled.

Players signed up:

* Tarrax - C'tis
* Gargouille - Jomon
* Tiavals - Marignon
* jimbojones1971 - Utgard
* Minden - Bogarus
* heymynameis - Arcoscephale
* galahad - Midgard
* SoNinja - Ulm
* HoleyDooley - Ermor
* CCRun - T'ien Ch'i
* Unoptimized - Agartha
* KeithZ - Atlantis

If you're interested, show your interest by posting here.

Thanks.

[Gargouille]

Hello, i'm interested for play with Patala (and i have no prefer for the settings).
The map is pretty. There is an option (no diplomacy) to prohibit trade?

[Tarrax]

Hi Gargouille. I put you down for Patala.

No there is no game option that enforces no trade / diplomacy. It's just a game rule that I expect everyone to follow (hopefully) that's all.

[Gargouille]

Ok, hope you are listen. I burned my brain with the reasons of my last "Jomon failure" (Primordial_Cake game). And i found a new idea. Perhaps it's bad idea, but i would try an other game with Jomon. So sorry, forget Patala (probably easier to play), Gargouille try a last time with Jomon.

[Tiavals]

Haven't played a no diplomacy game yet. Sounds bizarre. I'll join as Marignon.

[jimbojones1971]

I like no diplo games. Can I take Utgard? I am pretty terrible with the various cold giants (well, I do OK with Jotunheim but am totally pants with Niefelheim and Utgard) but i do still like them a lot :-)

[Tarrax]

No prob. Changed Gargouille to Jomon and added you two.

[Minden]

Hello, Bogarus for my please.

Is my first post in the forum but i have some experience in the game (spanish forums).

Thanks,

[heymynameis]

Hey my name is HeyMyNameIs and I'd like to play Arcoscephale if that's ok ;) got around 4 games, first one online though.

[galahad]

Hi there! I would like to join as Midgard.

This is my first post here in the forum as well, and my first game with Midgard :) ive played a few MP with friends and a bunch of SP games though, so hoping Im up for the challenge.

[SoNinja]

Hello everyone this is my first post.

I would like to join as Ulm, this will be my first multiplayer game so I might be a bit of a noob.

[Tarrax]

Wow 4 players with first posts.

Welcome Minden, heymynameis, galahad, SoNinja.

We have 8 players so far. We still need a water nation.

[HoleyDooley]

I'll throw a spanner in the works by selecting LA Ermor. never played them before, and nothing like going into a game as public enemy number one!

[jimbojones1971]

I am half tempted to switch to R'yleh, just to complement HD's choice of LA Ermor, but the Utgard pain-train of failure must go on so I will stick with them. :-)

[Tiavals]

Ermor and R'lyeh in a no diplomacy game are pretty interesting, that's for sure. :)

[jimbojones1971]

I've got my pretender (sticking to Utgard) ready to go - when will the game be up on llamaserver? Keen to start :-)

[HoleyDooley]

Ermor and R'lyeh in a no diplomacy game are pretty interesting, that's for sure. :)


Yeah I gave some thought to my choice in a no diplomacy but figured
no one would ally with me any way.

In BSoD there was many reasons for rev2 (LA Ermor) why he won that game, and one was he had an ally when really that ally should have joined against him. So in one respect a diplomacy game can/may work in LA Ermors favour.

I agree though that R'lyeh as well would really open a Pandora's box!

[Tiavals]

You'd have to be pretty crazy to ally with LA Ermor, in my opinion. The disadvantages on the long term severely outweigh any short term advantages. Unless, I guess, someone is steam-rolling you and you're really desperate for an ally. :)

It's tough for one nation to take on Ermor alone, and in a no diplo game, there can't be any formations of alliances and coordination of attacks, which I think is very much to Ermor's favor.

But I don't mind, I'm Marignon after all. Bring all the undead you can. ;)

[shonuf]

I would like to join as Tien'Chi.

It there is still room!

[hawk120]

if you still have space (not sure if im counting all nations)id like to join as R'lyeh unless one of the above players has them then caelum (wing people).

[Tarrax]

Yes, I added shonuf and hawk120. That makes 11 people. We need one more person (non-water nation) and we'll kick the game off.

[jimbojones1971]

Anyone? If we are one short still in a day, i vote for starting anyway.

[Tarrax]

Let's wait a couple of days if we can jimbojones1971. The reason I picked 12 players is it gives everyone roughly equal number of provinces (while giving the water nation a couple of more since they won't be able to expand beyond indeps as easily).

[KeithZ]

Well, let's get it started. I'm in as Atlantis.

[Unoptimized]

Why hello! If there is still room, I'd be interested in giving LA Argatha a shot.

