Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (10> mp games) only, CBM 1.7 (CRASHED AND BURNED)
 

After playing a fair bit of single player and a single small-map direct-connect game, I've decided it's time to jump into a larger PBEM game. Since there are none currently recruiting, and my favorite age (MA) is less popular among noob games, I've decided to start one myself. Here are the parameters, including one house-rule.

Map: Primea with semirandomization (150 land, 9 sea). Found here. I've played a couple of SP campaigns on srand'ed maps, and I feel the game is a lot less interesting without them. There are no preset starting locations for underwater nations, so starting as them isn't recommended (there isn't much water anyway).

Map settings: I'll be using several setting tweaks to help keep things managable for new players like myself.
Magic research will be set to standard. Independents strength will be set to 7 to slow down expansion, but all players will start with 2 provinces to compensate (and to avoid making SC pretenders mandatory). Standard victory. Magic site frequency set to 45.

Players: 7, including me. I personally find 7 to be a more thematic number for the nature of Dominions than 8 or 6. Since this is MA, with no absurdly overpowered nations like late-age Ermor and Mictlan, no nations are banned. (Edit: It was suggested that Ashdod be banned.) Here is the roster as it stands now.

1. dark7element: Arcoscephale - The Old Kingdom
2. Xerxes2504: Shinuyama - Land of the Bakemono
3. Nightfall: Pythium - Emerald Empire
4. Corvus: Ulm - Forges of Ulm
5. P3D - Abysia - Blood and Fire
6. bgifu: T'ien Chi - Imperial Bureaucracy
7. nozshand: Pangaea - The Age of Bronze
8. Ragnelle: Eriu - Last of the Tuatha

Diplomacy rules:
There will be no arbitrary enforcement of treaties. If your "friend" seems to be massing a huge army of elite sacred troops on your borders, you may want to take his explanation that it's a training exercise with a grain of salt.

Roleplaying and fluff:
I have a confession: I'm one of those wretched, basement-dwelling creatures called 'roleplayers' who likes to give their pretender a unique backstory and use flowery Tolkien-esque language in diplomatic messages. Roleplaying is encouraged but not required. However, please at least refrain from using 'leetspeak', and refer to other players by their pretender name rather than their forum name.

No Ashdod I've never played with/against them, but apparently MA Ashdod is severely overpowered. Since this is a newbie game, I don't want any nations with advantages only a vet can counter.

No elephant rush against other players. It's never happened to me, but I've heard that this is a very annoying tactic for a new player to get overrun by. Elephants may not be used offensively against other players until year 3 (you can still use them against independents, or to defend against other players).

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

I think you missed Lightless lanterns and jade knives for the restricted list? Also difficult research and limited research items will mean a loooonnnng time before anything decent is researched giving a huge advantage to bless nations.

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

Yes, lightless lantern and jade knife should be on the list also.

And you're right, setting magic research to difficult will give too much of an advantage to Bless nations. I'll make it standard research.

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

Yup, why did they boost Ulm so much, every other nation is useless now. I'm going to practice my Ashdod a bit because playing them has at least some honor, unlike those Ulmish powergamer wretches.

I also like your decision to reduce the effectiveness of Gale Gate, that global was too powerful compared to eg Astral Nexus.

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

what is this i dont even

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

Hello! Always great to see a new player organizing a game.

In case you couldn't tell, Juffos was being sarcastic. You probably don't want Ashdod in the game as they are widely thought to be the strongest nation in all of dominions. I agree that the rest of MA is quite well balanced.

Also, the general consensus seems to be that Ulm remains irredeemably weak even with the buffs it received in CBM 1.7. I would be very surprised if it were overpowered.

Where you put ">5 games only", I guess you meant "<5 games only"? You should probably change it otherwise new players might not bother reading the thread.

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

you crack me up. good joke

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

Ah yes, the always fun game of piling on the newbie. His offense? He took the initiative to create a game reflecting his opinions. Disagree with his opinions? You could offer constructive feedback, like llamabeast did, so that dark7element might have more luck recruiting players. Or you could deride him for his views. It appears the latter option was the more popular choice. Well done.

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

Or you could start white-knighting even when obviously not required. I think my post was more informative and helpful than yours.

Re: Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (>5 mp games) only, CBM 1.6 [6 slots open]
 

Yes.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
OH YES!


There. Another meaningless reply to a meaningless reply about a meaningless reply in a hilarious thread.

dark7element, just use cbm1.7. And please do elaborate what this super-enchantment gate is. Do you mean Gale Gate?