Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

Well it seems I am all set then upon this course of action.

Good luck chaps!

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

Game started! Sorry for the mod confusion GameExtremist. I forgot to mention that detail in the OP.

Anyways, the game is on. Let this game on skill and luck commence! And may the best gentleman win!

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

Good luck, gents. May the best man, woman, or pardon the expression - monster - win.

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

Splendid! Good hunting, gentlemen.

Regarding my proposal from Post 41, here is the current status of respondents;

1.Burnsaber(admin) -- agreed
2.Trumanator -- agreed
3.Cleveland -- agreed
4.Apsophos -- agreed
5.GameExtremist -- pondering
6.Alpine Joe -- pondering
7.fungalreason -- pondering
8.Squirreloid -- pondering
9.Starshine_Monarch -- pondering
10.ghoul31 -- agreed
11.Grijalva -- pondering

If you are among the pondering, I respectfully request your decision at the earliest possible convenience. Kindly read the post, and let me know if you agree or disagree to its 3 stipulations. No need to justify or apologize if you disagree.

However, I do ask for your prompt reply, as I will require positive affirmation from all players before moving forward, and the window of opportunity is closing.

With gratitude,
cleveland

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

I agree

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

My apologies for the lack of correspondence of late. Vanheim will certainly abide by the stipulations of Cleveland's proposal.

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

Agreed. I think this is a great idea cleveland.

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

Agreed!

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

sorry, I agree most emphatically and raise my monocle in salute

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

I would be delighted to abide by those restrictions.

Re: Tophats - Gentleman's Game (Pretenders!)
 

This proposal, after extensive legal debate in the Imperial capitol, has finally passed and is agreed to be perfectly acceptable by the Imperial Bureaucracy.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Oh I must say, how in blazes did my entourage and I end up in such a savage and backwater place?

No matter we shall soon pacify our barbaric neighbors.

*removes a piece of lint from immaculately pressed trousers*

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

"Who disturbs my slumber"

"Uh... my lord..."

"Speak!"

"A thousand apologies ancient one, but..."

"SPEAK!"

"Yes, hmm.. about that matter of eternal paradise we promised.."

"This isn't it."

"..Yes, we know. We seem to have been somewhat wrong. Well, the good news is you still have your mind, am I rii..." *snap*

"So it seems I am awake after all these millenia once again. You."

*Cringing* "Me, my lord?"

"Did I stutter? Yes, you. You're the new high priest. You have 24 hours to tell me the situation."

"Uh, my lord? Didn't my predecessor make that, well, clear?"

(beat) "Ok, so I can't stare at you without eyes. Stop lollygagging and find out what's going on outside these walls! Twenty-four hours or I'll have you replaced. Do you understand me?"

"Y-y-yes my lord."

*muttering* "I swear they were more intelligent when they were alive."

---------
In the antechamber:
"Was he this grouchy in life?"

"You'd be grouchy too if you were woken up early from a Millenia long slumber to discover your were nothing but bones and the nubile virgins you'd been promised weren't there waiting for you. Now, unless you really want my job..."

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Gents,

Thank you all for your cooperation regarding the tourism idea. I have opened the thread in the MP forums, kindly disregard its existence :)

Also, here's a picture of all the start locations, in case you haven't sorted them out for yourself. T'wouldn't be fair for the mapmaker alone to know them, of course:
Attachment 9408

Starts are in red.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

"A telegram for you sir"
"what is it Jeeves"
"I believe it is from your Aunt Agatha, sir"
"Egad Jeeves! What do you think that blight on the landscape wants with me"
"Sir, perhaps you have not stayed abreast of current developments vis-a-vis, the empire. Your aunt Agatha is engaged to sir Fannon Cadsbury, the earl of Waycaster and her majesty's new secretary of defense"
"Egad Jeeves! My Aunt so close to the-how do you say- reigns of power. Bad luck for the old empire wot?"
"Perhaps sir. His lordship is rallying his dukes. He apparently plans a program of 'aggressive expansion' in regards to what her ladyship refers to as 'barbaric savages.'"
"Well I should think the savages of Borneo would be lucky to only face the might of the queen's finest. I have to meet with my Aunt Agatha."
"Indeed sir. Will that be all."
"Ah Jeeves...One of your morning concoctions would hit the spot right about now."
"I will prepare one immediately, sir."

And the stout fellow vanished in that way he does like a disapparating Hindu Fakir.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

I just want to say that I think the DAR thing is very cool and I look forward to checking out the game from the different perspectives.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

To the fine and gracious nobles and royalty of Brettonia,

While we of Tien C'hi do not wish to question your policies on the expansion of your kingdom, one of your generals has been found guilty of trespassing upon his Divine Majesty's sacred territory.

By Imperial decree the provinces of Pack Woods, Ionia and Ene Umrul are to be taken under the protection of the Imperial Bureaucracy of Tien C'hi. Imperial legal administrators and judges have seen fit to give you one month to remove your rabble of peasant "soldiers" from the vicinity of our glorious capitol before our own generals and military ministers are forced to do something... rash.

