Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I messaged you a while ago I wanted in..
and subbing indeed isn't the same http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Oh bummer, I'll have to miss this one since I'm on vacation http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

This is sure to be a great game so I hope you have fun guys, my best regards from Buenos Aires http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Aezeal ,

your message actually said since Dr. P received Niefel for doing the map there was a 50 percent chance you would play. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

After the game had filled up, you sent me another message saying you wanted to play, and asked me to boot someone out to make room for you. heh. I assumed you were joking.

Most fundamentally, messaging me is not enough. One must actually post his intention to participate on the game thread. That is the only way I can keep track of who signed up and in what order. And, equally important, it lets other potential players know where they stand as well.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

X, your animated Snoopy makes me sea sick.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I have followed this project with great interest but I felt I couldn´t make such a commitment this summer since I´ll be traveling a lot.

I´d like to put my name up for a list of available subs. I guess subs will be needed quite a few times during this game, so making a list of willing ones could be useful. A way to get a sneak peek at such a huge game.

Good luck everyone who signed up, I won´t miss the next one of those.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Following in that vein, should I happen to die off (who'd think the newb would get owned in the first year? No-one, I dare say!), I'd love to be a sub.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

You can sign me up for MA T'ien Chi http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Depending on when the game starts and on internet access in Europe, I might or might not need a sub for a week and a half near the start of the game.

Anyone who can't play the game but would like to crush some people as Niefel during the last two weeks of May?

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

hry guys, i like the idea of setting up a mod where Lv 1 through 3 are normal level of research, level 4 through 6 are hard and 7 to 9 is very hard.

however faling this i think putting research on very hard and limiting level 9+ b lessed to one path at level 9+ one path at level 6+ and all others no higher than 5.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

X,

I had indicated my interest when you initially posted your first notification, but by the time I noticed this thread it was too late...sigh.

Please put me down as an alternate if someone drops out or needs a sub. Thanks

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

How many people has already sent their preferences? Any clue when subs would known if we are in?

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

players have until may 7 to make their race preferences.

If players signed up, and send no preferences, then they will be removed for alternates at that time. But to make sure i did not miss anyone's selections by mistake, I will send those players a reminder on may 3rd or so.

Then, there may be players that do not like the race they end up with-and decide not to play, or fail to send in their pretenders on time. I am thinking May 14 deadline to get in pretenders.

So alternates have 2 events to get a spot before the game starts. Once the game starts, anyone that stales 2 turns in a row without notification will be replaced.

And then, those like Dr. P will miss the 1st 2 weeks of the game while he is on vacation-and will likely need a sub from turn 1.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

You do not have to remind me, I know I need to send my picks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Still not sure if I should try my luck with popular nations.

Oh, I am 99% sure I will need sub for 6 weeks starting from August. Assuming I survive long enough.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Kingmaker-players who have sent in picks or said no preference have a ! next to their names

1. Xietor!
2. Dr. P!
3. KristopherO!
4. Baalz!
5. Indypendant!
6. ComTrav!
7. Herode!
8. Meglobob!
9. Zenzei!
10. Salamander8!
11. Yandav!
12. Cupido2!
13. Unoptimized!
14. Amhazair!
15. Twan!
16. Bernardo!
17. Falkor!
18. DonCorazon!
19. Zoshan!
20. Hoplosternum!
21. Slobby!
22. Dryaunda!
23. Digress!
24. Shigure!
25. Areaofeffect!
26. Hadrian_2!
27. Lolomo!
28. Chrispedersen!
29. Cicadian!
30. Lingchih!
31. Foodstamp!
32. Revolution!
33. Fal!
34. Admiralzhao
35. Coobe!
36. Otthegreat!
37. Dedas!
38. Tichy!
39. Tyrant!
40. James243!
41. Moderation
42. DaveCG!
43. Darkwind!
44. Cor2
45. Reay!
46. Drake49
47. Mazel!
48. Cidi!
49. Hellkor!
50. Ossa!
51. Cleveland!
52. Firewalker!
53. Jazzepi!
54. BigandScary!
55. Llamabeast
56. Atul!
57. Sum1lost!
58. Zeldor!
59. GWAR!
60. Mr. Sparkle

1st alternate- Janim
2nd alternate- seryozha
3rd alternate- baruk
4th alternate- Evilhomer/Folket team
5th alternate Gregstrom

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Zeldor,

If you goal is survival, almost all of the water races in the first game made it pretty far into the game.

