Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

From a team perspective, Machaka adds much more to the team strength than one of Eriu/Man. And they give much better Earth access than even BL (as they're not paying 25 gems for their E3, and they get to cast and forge E/F/D/N mixes). Yeah, lose Man instead. They don't do much that Eriu doesn't.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Actually, spreading dominion normally *contributes* to why mictlan is much less strong.

Usually mictlan sacrifices scales for a double blessing. Spreading dominion normally means these poor scales are propagated throughout mictlans territories, rather than through just a few.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Gandalf, i'm sorry, you just don't know what you're talking about here.

Vanilla Ashdod alone >> the entire arborean team. Seriously.

Seriously. Its not about duels, its what the nation can get for gold, and what the nation can do with magic. And CBM hasn't even nerfed Ashdod enough yet!

The 'built-in feature' of Man is that it has no late game. The 'built-in feature' of Eriu is it sucks - its troop line up is worthless in addition to having no late game, and being good at raiding does not win games. Seriously. Machaka at least has half a chance if it spams fever fetishes like mad...

(The only reason Man is worse than Eriu here is that Eriu at least adds something - raiding, and both would have to rely on their partners for anything resembling a late game. Something Mictlan can't really provide in MA, and Machaka has to live that long...)

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Well its not me talking. More of the devs. But Im sure you have your sources also.

MA Man is one of the few nations with temples for 200 gold in a game called Dominions.

The stealth ability of Eiru can be very useful in forcing enemies to spend gold differently than they had planned.

You might have a point that Mictlan and Machaka cant provide the strong frontline it would require to make good use of those. A Vet captain would have to decide that. I really havent played either one much.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

The devs have clearly stated that balance was not a priority, and its not like someone needs "sources" to talk about the balance of a game they play.

MA man also doesn't benefit hardly at all from having 200g temples, since it can't blood sac and doesn't have recruit anywhere sacreds in vanilla.

Raiding doesn't win games. Sure you can take all his nonfort provs, but that won't stop him marching his army to your forts and reducing them one by one. Not to mention that if he has astral your thugs are going to die horrible solitary deaths one by one.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

More or less I would rate this 16 nations:

1. Ashdod
2. Ermor
3. Pythium
4. R'lyeh
5. Jotunheim
6. Shinuyama
7. Vanheim
8. Arco
9. Ctis
10. Bandar Log
11. Pangaea
12. Mictlan
13. Abysia
14. Machaka
15 Eriu
16. Man

So set averages a 4.5
Astral, 6.25
Sanguinarium a 9
and aborium a whopping 14.25.

You would do better to add cold nations into the sanguinarium to boost their strengths.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Its not balance to use it for its designed purpose. And it doesnt have to win games in team play. At least you arent discounting its use completely. But I would have to admit that Sanguinarium make my argument much better than the Arboreans.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

A few more proper nouns would help in making sense of this. What do you mean by all these "it"s? What argument does sanguinariam prove?

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

I know some are newer players and havent played a variety of games. But Im hoping that someone is looking at a team whole made up of the parts rather than separately. If you were to assign team positions for some other sport, how would you assign them?

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

You blabber on about how we need to look for team synergies, but the entire point that squirrelloid and ChrisP made is that there IS no team synergy, particularly with the Arboriums. Grouping by paths is if anything worse for creating team synergies.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

*sigh* Jotunhim and Abysia providing front line defense, Pangaea with flying scouts, both Pangaea and Vanheim able to slip full armies thru their frontline guardians. Not to mention standard harassment techniques. As often as I see complaints that the game doesnt do anything to properly support alliances such as safe passage thru allied territory and here is a great chance to do alliances right with Sanguin team.

But I agree that grouping by paths is a problem. Id have gone with things like human & giant, non-humans, water, anything that would have scattered the magic paths abit.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Gandalf,

I do look at team synergies very carefully. For example in this game I took arco, as I consider them to be the premier researcher, with the possible exception of bogarus.

I took Pangeae for a similar team niche.

