Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Yes, the war has opened and Ulm has fared reasonably well in its opening but this is a clash of empires and first blood matters much less than last blood. Ulm's "commando operation" was a suicide bombing, but that is to be expected from a country full of fanatical nihilists. What hasn't been reported is the failed amphibious assault Ulm attempted, as well as the series of failed assassinations Ulm tried to execute. In the interest of fairness, we would mention any successful assassinations... but there weren't any.

A true meeting of armies has yet to happen. Once it does, then there will be something worth reporting.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

It appears that Pythiums mages, assassins and diplomats are quite formidable, while its warriors are not exactly up to Ulmish standards.
Unfortunatly, in deplorable incident happened in which the Free Mictlan Liberation army sallied forth, and was fired upon by still boyued up Ulmish soldiers. The Free Mictlan Liberation army returned fire with a fairly impressive array, which quickly decimated the ill positioned forces of the Peoples Republic. However, the Mage Corps of Ulm was able to escape largely unscathed.


There also seems to be a bug, some of the thunderbows I got from pythiums assassins register as "Abomination Banes" for some reason...

Pythium was a bit more succesfull with its assasinations than Ulm, although I believe that 1 out of 6 is perhaps not what Pythium intended. It still beats 0 out of 2 though.
Economically the outlook is positive for the Peoples Republic, as its forward detachments are quite efficient in beating up Pythiums PD and denying vital resources to the Empire. Alas, the Empire has made vital progress on the diplomatic front by convincing Tien Chi to join the "Anticomintern". Senior party leadership is tight lipped about its own diplomatic efforts, but the currently well going war effort may prove to have diplomatic advantadges on its own.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I can't tell if you are lying in-character as a propagandist or if one of us is having some weird out-of-sync error. My replays are showing you as having attempted 2 assassinations and failed at both whereas we have attempted 6 assassinations and failed at 1. In other words, the "score" is Ulm 0/2, Pythium 5/6. Furthermore, our assassins seem to have a keen sense of targets as they have ended 4 mages and one very expensive, summoned commander, who fled the battle and rusted his armor with his tears before he met his fate.

The point is, you go to war with the army you have and our army was prepped for fighting lightly armored Mictlan sacreds. Combine that with Ulm being the first-strike aggressor and Pythium has certainly suffered some early-conflict setbacks. Still, we're down an army, Ulm is down an army (courtesy of Mictlan showing that it still has teeth) so matters are far from decided. Ulm is taking a handful of satellite provinces but gains easily taken are easily lost. After all, if you plan to climb a tree to get to the moon you can report rapid, early progress too... The true magical, logistical and military might of Pythium has yet to be tested. In short: bring it on!

As to the diplomatic front, it is no surprise that Ulm fights alone while Pythium has allies, both open and secret. Ulm has been waging wars of aggression since the dawn of the age, attacking Shinuyama, invading and destroying Arcoscephale and finally threatening T'ien Ch'i for... no discernible reason other than sheer bullying. We of Pythium have sought peace with all our neighbors when possible and have never exterminated an entire people; neither of which can be claimed by the iron nihilists.

The diplomats of Pythium have ranged far and wide offering words of peace, trade and solidarity. We shared the spoils of Vanheim with our neighbors, the Caelum. We shared our spoils of Mictlan with T'ien Ch'i and our erstwhile ally, Ulm. We have offered trade at a considerable reduction of price despite not having an inherent forge bonus like Ulm. What has Ulm shared? Who, other than Ulm, profited from the demise of Arcoscephale? We are peaceful and generous whereas Ulm is ambitious, war-like and miserly. Who would you have triumph? We would gladly share the spoils of Ulm with all who would join our coalition. What can Ulm offer you, what has Ulm ever offered you, except the business end of a maul?

If you would rise up against the despots of steel, please PM Pythium; we have a great wealth of resources and forged equipment (which Ulm has only had the merest taste of) which we would gladly share.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

OC: I only had one assassination succesfull on battlescreens, I also ended up with 2 captured thunder bows, in addition, I can certainly ascertain that my summoned guy is alive and well on the campaign map. Had he ran away he would be dead. Although I miscounted, Pythium killed two mages called Lobimag and Starwald, not one.
Several of my other assassination targets also proceeded to fight in the battles of Mictlan, after eliminating their would be assassins with superior firepower.