On land with 54 nations, the key to survival may be more diplomacy than race pick. While Lanka is feared(and rightfully so) and Neifel as well, will the neighbors of these nations sit idly by and watch them eat other neighbors? Or will they say, after "X" race is dead, I will have to fight them alone. gulp. Maybe I better side against lanka so it is 2 v 1.

And so on......

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Everything but not water race! I really do not like them. And I have terribly bad luck with them. Got water races in 2 games and died in both within around 10 turns. I prefer to have some fun on land and die then get 200 turns of boring game.

And yes, I am seriously thinking about one of underdogs. I never liked fighting Abysia so I may try to take them for a change http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

My goal is the same as the players' goal with race selection-
I want to make as many players happy with their choice of race as possible.

So while this may be unorthodox, and Velusion did not give any hints, I am;

No one has picked any of the following races with a 1st choice in any era:

Agartha, Abysia, and Oceania.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I'm a bit surprised. At least EA Agartha is considered a pretty good nation.

Oceania... well, clam spam seems to be out of the picture.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Hm, LA Agartha at least at some time was considered very strong. With their too-good mages they still are. I was thinking of trying them, but since I already had too much experience with the worse Agartha decided not to.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I'm quite surprised that no one picked EA or LA Agartha as I found both solid and enjoyable. They are both in my top 10 of races here.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I considered LA Agartha, but their strength comes from their awesome combat mages, while their military is of quite low quality. While I would rate them a strong nation in 'regular' games, I think the hard research will make them struggle in early game. (Not worse than several other nations that come to mind, mind you. Just enough not to rate them as a strong choise anymore. )

Anyway, just personal opinion of course

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I will play any nation available.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

LA Argatha has a couple of really good things going for it, good combat mages are just one. They've also got good early summons, good later summons and good paths for forging (E/F/D could be argued to be the best forging paths). I actually did pick LA Argatha, but it's far enough down on my list that I think it's pretty unlikely I'll land it.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I would think astral is an absolute must in long term forging. I finally got to the endgame in Sloth, and I swear to god I put an astral skullcap and an amulet of antimagic on every, single, SC I made.

Not to mention shields of luck, faihtfuls, or lucky pendants.

Jazzepi

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

They have astral too. I have to think about them and maybe give someone better chance to roll MA Pythium or Arco http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

You're right, of course, but I was thinking more along the lines of "useful *and* hard to get without national mages". Amulet of MR are pretty easy to line up, but Flambeaus, Dwarven Hammers and Skull Mentors...not so much. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Guys, do not send me changed picks. It is very time consuming to compile the initial picks.

My purpose was not to get anyone to change picks, but to get new people that have not chosen yet to consider races no one else took. if 5 players switch to la agartha, that defeats the purpose.

So with regret, you are "stuck" with your picks.

*Though if you did not select any race, and said "i will play anyone" as several did, you can change your mind and do picks up until May 7, or until everyone has their picks in.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Sure, I totally agree with you here, but my point remains, all of that takes a bit of research to get going. Again, I don't mean to dis them, but I feel they suffer more than most nations from a slower research rate.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

You waste valuable death gems on skull mentors Baalz? I can almost always find a better use for my d gems than a skill mentor.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Baalz is talking about the +9 research skulls.

Jazzepi

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

yeah, i know what he is talking about.

I still do not make them. If I am playing a horrible research race and take drain, i will trade for them. But if I play a race with d mages, i prefer to spend my d gems on summons/combat spells.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

They're quite amazing with hammers. I forge them all the time. Especially if you had a race with drain, gives you a huge boost after you reach construction 4.

Jazzepi

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Access to skull mentors + hammers (+ lightless lanterns) = free design points as I'll take drain almost every time.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I agree. Especially if you use mentors to accelerate yourself into the lanterns. It's difficult to find a use for fire gems beyond lanterns, charcoal shields, flames from afar, elemental armor, and firebrand.

