Halls of Valhalla: Forseti Middle Era Open
 

Games Status: November 18th, 12:30 PM EST

ATLA is Started
BRAGI is Started
C skipped due to lack of norse names
DAGUR was won by Wraithlord
BAG is Started.
ELLI is Started.
FORSETI is Recruiting at a leisurely pace

As a result of several discussions, the original mission of having a game always open has been changed. Instead, I'll open up a new game on a rough once or twice a month schedule, creating a 'spillover' game if demand is high. See page seven for part of the discussion. Things are not quite final since I got distracted by setting up my first large game, BAG. As well (excluding spillover games), the era will rotate in this order early->middle->late->early and so on..

Halls of Valhalla
There have been complaints that there never seems to be a game open. While several are open right now, I've been contemplating what could be done about it. Hence, the Halls
of Valhalla have been opened. Llamabeast's Play by Email server will be used for this, details on that later.

The basic premise of Valhalla is to keep a game open at all times. In order to keep wait times to a minimum, games will be capped at 8 players. Since I'm generally not participating myself, the rules, eras, and maps will be pretty flexible to player requests.

The default settings, unless requested otherwise are as follows:

Standard Settings all around
Dom3 vanilla, no mods, latest patch.
Aran or Llamabeast's modified Paraganos.
Score graphs disabled
Hall of Fame entries limited to 5.
Renaming allowed
Random events common
30 hr quickhost

Llamabeast will host and create the games, I will administer them, and you will play them.

Feedback & suggestions welcome,
[section obsolete and removed]

One final note. Once enough players sign up, and the game gets started, it'll be spun off into a new thread, and another will open up in its place.

Useful Links
Games that are looking for players, www.llamaserver.net, Sheap's Multiplayer Tips, LlamaServer FAQ,Encyclopedia Mythica

Games Spawned
Atla
Bragi
Dagur
BAG
Elli

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Sounds cool--I'm definately interested.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Any particular preferences for "Age", or other settings?

We'll call the first one Atla.

P.S. Small edit in first post, will attempt to keep up to date.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Pencil me in for Abysia.

How does a PBEM Server/ quickhost work?

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

I prefer EA or MA, but I can go with the flow. I know that you're trying to keep the games small, but how do you feel about using Aran as opposed to Silent Seas? Regardless, you can count me in: If EA, I'll take T'en Ch'i; if MA, please pencil me in for Bandar Log. Thanks

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

FAJ--

Sorry for not respoding to your question in my last post. Llamabeast's server makes the process painless. You create your pretender and e-mail the .2h file to the server. Then:

1) A .trn file is emailed to you upon initial start up and after the server hosts a turn;
2) You download this file and save it into your Dominion's "saved games" folder (be sure to create a new folder specific to the game you are playing);
3) After completing your turn, "save & quit";
4) E-mail your .2h file (not the .trn) file back to the server.

After it hosts, the process begins again. Llamabeast's server autoatically sends confirmations when it receives your file with a time deadline so you know when the hosting will be, and when you must have your compoeted turn (.2h file) mailed in. I'm a little uncertain about the signicance of "quick host", but I think it might mean that the server hosts at the designated time anyway even if all turns are not in? Hope this helps.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

I don't mind changing any settings, as log as the players agree to it. I also don't mind larger maps, as long as the players think its acceptable or enough people show up to fit. I don't need to get a game started as soon three people show up, but I do want to keep people from waiting to long. If we've got the minimum and people are getting antsy for the game to start, I'll start it. If people are patient, and somebody shows up every forty-eight hours or so, or everybody wants a larger game, then I'll wait. I'll try and adjust the map to the number of players that appear.

Llamaserver FAQ

Pretenders should not be sent until everybody joins and the game is created.

Large sections removed for brevity's sake, since the LlamaServer FAQ (frequently asked questions) is up.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

LP--

Great information. As I mentioned, I'm ready to go and happy to go with the flow. Thanks

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

That makes two. I'll wait two or three days for anyone else to sign up, and I'll probably be out of Jaguar by then. If it looks like nobody's biting, I'll step in and play.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Yeah, I have played in PBEM games before, I just didn't know if there was a difference between this and that. To be honest, it is more hassle than it is worth.

You can count me out on this.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

What particular is the problem? Is it the PBEM, or the time settings? I can change the latter.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Its the former.

Question for non-interested people
 

Question for non-interested people who've read the thread.
If you've looked at this proposal, and decided its not for you, what turned you off of the idea?

RE:FAJ
It's hardly that much hassle, my blather aside. Or at least I hope to convince you so. If I can't, well, sorry to see you go. It means we're further from getting the game up.

The pretenders a minor hassle, but only setup once. Its a matter of taking the pretender with the most recent timestamp and sending that one it.

With a good email program/website, it remembers where you've saved last, saving you quite a few clicks. It also remembers the 'subject' after a few letters, so you don't need to type up Chupacabra every time. I send my turn to jaguar and chupacabra with about four keystrokes.