[shonuf]

Sorry I have to pull out due to time constraints.

[Tarrax]

No problem shonuf. Unoptimized, yes I put you down for Agartha.

Even though we have an R'lyeh, I guess LA Atlantis is technically a land nation so that makes 12. If no one has any objections, I'll create the game soon.

[Tarrax]

OK game created. I also added Streamers & Standards v3.1 in the game because the flags look prettier (has no effect to the game).

Please submit your pretenders.

[SoNinja]

guuuuuuurrrrrrrllllllll the god of Ulm has been sent in

[jimbojones1971]

OK. Will redo my god tonight with Streamers and Standards mod turned on.

[Gargouille]

Ready to play, good luck all.

[galahad]

ok this might be a noob question, but how do I send you my pretender...?

[Tiavals]

ok this might be a noob question, but how do I send you my pretender...?

You'll have to send an email to pretenders@llamaserver.net

The title of the email should be "Tarrax3" without the ""s.

You must attach a pretender you have made with Dominions 3, with the Create a Pretender feature in the Settings or something. It will save the pretender in savedgames/newlords or something like that. Anyway, attach that file to the email and it should be okay.

Since you haven't used llamaserver before, you should check this out:

http://www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo.cgi?game=Tarrax3

And http://www.llamaserver.net/ overall. There's somewhere an explanation of how it works. In practice, it will send a new turn to your email when it has arrived.

Oh, and the pretender you made should be made with the CBM 1.94 mod enabled, otherwise the pretender won't be accepted.

[HoleyDooley]

Also the Streamers & Standards mod needs to be enabled as well.

[galahad]

ok, thanks for the information. I downloaded the Llamabeast version of Streamers and Standards from the Mod List, hope its the right one?

EDIT
ok, just saw the Mod in the Tarrax3 Game status on llamaserver, all good. gonna send my goddess in the next hour

[jimbojones1971]

Medea of Utgard has joined the fray. Let the stabbination begin!

[heymynameis]

sorry for letting you guys wait, i'll check the how-to-desription and send my god in asap, two hours max

[SoNinja]

Just thought this should be posted for people still confused about multiplayer. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35160

Its what I am using to learn how to do this :)

[Tarrax]

Thanks for posting the link. Only hawk120 missing and we're ready to go. I sent him a PM.

[jimbojones1971]

Might be time to throw hawk120 under a bus and get the game rolling, unless he has been in contact with you about his situation Tarrax?

[HoleyDooley]

Today is the 8th, he was last on the forums on the 3rd. I think its a safe bet to find a sub or just start without him

[galahad]

Im for starting the game by tonight.

[Tarrax]

Well we do need a r'lyeh. I advertised again. We'll start as soon as we get one.

[KeithZ]

I think we just need one more player. I'd like to have a try with R'yleh if the new guy don't want to play it.

[HoleyDooley]

Great, Keith send your pretender in and lets get started.

Sorry if I "appear" to be overstepping my mark as I am NOT the admin but we have a sub so lets gets moving.

[KeithZ]

I'm already in the player list...

I mean we don't really need a R'yleh player, the new player can pick any nation he want.

[SoNinja]

R'yleh seems like it would have an amazing position on this map, and bug everyone with its insanity spreading dominion that you need to invest alot to hold back, I also would be ok with someone replacing hawk120 as any nation they want to be.

[Tarrax]

Well I wanted the game as balanced as possible: roughly equal number of provinces for everybody. I'll change the game thread title so we are looking for just one more player but since there is an Atlantis it may be kinda advantageous for him if there is no R'lyeh.

[jimbojones1971]

LA R'yleh is kinda crazy bad a55, whereas LA Atlantis is ... OK. And with the improvements to underwater / land interaction in CBM, its not like he won't have to content with land guys roaming around in the water.

Also, keep this in mind: LA Ermor is all undead, and as such water is not much of a hinderance to them. They are a bit disadvantaged, but given how many of them there are going to be, I'm pretty confident that they will make their presence felt :-)

[HoleyDooley]

Jimbo mate, ease up on poor ole Ermor...we are a peace loving nation who only want to provide everybody with the best funeral arrangements gems can buy.

[CCRun]

Hi everyone, I hope I could join as LA TienChi, since the underwater nations seem to be quite tricky for me.

[Tarrax]

CCRun, I didn't hear anybody object a non-R'lyeh player so go ahead and submit your pretender and let's get this game started!

[Tarrax]

So we finally started!

Good luck everybody!

[heymynameis]

i turned myself to AI controlled, got some stressful weeks ahead of me, hope this works out for you guys. Sincerely HMNI

[jimbojones1971]

I am still alive. This is an abomination unto the Pantokrator. For love of all that is holy, finish it please!