Besides, in what way are we more agressive than Pythium?
Our early clash with Tien Chi was unanticipated, and while we deplored senseless loss of life, we felt no hostility towards them and promptly signed an NAP 3 proving our rational and peacefull nature. Nor did we initiate into any attempt of bullying them into submission, when we asked about their opinion on matters during the early stages of the Tien-Chi-Mictlan-Pythium war, we indeed welcomed their well thought out reply, even though we opted to do something else. Nor do we bear ill will towards Tien Chi in general, their decision to side with Pythium makes sense from their point of view, the sheer laws of geography dictate that Tien Chi can make potential gains from fighting Ulm, while fighting Pythium would be georgraphically infeasable.
While we did engange in an early war with Shinuyama, we were most rational with all of our other neighbours which included Acrosephale.
That Acrosephale choose to suprise attack us and spit on our previous border agreements (and in spite of having an AI neighbour) did indeed lead to a full retribution, and contrary to Pythiums believes, we were fully willing to share spoils, and partly did so with Shinuyama.
Shinuyama itself profited from the Acrosephalan ulmish war by managing to conquer not insignificant amounts of neutral territory and get an additional inlet into the sea.
Concerning Mictlan, we were in the belief that wide segments of the world agreed that having Pythium conquer all of Mictlan is not acceptable.

On a general note, we also do not consider either ourselfs nor Pythium to be "superpowers" in cold war sense of today. The policies of nations such as Shinuyama and Caelum are driven solely by their own rational self interests, and Ulm has proved in that past to be quite accomdating of those.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

All in-character banter aside, this is worrisome because my turn-35 results seem very different from your results turn-35 results. I have attached a picture showing a sampling of what I've seen so we can try and reconcile this as either a misreading of events or an actual llamaserver, turn-out-of-sync error.

EDIT: larger version of image can be found here (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?t78874krwzp4cjs)

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I would suspect that this is yet another manifestation of the bug where battle replays are incorrect. The replay is not part of the turn file, but is recreated on your computer based on data in the turn file (as I understand it, anyway). The definitive result is what shows up on the strategic map the next turn (so sometimes only the *real* winner actually can figure out what happened). Probably this is even more cryptic with assassinations. But Llamaserver has nothing to do with it, nor does it suggest that the main game file is corrupt.

Are your assassins still there in place this turn? I would guess that the answer is no. If it turns out that both the assassin and victim of any one attack are actually still alive (or showed up in a regular battle) - that would be weird.

I might also recall having read that the battle-display-not-matching-the-actual-results bug is more common in games using mods?

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

So I went back and checked and no, some of my assassins who "won" seem to be missing. This is... unsettling. I will certainly have to revise my turn when I get the chance this evening. I gotta admit, I preferred the version of reality where I won 5 out of 6 rather than 2 out of 6. That bug is a bitter pill, Dominions, and I don't appreciate being forced to swallow it.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Did your assasins acutally tried to use their tunder bows in your battles?
In mine, Thunderbows are somehow abonomation banes, which is a mellee close combat things with bonus against magic things for Rose Ulms summons.
Not particularly suited to attacking mages that blast you... And of course totally unexpected for your own scripting I believe.
Your assassins did not fare well when trying to run up to my commanders while getting Iron Blizzarded (or spanked by the fairly tough thug).
May it be an issues of differing mod versions?
I remember their were some issues at the game start...
Can you check what your remaining guys with Thunderbows have as weapons?

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

In my now-debunked replays, yes the assassins used the thunder bows as bows... that shot lightning. Therefore they stood back and fired lightning at your commanders and over 80% of those commanders died. From lightning, not melee beat-downs. One such assassin is shown below. He is definitely holding a thunder bow and not an abonomation bane (which isn't even an item that can be forged).