But that being said, there really is no redeeming values for arbor. There are no capitalizable strengths, except perhaps that ALL their mages suck so bad you might as well take drain 3.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Nice wagering and input from all concerned. Of course that particular matchup is one of many possible combinations. In the preview of game 2, the full list of recommended/suggested nations (and pretenders) for each team are ordered by native casting ability in Nature (secondarily Earth), Blood, Death, and Astral.

Looking at the nations one does see commonalities and common themes which make grouping teams by them certainly possible and quite interesting. I know I will have fun watching these forces go at each other. A lot of fun! :D And this fiendish delight will be increased by each team not having the same "toolkit" as it were, to work with. For the Arboreans, all of the following MA nations have native nature mages (not just random picks):

Pangaea, Man, Eriu, Mictlan, Machaka, C'tis, Bandar Log,
Shinuyama, T'ien Chi'.

Arboreans also have a good bless in that the nature and earth blesses are supposedly the most useful.

Also interesting is the common theme that emerges and that is embodied in the team proposed for game 3, Collegium Arcanum. Some nations, such as T'ien Chi', Arco, and Shinuyama are so diverse and versatile in their spell casting ability that they fit the Collegium's rainbow theme quite nicely. Aside from the rainbow pretenders, there are SC pretenders with native casting ability in 3 and sometimes 4 different paths.

There are many possibilities to explore the full worth of each and every nation and many ways to enjoy the game, which is probably what Gandalf was speaking about. Playing blood only games (or other path based games) and role playing is one such way. I'm not an expert on nature magic, but I'd imagine in the hands of those who know how to use it best, it can be quite effective. Even those nature tunes/songs are useful.

Keep in mind that unless I specify exactly which nations are available to each team (pre-set the nations), the team theme can be met by any combination of nation or pretender choice. So there's plenty of flexibility.

Of course one can group by other things (excluding water nations), if someone can come up with 4 common themes that aptly describe them and their associated pretenders, be my guest. Go through all the MA nations and pretenders and tell me what you come up with. How many giant nations are there in MA? What size level = giant, 3, 4, 5, 6? Are there not problems with Hinnom and Ashdod on the same team as it stands? How many "human" nations are there?

Again, it is for fun, and for those who wish to role play a bit. Thanks for all the responses, keep em coming.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

I'm bumping up the current hosting interval from 56 to 64 hours. We will still have our regular poll when we reach turn 50, where you'll have another chance to increase/decrease that 64. I'm doing this in lieu of a poll (consensus is normally required) as it is clear at least some people need more time and in an attempt to forestall more 24 hour delay requests.

Team note: Agema has resumed the captaincy of the Mysterios and responsibility for playing Lanka.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Look, here's how game 2 is going to play out with those teams: Ashdod and Ermor are going to be the 'front line' of the Set team, deployed both to one side. They're going to choose another team and kill them, all of them, by turn 25 (some minor fort sieges may still apply!). Then they're going to move onto the next team. In the meantime, Shinuyama starts summoning tarts around turn 25 while being fed all the relevant artifacts by C'tis.

They're just going to ignore the AI. Why bother fighting them? It'll distract everyone else while they kill real players. And since the AI will be 'improved', not fighting it will save a lot of team resources.

(in particular, ideal deployment involves Ashdod up front, Shinuyama guarding one flank, Ermor on the other flank, and C'tis protected in the back - attack direction will be towards whichever side Ermor is on. I assume MA C'tis gets recruit-anywhere for its best mage, so it'll be a great research rusher, as is Shinuyama with Bakemono Sorcerors. I'm tempted to say Ermor should run really research light for quite awhile to maximize reanimation, but it will need enough Thaum for gateway to ferry reinforcements to strategic labs. And ideally, they want to hit the astral team first since they'll be the strongest later, and killing them early will remove the threat - possibly just bypassing Rlyeh if it's too annoying to kill, although i imagine hordes of undead might do the trick.)

