Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

When I created the thread I said I was going to adjust the hosting as necessary when the turns got longer and I think it's necessary for me at least. I seem to spend a crazy amount of time on my turns getting all my guys set up perfectly so they can get murdered in the most horrendous ways possible. In any case, I'm going to set it to 48 hour turns as I just need more time.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I think that's a good idea. There are a lot of provinces divided between a few people.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

wow. what a releif!! good game, but trying to crank out a turn per day was killing me. thanks austen

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

darn. round 4 decisively to vanheim. i thought i might win this one.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

Ya know.. the funny thing is that I really felt bad doing it because no one else had brought it up. Thought I was the only one having trouble..

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

That's the first one I've felt ok about..

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

that last turn may have been my new low point in decision making(in dominion, at least)

congrats austen.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

oh, and round 5 to vanheim. and with a knockdown

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

what just happened? did i actually win a round?

round 6 to ulm

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

Indeed, you clearly had to be pleased with those results!

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

well, it's nice to at least put up a bit of a fight...

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I actually wrote th following on my iPad a couple days ago, but I'm just now posting it:

I think it's interesting how we have different viewpoints about how things have been going. Â*As we're all ostensibly noobs here, it would seem that there's a lot e don't reall know or understand about how things work.

It can also be difficult to really figure things out as you really only have your own viewpoint. Â*The opportunities to learn are somewhat tempered by the notion that telling the other person what is going on from your perspective can give your opponent an edge in the game. Â*As such, things tend to stay tight-lipped until it no longer matters and by that point your memory is foggy and there's not as much of a burning desire to figure things out.

I'm going to break from that a little as I'm sort of finding that knowledge in defeat might be preferable to ignorance in victory. Â*Not to say I'm going to post screenshots of my maps, but perhaps there is a useful middle ground.

So from my perspective:

- Round 1 - I really hated how this went. Â*I changed which guys I was using for some of my raiders and when I did, I forgot to give the new ones orders so they sat there and durdled while your Ulm's PD calmly walked up to them and smashed them to bits. Â*While I did successfully raid some provinces with guys that had orders, I lost multiple (I think 3) guys just because I was dumb.

Also that same turn, when Ulm's initially attacked Recenna, I had a very detailed battle plan with intricate orders for everyone there. Â*Somehow though, some key mages did not get set to patrol. Â*I know they were initially, but before the turn was submitted, I somehow turned some of them to Defend. Â* The dorks who had all the troops stayed on Patrol though, so when combat happened, all my troops attacked and the mage support didn't so my guys got wrecked.

Ulm posted that I won this round, and in some ways I see it, but I lost 3 raiders and a lot of good troops pointlessly without inflicting reciprocal damage, so it didn't feel great for me either.

- Round 2 - This one seemed I may be forgetting a bit as it was the quietest round so far. Â*I think the main takeaway I had from this one was a very real concern about how poorly my small battlegroups fare against comparable size units from Ulm.

- Random thoughts/observations:
1. I've been really impressed with sailing. Â*It's something I had never paid any attention to at all and literally didn't even think about until this game was well afoot. Â*It actually only got my attention by accident. Â*

In the war with C'Tis, I was moving dome troops through friendly provinces and I saw I could move a stack 2 provinces even though there were troops in it with map movement 1 which I found puzzling. Â*Eventually I figured out that they were sailing and not traveling by land. Â*Since then, I've realized in a map with some water like this it's completely nuts.

2. I've been really disappointed with my Global Enchants. Â*
- Gift of health - I can't complain too much about this one as the main reason I cast it was because I was fighting C'Tis at the time and they had it up. Â*I had extra nature gems sort of laying around, so I cast it mostly to take it down from them, but from my perspective it hasn't seemed that great.

-Mechanical Militia - I guess this could be event in SP, I dunno, but I think I am going to speak to the manager and ask for my gems back.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

And I don't know what those weird symbols are...

