New game - The Art of War, Fight!

[Agema]

I agree it's a bit depressing Man has AIed. It might not be huge fun, but at bare minimum a human could stall Eriu potentially for many game years - he's got the gem income (Mother Oak and capital) to fill castles to the brim with units to repair the walls, and the Nature mages to feed them. Admittedly, Man is a pretty bad nation to combat Eriu thugs as there's not many damage types they can pack out Eriu can't easily 100% resist, but it could be done.

We should have a discussion about the game after it's ended to see how well we think it has worked, it's a bit premature and risks letting some stuff out that shouldn't before.

[Calahan]

@ WingedDog - Who was the Man player anyway? It would keep with the tradition of the game to know the defeated/AI nations. As we know Pangaea was Executor, now AI. Jotunheim was Shuma, now defeated. Man was ????, now AI.

[Zeldor]

Well, I PMed my opinion to WingedDog, can't post it here, as it'd reveal my nation.

[WingedDog]

Ok, guys, sorry for being silent for some time - some real life affairs need my attention, and even if I check forum page often and read everything you post I do not always have a time to write back.

The Man was played by Dragar, and it was a surprise for me as well when I knew he turned himself AI. He never PMed anything to me, and I thought my anty-AI policy was clear to everyone in this game. I was always afraid of the moment I wouldn't be able to find a sub and a nation is turned AI, as I knew it would shake the balance and there would be displeased players. I understand nobody likes another nation grabing loads of 'free' land while he had to make a heavy fight for every inch.

At this moment we can't do anything to change the course of the game, we can only make some conclusions and use our experience in future games. I made one conclusion for myself: if I ever make another game - it should be a closed game for proved forum members. The only question is: will there be enough of players to fill the game?

But, anyway, Man is dead, long lives the Man! At last, as much as I heard, Pangaea literally fought to the last comander. In Dominions, like in real life would never be a perfect balance, and personaly I find most amusing searching for solutions if anything goes wrong (and it does pretty often ). So stop thinking about things couldn't be changed and better start thinking about what still could be done to remain competive and achive victory, but if you ever find your situation hopeless and not worth your time to continue - contact me, I would, at least, try to find a sub to make game more interesting (and balanced) for remaining players.

[Executor]

Originally Posted by WingedDog

At last, as much as I heard, Pangaea literally fought to the last comander.

Yeah, it was rather interesting. I only had my immobile pretender left in the end and some scattered indie troops since I couldn't recruit commanders to lead them.

I still had a load of provinces once I was practically dead as it was just a rush to each others capitals back and forth the whole time.

BTW Order/Production is no way to play Pangaea.
A few times I recruited the wrong satires (they all look the same!!!), forgot to attack my enemy while odds were still on my side, left sneaky troops to sneak instead of attack, left sneaky troops to attack instead of sneak, lost two forts under construction to stupidity...
Not my best game.

PS. Would you guys like me to update the first post and who was which nation?

[Calahan]

@ Executor - I can only speak for myself, but I'd welcome an update to the status page with regards who played which nation (that we know so far) and who's been defeated/AI etc.

[Calahan]

@ WingedDog - You've done a wonderful job as admin so far, and you've put more work into this game than could possibly have been expected from you. Especially seeing as how you are not even able to enjoy the rewards of all your hard work (the reward being a really enjoyable game). And hard work it must have been as well considering the number of subs that have needed finding so far.

I agree with the one conclusion you've drawn as well. Having players with proven track records makes a huge difference. From an outsiders viewpoint, it never seems a 'nice' thing to do to start up a new game, but limit it purely to players who are 'known', and who have a reputation for always staying around for the long haul, and who don't drop out just because they are attacked. But for this type of game, and especially for good hard fought games, it is an essential ingredient.

[Zeldor]

I think that:

1. That map is bad for MP, not matter what you do and not matter how much you like it [I really like it]
2. It is even much much worse for RAND game [corners and borders give way more advantage without diplomacy]
3. We have too many players for RAND game.
4. Too big skill difference, either no vets at all, or mostly vets.

[TheDemon]

You know what, I kind of disagree that anything went badly this game. Having a game go to turn 38 without anyone going AI is a huge accomplishment, and while we had one person "give up at the first sign of defeat", I think that the rules laid down for this game have been hugely sucessful at preventing dropouts.

[Baalz]

Well, I do think perhaps this is a bit unfair to say that Dragar quit at the first sign of defeat. Only he's really in a position to say but maybe he's lost his pretender and all his mages. Maybe his castles are all sieged. He's certainly lost almost all his provinces and some big fights, and apparently made the call that Man is crushed...we obviously wouldn't ever find a sub for this position. Sticking it out is one thing, but it's hardly like he just abandoned a nation leaving a big power gap. Believe me, I'll be the first one to get annoyed at people ditching a game leaving a largish nation for all their neighbors to gobble up - but Man had 1 province left when he dropped.