On the plus side, this system results naturally in a backup of every turn in case something goes wrong.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

There seems to be a fairly wide-ranging antipathy towards PBEM which I can't really understand - I'm pretty sure that if people tried it they would find it much less annoying than they imagine. I would say that for me it adds maybe 10 seconds on to either side of taking the turn. Ah well.

Incidentally LP, you don't need to type "Chupacabra" every time anyway - you don't need to put anything in the subject line (except for when you send your pretender in).

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

Wouldyou be up for setting up a epic heroes mod (Map: no preference)?
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

By the way, I like PBEM better, (for one, sometimes the reminder of the email file is good so I don't miss a turn!)

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Personally, I just prefer games larger than this.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Sign me up!!!!

can I be Machaka??

my emails juzzaman(at)gmail(dot)com

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Juzza man, you should mung your e-mail address so it doesn't get harvested by spam bots! Change it to juzzaman[at]gmail[dot]com or something.

I had the llamaserver address up for a bit un-munged, and you wouldn't believe how much spam it gets now! Happily the server reads it for me, establishes there are no 2h files attached and throws it away (having sent the spammers a no doubt confusing error message), so no work for me!

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Correct me if I'm wrong, llamabeast, but Juzza, there's no need to post your email here. Once the games set up, you simply need to send in the pretender, and the server will remember to send the turns to the same place.

As regards the rest- I'll deal with that after a full nights sleep, but yes Machaka, Epic Heroes - maybe - I'm not the one to convince, fellow players are. Why not? will suffice for assent. Game can grow larger if people join fast enough - then we'll switch to Aran (which is a 6-10 player map I'll cap at 8 players max to keep things from being too crowded.) - I'll decide fast enough later, but provisionally, if have 5 players and thread is inactive for 48 hours, game starts- new one opens. Will pick middle-road map between Aran and whatchamacalit.
Oh, and whatchamalit map- prefer wrap-no-wrap?

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

oh, sry only been in one multiplayer game, huh, that makes it a lot easier, cool, can't wait till it starts!!

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Actually you're right LP, people don't need to post e-mail addresses for my games.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

LP--

Clue me in--I'm still new to this--what's the significance of Epic Heros?

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Epic Heroes is a balancing mod that adds a few very well made heroes to nations.
Unfortunately, the heroes are vastly different in power - some are game altering,
and can rush and destroy a nation, others are nice, but don't affect the nation's
strategy. In addition, some have summons that become your nation's strategy.

If you disagree with the author's views on nation balance, you may not enjoy
playing with it. Check it out before start an MP game. Especially check out
both the free and the deliberate summons.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

There is also a Worthy Heroes mod thats a bit less powerful- that's standard on most of LLamabeasts games. Also worth checking out.

I'll link to em so you don't have to search. Just check this post again in about 20 minutes or less. It'll be edited in.

Edit:
P.S. In epic heroes, the nations START with their hero. In worthy, they have to come by it the old fashioned way, so no misfortune 3.

Worthy Heroes:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...;Number=470523

Epic Heroes:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...;Number=516789

The Mod List: (Has quick summaries of mods, and more)
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...;Number=495854

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Count me in. Ill get back to you on my nation...

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Concrete Atla Stats
Middle Age

Requested Mods (need to be approved by players)
Epic Heroes. (voted down)
Nova Deus (unapproved, not likely to happen)

Player list for Atla (3 confirmed, map will scale to match total number of players, up to 8).

Bandar Log - Aethyr
Machaka - Juzza
Shinuyama - The_Tauren13
Ulm - Davegg

There is no difference between this and any other PBEM game, just that I tried to preemptively answer any questions that might arise.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Good advice Tuidjy, thanks.

LP--
The Epic Heroes mod sounds intriguing, and I'll give it some consideraion for the future, but I'd like to stick to "vanilla" for the time being until I've honed my ability compete in multi-player. If you go with the EH mod, I'll have to sit this one out.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

I'm against Epic heroes, I don't really like it, I'd suggest the Nova Deus II mod, but I'm not sure if many people have it. All it really does is add new sprites to current pretenders, it adds a few new pretenders, but their nothing special. It should be on the mod list back up the page a bit, or on page 2 if this is on page three.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

So, Ill take shinuyama (sp?), if its available. Any idea when we might actually start? Ill need a bit to try and come up with a pretender, but I can just wing it if we can start any time.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

My current policy on the game is two part...
48 hours from the last serious activity on the thread, give or take a few, or when people start clamoring for me to hurry up.

So... two days from now, if no-one new shows up looking to join? Looking like we'll have three players, so I'll pick a small map. Prefer wraparound or edges?

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

edges!!!! and small maps!! yay!!!

I alos have my god ready, where do I send it?

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

You will send it to pretenders(at)llamaserver(dot)net, with the subject Atla, though the game is not set up and ready yet.

Does 48 hours seem to long a wait? Perhaps 24 for new members, followed by 24 for pretenders?

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Agreed, see you in 48 hours on a small map with edges.

