MP Game - Artifact Game - running 48hr qh
 

For centuries the wars of the Old Gods raged across the face of the earth. Back and forth did they war with each other until, eventually, the few that survived the bloodshed attained an uneasy peace. But over time they grew restless and weary of this troubled world. Almost as one, they left it for other planes to seek power, or make war, or for thier own mysterious reasons.

Abandoned, thier people fell into chaos, bickering with each other. Once mighty nations splintered into dozens of independent provinces, each more suspicious and fragmented than the next. Until finally a new power emerged: the Pretenders. Strongest of the servants of the Old Ones, the Pretenders have taken up the great tools and weapons of thier departed patrons and now prepare to forge the world anew with thier own vision. But only one can be victorious and truly Ascend...

The Arifact Game
In this game each nation will begin the game in the possestion of several artifacts as specified by

The Artifact List

which will be achieved through a modified .map file when the map and nation selections have been finalized. Artifacts will appear at game start in your capital province in the hands of a unit *specially designed* to drop cursed items - do not concern yourself with that.


Map
Artifact Shahrivar (revised)

Server
IP: 67.190.105.206
Port: 2001

Mods
Conceptual Balance 5.1
Artficat Mod 1
download both mods here

Settings
Starting Provs: 1
Indies Strength: 9
Site Frequency: 70
World Richness: normal
Random Events: common
Score Graphs: enabled
Hall of Fame: 15
Research: Hard (downgraded from V. Hard)
Victory: 2/3 of provinces


House Rules
1) All pretenders were once human servants of the Old Ones and therefore must be mortal humans (tho they can be mounted).

2) No population killing dominion themes. This prohibts Ermor AE/SG and Pan CW


Players (15/17)
Abysia: Truper
Pythium: Shovah
Man: Wish for Blood Slaves
Ulm: Archaeolept
C'tis: Ironhawk
Arco: Dimaz
Caelum: Boron
Ermor: Cainehill
Marignon: Huntsman
Pangea: Quantum Mechani
Vanhiem: Rathar
Jotunhiem: Morkilus
Mictlan: izaqyos
Tien Chi: Folket
Machaka: Reverend Zombie

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

As game host I choose the rite of first pickings http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I will play C'tis since I've been messing around with them a bit recently and never used them in MP. Probably I will get slaughtered but hey!

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

PYTHIUM! cause i suck at them and i think its fun for others when i die

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I want to play Then Chi.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I claim Ryleh http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Edit: I just realize that you did nowhere specify mods. In case we are playing Vanilla i take Machaka instead of Ryleh http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Still thinking about who I want to play (need to research some of these artifacts first!) but definitely count me in. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

if your going just for artifacts then go for: vanheim (fenris pelt) or pangea (if medusa counts as human)

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Where can I get a list of all magic items?

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Zen's Magic Item Quick Reference

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/d2/6.htm

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Never played Mictlan so I'll give them a try.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Can't remember doing broken empire Ermor, so I'll take them.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I claim man

will be using any mods?

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I'll take Abysia.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

We will definitely be using mods. I just realized I'd forgotten them when I woke up. We'll be using CB 5 and a mod for the artifact game as well. The Artifact mod just creates a special unit to hold the artifacts for each nation at the start of the game. I've updated the first post as well...

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

the latest to CB i've seen is the one council orf wyrms is using. its not the official 5.1 but it corrects a few errors in 5.0


also I notice that shahrivar is unselectable if an underwater nation is chosen

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

After a bit of reading, Mictlan sounds like a pain in the a$$. Can I have Pangaea instead? And what's the story with artifacts in parenthesis? thx

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Sorry for the n00bish question, but:

Re: the Chalice and the Ark; there are... bad effects, right? Do I really want to be attacked by knights and get all my non-sacreds diseased before I have a second province? I guess I have to leave them in the "vault" for a while...

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I think I'll take Jotunheim, though it would be fun to re-enact the Raiders of the Lost Ark scene every time one of my guys died to the Ark...

"It's beautiful... Aaaarrgh!!!"

I'll already have an automatic crusade going with the Giants... looking for Procas' Axe of Rulership to go with Pricas'.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Hehe - an artifact trading economy right from turn 1.....

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

you read my mind ron

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Well, as I am almost assuredly going to die and fast lets go for something I haven't played before so it's even faster!

Vanheim please and thanks for making this.

Now I just need to figure out how to use mods, heh

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

If your dominions got installed in "C:\program files\dominions2" then there should be a "C:\program files\dominions2\mods" subfolder. If it went into "D:\games\dominions2", it would be "D:\games\dominions2\mods".

If there doesn't seem to be a "mods" subdirectory there, try making one and putting the mods in it.

cainehill told me that. same for maps but instead of /mods its /maps. and good luck (early battles will be easy for you with the pelt)

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Medusa is humanoid, but certainly not human. When was the last time you met a human with living snakes for hair and a petrifying gaze? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Just to be clear with everyone tho, house rule #1 is referring to the pretenders which generally show up at the end of the list. Living, human pretenders like: The Archmage, The Master Druid, The Rime Mariner, The Crone, etc, etc. If you are trying to select a pretender and are unsure as to whether it is "human" or not, please do not hesitate to ask.

P.S.
And yes, I think we can count the Freak Lord as a mounted human http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif lol

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Thanks for the advice, got all those folders etc ready to go, just waiting for which exact version of mod and which map etc

Oh and I met a medusa on halloween. Fake snakes but her beauty at least paralyzed me! heh heh http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

that joke sucked :p and so will my pretender :C with pythium the way i like it i MUST have my oracle :C *sniff* im ok

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I guess undead humans don't count...?

