YARG2 , 24 players EA RAND game [7/24 players left]

[WingedDog]

Strange thing - C'tis is out and yet nobody asked who was playing it.
Well, I'm going to be first then.

[WraithLord]

Yes. rdonj, please divulge who was the valiant player who led Ctis. Same Ctis IIRC that rose so swiftly to great heights of power and influence only to tragically fall after an unrelenting struggle that lasted many years.

All that was evident from the score graphs. I'd truly love to hear his AAR when the game's over.

[Calahan]

I also wouldn't mind knowing who the C'tis player was.... oh wait, it was me

Here's a general AAR for my campaign. Not as exciting as the scoregraphs might suggest.


Turns 1-20.

I won't say where I started, but will say it wasn't the best of spots. Expansion probably went too well, or maybe more accurately, I was surprised by how slow everyone else expanded (since I didn't think my expansion was that fast). This was also the first game I had played from the start for around a year, and as such I got caught a little ring-rusty with some do's and don'ts of the early game. With one of the don'ts being...

"Don't tempt Hinnom by putting fort shaped carrots on your border, as their forts are so expensive that they are mostly always going to look to capture their second fort rather than building their own."

So Hinnom caught me a little by surprise when they attacked. I knew they were a threat, but thought my large empire would dissuade them from attacking. But it was probably my large empire that actually attracted them. That, and my amusingly shaped carrots Somewhat unsurprising was the other 3-4 jackals who ganged me immediately after Hinnom struck to grab various chunks of my empire.

The war with Hinnom started just about as badly as possible for me, as a drunken scripting error saw my forces correctly abandon my distant carrot in order to re-group, but somehow my Pretender failed to get the memo, as he stayed behind on his own to get slaughtered. And this bad start soon got much worse when I discovered that I had no viable defence against their trampling chariots. Since some of the usual trampling counters like tangle vines or sleep or smite etc, all failed in tests because they always tended to target the Dawn Guards who have more HP, and were able to fit two in a square due to being size 3. I only had one fight with Hinnom in open field, in which I threw half my mages and just about every troop I had (150 ish) at their small-ish army of Tramplers and Dawn Guards, and I was simply trampled to death having inflicted only minimum loses. Since the Dawn Guards were more than happy to be tangled or put to sleep if it meant the Chariots had free reign to do their thing. After this encounter I knew my campaign in this game was going to be a short one


I have also reserved a special message for the Pangaea player(s) in this game. I'm not sure who was playing Pangaea at the various times, but I have split them up in-game wise based on the two attacks against me (of course it could easily be the same player both times). The player who decided to attack me first of all takes the award for being the stupidest player I have ever played with. As that player joined the ganging against me, and also decided the best thing to do was to simply sit on my 2nd fort with their army for 15+ turns, which achieved absolutely nothing apart from giving Hinnom an easy ride by preventing me from counter-attacking them, and ruining Pan's own chances by deluding themselves into thinking they were actually doing something. Oh, and a general strategic hint (for all players), when arguably the most powerful nation of the age rushes one of the weakest, you don't make the powerful nation's life easy by gangbanging the weak guy. As all that happens then is the powerful guy wins their war quicker, meaning they turn on the next weak guy quicker. Which is usually on of those who joined the ganging (so in effect, joining a strong nation in a ganging as a weak nation simply tends to hasten your own end). And the only reason that didn't happen in this game is that the weak guy unexpectedly managed to hold for a long time. (which is certainly not the norm)


Turns 20-50

Can't remember how many cap storms I survived against Hinnom during this time, think it was 3 or 4. But then Hinnom's world got rocked by a fish I can't name right now, but their intervention allowed me to eventually break the siege of my cap and start reclaiming provinces. Also during this time, "Stupid Pan Player the 1st" had finally decided to storm my second fort, failed, and at a cost of them losing their God, global, and a load of troops. I lost a lot of troops as well, but my game was already over, whereas Pan still had some chances if "stupid Pan Player the 1st" hadn't been such a strategic moron.

I guess my own personal highlight came somewhere around this time, as I actually managed to re-take enough provinces to overtake my Hinnom nemesis on most of the scoregraphs And for a few turns I thought I would be able to rebuild at least enough to ensure I put up a decent fight for when the big un-named Hinnom eating fish inevitability came knocking on my door. But that wasn't to be, as at this moment "Stupid Pangaea Player the 2nd" decided to enter stage left.

So picture the scene. Circling overhead you have a big nasty fish that eats Hinnom's for breakfast, while below trying to hide and build barricades on the sea floor are two battered and bruised little fish, one who has been crippled fighting giants, the other crippled by their own stupidity. So what does "Stupid Pangaea Player the 2nd" (who by the way is now the second stupidest player I have ever played with) decide to do? I know, lets have a little fish fight shall we. That must surely be a good idea!!! So back came Pan again with full force, and unsurprisingly (since I had no troops left) they managed to take the lands I had reclaimed from Hinnom, and take the fort they were so obsessed with. With the end result being that I was soon back to being locked in my capital.

