Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

done

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

In fact, it is recommended for everybody to use private messaging on this board for diplomatic messages, since the in-game messaging doesn't have any way of tracking what communication has occurred and what agreements are in place and has the unfortunate consequence of arriving in the next turn.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Is Llamaserver operational? I send in my turn, received confirmation yet nothing seems to happen.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Yup, everything is fine, though i had to ask server to resend my turn

Is someone going after Agartha?

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Although there is something wrong: score tables are not refreshed ...(the score graphs in-game are refreshed)

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

I had to request a turn resend of turn 12...hasn't arrived in about 30 minutes so I'll update you guys later.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Llamaserver uses 2 servers that communicate with each other via triggers. One of them (the one that sends out turn files and updates the website) is down, and the other one (the one that processes turns) is up.

"Is someone going after Agartha?"

Yes, Abysia is trying a suicidal rush on me, that will end up benefiting neither of us in the long run.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Just a heads up, llamaserver was having troubles which seem to have passed. Just recently I received an e-mail reminder that the next turn of this game is due in 11 hours, which struck me as weird because I had never received the next turn (turn 12). I had to manually request it resent to me. If you didn't receive turn 12 either, you should probably do the same.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Just wondering, is the turn really waiting on Agartha (Excist) or is Llamaserver hanging up again? I'm not casting judgement or anything, I'm just wondering if I should report an issue.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Agartha (Excist) sent his turn, but received an email from llamaserver that something was wrong with the turn file, i postpone hosting for 6 hours so he got enough time to figure whats wrong and/or send a new file.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Wow well I guess all Agartha needs is Darkness and a bunch of guys casting slime and they are pretty much untouchable. Defeated my (admittedly chaffish) army at a ratio of 20-1 killed. Honestly after that I'm not sure I'm interested in continuing this game since there's absolutely no way for me to harm him. Well played Agartha, that will be the last time I attack you since it's utterly pointless.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

For what it's worth, 100 precision spells (many of which are astral in nature) hit just fine even in darkness. Also, Solar Brilliance (also astral) cancels out darkness, though you'll probably want to cast antimagic first to prevent your troops from being blinded. Quest for the Firebird (or something like that) summons a unique creature which casts Solar Brilliance automatically at the start of battle.

Beyond that, undead and demons can all fight perfectly in darkness. But yeah, darkness is a major barrier for everyone else.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Yeah it's cool, I was just frustrated with the battle. You don't need to find a sub for me or anything. I wasn't lying about not attacking Agartha anytime soon though, that darkness is rough to contend with and rightfully so, as they are weak to the point of unbalanced without it.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Also, given the quantity of stuff involved, a well target rich battlefield can render Darkness precision effect quite meaningless.
I think it also ends if you punk the guy who autocasts it, In general, a fly boot bane with an anti giant weapons is a great anti Agarthan asset.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Haha I appreciate everyone giving me tips to defeat Agartha...now how about giving him some tips to defeat me and my soon to be massive army of mystics? Don't really seem fair to just help me ;)

My strategies for the battle simply didn't pan out. I did use a ton of missile weapons but they were unable to hit anything besides my own units...I figured having 100 some odd projectiles in the air would be bound to hit something but no dice (I mean, they can't just miss the ground can they? His soldiers have decent prot though, despite no shields). Also I screwed up my communion so none of the the "important" spells got cast, just buffs.

Anyway, Agartha did a great job defending his territory and deserves credit for it, as my numerical advantage should be almost impossible to overcome without skillful planning. For now I plan on leaving him be but who knows when he will start bringing the darkness into my own territory? I'll certainly deserve it if he does.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Earthquake. Twice. Mystics are squishy, Agarthans are not.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Whatever, I'll play the game out but I'm just going to half *** my turns until Agartha completely overruns me since I have no answer for him. Oh well, gg, it was a fun first try at MP, I think I learned how to not be completely awful next time. If you know someone who likes to take over hopeless games, feel free to have them take over for me.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

You are far from dead yet...
The Dorkness effect should only happen when he is defending, and his soldiers wont be particularly great in doing anything else.

