Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I'll play. I'd really like to try that Underwater mod.

R'lyeh
Sauromatia
Marverni

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Neither do I, there's a reason it's not on my disc. :)

Changes to gameplay from UWGIM seem quite extensive. (Just went looking for the mod.) and there's almost no comments in the thread. Has it been used extensively in MP? What do people (Apart from you ;) ) think about it? Also, is it compatible with EDM? (Which it looks like we will end up using.) If it works fine I'm not opposed to the principle of using it though.

Even if it makes people want to play water nations, it still leaves us short a few spots though. I haven't heard anything from Maerlande myself, (Perhaps a comment in IRC or something?) but she'd most definitely be welcome, never played a game with her before. (She's a she, right? Or do I have her confused with someone else?)

Edit: Well, Zeldor's magic plan seems to be working. ;)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Count me in with:
mictlan
c'tis
kalaisa

No agartha for me, please.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Inversions III is playing with CBM 1.6 + UWGIM .93 and EDM 1.1 all rolled into one. If you want to test it you can find it here.

She's a banned user and it looks like someone else beat her to the punch. :)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I agree that we should lock in nations for those who have signed up so far, and wait until Sunday to see if anyone else wants to join.

Keep the map, but no dead seas. No water nations unless we have more than one.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I secound Aethyr's post, all these points make sense.

I am waiting to know how many we are for sure before to work on the pre-defined locations.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Well, unless you kick out the last two players you have 23. So two people get water nations. However, it looks like you are going to get a lot of nation conflicts.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

All right, general opinion has spoken:

* We definitely play on the Faerun map
* We start on sunday at the latest, whether the last few spots are filled or not.

Due to previous general acceptance in the thread i've bolded a few more sections of my OP. Most notably, we'll definitely be playing with the Endgame Diversity Mod.

I'll allow one more day of discussing/voting on the remaining issues, before assigning nations tomorrow.

Issues still to be resolved:

* Do we use the Underwater Gameplay Improvement Mod: http://z7.invisionfree.com/Dom3mods/...p?showtopic=44?
This mod aims to make transition from land to water and vice versa easier, Make gameplay more intresting for water nations and any nations venturing underseas in general, and improving the weaker water nations. Zeldor suggested it and Eximius Sus joined specifically out of intrest for this mod, while so far there have been no objections. The changes it brings are quite extensive though, so anyone objecting to it, please feel free to do so.

* Victory: so far it has hardly been discussed. Options seem to be: Conquer 40? VP and hold for 3 turns; Conquer 50?VP; and I suppose Standard victory (Kill 'em all) remains an option.
Since only Hadrian voiced an opinion so far your solitary vote may even be decisive! ;)

* Research: I vetoed difficult research, and there didn't seem to be much intrest in using the mod lowering lvl 2 spells in exchange for difficult research. (To be honest I'm not very keen on it either.) So unless there's a storm of protest I'm going to keep it at normal. (Also if we go with UWGIM I'll be sticking with normal in any case to prevent more mod compatability headaches.)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Juffos has bowed out, and Maerlande let me know she's at her limit of games and will not be joining either, so at the moment there's 22 players. As I said in the previous post I'll allow one more day to finalize settings and then go about assigning nations, so if anyone feels like still changing their choices now's the time to do so.

I took a first look at the nation picks and compiled a few useless(?) stats:

* Arco and Ulm! are tied for "Most popular" Each with 3 first choice picks and 5 picks total.
* T'ien Ch'i and Ermor seem to be the ideal '3rd choises', each with 3 of those (and 1 first choise)
* Caelum and C'tis each have been picked 2nd 3 times out of 3 times total, whil Hinnom has also been picked 2nd 3 times, but is also 1st choice pick once.
* Atlantis and Oceania are the only nations who haven't been picked, while Yomi, R'lyeh, Pangaea and Abysia have each been picked once.

So, to improve the chances of everyone getting a nation they're happy with, any player not willing to risk a possible roll off can from this moment on claim either Atlantis or Oceania* by just posting in the thread they do so. The same possibility exists for Abysia, since the only player who picked Abysia (Waterhazard) is currently getting his first choice (Yomi) uncontested.


* I imagine for some people choosing one of these two nations might depend on whether we use the UWGIM or not, which is still to be decided. If that's the case, feel free to claim them "conditionally." (ie: I claim Oceania, but only if we use UWGIM, else I stick with my previous 3 picks.)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I only saw two #1 picks on Ulm, me an Aethyr.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

There's one more from Samulus, the only player who signed up on the "other" forum. (Does it have a name, or do we just call it/them "the other(s) ) He went with Ulm/Arco/T'ien Ch'i, in that order.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Well, I want to have some fun, not really win it. And water nations are not fun. Atlantis is the nation I'd like to like, but it's not possible. So I want to play nice giant nation for a change :) Fomoria would be best, as it's least powerful of them, so weaker players can get Hinnom and Niefel.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

ok I'll switch to Oceania if we use UWGIM, which we should if we want UW nations in the game to begin with. otherwise my original picks still stand.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I'm down for taking Abysia.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I've never played with the UWGIM, but since some have joined to give it a try let's go for it.

