Post by: Ravenlord on September 02, 2010, 10:33:57 am
The age is middle.
This is the place where all the negotiations, shouting and swearing will take place.
This is a link with a helpful info on how to join and play the game.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35160
This is the link to the game's page.
http://www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo.cgi?game=GloryOfTheGods
Nations joined so far:
Ravenlord - Arcoscephale
Janekk - Ashdot
Happerry - Marignon
Alehkhs - Mictlan
Ignus - R'lyeh
Shadowgandor - C'tis
Lorak - Caelum
Alectai - Ulm
Il Palazzo - Agartha
Disaster! - Pythium
Post by: janekk on September 02, 2010, 10:51:36 am
Post by: Ravenlord on September 02, 2010, 11:03:48 am
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35160
Post by: janekk on September 02, 2010, 11:50:54 am
Post by: Lorak on September 02, 2010, 01:22:41 pm
Post by: Happerry on September 02, 2010, 05:20:40 pm
Post by: janekk on September 02, 2010, 06:50:22 pm
Post by: Ravenlord on September 03, 2010, 05:49:15 am
Post by: a1s on September 03, 2010, 06:09:45 am
I have really weird problem. I can't locate my save files. There is nothing in savedgames (nothing hidden).are you on Vista/Win7 by any chance? If so, you should look in the \Users\[name]\AppData\Local folder.
Post by: janekk on September 03, 2010, 06:26:19 am
if I'll add \VirtualStore\Program files (x86)\Dominions3 it's there :D. Thanks for help.I have really weird problem. I can't locate my save files. There is nothing in savedgames (nothing hidden).are you on Vista/Win7 by any chance? If so, you should look in the \Users\[name]\AppData\Local folder.
EDIT: Emailed.
Post by: Alehkhs on September 04, 2010, 06:08:50 am
When is this game set to start? I need to set up a Pretender...
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 04, 2010, 06:12:26 am
This is nuts.
Post by: janekk on September 04, 2010, 09:28:26 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 04, 2010, 10:42:43 am
Post by: Ravenlord on September 04, 2010, 04:12:27 pm
Post by: Ignus on September 04, 2010, 09:18:49 pm
Post by: janekk on September 05, 2010, 04:27:52 am
Post by: Alehkhs on September 05, 2010, 11:57:19 am
Post by: Ignus on September 06, 2010, 10:27:14 pm
How many people will be in this game?
Post by: janekk on September 07, 2010, 02:32:41 am
Post by: Ravenlord on September 07, 2010, 05:46:32 am
Post by: janekk on September 07, 2010, 07:08:39 am
Post by: Shadowgandor on September 07, 2010, 07:36:08 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 08, 2010, 10:47:08 am
I'll submit my pretender as soon as my email client stops acting funny.
Post by: Alectai on September 08, 2010, 12:24:40 pm
Post by: Ravenlord on September 08, 2010, 03:58:42 pm
Btw who took Caelum? Lorak is that you?
Post by: Lorak on September 08, 2010, 04:41:40 pm
Post by: Ravenlord on September 09, 2010, 06:22:37 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 10, 2010, 07:58:56 am
Post by: Ravenlord on September 10, 2010, 08:33:50 am
Post by: Disaster! on September 10, 2010, 08:41:17 pm
First MP game woo!
Post by: Ignus on September 10, 2010, 09:07:09 pm
Post by: Alehkhs on September 10, 2010, 10:51:02 pm
The half-game was due to an unplanned hospital visit half-way through, so while I didn't intend to drop, no one on the D3 forum got a heads up... so I'm kind of afraid to sign up for another game over there...
Post by: Lorak on September 10, 2010, 10:53:00 pm
I also don't have much SP experience, as I don't like playing AI, so my total experience level is pretty damn low.
I also have almost no experience with higher level magic spells.
Post by: Lorak on September 10, 2010, 10:56:28 pm
Post by: Ignus on September 10, 2010, 11:01:21 pm
@Lorak Yea, as long as everyone who's said they want to play has submitted their pretenders.
Post by: Ravenlord on September 11, 2010, 01:58:26 am
Good luck and have fun!
Post by: Happerry on September 11, 2010, 04:45:43 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 11, 2010, 05:28:12 am
And just as all of you, I'm terribly bad at it, oh please don't attack me, I'm no threat, pretty please.
Post by: Ravenlord on September 11, 2010, 09:32:54 am
First time playing with Arcoscephale.
Post by: Lorak on September 12, 2010, 08:07:35 am
Post by: janekk on September 12, 2010, 08:23:21 am
Post by: Lorak on September 12, 2010, 08:42:20 am
Post by: Ravenlord on September 12, 2010, 08:44:27 am
Post by: Shadowgandor on September 13, 2010, 04:35:15 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 13, 2010, 05:29:18 am
I'm sorry guys, I was gone for the weekend. I'll be sure to upload turn 2 today ^^Yours allready stalled. I hope you don't mind, as this is the first turn, so nothing really happens anyway.
Post by: Disaster! on September 13, 2010, 03:11:36 pm
Edit: Turn sent.
Post by: janekk on September 13, 2010, 06:21:26 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 14, 2010, 06:06:20 am
Post by: Lorak on September 14, 2010, 06:18:01 am
I had a bad event in my capital on turn 2 which ruined my income.
Post by: janekk on September 14, 2010, 08:09:54 am
Is this the whinning phase? Can I whine too?No you can't. Only I can whine because I need good reasons why I will lose.
Post by: Alectai on September 14, 2010, 09:01:43 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 14, 2010, 09:06:42 am
...
Actually, I've got nothing.
Post by: Disaster! on September 14, 2010, 10:26:41 am
Post by: janekk on September 14, 2010, 11:53:06 am
Post by: Alectai on September 14, 2010, 12:12:40 pm
Post by: Ignus on September 15, 2010, 07:49:00 am
Post by: Alectai on September 15, 2010, 01:46:50 pm
That said, the Hideous Abominations from Below the Seas are kicking everyone's ass :(
I also count at least two SC Pretenders, not looking forward to tangling with them :( Harvey Birdman in particular
Post by: Shadowgandor on September 15, 2010, 02:03:47 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 15, 2010, 02:21:23 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on September 15, 2010, 04:39:30 pm
Post by: Disaster! on September 15, 2010, 05:55:18 pm
This is going to set me back.
Post by: Ignus on September 15, 2010, 06:41:40 pm
Haven't seen anyone yet.
That said, the Hideous Abominations from Below the Seas are kicking everyone's ass :(
I also count at least two SC Pretenders, not looking forward to tangling with them :( Harvey Birdman in particular
I resent that remark! We are an industrious, peace-loving people.
Post by: Alectai on September 15, 2010, 08:03:41 pm
On a side note, this is the second time I've not been able to access any of my nation's units, once I could guess was the hurricane, but this is twice now, is this a house rule or something?
Post by: Lorak on September 15, 2010, 08:11:05 pm
Post by: Happerry on September 16, 2010, 03:21:12 am
Post by: janekk on September 16, 2010, 10:04:16 am
Post by: Alectai on September 16, 2010, 10:11:36 am
EDIT: Tried re-doing my turn, and they were visible this time, guess it was just a bug
Post by: Ravenlord on September 16, 2010, 01:01:46 pm
Post by: janekk on September 17, 2010, 01:27:51 pm
Post by: Ravenlord on September 17, 2010, 03:45:20 pm
Post by: Alectai on September 17, 2010, 05:25:34 pm
Now if only my starting position allowed for a more elegant spread of conquest :(
Also, nice to see that Caelum and R'yleh are still brutalizing us all on the stats.
Post by: Lorak on September 17, 2010, 07:02:09 pm
Post by: Alectai on September 17, 2010, 09:24:12 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on September 18, 2010, 04:35:25 pm
They...THEY GOT MASSACRED! IT WAS TERRIBLE :'(
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 18, 2010, 04:38:47 pm
Post by: Alectai on September 18, 2010, 05:14:56 pm
If only my thugs could move faster, I'd be a much happier man, alas, I ran head-first into a land full of Knights, and needed to pull them back to recruit more :(
Post by: Happerry on September 18, 2010, 06:53:17 pm
Post by: Alehkhs on September 18, 2010, 07:17:59 pm
Post by: janekk on September 19, 2010, 07:21:28 am
Post by: Lorak on September 19, 2010, 11:13:24 am
Post by: Alectai on September 19, 2010, 02:42:40 pm
Didn't go so well :(
At least my army of thugs is now up to speed, and paving a bright new highway to tomorrow!
Post by: janekk on September 20, 2010, 09:52:35 am
Quote from: Alehkhs
That was quite long and well written, you must be into ropleplaying. I've sent you back very elaborate answer.Spoiler: Very secret plans, no clicking beyond this point! (click to show/hide)
Post by: Ravenlord on September 20, 2010, 03:36:27 pm
Post by: Alehkhs on September 20, 2010, 04:35:24 pm
Quote from: AlehkhsThat was quite long and well written, you must be into ropleplaying. I've sent you back very elaborate answer.Spoiler: Very secret plans, no clicking beyond this point! (click to show/hide)
Haha, not too into roleplaying; it's just a tad too easy with this game I feel.
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 22, 2010, 08:49:00 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on September 24, 2010, 09:32:29 am
Post by: Alectai on September 25, 2010, 10:35:11 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 25, 2010, 10:58:18 am
Also, this just in:
Spoiler: Nightguest (click to show/hide)
Post by: Lorak on September 25, 2010, 11:02:22 am
Harvey attacked an independant province, conquered it, but it just so happened that Pythium had attacked the same province that turn from the other side... and conquered it.
However, I think even worse than losing Harvey was losing my hearing due to wearing headphones and hearing 20 or something hydra attack sounds played at the same time. I need to remember to -not- wear my headphones while watching battles in this game. XD
Post by: Lorak on September 25, 2010, 12:27:24 pm
Il Palazzo if you read this and I still haven't sent my turn in, can you please add a day to the time for this turn?
I'll keep trying to get it to work every few minutes in the meantime.
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 25, 2010, 12:28:56 pm
Unfortunately, I is no pulling strings here. It's that RavenLord guy.
Post by: Lorak on September 25, 2010, 12:32:46 pm
Post by: Disaster! on September 25, 2010, 02:49:40 pm
Post by: Ravenlord on September 28, 2010, 04:16:38 pm
I'm also sending the admin password to Il Palazzo.
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 28, 2010, 11:13:32 pm
Post by: Ignus on September 29, 2010, 08:36:05 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on September 29, 2010, 08:38:15 am
Post by: Shadowgandor on September 29, 2010, 05:39:47 pm
ps: I don't get all that war talk, I'm quietly digging away at neutral enemies :P
Post by: Ignus on September 29, 2010, 06:58:35 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on September 30, 2010, 01:29:32 pm
Post by: Kagus on September 30, 2010, 11:13:07 pm
Think about it. Just set yourself up in a nice big world with lots of other AI pretenders, and set yeself loose. Name and customize generals and heroes according to your viewers, and have them cut out swathes of land and castles for themselves. Choose where to place fortresses and which spell schools to research.
I've heard some crazy people going on about how 'easy' it is to do away with the AI. Well, doing a Let's Play for an audience generally results in less-than-prime performance, so it should help to even the scales a bit.
And more than that, Dominions III is excellent as a Let's Play. It's turn-based, so snapping shots is easy. And getting shots of the battles is also easy enough as you can replay a battle as many times as you like.
Fun stuff, eh?
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 01, 2010, 04:23:36 am
Perhaps some sort of pseudo-MP LP would be more feasible?
Let's say you set up a few nations, and take orders from forumites, which then you try to enact in the most literal sense - kind of like the literal genie. Random forumites would be unlikely to know, or even care to know, too much about the game, so it'll be a very chaotic and silly and inefficient, albeit most probably, fun game.
Well, just an idea, as I shan't be able to do this on my crappy laptop - even IE takes two minutes to start.
Post by: Happerry on October 02, 2010, 03:21:47 pm
Post by: Kagus on October 02, 2010, 09:12:21 pm
But yes, player characters would make for far more interesting and/or thematic troop composition. Someone really should write a fluff AI for Dominions. The whole series has always had such fantastic fluff potential, but it always winds up minmaxed for the glory of competition.
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 02, 2010, 10:31:41 pm
CURRENT GAME STUFF: Should Ulm stall for another turn, I'll set them on AI.
Post by: Lorak on October 02, 2010, 11:24:50 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on October 04, 2010, 08:03:18 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 04, 2010, 02:17:26 pm
I'm not quite sure I follow... You'd have forumites send you orders which you would then interpret, or would you just wander the boards looking for posts that may be re-read in a literal sense as a battle plan? I don't quite know if I understand.I suppose I'd control the pretender, who wouldn't do much by himeself, combat-wise. They'd occasionally hire a commander, and let forumites claim them, or the other way around. Then I'd just wait for them(forumites) to "make a wish", like give me some troops and send me to X, or get me a magic sword, or whatever else. Then I'd try to transfer those wishes into the game as I see fit, and let things happen.
I'd probably choose two or three "crazy" nations, like Lanka & Jomon(? if that's how Oni Kings nation is called, I can't recollect), so that the silliness would be thematic.
I might wait before I'd start the game, and pass some turns researching stuff, so that there are at least some spells to cast and items to forge. I don't know.
Anyway, an idea, which might be fun, or not, we shan't know before somebody tries it.
Oh joy, so I am attacking a player who is stalling? I shall wipe him from the earth :PNot any more. Ulm became AI controlled as of this turn. Beware hordes of chaff.
Post by: Shadowgandor on October 04, 2010, 03:06:02 pm
Oh joy, so I am attacking a player who is stalling? I shall wipe him from the earth :PNot any more. Ulm became AI controlled as of this turn. Beware hordes of chaff.
Dawwwwww :(
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 04, 2010, 03:14:26 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on October 08, 2010, 01:22:34 pm
Oh and Ashdod...hurry up (A)
Post by: Shadowgandor on October 14, 2010, 09:06:22 am
Post by: Kebooo on October 14, 2010, 09:39:44 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 19, 2010, 06:23:35 am
Post by: Ignus on October 19, 2010, 08:59:28 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 21, 2010, 02:27:28 pm
Post by: Alehkhs on October 21, 2010, 02:35:16 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 21, 2010, 05:51:29 pm
As a rule, I'm only setting a nation on AI if the controlling player stalled for five turns in a row(or if asked to).
Post by: Alehkhs on October 21, 2010, 08:38:25 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 23, 2010, 01:55:18 pm
Post by: Ignus on October 24, 2010, 01:12:35 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on October 24, 2010, 02:11:50 pm
This is going to be fun. :)
Post by: Ignus on October 24, 2010, 02:28:30 pm
This is going to be Fun. :)
Fixed!
Post by: Alehkhs on October 24, 2010, 03:07:32 pm
It seems I'm going to have to fight on two fronts; one magic slinging mictlan player and the other the troop spamming A.I. Ulm :P
This is going to be fun. :)
Whoa, hey now. Nobody said you had to fight Mictlan.
Post by: Il Palazzo on October 24, 2010, 03:33:04 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on October 24, 2010, 04:04:35 pm
It seems I'm going to have to fight on two fronts; one magic slinging mictlan player and the other the troop spamming A.I. Ulm :P
This is going to be fun. :)
Whoa, hey now. Nobody said you had to fight Mictlan.
But I need BLOOD FOR THE NATUREAIRFIREEARTHDEATHWATERGOD.
Or I'm just afraid that you'll barge in when I'm at my weakest :P
Post by: Alehkhs on October 24, 2010, 04:28:20 pm
It seems I'm going to have to fight on two fronts; one magic slinging mictlan player and the other the troop spamming A.I. Ulm :P
This is going to be fun. :)
Whoa, hey now. Nobody said you had to fight Mictlan.
But I need BLOOD FOR THE NATUREAIRFIREEARTHDEATHWATERGOD.
Or I'm just afraid that you'll barge in when I'm at my weakest :P
I've not barged in on anyone... I try to make myself more of an asset...
Post by: Shadowgandor on October 29, 2010, 01:13:20 pm
Post by: Alehkhs on October 29, 2010, 01:34:02 pm
But but but...you're everywhere
Uh... Are you sure you're familiar with my whereabouts, because I can tell you, they're far from everywhere. :P
Post by: Shadowgandor on October 29, 2010, 04:26:57 pm
But but but...you're everywhere
Uh... Are you sure you're familiar with my whereabouts, because I can tell you, they're far from everywhere. :P
I can only see one of your provinces :P
Post by: Alehkhs on October 29, 2010, 06:24:37 pm
But but but...you're everywhere
Uh... Are you sure you're familiar with my whereabouts, because I can tell you, they're far from everywhere. :P
I can only see one of your provinces :P
Ah, yes... the quarantine checkpoint...
Post by: Lorak on November 03, 2010, 02:32:51 am
Pincer Attack!! >:(
I'm now at war with every nation touching my borders! Considering I'm not at the edge of the map, and am surrounded by other nations, that's a terrible position to be in. XD
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 03, 2010, 06:49:35 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 05, 2010, 02:19:45 pm
Post by: Lorak on November 06, 2010, 06:03:34 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 08, 2010, 01:26:33 pm
Post by: Kagus on November 11, 2010, 06:21:59 pm
I'm almost tempted to just buy the thing and show y'all how it's done.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 11, 2010, 06:34:38 pm
Besides, lately I feel like I'm the only one who even remembers there's a thread about this game. Most of the other guys just silently provide their turns and sometimes dissapear without a trace.
On the other hand, it might be exactly because there are no exciting stories to be found in here.
I promise I'll scribble something, as soon as I'll get up tommorow.
Post by: Shadowgandor on November 11, 2010, 06:55:38 pm
Post by: Happerry on November 11, 2010, 11:13:58 pm
It's sad that this thread isn't very active. Things would become a lot more fun if some taunts were thrown around and stuff :P
I Taunt you! You are Lame!
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 12, 2010, 04:07:53 pm
Ouch! Treason! Foolishness! Opportunistic behaviour! Crossbow bolts to the eyes!In Around the third year of the Succession wars, Jepetto, the Master of Puppets, has broken free from his interdimensional prison, and promptly proceeded to stir things up.
His pale one and human minions, under the guidance of divine words spoken through his prophets, managed to secure a sizeable domain from the independent tribes.
Early on, the scouts encountered the Caelian birdmen, not far to the West, carving their own kingdom for their awoken god - Harvey Birdman. Diplomatic notes were exchanged, and the borders drawn.
At the onset of the expansion, a mysterious adept of the art of astral magic approached the gates of Agarthean kingdom, and pledged allegiance to the awakening God. Then he led the priest of the Faith to a remote mountain pass, where the reclusive Elludians hid their kingdom. Awed by the divine words spoken by the priest, the Moon Mages converted to JeppetoismTM.
The conquest of the barbarian lands followed, Jepetto's conquistadors claiming provinces spanning from the desolate rocky wastes to the North, to the Southern woodlands and lake shores. Lumbering oracles led the enchanted statues to stomp the nasty atheists with a granite foot, and lo, stomped they did became.
