Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Blood sacrifice can also trigger the alert apparently as under some unknown circumstances a priest trying to blood sacrifice while not having blood slaves can get free slaves.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

ya, I tried it twice then tried it about 15 minutes later and got right in.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Hmm, that's really odd. No idea why it would say I'm cheating. My income was the same as usual and I don't have the alchemist's stone. I didn't alchemize an unusual amount of gems Last turn. Maybe it is some kind of blood sacrifice bug. Should we save the turn and send it to the devs?

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Am I the only one who got that message? that would make it even stranger...

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

We all got the message I think. I have saved the turn file just in case... I guess its worth it to send it to the devs so they can figure out why their cheat detection is getting triggered mistakenly.

No biggee, let us play on!

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

I thought poor Ermor was going to be wiped off the map in a few turns thanks to the grossly unfair piling on that was going on. The graphs show a small dip in provinces for a couple turns, but he's more than made up for that by now. All the other graphs show Ermor doing better than ever.

If anything, it looks like more people need to pile on to slow down Ermor. Or is this another case of how the graphs lie?

If Ermor gets past Ulm and takes the 50 Conjuration Bonus site in 186, things are going to get ugly. 20 gem wraithlords and 5 gem Bane Lords? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/redface.gif Mictlan is definitely getting heavily involved if that goes down.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

And indeed it has smashed me. I may win against the foes that are currently attacking me and I may lose it's still up in the air.

No matter what happens though, neither side in this war has any chance of winning the game. We have all taken huge casualties while gaining nothing at all while counties like yours have expanded at the rate of 3-4 provinces a turn. Kudos to you. You are in an excellent position to win.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

I agree, Mictlan seems to hame made quite the meteoric rise to power while no one was paying attention...

Jeepers!

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Shhh, look at Ermor and all those scary undead. Booga booga!

Or all those big trees that Pangaea and Man have. Trees are scary too!

Mictlan has just been picking off a few independents and AI provinces that I didn't get to in the beginning. Nothing to see here.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

There goes the 50 Conjuration site to Ermor. From what I can see, I still find it hard to believe that Ermor is being slowed down at all by the people attacking him. We don't share much of a border so I guess it isn't really my business for the time being, though.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Well I have not gone home yet, I do know that there are 4 very large enemy armies ( perhaps the largest in the world at this point ) on my border as of Last turn. I am quite sure that they were coordinating for an attack this turn.

It's not like I have Ice Devil SC's than can take down these armies single-handed either.

Perhaps if I had your type of resources I could fend them off. But it does not look like it. Maybe if I had conjuration-9 or something. But that's a pipe dream.

As I said I'm no threat to win the game. Others who have not been fighting for 15 turns straight against the powers of the world and who have been expanding madly and taking capitals here and there ( hey, who has Abysia's and Vanhiem's capital http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif ) have a damn good shot at winning this.

The only reason I am still in this is to insure that the people who ganged up on me so early in the game do not do well in the end game. I have partially acheived this by ( somehow ) slowing my inevitable obliteration at their hands.

I fear though, that when I get home I will find that my 2 main forces have been smashed and that the gig is up. I'll still play it out but I fear for the worst.

Marignon's Purgatory was a brilliant move which saved him from Pangea and allowed him to continue his march on me. Kudos.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Not me. I briefly controlled the province of Vanheim until Joun "accidentally" killed one of the Ice Devils sitting on it and took the province. I also just lost the province of Abysia to Abysia's god, come back from the dead. But he won't Last long.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Ah woe is me, the games' powerhouses are SO WEAK poor fellows whatever shall they do http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Hey, look on the bright side, you could be Tien Chi, and have nothing going for you, even if your graphs look good!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Be warned, I fight like a girl!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Well I made a mistake in Last turns orders. No idea how I did that, but it matters not. I am now AI.

The classless Alliance won. It's really too bad. As I said in game Anatoli11 you are 100% without class ( as is Rex_havoc ) if I find either of you in a game you should know that my only goal will be to wipe you out.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

And and Mictlain piling on at the end ... well ... that's pretty classless as well.