Best regards,
Chancellor Baogu, Minister of Foreign Policies

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

I announce that the nations of Bretonnia and R'lyeh have agreed on a non-agression pact with a three-turn warning period.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

My word! Squabbles and alliances already! Good show Bretonnia!

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

My Dear Vanheim,

As your brave and noble troops may have noticed the last province they had a tea party in was of course adjacent to my lofty little fortress. My elephants need this land to graze on and I do regard the lands as mine, my sincerest apologies if this is a bother for you.

I'll be sending a quaint little fellow named Urgek to see if your men have been good chaps and left it empty for my elephants and other assorted chaps.

Good day to you sir.
Arcoscephale.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Shinuyama and Agartha have signed a non-agression pact with a three turn warning period.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Would the good chaps at Arcocephale please enable their PM box? I have tried to send by post a communique most timely, but the post master keeps regretting to inform me that my letter has been returned. The words 'return to sender, address unknown' are applied with utmost care to the envelope, which vexes me greatly since I am sure I have the right address. That my calls haven't been returned is only because of extreme distraction by pressing matters on your part, I am sure.

Sincerely,
Puppets
Prophet of Master of Puppets

P.S. It would utterly devastating if you told me you just wanted to be friends. I'm sure we can work things out.

(sorry, couldn't resist, but seriously - turn your PMs on!)

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

My sincerest apologies my good sir,

Alas I have been forced to have the head of my mailing service flogged to within an inch of his life, please be inclined to send any outstanding mail posthaste.

Arcoscephale

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Oh blast! Our Champion has been slain! At least he died with his shell on. Rest in peace, Gorenigrai, we shall commission a plaque in your memory at the Arena.

Good show, R'lyeh. We look forward to the next competition!

Oceania
Arena Combat Silver Medalist

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Nekehara is proud to announce a formalized treaty with the good fellows of Arcocephalia, in which we both plan to abstain from hostilities and give 3 months notice if either party decides to terminate the treaty.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Nekehara and Oceania shall forthwith not engage in hostile action against each other, excepting 3 months notice have been duly given and elapsed before the onset of hostilities.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Let it be known that Atikoshi, god of Shinuyama, is dead.

Their foolish disregard of our diplomatic overtures proved quite costly indeed. Let this serve as warning to other nations to consider their actions carefully before they make the same mistake. To those who border Shinuyama and have grown alarmed at their rapid and reckless expansion - your window of opportunity is open. Join us in the fight, and help cleanse the land of this grey plague!

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Well, dear sir, we all came to this game expecting a certain amount of excitment. Constant napping (pun certainly intented, fellow chap) does not create excitment. But sir, I must admit that you really managed look like easy pickings, with having failed to expand into 2 of your capital neighbours and having awake rainbow pretender. But now I see that was just a clever ploy, showing most devious cunning as I should have expected from a nation of glamourious elves.

Well, it matters not. Let us meet on the fields of battle and show our respective mettles! May the best man win!

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Well, gents it seems the Celestial Empire will have to pull out of this game. I've fallen for an early game sucker-punch from Bretonnia and somehow managed to forgot to send my turn file as he closed in on my capital. Good show Bretonnia. It took guts to try a rush so early in the game and I applaud you for it.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

As a creator of the mod, I must ask: Hopefully you did not find the nation OP? (a'k'a do you feel that you could have countered the rush if you had done something differently?)

If you found the nation OP, do you have any suggestions about fixing that aspect?

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

I've messed around with Bretonnia myself in SP a small bit before, but I do not believe it to be terribly overpowered, just very dangerous in an early rush situation.

I do think that perhaps the lords getting a freespawn Knights of the Realm in battle may be a bit much. You don't need very many KoTRs to be very dangerous in the early game since it practically requires a normal human nation to have Lightning Bolt or something similar if Bretonnia continues to build Lords. As of now, the Bretonnian Lord costs the same amount of gold as an indy Knight Commander and has roughly the same stats even excluding the Lords other abilities. I'd suggest perhaps bumping their cost slightly (10-20 gold maybe) and making the Lords' freespawn knight be a foot knight like the Grail Damsel, so that it can still be fluffy and helpful in certain situations without being possibly battle changing.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

While a cost increase may be warranted, I think its a nice design feature that a non-mage can be battle changing. Mages already are battle-changing, why can't other commanders be? Strenuously object to reducing the freespawn to being unmounted.

(Also, its not like those freespawn are overly useful since they can't be scripted. So if you're actually depending on them to do something, no clever scripting for you).

Edit: Indie mounted commanders are really overpriced anyway. So they're hardly a good measure of appropriate cost. And we're talking a single KotR, right? ... Seriously, might be effective against 2 PD or something, but its not going to take much out on its own.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Indeed!

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

In a big brawl between gentlemen
only Vanheim was left without friends.
Although perceived to be frail,
our magic not yet unveiled
made us difficult to apprehend.

Shinuyama was first to the fight,
a general convinced of his might.
He rushed in all alone,
was surrounded when prone,
and vanished in a great flash of light.

