ComfortZone - All MA Nations - Running
 

ComfortZone is an All MA Nations game. It is unique in that it's as non-unique as possible in every regard.

The game uses no mods, no crazy settings, and no special rules. In other words, it makes no attempt to compensate for perceived imbalances in Vanilla Dominions 3.

Consequently, it places the burden of balance on the players.

Sure, some nations are powerhouses. Sure, some nations get great starting positions. Sure some nations will turtle, clam, and try to wish their way to victory. In a vacuum, these would be the nations that win. But we're not in a vacuum. Instead our universe is populated by 23 agile, cleaver, & opportunistic minds all expecting to win. Through trade, diplomacy and good ol' fashioned treachery, these 23 are capable of dynamically balancing & rebalancing the game better than any artificial mechanism ever could.

-----------

Excited? Good. The specifics:

Setup: Middle Age, all nations, Llamaserver PBEM (under the name A1ComfortZone)

All game settings: Default for MA (except for renaming, because it's not really a setting, and HoF=15, because here in America everybody deserves a chance at unequaled obesity)

Mods: none

Victory: "There can only be one." - Dominions 3 Manual, back cover

Diplomacy: "All's fair in love and war." - some creepy rapist
[Note to new players: this means that Non-Aggression Pacts (NAPs), which are very common in MP games, may be broken without affecting a player's out-of-game reputation. In other words, if your pretender is a lying backstabber, feel free to lie and backstab; nobody will hold it agaist you in other MP games. Though the players in this game may think twice about dealing with your underhanded pretender. Also, think carefully before entering into any NAP/alliance; they tend to benefit strong nations more than weak nations.]

Map: By popular demand, we'll be using a slightly modified version of Fallacy, a 330 province map by Velusian. Download from the link below.

Hosting: We'll be using a novel hosting scheme. Full explanation is available in this post. Key points:
- In general, the game will run on a 27hr quickhost.
- The game will change to a 51hr quickhost only when a majority of players vote to do so. Same goes for 75hr, etc.
- During major "traveling" holidays, when most go to visit with family, hosting will be postponed during the travel period, and quickhost will be turned off.
- Reasonable extensions will be granted upon request with sufficient notice.
- You will be PM'ed if you stale. If you don't reply to the PM within 12hrs, a sub will be found.

Advice: This is a game. Don't take anything personally and don't make anything personal. Refer to your enemies by their nation's/pretender's name. Smilie your trashtalk ;). Have fun.

-----------

Upcoming delays:
none

-----------

Current status: Game is running on 51hr quickhost.

Llamaserver status.

-----------

Roster:

Abysia - licker - defeated
Agartha - duncanshriek - AI
Arcoscephale - slayers_ai
Ashdod - hunt11 - defeated
Atlantis - JimMorrison
Bandar Log - Omnirizon - defeated
Caelum - qio
C'tis - vfb
Eriu - zzcat - defeated
Ermor - Quitti - defeated
Jotunheim - rabelais
Machaka - Otherling
Man - cleveland
Marignon - phalent - defeated
Mictlan - alhorro
Oceania - Mithras
Pangaea - Juffos - defeated
Pythium - Fakeymcfake - AI
R'lyeh - MadFrancis
Shinuyama - DonCorazon - defeated
T'ien Ch'i - statttis
Ulm - BesucherXia
Vanheim - Valerius

-----------

Map file: Attachment 7263
Note: You MUST redownload, even if have the Fallacy image previously posted here. It has been very slightly changed to work on llamaserver.
Attachment 7274
Orange dots = caves. Yellow line = unexpected connections due to "fjords."

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

I am in - Shinuyama please!

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

The Fallacy map is pretty good for an all middle age game. Velusion created the map, but I have the map file. if you are interested let me know and I will link it for you.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

DC! Long time, no see (rimshot)! :) Hope all's well, I can't wait to mix it up with you again. Glad to have real-life finally stabilized so that I can resume abandoning it for Dom3.

Xeitor - Thanks a lot. If you get a chance send me the link, but no rush. It remains to be seen if the game will make it off the ground, which you can help do by signing up, by the way. :)<o></o>

Both - The ghosts of Eriu await you both in the Kingmaker afterlife... ;)<o></o>

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

I am unable to resist.

I'll be the fat kid who pees in the pool - AKA Atlantis.