(some so called "independent historians" might be suggesting at this point that a lot of conquests were made thanks to one Hector Stark and his mercenary band of heavy horsemen, but those unwise men, not sanctioned by the Church of Jepetto, are merely trying to diminish the prowess of our national heroes)
Other budding empires were approached - the Arcoscephale to the south, across the mountain range, led by a huge blue lizard called Nightguest; the R'lyeh nation under the waves of the lake; the Pythian Empire far to the East, beyond the wastelands and mountain ranges.
The scouts even ventured to the lands further south, torn by a war between fiery Marignon and the Giants of Ashdod.
Soon, it became clear that, the room to expand was getting scarce, and the meticulous preparations for incoming conflicts began.
It took long months of tedious research, but finally, a way to enliven the great Marble Oracles was developed, and first of the Pinocchios begun to move.
The time for an all-out war was not now, however, as the statues needed proper gear to face the enemies of the Faith. More months had to pass in idleness...
During this time, Nightguest of Arcoscephale first got insane(AI), then got involved in a war with the Birdmen, then got killed fighting some rebels. Or maybe it was in a different order, I don't recollect.
Anyhow, seeing how the Caelians were taking advantage of Nightguest's absence, both in mind as in body, the statues, together with some newly recruited converts, were dispatched to protect the misguided Arcoscephalian people from their corrupt government, and the ravaging Caelian barbarians.
It was during that war, when the Pythians finally decided to entertain the suggestions delivered earlier over the diplomatic channels, about joint attack on Caelum. Harvey Birdman's followers were growing stronger by a minute, but their empire hasn't been strongly fortified yet, so despite not feeling fully prepared, Jepetto(fresh out of prison) decided to strike.
The statues marched, the convertites rode upon their armoured steeds, even a Caelian splinter tribe was geared for war in the expectation of aiding in sieges.
The Marble Oracles entered battle adorned with glistening charms, and weapons and armour throbbing with magical energies. The Word of God protected them from malign magicks, the divine presence permeating the homelands made their rocky bodies harder and more durable. Truly, it seemed, an invincible war machine they were, and as they strode over the mangled feathers of the few militiamen daring to stand in their way, nothing seemed able to stop them.
But the Harvey was the most cunning of all Birdmen. And he said: "I shall not be stomped over by a bunch of sculptures, for I am crafty and clever. I shall order my sweatshops to whip up their T'ien Ch'i child workers and make me a million of magickal crossbows, so that my minions can laugh at the silly creations of Agartha, as they pluck the stony eyes from the stony faces of the stony statues."
And lo, laugh they did, and the statues stood there, blind and with flailing arms, being smashed to smitherness by dumb birds, and there was much lamentation in the halls of Agartha, and Jepetto fired the previous designer of the statues' outfit, and the birdmen begun to feast on dead horses and Agarthean convertites alike, and KFC had to review their production targets when faced with lower than expected imports of chicken meat.
Around that time, enticed by the cunning Harvey, Pool of Radiance, the ruler of Pythian Empire, decided to change sides, and attacked towards the undefended wastelands to the north.
Jepetto marveled at this seemingly stupid move, as the provinces in question were desolate and poor, while the Caelian kingdom ruled over the most lush, rich, and turistically attractive lands. Perhaps Pool of Radiance got hit on the head and lost it's mind? Jepetto was totally bamboozled by this turn of events.
So, as the forces of Agartha begun a strategic relocation to the previously prepared positions, so that they could regroup and retool, once again a foolish or traitorous thought took over one of their neighbours: out from under the waves of the R'lyeh's lake, a throng of mindless slaves led by a bunch of octopus-men emerged, and proceeded to piss Jepetto off. They even caught one of his expensive sculptures, as it was being shipped to the frontlines, not fully geared for war, which is the only reason why it got smashed, you know.
Anyway, the situation is not too stellar at the moment, but we'll manage. If only that dumb bunch of birdmen, whome I hired to help fix the crumbling walls of one of my fortresses, would fly into the fort, and not land outside, conveniently serving as a food source for the besieging fishmen...
It's those little things that annoy me the most.
Post by: Ignus on November 13, 2010, 11:11:55 am
People have been quiet because nothing much has been happening until the last turn or two (at least in my corner of the world). If you played the game you would know that the early game is mostly about beating up independents, hoarding resources and researching, potentially with a little bit of diplomacy thrown in. Nothing much to write home about. There may well be some form of high spirited manly talk once I gauge the level of bragging rights from my Agarthean campaign.
Post by: Lorak on November 13, 2010, 11:57:28 am
Good stuff.
I'll have to tell the Birdmen's side of this when I get a chance. XD
Post by: Lorak on November 13, 2010, 12:56:01 pm
The history of Caelum during the Ascension Wars is a tumultuous one indeed. The early months were quite prosperous as Caelum expanded quickly and efficiently, using their ruler Harvey Birdman to quicken the expansion process. They met their neighbors Agartha to the East who seemed friendly enough and were willing to draw out borders and maintain peace for now. Unfortunately things began to take a turn for the worst rather early as Harvey Birdman was accidentally killed when he ran into a Pythium Hydra expansion party on the Western border. Not one to hold a grudge, Harvey was willing to forgive and forget, knowing he would be back on the mortal plane soon enough, although slightly weakened.
After this, expansion slowed. Although the elephants Caelum used were mighty, they had a tendency to flee at the drop of a hat so had to be grouped with high morale warriors who tended to die rather easily to stray arrows and such so keeping the front line expansion supplied with healthy troops proved to be more difficult than anticipated. Further burdening expansion, the Pythium nation bee-lined south to the water, blocking off Caelum's access to vast amounts of unclaimed land while sending Caelum the message "Oh you can get over the water from the territory you have there" which would be true, if my elephants could fly. (They can't, by the way.)
Pythium appeared to be building up a rather sizable army along Caelum's western border which was worrying to the now recently revived Harvey Birdman, so he sent a message to his Agarthan friends, informing them of this troop build up and asking for help in the case of Pythium aggression, to which Agartha agreed, even stating they were thinking about attacking Pythium themselves.
Well, eventually the insane (AI) nation of Arcoscephale was met to the south and there was no more empty land to be had, so a decision had to be made. Harvey decided it would be best to take advantage of Arcoschephale's weakened state and started launching attacks on their territory. He also sent a message to his Agarthan friends informing them of the decision and Agartha said they would shift thier troops to join in the battle.
Unfortunately Agartha did not join the battle in the way Caelum expected. Suddenly, and at the same time, Pythium and Agartha both invaded Caelum territory. Harvey was furious! Even worse, the invading Agarthan army was pretty much solo units... large, well-equipped golem constructs who seemed absolutely custom built for fighting against the Caelum nation. They were immune to Caelum magic, untouchable by Caelum infantry. There was no doubt Agartha had clearly been planning to attack Caelum for a very long time and this enraged Harvey. Getting Pythium involved as well was just the icing on the shit cake.
Harvey had to come up with a plan, and the first part of that was to not be fighting a two front war. Fortunately Pythium was not nearly so well prepared to attack Caelum and had led his assault with large groups of infantry. Caelum sent a handful of mages to put on a lightning bolt show to cripple one of Pythium's attack forces while sending a message urging Pythium to end their hostilities because a fight with Caelum would not be advantageous for them and would leave them in a weakened state and most likely unable to fend off Agarthan aggression in the case Caelum did indeed fall. The plan worked, and Pythium agreed to a cease fire.
Meanwhile, Agartha's golems had beelined to Caelum's castles and were laying siege to them, while still solo. The Caelum capital... unable to do anything because it was under siege by one damn unit that they couldn't kill. How embarassing. They had to have -some- weakness...
Suddenly a stroke of genius hit Harvey and he ordered the consruction of seven (a million? Pshh!) magical crossbows that he thought just might work against these golems. When they were complete he issued them out to his mages. They looked at him dumbfounded. Here they were, powerful mages trained in the arts of air and water magic, and their leader was handing them crossbows to use? Still questioning his logic, they were sent out to break the siege on the Caelum capital, as a sort of proof of concept test.
The test went well, as the crossbows not only did full damage to the golem, but plucked out an eye with each hit as well! The first golem was slain, and Harvey ordered the construction of a million more of those crossbows! Soon, two more golems fell and Caelum began their counter attack to reclaim lost land as the remaining golems fled, no doubt to go equip themselves with something to fend off the crossbows. It is now time to come up with another plan...
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 13, 2010, 01:12:08 pm
Post by: Kagus on November 13, 2010, 04:52:33 pm
Nice work, by the way.
Dear Kagus The Wordsmith,
People have been quiet because nothing much has been happening until the last turn or two (at least in my corner of the world). If you played the game you would know that the early game is mostly about beating up independents, hoarding resources and researching, potentially with a little bit of diplomacy thrown in. Nothing much to write home about. There may well be some form of high spirited manly talk once I gauge the level of bragging rights from my Agarthean campaign.
Haha, either we're playing different games or I just play it the wrong way. The first days offer great opportunities to catalog your bringing the one true word to the heathens, and about grossly underestimating the strength of those 7 units you found in that one province...
Or, heck, even to doing something particularly noteworthy like getting your ass handed to you by friggin' hoburgs. I mean, really, that was just embarrassing...
Post by: Ignus on November 14, 2010, 10:14:50 am
Much like the previous two did. (So crossbows kill those nasty statues, you say...)
Post by: Lorak on November 14, 2010, 11:00:23 am
I wouldn't expect them to work much longer, though.
Post by: Happerry on November 14, 2010, 11:04:27 am
Post by: Ignus on November 14, 2010, 11:20:13 am
Post by: Kagus on November 14, 2010, 03:54:40 pm
Because of their heavy armor, attempting to use them for standard spellcasting would just murder them. The idea was instead to have the communion masters (or rather sabbath masters, as I wanted this nation to specialize in the blood/earth magic combo) cast various reinvigoration spells on themselves to keep the warriors on their feet, and to also buff themselves up with some useful combat buffs.
Someone coined a term for this method... Can't remember what it was. But the main difference is that the frontliners would be standard troops instead of commanders. I was just curious to see if that tag worked on mooks the same way it did on commanders (Pythium's slaves).
I've had a couple of those. While attempting to break a siege all of my mages decided that killing people was far too much effort, ignored my script and just buffed themselves and fled. Stupid squid heads....
For all the fun it is to pre-define orders and then let people work it out on their own... This really is one major point of annoyance. I usually ran into that when I put people too far back so they were out of range. But, sometimes, I really don't know what was going through their little brains...
What really gets me are some of the buffs they insist on casting.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 16, 2010, 03:36:49 pm
An Agarthean Oracle is a creature whose vision organ consists of a single large eye. However, the so called "Marble Oracles", which are statues sculpted to represent some of the more venerable of the Oracles of old, posses two eyes, as empirical experiments on the Caelian front proved beyond doubt.
The reason for this remains unknown, just as unknown is the answer to the question of: Why has the sculptor not made them with even more eyes, lie ten for example?(Cut to Jepetto pulling his hair off and crying "WHYYYY?!")
The answer, if ever found, will most likely go along the lines of "magic works in mysterious ways".
Two High Seraphs with crossbows, stomped over by a mammoth, for an eye does not equal a good trade in my book.
Post by: Lorak on November 16, 2010, 04:55:59 pm
Not that I'm complaining, the crossbows were fun while they lasted.
Post by: Kagus on November 17, 2010, 04:27:10 am
Playing the demo. Early Age, Atlantis, going up against Vanheim (eep) and Sauromatia (although you can't select them, all nations are in the game and will occasionally be picked by the 'random nation' setting when used on an AI opponent)... Well, let's just say that things aren't looking too pretty right now. I've got a pack of 10 Kings that are whupping ass with magma bolts and acid rain, but a suitably large force would be able to overwhelm them and they're facing off against the Sauromatian cataphracts... Lucky me, the archers do absolutely diddly against the kingly hides.
Then I'm looking at a spaghetti bowl of provinces with Vanheim's hidden armies prancing back and forth between them, right outside my second fort. I'm losing soldiers in pretty much each confrontation, and although I've got a few spellcasters I don't have the sheer force of royalty that the king group down south is packing. And Sauromatia has crawled up around the mountain ridge and is looking to join in on the mess.
I've got a lot of land, and that's good, but I don't really have a lot to back it up with, which is bad. I spent most of my early game betting on researchers and spellcasters, so my military might hasn't exactly been building up all that well. I've just recently released my nest egg of researchers and they're doing a pretty good job, but I think it would've been nice to have a little bit of padding between the mages and the enemy cavalry...
Basically, the situation is that I've got the most research, provinces, forts, and gem income (Vanheim has managed to make off with more income despite having far fewer provinces, which disturbs me greatly), but now I've run into the other dudes and I don't really have much to hold on to my property with. This isn't helped by the fact that Atlanteans only get their national troops in watery keeps, so my mages (my ace in the hole with this predominantly magic-centered plan) have to make quite the trek before getting to where they need to be.
What's funny is that I'm actually better with EA Agartha... I managed to find a god/scale/magic combo that's relatively effective (at least so far as I can tell). But what's more than that is it's actually fluffy, which just tickles me senseless.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 17, 2010, 06:31:28 am
Post by: Disaster! on November 17, 2010, 11:46:31 am
I've identified a lot of technical mistakes that I will have to work on if I want to improve for future games.
I won't point them out right now obviously, but I'd love to chat about them after my annihilation (or after my unlikely victory).
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 17, 2010, 12:21:33 pm
If anything this PBEM is a big learning experience for me.Well, seeing how you're one of the three largerst empires, you've got plenty of time and resources to improve your strategy in this game. One could even summarize Dominions as a game about changing one's tactics to fit the circumstances.
I've identified a lot of technical mistakes that I will have to work on if I want to improve for future games.
I won't point them out right now obviously, but I'd love to chat about them after my annihilation (or after my unlikely victory).
Post by: Korbac on November 17, 2010, 01:55:19 pm
Post by: Kagus on November 17, 2010, 04:19:16 pm
Don't be silly. Playing against AI(on the appropriate difficulty level) you'll always end up being swarmed like that. Playing against humans is what the game was made for - do the right thing and buy it!(although $50 is bloody crazy, I know).
This is Normal AI, if I didn't set them to Easy and just forgot I did. I've always heard people talk about how the Dominions AI is a joke, and utterly inferior to playing against a human opponent, even on the hardest difficulty setting. And, considering I still have more of a challenge dealing with just the independents than seems appropriate, I can only assume that my experience playing against a real opponent would be a massacre.
Hmm... Is that why you recommend I get started in a game? Perhaps under your wise and experienced guidance? HA! Your skills of misdirection require refinement! I won't fall so easily to your wiles!
Damn, they're still selling the thing for $50? Was kinda hoping a few notches would be taken off of it from how long it's been on the market... Don't get me wrong, I deeply respect these guys for making it this far with an actually original idea, and I want them to get all the support they need... But I also don't want to shell out $50. Eep.
Well, I'll muck about in the demo for a while longer, try out some new things. See if maybe this time I'll actually be inspired to go the full length.
Post by: Lorak on November 17, 2010, 06:09:43 pm
The AI comes at you with hordes and hordes of units, which in a typical game involving humans things usually don't work that way.
From my experience, building shit tons of troops and sending them out to battle is only effective in the early game. By mid game, most human players have mages mixed in with smaller armies that completely decimate unsupported hordes of troops.
Either that, or they have heavily equipped powerful commanders running around by themselves who are perfectly capable of destroying entire armies.
Also, when playing against humans, it's very very important to go into the game with a -long term- plan. That's something I've struggled with. My first two games here, I didn't have a long term plan, and I was wishy washy about what I wanted to research and kept bouncing around my research so even though I had a very high research rate, I ended up being far behind my opponents who knew what they wanted to research and went straight for it.
Another thing is diplomacy, which adds a -lot- more to the game than you would think. Dominions 3 multiplayer games tend to be chock full of treachery and deceit, especially when playing with Il Palazzo. Your ability to convince your neighbors that you are stronger/weaker than you really are, and that they should attack somebody else instead of you can seriously make all the difference in the world.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 18, 2010, 04:24:42 pm
Also, when playing against humans, it's very very important to go into the game with a -long term- plan.While it certainly helps to have such a plan, it isn't a necessity in my opinion. No single plan works against thinking, adapting human, especially as different nations have such different strenghts and weaknesses, and you never know whom you'll encounter first. As long as your intelligence on your neighbours(i.e.enemies) is good, you should always be able to learn about their style of play, and develop some counter measures.
I find the importance of espionage in this game to be one of it's best features - spying is not strapped on to the gameplay with some atrificial "special actions", as it's done in most 4X games. Instead, it's a naturally emerging activity, as all you get by spying is some knowledge on other players' strenghts, weaknesses, and deployment, which turns out to be immensely important pieces of information.
Ehem, anyway, I need to postpone the turn by some 24h, more or less. I'll try to submit the turn earlier, but it's also possible that I'll have to put it off even more.
Sorry guys. You can always spend this time preparing a new allied offensive on the Agarthean front.
ed: o.k., turn in. Sorry for the delay.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 20, 2010, 02:05:24 pm
And all the Pythians wanted to tell the Marble Oracle to get lost, but it's awesome equipment intimidated them, so they did line up and begun to recieve serious spanking.
Around the middle of the job, Pinocchio suddenly got an epiphany: "Oh, no! I've been spanking them Pythians for too long! The battle round limit is approaching! Am I supposed to spend the rest of the eternity doing this job? My (un)life is pointless, I'm going to dismantle myself now".
And so it was lost with all of it's expensive equipment. And it was decided, that all Pinocchios will be now subject to compulsory depression counseling, to prevent any further disgrace to the glorious Agartha.
Post by: Disaster! on November 20, 2010, 05:01:28 pm
One of the Pinocchios was sent to teach the rowdy Pythians some good manners. It went to where a big army stood, and said: "Now now, you've been very, very bad. Line up nicely in front of me, and prepare for the beating."
And all the Pythians wanted to tell the Marble Oracle to get lost, but it's awesome equipment intimidated them, so they did line up and begun to recieve serious spanking.
Around the middle of the job, Pinocchio suddenly got an epiphany: "Oh, no! I've been spanking them Pythians for too long! The battle round limit is approaching! Am I supposed to spend the rest of the eternity doing this job? My (un)life is pointless, I'm going to dismantle myself now".
And so it was lost with all of it's expensive equipment. And it was decided, that all Pinocchios will be now subject to compulsory depression counseling, to prevent any further disgrace to the glorious Agartha.
Not a prestigious victory, but I'll take what I can get.
Post by: Kagus on November 20, 2010, 08:04:43 pm
Post by: Kagus on November 21, 2010, 07:16:16 pm
Alright, so I've been experimenting again, as usual, and the current subject of my research has been EA Agartha... In particular, bless strategies.
In the demo, Agartha is actually one of only two nations that has a non-capitol sacred unit, the other being Kailasa. And trying to find just the right bless for the giant olmmen is a rather tricky proposition...
I just tried out a max Nature bless coupled with however many points in Air I could afford while maintaining max order and production scales (due to the expensiveness of the sacred giants). Results were interesting... The minor air bless helped a bit, although the giants were only retaking 8 HP per turn with 20% regeneration. However, it did help reduce the chance of afflictions, and with the armor (boosted by going berserk) of the giants they did prove to be quite difficult to take down under normal circumstances. The hit to defense was painful, but the boost to attack skill was highly appreciated (still not that great though).