Sorry Yossar, but it is.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Now, I've been watching this game with interest to see if anything truly weird would evolve as a result of the rather interesting starting situation [which could lead me to update the scenario, so please provide feedback on that, if you would be so kind], but, alas, one other question really raises its ugly head after reading the Last few pages. As my knowledge of Dominions 2 MP is limited to smaller scale games with friends, I would like to know whether the level of personal attacks, *****ing (of the "I really mean it, scumbag" rather than the "please meet my propaganda department" variety), low-level vitriol, and immature behaviour shown by some players is typical of larger Dominions 2 MP games? Is quitting because you are losing typical or an aberration?

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Peter,

I am usually quite congenial as anyone who met me in the 1st 20 turns would have seen. I'm simply against gang banging at an early stage in the game. The *only* reason I stayed in the game was to butcher their armies as much as possible in hope that when I did die they would be destroyed by their neighbors. And I played 20 turns that I would rather have not played to be honest.

As for the scenario I think it's very nice. I really enjoyed the setup and the game *could* have been a lot of fun.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Great scenario.. really like the map.

I am hurt by the optionals we use though... No clams, no fever fetish... Hard to get enough gems...

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

At least all sides are equally restricted. Which I was dubious about the idea at 1st I have to say that I really like it. It makes it so that nations who are not at war do not gain a huge advantage. It reduces micromanagement which I am all for. It's just a plus.

Way to go frog. I really did not think it would work out.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Glad to see you quit Huzurdaddi!

Just a few facts:
1) Turn 20 on this map is like turn 30 to 35 when every one starts with one province. In my case I was out of independents to attack, so was looking to start fighting other factions.
2) I had discussions with Huzurdaddi before attacking him and we could not come to an arrangement that suited both of us.
3) I didn't organize a "dogpile" against Huzurdaddi - I did however broadcast that I was going to attack him to all players, and it was up to them whether or not they wanted to join in.
4) Huzurdaddi constantly used immature and rude language as well as "death" threats when sending in-game Messages. If he posted on this BBS the kinds of things he sent to me, he would certainly be banded.
5) Huzurdaddi got is mega attack army spanked by me and quit.

I have only played a few MP games and a majority of the players I have played against have kept deals, given notice, played honorably, and taken their lumps, as I have. To his credit, with the exception of the foul language, continual whining, and single-minded fury, Huzurdaddi played the game well enough for me to learn a bunch. But not enough for me to be sad to see you quit...

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Pardon? What kind of spin is this? Your lies make me sick. Honestly they really do.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

This conversation is getting dangerously close to serving no purpose on the forum. Lets all reread the subject of this thread and try to get back to it.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

I definitely didn't plan for this map properly and so got rather huge stockfiles of gems after a while. So far the main thing I've seen is that everyone is summoning lots and lots of summonables (have to use up those gems somehow!) I've seen Bane Lords galore, Vine Ogres, lots and lots of banes, Ether Warriors (you don't see those often), firbolgs etc. and all rather well equipped too.

I think that highly dependent on individuals. This is the first time I've seen this kind of personal vitriol in a game (shame on Huzz) and it's very bad.

More often I've seen people trade insults / threats / misinformation etc. through an explicitly role-played character (read Pasha's hilarious newscasts for example). As Thufir and others have pointed out, doing the same on a personal level is highly undesirable.

As for quitting while you're losing, you do see that sometimes. But strangely, I find that newbies do this less, maybe because they're in it just for the fun of the game and to learn., and so are less concerned with being a "contender" to win the game. It seems to me that veterans (and Huzz is definitely a vet) seem more concerned about winning and being competitive.

For what it's worth, I'd like to point out that Huzz has definitely spread his share of misinformation in this game. My attack on him actually Lasted only about 2 turns, but that hasn't stopped him from including me in his list of nations out to get him for everyone else to see. And he has on one occasion send me an in-game message complaining that he has almost no forces left when I first attacked him, when my scouts reported a significant force of 500+ undead quite near me (though maybe most of it was poor quality stuff).

