Re: news of the world
 

Counts with skull staffs casting wither bones would work well if you have the research (and the casters and items). Solar rays from members of the third tier and astral random fortune tellers. Dust to dust from revenants and death random fortune tellers. And of course plain old priests.

strategic/diplomatic considerations
 

I, Bwoo the Enlightened One, would just like to point out that with Team Man and Machaka defeated, then if Team Ulm and Tien Chi is defeated, the Ascension War is over and victory goes to Team Pangaea and Arcoscephale.

public service announcement
 

Go Machaka! Never surrender! Punish the heretic invaders!

--Bwoo the Gentle

Re: public service announcement
 

Machaka has a 350 defense hill fort and the seiging of the Machaka capitol is going rather slow, to say the least. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

By the way, when is your team going to help us kill the C'tis/Ermor team? We have captured the C'tis capitol and surely you could help us eliminate the remaining lizard provinces, right? The C'tis Lich is no longer immortal, so feel free to kill her for good.

Also, I am not sure how much longer I can last against the endless undead hordes. I have killed about 800 undead troops (more than half of those were horsemen) and still they come. I sure hope they fix this little problem of unlimited free undead troops in Dominions 3, for I never want to start next to Ermor again. The only way to prevent Ermor from going nonlinear with troops is to gang up on them early. This being the very first time I have ever fought against Ermor in MP,I have discovered why it is so beneficial to put together an anti-Ermor coalition on the first couple of turns before the free troops start rolling off the assembly lines.

I know of 2 MP games where the Ermor player won the game when it was his very first MP game, so it probably is not balanced as a nation, especially against newbies. It also looks like Ermor is going to win the First Step game too, which would be the third time a rookie won playing Ermor. I recall back to the old days when Norfleet was unbeatable as Ermor, though he did likely cheat in lots of those games.

With the remarkable recovery of TC, it does not look quite so clear anymore that the Arco/Pan team has it wrapped up. Unfortunately, there is little hope of elimination Ermor anymore, even if everybody ganged up on them. The free troops are rolling off too fast now, so our team can't win at this point even if we eliminate C'tis.

I sure wish I knew how to effectively fight Ermor, but, unfortunately, I do not. I am learning as I go, which is clearly not a good plan. I even have a great anti-Ermor nation in Marignon, but it is still not enough. All those early stales did not help either...

That's e'nuff whining Panther!!! Fight to the death!

global strategy
 

Well, uh, I hate to admit that while TC remarkably revived from the edge of death, her sister Ulm has suddenly reached the edge of death herself.

So Arco/Pan is sitting in a pretty good position to win at this time. Maybe if you hold out against Ermor for long enough you can have an honorable Second Place in the final and eternal Pantheon.

explanation sought
 

Um, I hate to sound like a confused newbie, but could anyone explain why all of my troops which attacked the Medusa disappeared instantly? She didn't have a longer weapon, so she couldn't have repelled them, right? And she didn't have a Fire Shield or such. She did have a Charged Body, but that should have (a) included her taking a hit, (b) made a sound and light show, (c) killed only the first attacker, not all of them.

Please help, as it doesn't seem like much fun to try fighting her again at this point...

Re: explanation sought
 

Medusa will turn opponents to stone (ie. kill them) if they fail some sort of magic check.

Re: explanation sought
 

They turned to stone, which cheered me up http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .

To further explain, the medusa has an aegis-like effect built in. If the attackers fail a MR roll, they die.

Re: explanation sought
 

Thanks for the explanation. Too bad there isn't an icon explaining that in the Medusa's list of attribute icons.

news of the world
 

Bravely fought, Ioticus! Better luck in the next war.

Re: news of the world
 

Thanks for hosting. It was fun.

hosting schedule
 

2x2x2x2x2e, Connections 0, Time 27h (quick host)
Aby- Ul- Ct- Arc+ Er- Mar- Pa+ Ti+

Hm, usually more people have taken their turns by now.

Re: hosting schedule
 

8 hours til next hosting, and Ermor and Marignon haven't committed their orders yet.

Re: hosting schedule
 

It is a race to see which of the following happens first. All are immenent:
1. Marignon dies.
2. C'tis dies.
3. TC dies and the game ends.