However, while running this test I thought of something else... I mostly had the ancient ones with spears and bucklers out holding the front line, but I'd patched in a few holes by padding resource costs with ancient hurlers, who were busy throwing rocks every which way. And that's when I thought "Are boulders counted as standard projectiles?". If they are, that means that the air shield from an Air bless deflects them.
So then I started thinking about what could be done with an Agarthan Air bless... Massing ancient hurlers is much easier due to their resource cost of 1 (compared to the armored ancients, who cost 17 each), even though they cost 5 gold more. This allows for 240 more points away from the current Nature bless I'm testing. And while they have crap accuracy, the short range actually helps make things easier for them. And, also, anything in the way of a boulder is going to be subject to a 28-damage attack that ignores defense skill. Get enough hurlers out there, and the rain of stones is going to be rather nasty...
However, they don't exactly have a lot of ammunition, and when the rocks run out they'll just be left with fists. While the giants can't do much to hit each other and can thus safely fire away at anyone engaged with other sacreds, you kinda need someone who can survive in close range long enough to pull that off.
So what do we do with that? With trashed production scales I won't be able to make enough sacred linesmen to serve as an effective wall. Well, then it occurred to me... Oracles.
Oracles are big, sacred, can cast divine bless and holy avenger right out of the gate, and also have a good amount of earth magic, both for its spells and for a tiny touch of defense.
Early on, this may sound like suicide on an incredible scale, as the oracles can't defend themselves properly without a good amount of research. But early on you can just use the sacred ancient commander as a prophet, as he's fairly decent in close range.
Later on though, once you've got the gold and research to pull off oracles on the front line, you know what kicks in? The special effect of a high Air bless.
Air provides 75% resistance to electric attacks at high levels. Normally, this wouldn't mean a whole heck of a lot, but guess what? Oracles can cast a very nice defensive skill that can do a fine job of protecting their pudgy pink flesh from the blades and clubs of enemy warriors. Ironskin. What does ironskin ask in return? A 75% weakness to electrical attacks. The bless and spell would negate each other, leaving your oracles with a very respectable amount of protection along with the effective air shield.
Of course, melee would still be a weakness (not to mention trying to work out how exactly to set up placement and orders...), but I'd like to be able to fit a bit of another bless in there, either water or nature... I haven't tested any of this yet, but I intend to. It's not exactly fluffy, but I find the concept interesting... Chances are, this'll only really work against independents, but hey... It's something to test, right? That's always fun.
EDIT: (Initial assessment, in the middle of a skirmish against the AI)
This is actually surprisingly useful... I did get very lucky in a lot of things (including getting awesome presence on my first ancient commander/prophet), but I've found out a few interesting things:
- Boulders are considered one-handed weapons, so hurlers that lose an arm suffer only from the -1 to strength, which doesn't mean much to them. They can still switch between punching and throwing just as fine as they always do.
- With a bit of juggling, I managed to get a 10Air/9Water bless, which means 80% shield plus +4 defense and quickness (not to mention the shock resist). Scales aren't as bad as they could be, and I've still got 9 dominion strength.
- 80% shield is great, but still means 1 in 5 shots makes it. This doesn't mean much for puny arrows and the like, but stray boulders can still put the hurt on your own troops. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make though, because...
- Boulders provide the only way for giants to gang up on something. In a scrimmage line situation, you can only take out as many people as you have on the front line. With boulders, I can clear half the opposing block in one turn because the whole block of Agarthans gets to have a say in the matter.
- Hurlers don't have proper ranged-unit AI, and will thus run to engage the enemy in melee. Only those who can't find something to punch will throw. This is absolutely ridiculous, as even the friggin' monkeys know how to stay back and fire projectiles.
- Quickness means Agarthan punching is slightly better than it could be, but it's still terrible. However, it also means that the whole group can keep up and throw stones at retreating forces, which means absolutely minimal survival rate for routing units.
- Even with full Sloth scales, most of my army is composed of the armored hurlers, which helps a lot because of their stupid AI.
- The first turn is a doozy. If you're coming up against archers, you have to suffer one turn before you can get shields and protective spells up. Prophets, being perpetually blessed, don't suffer from this and can freely be placed front and center as an arrow soak. Otherwise, you're going to have to rely on creative tactics and items to get your hands on a good first-turn defense against archers. After that first turn though, the battlefield is your playground.
The AI is the real pain in this setup, because there doesn't appear to be anything you can do to get the idiots to stop running straight into the arms of the enemies. Of course, this is precisely why it helps to have that 80% air shield on all of the little blighters.
Currently, it looks like this is primarily an early-game strategy. You can push hard due to low resource constraints, just use the starting group of non-sacred Agarthans as patrol cops and get them to milking as much glorious cash as you can. With luck, you should be able to expand quickly enough to start reeling in the big bucks from outlying provinces before the 3 Death scales start screwing with you. I hate taking 3 Misfortune, I really do, but it was that or Drain and I really can't afford that. It does mean, though, that eventually you're going to run out of income as your provinces die and start turning on you. Also, later in the game there are a number of good ways to keep falling rocks off of your head.
But as for effectiveness... Well, I have to say I'm actually rather impressed. For an example, take my latest battle... I was lucky enough to wind up with a Niefelheim AI sitting across from me, one of the 'real' giant races. I had rushed deep into enemy territory to take a victory point (which JUST HAPPENED to be the province directly adjacent to the Niefel capital...), and I had neglected to think ahead too clearly... I needed to take this point. If I hadn't, I would've lost the game then and there.
However, now I was sitting in a hostile dominion with 3 Cold scales and two commanders with a bunch of hurlers right next to the Niefel hometown. This wasn't looking too good for me.
And, sure enough, the next turn I got a visit from everything Niefelheim had to throw at me. A force of 52 Jotun militia and spearmen, accompanied by huskarl veterans from the northern front, plus the big bad boys in blue themselves... 3 Niefel giants who were looking for a fight. Tack on 3 shapeshifters and a gygja and you can see where this is going.
The cold meant 12 extra encumbrance for everyone on my side, thanks to being the cold-blooded killers that they are. The chilling aura from three Niefel thugs does not make a pretty couple with cold-blooded Agarthans who are too stupid to stay out of the way. I'm facing off against an opposing force almost twice my size, that's predominantly melee, has a few really awesome units in it, and is in territory that plays absolute hell with my troops. The results of the fight?
Friendly Combatants
commanders 2, killed 0.
regular units 32, killed 11.
Enemy Combatants
commanders 3, killed 2.
regular units 52, killed 21.
Now they've lost their troop-ferries (a couple Jotun herses), they've got people who ran into five adjacent provinces, all the shapeshifters and Niefels were slaughtered, and I've got yet another group of hurlers on their way who will arrive before they can even find all the deserters. And with two 3-level priests sitting on a temple and preaching, we should have the dominion under our control in no time.
I had a similar fight before, where I was up against 40-some Jotun spearmen thanks to provincial defense, plus their prophet who just looooved to smite, plus a number of assorted auxiliary archers and whatnot. I lost 6 of 25 hurlers, no other supporting troops aside from my own prophet who was too busy sitting on the front line to cast smite. A couple of those kills were admittedly friendly fire... But I've never seen Jotun die so quickly.
An interesting note is that this strategy isn't as effected by cold scales since ranged attacks don't incur fatigue.
Anyways, I need to toy around with it a bit more... As mentioned I got very lucky this run, and there are a few things I'm worried about. I've had a few good fights, but the war is yet to be won...
Yet another interesting note is that this predominantly boulder-centric strategy lends itself VERY well to sieges. Agarthans don't eat, and boulder-hurlers count as 10 siegers each. Oh, yeah, did I mention that the strength-enhancing spells of Earth can give hurlers an extra square or two of range? Sadly, this still doesn't matter because they're still mentally challenged and don't care about range. Still, it should be mentioned that Agarthan precision is actually one point higher than their attack skill, but still increases at the same rate as everything else with experience.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 22, 2010, 05:10:17 am
(also, I think that in the mod we're using - CBM1.6, the boulders have an area attack, so each one is hitting a whole square. As for the Niefel army - they sent an army composed mostly of Jotun Militia, notorious for losing every battle they're in, versus your all-sacred expedition. It's not that big of a deal.)
Post by: Kagus on November 22, 2010, 05:45:49 am
Anyways, I now find myself in another predicament. Does anyone know if holding the castle in a contested province counts as far as victory points are concerned? Or what? Because if I need to control the province outright, I need to shove off a 90-strong army of giants... Should be fun. At least now the province is heavily in my dominion and we've shrugged off all of winter's chills.
Ritual spells take effect before troop movement, right? Because otherwise, I just had the computer predict an oracle moving into another province so it could shoot an arrow into his heart. Man, the game really has it out for this one dude... He already had one hell of a bad roll and is now so old his arm has fallen off. What's funny though is that the enchanted arrow only managed to do 1 point of damage, no chest injury included.
I already know fire skill cuts off a few years from the old-age limit, but I could swear I'd seen death mages pop out generally younger than those without death magic... I need to check more thoroughly. There are a lot of undocumented effects.
On a completely different note, I realized a long while back that with Kailasa, Bandar warriors actually make better archers than the Atavi bowmonkeys. The reason for this being that although the stones have a shorter range, they fire two projectiles simultaneously, have more ammo, and do more damage thanks to the Bandar strength. They actually do more damage than longbows if I remember correctly. And, as mentioned, these dudes have the sense to sit at maximum range and wait for the enemy to come to them rather than just rush into the fray... Even though Bandar warriors can actually hold their own in hand-to-hand combat. I probably decided to throw that in here because it's 2:45 AM and my brain has started to short-circuit.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 22, 2010, 05:55:19 am
There's always an option of starting some small blood economy going, and if needed be, empower and rejuvenate your most valuable old geezers(quite a lot of effort required, though).
Post by: Kagus on November 22, 2010, 06:14:05 am
Most oracles have an old-age point of 400 years. However, oracles of fire shave about 5 years off of that bar for each point in fire magic they have. So an oracle with two points in fire magic will qualify for old age at 390 instead of 400. This appears to be a percentage, as units with shorter lifespans are less affected by the magic. I've got a human with one point in fire magic who will qualify for old age at 48, which seems an odd number to me (I think most humans qualify at 50). Sorry, my writing gets a little unclear around this time.
Wasn't aware of nature magic's effect, I'll have to look into that. I thought I remember there being something connected to dominion scales, but I don't remember ever verifying that.
Old age isn't really an issue for me right now, I've just got the one guy who was old right off the bat. He's been progressively losing more and more pieces of himself with every conquest, even though he isn't involved in any actual fighting. Most of my mages have quite a few years to go before cresting that hill, and even most of the oracles (oldest commanders I've got) have 30-40 years on them. My prophet won't be old for another 235 years.
EDIT: Alright, looks as though owning the castle in a contested province is what counts as far as victory points are concerned. So packing a bunch of no-eaters (like Agarthans) into the tower and just sitting on the province seems to work fine (I've been a bit infatuated with accumulated-point victories).
Now with that skirmish done with, I'm going to look more at Kailasa to see what I can do with the little chittering bastards... Hmm...
Post by: Happerry on November 23, 2010, 06:40:13 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 23, 2010, 07:44:15 am
To my knowledge nature magic does not directly protect you from old age, but does make it less likely for you to start getting affections from old age. At least, that's how I remember it.Incorrect. It actually adds to the max age limit, and quite a hefty number of years too.
Post by: Kagus on November 23, 2010, 06:26:51 pm
Regarding the monkeys of Kailasa, some interesting finds. Arrows are, as usual, quite nasty against the Kailasans, but it's not as bad because at least all the Bandar warriors have bucklers and 3 points of innate protection (not to mention a healthy stock of hitpoints). They are still light infantry though, and bucklers suck.
What's interesting is that any and all enemy units without a good shield or protection values in excess of 12 points will be slaughtered and most likely routed within the first turn of actual combat. Anyone that makes it through the rain of stones will be subject to Bandar clubs, which... Well, alright, so there are a few gaps in the plan.
Bandar warriors are okay. I mean, 11 attack/defense, 14 morale, damage reaching 19 points a hit, 18 hitpoints and 3 total encumbrance isn't exactly bad, especially when they get to shave off a few points of damage each hit thanks to their naturally tough hides. Unfortunately, they're also size 3 and cost 20 gold.
Although their natural melee prowess may make them seem like a good match for punching the daylight out of heavy infantries who have the stones to survive the preliminary pelting of... Well, stones. Unfortunately, they'll have one less man per square than most human-sized heavy infantry, so you're probably gonna lose a few.
You're especially going to lose a few because these gorillas are inherently stupid and will continue to throw rocks upon units directly adjacent to your arrow-fodder warriors. I hate friendly fire.
So, yeah... I managed to whup the tar out of the AI C'tis stronghold, and now my inflated ranks are smacking the gate around like they know what they're doing. I've got another group scrounging around independents up north and I've got a third group of gorillas waiting in the capitol for a commander to send them into the breach. I've got 3 Order and 3 Growth scales to eke the most precious gold out of my provinces as possible, because paying 20 gold for every pair of feet on the ground gets to weigh a bit heavily on the coffers.
I'm interested in seeing how these guys manage a siege. So far I've been fairly impressed with how they've handled the independents. For light infantry, they take very few casualties in the normal course of things because they can usually just whomp enemies from afar before getting into the thick of it. It's not as astounding as a Kailasan bless strategy (quickened Yavanas... Downright scary, man), but bless strategies are hard for these guys due to the lack of good priests. Hell, they even lack cheap priests.
Anyways, I'm rolling along just fine in the early game of the Kailasan skirmish, so I'm going to put my Goodall studies on hold until I try probing EA Atlantis a bit more... I need to find their strong point.
Post by: E. Albright on November 23, 2010, 07:35:22 pm
Post by: Kagus on November 23, 2010, 08:15:31 pm
I also don't really like trying to work around king-centric strategies because they're expensive as sin and you can only ever get a maximum of one per turn... I'm trying to figure out what Atlantians can do across the board.
Deep ones are actually kind of interesting... For 10 gold, 7 resources you get a basic little trooper. Protection sucks and so does their defense, but deep ones have got some truly staggering firepower available to them.
They're size 2 units with 14 health, 4 natural protection (sadly, this is their only armor), 12 strength, and the magic resistance of a small, yappy dog.
What's interesting here is that the spearmen (who have a total defense rating of 6) have some nifty qualities... You're looking at a decent-morale unit with two attacks hopped up on 12 strength. They're glass cannons who can absolutely massacre even the well-armored triton troopers if they can get within range. What's more, the special basalt spears they use are considered magic weapons. You're getting ghostbusters for 10 gold and 7 resources, build-anywhere.
Yes, you'll lose 'em like flies. They're completely vulnerable to any sort of ranged attack and they stand still for people to punch them as much as they like. But the extra couple points of morale help keep them on the field despite the losses, and once they get their say in a matter the argument starts to take a more favorable turn, due mostly to your opponent being quite dead and thus unable to issue a counter-point.
An interesting point of the 50% fire/cold resistance they have is that they are completely immune to both extremely hot and extremely cold environments, so they don't suffer the +2 encumbrance. This allows you to take 3 Heat or 3 Cold without much trouble.
They've still got issues of their own though... Of course, the grunts I'd really like to get my hands on are the warriors of the deep... Only thing is getting the necessary resources. And the cash.
An oddball thing is that standard deep ones have a province movement of 1, while the spear-wielding ones have 2... I somehow doubt that was an intentional game design aspect.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 23, 2010, 08:47:06 pm
I was noticing some odd age limits on a few of the people, but I have a hard time believing that just one point in nature magic grants you a 50%-100% bonus to your lifespan. What I really need is some mage that has a random chance of getting a point or two of nature magic...Look, I wouldn't lie to you(not without reason), nature magic actually adds 50% to lifespan. Here, consult the wiki:
http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Old_age
As for the Kaliasa, I think you're not playing them to fulfill their true potential. I've never played the demo, so I don't know if there are some limits on research.
They do have powerful priests. And uber-powerful national mages. And super-units. And supercombatants. But you need to summon them all!
Also, with all those super mages, and with masses of cheap communion slaves, you can turn your hordes of markatas into an undefeatable tank. Arrow Fend quickly lets you stop worrying about enemy missiles, Wind Guide + Strenght of Giants = markatas get so much more deadly. Later on, Army of Lead + Fog Warriors, and you're set.
In a meantime, four-armed SCs with cheaply made equipment(earth magic=dwarven hammers, later Forge of the Ancients), and teleportation/cloud trapeze/naturally flying, will win you nearly all battles.
For enemy SCs, Gifts from Heaven. For remote killing - Mind Hunt and Earth Attack.
Seriously, Kailasa is the magical powerhouse, with some markatas and apes strapped in for flavour.
Anyway, the war between Agartha and Caelum is getting really interesting. Slow-moving supercombatants versus flying raiding parties. Provinces are changing hands on a regular basis. I wonder who's going to prevail?
Post by: Kagus on November 24, 2010, 01:40:22 am
Anyways, thanks for linking me to the (good) wiki, I've been looking for it lately...
As for the Kaliasa, I think you're not playing them to fulfill their true potential. I've never played the demo, so I don't know if there are some limits on research.
All of the Dominions series have demos that put a cap on research. All spell schools can reach a maximum of level 4. This means no umbrals for Agartha, no monster fish for Atlantis, and no national summons beyond apsaras (unarmed unarmored sacred dancer troops) and tigers (...really big cats) for Kailasa.
What's truly hilarious about this is that all AI players are exempt from the research cap. This was more of an issue in the demo to the first Dominions, as that was the only one in the series to not have a turn limit of 40 turns. It was also the only one that let you play all the nations, but it excluded certain troop types from being produced (Jotunheim couldn't produce vaetti, for example). I once played a game across a large map and eventually had to just throw in the towel thanks to the enemy AI calling down global enchantments and high-level summons.
So, yeah... No summons in the demo that have priestly levels. That means you're stuck with the two capitol-only 360-gold level one priests to bless your armies. As you said they're great mages, but they're crap priests. And since neither of them have levels in astral magic, that means you can lead communions with... Monkey gurus.
Oh, yeah, and arrow fend is a level 6 spell, so... I also don't get that. Yep.
Post by: Lorak on November 24, 2010, 06:28:39 am
(This has absolutely nothing to do with the release of Gran Turismo 5, I swear. <_<)
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 24, 2010, 07:10:51 am
Post by: Kagus on November 26, 2010, 03:47:21 am
Well, I managed to seriously piss off the RNG somehow... Medium-sized random map, all random enemies... I'm dead center. To the North lies Helheim, to the East; Vanheim, and to the West; Yomi. Due to a turn mix-up, I've managed to piss off Helheim and their helhirdings by accidentally attacking them. Now I'm encapsulated by Helheim and Vanheim, and I just suffered three attacks in one turn. 18 points of the hilariously unhelpful Agarthan PD were wiped away by 18 units and a commander who spent the entire battle blessing himself. They suffered one casualty.
I had an encounter with the helhirdings this turn. My prophet and 79 militiamen were devastated by 8 of the bastards. Through smiting alone was I able to take three of them with me, but my prophet just barely escaped with his life. 58 men died under the shimmering hooves. Although, to be perfectly honest, I got them through a random event... So I'm more annoyed than actually dismayed.