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

CBM 1.92 has the following definition:

#selectitem "Thunder Bow"
#descr "When the string of the Thunder Bow is drawn, a lightning bolt will
appear where the arrow should have been, ready to be fired at the archer's
enemies. The further the string is drawn, the more powerful the lightning
bolt will be. The Thunder Bow can be a very formidable weapon in the hands
of a man with strong arms and a good eye."
#weapon 927
#end

#newweapon 927
#name "Thunder Bow"
#flyspr 210
#explspr 10241
#range 40
#ammo 24
#dmg 0
#magic
#armornegating
#shock
#aoe 1
#att 10
#sound 27
#end


Ulm Black Rose v0.282b MC edition has the following definition.
-Abomination Bane
#newweapon 947
#name "Abomination Bane"
#dmg 12
#att 5
#def 2
#len 3
#nratt 1
#twohanded
#magic
#dt_magic
#armorpiercing
#sound 8
#end

Mightypeon, are your definitions any different?

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

On a side note, did you have two assassins with the same "Hermkesborn" name assassinating the same dude (Herrmann) of mine?
Or is it yet another bug?
In my version, 2 normal mage smiths, died.
It also appears that your assassins in fact used their bows, in my versions they tried to run up and got messily killed.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Checking!
My version has an ID conflict indeed.

I would normally instantly blame myself since I am host, however, when I play a turn of Pointy Sticks it is loading the conflict free MC version (under Mods enabled) for me. If my computer was thinking it to be the non MC version (which I also have in my mod directory) it should load this one.
Perhaps something was not correctly cleared/loaded during our quirky game creation? Or during one of llamaservers shutdowns that happened early?

As a warning, there are ID conflicts with the Astral Serpent (929), the dusk dagger and the boots of long strides.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

By the way, props for the well thought out tactic, lightning bows on assassins with good precision (your assassins have a natural precision fo 13? Didnt know that) is an excellent idea! The only good chance of getting killed is a turn 1 nuking mage, or an actual thug, and most mages will spend a turn self buffing. Although I am not sure about the odds of hitting, its of course range dependent.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Here is the relevant info from the version of Black Rose of Ulm. Note that my version doesn't even use weaponId 927 yet seemingly yours does!?


Here is the relevant info from the version of CBM 1.92

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Thanks. I was pleased when I came up with the idea and then thrilled when I ran a test game and found it to work exceedingly well (something like a 90% success rate).

The fact is, I've spent a huge number of mage turns and air gems on forging these bows and handing them to commanders (not just assassins, though plenty of those) and all that activity was founded on assumptions which are now looking shaky because of this mod conflict. It'd be like playing Jomon and planning on outfitting lots of spirit thugs with cheap frost brands, playing through 30 turns and spending gobs of research, mage-turns and water gems forging frost brands only to find out that frost brands now offer poison resistance to the holder instead of doing AoE cold damage... it kinda throws your train off the rails.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I can definitly feel your pain, although I am not quite sure what can be done to adress it in this game.
I am obviously also biased, as, despite my hopefully amusing propaganda attempts, Pythium is very far from beaten.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I don't think much of anything can be done for this game to fix the mod conflict issue, unless Llamaserver allows mid-game mod changes (I'll raise a flag with llamabeast and see what he says on the matter).

However, we know that your version of Black Rose of Ulm and/or your version of CBM 1.92 differ from mine since I don't have this conflict of Ids and you do. Therefore, I'd really like to find out exactly why our versions differ so that we can know that I downloaded an old version of some mod or that I accidentally edited my version of some mod or that there is an actual conflict between MC Black Rose and CBM 1.92 or any of a half-dozen other combinations. Even if we can't fix things for this game, I'd really like your help in tracking down exactly why things went wrong in this game so llamabeast/squirrelloid can be notified of a problem with their mods or so we'll know how to handle including Black Rose of Ulm in a CBM 1.92 game without incident. After all, win or lose, I'd like to play this variant of Ulm myself in some future MP game but I can't really do that if the mod may or may not be buggy.

EDIT: I justed PMed llamabeast to see if there is a way we can correct the mod definition used by this game. If so, we can correct this id conflict, ensure everyone has a corrected version of the mod and then we can move forward with me shooting you full of lightning bolts, as was intended.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

The problem in itself is simple I think.
I first downloaded a version of Black Rose that was around the time of CBM 1.82.
Squirrel later entered a first Mod compatible version (which did not have the conflict with normal CBM, but afaik one with Svarogia), which was later replaced by a version (which you have) that has both conflicts with Svarogia and with CBM fixed.