On a sidenote, The Nation of Formoria wishes to aquire Nature and Earth Gems, and is willing to part with Death and Water gems in return.
Forging can also be considered.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

His army just ran me over like I was a 20 troops strong indy province. Sorry for ranting, I just get frustrated at times. Lemme check out my gem catalog and get back to you, Fomoria, I might take some death gems off your hands.

And it's just that Agartha is playing well and I am not, I still have a lot to learn about balancing my nations.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

As it happens I can trade both earth and nature gems in decent volume and could definitely use both death and water gems. I am still woefully behind after the attempted early ganking by both Mictlan and Arco so am thankful for any small favors that help me catch up to everybody else.

I would also like to thank Arco for volunteering to be my first avenue of expansion after I lost out on the chance to grab my share of indies. :D

We Agarthans are generally peaceful and reclusive so feel free to offer to negotiate a truce and try your barbaric expansionism elsewhere.

There are other options than instant victory or quitting in a game with lots of diplomacy.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Yes, I am aware. I just have a bad habit of getting frustrated and reacting immediately when things don't go my way but I tend to get over it and then regret it if I said anything stupid. I will not ask for a truce; if you feel the need to attack me and try to eliminate me then do so. Either I will figure out how to mount a proper defense or I will perish trying to do so.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

The world is a busy and violent place but things have been calm within T'ien Ch'i since our god slew the dream horror in personal combat. Our masters research and forge and things are as they should be.

However, the fruits of our peace need not be constrained to our borders. We will bend our mystical forges to the service of others for the cost of the item in question plus one gem extra for every five it requires. These extra gems can be of any variety provided they are gems and not blood slaves. We can forge items and boosters of almost every description. Rings of Wizardry, the oh-so-difficult to reach air, fire and earth boosters and so much more (note, no artifacts). All such wonders can pour from our forges should they be requested.

Furthermore, if an item costs nothing but water gems then we will forge it at-cost provided you pay us in fire or death gems. That's right, rings of water, boots of quickness, frostbrands and so much more for no extra cost.

Note that all items which require a 4 or better in any one path (except water) will cost an extra 5 gems as an added service charge because their forging will require the time of our god or one of our immortal heroes in it's creation.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

That was a highly entertaining battle between Mictlan and Maverni.
It appears that Mavernis national cuisine now features Jaguar Sashimi, which supposedly goes excellent with roasted Boar and red Virgin Wine.
The always culinarily inclined Nation of Formoria anxiously awaits new developments of the sophisticated mauvergnaise cuisine.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Excist, diplomacy is much easier if you respond to private messages. I'd better check the last turn to see the latest developments...

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

OK NOW I'm going AI or you can get a sub if people like finishing up lame duck games. Threw everything I had at him and still lost my cap despite relieving him of half his commanders before the battle. It was a good first game, thanks for the opportunity and well played by Agartha.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Good switch in tactics JMike. That was a painful turn, but still well worth it to gain a capital fort.

One tip you might want to keep in mind for your next game if you do go AI now is that you are better off putting some space around your capital before putting another fort, since Arcos has a good admin level (50) and they cannot use it to collect resources from provinces that have other forts. This is especially useful since their stronger elite units require a lot of resources to build.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Yeah I did a poor job with a lot of my strategy: all my forts ended up in the wrong spots, my pretender was pretty useless, and my research was sloppy. Still I was big enough that I should have been able to put up a better fight.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Turns out my Pretender is still alive as are a lot of my mages, guess I'll just keep messing around and seeing if I can inflict some damage on my conqueror before leaving. Sorry if I've been a total ***** about all this but I just find Dom3 to be pretty frustrating, given the amount of resources it requires (time, thinking) to just get wiped out like this. I think I prefer games where people aren't permanently eliminated...

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Just a question, but are you interested in a critique of your battle setup fo the Cap Jiggymike? That Battle was quite winnable with the tools apperantly available.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Please...just PM it to me or post it here, either way! Thank you.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

I think you had your reverse communion wrong, basically, spells get casted in the way your mages appear in the tactic-setup screen, with the mage on top being the first one to cast etc.
One thing to note is that, after a communion master cast a spell, all slaves can no longer cast in this turn, if you want to use a reverse communion, the master always needs to be at the very bottom of that list.
So, if you wanted to setup a situation in which one (non communioned guy) casts the general +1Astral battlefield buff (Light of the northern Star), a communion master casts Power of the Spheres, and the rest of the communion fires away with +2 Astral boosted Soulslays, you were doing it wrong because your communion master was like, the 4 mystic if counting from the top. All of the communion members below him never cast a single spell in that battle. You could even see some trying to get into mellee.