-------------

The first thing I'd do is ban Ashdod. They are not suitable for MP games, especially not in vanilla.

The second thing I'd do is let teams create their own theme. Everything is justifiable post hoc as a 'theme', and it lets teams choose nations that actually work well together rather than pre-chosen themes that end up with good teams and bad teams.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Chris and Squirrel and anyone else who may have an issue with the path based teams/themes as proposed, the important thing to remember here is that these teams/themes are what you the players chose! They are the WINNERS!

For those of you who may not know or remember, there were 2 polls conducted on our team forums where I gave players 20 possible options for team groupings and themes. Some included giants, some were based on animal only nations, etc. Players were also encouraged to add any ideas they had.

There were 52 votes received in total. Guess which teams/themes got the most votes?

The Arboreans and the Sanguinarium got 6 votes each.
The Supplicants and Usurpers got 5 votes each.

People voted down most of the non-path based options and no one bothered to put forth any other suggestions.

So my friends, you see, I am simply following through on the will of the players here and implementing their most popular choices.

Teams will still have their ranked lists (which is why I tend to resist pre-set nations) and can meet the theme via nation or pretender choice. So they've got choice and options. You also have your choice of which team to join.

The whole idea is foster a common identity and get people into character and a team mind set. So this therefore is the most important reason why I am doing this the way I am, because you chose it. It'd be nice if players really get into this and have fun with it, instead of playing games that are more of just the same, that follow that ultra competitive, narrow minded, mindset. I want each team to have their own exclusive "toolkit", there own path to victory. But the option is there for teams to tailor things as they see fit, if they don't wish to role play.

As for the AI team, well you ignore the AI team and the advantage their territory can give your team at your own peril. People didn't ignore their importance this game, and I don't think people will do so next game. Their theme and nations, if Gandalf wishes to find one for them, will be chosen as usual from the dregs.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

In an attempt to do something constructive with this tangent I would like to suggest that people with strong opinions submit for critique four teams of four [MA] that are balanced and that hopefully have some thematical similarity.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Says the guy who won his first battle EVER in this game (puffed out chest)!!!:p

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Ha yes! And do make it thematic and such that a team's strengths are not duplicated by another team. And also while your at it, maybe some appropriately themed pretender suggestions and some appropriately themed nations as backups (in the case of ranked lists), and some graphics/icons I can use to go with them. Do that and we will ignore the player poll and throw out all the other work I've done. :rolleyes:;)

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

I don't recall voting for nations. I recall voting for names.
(ie, sanguinarium which is what I voted for). I think the problem is not the name, but rather the implimentation.

I am still not opposed to the idea of using the teams as you outlined them. (with the exception of ashdod, which I think is simply to broke to live in MP-teams). However, I think you will need some method to handicap.

Suggestions: vast amounts of forest... Ie.. 80%? Extra forts for the arborealists... a Point bid system - where high bidders choose the team - and then lose the number of points bid from pretender construction.

For example, as constitued I would EASILY bid 120 points to play the ashdod team.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

The two polls that were conducted were for team name and associated theme (Blood, Death, Astral, Nature, animal nations, giant nations, nations with flying units, etc.), not necessarily specific nations.

I haven't decided to go with pre-set nations for each team. What I provided in the previous post was a hypothetical matchup. All I've done (in the preview file) and all I will do most likely is to provide each team with a list of recommended nations and pretenders that most fit the theme. Thus, I've provided the basis of what each team's ranked list might look like, but the order and priority is up to each team. One may meet the theme by nation or pretender choice. I would like players to do both, but at this point, I am not forcing any team who doesn't want to play along to do both.

As always I appreciate suggestions and comments and may incorporate them or not. The map has already been created, as have the starting locations, a preview of which was already published on the thread. It's in there among the thousand other posts. :D

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

This sounds really nice in theory, but it overlooks some rather important facts. Namely, nature magic doesn't offer a path to victory. At all.

