Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Yes, I second that, please no lakes!

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Actually, I did some testing now and we apparently need to change the map anyway. Glory of the Gods is too small.
While number of provinces would be kinda fine, the real problem is that a good chunk of it is "unusable" - swamps and wastelands. I attempted to do a fixed start position version of the map for us, ran a web script I found on the net and got all provinces with <5 neighbours flagged nostart. Then I did some debugging and noticed some spawns are simply too close to each other. So, I sat down to it and went for it manually.

I tried my best, but the highest number of players you can cramp on this map is 15, with 2 being water. Adding any more would be too insane and balance would go instantly off the charts.(Even now some are somewhat too close, with mere 3 province space between them). It could go to 16 if we had another water nation, since the map actually looks useable by 3 sea nations. But some spawns still invoke a feeling of claustrophobia.

So, I highly suggest switching the map. Since choosing a useable map turned out to be a complex alchemy, and since I have nothing better to do today anyway, I will inspect several maps and attempt to come up with a new list. There is still an option of generating a map for us, aswell :)

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Whew, thanks. I never played that map either but after looking at it I agree that it is way too small. Personally I like the idea of something that would average 20-25 lands per player.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

I don't have any good MP map suggestions, but I'm game for whatever. Big is good, as far as that goes.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Whoa... while this is my first multiplayer game, I did make sure to read a veteran's warning for newer players:
http://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...readid=3411351

Technically, Glory of the Gods is already "too big", with ~16 provinces per land player. Also, how are wastes and swamps "useless"? They have the most sites! Going to a bigger map frankly makes me uncomfortable, as I'm already concerned about potential micromanagement hell that will occur once I inevitably dominate half the map. :re:

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

It turned out many of the maps with fixed starts have 3 province gap between capitols. So, it's propably just me thinking it's too close, lol. Well, absolutely no experience with dom3 map designs, really.
That's true, but they still make very poor starting provinces. It simply isn't good when your capitol is on or neighbors many of these :re:

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...ultiplayer.jpg

Here is an example of a lineup. I tried to make it so there at least 2 land neighbors for each, one 3 provinces away and one 4 provinces away. Looks good for the most part, but since it is not a wraparound, some players are still somewhat lonely out there. Especially position number 11 and 2 alarm me. That frickin stupid island in the sea between them makes a logical another spawn point, but since it's an island, it's not an option as start. All spawns have 4 to 5 neighbors. No idea if this would actually work out.

An alternative could be "Alexandria" or "Asia Twist" maps. These have fixed starts already available, they are a little bit bigger though (made for 2 more land nations mostly). Orania ends up on ~17 provinces too.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Wait, I thought that your home province always gets a certain population and income, regardless of which land you start out on?

Personally, I really don't like the idea of fixed starts, as it makes exploration to find your opponents' capitals insignificant, and is asking for remote spell spams from half across the world. In your changes to GotG, it looks like starts 2 and 6 get huge advantages, a) being in corners and b) having large uncontested swathes of land that are likely to have lots of gem-generating or even unique sites.
I'm fine with tighter spacings (even if I were a land nation) -- simply because it prompts head-butting faster, which is the point -- as long as people get their cap circles. :) I understand though if others want more playing room.

Orania I feel has too little water for both R'lyeh and I (esp. considering that water sites are meh, and so is their income -- a tradeoff for relative defensibility). Asia Twist looks really pretty on the other hand, so it gets my vote if you deem GotG unsuitable despite my arguments. Alexander (is that what you meant by 'Alexandria'?) also looks good, though it's up to you to decide if there's too much water for the squamous among us.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

I have a question and a thought on the map situation:

Question: since we're still deciding on a map, does that mean I should postpone sending in a Pretender?