If you have 4 mystics, and those mystics appear like this in the tactics screen:
Mystic A
Mystic B
Mystic C
Mystic D
remember to let the communion master be Mystic D, so that the other 3 Mystics still can cast spells, note that "target caster" buffs your master casts effect all communion slaves, and that he still gets the communion path bonus even if his slaves already cast soemthing. So, if you have a Mystic with earth somewhere down on the tactics screen, use him to cast "Communion Master, Power of the spheres, Summon Earthpower" the reinvigoration is very worth it.

I also wondered what your Oreiads were doing, their seduce is basically an assassination attempt that once in a green moon gets you a free commander, and an Oreiad can be scripted/equipped to be capable of dealing with Agarthan Orcales scripted to cast Blade Wind.

Other stuff you could have done:
-Layered castings of "Swarm". Agarthan boulders are quite capable of hurting other Agarthans, and Swarms are awesome for provoking friendly fires.
-Thunderstrike/Storm. Any A2 caster under power of the spheres, or even A1 casters under Storm/power of the Spheres can cast it. It does not care about MR, deals additional fatigue damage and is propably better than Soulslay for comparably High MR Agarthans.
-Penetration boosters: From memory, Acro can forge a number of penetration booster naturally. Those help a lot with Soul Slay/Paralyze etc.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

But doesn't the master need to cast Communion Master and then have all the others cast Communion Slave afterwards and therefore needs to be at the top of the list? I had them casting first, then casting buffs while the slaves held a turn, then had the masters hold while the slaves cast spells? I need to check out the guide again.

I thought the seduction was pretty slick, actually. I knew he was scripted to go crazy with blade winds and earth melds, so I sent my oreiads to wipe out his casters before the battle even started. I set them to mistform/aim/lightning bolt so that he couldn't hurt me with his blade winds and then blasted him away. I succeeded in killing 2 of his generals and seducing 2 other weak ones away while one of my oreiads fled after she went of script and started casting useless spells. Also they don't have astral so I was not able to communion them to cast thunder strike, so I figured they would be more effective in taking out his area of effect casters than casting single lightning bolts in battle.

My biggest problems in this game were forging and researching. I don't really know what to forge ever and I tend to be more reactive than active; spell focuses probably would have helped a ton against Agartha. Also I took way too long to get to Thau 5 and then had some useless const 4 and conj 3 that I barely used. Oh well, I am still learning the game. Unfortunately I can't say that I'm enjoying it too much, as I got wiped pretty badly in this game and am getting killed in the other game I am in too.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Well after all my complaining and actually putting up a competent battle (still lost), I'm going on AI. Sorry guys and good luck to all, even Excist who was gracious in victory and taught me a lot! Play with me again in the future, I promise I'll play better and TRY to whine less (this game just frustrates me so bad because it takes a lot of thinking and planning and it just sucks when you don't get any payoff).

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Nope, there is one communion, and you can very much start with casting the slave spells.
If you want a communion that only buffs the master, you usually put the master first,if you want a communion that buffs the slaves, put the master last.
If you have the master as last, the slaves will not be boosted in the second turn, but imho the trade off is much worth it.
I think you have been confusing 2 types of common comminions.
There is the normal communion in which the slaves simply act as fatigue absorbers for the masters. Like, Pyhtium likes to do. There is also the reverse communion where the master simply casts buffs, and the slaves thus cast improved spells. In you case, mystics are way to cool to be used as communion slaves for another mystics, so reverse communion is a nice idea.


Something else one can do with Blood nations is having a mixed communion of Astral on Blood. Reinvigoration from the Blood school can in some cases reset fatigue on the entire communion to near 0.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Wow, I'm learning some good stuff too. I might want to give an astral nation a swing next game. Mightypeon, you are indeed a mighty font of information for us noobs. :)

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Communions are powerful and confusing, to be sure. Baalz wrote an excellent guide for them (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=37499) which I would recommend for everyone to read at some point or another.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Hehe, I learned that stuff by failing very very badly in another game ;)
I wont share those other lesson from that game though, as they funnily enough were about how to deal with cloud trapezing Formorian Kings without any magic school higher than 4 ;)
But basically, Sauromatia is propably among the best for reverse communions with reinvigoration for fun an profit.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

T'ien Ch'i is running our new King Maker Special. We will forge, for anyone, artifacts. To our knowledge, we are the only people who have reached construction-8. However, we are certain that we are the only people capable of forging any non-blood artifact in the game.

