Tophats: Squirreloid wins!

[Gandalf Parker]

I scanned but didnt see.
Is this pbem?

[Starshine_Monarch]

In all the games I've hosted, diplomacy was mostly Machiavellian in nature, so I'm sure this will be a nice change of pace for me. Fortunately the game hasn't completely filled up yet.

*Starshine considers the monocle for a minute before tossing it aside and donning a set of green and gold imperial diplomat's robes.*

Tien C'hi please.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

In that spirit, if there be no objections from my esteemed colleagues, I will graciously accept the reins of Nekehara. The dead, after all, have no secrets and tell no lies. And I will promise not to use the preposterous gilded scorpion, which no gentleman should sully his hands with.

How could I refuse such a modest and civilized request? The undead are yours to command.

Any players signing up now should notice that we are full on mod nations and no further reguests to play one are accepted. To keep the game in good spirit, I'll write a post descriping the mod nations in this game, just like I've done in the infamous "Dramatica" and "Blood Red" threads. You fellows must wait for it for a while, since this moustache isn't going to fax itself.

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

I have one question regarding the OP: "Shinyama has singed NAP3 with Bretonnia"? Would that be a statement of intent to end a NAP, or simply minorly transgress it? I suppose perhaps some people prefer to lightly singe their bridges rather than burning them.

My original post might be a bit misleading on that aspect. It is my intention that both signing and abolishing a NAP-agreement (as per the terms of the agreement in question) should be stated in this thread.

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

I scanned but didnt see.
Is this pbem?

Yes. In llamaserver.

[Squirrelloid]

Originally Posted by Burnsaber

My original post might be a bit misleading on that aspect. It is my intention that both signing and abolishing a NAP-agreement (as per the terms of the agreement in question) should be stated in this thread.

My dear sir, you may note that in the quoted text from the OP the word 'sign' does not appear. I was merely curious as to what singing a NAP meant. Presumably it is not quite as bad as burning it entirely.

[Burnsaber]

Originally Posted by Squirrelloid

My dear sir, you may note that in the quoted text from the OP the word 'sign' does not appear. I was merely curious as to what singing a NAP meant. Presumably it is not quite as bad as burning it entirely.

Oh, you rascally chump! Now I see what you did there! I should've had my legal advisor check that post before I sent it.

Unintenteded grammatical error has been fixed in the OP.

[cleveland]

Originally Posted by Burnsaber

Dear Sir, I ogled at you map for quite a while. My peculiar curiosity was roused, if you excuse my strong language.

We would be honored to use your map in our game. I also took the freedom of signing you up. The presence of such a industrious gentleman as yourself will do the game only good.

Jolly good!

If it pleases the assembly, I humbly submit version 0.1 of the aforementioned map for review by the gentlemen gathered. Mind you it is by no means a finished product, and I ask these most learned scholars to test it for connectivity/province mask irregularities:
Islands and Tunnels v0.1.zip

I graciously accept the opportunity to be the first gentleman to honor his agreements: I choose Arcoscephale. After all, what could be more civilized then a proud phalanx of hoplites marching in good order to meet the enemy?

I must inform you, however, that I will be traveling this Wednesday to Sunday. I suspect it shan't effect our start date, and will post on this thread once I've established a viable connection, but if you don't hear from me, kindly hold the start until Sunday evening USA time (or midnight Monday in Mother England, God Save the Queen).

Post feedback on the map! Don't be afraid to say it's crap and unusable!

[ghoul31]

Agartha would be honorred to play.
Our people only have one eye, so we always use a monacle.

[Humakty]

@ dear gent Cleveland, Lord of the Oaks : your map seems good and fine, even if I haven't checked every land mark ( I have my usual thursday golf starting soon). The only ichy points are there are no startpos, which can lead to disapointing startups (in my test game I had the whole lot of 1 land neighbour), and also that water provinces 133 and 104 have a great deal of land neighbours, which can result in some very cheesy situations for water nations, as far as i know. (which is not much, it's my very first MP game)

[cleveland]

Some additional info on the map I forgot:

1) To use it, unzip the file and place resulting .rgb and .map files directly in your dominions3/maps folder. It'll now be available when you start a new game.

2) I haven't begun to sort out the starting provinces yet. The final product will have 10 valid start locations, randomly assigned by the computer (sorry Vanheim, your not necessarily starting on the coast!). These start locations will be as balanced as possible, so all capitals will have plenty of indy neighbors, etc.

3) If you find a problem with a province, please report it with the province number. Most of the province names are randomly assigned.

4) Make sure you take some time to understand how the poles, tunnels, and the southern mountains are connected. As mentioned, this map has unusual connectivity, you don't want any surprises mid-game.

5) Some unexpected terrain quirks:
-tunnels are [small] [cave] provinces
-passes are [small] [true mountain] provinces
-poles are [deep sea] provinces, much like Earth's North Pole
-poles have "Tundra" magicsites to force them to be cold; the equatorial waste regions have "Desert" magicsites to force them hot. Real climates!
-there are invisible "rivers" that permeate the map. Each mountain forms the start of a river that ultimately drains to the sea, and a river runs through every farm/swamp province. This has no actual effect on gameplay other then to slightly alter the magicsites that will appear.

-----

@ Burnsaber - underwater nations seem to be the fat kids at gym class...as designer of the proposed map, if you & apsophos don't want them, I'll play an uw.

[cleveland]

Originally Posted by Humakty

@ dear gent Cleveland, Lord of the Oaks : your map seems good and fine, even if I haven't checked every land mark ( I have my usual thursday golf starting soon). The only ichy points are there are no startpos, which can lead to disapointing startups (in my test game I had the whole lot of 1 land neighbour), and also that water provinces 133 and 104 have a great deal of land neighbours, which can result in some very cheesy situations for water nations, as far as i know. (which is not much, it's my very first MP game)

@ Humakty - Right-o! You beat me it, I haven't picked the valid starts yet. I've done it for a number of games and take it very seriously, you won't be disappointed come gameday.

Agreed, there are several water provinces with many land neighbors. This is a consequence of the island nature of the map, of trying to have lots of sea chokepoints, and of trying to keep the number of water provinces relatively low (I think it's currently ~12/uw player, as opposed to ~15/land player). Lots of water is - in my humble opinion - much worse than lots of land-water connectivity.

But everything can be changed, so if our cabal wishes to further section the oceans, it shall be done.

EDIT: I checked the numbers, I was way off on the per-province numbers. I'm going to recommend we either add an additional player, for a total of 8 land and 3 underwater nations, or change the mix to 7 land and 3 underwater nations. That'll bring the numbers more in line with the 15/12 target.