Thought: On average, if you own every province within two provinces of your capital, you have about 20 provinces. That means on average there are only 4 provinces between your and your opponent's capital. A 3 province distance isn't bad in comparison. Having only 2 provinces between you and your opponent is when it gets ugly.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Twelve to fifteen provinces per player works out pretty well. Starting with only a few provinces between you and your neighbors is ugly, but this *is* a game about horribly murdering each other after all :-)

If we can't agree on a good "set" map, maybe we could consider picking one of the random maps from here:

http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomizedMaps.htm

Either way, I vote LD makes a call and we run with it :-)

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Hey, if I'm going to spend my time staring at ugly sprites, I at least want a pretty map to look at! :D

Also, out of curiosity, how will diplomacy be handled? IRC? Forum messaging? Something less awkward?

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

I personally dont like large maps. I think 15 provinces per player is enough, and 20 is good. More than that and late game turns take a long time, and that's off-putting to me (of course that could be my fault for micromanaging :p).

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Still room for me?

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Feel free to join us, Anaconda! :) Felt kinda sad when I figured you died on us. :angel

I say let's go with Alexander. My reasons are following:

• GotG, AT or Alexander are all big maps anyway, so we will deal with micromanage on all of these maps eventually. Thus, I'm not feeling the 20+ land province increase of Alexander vs GotG as a big difference.
• I don't trust myself enough to faciliate fair spawns, so we can use the luxurious fact these are already there on Alexander.
• Alexander also seems closely designed for our nation number too. It's for 16 Land and 3 sea, we have 15 Land and 2 sea.
• AT and Alexander are actually very similar to each other, done by the same author. However, AT has shamefully all starts marked by an orb, also a sealanes mechanism that not everyone can be used to, so I picked Alexander over AT.

The map was set up on llamaserver with no problems whatsoever, as I expected. Let's get those pretenders in.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Ok, can you put up a link to the map plz?

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com//showthread.php?t=37295 here it is, I'll place it on the first post when I get to it (after Anaconda makes his choice) :)

Oh and to answer a previous question, as far as diplomacy goes, I guess you can use whatever you and your partner agree on, but PM's tend to be most handy. You can of course send in-game messages, but that's a pretty slow method. Also, this forum thread is a useful little Europa 1400: The Guild notice board you can use for an efficient broadcast, sending your mind-controlling frequencies to control the masses and turning their brain level down so they'll end up shambling zombies, mhwahwahwahwhaa! Bow before me, Ainselm, the Prince of Terror !!!

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

OK, Lady Magrat Garlick is in.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Any update on this one?

We've got eleven pretenders in, and I'd say would want at least 16 if we are going with the Alexander map. If we don't get responses from the others who registered soon, I'd favour throwing the game open again for registrations to get to the 16.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Was Lanka still open? If, then for me!

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Yeah, reopen for registration and get this one off the ground already!:up:

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Yes please. If people can't get their pretenders in after all this time, just think how reliable they will be when the game starts.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

No-one is listed as having Lanka on the front page, and no pretender is in for Lanka, so I think that you are good to go! :-)

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Anaconda will have his pretender in Wednesday his time (I think he's in or around Scandanavia?), which gives us 14.

I am going to petition Lung (the main admin and thread owner, all hail the king! :-) ) to reopen the game to let us get to somewhere between 16 and 18 players.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

For my money, hang the 16 players. It could take forever to get them and submit a pretender as has already been proven in this thread.

I say once Anaconda is in, lets start.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

If this thread were still marked as 'recruiting' I'm sure more people would sign up.

The map is otherwise too big just for 14 players.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Yeah, I've PM'd Lung Drago (who started the thread) to ask him to change the label.

How many guys do we need on a map this size, do people reckon? The alternative is of course to just downsize to a smaller map.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

I believe it was agreed that 17 on this map was acceptable in this thread.