There are four strategies that work in endgame: tarts, wish, angels, blood. That's it. Tarts are by far the most efficient, but clams make wish spam possibly competitive. And blood eschews efficiency because slaves are cheap. Most nations are going to access angels via wish, so we can collapse that down to 3 real options.

So, of those options, we'll note 1 death, 1 astral, and 1 blood.

Then we note that blood magic is really weak in MA overall, making the blood route much less appealing. And since everyone clams, and tarts aren't notably vulnerable to armageddon, tart spam will rule the game, especially since the death nations are already otherwise strong!

Hence death team > astral team > blood team, and that's just endgame. You'll note the death team also has an amazingly strong early and mid game.

So what does nature do? Other than die I mean. I can't see any real options. Their early game is pretty bad (mictlan is the only one with a good early game, Man's is ok, the other two suck). Their mid game is craptastic in vanilla (machaka might have the best one of them, but with dragonmaster at a ridiculous Ench 8 the usual fever fetish spam -> fire drake spam doesn't work quite so well, and Eriu raiders come online - but there's no muscle to back them up on the entire team). And their late game is nonexistent. No, seriously, they have absolutely nothing going on.

---------
If you must go with pre-set teams, these are better (although not perfect by any means):

Twilight of the Empire: Pythium, Ermor, C'tis, Arcocephale

Barbarians at the Gates: Marignon, Vanheim, Jotunheim, (Ulm/Man)

Partha Reborn: Caelum, Abysia, Bandar Log, Agartha? (or I suppose Machaka, but its not as nice a fit. Ashdod *could* go here, if they were remotely balanced for play.)

The Golden Horde: TC, Shinuyama, Pangaea (representing wild areas north or east of the black sea), ??? (Eriu would be ok, if not entirely thematic. Could justify Mictlan by arguing our mythical china was the first to discover the new world.)

Yes, that was entirely geographic. Its also remarkably closer to being balanced. Partha Reborn might be a little weak, and Twilight of the Empire might be a little strong, but it isn't nearly as overwhelming.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Squirrelloid, if you wish to divide it Geographically into 4 teams than I have an alternative for you:

Central Europe: Arco(Greece), Ermor(Rome), Ulm(Germany), Pythium(Byzantines)

Northern Europe: Eriu(Ireland), Man(England), Jotunheim(Norse), Vanheim(Norse)

Middle East: Ashdod(Israel), C'tis(Egypt), Pangaea(Iran?), Marignon(Turkey?)

Far Asia: Shinuyama(Japan), TC(China), Bandar Log(India), Mictlan(supposed to be Aztecs, so Mexico, but as far as Dominions go it's closer to the real "Asian" nations).

not really sure about the Middle East team, I stretched it a bit in there. also Ashdod is considered "OP", however the other nations on its team are rather underpowered so it should somewhat balance itself out. this team still does have potential through to the late game so it's not hopeless for all but Ashdod.

also these teams seem to be more diverse as far as magic go, and also relatively balanced Imho.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Classically, the mediterranean was a unifying feature (note expansion of the Roman Empire, which I use as one of my groupings), and Egypt had far more in common with Rome than it did with, say, Persia.

Caelum is based on zoroastrian beliefs, and is thus persian. Throw in Babylon (Abysia), and (Northwest) India (BL) and you have a fair representation of the Persian empire circa Darius II. Agartha seems suitable thematically because of all the mountains.

Also, Marignon is France/Spain. Isn't it painfully obvious? Pangaea is unspecified wilderness, presumably at the edge of greek wanderings (hence my placing it north of the Black Sea)

In the timeframe i chose, there were no 'germans' or 'english'. There were goths and celts (marignon, ulm, man, etc...), there was the roman empire in decline (incl. egypt, greece, italy, byzantium), there was Partha in the east centered in modern day Iran, and then the far east. This timeframe aligns with the MA nations passably well (ie, MA Ermor is clearly the Roman Empire in decline).