Again not sure how many cap storms I survived against Pangaea (you'd be surprised how hard it is to keep count of these thing once they approach double figures) but IIRC one was a complete disaster for them as I lost literally nothing, with them losing fair chunks of personal. So this continued for a few turns until the greatest non-surprise in Dominions history happened, which is that the Hinnom eating fish decided to expand it's palate range by devouring Pangaea. Something which took next to no time to achieve, since the stupid Pangaea rulers had spent all game wasting the time and resource of their empire on profitless endeavours.


Turns 50 - The End

I probably can't say too much now, since anything I do say might impact nations still in the game. Although in truth there isn't actually that much to say. I somehow managed to survive another load of capital storms with a rag tag force lead by my resurrected but crippled God (probably pushing the total number of cap storms into double figures. Which is easily a record for me). Until, finally, one of my besiegers managed to take advantage of one of several gaping, and un-pluggable holes in my defence, to at last put me put of my misery

So ends the campaign of the lizards



Best of luck with the rest of the game everyone. Probably one of my worst performances ever, compounded by my own early scripting error (apologies to danbo for spoiling what could/should have been a more competitive war had my God been alive). But sometimes there's not that much you can do when gangbanged early, especially when one of the nations banging is arguably the strongest of the age, with your own nation being one of the weakest (especially so under hard research)

Also, a final note on fighting to the end. This is the first game where I have ever had to do it myself over a long period (the only other time I was fighting a master in proficiency, who made sure I didn't resist for long), and I really can't see why so many people complain and/or bail instead of fighting it out until the last. Time wise, all that was required was one half hour chunk to arrange fort defences, and then afterwards turns usually took less than 5 minutes, as all there was to do was summon a few troops and forge an item or two. If you only consider something fun if you are winning, then it certainly wasn't fun, but it was satisfying to repel my attackers so often. I've always hated players who turn AI and/or bail, but that feeling has only been increased after this game, since I now know for sure that once you are locked in your forts, turns take less than five minutes. But I guess those who like bailing consider spending five minutes every few days, to help other players enjoy the game more, is something that is beneath them. Who gives a crap about other players enjoyment after all.

[PriestyMan]

Now we get to see the vets begin to fall........ Mwahahaha

[WraithLord]

Thank you for the game Calahan.

Thanks for the AAR as well! I really respect your power to withstand all that shxtstorm for so long. in my book this is good performance

I don't want to slide into a topic that might divulge information but I want to make a comment re. your opinion of the Pan player/s. I had similar situations in other RAND games (although not that annoying I admit), I always tried to give the other player a possible good reason for behavior that seems irrational. Two examples of things that did happen to me:
- Being attacked by a nation, send that attacker reeling, then being attacked by same nation after a few turns ( I couldn't fight back since I was engage in another front). I mean wtf, you attacked me once, saw my mettle, nothing has changed - you'll only lose time and material by attacking a strong nation led by a player that you now know can fight back.
- Being neighbor to super bless nation together with another weak nation. Other weak nation attacks me, I fight him for ~12 turns and nearly kill him when the obvious happens, the bless nation kills us both

go figure, this is what happens when communication is forbidden

[rdonj]

C'tis may have been vanquished, but it shall never be defeated. The tales of its valor and remarkable will to survive will live forever in song and poetry. Men will boast to impressionable tavern wenches that they were there to witness the fall of the unassailable kingdom of C'tis :P

[WingedDog]

Thanks for the game and AAR, Cal. Though your nation was very tiny - it's influence on the course of events was huge. The world map might have looked very different way by now if it wasn't for you.

Damn, so far I didn't guess a single player correctly. Surprise every time!

[rdonj]

For the record, while christmas breaks are pretty traditional around here, I've gotten no requests to extend the timer, and have no plans of doing so unless an extension is requested. Given the 120 hosting time, that may be sufficient anyway. But as always, extension requests will be granted.

[WraithLord]

Guys, observing the nations still playing and those that are doing well I notice that, contrary to what one would expect of hard research settings, many of them or not bless or rush nations.

I think the hard research settings made for a more interesting game in which the shifting curve from sticks & stones to nuclear weapons was notably more moderate than in your average game.

I'd like to hear your feedback, now, or if you want to share or state specific details then when the game ends.

BTW, I know that players who didn't made the strategy adjustments to deal with that were screwex so let's not bring that angle back again

[Squirrelloid]

As a dead player, i think hard research really hurt my ability to do anything, and survived as long as i did only through the incompetence of the nearby bless nation (who is still alive, and thus the guilty cannot be excoriated. I hear he should have known better).

In fact, the death of a number of traditional power bless nations rather than their dominance is almost certainly due to player incompetence or inexperience. Example: Lanka dying to Ulm reeks of incompetence.

I mean, Agartha (me) was not the first dead nation by a long shot. Someone screwed up if that was the case, hard research or no, but hard research stopped me from turning that oversight into a position from which i could do something.