(EDIT - I'd be happy to run the map generator nth times to get a good map, then optimize start positions and whatnot, to your specifications, if you would like.)

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

Welcome aboard Jim!

Now let's see which brave, self-assured soul will take Oceania, the kid who pees in the Special Olympics pool...<o></o>

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

I'll take Ashod

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

Sign me up for C'tis

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

I'll play R'lyeh.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

Heh, took me a second to get that - good to have you back Cleveland. Your sense of humor and eye shield fetish have been missed.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

I made a mod that i play tested in single play called KOA. It beefs MA Man up a tad, but not too terribly much. It moves them from the bottom towards the middle, but in no way near the top.

And it does make Man much more fun to play. I am going to put a link for it in the mods forum after this post. I would love to see it tested in mp.

But I had my hands full playing Man with the mod with jotunheim on ai, so it is NOT overpowered.

I meant to start a MA game to test Throne of Heroes and the Kingdom of Avalon mod(Ma Man) this fall, but Kingmaker has taken its toll on me and I am taking a break from mp after it is done. But if I can do anything to talk you into playing MA Man with the mod let me know.:smirk::smirk:

If not, i understand and I will one day start a similar game and try and twist KO's arm to play MA Man with the mod.:)

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

i've urged myself not to be that kid, well actuaslly i am that kid but only in the doedicurus game so for this i'll be someone else.

i'll take Tien Chi

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

Vanheim, please.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

Would it be alright if I switched my nation to Pythium?

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

Abysia if its still available please.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

I would like to command the mighty hordes of Pangaea to victory.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

Being a newb I'll take the fat kind who's been genecticly fused with a fish (Ocenia fit that left anybody guessing). Never even played them in SP before so it should be interesting :D

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

I'd like Ermor.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

We filled 12 of 23 nations in just 5hrs. Awesome.

Xeitor - Sorry, but it'd be against the spirit of the game to change anything, though I'd personally be very interested in trying out your mod for myself.

Fakeymcfake - You got it. The Pythanese await your orders.

Mithras - Welcome to MP! Oceania has a bit of a bad reputation, so expect a rough row to hoe. If you haven't seen it, I HIGHLY recommend reading Baalz pseudo-guide on Oceania, which should give you an idea of what they might face in an MP environment.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup
 

Oh, forgot to mention this before I left Fallacy: The Fallacy map has a province with no connections, #37. It looks like it should be connected to #51.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

Oh, and I would vote FOR using CBM if you are still considering it.

Though I'm still game if you decide against it.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

I'd like to join with Mictlan.
And what's with the hosting interval? Settings are great for me, but it's very irritating when the interval moves to 48h+ early. (:

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

You are of course more than welcome to use the LlamaServer.

Sounds like this'll be a fun game.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

licker - I'd like to keep the game mod-free, if it's OK with everyone. While the base game isn't perfectly balanced, the cleaver members of this Mensa-esque community tend to compensate beautifully through trade, diplomacy & cunning. But thanks for still sticking around!

alhorro - Mictlan's yours. Re: Hosting. I also hate when the game grinds to a snail's pace by turn 15. But I also understand that some players have important jobs curing cancer and will probably need some flexibility. I've given it some thought, and will post my proposed hosting schedule shortly.

Llamabeast - Thank you very much! I certainly expect it to be fun, right up until the bitter self-loathing that accompanies a crushing defeat. :)

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 10 left)
 

I propose the following novel hosting scheme. I hope to hear some feedback...

In general, the game will run on a 27hr quickhost. 27hr is unusual, but I think it will keep the game @ 1 turn/day longer than a 24hr quickhost would by mitigating the time-crunch issues that usually cause a game to switch from 24hrs to 48hrs. For example, let's say a player begins his turns at 9pm each night. If he submits at 10pm, and he's the last to do so, then the deadline for the following turn will be 10pm. So the following night, he begins at 9pm, and is last to submit at 9:45pm...eventually, like a fossil-fuel-based-economy, this system collapses, and that player complains he can't get his turns done in 24hrs, invariably leading to a 48hr schedule. By setting the quickhost to 27hrs, everyone will ALWAYS have an additional 3hr buffer to micro-script for those important battles, which will hopefully allow for several months of smooth 1 turn/day play.