Despite being 'asian', there's no historical reason to put an Indian nation on the same team as a chinese or japanese nation. None. Trade was predominantly through Persian or the 'middle east' (actually called the near east until ~19th century) until the mongols. The chinese trade with the west went by way of the silk road - ie, across the steppes and north of the himalayas.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Squirrel, I think you may be overthinking this a little ;). If you want to come up with geographically based teams, that's fine. If you want to come up with politically based teams, that's fine. But this really doesn't need to be absolutely 100% historically accurate. All we really need are plausible reasons for having nations on the same team.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

well, didn't know Caelum was based on Zoroastrianism, still don't understand it since Zoroastrianism revolves around the sacred fire and Caelum is well, a Lightning nation... also didn't know that Abysia is supposed to represent Babylonia(again, how exactly...? :o).

now that you mention it, Marignon does fit better with France/Spain with the inquisitors and all, for some reason when I thought about "breaking from the Falling Roman Empire" I thought about the Byzantine era instead of classical Rome, hence my guess of Turkey and the Inquisitors in this case being the Muslims hunting down Christians(in Armenia and the Levante, against the Crusades).

and yes, India doesn't really fit with Japan and China, nor do the Aztecs for that matter ;) but since I didn't(and still don't quite understand) that Caelum and Abysia are supposed to represent the Mesopotamian area as well...

also time frames in Dominions are painfully mixed up as it is, so limiting it to both geography and time lines seems like a stretch. for example TC Imperial Bureaucracy refers mainly to the Tang-Sung Dynasties which will be around the 7th-12th centuries, a bit after the Roman empire, while in the time of France and England, and way ahead of the Persians. Shinuyama is ugh... Japanese Mythology perhaps? I'm not really sure, but seems more ancient than modern Imho... Bandar Log on the other hand(along with Kailasa, Lanka, and Patala, and any other monkey nation if I forgot any) already have a built in caste system, which was started by the British in the 19th century... however its roots are delved from the Vedas, which is ancient India...

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Arcomictpan... 2 hours from staling.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Bleh. you know the easiest slay of all....
is trying to get 3 turns in in 2 hours.

bleh.

edit: yep. that was painful.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Well, squirrel, I've noticed your having access to Tartarians hasn't helped your team much against the Deva's. If it is the path to victory, I haven't seen it yet. In fact I might say that exploiting the Mysterios and Blessed might be ACGHHS true path to victory in this game.

I do have a soft spot for history, and the dominions nations are based loosely on it. Dominions seems to mix elements of fantasy with games like Rome Total War. The game also reminds me a little of an old SSG or SSI game called Warlords? Anyone remember it?

As I said, haven't said I will go with pre-set teams (why does that notion seem to stick in some players heads?). Your suggestion regarding geographic themes doesn't really satisfy my desire for specific team strengths and weaknesses as much the path based option. It also means pre-set nations, which reduces choice and freedom.

Most newer players don't necessarily play the way some veterans might, and not everyone plays the way you might. For them and for me it is exploring the game and the possibilites. And doing things that reduce the fun of the game to hoarding, or other such things, I just don't see the need.

Most of my games have never made it to late game anyway and are geared towards noobs. The veterans sole purpose in the games is to teach the noobs about the game in its entirety not just specific strategies that may apply to an endgame scenario which might never happen if teams are eliminated before then.

Of course if you wish to start a game that caters to the dueling crowd and/or some vets and the strategies they use, using those geographic themes you certainly can do so. There is so much more to the game than that in my opinion.

Regarding banning any nations, well have I ever banned a nation? That should give you your answer. If we were using the multi-age mod (a possibility I am looking into), yes I might consider it, as it stands, moving from one age to another to keep things simple, the most I might be persuaded to do is reserve Ashdod for the AI.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

I would think monkeys belong in trees.

