New AAR available
 

There is a new AAR available of a completed game:

http://www.maladjustite.com/Pamp1_AAR.html

I neither hosted nor played in this game, but I am hosting the AAR. This can be added to the compiled list of AARs if desired.

Re: New AAR available
 

Any comments about the AAR? Anyone agree that clam hoarding needs to be nerfed?

Re: New AAR available
 

Hey everyone KNOWS what *I* think http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

This AAR is a lovely illustration of the problem.

Re: New AAR available
 

I assume you feel it need to be nerfed, right? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: New AAR available
 

They start out with 162 provinces per 7 players, that makes roughly 23 uncontested provinces per players, and over 30 once 2 players are out.

With indies at 6 (why not 9?) expansion isn't terribly slowed, and standard research is just the icing on the cake as it makes shure that summoned SCs show up in turn 15 or so. (Think - during these 15 turns your heavy infantry wouldn't even have crossed all the prov. you have without any contest !)

So is this game a proof that something has be nerfed?
I don't think so. You can do so much by adjusting the game settings (difficult research, site frequency <40) ...

Re: New AAR available
 

Frankly, if you have R'lyeh in the game (or Atlantis), I think you have to presume they're building clams. In addition, the guys gem income was IMO low. Two games I have going on that map where I'm holding less than 1/3, possibly less than 1/4 of the provinces, I have gem incomes of 120-130 a turn, not counting blood, and it's well before turn 84 where he reports having 85 gems as income.

R'lyeh could have had more than that, _not_ counting the income from clams, by using Voice of Apsu, Voice of Tiamat, Akashics, Astral Probing, etc.

(Edit: Looking at the maps, it seems unlikely R'lyeh had 85 "real" gem income a turn, and to be fair, I guess it is difficult for Ulm to do all that well. Then again - he had sages and wizards, so he had full access to site searching spells for everything.)

As Arralen said - different settings could've made for a very different game. 23 independent provinces per player was also high by my standards - 10-16 has always seemed better to me.

And finally, everyone let R'lyeh muddle along for much of the game, as it seems that they went to turn 60 before attacking or being attacked. Not real wise to do that.

Re: New AAR available
 

wether clam hoarding is broken or not, can be discussed to no end.
fact is it rewards the boring turtle up for the win strategy.
It feels kind of stupid that you can have far more provinces, but a lot lower income, because you spent your gems on fighting and not on hoarding.

A game with constant fighting is interesting, a game where turtling and hoarding is rewarded not so much.

Re: New AAR available
 

Claming is broken on large maps. Smaller maps where the fighting is furious then it's not a big deal.

If you are playing on Faerun or on the world map then if anyone spends a few turns by themselves and applies themselves to the creation of gem generators then they have a *really* good chance to win the game.

This game also showed many who played it the awesome power of properly constructed SC's and they did not like it one bit. Understandable, IMO.

I do think that constructing good SC's is one of the ways the good player differentiate themselves from the ... uhm ... less good. However they really do seem to have awesome ROI in some cases. I'm not sure I like that. It's vexing to me.

Re: New AAR available
 

What's ROI mean?

Re: New AAR available
 

ROI == Return On Investment.

Re: New AAR available
 

Oh and the AAR is *awesome*, btw. A real joy to read.

Re: New AAR available
 

Well, frankly the AAR is interesting, even if the premise are somewhat surprising... Especially the comment about how a STRONG level of Indies 6(!) will make people need 3 to 4 turns before starting expansion... Oo

6 is pretty standard for me, I sometimes even go up to 9 just for the sake of it. Only thing that can slow my expansion at level 6 is sometimes a huge band of knight or special troups or underwater hordes of flying...

Only reason to wait for turn 3 to expand is to get a nice Prophet ( like a Div 5 )... else..

Re: New AAR available
 

Heh. Indeed - with indies set to six, I just saw one or two nations take a province _blind_ on the first turn's results, and not even using their pretenders.

I don't think I'd jump blind on turn 1 (not at indies 6) but indies 6 really isn't tough. Not when you still occasionally see militia/light infantry at strenghts of 20-30 at that setting, sometimes with bows mixed in.

Re: New AAR available
 

I do not understand why he gave up at this point? I never was in a similiar game situation, but even if Ryleh could cast wish every round, what is the problem?

If you own that many provinces, you can build enough ordinary troops to recapture the provinces wished for easily...

Also, you should have enough money to built preachers and temples like mad...

Sure, Doom Horrors are menacing, but how can they stand against huge masses which are spread out all over the world?

What does Clam Hording mean, i.e. how much clams did Ryleh have approximately? How many wishes per turn?