The aggressor not yet deterred,
his lord's judgment obviously blurred,
sent more troops to the fray.
Yet Vanheim won the day,
and Shin's prophet joined the interred.

Then Arco became infected with greed,
without caution did his forces proceed.
His traveling zoo
thought they could fight too,
but in fetters were dispatched with great ease.

And so begins Vanheim's humble tale,
with a tip from those under assail:
When choosing to double team,
you best topple that regime,
or expect to be mocked when you fail.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

As the rusher in question, i'll make a few comments.....

Grail Knights are very strong early units. They are almost impossible to stop with human troops without magic. Of course, they are tremendously expensive, both in gold and resources. Five of them cost as much as a fort..... They aren't nearly as cost-efficient for what they do as many other sacreds. However, against MA tien'chi they were facing pretty much ideal opponents.

MA tien'chi also happens to be one of the easiest nations to rush. As soon as I saw them, I knew I had a target.

As the game progresses, I will figure out better whether this nation's early power will translate. I plan to write a guide with comments on balance once I am done.

By the way starshine, nothing personal. You just happened to look juicy :)

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

MA TC isn't that easy to rush... they have a great troop line-up and great mages that can cast most of the early rush counters. Admittedly, some cleverness may be required, but to say they're an easy target vastly overstates the case.

Of course, you have to make a point of researching the early rush counters...

Also, with celestial soldiers being sacred, I can totally see playing MA TC as a bless nation. Your sacred cavalry will benefit from the same blesses the celestial soldiers will, so they'll help foil rushes while you research your way to your real sacred.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Squirrel, they were _two_ provinces apart. Unless you have a research pretender and only research alt there's no way you're going to stop E9 Grail Knights. Even if you did manage not to die immediately, they'd just build up a bit more and own you in 10 turns or so.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Good game Starshine! Sorry it didn't work out in your favor.

But I must ask, why didn't Celestial Chastisement work? 7+ AN against magic beings seems like perfect counter to 14hp Grail Knights. And only Evo1...?

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Mr negates?

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Irresistible, and precision=100:
Attachment 9489

But if he DOES fail an MR roll, he gets enslaved. Not bad for a level 1 spell.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Only the "charm" part is mr-negates. The AN damage is always dealt.

EDIT: Dear sir cleveland seems to have beaten me to the bunch.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Nekehara, insulted over never having been invited for tea and crumpets, hereby publicly declares war on Agartha. Sorry chap, but you're sitting on land that was ours millenia ago and we really must have it back.

Puppets predicts the opposition will be stony-faced.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Well it seems that the end of R'lyeh is near. The early game is not my forte but this one has been properly calamitous and the good chaps of Atlantis duly took advantage of my weakness.
My sincere apologies to all other gentlemen for failing to put up a proper opposition.

N.B. I am not out yet and I will fight to the last breath, but I don't have much to fight with.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

My turn file is corrupted and I cannot play the turn. Can we force a rehost or something? Having recently started a war it would be rather poor if i had to stale.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

I'm not sure Atlantis would approve :D

Well done good sir! I'd hoped you were too busy in the south to notice my too-late aid for the dying R'lyeh. If it rehosts, I won't change anything, you deserve the win.

Tophats! Oceania is also lost! We walked into a marvelous ambush, and our God, Prophet, army etc were all annihilated! Oh the sharks! I'll never permit my servants to swim again!

But we too shall hold out to the last. Come and get us, fiends!

Most sincerely,
Sergent Finkelstein
Highest Ranking Soldier, Oceania

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Thanks, if the Mighty Glug could breath air he would have been holding his breath over that one.

I wasn't sure how many of those Ichycentaurs you had but I was planning for 150 plus your God-SC, so that's why I went a bit crazy on the sharks, which there must have been around 200 of by the end.

I really liked the beserking-prince thug,BTW

Glug, the Invincible god is limping back to Atlantis after freeing our enslaved brothers from the cold, squishy grip of Rylah. A new era is dawning and we shall rebuild our great empire on the ruins of the Fallen Star!


PS: About the rehost, can't you just request a resend? If not, I trust Cleveland to not change anything and I won't as well of course.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Yeah, there is nothing to do but rehost. I'll do it once I get home. (I'll rollback and instantly force-host so that no one will be able to send a new turn)

As for events, battles and stuff "lost" during rehosting... Well, *boo-hoo-hoo*. It is much, much more important to allow each player to actually make their turn than anything else. Consider the results from the first turn to be from alternate dimension or something.

Just for the record, I haven't looked at my turn file. I might have gotten the Chalice from RND-event, but we will never know now, will we?

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Well that earned me a province I wouldn't have had otherwise :D I'm not at war with anyone, so no worries. Lets try to not do this again though of course.

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

In the alternate dimension we just had a glimpse of, our chief summoner managed to bring more interesting things from the void AND not to get lost in time and space. Oh well, as if it could make a difference in the war against Atlantis anyway...

Re: Tophats - The Gentleman's Game
 

Yeah, I agree.

But Squirrel informed that his new turn was fine, so I'm confident that the game will along just fine.