And of course, having the markata would instantly render the teams fair.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

If players didn't like the idea behind the Arboreans (nature and earth), why vote it so highly? :confused:

Bringing in one of the other voted themes might rectify a critic or two (such as the Magisterium, whose focus is on nations with multiple high level priests which probably cuts across many paths, have to look into it) though I am sort of saving the other highly voted choices for game 3, trying to avoid as many conflicts as I can. With the power of Collegium Arcanum, and the evil of Regnum Inferorum (reminds me, I need to add a fire path to them), a divine theme sounds best in game 3. :D

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

And the hawks of Formoria fell upon the hawks of Caelum but the hawks of Caelum valiantly gave battle and scattered them like chaff before the wind.
And then the hawks, a dozen and a half of number, went through the province and slew whoever they found in revenge. On this day the heads were counted to be more than 2000 (it was a markata province, ok?).
May this serve as an omen for the time to come when numbers will no longer avail the forces of darkness. Pray that this time is now, oh brethren.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

The proposed lineup didn't help. Only 1 of the 4 'nature/earth' nations actually had E access. Two of them being Man and Eriu banged a bunch more nails in the coffin.

Pan/Machaka/C'tis/one from Agartha/Man/Eriu/Ulm/Mictlan sounds like a less obvious fail.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Yeah, this could work.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Currently the Tartarians are not doing a whole lot, no. Sauro has this one equipped with armor of virtue that's continually bombing DrP's solar brilliance army with rain of stones to kill off the lesser communion slaves, likely in preparation for some sort of attack from mictlan's huge jaguar warrior army. Other than this we so far haven't been hit with any tarts. Tartarians are quite powerful, but certainly no instant win button. The other two teams have certainly caused far more damage as of yet than the tartarian mad bomber, but when they get their numbers up a bit it they may be able to start hurting our (largely SC-dominated) armies. Definitely though, the mysterios and the blessed ones have been a thorn in our sides for some turns now. And after we showed mercy on you earlier, hmmph. Your team in particular has actually expended much more of its power against us than the ACGHHS have. ACGHHS is sort of just kicking along, slowly bringing its guns to bear. Whereas the mysterios are rushing caelum in an all out blitz :p

In vague relation: The king is dead! Long live the king(slayer)! The lands of ulm are safe once more.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Yes, well, tarts are more effective when you can persuade your teammates to pass you gear. We also have really weird gem distribution, which certainly hasn't helped.

I'll note that I have to bludgeon my way through Niefl's army of doom to do any damage, so not only would I like what useful tarts I have to be geared (blah), I'm also going to need them in useful quantity to bludgeon a bunch of Niefl Jarls to death.

I will also point out we're hardly in lategame. Not even close. I had tarts early, and I'm still ramping up critical mass =)

Ok, sept, wth. There is no 'dueling' crowd. A duel is a 1 on 1 game, they are virtually non-existent. Almost nobody duels, at least on these forums, and the rare few that happen feature people who also play MP games. Gandalf loves to throw that term around and it means absolutely nothing. That it is without applicable meaning in general is clearly a problem of conception on your and his part. That it is devoid of meaning to me means you are totally failing to communicate whatever it is you're trying to say.

My comments on lategame certainly apply to *any* MP game that lasts long enough for someone to cast Wish. And I did not mean those were the only things that saw play, just that they were the dominant strategic considerations. (I mean, if you can throw large numbers of tarts around, you can also do plenty of other things as well. But the fact that you have lots of tarts to throw around is a dominant strategic consideration both for you and your opponents).

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Algae - 6 minutes to get your turn in? If we were all so efficient we'd already be playing the next installment! ;)

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

That's because the main thematic path of the Arboreans (and hence the name) is nature, earth is a secondary path. Was also thinking of nations that with the least conflict between teams ranked lists. But as I say, I most likely don't intend to pick nations for teams, takes the fun and choice away from players and captains.

Yes, i've no doubt Tartarians can be a major consideration in the end game, I suppose having 3 powerful and well led teams ally against you could be another major strategic consideration (and can happen with open diplomacy). There also those other high level summons and elemental royalty. There's also player skill level, team coordination, and a hundred other things. My point is the game is so much, much more.

