Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - started
 

Okay, this is an ingenious spin-off thread so I can seize control of the first post. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

This will be a large LA game, probably with all nations and on a slightly cramped map (suggestions welcome). Settings will probably be normal apart from difficult research.

The players so far are:

Abysia - Kristoffer O
Marignon - Johan K
Arcoscephale - Baalz
Utgård - DrPraetorius
Ermor - Jazzepi
Patala - Yucky
Mictlan - quantum_mechani
R'lyeh - Amhazair
Ulm - Sir_Dr_D
Man - Shmonk
Midgard - Aethyr
Caelum - Folket
Jomon - Hadrian_II
Pythium - llamabeast
T'ien Ch'i - Shard
C'tis - Cerlin
Atlantis - SqueekyDragon
Pangaea - Szumo
Agartha - Valerius

To upload your pretender:

- Make sure you have no mods enabled
- Go to Game Tools -> Create a pretender god in Dominions
- Go to the savedgames/newlords folder in the dominions directory, and find your pretender file (e.g. mid_pythium_0.2h)
- E-mail the file to: pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net
- Crucially, you must have the game name 'Sloth' in the subject line of your e-mail

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

To be precise, the only nations left are C'tis, Pangaea, Atlantis and Pythium, while Folket hasn't picked yet.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I dont suppose I'd be able to change my pick to Ctis? For some reason I assumed that it was taken

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Oh, thanks lch, I hadn't realised there were so few left actually. Can you be tempted to play?

Oddly they include three of my five top choices. I guess I must have unusual tastes.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Sure HJFudge.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Very tempting, yes, but unfortunately I'm all booked out already. Burned my fingers once when I got too greedy with playing too many games, now I make sure to finish them first before I sign up for a new one. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif But I could sub for some time if the need arises.

I suppose that to fix the broken things introduced in 3.10, like TC's Ginseng spell and LA Pythium, the 3.11 patch will be released before this game starts?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Aaargh, I am suffering from indecision. I think I won't play Caelum, but one of Agartha or Pythium. Now to choose which...

I think there's a mod that fixes all the issues with 3.10 lch, so we'll just use that.

Edit: I'll play Pythium.

Remaining nations: Agartha, Atlantis, Caelum, Pangaea

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

There will be other things added in the 3.11 apart from ginseng and hydrafixes. These are not ready yet.

I'm in favor of more content in patches, so a 3.11 with just a few fixes doesn't sit well with me. The hydrafix mod should probably be used in the Sloth game. Is there a ginseng fix mod?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I believe Edi's version of Endo's fix mod fixes pretty much everything.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Mapwise, I am quite inclined to use a handdrawn map, since they are lovelier.

Options include:

Glory of the Gods (MP) (274 provinces)
Cradle of Dominion (221)
Orania (279)
Zylithan's The Eight Gates (230) (quite interesting with portals scattered over the map but maybe a bit crazy)

Thoughts? Other suggestions?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I agree about handdrawn maps.

I don't think we should do slow research - it leaves research-dependent nations too vulnerable.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I'll take any LA nation still left (preference towards Atlantis if it's still open).

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

What would be the benefit of slow research?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Slow research would make endgame more interesting, but would make magic boring in the early game.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

... I'm thinking about Then Chi or Caelum.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Folket - shard is already T'ien Ch'i.

I'll pencil you in as Caelum, though of course you are free to change.

SqueekyDragon, I'll put you down as Atlantis.

Remaining nations: Agartha, Pangaea

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

More opinions welcome on difficult/normal research.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

If Pangea is still free, i'll take it.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Cool, just Agartha to go then.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Since research output grows steadily as the game goes on, hard research doesn't do much to constrain the wildness of the late game. It just delays it a bit.

In the early game, though, slow research is a major drawback, especially for a nation with strong mages fighting a bless rusher like I'm doing in Evermore http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

can i play with ya ? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif i am nub and havent played online yet to be honest http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif If you accept me can you please tell me what i have to do to join ? id prefer to play as ctis.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

oh i am too late sorry http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif didnt notice second page

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I'm fine with either, but as long as we know beforehand. I think it just might affect pretender choice http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

However since we are playing LA, wont the lack of gems already inhibit research indirectly?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Agartha, please.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Awesome! Then we're full.