We reserve the right not to forge certain artifacts that are "too hot" (gate stone, scepter of dark regency, the chalice, Soulstone of the wolves, etc.) but beyond that, we will forge on demand. Want the Aegis? The Unquenched Sword? The Armor of Virtue or the Crown of Overmight? There are many artifacts and we will forge them for you.

We charge our usual price (cost of item plus 1 extra gem per five it cost, extra gems can be of any variety) plus an extra 1 gem per five for artifacts. However, if you are willing to pay in fire or nature gems, we are willing to negotiate a little on that price.

To place your orders, PM T'ien Ch'i. Get these literally one-of-a-kind artifacts quick; if you don't, someone else will.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

I would love to set the schedule to 36 hours, as we imho reached the mid game.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

The hososting interval it´s set to 36 hours. Do you mean 48?

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

i am for 48h as well
as you can see i has been somewhat stalling (turning turns at the last moment), b/c i can't handle 1 turn/day pace and you guys so far are great with doing your turns ...
the game is not only turns, but also diplomacy and that takes time ...

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

If all agree i´ll extend the hosting interval to 48h.

Edit: for now i set the time to 48h.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

That's how we learn, lol.

You do seem to be sharing that lesson, just not in a direct way. :D

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Seems like Acroscephale is still alive...makes me regret leaving this game, sorry all!

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Next week since Monday afternoon i will be away till Thursday afternoon, i can make a turn right before leaving and same hour i will be back. I do not think though it will be enough, hence i will have to ask for extension.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Ok, let me know when you leave and i´ll extend the hosting.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Ok, i am sending a new turn now and i am gone till Thursday ..
I do not know how long this turn will take - it supposed to end on Wend, but almost all files are in already ...
Hence, if next turn deadline is on Thursday please extend it, i am back thu afternoon and i will make turn immediately.

Request:
I am having some problem with underwater provinces rebelling against our humble rule, we will punish them. Our forces already are approaching. Please, respect that it is our territory.

By the way, i have mind hunted the leading cracken and my mage got
fableminded, how come? there, for sure, was no mage with astral magic ...

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

The feebleminding is our fault (T'ien Ch'i) though entirely accidental. We waited a good long time but your underwater provinces (which we have asked to purchase from you, btw) remained indie-controlled so we sent our god to go cut up some calamari. Unfortunately, we did a quit-without-saving, losing all that scripting and when we went back and rescripted our god we forgot to re-equip him. If it's any consolation, he was torn apart and killed painfully by a multitude of kraken (though he has since gotten better).

Anyway, the flow of events went like this: Guatama teleported into the province; by chance this happened before your mind hunt. Your mage cast Mind Hunt into a province which suddenly contained a high astral pretender, so your guy got feebleminded. It was by chance that our teleport spell went off before your mind hunt spell; frankly we would have preferred it if you had remotely slain the kraken king before our pretender got there.

As far as those being "your" territory... I don't have the old turn files in front of me to confirm but it's been at least 5 if not more turns since that province traded your rule for that of a squid's. At that point it's free game both in the letter and, I would argue, the spirit of our NAP.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

The game will now host at 21:12 GMT on Friday November 11th.

Re: new NoooB Game, (Running)
 

Well, i have old files fortunately.
I thought that if you mind hunt the main Kraken the rest will escape if attacked. My first attempt failed, in the second one got my mage feebleminded. Hence, you waited one turn before attacking the province. ONE TURN.
In total - you took the province on a turn four since it was taken and right before my army attacked and right when i said that i am planning to attack it soon (once my plan did not work due to your teleporting mage i have to had an army and i took 2 turns to put it together).

This is a serious offence and we Druids will inquire whether it breached our NAP or not.
Besides, this turn i am attacking the other underwater province, please, dont be there.