Still, there are three armies breathing down my neck right now. I can't hit them, and I can't see them. Although... Hmm. I wonder how trampling works against glamour...
Anyways, this should prove an interesting fight. Haven't heard a peep out of Yomi yet. They managed to get squeezed into a wall and can't get out, so they've had a rough early game. Also, hey, I've got nothin' but priests right now. Bring it, ya fat little weasels.
Vanheim hasn't done much that I can see, I'm hoping they have a border disagreement with Helheim and start sending superpowered unhittable units at each other to settle their differences.
Still, while I do have options, I really don't like the looks of this. I've got EA Vanheim and Helheim for next-door neighbors. Helheim's capital is quite honestly three provinces over from mine. I haven't had time to get thuggin' yet, and pretty much any sort of hastily-assembled force from Agarthan nationals is going to be mind-blowingly pathetic. Especially when you've got low resources thanks to 3 Death/3 Sloth...
The good news? I've hit Conjuration 3. I'm now spitting out 5 magma children and 1 size-4 earth elemental every turn. It's early summer in year 2. I also managed to find a Firbolg fortress through remote searching, in a province I'd already constructed a temple in. It's the perfect place to start building my army of thugs.
Well, I'm going to queue up a few troglodytes to see if tramplers might be a good quikee-fix solution against Helheim... Also, I've run into an awesome bug... For some reason, when I bring up a commander in the 'recruit units' panel, clicking the 'exit' button will play the death sound for that commander. Neato.
Post by: Disaster! on November 26, 2010, 11:40:10 am
I'm liking this 72h thing already.
Post by: Kagus on November 26, 2010, 05:47:53 pm
Well, this has been an interesting few turns... Helheim gets to move before I do, which means I can't catch the army. Not that I'd be able to do much of anything with them, thanks to the recent force that was pushed into my lands... 85 units. About 30 serf warriors, along with 6 helhirdings, 15 valkyries, and the rest being huskarls. I really don't have anything that can top that.
In addition, a random event was kind enough to uncover yet another earth gem source in my secondary fortress... This also triggered a group of 10 troglodytes to attack the almost completely undefended province and trap the one thug I'd just produced inside the walls. With no forces to spare, that province was effectively locked down.
Then a death match was announced. With my prophet being the souped-up battlemachine that he was, I figured he would be able to do away with anything the wimpy AI nations had to throw into the ring. I handed out his magic items so that nothing would get overwritten when he got the trident, and sent him on his way.
Next turn, Helheim attacked that province with a few huskarls and helhirdings. The standing forces were unceremoniously slaughtered, including my prophet. The arena death match consisted of one match between two random commanders from Vanheim and Helheim (Yomi, for whatever reason, decided not to participate).
The next couple turns were a game of chase-the-weasel as I tried to dance my way around Helheim's forces, taking and retaking provinces all the while.
Then, a break. Helheim pulled a stupid. They split the 85-strong force. 55 troops marched against Agartha itself (and defeated the 25 points of provincial defense without losing a single unit...), while the valkyries were passed on to another commander and shuffled off to attack another province along with a few grunts... A province that happened to have 99 jaguar tribe and militiamen, not to mention the special anti-Helheim force I'd just moved into the province in preparation for an attack (8 troglodytes, 2 medium earth elementals, and 10 magma children led by an earth reader). The valkyries were soundly thwomped, and although I'd lost the ground around my capital... It didn't make much difference.
Now Helheim basically just has one little raiding force that is running like rats before my god as he chases them around, and the force of 55 that's stuck trying to bring down my cave city gates. And, as I just found out, the AI seems to think besieging a castle is always the best course of action to take, so they're just sitting there.
Lemme explain what's going on here... That castle is stocked full of mages. Those mages can research regardless of who's outside. They can also cast spells regardless of who's outside. Nothing thus far has stopped the production line of magma children and earth elementals, so they're just piling up (along with a few ethereal shades here and there). And when they finally do break through the gate, they'll all have to deal with fighting in the pitch black of a cavern while a bunch of mages shove spells up their bum. Hell, they can stay in the province for as long as they like... I'll just wait on them.
I also managed to free up the other fort with my anti-Helheim squad. Now I just need to send my pretender around to clean up some pieces, and find some way of cornering that other raiding force and squashing them, and I can finally start clawing my way up from this mess.
Still, things aren't looking very good right now. Helheim is currently sitting on the highest amount of income and provinces, and they're using it to make packs of helhirdings. I just don't have the gold to produce troglodytes to fend them off. Right now it looks like I'm banking on my summons to do the deed. Earth elementals start out at size 4 with trample, and they shrink instead of dying... Plus, each one just costs me 2 earth gems. Magma children make a nice front line with fire shield and heat, plus the fact that I get 5 for 2 fire gems. I just really hope this all works out...
There's light at the end of the tunnel... If I manage to beat back Helheim's forces, I may be able to regain enough ground for myself that I can start actually producing a fighting force. But if Vanheim tries taking a bite out of me at the wrong time, it's game over. We'll just see how far a fearsome awe-inspiring giant undead immortal earth mage can go (Fists of Iron at E9 is just beautiful to watch. Shame it only works on the one square).
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 26, 2010, 08:13:19 pm
Post by: Kagus on November 27, 2010, 02:11:58 am
In all seriousness, I can start putting these things in spoilers if it gets to be disruptive. I think I did that last time. It's just that this thread doesn't seem to be used for much otherwise, although the recent development regarding turn time limits is of some import.
Also, the chance of roping me into an actual game of Dominions 3 with the group is not a very great one. I'm not actually that big of a glutton for punishment. Mostly I'd just do what I usually do... Test, Fluff, and Write.
In regards to the few turns following my last update...
Code: [Select]
Great treasures have been found! 3000 gold coins, a magic item and a massive amount of fire gems have been recovered.Ahh... Thank you, Turmoil 3/Luck 3/Magic 3, this is why I love you. You gave me 3000 just when I was planning to build a couple new temples, when I was stuck at about 150 gold in my treasury due to low income and high upkeep, and when I was beginning to wonder how I would keep my wallet tight enough to keep up with expenditures... You also gave me 20 fire gems the instant my +1 supply ran out and my earth reader was incapable of summoning more magma children for my army. And, just to sweeten the deal, you threw in a brazen vessel, which... Well, alright, so I'll never use it... But it was a nice gift!
Things have been looking up. I've managed to take a few bites out of Helheim's real estate while bombing their capital with blighted crops, and the raiding parties have now gotten stuck sneaking back and forth between the two castles they're attempting to siege. They're not making any progress on either one. With Helheim's mobile forces tied up doing nothing, I've been given full freedom to start stabilizing the surrounding area. Well... Alright, so there's that one last group of helhirdings... But I'm working on it.
There was another death match recently. I didn't have anyone I felt was ready (or, at least, none that could attend. Apparently, people won't let contenders out of a locked-down fortress. Very unsportsmanlike), so the other three nations duked it out. Helheim sent Vanlade as their man.
Thanks to all the commanders being overeager spellcasters, the battle round limit was reached in both fights and Helheim was awarded the victory due to the technicality of being picked as the defender. Vanheim's prophet, the previous champion, was killed retreating into hostile *blank*.
That should just about do it for now... I've got a nice earth gem supply, my besieged capital is pumping out three good-sized elementals a month along with 5-10 magma children, and I'm basically just waiting for my chance at really, really sticking it to Helheim. This plan includes a black servant a bane venom charm. Not because it's hugely effective, but because it'll make me feel a whole lot better to know that I'm poisoning his people.
I'm also working out items to hand off to my SC pretender, but I've got most of my gem income banked on summons... Not that he really needs anything though. I mean, he's already a giant immortal undead trampler with +4 fear and +0 awe. How much more could he need (silly question, don't answer that)?
Right now, things are looking up as far as the Helheim situation is concerned... I expect a lot of kicking and screaming, but I'm not planning on anything I can't deal with. Unfortunately, I've still got two other neighbors who have run out of space, and I'm also looking at the turn limit coming up... I'll have to end things on a triumphant note, preferably deep in ex-Helheim territory.
I've just got a couple issues right now... My PD is completely useless, and I don't have any open forts to produce units from. I guess Mr. God will just have to punch a thing or two... Show those stealthy Vanir how to really disappear.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 27, 2010, 08:09:41 am
I swear I'll get you a copy of Dom3 whenever I'll get some steady income(might be a while though) again, Kagus. Nothing like writing fluff and testing your setups while having an angry mob of baytwelvers ganging up on you.
You really must stop playing with your kiddy stuff and get on to what the real men play with*.
*meaning the full version of Dominions, not whores.
Post by: Kagus on November 27, 2010, 07:39:06 pm
Just as I was finally starting to stick it to Helheim, Yomi figured it would be an awesome time to send a bunch of demons into my territory. Strangely, there are only about 40-60 Oni in my area of the map, and I know he has a couple hundred of them stocked up in all 5 of his provinces.
Anyways, with little to no troops on that side of the map, things didn't go too well. As a result, I got pissed.
Helheim has now been thwomped into extreme submission. After aggressive expansion, they've got a fraction of their old provinces. I also defeated 80% of their military strength in one battle just recently.
I discovered that Helheim had, in fact, preached my own capital out from under me. Five black candles, right in the middle of all my wonderful lightness. This was a shame, because I had decided just the previous turn that I was sick and tired of not being able to produce troops, and had resolved to get those damn kids the hell off of my lawn, so to speak.
Naturally, being Vanir, I couldn't see how many dudes they had at my gates. I could only see the 60 or so human warriors they had brought along. Even so, I roughly set up my troops, filtered out the many, many summons between my commanders, and went for it.
And that's when I got to see the 100 huskarls, mounted hirdmen, helhirdings, and valkyries. Seeing a swarm of sacred Van cavalry charging your flank is not a pleasant sight. Especially when it's lead by a couple hangadrotts, their prophet, and Vanlade.
169 assorted troops... Flanking helhirdings, frontline huskarls and mage-bombing valkyries... All rallied into battle by the greatest heroes and mages that Helheim had to offer.
All dead now.
I lost 45 assorted magic units, meaning magma children and earth elementals. I lost far more earth elementals than I needed to, due to poor placement. I also lost 6 shades, out of the 16 I had absent-mindedly summoned. I only managed to kill 162 of their troops on the battlefield, plus one commander, but they don't have any provinces to retreat to. All dead.
I also learned something... Magma children are freakin' badass. Five of these guys for 2 fire gems is a steal. They're incredibly well-suited for knocking out Helheim's forces, strangely enough. I found this out after the cavalry charge.
First of all, magma children have okay health and protection, so there's a chance they'll survive a lance hit. This makes the swarms of them even more adept at soaking. Furthermore, they have an innate fire shield. That's 8 points of AP damage, which means anyone charging them with insufficient armor (and finding 16+ protection cavalry in EA can be a little tricky at times) will get burned for their trouble (did I mention that this qualifies as landing a hit, and will dispel the mirror image effect all units with glamour automatically have?).
And as if that weren't enough, they also have an area-effect (ignores the beefed-up defense values of mounted troops) armor piercing attack that works directly off of strength. Since they have strength of 12, that means you'd need to find units with 24+ protection to completely resist it. The fatigue and flames from their heat aura (emphasized by how many you can pack into an area) is just burning on the cake.
So I've basically got a huge, mindless force of cavalry booby-traps. And, again, five for two gems... Not a bad deal. I'm just sad that I didn't get to fire-searching early on, so I'm only working off of the +1 from my capital.
Anyways, with Helheim essentially dealt with, I can move on and start giving Yomi the attention they... Uh... Wait. What? Oh dear... I could've sworn that province was Helheim's when I attacked it... Whoops.
Well, now Vanheim hates me. With a couple big armies on my borders, a couple steps from my capital. Uh huh. Yep. Sounds good. We'll see how much damage they manage to do before the turn limit rears its ugly head.
Anyways, it was fun to have a major victory for once... And, I learned a couple new things, which is good. I also re-learned that Agarthan province defense is a complete joke, after watching Yomi pick apart a 30-defense province (plus a couple extra commanders and several flagellants) with 20 demons.
EDIT: Currently mucking around with Arcosephale, and I just figured out a rather interesting build to use with them... Loads of options, but not specialized towards any one of the standard strategies. It's kind of a mix. Whatever it is, it's good fun. And I can't tell you how wonderful it is to actually have some half-decent PD for a change.
Still, pulling Abysia and Vanheim as random opponents ain't exactly my idea of a nice break. Damn I'm starting to hate glamoured armies...
However, I've got lots of fun little tricks I'm just itching to pull on them, and I could post about them here and boast about my potentially half-glorious victories in scientific experimentation... But I wouldn't want to bore any of you with that blather.
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 29, 2010, 06:57:07 pm
Post by: Ignus on November 29, 2010, 07:00:34 pm
While it might be premature boasting, I must say that right now I feel that the R'yleh invasion was the one of the best things that happened to me since the birds started to smash my statues. So many earth gems underwater...
Get your nasty puppet hands off my gems! I swear to Cthulhu (Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fthagn!) I'll have those statues ground down to gravel my decorative underwater gardens.
You'll see! :storms off:
PS- Apologies for the delay, the computer decided that life was far to much of a burden and topped itself. Jammed the hard drive into a chums laptop just in time for the turn
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 29, 2010, 07:03:50 pm
Now, if only Mictlan showed up...
Post by: Ignus on November 29, 2010, 07:05:55 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 29, 2010, 07:11:51 pm
We can discuss this again when you'll start handing my arse over to me.
Post by: Kagus on November 30, 2010, 05:00:13 am
According to the wiki, all the Stoned Ones qualify as magic beings. Which makes them vulnerable to spells like Arcane Bolt, Control, and Opposition... Y'know, stuff every last one of your starspawn mages can cast? Well, I might be wrong... CBM might change things around a bit in regards to all that.
On a related note, the wiki also says that stone beings, like the oracles and guardians, are immune to the petrification backlash from the Stone Sword. Nifty.
Also, curse my horrible random bad luck... Just lost a treasured commander to a stray bolt of divine retribution from whuppin' a prophet. Thing is, the commander didn't do anything that whole battle... Just stood still until the bolt hit him.
But, hey, it prompted me to pick up a new, different commander... And now I'm really cookin'. Heh... If it weren't for the fact that Vanheim can annihilate 32 points of (remarkably decent) province defense in hostile (my) dominion using 25 huskarls, and if I hadn't made some serious blunders in the early game... I might be in far better standings than I currently am.
Well, it ain't that bad... Sure, so I've got an army of glamored units throwing stones at my capital gate (I sense a pattern...), but I've got special treatment for the little dipsticks this time. All I need is for that other raiding group to show up for the party, and I can put in some serious, crippling smackdown... Greek style.
I'm really quite happy with this skirmish so far. I'm doing remarkably well for a new build, especially one that I ran mostly into the ground with numerous mistakes in the first year, and I've learned all sorts of fun and interesting things... And just re-affirmed some previous suspicions.
I'm also tickled by how spread out this plan is. It's a research-thug-rainbow-scales-domkill build, because I like to specialize and focus my efforts.
Post by: Ignus on November 30, 2010, 07:22:37 am
Post by: Kagus on November 30, 2010, 03:23:53 pm
Grrr.... Oh, how I do so loathe those little swarms of 16-def glamor boys... Time for them to learn a little respect.
I've been using a lot of PD this game. I wouldn't use myrmidons otherwise, but I found out something interesting.
Arcoscephale gets a priestess as the secondary commander at 20 defense, which means minnor nature magic and, more importantly, Sermon of Courage (woohoo). Also, for every point above 19, you get one icarid and one myrmidon (the Birds and the Bees... Or, rather, Ants).
The icarids, with no other commands than to charge into the fray, die within the first round. The myrmidons, with their absolutely hilarious speed of two squares a turn (Move 1/5), take the rest of the battle to get to the front.
This is really a shame, because the priestess can cast Protection. And if she casts it on a myrmidon square, that's three elite infantry with 23 protection (head gets 25). If that's not a good front line, I don't really know what is. Let the enemy wear themselves out trying to hack away at that first before the real troops get there.
But I digress... The main thing with PD is that I've been calculating how much it costs me to get a province up to a specific rating, and then I weigh that against the monetary value of the troops it managed to either repel or destroy. For example, a long while back Vanheim attacked a province with 15 PD. And, being the idiot that it often is, its front line contained five fay boars.
PD 15 costs 120 total. I lost the province, but I cost him over three times as much as I invested in the defense.
Still, Vanheim usually manages to steamroll whatever PD I can put up... Luckily, it doesn't cost me fort production time or upkeep. I save those precious resources for my ace in the hole, my shining grace against the foul invasion of glamor... And it's time to bring down some serious retribution on these drag queens.
EDIT: Ahh... Shite. Just found out that Sanguine Dousing Rods have been changed so that they only benefit blood mages, instead of just helping anyone. That means I can't get a real blood economy going, as Arcoscephale has no blood mages, which means I just lost out on a large portion of this build.
That god I have now is a forge lord... 4 Earth, 4 Fire, 4 Blood, 1 Nature. I did this primarily so I could access a whole bunch of boosters and neat items.
With those paths I can make Earth, Fire and Blood boosters naturally. 4 Blood lets me make a booster, which opens up the 5-Blood booster, which gets me to B6 and allows for the creation of Soul Contracts. Blood also synergizes with Earth to make blood stones.
I get an Oreiad to make me a thistle mace, and I've got enough Nature to make Armor of Twisting Thorns. That'd let me cast Dark Vines in addition to Rain of Toads, plus giving me access to some other fun spells and items.
Blood also has some nice assassin gear that it makes available, like Heart Finder swords. And I was kinda planning on kitting out the Oreiads so they could serve as thugssassins. It's trickier than it looks though...
Well... Alrighty then. Guess I'll have to re-think the design now. I think I might take Air 4 instead of Blood, as Air has some really nice items available to it and I already get a gem income for it... Plus, it'd open up more boosters for my elementalist mystics, as they don't care too much about Blood.
Aaallllmost tempted to just kill this skirmish so I can move on to the new design... But then I'd just be declaring defeat at the hands of Vanheim again (and Abysia, which just decided it wanted a piece of the action by attacking me instead of the more threatening Vanheim).
Post by: Il Palazzo on November 30, 2010, 09:05:06 pm
19 winged old geezers with crossbows, plus a horde or two of their lackeys vs Vidar.
So he got his eyes plucked out, so what? He smelled his way towards the enemy(those bird-man droppings on their robes - after all, there are no toilets in the air), and said: "Your mothers were hens, and my giant olm slithered in their caves!"
Six of the dumb birds couldn't face the truth, and charged him wildly, screaming: "We're gonna turn you into enchanted vibrators!"
Vidar turned on his portable ACME BBQ-That-Chicken microwave emitter, and they all left for the land of eternal idiocy.
The end.
ed:grammar
Post by: Lorak on December 01, 2010, 02:18:06 am
Also, the useless infantry is supposed to be in FRONT of the mages, not behind them! And yeah, it was humorous to see them put away their crossbows and run up and melee him once he got too close. XD
Post by: Kagus on December 01, 2010, 04:26:17 am
Also, the useless infantry is supposed to be in FRONT of the mages, not behind them! And yeah, it was humorous to see them put away their crossbows and run up and melee him once he got too close. XD
Gotta love the AI...