You can now upload your pretenders to the LlamaServer. To do so:

- Make sure you have no mods enabled
- Go to Game Tools -> Create a pretender god in Dominions
- Go to the savedgames/newlords folder in the dominions directory, and find your pretender file (e.g. mid_pythium_0.2h)
- E-mail the file to: pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net
- Crucially, you must have the game name 'Sloth' in the subject line of your e-mail

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

"how do I enable no?"

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Good question http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

(To those to whom this seems like we're speaking in code - I had a typo above. Took me a while to work out what lch meant actually.)

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Llama, when is the deadline to have pretenders up?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Okay, I guess I should go ahead and take arbitrary decisions on the map and research.

So, I think we'll use Cradle of Dominion, because it's nice. I'm having difficulties on the normal/difficult research issue though. I think I will bow to Dr P's experience - I suppose it's true on a small map bless nations will be brutal, and difficult research would leave nations which depend on magic to defend themselves helpless. So we'll go with normal research. I hope Kristoffer doesn't mind too much.

About pretender deadline - I will not have a chance to start the game until Saturday morning (sorry), so I suggest a deadline of Friday night UK time for the pretenders.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

OK

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Magic sites the 35 that's standard in LA, or do we want it higher?
Independents 5? Or higher?

I don't have strong opinions either way, but that's just the settings that are most often changed in MP, so I thought I'd ask.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Not higher site frequency. Indy 5 seems ok.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Indeed - all settings will be default.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I want renaming. It is such a pain not to be able to find mages with a specific random.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Yep, sorry, I always put renaming on automatically now, since everyone seems to like it.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I would prefer no graphs.

Jazzepi

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I would prefer graphs on. Is there a torrent of opinion favouring no graphs to get me to change my mind?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Graphs are free scouting.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I'm of mixed minds about it.

On the one hand, scouting is a lot of micromanagement. If you could recruit scouts and give them the auto-wander command or something, that'd be fine.

On the other hand, graphs give a lot of info that scouts don't give you.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

And scouts give a lot of information that graphs don't. Like where and what the troops are.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I prefer graphs of myself too. I find I enjoy games more with the extra uncertainaty about who's doing what. Not that it's a question of life and death.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I prefer graphs on, as it is a pain in the arse to coordinate scouts all over the map to get some info.(but somehow i always get that pain even when the graphs are on)

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

If graphs are off, QM is at an unfair disadvantage since everyone will assume he's winning and gang up on him even if he isn't.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I would vote for graphs off, just because most games have graphs on. But in this case since the devlopers are in the game, and one of the reasons they are in the game is to help balance the game, it is better to have graphs on.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Just tried a couple of test games. Cradle seems really cramped indeed... Unless you are Ryleh! Won't this just make everyone go for awakened SCs or bless rush from the start?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

I would prefer a map other then Cradle as well. Cradle is the map that seems to be used all the time. And as Shard pointed out, nations will be better balanced on slightly bigger maps.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Okay, it is cramped (deliberately), but I am open to suggestions. Suggestions?

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

It is indeed cramped, but that was the intention. But in the Armadillo game we started with a similar number of players, and of the 5 last survivors we had one bless nation (Mictlan) 2 magic-oriented nations who started with an expansion pretender (Caelum and C'tis), and 2 with a rainbow pretender (Atlantis) or an immobile oracle (Pangaea), so it doesn't look to me like it overly skewed the results.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

Cramped is fun.

Re: Sloth - LA game with KO and JK - recruiting
 

We were more players in the Armadillo game. Full MA. A bit cramped, but it was quite nice. I don't think i would like it much less cramped.

I like the cradle map. I'm for it.

I don't have any playtesting/balancing reasons to want graphs. Either is fine with me. My main concern is to get stomped as Abysia http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif . Perhaps JK have issues.