Re: Halls of Valhalla - the endless battles
 

Atla, eh? Done!

So yep, just send your pretenders to the address LP gave, with 'Atla' in the subject line. You can see who's joined so far on the website (see my sig).

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

I think llamabeast runs a great server system. It's just that if I have a choice between email and tcp/ip I'll go with the latter. They seem like a step backwards from TCP/IP servers.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

As Llamabeast said, Atla is ready and awaiting pretenders. I'll start up a thread for it a bit later, and select a 'b' mythological norse name for the next game.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

If atla is open I would like to play ulm

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

I do believe it is open - go ahead and send in your pretender.

(Hope that is correct LP)

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

ok what age is it?

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

Fine by me. Might have to pick out another map though, since Silent Seas is getting a bit cramped. I'll take a peek at that once I get back. Anyways, four is fine.

Edit: Middle Age

Edit: I'm going to leave this game open for roughly another twenty-four hours, then spin it off into its own thread, and stop taking new players for Atla. Once that new thread is up, we'll set up a separate deadline for pretender submission. But sometime late Wednesday evening, east coast of USA, we'll focus on getting it started.

Anyone else want to join? Last call.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

You could use a random map. 60 provinces maybe. Nothing wrong with a random map. I've had a lot of fun with 4-player games on Gandalf's server, on 50 province random maps. You can also place the starting positions by hand to make it a bit less, er, random.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

Nothing wrong with a random map??? I disagree... I could work on one a bit - they're not that bad, but no actual mountain provinces is a big issue.

That said, I'm interested in customizing maps, but there are two problems. One, you're setting up the game (I might be able to generate a fatherland for you, though, or send a good map your way). Two, I haven't found a tutorial for it yet, and I don't have enough time to fumble in the dark- just enough to fumble in the metaphorical poorly lit room.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

The front page isnt updated with the status of this game. Is it still open? What nations are whose?

My other games appear to be ending and a PBEM wont be too much of a hassle.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

I'll keep that in mind for the future and tidyness. I should have considered the first page.

I have kept the list up to date on page two. I have a bit of trouble linking to a particular post, but here's the particular post...
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...mp;o=&vc=1

Three posts up, open till Wednesday evening.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

Keeping the first post up to date with all relevant information works very well.

I believe the game is still open FAJ. Abysia is still open if you want it. There are 4 other players I think.

LP - In the past I've just changed some of the border mountains to mountain provinces, that worked quite well. If you do that you can send me the map, that works fine. Maybe read the mapping documentation (in the dom3/doc folder), and PM me if you have any questions. I could maybe write a little script to turn border mountains into mountains if you want. Although actually, the in-game map editor would be perfect for that job.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

I have been summoned by the use of my real name

I read thru the thread. Thank you for doing this. It should help fill a need. Some bits and pieces I can add...

On my server: for my "blitz" games (2 to 4 players on 50 prov) Early age games fill up fastest, then middle age. Late age seems the slowest to fill up and start. I sometimes put off starting new low age games just to push players into the late age that has been waiting for players. The games average around 60 turns so beware of starting too many at once or you might fill the server and not be able to start new ones for a month or so

The mid-range games Ive done are very popular (8-15 players on a 200 prov). They fill up fast but they tend to last longer. Im limited on how many of those I can run as direct-connect games but PbEM should avoid that problem. I might recommend that you do not use quickhost on large games. Set it for a specific time that it will host so you can make sure that they do not try to host at the same time and crash the server.

Wrap-maps are a need. We do have a map generator now that can create wrappable maps. If you want to keep games always available then you might want to generate a bunch of those ahead of time to make sure they are playable.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

Happily my server is immune to blowing up from simultaneous hostings, and also has effectively unlimited capacity (100 games?), so there shouldn't be any problems on either of those counts. Thanks for the info Gandalf.

I need to look into this wraparound map generator. Is that paradoxharbinger's one? I haven't followed that closely.

LP - maybe you should split off a separate thread for the upcoming game (especially as I think you now have 5 players), since this one is getting a bit unwieldy.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

I will try to jump in on the next round as I will be out of town this coming weekend. Sounds like you guys are really getting the ball rolling here!

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

Thread for Atla created. Preparations for the next game will begin tomorrow.

Re: Question for non-interested people
 

I wasnt sure. I actually havent blown up many games on my server (and what ones did blow up were more from the MUD game than the Dominions games). But I would hate to get a bunch of larger games started and then on turn 100 find out that its a problem. Ive noticed that some people join multiple games so they tend to do all of their turns at the same time each day. With quickhost, sometimes they end up kicking off the hosting on multiple games. Staggering large games seemed a good idea. Especially with PbEM where a set hour isnt such a problem, might even be preferable.

Yes. He got the wrap part working early on. But Im having trouble figuring out how to get a map closer to what the players are used to. Colors, and land masses, percentage of terrain, etc. If someone comes up with a command string that doesnt look like a kaleidoscope (no offense PH) then I would love it if they posted it. Im sure it has the capability but my hit-or-miss method isnt finding it.