Speaking of which, this is the first time I've ever seen an AI nation use an assassin... Effectively. Ack.
Now I need to do some clean-up to find stragglers and make them do something useful. I also need to assemble an army to counter the 90-some flying demonic axe-wielding mutants Abysia is sending into my lands.
Current target is still Vanheim, at least in theory... But since I'm currently under attack from a couple Abysian armies, I need to shift attention a bit so they mind their own business while I'm beating up the Vanir. I hate losing provinces.
At least now Vanheim is essentially crippled. There are a couple clusters of random-event militia on one side of the map, and he's got a few nasty elites to his name, but the old might of the North has been crushed. All I need is one decisive plunge into his territory, and I should be able to wipe out the last of his backstabbing filth.
I've also got a new Oreiad and I'm trying to work out how to suit her up for some assassinations of my own. Air magic actually lends itself quite well to this, with mirror images and items/spells that do AN damage... I'm bound and determined to find out if they actually do make for worthwhile assassins, or if I should attempt to find other uses for them.
Hrrmph... I still need to cut this off so I can refine the pretender design, but... Damn if I don't have a vendetta against these dweebs now.
Update: Well, looks like my army of cynical old bastards is going to be the force that wipes out Vanheim... They've still got a few random forces here and there, but dominion strength is waning significantly and I've got skeptics in all the provinces that still have candles lit in honor of Pourushti the Frost Father. PD will hold off any attacks they manage to throw at me before I'm awarded the dominion kill.
This is good news, because at the moment I can't really afford any troops being sent north... 126 Abysians have seen to that by burning up my doormat. They've got just under 40 misbreds set to hold and attack rear, which is wreaking havoc with my provincial militia. That, and charging headlong into Abysian formations is always good fun when you're confronted with those stacked heat auras. Blecch.
At least it's winter... And the AI doesn't seem to grasp the concept of 'friendly fire', so the random independents they've snowballed into this army are getting toasted by being placed inside the Abysian formations.
Well, I'm gonna attempt to head 'em off at the pass... Hopefully I'll at least be able to put a sizable dent in their forces, I'm still rather relying on physical might rather than magical superiority, despite the fact that I possess several times larger libraries than them. The fact that most of the effective battle spells open to me are either fire-based or primarily effective against unarmored troops doesn't exactly make matters easier.
Still, they're banking on this army. This is the sum of their aggressions against me at this time, and a significant defeat for it would stop the Abysian invasion in its tracks. All I need is for them to pull one stupid maneuver and step into a trap, and I can rush in to devastate their forces, thus opening the way to taking back the eastern border.
We'll see how this goes... I have faith in my troops, but a nasty defeat for me would make things quite difficult too. I have a difficult time raising new troops with my depressed production facilities, spoils of an early expansion fraught with chaos and meaningless foolery...
Should be fun.
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 03, 2010, 10:11:19 pm
Also, Jepetto decided to go crazy bananas after casting mind hunt "just this one last time".
Duh.
ed: grammar
Post by: Ignus on December 05, 2010, 12:22:38 pm
My vast hordes of mindless slaves pushed against Agartha's notorious pinnochios, distracting them long enough for my mages (deciding to finally follow orders) to blast them to pieces. Eventually.
Highlights include The Last Charge of the Mindflayers. A tragic fight, where a large group of those terrifyingly expensive fellows decided to take a pinnochio on mano-a-mano after running out of actual brains to eat. Brave, yet somewhat short sighted.
Post by: Kagus on December 06, 2010, 04:27:25 am
Vanheim proved to be more troublesome than expected, but with the turn limit running close I started getting sloppy anyways. They still were effectively destroyed, it was just a matter of time.
Abysia had one or two more armies up its sleeves though, so while I did manage to reclaim all my old provinces I was staring down a bunch of burning bastards when the game ended. Abysia had also just managed to open up some mildly worrying battle magic that was munching my troops, but it still wasn't much of an issue. Given enough time, with the way things were going I would've been able to wipe them out without too much trouble.
I'm still impressed by just how far I managed to get, all things considered... I'm especially impressed by the stuff I uncovered in regards to Arcoscephale's national troops. I used to think that EA Arco was actually kind of gimped as far as national troops were concerned, but then I found this absolute gem of a unit that was just hiding in the lineup... 90% of all my armies were composed solely of that unit type, and I had entire troops of them with 3 stars thanks to independent conquests. Almost nothing could stand in my way. They cleared field after field, and the loss of a single one was quite unusual even against heavy cavalry provinces.
Behold... The chariot archer.
It may sound odd, it's true. At first glance, this really is just a chariot that thinks its an archer. It's not as well-equipped as the standard chariots, and it makes for a pretty crappy archer overall. So why buy this unit? The answer lies in one very special property...
When a chariot archer withstands the pathetic 10 points required to kill it, the whole unit doesn't die. Indeed, as the description states, a new archerless chariot appears in its place to charge the ranks of enemy units. We've seen this happen before with serpent riders, lobster knights, all sorts of other units...
The difference is that these archerless chariots are fully restored as chariot archers once the battle is over (apparently, archers grow on trees). This effectively gives you two chariots for the price of one, and it becomes impossible to kill one in a single hit.
They're expensive, no doubt about that... Shelling out 55 gold for anything is murder on the pockets, but considering how ridiculously effective these units are and how long they'll be able to last (even the few who manage to hold on to battle afflictions can be healed by the beautiful Arcoscephalian priestesses, so they're free to accumulate stars as they like) compared to cheaper units, I'd say that they're pretty worth it.
In a different match, I just conquered a province with 36 indie troops using only 9 chariot archers and a naked mystic who couldn't cast anything beyond fire darts. I didn't lose a single chariot.
They've got 20 effective hitpoints, they trample anything smaller than size 4, and they even have bows to soften up lighter targets or pick apart far-off routing enemies. Hold and Attack orders define these units. They've also got 12 body protection and 17 head, plus mapmove of 3 (you even have a chariot commander who can shuffle these guys those 3 provinces, and who makes a minithug if suited up accordingly).
Peltasts and cardaces are nice for initial expansion, but are light infantry and thus suffer heavy losses regularly. Wind riders are hideously expensive and not really worth the cost of purchasing them, let alone the cost of getting a suitable bless. Icarids are jokes with wings, sporting the price tags of elites and the fighting ability of chaff. Myrmidons are fantastic blockers, but cannot move more than 2 spaces per combat turn and suffer from 10 encumbrance (what's interesting though is that this means a crippled myrmidon will only move one square slower than his brothers). The standard chariots are okay, but cost several more resources for a mildly lower gold price and don't have a second form. Chariot archers suck all the usefulness out of the other Arcoscephalian nationals, climbing their way to the top of the dog pile to become super-units in the early game.
The only things they're not very good with are giants and massed arrows/Blade Storm. They're fine against independent archers because they don't generally have the firepower to do much more damage than losing a couple archers off the back of a chariot, but they still lack shields and 12 protection will only get you so far.
Legions of Steel will get you farther. It just so happens that Arcoscephale can handle that.
Anyways, I'm now trying to re-work the pretender design so he has something other than blood... I also heard bad things about the Misfortune/Drain combo, so I'm trying to steer away from that. I'd really like to get Air 4 on a forge lord, because Air has some really awesome items in it... But mystics don't get Air randoms, and I open up some nice things with the 3 Water I'm currently testing out. Half-price Rune Smashers, Staffs of Corrosion, Manuals of Water Breathing... Not to mention the much-loved Clams, which I estimate can be forged for 7 sapphires and 2 emeralds each. As all mystics get at least one point of Astral magic... I figure this is probably the right choice.
I didn't get much of a gem income last time around, but I think Arcoscephale can do some mean things with Fever Fetishes too (and my smithing pretender can make 'em at 50% off). On the one hand you've got a pile of old philosophers who are going to get diseased anyways, and on the other you have priestesses who can cure disease. Testing is required to see exactly how effective this is...
EDIT: This was much longer than I expected it would be...
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 09, 2010, 03:13:55 pm
I love how both sides can't really harm each other, me having some serious problems with sieging forts, Caelum not wanting to risk another devastating battle. So we both just engaged in the scorched ground strategy.
Also, my mind hunting attempts are failures, bordering on disasters.
R'lyeh is counterattacking, and I'm not sure how to bite them, now that my local force of Pinocchios suffered such a hard blow. Maybe I'll just stall them until their false god loses all of his followers?(IGNUS: LOW DOMINION WARNING!)
At least, I've got Pythium pinned down at the mountain ranges for now. Neither of us apparently feeling strong enough to push with an offensive.
And somebody's been stealing all the cool artifact designs from me! Grrr.
Post by: Ignus on December 09, 2010, 06:43:35 pm
Post by: Happerry on December 10, 2010, 11:02:41 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 10, 2010, 02:46:05 pm
Post by: Happerry on December 10, 2010, 10:44:20 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 10, 2010, 10:50:30 pm
Post by: Happerry on December 11, 2010, 03:40:57 pm
Edit : It's in and working. I'm back and ready to play.
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 12, 2010, 11:49:15 pm
What a setback. Damn you, Lorak, how did I not see it coming?
Post by: Lorak on December 13, 2010, 12:56:51 am
Post by: Kagus on December 13, 2010, 02:21:20 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 13, 2010, 09:26:56 am
The attendants tasked with caring for the feebleminded, yet still the Only True God, shook their heads in grief and sorrow. People of Agartha, when left without the divine guidance, suffered greatly.
The Caelian riding parties were ravaging the countryside, burning temples, soiling the roofs, and lobing thunders at unexpecting civilians.
At the capital of Arcoscephale, the fortress assault ended with a ridiculous disaster - after killing another incarnation of the crazed Nightguest(who did manage to scare away everybody but one of the Pinocchios), the marble oracle proceeded towards the two lowly mages and a holy statue, who bravely refused to retreat despite the slaughter they have witnessed.
And the Pinocchio lumbered forward.
And then he walked some more.
Then he chased a pair of snails, but gave up after half an hour.
Finally, he got to the statue and promptly dismantled it. Then he got to the first of the mystics, and brought divine justice onto his bald head.
Then he turned towards the last remaining mage, made two steps and ran out of juice, thereby making the mystic the luckiest guy in the world.
(If only he had used Duracell...)
Meanwhile, at the walls of the capital of Caelum, Vidar(the excentricaly named, heroicaly tough, blind statue), Pinocchio 10 and Pinochio 15 were drinking some beer.
-"For the love of Jepetto", said Vidar, "this is boring as hell. We're never gonna chip those walls by ourselves."
-"Aye, we hear you" said the Pinocchios.
-"How about two of us visit the neighbouring province, where some birds and something called Queen of Elemental Air, is residing, and have some fun? We only need one of us here to keep the stupid birds in their cages."
-"What a splendid idea!" Exclaimed Pinocchio 15. "Let me show you the way then. We're gonna bbq those chickens, eh?"
Later that month:
Vidar: Oh shit! Something is killing me!
Pinocchio 15: Mommy!
Pinoccio 10: Fucking losers, leaving me here to deal with this shit. Oups, here goes my head...
Also sounds like one of those situations where the quick, adaptable human mind came into play... And also where it needs to come into play again.It's an immense pleasure to fight against an adaptable player, and Lorak sure learns fast, and well. It's only the more rewarding when you finally manage to come up with a successful counter-strategy(and it hurts less when you lose, I guess).
To be honest, at this point I'm pretty much at loss as to how to counter the bugger. I felt for a while now that the Pinocchios were geting increasingly obsolete, but I just couldn't think of any better strategy than just to make more of those.
ed: Damn, I'm realy getting depressed here.
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 13, 2010, 04:32:18 pm
Here's the thread:
http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=72919.0
Feel free to join at your leisure.
(Lorak, your attendance is compulsory)
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 16, 2010, 09:32:03 pm
Dramatis personae:
Spoiler: Terentius(something went wrong with the screenshot for some reason) (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Zantharon (click to show/hide)
Long ago, when Pantokrator still ruled over the world, Terentius was just a lowly Pythian priest, going on about his usual priestly duties, selling indulgences and listening to women confessing their unfaithfulness.
One day, however, a foreigner arrived, dressed in strage clothing, wearing a fabulously outrageous hat, and speaking with weird accent. He introduced himself as Zantaron the Dust King, and offered Terentius a chance of ascending to the Paradise, where 666 teenage virgin girls were eagerly waiting for their defloration.
The only condition was that, should they ever meet again, Terentius would have to serve the Dust King for a century and a day.
The priest thought to himself: "Well, if I'm going to Paradise, then I shan't see the bugger ever again, so what is there to lose?" And so, he accepted. Zantaron spoke words of power, and Terentius found himself being spirited away to his promised land, where he grew wings, learned to play the tube and found out that he was gay.
Centuries passed for Terentius in angst and sexual frustration. Thus, one day, when he heard of some Pythian mages trying to bring celestial creatures back to the mortal world, to help them battle some evil nation, he eagerly jumped at the occasion, and appeared to the callers in as much divine glory as he could muster.
The mages were happy that the spell worked, and after giving Terentius(who now called himself "the Ascended") lots of top-of-the-line gear, send him to do battle.
Thus his career as a Pythian Supercombatant begun.
It was during one of many assaults on the province called the Sweep, when he met Zantaron again.
Spoiler: the Nth{N>5} Battle of the Sweep (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: The meeting (click to show/hide)
-YOu’Re MY biTCh NOW!
Spoiler: And so he was. (click to show/hide)
During the same battle, a new weapon was field tested for the first time - the Twin Spear. It was supposed to summon lesser horrors at a press of a button:
Zantaron: FucKIn' I caN'T TurN tHis shIT OFF!!
After witnessing the battle raging thus for around six rounds after all the Pythians have already left, all present agreed that the weapon was a deeply flawed design.
Post by: Kagus on December 17, 2010, 01:51:05 am
Well, they're magical beings, which means they can be targeted by a lot of fancy spells and equipment. However, they also have huge defense and unmatched resistance to magic, so those are kinda out. Trying to suit up a supercombatant to go toe-to-toe with one would be a hilariously bad idea due to the special weaponry of the horrors (and the aforementioned combat skills), so what would work against these fiends?
Well, so far as I can tell... Lightning.
Horrors have a lot of protection, magic resistance, health... All things that mean nothing to lightning. And they have no shock resistance. If you've got someone with really good precision, a short-range blast of Orb Lightning could seriously injure (if not outright annihilate) even the large-size horrors. The Big Six are, of course, creatures of profound destruction and as such would be more difficult... But still, that's a lot of power to shrug off.
Beyond that, Air and Blood magic combine wonderfully for this endeavor. Storm demons do a good job of pumping out some lovely zappery, Rings of Warning let you double the number of bodyguards in assassination attempts, Bag of Winds lets you start combat out with another supercharged friend (while also increasing your own... 'Potential')... And that's not even mentioning the Robe of the Magi, which is a treat unto itself. You could even put in a Lifelong Protection contract to keep horrors preoccupied while they try to get at you.
...yeah, I think of a lot of strange things.
Post by: slMagnvox on December 17, 2010, 06:09:49 am
The tale of Terentius.
Dramatis personae:Spoiler: Terentius(something went wrong with the screenshot for some reason) (click to show/hide)Spoiler: Zantharon (click to show/hide)
One day, however, a foreigner arrived, dressed in strage clothing, wearing a fabulously outrageous hat, and speaking with weird accent. He introduced himself as Zantaron the Dust King, and offered Terentius a chance of ascending to the Paradise, where 666 teenage virgin girls were eagerly waiting for their defloration.
The only condition was that, should they ever meet again, Terentius would have to serve the Dust King for a century and a day.
The priest thought to himself: "Well, if I'm going to Paradise, then I shan't see the bugger ever again, so what is there to lose?" And so, he accepted. Zantaron spoke words of power, and Terentius found himself being spirited away to his promised land, where he grew wings, learned to play the tube and found out that he was gay.
lol -- You actually forged that crazy thing!? And got it to Charm an angel without any penetration boosters!?
Hah, penetration boosters; Not really Zantaron's style, likes to keep it leathery. *cough*
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 17, 2010, 02:46:58 pm
Post by: Disaster! on December 17, 2010, 04:03:49 pm
Terentius was supposed to be the Pinocchio slayer but now he's going to fight alongside them.
Post by: Kagus on December 18, 2010, 03:20:06 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 18, 2010, 03:34:12 am
Post by: Ignus on December 18, 2010, 10:55:11 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 19, 2010, 08:07:59 am
If there's anybody out there who'd like to take the reins of any one of those nations(what a challenge!), give us a shout.
Post by: Lorak on December 19, 2010, 09:16:20 am
They both have a good chance of winning, or at least doing well, with the rest of the Human world busy fighting.
Post by: slMagnvox on December 19, 2010, 11:51:54 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 19, 2010, 12:48:30 pm
I could step in as C'tis and play some turns.O.k. then. PM me your email address, and I'll hand C'tis over to you.
If nobody takes Mictlan by the end of this hosting period, I'll set them on AI.
Post by: EuchreJack on December 19, 2010, 06:00:13 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 19, 2010, 06:17:45 pm
slMagnvox is now controlling C'tis
EuchreJack got Mictlan
We must form a triumvirate to combat the evil Caelum.
Post by: EuchreJack on December 19, 2010, 06:24:42 pm
Post by: slMagnvox on December 19, 2010, 06:35:29 pm
Middle-era losing Mictlan. I must be a masochist.
Message from your new neighbor, C'tis: "HOPE YOU LIKE MIASMA!"
C'tis has done ~40 points of research this ENTIRE game but my hateful, disease ridden Dominion is everywhere!
Post by: EuchreJack on December 19, 2010, 07:24:57 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 19, 2010, 07:26:40 pm
link shoud be in the first post
ed: No it's not there. I forgot this isn't my thread.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8767&d=1252953736
edit edit: But if you've managed to actually launch the save file, then you must have it installed already.
Post by: EuchreJack on December 19, 2010, 07:36:50 pm
Oh, and I found a wonderful little lie while browsing the last 16 pages to get up to speed:
Fifth game here. Each time I play with a different nation, so this is Golem Cult first timer.
And just as all of you, I'm terribly bad at it, oh please don't attack me, I'm no threat, pretty please.
Sure you are, Il Palazzo.
You know what? Someone should really do a Dominions III Let's Play.
Think about it. Just set yourself up in a nice big world with lots of other AI pretenders, and set yeself loose. Name and customize generals and heroes according to your viewers, and have them cut out swathes of land and castles for themselves. Choose where to place fortresses and which spell schools to research.
I've heard some crazy people going on about how 'easy' it is to do away with the AI. Well, doing a Let's Play for an audience generally results in less-than-prime performance, so it should help to even the scales a bit.
And more than that, Dominions III is excellent as a Let's Play. It's turn-based, so snapping shots is easy. And getting shots of the battles is also easy enough as you can replay a battle as many times as you like.
Fun stuff, eh?
I think this would be most interesting with the Survival or Heroes of Agatha mod, as those provide an easy way to make any grunt into a commander. Forumites can chose-their-own-Avatar!
Finally, how many turns did my predecessor not play? Was it the five stalls as per the previous rule, or more?