[heymynameis]

I'm truly sorry, private problems go first...

[jimbojones1971]

I'm truly sorry, private problems go first...

Absolutely. Good luck with it all, hope to see you again in other games in a few weeks! :-)

[Gargouille]

Jomon say, undead must burn, this is the firt month, undead want my land, undead return in the earth, we fight for live and light.

[Gargouille]

I have big problem with hotmail, i am a hold user of hotmail, but now i can not acces my email, i can only see, i have new mail. Please stop the game, and say me, how can i change my email, i have a french email, with my internet-dealer, a sfr mail, please stop the game and say my for change my email, thank.

[Gargouille]

Now i can not play, how can i change my email?

[Gargouille]

hotmail=yankee=big-****
I want stop my "hotmail.com adress",
and be here with my "french sfr adress".
With hotmail i can see, you have x message, but i can read my message and anser.
For me, this day is my last day with hotmail, pig must died.

[Gargouille]

Hotmail=windowlive, and i am linux-ubuntu user with a old "hotmail adress",
but i am not geek, me no understand, **** "world compagny".

[Gargouille]

Sory, i think understand.
Now i use my french-sfr adress, and i hope all is ok.
Hotmail-windowslive is bad, me never use this ****.

[Gargouille]

But how can i change my adress, if order come in hotmail,
i can not read my message now, how can i change my email adress?

[jimbojones1971]

Hi Gargouille,

You need to PM (private message) Tarrax, who is the admin of this game.

Tell him what nation you are playing (Jomon?), and what your new email address is.

Tarrax will then need to change the email address used for Jomon on the llamaserver, in the admin section.

Hope this helps!

Cheers,

Jimbo

[Gargouille]

Thank, lot of french people have the same problem with hotmail
http://answers.microsoft.com/fr-fr/windowslive/forum/hotmail-email/bonjour-je-narrive-plus-%C3%A0-ouvrir-mes-messages/e26834a8-610d-4a01-ad40-252a449d3b3c
For me, hotmail is finish.
I can not read my message, and i can not play this new turn.

[jimbojones1971]

You have messaged Tarrax with your new email address?

Thank, lot of french people have the same problem with hotmail
http://answers.microsoft.com/fr-fr/windowslive/forum/hotmail-email/bonjour-je-narrive-plus-%C3%A0-ouvrir-mes-messages/e26834a8-610d-4a01-ad40-252a449d3b3c
For me, hotmail is finish.
I can not read my message, and i can not play this new turn.

[Gargouille]

Yes, but "no answer yet".
I find temporary solution.
I must boot my PC with windows XP and use explorer for read my "hotmail message".
If i boot with linux and use firefox, i can not read "hotmail message", it's new.
Microsoft permanently lost a customer, microsoft are "censored"

[Tarrax]

Hey guys. Just saw this. I'll be glad to change the e-mail address but unfortunately I misplaced the admin password. :o

I sent a private message to llamabeast so we'll see if I can recover it. I'll let you know.

[Gargouille]

Argh... thank.

[HoleyDooley]

Just a question to those of you who remain and maybe with more experience than me.

Given that this is a no diplomacy game, and if I should in the not too distant future cast Utterdark....will it basically end the game?

It appears to me that this is a fairly nasty (almost game winning) spell and given enough boost, too strong to be dispelled by a single player.

Given that pooling gems for a dispel is out of the question by the nature of the diplomacy in this game, is it fair that I should be able to cast it?

My thoughts are...no its not.

There seem to be some great struggles going on and if the consensus is that it should not be cast that's fine with me, as there are other useful global I can use.

I am more interested in seeing this game continue on rather than winning it by what appears to be a "loophole" in our game setup for my nation.

Maybe I am over rating this spell.....Your thoughts?

[Tiavals]

While I may not be more experienced than you, here's my thoughts:

Ermor was allowed in the roster despite the suggestion that it's too powerful in a non-diplo game.

It's easier to dispel spells than cast them. (You can turn gems to astral pearls much easier than to other gems[except if the enemy is cunning and casts it weak at first so someone will use all their gems for a dispel, then cast it strong afterwards, but with a high base cost, not necessarily viable])

Based on these two things, I'd say there's nothing wrong with casting Utterdark. Then again, I'm not totally sure what it does as I've never been in a game where it has been cast. Some weak shades attack everywhere, income plummets, darkness in every combat? Sure, it's annoying, but it's a level 9 spell that requires plenty of death magic and gems. If you've been hoarding gems for the entire game waiting to cast it, then you've crippled your game up until now. If you haven't, do you really have enough death gems so that it won't be dispelled? I suppose you have had Well of Misery going on for dozens of turns.

