Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (in progress)
 

Oi people, this is to be my first hosted game on LlamaServer. Huzzah! I'm hosting a game, rather than just joining one, because I want to try out some slightly unusual settings, the most controversial of which I will mention immediately so as not to waste your time: This game, as the title suggests, will be set on quickhost, with a time limit of... DUH DUH DUNNHHHHH.... six days.

No no, I do not expect turns to actually take six days! I will take my turns almost as frequently as I would in a game with more conventional time limits, and I expect (but WILL NOT require) that most others will as well. I am a busy person, is all, and I don't like being bossed around by my video games! So I want to try this, to see what will happen. Are you busy too? Then maybe you'll join me! Are you totally freaked out? Then please move along. :)

As for other settings: I want to try playing on a large random map, with ~20 provinces per player; I haven't gotten a chance to do that yet and I think it would be interesting. Also, score graphs will be turned off.

I will default to using no mods, but if people want one then I'll consider it.

Players:

Atlantis - Bananadine
Bogarus - Gregstrom
Caelum - Ephraim
C'tis - LDiCesare
Ermor - djo
Gath - hoo
Man - slayers_ai
Marignon - Executor
Mictlan - Hoplosternum
Pangaea - AdmiralZhao
Patala - Slobby
R'lyeh - Kojusoki

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I guess we won't be waiting for someone to stale 3 times before we make them AI!
My choice is Jomon.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I'll try LA Caelum.

This will be my first multiplayer game, so pardon my noobitude, and if you'd prefer this game to be just for more experienced types, let me know.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Patala for me please!

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

No no - it is important that there be meat.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Haha well declaring yourself as such may not do much for your chance of survival. But you are welcome.

One more thing I forgot to mention at the start is that I want the map to be looping, with no borders. I think you can do that with a random map? Well if you can, then I'm going to.

Anyway I'm going to be Atlantis.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Ill take Rlyeh if you dont MIND :)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I would like to try Mictlan a try please.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Well, if meat I must be, then I hope at least to live past being appetizer meat (e.g. vienna sausages) to become main course meat (e.g. chili dogs), or even, dare I hope, dessert meat (e.g. ...uh... maybe twinkie weiner sandwiches?)

See you all in-game :)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

when are we going to start?

To be honest, Ryleh should be banned, as any nation who lives next to Ryleh will have certainly less chances to win then the others... Ryleh is killing population and making people insane.

So, I wrote that I want to be a Ryleh, but I will have no problems with choosing any other nation.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Well the new patch gives a little protection against R'lyeh, for Atlantis at least, and I guess he'll be the one you'll be fighting first probably.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I'd like to play. I was thinking of starting a slow game myself when I saw yours.

I would like to play Ermor, but if anyone objects, I would take Marignon instead.

Do you know what victory conditions you are going to use?

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I would love to give Gath a run

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

You had me until No Graphs. 8(

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

All my games have included maybe ten or twelve people at least, so I assumed we would wait for a few more unless it took too long, but this isn't one of the things I explicitly intended to explore so I have no strong opinions on it. We seem to have enough to start right away if we had to, but maybe we should wait a little longer anyway. I won't stretch it out too much though. Does anyone have a preference?

I haven't seen anybody complaining yet. :) You're free to change your mind! Anyway this is another matter with which I have little experience (although I do at least know the basic features of the nation) so I hate to do anything as heavy-handed as banning a whole nation unless players especially prefer it.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Haha Ermor and R'lyeh both! Much learning will occur.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I figured I'd do whatever the default victory condition is. Killing everybody else I guess.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I'd sure be interested and a 6 day quick-host sounds like a very good thing for me if I'd survive to the end-game :) Most likely I'd commit some spectacular suicide (I tend to do that...) before that, but if against all odds I'd get there :)

However, LA R'lyeh and LA Ermor are in the game? No thanks, I'll pass :( Maybe next time if you set up a game in a different era or another LA game without R'lyeh or Ermor? :)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Well, I say it this way: I have choosen RlYeh, becouse I dont want anybody else to be Rlyeh:) So if we ban it I will ceratinly switch to other. Your decision. I simply hate when somebody is Rylyeh and is making my pop insane... I will make my population insane by myself:)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

There is a lot to be said for banning R'lyeh in LA games. The whole game tends to become focussed on killing R'lyeh. Even then R'lyeh often wins.