Veteran and intermediate players in this series play a service role really. It is certainly nice to see players with an intense love of the game such as yourself. Hope that love is just not narrowly focused and I hope that is not what the whole game boils down to.

Well, I'm sort of spent playing 3 nations, hopefully this will be the last turn of that. It will be time for me to relax soon. The lands of ulm may be free but unrest abounds. The Ulmish people are upset (wonder why). The kingslayer will soon meet his match when Fomoria returns to Ulm.;)

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Recently, I had a chance to sit down with Micah, team advisor for The Blessed Ones, Hall of Fame member, and Dom3 champion extraordinare. Micah was kind enough to take some time from his busy schedule to answer a few questions for us.

SS: Micah, everyone is grateful to you for stepping in and at least trying to help the Blessed Ones whenever you have had the chance. And I'm sure the Blessed Ones have been blessed to have any help they could. Tell me, what qualities do you think a good team advisor should possess? And do you think having you as their advisor (or anyone for that matter) has been beneficial to the Captain and members of the Blessed Ones?

Micah: I don't know, seems like a team adviser should possess the quality of being team captain. Not playing the game makes it difficult to keep up with the situation, and not having any decision-making capability is frustrating. I suppose a general knowledge of the game is helpful, but the role of the position is very vague, so the qualifications are as well. You should ask my team how helpful I've been, they're the ones that have seen how things worked out, if I didn't think my advice was helpful I wouldn't have given it.

SS: Have you found the position of team adviser difficult or challenging in any way? And if so how?

Micah: Caring enough to give good advice but not caring enough to actually join the game is a difficult line. Also, my team has chosen to disregard some of my advice, which is quite frustrating.

SS: On a scale of 1-10, (10 being most likely) how likely do you rate your team's chances at winning?

Micah: 1.

SS: Thanks for your time, you are a wonderful asset to the community and I am sure everyone appreciates your efforts.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

That's okay, it would be hard for him not to being blind and all. He's passing on the torch to another generation of kingslayer, and will be put to work elsewhere. The new kingslayer will be equipped slightly more sensibly, as some of the gear on the old one was kind of bad.

That's kind of rough playing 3 nations simultaneously. I guess on the bright side, you don't have to wait for a lot of commentary from the rest of your team. :D

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Caelum, love is in the air. Can't you feel it? Don't fight this feeling. Order your mages into melee combat and give retreat orders to the rest of your fluttering flunkies.

Two of your castles are under siege again, your troops are battle weary, and your population cries out for peace and an end to the violence. Even your dead have no taste for war. Will you not give them the peace they so ardently desire?

Or would you rather they find this peace in the grave? :D

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Some of our customers have experienced problems with the Easy-Slay(TM) product Tele-Melqart. All models are now under recall and will be factory refurbished and upgraded to once again deliver our fabulous Easy-Slay(TM) services. We would like to thank our customers for their patience and helpful feedback.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

I have been out of town unexpectedly for a family illness.

I just got back and saw we have 9 hours left and I just happened to check in before work.

I will need at least an 18 hour extension (prreferably 24 hours) please.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Chris was thinking about a 12 hour extension on behalf of your team, so I'll put in 18 and if you need more time just let me know. 64+18 = 82 hours. Lets try to get em in before then if we can.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

I am back and will start on the turn around 5 PM Cst USA

Thank you:up:

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

I have this feeling caelum is going to stale :(

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Did someone unplug his god? Because he comes well-refrigerated!

Stale Caelum... ew... next thing you know he'll be growing mold.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Well perhaps he will get another chance.

I'd like to ask the good Dr. P. what happened in our fight.
According to the turn results, and according to the battle replay we won.

However if that is the case - why did we die, and all our artifacts disappear?

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

Chris, I don't see anything weird in *my* turn file. Unless there's another battle we won involving artifacts that I haven't looked at from a different turn file...

Edit: Watching Niefl Jarls run like little girls does make me happy.

Re: Noobs & Vets: Rise of the AI Menace. EA, BI, Running.
 

squirrel's right! I withdraw my objection!