I agree that we should use a percentage of the VP total, whatever folks believe makes the most sense, AND we definately add the requirement that the VP's be held for at least 3 turns for a win.

A question: this game will be hosted on Llamaserver, right? If so, we'll be able to see stats & VP's via the "score table" (which I think is groovy). I don't think there's a way to turn this feature off. If not, why not play with graphs on?

Finally, depending on when nation selctions are finalized players may need several days to tinker/experiment with their builds (I know I will), so I think we should have a start date of "x" days after nations are distributed rather than a fixed date (Sunday?) as previously suggested.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Eh?

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

There is definitely a way to turn off the llama scores, my other game MonkeyParadise has them off along with graphs, I don't know how but you can ask the admin of that game if there isn't an easy setup option.

I agree, I think that would give us some time to play around and design pretenders since we don't even know what nation anyone is playing yet. Can't really do anything until we know who we are playing. Hoping x > 4 days personally since I have never played any EA

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Thanks Inindo, I did not know there was a way to turn off the scores.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

The off button?

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I don't mind playing with the UW Mod, but the hosting site where the file has been posted is annoying and I refuse to download their stupid software, so if we're using the mod, could someone share it on the thread?

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

we can, and should, turn off the automatic victory conditions and ignore the VP option built into llamaserver. that way we shouldn't be able to see the VP graphs, so we won't know exactly how many VPs each 1 of us has, which is what you're aiming for I think.

instead we should do it manually, once a player reaches a certain amount of VPs he must announce it to everybody, so the rest will have 3 turns to take at least 1 of those VPs away from him, otherwise he wins.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I'm OK with doing it manually, it's not a big deal either way.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

I think llamaserver automatically disables score graphs if game is set so - it takes them from turn files, and with score graphs turned off, they are not there, so llamaserver cannot process anything.

Manually watching over so many VP provs will be a nightmare, but well...

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

you can see how many VPs you have if you click on a temple. (VPs spread dominion)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Well, it seems we've reached an agreement. :) I updated the OP with the final settings.

I can't seem to get to the combined CBM/EDM/UWGIM mod Pyg posted the link to though. When I follow the link I get an error message and am then redirected to the Filefront home page. Is that just me, or does it happen to everyone?

I'll throw myself into nation assignment now, so everyone's nations should be up (relatively) shortly.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Try this.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Thanks Pyg, you're the best.

Finished nation assignment now, and am very proud to say everyone got one of his three picks.

Helheim and Atlantis remain unclaimed at the moment. Anyone having a change of heart and deciding either of these nations sound cooler than the one they got (and picked in the first place) feel free to switch. Also, anyone who hasn't signed up yet, but feels the urge to jump in, can claim either nation as their own.


Final paragraph for those wondering how I arrived at the final list. (Also known as: "Why did he get nation X while I'm stuck with sucky Y")

Short answer: Because I said so! Now shut up and play!
Longer answer: My first priority was to get everyone one of their 3 picks, rather than get as many players as possible their first pick. This does mean there will be a few instances where player A will see his first pick played by a player B who picked that nation only second or third, because player A was the only one(or one of the few) who picked the nation they picked second or third and ended up with.

If that explanation is a bit obscure just read the short answer again. :) Or if you are really, really desperate to know, PM me, and I'll see if I can remember the reasoning. No guarantees there though, it was a bit of a puzzle to get everyone one of their picks.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Oh, Graeme picked the strongest nation :P

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Say, I don't think it's utterly crucial, but if anyone can explain to me - very slowly - how to go about attaching a file to a post, I'll add the combined mod to the OP. (Best in PM though, wouldn't want to clutter the thread with my technical ineptitude. :D)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

Grijalva just quit a game right in the middle of it. He said he didn't have time to play DOM3 anymore. We couldn't find a sub so we had to end the game.


So I don't understand why he is playing in this game. He will just do the same thing again.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned, 2 spots left for latecommer
 

sign me up as Helheim

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned, 2 spots left for latecommer
 

Ok, my pretender is ready. When are we starting? :)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned, 2 spots left for latecommer
 

atlantis for me.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Recruiting)
 

"quit?" really?

Wow Ghoul, your are just sore aren't you? That's not true and was more than three weeks ago anyway.

I was declared winner by a clear majority of players (and also by the top nations) despite your moaning, I certainly didn't just "quit" as you say. And please don't outright lie by saying it was the "middle" of the game when it was clearly the endgame.

I also didn't say that I didn't have time for dom3, just the gargantuan endgame and being the most powerful nation by far, with my schedule + computer problems at that time.


Anyone who's interested can look at the thread here : http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showt...ght=greenstone

But this is the best quote to look for, where ghoul himself declares me the winner.

