Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

Allright! We're off.

What was the reason for the first 10 turns not counting? In my test games, I couldn't get to the hill by turn 10. With difficult reasearch, I don't think a teleport type spell could be researched before then either, although I didn't try. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, however?

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

The reason is to allow all nations to reach the Hill right as the clock starts ticking: 10 full turns is exactly what is needed to get to the Hill on turn 11, while waiting for turn 2 before attacking (there are nine provinces on the way).

If holding the Hill counted right from the start, nations having fliers or sneaking troops would have quite an edge (Caelum among them). It should be possible to get Teleport before turn 10, though that would require investing quite a bit in mages and/or having a Rainbow mage. Boots of flying or a flying Pretender should also do the trick.

At least, I believe it was my rationale when I initially set that rule for the first game.

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

Ah, that makes sense. Sheesh, I didn't even think about some of the options there. Well hopefully my narrow-minded strategy will still work.

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

Is the hill defensed in any way? Some big guys?

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

No special defence on the Hill, except your fellow players and independents. The Hill itself isn't a great province I think, so independents there should be fairly weak; of course, your fellow players are unlikely to be that weak. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

Err - 7 provinces on the way, not counting the Hill itself. Possible to get there on turn 8, especially when someone was very bold and started attacking on turn 1. Glad it doesn't count until turn 10. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

I must have added one province on the way then, as you are indeed correct: eight provinces to take to get to the Hill (that includes the Hill). Well, my point remains the same, I guess.

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

Ten is a nice round number anyway, which makes it easy for me to remember when to start counting. Plus, there will be a graph status on Turn 10, the move before I start counting. I seem to recall in King of the Hill Part 1 that T'ien Ch'i had the hill on Turn 11 and held it something like 13 turns before getting knocked off. But TC eventually reclaimed it some 30-40 turns later and kept it just long enough to squeak out the win by a 20-19 score over Ermor.

That first game did kind of get messed up because 2 players fought each other the whole game (for whatever reason) and never took the hill. Plus another player blatently assisted TC to get the win over Ermor. Hopefully, this game will go a bit better.

I want to mention that I will be out of town at my sister's place in Arlington, Texas this weekend. My brother will be bringing our mom up from south Texas and we are going to have a big party on Mother's Day this Sunday. Plus, Sunday happens to be my birthday also (don't even ask how old). I will be leaving early Friday and not returning home until late Tuesday. So the game pace will slow significantly from what we have been doing.

I am taking along the Dominion's CD and plan to install it on my sister's computer. I will also bring along the fatherland file and hope it all works out correctly. If this fails, then there will not be much action in this game for a while.

Just a note, KotH is using Version 2.18. I don't know if the battle replays are messed up if you are using an older version.

I have noticed a very interesting fact in this game. Every single player has lost to independents already. Multiple times each even! With only level 6 indies, I thought people would roll through them. But it seems that all 6 players are underestimating the strength of those independant provinces. It is almost like people feel they can win with most anything since they are not at the usual 9 level. It has been very enlighting to me so far. Twice, I have seen a province not taken until the third try!

It has certainly been fun watching what everybody is doing and I have added a few things to my own bag of tricks.

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

How old? Sorry, couldn't resist. *Scrams*

Re: PBEM Game: King of the Hill 2 (Open)
 

Let's just say I have a 20-year old daughter going to college in France right now...