Personally I think they are much less fun to play against than Ermor. Even having Ermor present, of course, dramatically changes the game.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Ok, I'm switching to Marginon with my luck I know I'll either start next to Ermor or R'lyeh.
Like Llama said this changes the game a little.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

So if we agree not to take Emor or Rlyeh, Il take Agartha

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

You and me both. I've never played Ermor in MP. And when I've played Ermor in SP, I've gotten sloppy due to the micromanagement. I figured a slow game would make that less of an issue.

If Jarkko joins, though, I will gladly drop Ermor for Marignon. Or, as I see this is already taken, something else.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Ermor and R'lyeh! Well they will certainly change the game if they are in. Which is both good and bad.

As long as those two realise that the game will be those two against the rest (then when they kill the rest of us off fighting between themselves :p ) and the rest of us realise we can't fight each other until those two are dead then the game will work.

But I have played in two mp games with LA Ermor (and LA R'lyeh is worse!) recently. In both I was next door to them. In one I hesitated to attack when I met them in about turn 5. They attacked me by about turn 10 and it was a slow but relentless death after that even with financial and sometimes military help from others. In another I took over a power early on who was next to LA Ermor. But some of Ermors other neighbours wanted to fight amongst themselves for a few turns before turning on Ermor. Big mistake as Ermor grows much more quickly than anyone else. I was eliminated and not too long after even a grand alliance of everyone else threw in the towel.

So a LA game with Ermor and R'lyeh should play out very differently than an ordinary game. Otherwise it is just too easy for those two assuming roughly equal player skill. I don't mind playing against them as long as everyone knows the score. If players treat these two as normal powers at least in the early to mid game then it won't be much fun or challenge for anyone.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I fully agree.
Just keep in mind that it will be my first MP as Rlyeh. However Im not a noob and Im playing Dominions for 2yrs (MP) :)
I just hate when somebody is playing Rlyeh:)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Well dang people, I guess this R'lyeh business is a pretty big thing to explore on its own. I don't want to make things TOO unfamiliar here. But, you know, a person has to learn somehow, and y'all seem to be taking this in stride, mostly. So apparently this is also going to be my big R'lyeh-and-Ermor exploration game too. I hope that doesn't swamp the other exploration I'm trying to do, but if it does, then I guess I can just start another new game afterward. :)

And anyway, it wouldn't be like Atlantis to refuse the chance to destroy R'lyeh!

Will the rest of us be enough to balance these dangers? I'll wait about one more day to start, unless somebody thinks we should do otherwise.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Can you put me in for Bogarus please?

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

I would like to join as Man.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Let it be noted that although I've been playing this game since Dominions 2 days, I'm not all that good at it!

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Hi, I'd like to play as C'tis.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

Okay, I'll start setting things up with LlamaServer in a couple of hours.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (recruiting)
 

If it's not too late I'd join as Pangaea?

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

One more player, just in time! Recruitment is closed now.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

Closed as of the moment after I added Elos, I mean. :)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

Hmm I've had to learn and fuss about for a while to make my wrapping random map. I hope it's okay!

I am currently uploading a 7 MB .tga file to LlamaServer... over a modem. :)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

THE MAP WILL BE ATTACHED TO A POST I MAKE SHORTLY AFTER THIS ONE.

I linked LlamaServer's entry for the map to my preceding post, thinking I could attach it there, but apparently I can only edit the first post in the thread. And I'm not attaching it to THIS one because I'm having trouble connecting to the forum site.