Post by: Shadowgandor on December 20, 2010, 09:56:43 am
It basically felt like I was playing a single player game with +/- 24 hours waiting time for a turn, so I lost attention :( Good luck to the person playing C'Tis!
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 20, 2010, 11:59:19 am
how many turns did my predecessor not play? Was it the five stalls as per the previous rule, or more?Llama server is your friend:
http://www.llamaserver.net/doAdminAction.cgi?game=GloryOfTheGods&action=showstales
Oh, and I found a wonderful little lie while browsing the last 16 pages to get up to speed:It's not lying. It's diplomacy.Fifth game here. Each time I play with a different nation, so this is Golem Cult first timer.
And just as all of you, I'm terribly bad at it, oh please don't attack me, I'm no threat, pretty please.
Sure you are, Il Palazzo.
ed:
Sorry for disappearing guys, my interest slowly faded away as I was battling Ulm who is now controlled by an A.I.Don't sweat it mate. Still, in the future, it's better to announce your decision, so that a replacement can be found right away(or a nation set to AI).
It basically felt like I was playing a single player game with +/- 24 hours waiting time for a turn, so I lost attention :( Good luck to the person playing C'Tis!
Post by: EuchreJack on December 20, 2010, 01:14:39 pm
Now, my poor little nation is woefully lacking in reseach and gems. So, we're holding a sale! Map info! Units! It's all got to go! Gems, mage commanders (ANY mage commanders), or dwarven hammers are the prices! Send pms, or even better send gems!
Post by: Kagus on December 20, 2010, 04:50:23 pm
Post by: Shadowgandor on December 20, 2010, 06:33:13 pm
I like fighting AI. It's like facing a nation without a brain!
What they lack in intelligence, they make up for in numbers :P
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 22, 2010, 11:25:59 am
I was hoping he'd get a lucky shot and insta-gib her.
Post by: EuchreJack on December 22, 2010, 10:56:48 pm
By the way, what is the win condition? Total domination, victory provinces, or anything else?
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 23, 2010, 12:47:04 am
By the way, what is the win condition? Total domination, victory provinces, or anything else?Unspecified. So we play until everybody but one quits. Or something.
Post by: EuchreJack on December 23, 2010, 01:11:13 am
Too bad, that was my only real asset.
Post by: Kagus on December 23, 2010, 02:52:30 am
I quite like VPs. It's grand fun playing 'King of the Hill' with the AI. Put down your hotel on Boardwalk and wait for all the lil' Trick-or-Treaters to show up for candy arrows and jelly belly storms. "My, what a cute little independent you are! Here, have some Firegumballs and Licorice Whips of Command!"
I realized earlier today why the shorthand for Astral magic is 'S'. It's because summoning horrors is BS.
Post by: Lorak on December 24, 2010, 08:23:29 am
Post by: Shadowgandor on December 24, 2010, 08:33:00 am
I realized earlier today why the shorthand for Astral magic is 'S'. It's because summoning horrors is BS.
Just wait until your Pretender God has multiple marks on him. That's when the fun really starts :P
I once had a Pretender God with all magic paths 9+, super equipment, immortal, ethereal and basically being a pimped out bad ass. He could solo armies.
Sadly, the other nation had a lot of astral mages that were able to cast horror marks upon him. At first, he was able to kill them but eventually, super bad ass horrors killed him over and over and over again :P
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 24, 2010, 09:38:07 am
Have fun, people.
Post by: Kagus on December 24, 2010, 02:42:47 pm
I realized earlier today why the shorthand for Astral magic is 'S'. It's because summoning horrors is BS.
Just wait until your Pretender God has multiple marks on him. That's when the fun really starts :P
I once had a Pretender God with all magic paths 9+, super equipment, immortal, ethereal and basically being a pimped out bad ass. He could solo armies.
Sadly, the other nation had a lot of astral mages that were able to cast horror marks upon him. At first, he was able to kill them but eventually, super bad ass horrors killed him over and over and over again :P
That's exactly the situation I was thinking of earlier. You'd just need some chaff between you and the horror, and then wail away at them with orb lightning. The Big Six are seriously nasty, but with enough electrical firepower I think you should be able to take out pretty much any one of them as they can't resist it.
Post by: Il Palazzo on December 30, 2010, 09:42:08 am
Don't drink too little, people.
Post by: Disaster! on January 06, 2011, 02:31:07 pm
That'll teach me to not procrastinate.
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 06, 2011, 02:33:55 pm
That'll teach me to not procrastinate.No it won't, because good fairy Il Palazzo will postpone the turn for you.
Post by: Disaster! on January 06, 2011, 02:46:52 pm
Also, I hate AI Ulm.
Post by: EuchreJack on January 07, 2011, 04:10:12 pm
Let's join into an AI hate alliance!
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 07, 2011, 04:19:23 pm
Llama server seems to be having some technical difficulties. Don't worry if you won't get a confirmation of receiving a turn file - they say they will process it all after they fix the problem.
Post by: EuchreJack on January 07, 2011, 04:39:02 pm
I managed to liberate two provinces from AI Arco with just the "militia and high priest special" units that my predecessor recieved.
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 07, 2011, 10:52:14 pm
Come on, EuchreJack, don't keep us waiting.
Post by: EuchreJack on January 08, 2011, 03:19:09 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 08, 2011, 01:55:09 pm
Post by: EuchreJack on January 09, 2011, 05:54:26 pm
Pinocchio [insert random number] will be sorely missed. :'(
Post by: Ignus on January 09, 2011, 07:12:48 pm
Post by: EuchreJack on January 12, 2011, 11:49:53 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 12, 2011, 11:56:25 pm
Ugh. Winter offensive came. Bad for health.
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 19, 2011, 12:59:27 am
O.K.
Get a new patch here:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Patches/PD_DOM3_win.html
The next turn will require it to run.
Submit your outstanding saves for the turn 59 before patching.
Oh, by all that is holy...
How much chaff do I need to throw at those starspawns to get through?
Post by: Ignus on January 21, 2011, 12:14:00 am
Get back on dry land you weird naked mole-rats!
Also sorry for the wait. As I said in the other thread, patching problems.
EDIT: Oh and thanks for the serpent. He looks fun.
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 21, 2011, 12:20:47 am
Just you wait.
Post by: EuchreJack on January 21, 2011, 01:02:12 am
[Front page still has my predecessor, and looking at Ravenlord's post history, will remain in stasis for a long, long time.]
Post by: slMagnvox on January 21, 2011, 02:40:29 am
And someday...perhaps I'll be officially recognized as the leader of Mictlan!
[Front page still has my predecessor, and looking at Ravenlord's post history, will remain in stasis for a long, long time.]
Hey, err, I sent you a message and afforded you all honors due your title!
I am rather enjoying this game, putting C'tis House in order and picking on the Ulmish AI.
Anyone want to play town crier and tell me what the conflicts are? I gather Agartha is at war with at least Rlyeh. What are Pythium and Caelum about? The border they share looks terribly peaceful.
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 21, 2011, 03:40:16 am
The valiant Agartha is still fighting for it's survival.
Invaded and raided by the airborne hosts of Harvey Birdman's menacing empire, stalwartly defending in the trenches against repeated Pythian assaults, losing countless numbers of it's youth stalling the advances of R'yleh's underwater freaks, while still striving to protect the misguided populace of once-respectable Acroscephale from the chaos and turmoil of the ever-present war and their corrupt government.
The Caelum-Pythium-R'lyeh Axis of Evil is hell-bent on destroying our fine nation, focusing all their collective strenght on doing so, and dismissing each and every of our honest attempts at diplomatic resolution to this confict.
To the south, Marignon is engaged in a lone struggle against the giants of Ashdod.
The fledging Mictlan empire appears to be at peace with everybody in this parts of the world.
Post by: Ignus on January 21, 2011, 12:04:49 pm
Post by: Lorak on January 21, 2011, 12:31:39 pm
As for Pythium and myself(Caelum), we pretty much signed a non-aggression pact back when it was clear that fighting each other would only allow Agartha to steamroll us both. Time will tell how long that sticks.
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 21, 2011, 02:52:09 pm
Yeah it's pretty much Agartha vs all his neighbors at the moment, and I assure you he did not get into that situation by being peaceful and diplomatic with everyone! XDI resent that statement. I only haven't been peaceful towards your nation.
Also, not all of my neighbours hate me so. Marignon and Mictlan are much more sensible.
Post by: EuchreJack on January 21, 2011, 05:33:13 pm
The fact that Ashdod will never be able to refute those claims should be ignored. For the record, I've never attacked real (aka human) pretender nations. That little "accident" with Agartha doesn't count (and was a slaughter besides).
I'd like to thank all the nations for being so nice to me! The fact I own an overgrown army and no research probably helps. I'm like some former Soviet country. Except without the nukes. :'(
And someday...perhaps I'll be officially recognized as the leader of Mictlan!
[Front page still has my predecessor, and looking at Ravenlord's post history, will remain in stasis for a long, long time.]
Hey, err, I sent you a message and afforded you all honors due your title!
Note your status is the same as mine. ;D
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 22, 2011, 09:13:21 am
(for me and Lorak, that is)
Post by: EuchreJack on January 22, 2011, 09:41:59 am
I was just tired. So tired...
Living on the East Coast also doesn't help with calculating when to send in my turn. Ah well, not like I was on the leaderboard anyways...
Post by: Lorak on January 22, 2011, 09:58:12 am
They really need a confirmation pop up for throwing away a magical item considering "Throw Away" is right next to "Laboratory." Fortunately it wasn't anything important, hehehe.
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on January 23, 2011, 02:00:10 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 23, 2011, 02:07:16 am
I'm also quite certain that none of us regrets it.
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on January 23, 2011, 02:11:43 am
Post by: EuchreJack on January 23, 2011, 03:24:43 am
I sort of regret spending so much on it. But, I'm only playing this little PBEM game, so I'm just not getting my money's worth.
That said, the moment when I get my Dom3 PBEM turn tends to be the highlight of my day.
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 23, 2011, 03:26:39 am
I bought it on sale, although it wasn't much cheaper.Ah, yes, I remember that. What was it? Five bucks off?
Post by: EuchreJack on January 23, 2011, 03:28:51 am
Post by: slMagnvox on January 23, 2011, 04:32:45 am
Edit: realized how gloomy I sounded. Suffice to say I can not part to easily with 50 dollars at the moment.
=(
Shame about that really. I dunno if it is Illwinter or Shrapnel Games. I think Shrapnel, being a very weird and backwater segment of the game publishing industry, deserves a good deal of the blame. Their website is still very 1999 and on the Dom3 section of the forums recently they've apparently perma banned Sombre who was like the most prolific modder for acting up in a forum thread. That and the fact they pretty much owe their entire online play community to llamabeast, a very good Samaritan completely unaffiliated with either company (Good friends, do note his donate button if you're in that kind of a mood). So bizarre.
Hoist the pirate flag, I'd say. Can't say how much luck you'll have though.
Post by: Shadowgandor on January 23, 2011, 05:23:28 am
Hoist the pirate flag, I'd say. Can't say how much luck you'll have though.
I now own the game but I used to full-demo it without problems :)
Post by: EuchreJack on January 23, 2011, 09:48:06 am
Hoist the pirate flag, I'd say. Can't say how much luck you'll have though.
I now own the game but I used to full-demo it without problems :)
Yeah, there are "ways" to play the game without forking over the $50. Even multiplayer. Up to you whether to use those ways, or not.
Despite our collective disdain for Shrapnel Games generally, do note that they did just release an update. Granted, I'm not sure it really did anything, but the game is still "supported" (and it better be, after I forked over $45). Heh, maybe they only updated the copy protection, lol.
Post by: Lorak on January 23, 2011, 03:42:08 pm
It should be valid through January 30th.
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on January 23, 2011, 07:04:34 pm
Post by: slMagnvox on January 23, 2011, 09:41:06 pm
Post by: Lorak on January 24, 2011, 08:58:23 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 25, 2011, 02:45:41 am
ARR lol:D
Post by: Ignus on January 25, 2011, 01:38:17 pm
Did I miss this turn? I resubmitted it correctly, but Llamaserver is being all coy about it.
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 25, 2011, 01:46:21 pm
Just so you know, it doesn't matter what you put in the subject when sending your .2h files - it matters only for the pretender - as llamaserver scans the save for game ID, and allocates it correspondingly.
That said, if you have sent your saves yesterday, they never got there.
It might be either because you've made a mistake and sent it to an incorrect address, or because llamaserver is acting up again. Which is quite possible, mind you, as it was trying to mess with my postponing of the turn today.
Post by: Ignus on January 25, 2011, 01:52:44 pm
Post by: Lorak on January 25, 2011, 06:47:58 pm
Oh dear. I predict the next turn to be exciting!
(for me and Lorak, that is)
Indeed, very exciting. My army decimated on the first turn of the battle. :-/
I hate this game. XD
Oh well, at least I kept open an escape route for my Queens.
Edit: Flying units should really be immune to earthquake. Not that that was the worst thing I was hit by, but still.
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on January 25, 2011, 10:14:16 pm
Flying units should really be immune to earthquake.
Sure they should...
At least on a featureless plane with nothing above ground level and as long as the units never have to land to do silly things like sleep. Course if you have buildings and trees and the units have to be on the ground or in said buildings for any amount of time then it makes sense. The ground starts shaking and over there a tree sways knocking a unit out of the sky, across the way a building has some bricks knocked loose that fall on some more units, in the camp itself a number of tents fall down causing the sleeping units to be injured, any unit that happens to be resting its wings also gets the same beating that any ground unit would. Least that's how I see it. If I was able to send earthquakes to plague my enemy's it would be at night anyway after all I have a whole month to choose from.
Edit: took me three edits just to figure out what I did wrong with my quote... GRRR
Post by: Lorak on January 25, 2011, 10:21:48 pm
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on January 25, 2011, 10:26:16 pm
Post by: Lorak on January 25, 2011, 10:30:26 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 26, 2011, 02:20:12 am
Of course, I missed the point where castle-storming parties retreat simply back to their siege camp, which kind of destroyed the whole plan.
And besides, your Queen of Lakes, or whateverishername, prevented the encirclement anyway.
A supposedly war-changing strategic victory turned into just one of many battles. Duh.
Also, I begin to wonder if Terentius, the Harbinger I took from Disaster!, isn't in fact a triple-agent. He cast Arrow Fend only after my oracle had killed half of my mages with Rain of Stones.
Post by: Lorak on January 26, 2011, 09:35:37 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 26, 2011, 09:49:00 am
I don't feel better now, at all.
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on January 26, 2011, 10:03:22 am
Edit: I was just playing the game and realized something, The Baobhan Sidhe (http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Baobhan_Sidhe) of Tir na n'Og is an air mage assassin and when equipped with a Spirit Helmet (http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Spirit_Helmet) will kill most captains the AI's field before they can even act.
Post by: Ignus on January 27, 2011, 07:49:24 pm
Post by: EuchreJack on January 27, 2011, 10:54:38 pm
Post by: Lorak on January 28, 2011, 04:44:58 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 28, 2011, 05:03:06 am
*subject to my own, biased judgement.
edit:
I'm starting to think that it may have been wrong to choose a nation that I've never used before and fight a war against a nation that I mistook for another. I demand a rematch! Or an unconditional surrender. Either is good (I prefer the later)What did you mistake me for? Fluffy wamblers?
Post by: Ignus on January 28, 2011, 10:54:30 am
Fine, your unconditional surrender to my nation is accepted. Aren't you happy? :P
How dare you deliberately misinterpret my words! This means WAR! ::charges up beach, forgets fish people can't breath air:: Damn...
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on January 28, 2011, 04:47:05 pm
Post by: Ignus on January 28, 2011, 07:41:53 pm
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on January 28, 2011, 07:44:57 pm
Post by: Lorak on January 29, 2011, 01:47:41 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on January 29, 2011, 01:55:30 pm
Hrmm, sent in my turns for both games a while ago, and haven't received any confirmation email, nor are the pages for the game updated.Yeah, I've noticed that llama does that quite a lot lately. I wouldn't worry though, it should process the turns correctly, providing that you've sent the files to the correct address.
Post by: slMagnvox on January 29, 2011, 06:49:18 pm
Quote
- Very occasionally e-mails from a particular player just won't get through, or will be delayed. I don't know what's going on here - since they never actually get to my end I'm a bit stuck. Maybe it's an internet thing, or maybe the mail server is slightly dodgy. Solution: retry.
Edit: Err, well it looks like llamaserver hasn't updated since 13:50 GMT so yeah I don't think resending will help in this case. Usually means one of the games crashed when resolving turn. Just gotta wait for it to get restarted.
Post by: Lorak on February 01, 2011, 06:44:25 pm
Once again, I hate this game.
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 02, 2011, 03:59:06 am
In fact, going back to the storming of the citadel at King's Cradle(or whateveritsname), if you'd left all your regulars outside the walls, and sent only the Queens to storm it, then I would have lost almost certainly.
In other news, Rock N Roller received a pimping-up treatment at our local garage, and now has got 600 hit points. To commemorate this interesting turn of events, he got renamed "Herman Goering" and tasked with creating an airfleet of Iron Dragons of similar design.
Post by: Lorak on February 02, 2011, 04:23:02 am
I was raeging so hard earlier when I made my post after looking at both my turns for the day. They were both pretty terrible for me, haha. This is my first game where I've really had supercombatants so I'm probably a lot more timid with them than I should be. If I had thought my Queens would win the siege on their own, I would've sent them, but I did not feel confidant enough in them. Meanwhile, you send golems on rampages through my entire territory on a regular basis, haha. Of course, I also can't just rebuild my supercombatants if I lose them. :-(
Actually I have a question about that just to confirm my suspicion. If a member of Elemental Royalty, of which there are only three of each, gets killed... are they permanently dead or can they be re-summoned? I'm assuming they are permadead?
Also that cloud trapeze tip is interesting, I will have to keep that in mind, as it's something I did not realize.
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 02, 2011, 04:39:51 am
Also, while it pains me to tell you this, as I can easily predict the amount of hurt that's possibly going to land on my head afterwards, you should take a look at "seeking arrow" (http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Seeking_Arrow) spell.
Cheap, easy to cast for your mages, remote commander-killing spell.
Less effective now, that I've got Gift of Health, but still.
Also, should you ever cast it, watch out for protective domes(e.g.fire dome can kill your mages).
It's actually somewhat similar with R'yleh - they've got something like 40+ starspawns in their capital, and a good(I suppose) astral income, yet I am not finding myself being pounded by mindhunts.
Post by: EuchreJack on February 02, 2011, 03:37:49 pm
Perhaps R'yleh simply doesn't want to risk retaliation. Obviously, you'd start hitting their capital with all sorts of remote spells if they mind hunted you, whereas you otherwise can't be bothered what with all the other enemies.
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 02, 2011, 03:42:33 pm
I only know how many starspawns he's got at the capital, because two of my siege partes got destroyed by them.
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on February 02, 2011, 03:47:12 pm
Something about trying to be God or something. After
all "There can be only one" and all that melodrama.
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 02, 2011, 03:51:37 pm
This one is way beyond the boiling point.