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

i don't think we have to worry about giving anything away. it appears we are going to bludgeon eachother to death, which is going to allow the giants or fish men to win this one(and yes, i remmember this war was my idea-sorry austen)

actually, i have to deploy more forces to retake provinces due to your mechanical militia. so it has had some effect, especially considering the number of "retakes" with your heavy raiding.

those symbols are battlefield enchantments, i think. you are the one casting them!(and they are irritating!)

your sailing, along with stealth troops, makes it a nightmare to try to keep you out of the interior. you are using these two tactics in tandem very well. as you know, many of my commanders, troops, mages, raiders are in my interior instead of yours.

as far as your orders/scripting getting messed up, i think we've all had it happen. sometimes i catch it, sometime i don't. it is very easy to make the mistakes you are talking about.

you are right, first round might have been a draw. i had big plans for round one, and no respect for your capabilities, so when you pulled off what you did, i was surprised. but i guess it goes both ways.

as far as small armies vs small armies, much of my reasearch has been in battle magic, and of course, ulm's heavies are her best asset. so on even terms, i think you are right, it is a tough match up for vanheim. of course, vanheim's stealth and speed are very tough for me to counter. classic big strong fat guy vs quick little guy scenario here.

so i guess we see it much the same.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

Well what do you think about round 7? It was kind of a funny one... the graphs look very much in your favor, but I was actually quite pleased with the results from my side. Curious what you think.

Also, I'll try to do some more pseudo-AAR soon if you thought it was useful. The symbols thing I was talking about earlier are the high ascii characters in my thoughts on rounds 1 and 2.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

i concur. your adjustments to defense were costly for me. also, i am obviously havin some frustration in larger engagements. your large advantage in magic/research is really telling.

on the other hand, economically, i think things are going poorly for you. perhaps i can choke you out that way.

i would say more, but to be honest, i think the scales are tipping in your favor, and as such, i don't want to give TOO much away.

one thing is for sure, i have learned what it is i don't know...

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

congrats on uttonshire. your encircle and destroy strat probably just won you this game. im just hoping now that i can hang onto you like a black iron anchor so that you go down with me!

seriously, you really schooled me there. your mistform sailing ethereal covert raiders have literally made it so that i dread opening my turns for this game.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

While Utonshire has been the biggest actions and was clearly a good victory for me, it certainly has not won me our little war, much less the whole game.

I still took decent losses there. I also suffered crushing defeats in 3 or 4 medium sized engagements. Additionally, you still have an enormous army ready to storm my capitol while I've never seriously threatened you anywhere. You've also greatly limited my raiding despite the dread it causes you while you are raiding very effectively now and I have no real counters.

So it was a good victory for me in one spot, but I certainly don't think it was decisive. My take going into that fight was "I can't win the war here, but I can lose it." If you had beaten my army there I would have been pretty much knocked out.

Also, as you mentioned earlier, the disparity in provinces which leads to a disparity in income and gem income is non-trivial. And I hear Ulm can make good use of gems ;)

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

win or lose, that was a great manuevre. also, you killed my zemy, and that hurt.

i wish i had been able to cast fanatasism in that battle. big, big oversight.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

Ulm needs some extra time, and so do I quite frankly, so I am going to push the timer out on the next turn for another day or so.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

Ulm is AFK until tomorrow morning, so I extended it another day.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I did an unsolicited 24 hour extension last night because Ulm and R'lyeh both had turn out. Ulm got his in, but no R'lyeh. I'll give until the timer runs out. He staled last turn, so may be done? I don' know.. he's never replied to any PMs, so I dunno..

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

tried PMing him, and no response. certainly looks like he's up to something. has some armies massed...

without him, is there even a game here? he was the wildcard. i'll do whatever you guys decide, don't mind continuing.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I sent him one message in game a couple of turns ago that he responded too. He never returns PM's (or at least hasn't for me) but does in game.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

i meant an in game message, just typed the wrong thing.

hope he sticks.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

this is a desperate message from the vice president of Ulm. jason, the pretender who never bothered to capitalize his name, has gone crazy. loco. coo coo. off the rails. his bats are in his belfrey. he is a few cards short of a full deck. his elevator doesn't reach the top floor.

he ain't right.

he is planning an all out offensive against the world. even those guys under the waves who don't move anymore(although we don't have many submarines)

anyway, commander loco is about to attack everyone in striking distance. we are disorganized and poor, but he still has a few guys kicking around.

don't say i didn't warn you. the good news is, he is an equal opportunity crazy, and is planning on attacking everyone.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I'm not sure I follow. Why is the player who hasn't really interacted with other nations for the last 20 turns the key to there being a game here?

If we pretend that the map was altered so that sea provinces could not be occupied and he was out of the game leaving just the three of us playing, how is there not still a game here? Is it over, and I'm the only one who doesn't realize it?