In addition to that being three weeks ago, I do believe it will be a few more weeks before turns of this game take more than a few minutes, so don't worry about me Ghoul (rl schedule won't be a problem anymore even for long turns), you just make sure you play a more active game this time. :)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned, 2 spots left for latecommer
 

here is a quote from Grijalva

"This was, at first, simply because of my crazy rl work these days. The final straw happened with the last stale: my laptop decided to finally quite on me. I tried to solve the problem and even delayed the game by 24hours, but it seems as though the real only solution is to find a sub to take over. Its possible to play my other two games on my work computer as they are in their early stages, but spending several hours at work playing dom3 just isn't feasible.

Sorry guys, and thanks for being so patient, it was great playing with everyone. I'll post a sub thread now."


It is clear from that, he quit the game, and posted for a sub. I just hope he won't do it again

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned, 2 spots left for latecommer
 

Drama already! We haven't even uploaded pretenders yet. ~,~

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned, 2 spots left for latecommer
 

The famous Ghoul31. I've heard of you.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned, 2 spots left for latecommer
 

Right ghoul, I offered to find a sub and we agreed that I should just be declared winner instead...then you cried.

Ok, I've said my piece, this shouldn't have been spilled into this thread anyway, I just hope ghoul doesn't complain about losing this time too.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned, 2 spots left for latecommer
 

Well, I went over to the other thread, and can't say I could find any objectionable action by Grijalva. He only announced that he couldn't keep up with his turns due to temporary work spike and technical difficulties, and that he would be looking for a sub. A pity, certainly, but in the end his actions were fit and proper as far as I can see. God knows unexpected events can pop up in RL. After that not he but others declared him the winner. Whether that was premature or not I don't know since I wasn't in the game. Possibly it would have been better to allow everyone more time to make their feelings about the situation clear, but in the end I don't see how Grijalva can be blamed for that, nor why the discussion should affect this game.

So, since he assures us that his RL will most certainly return to a more manageable situation by the time turns begin getting longer in this game, I see absolutely no problem, and wellcome Grijalva to our game. (again)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

I agree Grijalva, this arguing shouldn't spill over to this thread, so would everybody please refrain from position things irrelevant to this game here, not everybody has the time to read through all the threads and may very well miss something relevant to this game with all this gibberish.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

Just to confirm, we're using the Faerun -466 Adventure Map thats on Llamaserver?

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

I also still need the underwater mod if we're using it. I'm not downloading some stupid proprietary download manager just to get a 300k file.... or just put the most recent (0.94) version on the server. The current llamaserver version is still 0.7.

(I have also reviewed the mod notes, and approve of the use of the most recent 0.94 version of the Underwater Gameplay Enhancement mod).

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

Check the first post

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

Also, nakido doesn't require you to install a download manager. It only wants you to think that it does. Just for future notice.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

I know it doesn't, but it was equally a pain in the *** to keep clicking the download link and then having to hit the back button (because once you click the download link, it changes to a "get stupid download manager" link after it fails to download due to server capacity.

In actual game news...

My pretender is ready. Is the game running yet?

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

It is not. Numahr said he would look into fixing starting locations a while back. I PM'd him yesterday to see if he was still planning to do that. If there's no reply by this evening I'll just go ahead and start the game with random locations.

Yep. Uploaded it myself to see if I could figure out how to do it. (And guess, what I did! I'm so proud! :D) Apparently no-one else has been stupid...erm... I mean original enough to use it in MP. (Not on the Llamaserver at least.)

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

Amhazair:

You don't need final map to create it, you can change settings later. So you can wait till all pretenders are in with fixed positions [which we really want] and create the game with normal Faerun map, without premade starts.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Nations assigned)
 

Well, in that case:

The game is up!

A reminder/help for those rare people who haven't used the Llamaserver before:

- Make sure you have the same mods enabled as the game you're playing in (Preferences->Mod Preferences) although only mods affecting pretender design, such as Conceptual Balance, actually matter (For us, this is the 'inversions' mod attached to the first post.)
- Go to Game Tools -> Create a pretender god in Dominions. Don't set a password, since for PBEM games they're not helpful and occasionally annoying (e.g. if you need a sub)
- Go to the savedgames/newlords folder in the dominions directory, and find your pretender file (e.g. mid_pythium_0.2h)
- E-mail the file to: pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net
- Crucially, you must have the game name in the subject line of your e-mail. That would be TroublingTimes in this case. (Without a space, llamaserver doesn't accept spaces apparently)

I hope to start on sunday/monday, so have your pretenders up by then.

Good luck everyone.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Upload Pretenders)
 

I can take care of the custom starting locations as suggested earlier, but is it too late? I can send the edited map tomorrow morning (i.e. in about 12 hours). It would be nice to have these custom starting locations, I think. Sorry that I was not available during the last 2-3 days to do it.

Re: Troubling Times: Large EA CBM Game (Upload Pretenders)
 

According to Zeldor it's not too late. ;)

But yes, I can still alter all game settings, (including the map) so as long as you have it ready before the game starts I can still switch it around.