Post by: Akhier the Dragon hearted on February 02, 2011, 04:10:50 pm
surprise party in his honor right on his front lawn would
be in order? You know, Fireworks and maybe some magic
tricks to liven it up at his place?
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 06, 2011, 02:56:07 pm
Post by: Disaster! on February 09, 2011, 02:26:00 am
I just woke up in the early morning and realized that I basically completely forgot to play my turn.
I'll play my turn when I get back from work later.
My apologies to those inconvenienced.
Post by: Ignus on February 09, 2011, 11:37:27 am
Of course, I may be wrong and have screwed this invasion up needlessly.
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 09, 2011, 11:57:09 am
Post by: Ignus on February 09, 2011, 12:08:28 pm
At least I wasn't first to die. Moral victory!
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 09, 2011, 12:16:27 pm
Post by: Ignus on February 09, 2011, 12:31:07 pm
Post by: Lorak on February 09, 2011, 01:03:05 pm
And yeah this game is one of those neverending learning experiences. This is like my 4th multiplayer game and I'm still making completely retarded mistakes at times, on top of all the shit I just plain don't know. There's sooooooo many things that if you are aware of it, it'll help you out, and if you aren't, it'll hurt you.
Post by: slMagnvox on February 09, 2011, 01:08:50 pm
And yeah this game is one of those neverending learning experiences.
Quoted for truth.
Post by: Ignus on February 09, 2011, 01:16:21 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 09, 2011, 05:57:51 pm
It's going over all those spells and items that you've never bothered to use, or even knew that they have any use at all, and then trying them out, and striving to inventing that very special way to make them useful.
And then the opponent does the same, and then you have to adapt again, and so on, ad infinitum.
You can tell that you're losing not when there's an army at your doorstep, but when you realize that you've falling behind with flexibility.
If I were to quote one of the things that go through my mind when I play, which would define the Dom3 experience, then it would probably be: "Oh shit, it's working!"
Post by: EuchreJack on February 09, 2011, 06:46:00 pm
Yeah, I wish I had more "Oh shit, it's working!" moments, lol.
By the way, I can be persuaded to build more temples, or smash more Ashdod temples, for the donation of gems.
Building temples will kill Ry'leh off quicker, and keep the miasma of C'tis contained.
Smashing more Ashdod temples will keep Ry'leh alive longer, as Ry'leh borders Ashdod.
Of course, these are counter-intuitive. They also both require me to deviate from my "Super Secret Master Plan", which doesn't focuses resources elsewhere.
I'd even be so mercenary as to take everyone's gems, and alternate actions every season! Yay sleaziness! Or, if the high bidders don't like this, I'll chose one option.
Interested parties can donate 3 gems of any time in order to get a "gem list" for comparison of the value my nation will place on each gem type for this contest. I appologize for the need to accept gems prior to the disclosure of this list, but the information is classified, and I need to be compensated for giving out valuable personal information.
Actually, I see that items and gold are also tradable. I'd be more than happy to accept gold or items. Items will be valued based on the gems used to make them, and tripled if my mages can't make the item.
Ry'leh, feel free to make an offer towards your survival. Why die when you can just buy some help from the mainland?
Long story short, I can either greatly help Ry'leh's survival, or kill them. What do you chose?
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 10, 2011, 05:48:17 am
Just saying.
In other news, I guess we'll finally learn if members of the Elemental Royalty can be resummoned after dying.
Post by: EuchreJack on February 11, 2011, 02:10:59 am
I'd just like to make clear that I do not intend to act in either way towards Ry'leh until somebody pays me. So, no need to attack me or my temples. No pre-emptive strikes needed, please? I can be bought for less then the cost for such strikes, really.
Post by: Lorak on February 12, 2011, 12:52:34 pm
One of my elemental queens had something ridiculous for magic resistance, like 27, but still died to the first mind hunt you did on it. I thought that would help, but obviously not. XD
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 12, 2011, 01:29:39 pm
The best protection against MH is having some Astral mages with you, as each Astral pick gives a 40% chance of feebleminding the attacker.
When I saw her land there, with such a low MR(your Queens usually had 18+), AND without any astral mages to accompany her, I took all the astral mages capable of casting Mind Hunt that I had, gave them all the penetration boosters I could find, and hoped for the best.
Hell, I'd do it all the same, even if you had your usual single Seraph with and Astral pick with her, as it would still give me a reasonable chance of success.
I'd probably give up on even trying, if you had two, and almost certainly if three(or just one stronger than 1S).
Post by: Lorak on February 12, 2011, 01:44:02 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 12, 2011, 02:15:37 pm
But I think it might've been somebody else causing you grief. I don't remember targeting her specifically. And to push through 25MR that'd have to be a really powerful mage.
Damn, I'll have to load a save and check. What was her name again?
ed:Nope, I haven't got it anymore. Seriously, blame some other nation with an astral pretender(cough, Pythium, C'tis, cough)
Post by: Lorak on February 12, 2011, 02:28:57 pm
Dammit!
Post by: EuchreJack on February 12, 2011, 06:00:40 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 12, 2011, 06:08:48 pm
Don't you know? They're all out to get me! It even says so in the manual.
Post by: Lorak on February 12, 2011, 06:52:39 pm
Elemental Royalty are re-summonable.
Not only that, but they retain all their xp and afflictions they had, AND she's still a prophet. <_< Kinda weird. I wonder if I'll be able to appoint a second prophet in a few turns. XD
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 12, 2011, 08:10:21 pm
Horrible pun, I know.
Post by: EuchreJack on February 12, 2011, 08:58:50 pm
Dude, if you're not being paranoid when playing Dom3, then you're doing it wrong.
Don't you know? They're all out to get me! It even says so in the manual.
Not me. You can trust me. I only want to be your friend. :D
*Sounds of knives being sharpened in the background.*
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 13, 2011, 07:13:33 am
This is an honest question, and not just me bragging about my latest global.
Post by: slMagnvox on February 13, 2011, 11:46:29 am
Anybody knows if one can have more items in the treasury than there is spaces displayed?(i.e. is the treasury space expandable and scrollable or not).
This is an honest question, and not just me bragging about my latest global.
Hah. It is, I think, actually not. Can't hold more than the spaces shown, so give out items to commanders or throw stuff away.
Note, kind of anecdotal; I only know of this because if you look at other multi games on the shrapnel forum they will often list as a rule: "No filling opponent's lab [with junk items so their forging goes wasted]" Never tested but always kind of took it as granted.
By the by, those of us who are not IlPalazzo: We should really be thinking about what to do about all those globals. The Forge is kind of game over and many more turns with the Oak up and we'll be hard pressed to chop it down or deal with the Gift of Health.
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 13, 2011, 12:33:22 pm
Post by: slMagnvox on February 13, 2011, 12:50:05 pm
Post by: Ignus on February 13, 2011, 08:17:55 pm
::This message sponsored by the R'yleh council for propaganda and mind control. For a safer, cthuloid tomorrow::
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 13, 2011, 08:36:42 pm
While Il Palazzo lives none are safe!Millions of happy Pale Ones disagree with you!
Post by: EuchreJack on February 13, 2011, 08:44:16 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 17, 2011, 06:18:03 am
Post by: EuchreJack on February 17, 2011, 11:19:29 pm
See you in nine years... ;D
EDIT: Oh wait, this isn't the EFS game that I'm also in, lol. You must mean till Feb. 20th. No problem.
Post by: Ignus on February 20, 2011, 07:45:06 am
Is the other guy back yet?
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 23, 2011, 12:04:11 pm
:(
Post by: Ignus on February 23, 2011, 08:02:56 pm
Post by: Lorak on February 23, 2011, 08:20:24 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 23, 2011, 08:28:10 pm
Then he begun to think(despite being mindless) that he can singlehandedly conquer the lone kelp fortress, but those twenty or so starspawns objected.
He really should've just keep on marching and exploring.
Post by: Lorak on February 24, 2011, 05:44:55 am
New MMO Rift is releasing in about 7 hours and I intend on playing it very hardcore and getting to level cap quickly! Once I get there, I can relax. ;-)
Post by: Ignus on February 24, 2011, 10:15:04 am
*fetches the Ropes Of Love*
Don't worry, we'll get through this together. *strokes Lorak's face*
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 24, 2011, 03:04:39 pm
He better be.
Post by: Disaster! on February 25, 2011, 10:50:57 am
Haine will be avenged.
Post by: EuchreJack on February 27, 2011, 04:30:30 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on February 28, 2011, 08:29:38 am
C'Tis scum! You have signed your death warrant!Could there be a better time to launch the long-overdue invasion? I don't think so.
Haine will be avenged.
Post by: slMagnvox on February 28, 2011, 06:22:58 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 02, 2011, 06:31:02 pm
If you guys need more than 72h between turns, just say so.
Post by: EuchreJack on March 02, 2011, 09:39:34 pm
Oh, and why is anyone mindhunting me? What possible benefit can come from such acts? Seems like a waste of your mage's time, if you ask me.
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 09, 2011, 03:30:54 pm
I'm not so hot on postponing the turn ad infinitum, least we all lose interest in playing.
I'd say, if we shan't hear from him in a few days or so, we could start looking for a replacement, however reluctant I'd be to have somebody else take over the reins of my long time adversary's nation.
Post by: EuchreJack on March 09, 2011, 04:35:35 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 09, 2011, 05:24:15 pm
ed: grammar
Post by: Dakk on March 09, 2011, 06:05:24 pm
Post by: EuchreJack on March 09, 2011, 06:30:43 pm
He hasn't logged in on the forums since Feb 28. I guess that Rift MMO really must've swallowed him.
I'd still suggest pming him, as that will most likely result in an email being sent to Lorak with the title.
And yeah, I think we're looking for someone that has played one PBEM game to replace Lorak, when and if that should occur. Can't require more than that, as I believe this was only Lorak's second game. :P
And look how damaging he is to Il Palazzo! Imagine how he'll play on his third game. Il Palazzo, beware!
If I can't win, I can at least cause a little strife.
Post by: Dakk on March 09, 2011, 09:02:21 pm
What are you guys playing anyway? So far I see agartha, abyssia, r'lyeh and... Land of the ever young? I dunno.
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 09, 2011, 09:45:00 pm
Here's some info on the game and it's current progress(click "show score tables").
Post by: Dakk on March 09, 2011, 09:49:04 pm
EDIT: Oh right, 69. I guess the progress is somewhat slow indeed since the first post was on september of the last year :P
Post by: Ignus on March 12, 2011, 09:06:53 pm
Would someone like to maybe only temporarily take over Lorak? Would that be kinder to our feathered friend?
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 12, 2011, 09:11:33 pm
Any takers?
Post by: Dakk on March 13, 2011, 12:16:17 pm
Post by: EuchreJack on March 13, 2011, 12:57:00 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 13, 2011, 04:12:29 pm
I would but I'm not really a caelum player so It'd sort end up as a disapointment, plus I did a PBEM game so I'd have to learn how to do it aswell, even though it seems rather simple. Didn't anyone get defeated yet? It seems like Ulm doesn't any any provinces anymore.There's always Lorak's T'ien Ch'i(Early Era) in the other game, if it suits your fancy more than Caelum does.
That other game is roughly half as advanced turn-wise as this one.
Post by: Bluerobin on March 14, 2011, 10:21:34 pm
Edit: Haha wow I need to learn to read or go to bed. Middle it is! I'm skimming currently and I'll watch the topic so I get email replies.
Edit2: Caught up. I'm a little... worried about taking over for Caelum, assuming of course that I'll screw things up. That's kind of how these things go though, and I guess this has already had 2 people swap and 3 go to AI, so it wouldn't be that much worse. I'm also a little concerned about how much "team up against Caelum, they're going to rule the world!" there was a few pages back in the thread, but judging by llamaserver stats it's only like 4th or 5th place right now in pretty much all of the categories. Definitely not the powerhouses that Agartha and C'tis seem to be.
Also, for those that are interested, there are actually a few really good Dom3 LPs out there. I know this was brought up almost six months ago and I don't think these were around then, but... links!
--From the LParchive (http://lparchive.org/Dominions-3/). This one's told from the perspective of someone playing in a multiplayer game. They go through from beginning to end and narrate it as they go, talking about their strategies and about counters for stuff they're facing. They link to some other LP threads in the introduction but some of them are fairly old and I think the threads are lost.
--Pretty darn cool narrated one linked (and still functional) from the LParchive one (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3302467). This one's told from the viewpoint of an omniscient observer and tells roleplays the whole thing with italicized notes from the person writing it about game mechanics. Unfortunately because it's an old thread about 1/3-1/2 of the images are missing. Not normally an issue because the narration does a good job, but unfortunate nonetheless.
I guess these aren't really LPs now that I think about it, they more just well written battle reports, but it's still cool as far as storytelling-related-to-Dom3 goes.
Finally, is it possible to watch a PBEM game as an observer? I don't know how the person does it in the second thread, but I get the impression they may have just had the password to the game on llamaserver and just downloaded everyone's turns, which is a bit... awkward. I guess it'd be a bit weird as an observer anyway because of all the in-game messaging that can go on, but I just wanted to see if it's even an option.
Post by: EuchreJack on March 15, 2011, 01:57:33 am
I guess C'tis Miasma has finally caused a few neighbors to seek its irradication. But they're so far behind in research they really don't qualify as a major power.
I running the sucky version of Mictlan...Middle Age. And my research is worse than C'tis. Needless to say, I'd like to be your friend if you take over for Caelum.
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 15, 2011, 05:45:23 am
Here's how I see the other nations:
Caelum is sitting sandwitched between my lands to the N, NE, E, SE, and S, Disaster!'s Pythium to the NW, Euchrejack's Mictlan to the SW, and bordering(colonizing?) a lake to the West. Notice that most of it's borders are with me, and this hasn't changed much pretty much since we started duking it out some 30-ish turns back. Lorak played Caelum's strengths very well, and while never managed to invade and hold his conquests, neither could I. He uses the Elemental Royalty of Air and Water as supercombatants, and flying squads of mages with an escort as the riding parties. My pd used to be completely defenseless against massed(~3-4 mages) thunderstrike concertoes. Much less so while I've got the Gift of Health up and running.
The elemental queens have proven to be superior to Pinocchios in a one-on-one combat so far, but I'm having some success with Mind Hunting them whenever I get a chance. They do get resummoned, though.
Currently, I find his birdmen to be the hardest to bite, and without much boasting, I'd say that if not for him pinning me down, I'd be knocking at the gates of C'tis 'round now. Or so my propaganda says.
Caelum is at war with Agartha.
C'tis looks like a powerhouse, and believe me, it's going to be one soon, as slMagnvox is a veteran player, and he's giving his nation the Chinese treatment, pulling it out of the dark ages with maximum speed. It still needs a few turns to come up to full ability, as it's research is lagging behind. He's also at a disadvantage, having missed a lot of artifacts and possibly a few unique summons.
His lands are fortified like crazy, though, miasma is spreading fast, and he does feel able enough to take on Pythium, which he did just a few turns ago.
At war with Pythium.
Disaster!'s Pythium is, as far as I can tell, a giant with clay legs. His armies are huge, but not very well supported with mages, which begins to matter a lot these days. He does have a host of good super combatants, and can be really dangerous, if he puts his many mages to a good use.
Currently at war with Agartha and C'tis.
R'yleh is a royal pain in the neck, but it seems that only for Agartha. The tentacled monsters took way too many Pinocchios to keep count. More than Caelian clever tricks and trinkets did, I think.
His ability to mount a counterstrike is limited, though, and his Dominion is on a brink of dissapearing - but slowly, very slowly improving now.
At war with Agartha.
Marignon is involved in a war with AI Ashdod, finally getting the upper hand, and sweeping through the giant's lands, burning temples, and not caring to build any themselves, which is most likely the major factor in R'yleh's dominion surviving(Ashdod and Marignon are occupying the shores of Ignus' "homelake".
What he's going to do after he's done with the giants is a big unknown. He borders Agartha and Mictlan, in addition to the underwater nasties.
Mictlan just took over, and is trying to pull himself out of the Dark Ages, but he doesn't have such an easy task as C'tis does, having much worse and economy(i.e. less land, less mages, and less forts - the previous C'tis' player turtled like crazy, unlike the Mictlan's one). He's currently at peace with everybody, bordering C'tis(?), Caelum, Agartha and Marignon.
AI Ulm is practically gone.
AI Arcoscephale is certainly gone, and has been for a while now.
Post by: Bluerobin on March 15, 2011, 08:49:58 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 15, 2011, 09:12:42 am
I don't think I had any plans for invasions on Caelum front for this turn, so you should be able to start off without much problems.
Post by: Bluerobin on March 15, 2011, 09:17:44 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 15, 2011, 09:19:13 am
Post by: Dakk on March 15, 2011, 04:52:52 pm
Meanwhile I'll be cheering for c'tis because they're a bunch of jerkface lizardmen necromancers being a pain to agartha, gogogogo.
Post by: EuchreJack on March 15, 2011, 06:01:18 pm
Post by: Bluerobin on March 15, 2011, 09:50:57 pm
Edit: Also, is there a way to see pretender stats? I mean I can look at the pretender itself and infer dominion/scales from looking at stuff, but is there a way to actually see how it was set up at the beginning?
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 16, 2011, 03:29:58 am
Edit: Also, is there a way to see pretender stats? I mean I can look at the pretender itself and infer dominion/scales from looking at stuff, but is there a way to actually see how it was set up at the beginning?I don't think so. But what else do you need to know about your pretender than the dominion and magic scales?
Oh, about the magic scales - Harveybirdman died once, so whatever he's got now in magic powers, was one level higher initially.
Awww it all looks so fun, too bad I don't play caelum so I'd end up screwing up Agartha's main enemy apart from c'tis. :PFirst of all, why so much hate for Agartha? What have I done to earn YOUR resentment? Should you not cheer on my valiant struggle against nasty aggressors from R'yleh and Pythium? I've been sneakingly attacked by one, and betrayed by the other, you know.
Meanwhile I'll be cheering for c'tis because they're a bunch of jerkface lizardmen necromancers being a pain to agartha, gogogogo.
I also sneakingly attacked Caelum. <cackle, cackle>
Also, there's no feud between me and C'tis. In fact, we're joined in a war against Pythium, which makes us technically allies.
Post by: EuchreJack on March 16, 2011, 04:27:55 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 16, 2011, 04:41:42 am
Honestly, the time of Pinocchios is over, I'm switching to more potent stuff now.
Post by: Bluerobin on March 16, 2011, 09:03:37 am
Edit: Hmm good thing I decided to actually research how those spells work... my initial plan would not have worked at all and was much more expensive than the (slightly less awesome) alternatives. Ohhh well.
Another Edit: I didn't have much time last night but I spent some time (uhh I guess it was actually about two hours) figuring out what I had and setting up some orders. I'll have to rework some of that tonight, but I should be able to finish it relatively quickly and get the turn out in the early evening.
Post by: Dakk on March 16, 2011, 03:38:09 pm
Post by: Bluerobin on March 16, 2011, 06:35:27 pm
Edit: Google knows all. Apparently that's where my premade pretenders go, hence why there's an _0 on that .2h and not on any of the others. Turn from the game folder uploading.