Anyway y'all can upload your pretenders now.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

Province 38 is impossible to reach. If someone gets spawned there, like Ermorian cultists through an event, or worse a starting position, they will be impossible to reach until teleportation spells and such kick in.
Is it possible to change the map file so 38 gets connected to something?

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

whats the IP address to subbmit the pretender?

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

It's an email game, automated through the llamaserver. Short answer is email your .2h file from "newlords" folder to "pretenders" at llamaserver dot net with the game name in the subject line. See llamabeast's FAQ for the whole story:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35160

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

Thank you - pretender has been sent.
When we start?

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

Ahh what a strange thing. I assumed this was some little mistake I'd made in my manual fiddling with the map, but no, the game actually appears to have randomly generated Tibet or something. Yes, I can easily make that change in my copy of the map, but not in LlamaServer's copy... there doesn't appear to be a way to do that other than asking Llamabeast to intervene. It would probably be an easy change for him to make, but he is a busy guy. I could also change the map, delete the whole game, upload the changed map, and start a new game (a hassle for almost all of us, especially me).

It looks like this is not a big problem, unless, as you suggest, somebody's capital ends up there, in which case I would want to restart... unless it was Caelum I guess.

It seems like it wouldn't be too bad to start right next to that province--you'd maybe miss out on a high-population income source (until you could get in there magically etc.), but, well, too bad. :) A person with that problem might still be better off than somebody who started next to R'lyeh! Dominions is not entirely fair.

Does anybody see any other crippling problem that could stem from this? I don't. You wouldn't own the province unless you actually started there, which is pretty unlikely, so I guess a lot of the random events that could put units there just wouldn't happen, in the early game at least. It seems most likely that if we play with this map, the province will spend a year or three under Independent rule, which is fine, until somebody decides to invest the resources in using it as an interesting, unusual military base. Again, Caelum is a new player, so maybe we need not be too afraid of raptors infesting the plateau. :)

Of course I will look out for this strange occurrence in the future, regardless....

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

I fully agree, maybe except that you dont like Rlyeh ;)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

Okay here is a permanent copy of the map file for the forums! Although who knows whether future game makers will actually want to use it, given its strange properties. (If you are a future game maker, see my previous post for information about said strangeness.)

Kojusoki, we'll start when everybody's got their pretenders in... unless somebody convinces me to change the map first, in which case we'll all have to resend our pretenders.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (registering with LlamaServer)
 

The hosting interval has been changed to 144 hours.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (in progress)
 

Agh, this map appears to have victory point provinces! I see about five of them. How did that happen? Well I guess they won't affect anything, except maybe by spreading dominion a bit... so if you want a cheap, mediocre temple, then I guess you should capture a victory point.

Or maybe they don't even do anything when the standard victory conditions are in force. Does anybody know more about this? It seems like, again, it's something to avoid in the future, but not too big a deal right now....

I'm learning a lot by doing this. :)

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (in progress)
 

I think the VP things are a bug. Come to think of it I should probably report. I haven't really looked into what causes it, but the number of VPs is definitely set to zero, so it seems like a bug.

Like you say though, they don't really matter. They are just weak sources of dominion (equivalent to a Dom-5 temple).

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (in progress)
 

I recently sent private messages via this forum to two players in this game, one in reply to a PM, one in reply to an in-game message. However, neither one appears in my "sent" private message folder. I am wondering whether they were sent or not. If either of those players have not heard from me, send me another PM with your email address, and I'll get back to you. I have definitely received PMs, I'm just not sure I'm sending them.

Thanks!

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (in progress)
 

You have to tick a little box at the bottom (amongst the "additional options)" after you write the message but before you send it to have it saved to your sent items box - which is a bit silly. There may be a better way to do it - but I haven't had the time to find it yet.

Re: Mistletoe - an LA game for busy people (in progress)
 

Thanks! I never noticed that.