To reiterate, I have 2 versions of black rose Ulm on my laptop, one that is called Black rose, the old version with the weapon conflict, and a new version that does not have the weapon conflict and supposedly gets loaded on starting a pointy sticks gamefile. Interstingly, if I delete the old version that is not supposed to be loaded, I can no longer run Pointy Sticks.

For some reason, and that reason could very well be an user error on my side, or be attributable towards either our quirky game start (caused by having spaces in the black rose Ulm .dm file), or other llamaserver issues.

I can easily explain how llamaserver ended up with loading the old version, user error by me after repeatedly trying to start it is a very propable explanation. What I cant explain at all is why my game shows to be loading the MC version while actually loading something outdated...

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

The problem in itself is simple I think.
I first downloaded a version of Black Rose that was around the time of CBM 1.82.
Squirrel later entered a first Mod compatible version (which did not have the conflict with normal CBM, but afaik one with Svarogia), which was later replaced by a version (which you have) that has both conflicts with Svarogia and with CBM fixed.

To reiterate, I have 2 versions of black rose Ulm on my laptop, one that is called Black rose, the old version with the weapon conflict, and a new version that does not have the weapon conflict and supposedly gets loaded on starting a pointy sticks gamefile. Interstingly, if I delete the old version that is not supposed to be loaded, I can no longer run Pointy Sticks.

For some reason, and that reason could very well be an user error on my side, or be attributable towards either our quirky game start (caused by having spaces in the black rose Ulm .dm file), or other llamaserver issues.

I can easily explain how llamaserver ended up with loading the old version, user error by me after repeatedly trying to start it is a very propable explanation. What I cant explain at all is why my game shows to be loading the MC (no conlflict) version while actually loading something outdated...

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Can you extend the hosting for this turn by 24 hours? A friend's having an all-day bachelor party thingy and while I had hoped to get my turn in this morning before it started, that is becoming increasingly unlikely.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Sorry, I missed that one!
Please write PMs for urgent delays, I get those on my E-Mail but not threads I posted in!

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

IC: The empire has entered a dark period. Perhaps even a dark age. Supporting an old friend has brought us to blows against an ancient enemy, the steel men behind their iron curtain. Now, another enemy has encroached upon our lands, bringing the very skies we revere down upon us. The winged half-man of the mountains have soared off of their lofty perch, jealous of the lands held by the most civilized of nations. We shall stand against them, using our knowledge as our shield. They have taken us by surprise (due to a clerical error-the minister in charge of the negotiations has been staked to an iron rod and placed in front of the invading lightning-hurlers). We will rally and defend our lands, throwing the birdmen back into the mountains. Their pet "god" shall perish for transgressing against our people, and their shattered armies shall slink back into their nests! Our people shall burn them, purifying the lands and making it fit for a true civilization to flourish in!

OOC: Our base are belong to you.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

While I hope to not need it, I'd like to request an extra 24 hour extension now. This weekend was entirely eaten up by family obligations and I was utterly unable to deal with the volume of turns I need to look at as well as diplomatic dealings I need to be cognizant of. I'm going to try and spend tomorrow evening getting all caught up but that may not be possible (yet more stuff going on) so 24 hours of breathing room would ensure no stall or half-baked turn gets submitted.

Thanks.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I delayed for another 24 hours (game now hosting Wednesday evening central European time).

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Llamaserver still says Tuesday.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Thanks! It somehow didnt delay!

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

it delayed it now but did so twice:)

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

So long as quickhost is on - and everyone puts their turn in as soon as they can - we shouldn't have to wait any longer than it takes Pythium to recover from their hangover.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

That is the plan indeed.
I am anxiously awaiting the next turn, as the war of Mictlanese liberation (I believe the Pythium/Tien Chi alliance calls it something else) may beginn entering its decisive phase soon.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

extended for 12 hours because Ctis seems to be missing.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I realize you have good intentions and that I might be biased because I am fighting C'Tis - but the turn already got extended by 24 plus an accidental extra 24 hours, so its not like he hasn't had a chance.