Jazzepi

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Look at it this way X, for 7d + 3f I've just "summoned" an extra two high end mages. One mage is now doing the research of 3 so I can send 2 out marauding while my research stays the same. What can you summon and equip for 10 gems that's more effective than 2 high end mages?

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Well, you're not usually replacing high end mages with Skull Mentors, because you don't usually summon high end mages just to do research. You're replacing (or just adding to) a few gold purchased cheap researchers.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I realize i am in the minority on the issue. I liberally use the lightless lanterns. But 12 d gems gives me a banelord.

Would I trade a banelord, who can, with constr 6 gear, kill anything in the game(potentially), for 10 research points?

If you look at the game we are playing against each other now Baalz, I was a research leader most of the way-or close enough as it made no difference, and I did not forge 1 research booster the entire game.

But favoring your view, Ermor, in the same game, took 2 drain and with the use of skulls was able to stay competitive in research. But he also had to pay for a double 9 bless.

But not every race gets castle bought troops as deadly as MA Ermor.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

But that's a banelord with constr 6 gear. How many gems worth of gear to make use of him? That's what you need to compare. Not just the chassis.

And the earlier the investment in research items, the better it is. You can have Skull Mentors long before Banelords and Constr 6 gear for them. Spending some gems on boosting research may get you those geared up Banelords faster than saving the gems would.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Wow you take Drain?? I'm shocked. I dont think I've ever taken it.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Yep, obviously this is a great oversimplification, but if you do accept my previous suggestion that 10 gems = 2 extra combat casters (which makes sense if your mages are constrained by your number of castles and you have a research target) then an outfitted banelord is more like 6 extra casters. Obviously everything has its use, but 6 banefire/enslave mind/gift of heaven/thunderstrike spamming mages can most certainly trump a decked out banelord in lots of situations.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

what kind of gear would u usualy put on a banelord to make him effective?

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I don't even like banelords that much as thugs.

Jazzepi

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I really fear that nations that need some magic to work will be screwed here, not much space, difficult research, no CBM... probably astral powerhouses and bless nations are the only that can really be competetive. I really think that Mind Hunt, Master Enslave, Magic Duel should be simply removed from the game, that would make game more interesting.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Mind Hunt is not that better than Seeking Arrow (which can't be resisted and kill most humans commanders), or Earth Attack and national assassination spells. In a large game trading for some antimagic amulets in not that hard.

Magic Duel is a spell very rarely used, it's just a problem if you have an astral 1-2 pretender and want to use it on the battlefield against an astral nation (not a good idea).

Master Enslave come late with slow research, remaining players should have a way to cast antimagic, but I agree in some situations (round one casting in defense, when the ennemy can't protect his army) it's one the most overpowered spell (like any instant spell not counterable in round one).

I'd like a game mechanic to be created, making impossible to use any instant battlewide offensive spells in round one (not only Master Enslave but also Rain of Stones, Earthquakes, Bone Grinding, Arcane Domination, Undead Mastery, Unraveling) so the attacker has one round to cast army buffs ; then endgame battles can't be resumed by "defender wins if he has mages and gems". But as this mechanic isn't present, and such a rule is totally unenforcable, I think it's better to play with them than to remove all the spells in this category (and see no reason to remove only master enslave, the problem is not a particular spell).

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

We need to refocus the thread if possible on the game, though I am as guilty as anyone. Eight more people need to send in race selections, and then I can do the race division.

The Game will not start before May, 15 in any event. But if people know their races earlier, it will give them more time to customize their pretender.

1. Zenzei
2. Mr. Sparkle
3. Llamabeast
4. Drake49
5. Mazel
6. Cor2
7. Admiralzhao
8. Moderation

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I will send in my final list with alternatives tomorrow.

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

If you let me in I'll send my selection right away.. Llama can make a new game of his own for example http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I too will send my list by tomorrow. Selecting a nation for this game really requires some thinking. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

I will have to get thinking!

Re: Mega Age II (Kingmaker) Sign Up!
 

Anyone interested in creating Weak Nations Confederation [WNC]? We could use our crappy troops, research-dependant mages to fight off all sacreds, elephants, hydras...