Post by: EuchreJack on March 17, 2011, 02:24:06 pm
Post by: Bluerobin on March 18, 2011, 08:44:51 am
Also, Bandar Log is a lot of fun (vs. AI anyway...) and I don't think I've played an astral heavy nation before. It's... different. Learning all sorts of stuff about organizing battles more effectively (woo monkey distractions!) and the power of ridiculous masses of troops, especially in early game and when combined with a couple of elephants/mages. Also rainbow pretenders. Pretty cool.
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 18, 2011, 09:07:17 am
Post by: Bluerobin on March 18, 2011, 09:08:23 am
Post by: Stworca on March 18, 2011, 10:08:23 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 18, 2011, 10:10:04 am
Post by: Stworca on March 18, 2011, 10:15:20 am
I assumed - due to a mistake - that it's an early era play, where Aby and Nief are two quanity powerhouses.
No idea whom to cheer for.. :o
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 18, 2011, 10:33:24 am
Post by: slMagnvox on March 19, 2011, 02:24:01 pm
Glad we've got this one back on track!
I'd bump the other thread, but I'll just mention it here ... Be sure to send me a PM when Round Six gets sorted out because I've not been paying such keen attention to it.
Welcome Bluerobin, goodluck!
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 19, 2011, 09:46:41 pm
Nasty, nasty birdmen.
I also have noticed that Marignon and Mictlan are fighting tooth and claw over who is to be the one eradicating Ashdod.
Post by: Bluerobin on March 20, 2011, 10:55:55 pm
Post by: Ignus on March 24, 2011, 06:29:53 pm
I guess I'll reconsider me position regarding Agartha, any enemy of R'lyeh is a friend of mine, I love showing late age R'lyeh who's the real boss of the seas, late age atlantis is a sleeping giant of a nation. Altough I have only played against the AI so it doesn't really count :P
I am delightful and peaceful. You go away! Go on, get!
Post by: Disaster! on March 29, 2011, 09:12:28 am
My computer started behaving very oddly late Sunday, I suspect HDD issues. Ran a Checkdisk yesterday on my 1 TB drive after dinner and it was still running 6 hours later. When I get home from work I'll check up on it but I expect I'm going to have to get a new HDD, replace my primary drive and reinstall everything this evening.
Post by: Bluerobin on March 29, 2011, 01:22:24 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on March 29, 2011, 01:34:37 pm
I suppose it'd be rather unfair on Disaster! not to roll it back, seeing how he's being attack on at least two fronts.
Does everybody know how to behave during a rollback? If not, read up this: http://www.llamaserver.net/doAdminAction.cgi?game=GloryOfTheGods&action=rollback
tl;dr; - let nobody submit their turns again. We're just waiting for Pythium. If you've played the new turn, delete both .2h and .trn files before loading up the *proper* turn.
Post by: Disaster! on March 29, 2011, 06:33:22 pm
EDIT: Turn sent
Post by: EuchreJack on April 02, 2011, 07:09:49 am
This is because the "God" of my nation is named after a different forumite (Alehkhs), the one who started playing this nation. Thematically, this "God" was unable to continue running the day-to-day operations of the nation, so his "Chief Tailor" assumed all power in the nation. However, one does not presume to rule a nation when such a nation has an actual "God", so the former player's avatar has been maintained as a figurehead.
Just though I'd share the backroom backstory on Mictlan with my fellow forumites and competitors.
Post by: Bluerobin on April 04, 2011, 08:26:42 am
Post by: Disaster! on April 08, 2011, 03:16:28 pm
A few thunderstrikes here and there didn't help against the Agarthan horde though.
EDIT: I was actually afraid of using my mages until recently because I simply didn't know -how- to use them. I lost a lot of them to stupid moves but I think I'm getting better at it now.
Post by: Bluerobin on April 08, 2011, 03:49:52 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 11, 2011, 08:08:05 pm
Marignon stalled the last two turns as well, but seeing how he's not at war with any one of the human players, we might wait a bit more until we replace him as well.
Unless you people would just like to bow to the might of Agartha, and call the game finished.
Post by: Neonivek on April 11, 2011, 08:30:36 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 11, 2011, 09:03:20 pm
Post by: Neonivek on April 11, 2011, 09:14:15 pm
I'm sorry, I don't quite understand your question. What nukes?
Sorry bad term to use. Are there world changing spells that don't involve worldwide disaster or instawinning?
Post by: Dakk on April 11, 2011, 09:53:52 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 11, 2011, 10:50:27 pm
There are no instawinning spells at all. Some can give you a huge advatage, but it's nothing that a concerted effort of the other players couldn't dispell.I'm sorry, I don't quite understand your question. What nukes?
Sorry bad term to use. Are there world changing spells that don't involve worldwide disaster or instawinning?
Unless they don't trust each other/can't cooperate - divide et impera, after all.
The world-changing spells include:
Gift of Health - troops in lands under the god's dominion have increased(up to x2) health, age slowly, and heal afflictions.
Second Sun - heat scale increases across the world
Astral Corruption - any non-blood ritual or magic item forged can attract horrors from beyond to attack the caster/smith.
The Kindly Ones - Erynies (~ three unique demonic creatures) will randomly attack enemy practitioners of blood magic and killers of women.
Purgatory - enemy undead units within the god's dominion are struck with holy fire
The Eyes of God - the caster can see all the units within his dominion, including the stealthy ones.
Perpetual Storm - a storm rages across the world. Each and every battle is fought as if the spell "storm" has been cast. Also, less income.
Sea of Ice - no movement from and to sea provinces is allowed.
Tidal Wave - all coastal provinces suffer.
Ghost Ship Armada - undead pirates will attack coastal provinces at random.
Check this list for more:http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Spells
Look for spells marked "ritual", and with high number of path levels.
Post by: EuchreJack on April 12, 2011, 07:36:31 pm
It appears that slMagnvox is gone, so C'tis is going to need a replacement. Again.
Marignon stalled the last two turns as well, but seeing how he's not at war with any one of the human players, we might wait a bit more until we replace him as well.
Unless you people would just like to bow to the might of Agartha, and call the game finished.
Wow, I didn't realize they both stalled twice. C'tis was fighting an epic war, so I wouldn't have pegged them as leaving.
And why should I surrender to Agartha? You're my only neighbor who hasn't run away from this game. Your absense may be next... :D
Post by: Bluerobin on April 12, 2011, 07:39:28 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 12, 2011, 07:46:14 pm
Post by: Bluerobin on April 12, 2011, 07:47:31 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 12, 2011, 07:54:40 pm
If anybody has a willing friend, or an aunt, or a bunch of mind-controlled cultists, do get them to play this game.
Post by: Neonivek on April 12, 2011, 08:05:48 pm
After looking things over myself I see that some avatars can actually be quite worse yet not add anything.
As for advertising this game... I don't really get a good picture from the game demo.
Post by: EuchreJack on April 12, 2011, 08:49:43 pm
Especially for those people who victor over you.
Post by: Neonivek on April 12, 2011, 08:57:59 pm
Losing to real people is so much more fun than losing to the AI!
Especially for those people who victor over you.
What exactly is the point to upgrading magic to extremely high levels other then the few minor bonuses?
Post by: EuchreJack on April 12, 2011, 09:19:44 pm
In the full game, the spell schools go up to 9 or 10. You can summon demons, titans, queens and kings of the elements, etc.
And if the game isn't fun enough, try playing a death nation. They're always fun, just remember to focus on undead instead of regular troops.
Post by: Neonivek on April 12, 2011, 09:25:40 pm
The demo, from what I recall, only allows researching magic school levels up to level 4.
In the full game, the spell schools go up to 9 or 10. You can summon demons, titans, queens and kings of the elements, etc.
And if the game isn't fun enough, try playing a death nation. They're always fun, just remember to focus on undead instead of regular troops.
In the full game do you REALLY have to level up units to get to the insane levels required to do level 9 and 10s? because even at low levels the crystal requirement (combined with how little you get) makes high level magic... actually outright impossible.
-Outside of just creating your pretender to be level 9 or 10 magic.
Unless I guess every location actually has several special locations... The generation rate is still too low to make it a reasonable endevor (I got more through luck... and I really like Luck)
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 12, 2011, 09:31:51 pm
What exactly is the point to upgrading magic to extremely high levels other then the few minor bonuses?First of all, what levels your pretender has, determines the kind and quality of bless that all your sacred troops will receive. Any extra bit matters, as it essentially improves a lot of troops without any additional cost. How valuable it is exactly, depends a lot on the nation chosen.
Additionally, on a battlefield, apart from needing a certain level to be even able to cast a spell, additional levels above the requirement increases the penetration(for those spells who use it, like Master Enslave, Opposition etc.), and reduce fatigue - this can mean that your 4 Death mage can cast Darkness and then fall unconscious for the rest of the battle, while your lvl 8 Death mage can shrug most of the fatigue off, letting him cast more spells without pausing.
Penetration bonuses count for rituals as well, so a better mage can e.g. perform better at Mindhunting, or casting Leprosy.
Extra magic levels make the overland spells harder to dispell.
Lastly, each point of magic skill changes the mages personal statistics a bit, but this is really just the icing on a cake.
By "leveling up" do you mean empowering magic power with crystals? Then it is indeed a poor choice. Sometimes necessary, yes, but in general, when you want to allow a mage to cast some higher level spells, you just forge him a set of appropriate items - it's cheaper this way, and let's you switch the gear to other mages if needed be.
The top-difficulty spells, like Wish, which is I think 9 Astral ritual, might actually require a pretender to cast it. And I think it's good, considering the things you can do with it.
Post by: Neonivek on April 12, 2011, 09:34:55 pm
I am just wondering if the "Immortal" is an ability that lets them come back quickly or is the only way for them to come back after dying (it makes immortal very tempting as it lets you use them in battle, even if it is only defense, without risking their demise)
Post by: Bluerobin on April 12, 2011, 10:05:58 pm
Edit: Checked my manual, and it says 40 points/priest turns. Also, I noticed that any bless benefits are NOT reduced by the decreasing magic paths, which is good I guess. Makes a bless strategy still viable if you lose your pretender.
Post by: EuchreJack on April 12, 2011, 10:16:40 pm
If not, I'm gonna Wurm it up! At that rate, medium-size nations can bring their pretender back quicker than renaming a prophet!
Post by: Bluerobin on April 12, 2011, 10:23:27 pm
Post by: Neonivek on April 12, 2011, 10:28:34 pm
The majority of holy heros seem to have a value of 1
Post by: EuchreJack on April 12, 2011, 10:32:52 pm
Post by: Bluerobin on April 12, 2011, 10:38:10 pm
On this topic, I actually have a question.Caelum used to be my go-to nation, partially because of the flying holy-3 stealth priests. I recently realized how utterly useless preaching is though (for the most part at least. I think the manual's wrong on the actual numbers for this, so it might be better than I think) so are they actually good for anything other than smitespam/morale boosting mammoths?
Post by: EuchreJack on April 12, 2011, 10:39:57 pm
Post by: Bluerobin on April 13, 2011, 09:26:02 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 13, 2011, 11:02:25 am
Post by: Dakk on April 13, 2011, 10:06:11 pm
Post by: EuchreJack on April 14, 2011, 06:17:02 am
...But we're looking for replacement for C'tis, provided slMagnvox doesn't reappear from that ISP storm you mentioned.
Post by: Dakk on April 14, 2011, 09:32:48 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 17, 2011, 07:58:36 am
Post by: Neonivek on April 17, 2011, 02:39:46 pm
Maybe... I don't really know.
Post by: RF on April 17, 2011, 02:41:23 pm
Post by: Neonivek on April 17, 2011, 02:58:20 pm
I'd buy the game if it wasn't £30. :p
I'd buy it if I ever thought there would be a sequel.
Post by: Il Palazzo on April 17, 2011, 03:55:55 pm
I think if you changed the topic title and added (Looking for extra player) it could entice someone faster.Brilliant idea!
Maybe... I don't really know.
I'd change the name of the thread to reflect our desire to embrace another C'tis player, but I don't have such powers, and the thread owner has been spirited away to the mystical Real Life long ago.Oh, wait...
Post by: Neonivek on April 17, 2011, 04:02:32 pm
"Dominions 3 PBEM Looking for Additional Player"
Post by: Il Palazzo on May 06, 2011, 04:30:29 pm
If somebody wants to continue this in any form(e.g.singleplayer), shoot me a PM and I'll give you the password.
Post by: EuchreJack on May 06, 2011, 05:01:39 pm
IL PALAZOO LOSES! JOYOUS DAY! VENGENCE IS MINE!!! :P
Ahem, as you were.
Post by: Bluerobin on May 06, 2011, 05:08:18 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on May 06, 2011, 06:17:26 pm
IL PALAZOO LOSES! JOYOUS DAY! VENGENCE IS MINE!!! :PCURSES!
@Bluerobin, and anybody else who wants to do it:
1. Go to the game page (http://www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo.cgi?game=GloryOfTheGods) -> "Admin options" -> "Change a player's email address"
2. Then change each nation's email address to your own, using this password:
Spoiler: THE VERY SECRET PASSWORD OF DOOM (click to show/hide)
4. Now you've got all the player's turns, which will allow you to:
A)Continue the multiplayer game at home with friends(or with yourself if you don't have those and/or have a multiple personality disorder), in a "hotseat" mode.
B)Set any number of nations to AI and play with the remaining one(s). - this is done by launching a turn of any given nation and choosing "set nation to AI"(or something) from the "options" menu.
As a closing comment, I'd like to thank you all for participating. I had lots of fun with this one, especially on the Caelum front - both thanks to Lorak's devious stratagems and Bluerobin's competent takeover.
That is not to say that I did not pull my hair each time I lost a pinocchio to Ignus' octopus-men, or when Disaster! struck(hurr durr puny me).
Thankfully, I should be able to regrow my hair now that the game is over.
Post by: Kebooo on May 08, 2011, 08:35:08 am
Palazzo looked like he was in the lead
The player in need of replacing looked to be in second place.
Feeling as if my wars and blunders often help Palazzo conquer the world, despite the fact each time I recognize this threat and name my characters accordingly, I was worried it would happen again here if I joined.
Given Palazzo's obvious concession, and the fact he must have known, deep down, I was considering joining the fray, I'd like to take credit for defeating him, and I declare myself the winner.
Post by: Il Palazzo on May 08, 2011, 08:44:14 am
Anyway, I'll be taking this one off the server after Monday, so if anybody still wants to grab the turns - hurry up.
Post by: Neonivek on May 08, 2011, 12:13:07 pm
Heh. Anyone else wants to take credit for my defeat? You'll have to wait in line.
Anyway, I'll be taking this one off the server after Monday, so if anybody still wants to grab the turns - hurry up.
Well I wasn't playing nor do I own the game... But I'll take credit for your defeat.
Post by: Disaster! on May 09, 2011, 03:58:43 pm
On my other front, I was well matched against C'tis and I was looking forward to what my poisonproof regenerating SC was going to do to them.
Caelum and I were basically allied for half the game and on non-agression the rest as we had both decided to defend oursleves against the obviously more threatening Agarthans.
I broke my alliance with Palazzo in the early turns simply because I knew if I helped him beat Caelum, I was next on the menu and Agartha was in a better position to profit from Caelum provinces.
Ulm was really, really annoying to me in the early game because I couldn't take him on with my indie-squishing forces. I was able to take over Ulmish provices in mid-game easily with my serpent cavalry though.
I encountered (Rlyeh?) in early-to-mid and we went non-aggressive right away as long as I stayed out of the pool.
I was preparing a Mass Enslave strategy to counter Agartha's damned Dust armies but I was way too slow. Apparently I really need to work on utilizing my mages earlier and scripting them better
Post by: Bluerobin on May 09, 2011, 04:11:09 pm
Post by: Il Palazzo on May 09, 2011, 05:41:45 pm
I've been summoning Tartarians for a while now, and had one titan commander with a bunch of other Tartarians and a Gate Stone jumping around the map with impunity and giving off a kind of game-breaking vibe. Same with that teleporting Pinocchio(with boots of the planes or somesuch trinket). Perhaps there is some reliable way of countering an army and a SC that can leave the conquered province in a magic phase, but I don't know about it.
One other army was made up of a pinocchio with a flying ship and some dozen or more mammoths stolen from Caelum. As great as the idea of pachyderm paratroopers sounded, I never used them in (serious)battle.
Pythians indeed couldn't stand their ground against Zantaron and his army of dustwalkers, but it was one of those late-game armies enchanted with everything one can possibly want to cast, and carrying half of the world's artifacts, that can get pretty much unstoppable. On the other hand, should Master Enslave work(you'd need some serious penetration boost for dustwalkers' high MR), that could turn the tables - it took me years to build that army.
I was just about ready to solve the R'yleh Problem, after a year of feebleminding Ignus' mages with Strands of Arcane Power, and finally being able to cast Master Enslave, which probably could finally net me some decisive victory. The amount of resources that I've sunk in that damn lake was unfathomable.
I've seen that Marignon was moping up the remanants of Ashdod, and sported quite a well-developed armies, so maybe he'd take over the anti-Agarthean duties from R'yleh later on.
Post by: Bluerobin on May 09, 2011, 05:46:02 pm
Actually I never felt like I had any reliable counter for Caelum's Elemental Queens - they pretty much owned my pinocchios when they first met, and I went totally paranoid with avoiding any further confrontations, especially when I found out that they can be resummoned after death. Lorak leaving gave me somewhat free reign in the area, as Bluerobin did not use them as aggressively as his predecessor did - which is understandable caution on his side, but still.Haha yeah... I didn't realize how powerful they were until two of them accidentally attacked your planeswalking pinocchio and almost took him out (with little to no assistance) on that turn you missed.
Post by: Il Palazzo on May 09, 2011, 05:55:41 pm
Post by: Bluerobin on May 09, 2011, 06:16:15 pm
Post by: Ignus on May 09, 2011, 08:14:28 pm
I was just about ready to solve the R'yleh Problem, after a year of feebleminding Ignus' mages with Strands of Arcane Power, and finally being able to cast Master Enslave, which probably could finally net me some decisive victory. The amount of resources that I've sunk in that damn lake was unfathomable.
Oh I was fighting a loosing battle for a very long time down here in the wet Vietnam. I'm just glad I caused you that much trouble 8)
Post by: Bluerobin on May 09, 2011, 08:34:41 pm
The amount of resources that I've sunk in that damn lake was unfathomable.hehe
Post by: Lorak on May 23, 2011, 08:52:34 am
Rift did indeed suck me in pretty hardcore for a few months, but fortunately that era of my life was relatively short and has now come to an end.
The vast amounts of time spent playing Rift combined with my growing frustration towards not being able to make any progress against Agartha (Not to mention the large amounts of time I was spending thinking about what to do for my turn only to fail XD) made it too easy to simply ignore the turns. Also, I'm very sorry I never made an official "I quit" post for the game.
Post by: EuchreJack on May 23, 2011, 09:32:16 am
Post by: Il Palazzo on May 23, 2011, 12:26:22 pm
Also, seems like Rift might be an interesting thing to look into.
Post by: EuchreJack on May 23, 2011, 02:07:51 pm
Yeah, no harm done. Just so you know, I was struggling with the same feeling of eh, imptotence let's call it, when trying to bite your defences.
Also, seems like Rift might be an interesting thing to look into.
...And thus, Il Palazzo vanished from B12games for several years...