Myself, I am hoping that #1 happens soon so I don't have to keep playing anymore. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

Oh, and thanks for hosting, Zooko. You really did try to keep everyone informed and moving forward. It would have been far better as PBEM, but I knew what it was going in.

news of the world
 

TC just lost her main army, most of her Celestial Masters and her Pretender attempting to conquer Pangaea.

I think even if I had cleverly protected my Demons of Heavenly Fire from the harpies (by surrounding them with Clay Men) that I still would have decisively lost this battle.

So the question is, if I fight a good defensive fight in order to delay my death for as many months as possible, is there any possibility that anyone other than Arco+Pangaea will win the war and become Gods?

Re: news of the world
 

Well it was a great battle. I especially liked how my medusa flew into the rear ranks and killed the CMs one by one http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif .

I doubt you can still do much to stop Arco and me, so I´d appreciate it if you fought your hardest to proove me wrong.

Re: news of the world
 

Yeah, it was a good battle, but I was very disappointed that my Wind Guided, Water-9 blessed Demons of Heavenly Fire chose to bugger off instead of to hurl Flaming Wheels into the fray. They were ordered to Fire Large Enemy Monsters, but unfortunately they were enjoying the tranquility of a neighboring province before your Large Enemy Monster attacked.

Re: news of the world
 

Server seems to be down, I hope it does not host, I don't have my turn in.

Re: news of the world
 

My server crashed. Sorry. Trying to set it back up now, but might be delayed. I'll make sure it doesn't host until QM is in.

Re: news of the world
 

should we just declare QM/Turin team the winner because arent they going to win any turn now? and nobody else is close to winning

Re: news of the world
 

The server is back up. 24 hours until forced hosting.

I would love to dedicate the tattered remains of my empire to the task of slowing down QM and Turin as much as I can, but I have to admit it seems unlikely that I could so enough to let Taurent and Panther defeat Hubris and Aku or to let Hubris and Aku defeat Tauren and Panther.

Re: news of the world
 

I am heading to Washington DC for a business trip and will likely stale on the next turn.

Not that it matters, for I will be dead soon. QM/Turin have the game won easily right now anyway.

Re: news of the world
 

Hm. Well if Marignon is nearly dead to Ermor, then maybe I should try to hold out against Pangaea/Arco long enough to let Ermor/Ctis get a tie for first. :-)

Re: news of the world
 

Server down again?

Re: news of the world
 

Yeah, but C'tis is nearly dead also and Abysia is in no danger of dying anytime soon.

You can't possibly hold out long enough unless everybody in the game gangs up on the Arco/Pan team to keep you from dying. We did discuss doing exactly that but decided to let the game end naturally instead with them as the winner.

Re: news of the world
 

Okay! I've set the server back up. My apologies -- I upgraded the operating system and encountered all sorts of problems.

I've ordered my remaining troops to fiercely resist any incursions from the notorious Pangaeaites.

But I also don't mind if we all praise the gods of Pangaea and Arcoscephale and enthrone them forever.

End of the world
 

Looks like the game will end in the next move or two. It also looks like both C'tis and I managed to avoid dying before the game ended. I almost feel a moral vicory on that! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

It is too bad the game will end soon since my partner Abysia is now destroying huge Ermor armies with nearly no losses. If the last TC province could only survive for another 40 turns or so, my team could achieve a joint victory! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: End of the world
 

Ctis doesnt even do his turns for like 15 turns now so it isnt exactly fair. He has staled besides the past 15 turns in a row so maybe over 20 turns. Also losing a few hundred undead is nothing. In another Ermor game where I won I was losing over 1k undead every turn and it didnt even bother me.

Re: End of the world
 

Speaking of staling, I have been too. If no one objects I just assume we call the game now, Turin is out of town and I don't really feel like managing the mop up.

Re: End of the world
 

My two remaining commanders thumb their noses at you through the gaping holes in the walls of our keep!

Re: End of the world
 

Okay, I concede defeat and proclaim that Pangaea and Arcoscephale are the right and proper rulers of the galaxy!

Re: End of the world
 

good game guys

Re: End of the world
 

Thanks! I hope everyone enjoyed it.