As for the bias - C'Tiss is down to a handful of provinces, and I am certain that I wouldn't do anything different even if I expected him to stale. Indeed, I will pm him a reminder to take his turn.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Thanks for the extension, though I agree with RonD that it really wasn't necessary. If it looks like I'm going to stale again, just let it go.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Feedback wise, I hereby make the claim that Rose Ulms "Enigma of steel" spell is overpowered or close to overpowered for its magic level.
I believe Pythium would be inclined to agree.

Both battles still were quite bloody, but the combination of my onbattlespells, the battlefield wide spells partial to Rose Ulm and the fact that Iron Blizzard does not cost much fatigue propably won it for me, even though Pythium extracted a heavy toll from my infantry with its magics.

However, Karl Marx the liberator of Ebys is costing nearly a 100 gems with his gear (although a more economic use would cost about 60, 50 with ulm forge reductions), which is not that far away from an early SC. However, I think that he had a greater impact on the battle then a gem equivalent Iron angel would have had, especially considering that Pythiums communion propably would have zapped a flying SC.

We also note the ability of drain magic to send people straight into framerate hell.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Pulled out a 48 holiday extension.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Hmm, I think I can predict what Mr. "Grouchu Marxist" is up to, unfortunatly, there is nothing I can do about it -.-

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Will Harbingers be enough to stem the mighty Ulmish tide? Guess we'll have to wait for the news reports.

In other news, Caelum must be trying to break into the ice cube business.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I would draw if a rage comic about the last battle against a harbinger I had.
Bottomline: My most awesome harbinger killing dude (my math claims he can nearly two shot things!) did not get into contact, because surrounding pathing is stupid, and because the friggin harbinger only killed like 4 dudes, and one of them was a light infantry guy I recruited in some random province.
However, mass ridicule by the troops he was trying to kill indead hurt his/her/its selfesteem and greatly weakened him/her/it! He will have a fairly hard time killing anything but PD, but their ability to soak up damage from my troops is highly annoying.
Meanwhile, the Harbinger that got sent to pillage Ulm itself got blinded by the splendor of the Proletariats capital, glory to progress!

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Of course, that means that a blind harbringer is capable of besieging the capital of mighty Ulm. 0 atk, 0 def and 35hp is apparently too much for the Ulmish honorguard to contend with. Glory to progress indeed. Maybe he went blind out of pity...

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

So, a new year... looking over it I can tell I no longer have the time needed to maintain my current glut of Dom3 games. Both work and home concerns are making it increasingly hard for me to keep pace with these games, resulting in delays, poor plays or (in a few rare cases) stalls. So, I'm going to try and find subs for me in almost all of my current games (I'm only staying in two that are either very close to a conclusion or are very low maintenance).

Sorry for the withdraw but I don't have the time to spare and my half-assing several games won't do anyone any good.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

That is a shame. Do you plan to soldier on until you find a sub, or are you quitting cold as of today?

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I'll continue to play while we look for a sub but finding a sub quickly would be best.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Amazing what concentrated FAM can do to an "army". It's been fun, gents, but I'm done for. Enjoy your endgame.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Armies can still be viable later on, but depend on buffing spells.
It is however, very hard to defend armies against thunderstrike spam, unless you get decent access to thunder wards.
The other problem you had was being tien Chi, one of the races where Caelum has scant issues with aggressivly entering close combat (immidiatly attacking f.e. Black Plate Flails or Dai Bakemono will hurt comparably frail eagle units much much more, although army of mist changes things quite a bit). Especially if you largely utilize infantry. TCs cavalry is rather cool though, and its numerous attacks are quite efficient in quickly bringing down enemies that to an extent depend on Defense.

I have posted a sub wanted post.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Sorry to hear this. I will miss a loyal and competent opponent as much as our high-worded correspondence.

I hope you will find the time to come back to the community in the future!

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Interesting, it appears that Ulm is winning the war against Pythium but loosing the game, although I propably made that choice during pretender creation.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

I placed a preventive delay, as both Pythium and Shinuyama indicated to have some heavy real life workloads.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

Much obliged.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

A lot happened in this turn, and we may have a found a sub in Numahr, I am delaying things for 72 hours.

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

We're coming up on 48 hours until the turn hosts, and the potential sub has had 4 days to look things over. Can we get a decision one way or the other?

Re: Pointy Sticks MA started
 

This is most likely indeed.