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

No. i would say we continue. To be honest I was hoping the utterdark would spur him to cause some trouble among the leaders but that appears to have backfired :)

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

in that case, on with the war!!!(and my insanity)

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I'm sort of tempted to just close the game. It seems we have one player staling and another who is bored/disinterested and sort of just wants to smash pieces together at random rather than put a lot of effort into the game. This makes me not very excited about putting much effort into the game, and I'm not all that interested in just randomly slopping my pieces around.

I'm going to delay hosting so we can sort this out, but if Matty and I are the only ones wanting to continue, it might be time to just wrap the game.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

ill do my best to play well. problem is, i concluded a war with you, but am attacking matty cus of his global, which is crappy of me. so i figured to be fair, i'd just attack everyone. i actually was looking forward to it.

but whatever the decision, i am fine by it.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

If someone casts a spell that wrecks you, I'm not sure how it's crappy to attack them...

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

yea. utterdark is one of those that is designed to get everyone attacking you. No worries mate.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

So I guess the delay to hosting didn't actually work despite saying it was not hosting until Friday. Good grief.. Oh well, if you two are committed to trying, I will to.. should be interesting.. Can't wait to see how big of a disaster a stale is at this stage :P

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

is ryleh back? i see their turn in in. ahhh, the quiet, mystical deep...

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

i've asked this a few times, but i have to ask again. why is ctis still human controlled? i find it even more odd since we have turned ryleh AI. very wierd.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I'm pretty much destroyed at this point. If you'd like I can give an alternate Email and you could switch C'tis to me and I could make them AI.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

We didn't turn Rlyeh AI, the player actually sent it in.

C'Tis is still human controlled because I've read from a more experienced source than me that letting the human stale is better than setting them AI for various reasons. It's actually in the thread for the game we are having our rematch in, Parone.. it's interesting.

I also think it creates an interesting game dynamic.

Originally, it was mostly just the PITA of getting someone to do it, but as I've learned a little more, I decided to leave it. Honestly, I'd prob just kill the snake rather than get someone else involved.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I extended the turn as I haven't had enough time to do it and my day is looking too hectic at this point.

We might also consider an end-game. Matty says he's about done and I don't know that Parone and I are interested in bloodying each other until infinity.

Sooo... we may be about done.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

yeah, that's cool. can you just play one more, or let it go? i wanted to see something. i'm ok with you declaring victory, austen. someone ought to.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I'll def get my turn in tonight.. today's going nuts, so it may be tonight, but I'll get it in before I go to bed.

We could also set turns to 5 days or something wacky and just use it as a sandbox a bit..

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

yeah, ok. that'd be cool. obviously i have never been in a late game before(does this even qualify?) longer game turns would be good.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

OK.. so I set the hosting time to 5 days.. next turn will be due tomorrow night. Will leave it on 5 days TFN.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

I went AI guys. Not much my nation can do at this point. Cheers!

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

Thanks Matty.. I think this thing is winding down.. I'm going ot give it one more delay and then we'll see where we stand..

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

austen, i'm gonna go ahead and concede. while i actually enjoy messing around, i just don't have time to get my turn in. plus, it looks as though we are about to do it all over again, so i guess it would make this game redundant.

congrats, well played

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

Fair enough.. I'll end the game then.

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

congrats austen. thought i had you at one point. well played

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

It was a lot of fun.. There was a point in like turn 6 of our war where you were squeezing me out..

I was ready to cast Murdering Winter on your stack at Utonshire, break siege and start turning the thing around... going to do it _next_turn_!

Then I get the turn and I had the event where all my blood slaves get deflowered so I lost like 80 blood slaves.. so i didn't even have any for reinvigoration which was bad enough. Then I realized that I hadn't forged a 5 gem water bracelet for my pretender (I had the robe, but the crone doesn't have a body slot.. which I knew.. I just thought I had the cheaper bracelet)...

So I had to wait another turn to break out there and it was almost too late.. you almost had me choked out at that point..

In the last game, the big thing holding me back was lack of Air gems.. I just didn't have enough to cast all the Storms, Mists, Fog Warriors, etc.. I needed.. it was a constant struggle.

Well played and thanks to everyone who participated...

Re: What Could Go Wrong (Newbie MA CBM1.92) [In Progress!]
 

wow. that error sounds like something i would do-all be it at something much less complex. bad luck bad+bad execution=most of my mid games.

onward!!