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

If we play with 15+ players we could play the world map since i never played on it, just on faerun. Iirc the world map is "only" something like 250 provinces, that should be tolerable http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Shahrivar has a large lake which would be suitable for a single underwater nation. If someone else chooses Atlantis then we will have to change to a different map. But otherwise we can stick with what we've got. I'll be editing the mapfile anyway so if it currently doesnt allow underwater nations I will just make it so that it does.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

yeah thats what i'm saying - you'll have to add a starting point for rlyeh

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I have a copy of shaharivar revised, which I could send to you as a beginning Ironhawk... if you play shah, the .map needs a bit of a cleaning

world map http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/Sick.gif

also, 70% of a map the size of shaharivar or bigger is a bit much. It would clearly be decided far before then, so what's the point? 50+1 maybe...

any plans for hosting schedule?

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

temp dibs on ulm ;p

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I think I may already have it, arch. Got three copies of shahrivar for some reason already? One of them is probably good but I'll let you know if otherwise.

As for a hosting schedule I was thinking 24hr QH for the first couple of weeks. Then move to maybe like midnight every day or other day? Never tried those options but I like the idea of consistency for it (assuming it operates like I hope it does?).

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

In other news, I'm going to downgrade research from Very Hard -> Hard. It was pointed out to me that V. Hard research favors blood more and I'm pretty tired of blood dominating.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

if it goes to 2 days after not too long that would be good for me.

there are a couple errors in the shah_rev that need to be fixed - steel swamps is misspelled, standing stones (?) is missing? maybe one "jumping neighbour" in the south.

also i'm not sure about those two conjuration sites, esp. in such a high gem game. up to you.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I'll take Arcos.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

You got it.

I have to admit that I'm surprised no one has picked up Marignon or Mictlan. Both have good sets of artifacts. Caelum does too, really, since with Tempest it can fight full-bore from turn 1 almost.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

if it wasnt for being obsessed with pythium and a little bored from over-playing mictain in sp games i would have picked one of those

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I've never played any of them so maybe I'll switch since I've played Pangaea plenty. Marignon looks fun. But how does the Knight attack from the Chalice work? Is it like an assassination attempt or a regular assault on a province? ANd how tough are the knights?

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

knights are horrors as order is to magic.

what I mean is, in provinces with order, knights attack more often (i believe) like how horrors attack in a magic dominion. Since I almost always choose termoil/luck combo, I have never once been attacked by a knight for my chalice.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I've already played one game on Shahrivar which had 1 water nation. I found it a little annoying that one nation has an uncontestable free ride in a nice handful of provinces for a long time. I request the there be either no water nations, or both - and the latter would make Shahrivar a poor choice. I actually wouldn't mind a shot at the World map, if the victory condition was changed from 70% of provinces to say 40%. Its been years since I played on World.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

I have never been attacked by the knights. And I had the chalice quite often for a long time. So either the chance is incredibly low, or there is some bug which prevents them from appearing.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

While I agree with Truper about Shahrivar and water nations, I dislike the World map immensely. If not Shahrivar (which would be fine if we just don't have water nations) then Cradle of Dominion or Loemander would be better than maps with 340+ provinces.

Old World (the Warhammer based map) or Multiverse might be interesting as well.

Also - Arch has a good point about the two major magic bonus sites, they probably ought to be editted out or replaced for the game. (Great fun for SP games, or when randomly found, but kinda unbalancing in a MP game where people know where they are, and where people's capitals are going to be at fixed locations.)

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

ive been attacked but (dont know if its always) i think it was just 1 knight (who was easily dispersed by my prophetised sword of justice weilding cardinal)

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

If you aren't taking Pangaea I might take them.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

also - lifelong protection

if possible this should be given to machaka as a scheduled event and not on a unit - since the item is cursed and cannot be removed from the unit. Or if it is given to a unit, the player should get to decide what kind of unit (though I imagine they'd want it on an assassin)

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

True, but they don't normally start with an assassin, and some thought should be given before giving solidly useful units to one nation or another, unless everyone gets a couple of these bonus commanders (two scouts, while more useful to some nations than others, are hardly unbalancing).

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

All nations will be able to assign cursed artifacts to whomever they please - they will not be forced to keep them on the commander they are assigned to at game start. Which makes this an opportune time to talk about the mechanics of how the Artifacts will be given to each nation...

When you begin your game in The Artifact Game, you will have two additional commanders in your capital province. These commanders are called Artifact Wardens and are specially design to hold cursed (in addition to regular) artifacts. This is because they have the ability to shapechange into a unit with no slots. When you do this, even cursed items will "fall off" into your lab in that province. So, when you begin your game, the first thing you should do is shapechange both of your Wardens so that all your artifacts drop into your labs. You can then assign the items to whomever you please. I have researched and tested this and it works fine.

As for the units themselves, they were also designed to be pretty lame. Thier stats are unremarkable, they have no leadership, and they have no stealth or any other special abilities (save NNE, since I didnt want them to be a burden in any way). They cannot be recruited or summoned anywhere and have 0 gold cost which I believe gives them no upkeep.

Side Note About C'tis: The presence of the Jade Mask forces one of c'tis' initial artifact wardens to be a lizard since no non-lizard units can wear the Mask. If it is acceptable to everyone, I will just make him a regular Commander of C'tis and then immediately drop his artifacts and suicide him on some indies on turn 1.

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Excuse me for this agressive advertisement, but you can find here a 360 provinces wrap-around map (Neopangea).

A smaller version (266 provinces, including 50 underwater) is incoming and should be online in 3 days max.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

All yours. I'll give the holy rollin' Marignites a try. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif

Re: New MP Game - Artifact Game - open!!
 

Really like the look of Neopangea, I certainly wouldn't mind using the smaller version - 360 province games tend to drag on after the fun factor has faded.