I don't think that misinformation / lies is a bad thing in of itself. It should be properly a part of any strategy game after all. I expect it of others, and I expect others to expect it of me. But it should be clear that such things should be game-related only and should not be personal.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

I have to admit that I was especially interested in seing how Ermor turned out, as they have one of the best sets of sites allocated to them, but are surrounded by some really tough nuts to crack. Ermor starts with a construction 20, a conjuration 20, and a Thaumaturgy 40 site, as well as a free-bane site, the Wraith Lord Beyond Reproach, and a starting gem income of 29 death gems per turn on normal settings as either undead variant. Ah, well, being undead leaves no rest for the wicked: All your neighbours want to kill you before your dominion reaches critical mass, and with good cause. Might be a good setup to play living Ermor on, though.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

The only time there was a decent drop in your troops was the one attack I made against your big army (unless someone else made you have huge losses that round). And there was never a serious drop in your number of provinces (even after you went AI, you're still tied with me for first). My attack was nothing that Marignon couldn't have made with a bunch of holy pyre casters and some fodder (was Marignon allied against you?). That implied to me that this "classless alliance" against you was largely ineffective. Maybe that wasn't true, but from the graphs, that was my take on it. You had just run over Ulm like he was nothing and I felt that you were clearly my biggest threat. I'm allied with most of my neighbors, so I cut you down a bit. See it as classless if you want, but if I'm playing to win it was the right move. I'm not playing to let you win, just as you weren't playing to let Ulm win. Was your running over Ulm classless? The only one I am cutting some slack is Jotun, and that's because even though he killed my Ice Devil, he's admitted to being a harmless newbie and I believe him.

Edit: I guess my take is this. If I had premeditated from the start to ally with everyone to take out Ermor, that would be a bit classless. But I was just making a move against who I thought was my biggest threat, so I don't see it as anything out of the ordinary. I didn't go out of my way to destroy you, and doing so didn't hurt me at all. It was just a good, tactical move. I know you don't like it, but we didn't have any prior agreement, so getting angry about it is a bit extreme.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Actually Ermor is far from being a lost cause IMHO. They still have the biggest army and gem income, are tied for most provinces, have respectable research and income.

And it's not quite true that everyone is ganging up on Ermor. Ulm is almost dead being killed by Ermor I think. Marignon is also fighting Tien Chi and Pangaea at the same time etc. And I haven't been fighting Ermor for a long while now and I'm not strategically well positioned to fight him anyway.

It's a shame that Huz decided to go AI without at least trying to find a sub to play his position. Having Ermor controlled by an AI would make the game a lot less fun IMHO.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Seems to me that with Ermor now AI, Mictlan is now far and away the biggest threat. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

Please don't hurt me, I'm only a middling minor power. *Ducks for cover and waves newbie flag.*

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

I found Ermor to be a very good nation.

The sites are very nice. The bane site is excellent for early expansion. However given Ermor's natural ability for expansion it helps but is not necessary for Ermor's success.

The conjuration and construction sites are very good for ermor. I did not find much use for the Thaumaturgy site. If the game had progressed I planned on using it for GoR to Tartarians, but the game never got that far for me.

Ermor is slightly hampered in the research game at that start since they can not summon as many researchers per turn ( 1.5 / turn ) as other nations can buy mages. To rectify this I went for spectres before I went for anything else. Spectres more than double your research / gem due to the conjuration bonus.

I think that Ermor desperatly covets the Vanhiem's conjuration 50 site and Pangea's 50 Enchantment site ( sadly the Atlantis Version is underwater and many of the spells you would want to cast can not be cast there ).

I'll be honest I have never seen this happen. I'm not 100% sure as to how the rules wrt. dominion flowing though other people's provinces work.

Deccan that's incorrect. I named you as one of the people who was attacking me when you attacked. I never said anything about you after you bargined for peace. And further more those "troops" on your border were ( I would guestimate ) 95% dispossessed spirits which were used for pillaging.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

I have... Playing Ermor. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

It is terrifying to the opposition (according to reliable information from said opposition after the game). Once your dominion builds up to 10 in each core area, it starts spreading like there is no tomorrow unless your enemies have as high a dominion (unlikely, but not impossible, until late game since Ermor usually have a much higher dominion pretender than most other nations) or are preaching like mad (which they will be). They can hold your dominion at bay with preaching, but as soon as you launch an offensive and clear an area of priests for a few rounds, their local dominion will be crushed and the population will soon follow. If timed with raiding to destroy temples in the rear, you will severely restrict their ability to push domain back at you, and even if you have to retreat from your offensive (which, quite possibly, were part of your original plan), you may have managed to destroy a province for gold purposes.