If we can get 17 then all well and good. If we are stuck on 14 we will need another map. I have no suggestions at this time for another map.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

If we have 14, how about this map?

http://dom3maps.wikidot.com/system:worldofwarhammer

It comes out to about 15 provinces per person, so some room but not too big.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

I am ok with Warhammer. And my champion is in.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Any map will do as far as I'm concerned, let's just start already.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Prepari
 

Sorry I didn't get to visit the forums for some time. I've marked the game open for recruitment to fill it to 18 players, the game should autostart after 18 gods are in. That's the quickest it can get, I think :)

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Sweet, we've hit 14, lets hope we get to 18 soon and then we are away!

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Hey, is it possible to resubmit a pretender? All this down time has given me a chance to rethink my strategy...

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Uh-oh... :(

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Yeah, just send it in and llamaserver will adopt the new pretender in place of the old one. You'll get an email confirmation similar to the one when you resubmit a turn file, to let you know what is going down.

(Just make sure you've got CBM 1.92 as the only mod enabled!)

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

I'll jump in as a kooky yomi build.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Sweet, welcome!

If we don't get past 15 soon, I think we call it a quorum, move to a map that better suits 15 than the current one, and push the start button.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

+1 to that Jimbo.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Me too. My lizardsssssssssss are getting antsssssssssssy:D

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Don't worry Matt, I am "chilling" some drinks for them so as they don't die of thirst in the game.

I much prefer my lizard skins suitcases, shoes and jackets have "battle wounds" when I adorn them.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

==================================================

Listen. Impatient children. Bolo is risen! As was the prophecy of before. Yes. Bolo the magnificent! He awakens from slumber. This century. Or this next one. The anarchy is over children. Is is not tolerated. Not in this land. Or even on the surface. Bolo is with us now. Such behaviour. No, no, no. In the blink of a mighty eye. This century. Or this Next one.

Elu of Agartha, Knower of all things

==================================================

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Hooley: Just please make sure when your giants fall over from our attacks that they don't fall on any of our properly (or lizards for that matter). Oh that's right. They'll all be falling in Niefel territory anyway!

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Matt, they are falling over as I type....with laughter.

Hang onto that sense of humour matey...it will be all you have left soon.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

*cranks up Ride of the Valkyries*

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

This promises to be awesome :-)

OK, it is pretty clear 15 is all we are going to get, so I'll switch in a different map and push go. I'm currently mucking around a bit with the Warhammer map. I've removed the set starting positions, and am thinking about setting any province with three or less neighbors to be a no-start area then doing a few sample runs to see how the starts likely pan out. Then, the killing will begin!

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

I haven't taken too close of a look at the Warhammer map, but I noticed that there's a few islands disconnected from the mainland. They won't be starting locations either, right? (It would suck to get stranded out on an island at the start)

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

*** NEW MAP FILE ***

Gents, as we are not going to get beyond 15 players, we are going to move to the World of Warhammer map (which has a better province / player ratio). I have tweaked the map to:
* Restrict the start areas so that every land nation has four land neighbors, and every sea nation 4 sea areas
* Set the northern and southern wastes to be out to be no-start areas

I've run a couple of tests, and in both cases the starts worked out correctly, so I am cautiously confident.

The map files can be found here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?asoubbc0b4bs2y3

I'm now going to tweak the setup of the game, and push start to get things rolling. Any issues, post here and / or PM me and I'll see what I can do - with this many players, I suspect we may have at least one restart :-)

EDIT: The game is now started. Good luck! (Unless you plan on attacking me, in which case I hope your home province gets hit by an earthquake on turn 1, and a plague on turn 2 ;) )

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Am now jealous of whoever starts near the wastes. They'll be swimming in gems! :mad:

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

I sent a PM to Drago yesterday letting him know that I will not be playing in this one, and asking that my pretender be removed. I guess the message didn't get received.

Figured I'd let you know as soon as possible if you all want to restart, as Caelum is not playing this one.

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

Restart required and Caelum needs to be removed......aaahhhh.

Jimbo is the same map okay for 14?

Re: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Open
 

So are we starting? :s