Anyway, that's just my thoughts, I'm sure others will have their owns to add.

[HoleyDooley]

Hi Tiv,

It does more that that. here is the description.

Description:
The world is covered by a blanket of utter darkness. All living beings must use torches to see even a few feet in front of themselves. Undead and blind beings are unaffected by the darkness. All provinces have their income and resources reduced by 90 percent. During the perpetual night, forces of darkness and roaming shades will attack enemy provinces. The spell lasts until someone dispels it or the caster dies.

[Tarrax]

Sorry, I just saw this. Personally, I think anything is fair game. If a spell is in the game, I don't see why you shouldn't be able to cast it. Even though there is no diplomacy, the fact that you'll cast a spell that will seriously affect all the world negatively will probably mean that all the players will gang up on you.

[Gargouille]

If you cast this spell, you hit hard all prentender, for you it's a good idea (and this is the game, you are right). I'm not old player, and me never play with dead ou blood magic, it's the first time i see this "big" spell. I think, i cant win this game, but i'm happy, i stay with the last players. I believe Marignon or Ermor is the best, Ctis and me less strength. I seek how make with 10% of my income, i count my free fighters (upkeep=0), how cast "solar brillance" in all fight, ....

[Tiavals]

What's the policy for blocking armies with diseased commanders with 2 hp left?

[Tarrax]

Well, as far as I know constantly blocking big armies with a single scout etc. is frowned upon in the community. So I'd say don't do it unless that single unit is a SC/thug.

[Tiavals]

Just checking, as my esteemed opponent just did that to prevent my army from reaching his castle. So if you're reading, bad you, don't do it in the future. :)

[Gargouille]

If Ermor and Ctis leave Marignon in peace, Marignon win the game. I can hurt him, i can resist a bit against his angels, but if Ctis and Ermor leave Marignon break my kingdom in peace, after he will be the master of this world.

[HoleyDooley]

Hi Garg,

Just FYI, this is a no diplomacy game, thus your comments above are against the rules/spirit of the game.....I know you are fairly new to dominions though.

As for me fighting Marigon, I don't share a border with him......one of the problems of using a non wrap map.

[Gargouille]

Argh, me stupid. I make my turn too late. Two hour for this turn was too short. I could not win, but i hoped make more hurt and less error. Tiavals/Marignon play better me, he win, this is right. Now the last survivors of Jomon stay underwater ( I lose this game, but i stay for play them last warriors and learn better underwater game).

[Gargouille]

Jomon lost from long time,
I have less time,
so I leave the rest of my kingdom with AI.
Good end game at all.

[Tiavals]

Ok, thanks for playing.

What about the rest of you? It seems two nations have had stale turns for a looong time. Only C'tis and Ermor left beside me.

[Gargouille]

Yes, only you (Marignon the winer, i think), Ermor and C'Tis play yet. Rest of Jomon= the 3 water queens, one grendelkin, few kaijins, ryujins, a little onmyo-ji, master shugenja and others "small"...

[Tarrax]

Thanks for playing Gargouille. I (C'tis) have been playing but it is true that only 3 of us are left.

[HoleyDooley]

Its a win to Tiv (Marigon). I am totally beat with no chance of a come back or offering any serious resistance.

[Gargouille]

I am totally beat with no chance of a come back or offering any serious resistance.
Me too...
I send this last turn (97) for Jomon=>IA.
(sorry, i no play turn 96 and 95)

[Tarrax]

Well I (C'tis) can put up a few fights against Marignon but it's probably futile. He has too many provinces, armies, gems, everything... And my armies being undead based and pretender being fire-based doesn't help. So since Ermor also agrees, I think I'll just call this game as a win for Marignon.

Congratulations Tiavals! Thanks everyone for playing.

[Tiavals]

Yay.

It was a nice game. I'm surprised HoleyDooley didn't pursue a more aggressive strategy with Ermor(no diplomacy would have meant people couldn't gang up on you too well), especially after casting Utterdark. I have noticed that armies disperse pretty slowly even if you don't have money for their upkeep, so if you were intending to wait for the armies to just vanish, I'm not sure it would have even ever happened completely?

[Tarrax]

I was also surprised by the same thing Tiavals. I had put Purgatory up so I can understand not attacking me much but I thought Ermor could try to expand into TC or Bogarus maybe.

[Tiavals]

I'm still getting turns for the game. It'd be great if you could end it in llamaserver. :)

[Tarrax]

Yes Tiavals I am aware. Unfortunately I misplaced / forgot the admin password so I can't declare it finished. I apologize. I sent a PM to llamabeast on two forums (this and Sombre's forum) but unfortunately I didn't get an answer. Does anyone know how to contact llamabeast?