The Lich Queen is an excellent pretender for domain warfare and thematic to boot.

This works best on non-wraparound maps if Ermor can secure an area leading up to a map border (giving you a safe domain-side)

...And is wholly dependent on the oppositions' starting domain. Did all your neighbours start with dominion 8-9? Or do they have substantially more temples than you (each)? Then forget about it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Good day all,

I am having all sorts of problem with this specific dominions 2 game. Let me try to describe it.

I have no problem connecting to the game and playing my turn. When I try to "End turn", it freezes and I get a "connection to server is broken". So far, it could be normal, so I relaunch dom2 and connect to the server, enter my password, then it freezes again, and I get a "connection to server is broken". I.E. I can not upload my turn.

Strangely it seems I have less problems when I do this in the morning (here in Montreal, Canada). If I try to upload my turn around 8-9AM, then the upload gets thru to the host.

I am in two other MP games, and while I sometimes have connection issues, it is nothing like this one.

Any ideas?

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

I am starting to worry that at some point this gimmick will stop working and that I wont be able to play.

Also I spend more time trying to upload my turn than actually playing.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Anybody else having connection problems?

BTW, I have noticed that if your internet connection (or I guess, the internet connection serving my server)hiccups while you are doing your turn, you will get this behaviour. Fortunately becuase you hit "end turn" you still have your turn file with all your moves...

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

What sort of connection and what OS do you have? (Windows XP?).

Edit: NM, I'll post this question in another thread.

Edit NO2: Since you already answered it, I'll just try to solve it here.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

ADSL thru a router + windows XP.

I had no problem previously. It started with that game.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Ok, try this. Go to start-connect to-show all connections. Now right-click on connection you are using (for me it's local area connection since I have cable), then select repair connection (you can close that window afterwards).

Now try to connect and see if you can upload your turn. It should be saved so you won't need to do the whole turn again, but check it just in case.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Actually I am wondering if it could not be port throttling ?
(limiting speeds on certain ports used on file sharing software, like Kazaa, winMX, etc...), that would explain why I can upload at soem hours and not at night.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

I think its the connection hiccuping. I have this problem occur occasionally myself, in the evenings. I think it is the cable provider (Videotron) that is at fault...

Since the server is in my home and uses that connection, that could explain why sometimes you are disconnected.

I am not sure why you have continued problems though. For me it is a one time thing, I reconnect and I am ok.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome
 

Changed MTU setting for router, it seems to fix the problem.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

I have to go away at short notice Early Wednesday until Friday afternoon - I am hoping you can hold the game until then.

Sorry, Thanks

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

I have to go away Thursday until Tuesday. I'm looking for a sub but haven't found one yet. I don't particularly want to hold up the game, and I'd be fine with staling those turns as long as nobody attacked me. So anything is fine with me, I guess.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

Yeah unless there are serious objections I think thatd be ok.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

er that is fine to Anatoli11, um not sure what to do about you Yossar, I guess if you are ok with staling a bit, then that should be ok, especially since you will be missing less turns due tot he super long wednesday-friday turn.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

This game turn will be extended to Friday midnight (EST), but I will leave quickhost on.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

I believe Cedric, who was playing Ulm, will be subbing for me, at least until I get back. Hope that works out ok.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

Cool

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

I am away over the weekend. I will be back on monday morning CET. I don't have a problem with skipping a turn, but it would be nice if nobody would attack me during that time ;-)

Bluebird

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

Well, I'm sure AI Ermor will attack you but maybe you don't mind that.

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

I'm having trouble getting to the server. Also, can we switch to 48 quickhost now that the turns are taking so long?

Re: Fools Lament II - Newbies Welcome *DELETED*
 

Sorry server crashed this morning sometime. It's back up now, and I have switched to 48H quickhost.