The game will change to a 51hr quickhost only when a majority of players vote to do so. Following standard parliamentary procedure, when any player feels the game timer should be permanently increased, he makes a motion to do so by posting in this game thread; if another player seconds that motion, a vote will be held: all players vote to either increase the timer or not. Quorum shall be 75% of ACTIVE players, and >50% vote wins. If the vote fails, no new vote can be held for at least 2 full turns. Similar votes must be held to move to 75hrs, etc. Just like in the real US Senate, I suspect laziness will act to maintain the status quo until change is absolutely necessary (God bless America, land of oppor-lethargy :))

There will be 3 exceptions to the above schedule:
1) The game will begin on a Saturday @ 12pm GMT, and be on a 12hr quickhost until the following Monday @ 12am GMT. This is 36hr @ 12hr quickhost, so we should be able to push through at least the first 3 turns during the first weekend, probably more. Given that it takes most cognizent beings approximately 37sec to complete these turns, this is a very reasonable way to get the game rolling quickly. If we fill up soon, we'll start this Saturday (11/15); otherwise we'll start on 11/21. After that first weekend, we'll immediately assume the above 27hr schedule and stick to it.
2) During major "traveling" holidays, when most go to visit with family, hosting will be postponed during the travel period, and quickhost will be turned off. Don't be that guy that skulks off to the john with his laptop during Thanksgiving dinner to check for new .trns. Spend time with your families, come back to Dom3 afterward. Here in the US, the next 2 upcoming holidays are Thanksgiving (11/27) Christmas/New Year's; the game will consequently be postponed from 11/26-12/1, and from 12/23-1/2. If you have any similar holidays, let me know and we'll make similar arrangements.
3) Reasonable extensions will be granted upon request. Kindly give everyone as much warning as possible, nobody likes to get a delay message 4min before hosting. If you feel you can't keep up with your turns, please request a sub early, nobody likes a Houdini.

Thoughts?

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 10 left)
 

Those holiday delays work well for me! I'll be gone from 11/26-11/30 and from 12/20 (a bit early...) to 1/4 (a bit late)...

so I suppose I may need a sub for a couple of turns around your proposed xmas break.

Also, I'm not married in any way to CBM, I just prefer its flexibility in nation design, but as I said, I'm happy to stick with vanilla as well.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 10 left)
 

You may have ascended into the Dominions lexicon with that post - I may propose all my games be hosted "Cleveland style". I would add an idea (IIRC from Omnirizon) that turn reminders be sent out 9 hours in advance so most anyone with average or below sleeping habits has a shot at getting a reminder while still awake.

Everything sounds fine to me.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting
 

i never really got why oceania has such a bad reputation?

itchycentaurs should be the scourge of R'lyeh early game but seem to be overlooked, i mean they are too skilled to be taken out by R'lyehs chaff slaves, to big to be trampled by shambler thralls, and have unusually high magic resistance aswell as being exellent flanking troops to bust those tentacled fellows.

against atlantis they also fair pretty well except perhaps against those lobsters, but there are cheap ways around that.

krakens are an easy way to stop lobsters and with oceania being able to use that nature spell that calls animals depending on the terrain they tend to get a handful of kraken with the usual batch of chaffy sea critters.

later on you have naiad warriors, nice aquatic guys with awe - and they come in groups of 15. And gift of health to give you more of an edge.

and so on and so forth i could keep going on about how you can take out both atlantis and R'lyeh possibly before the late game. Oceania i accept tends to be weaker than the other two late game but they are more than competative early game and have a decent chance mid game.

Mithras embrace you're nature magic, an earlly game n2 thaumaturgy spell tends to work quite well *hint*hint*

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 10 left)
 

*Takes notes*

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 10 left)
 

This seems to be a nice game. Please let me join you as Ulm.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

I'm glad you guys like the hosting schedule, I think it'll be an improvement over the standard. Keep the critiques coming.<o>

</o> DC - We'll definitely use Omni's 9hr warning idea...of course, there's no surprise that the philosopher takes 9hrs of rest each night. :) Speaking of which, where is he? Perhaps with some cajoling...<o>

</o> Nikelaos & Mithras - I found the link to Baalz Oceania post. It should be noted that shortly after that post, Baalz put on an impressive show during the early game of Kingmaker as MA Oceania, dominating the province count with a truly stunning initial expansion. With just a little cleverness, who knows what's possible?<o>

</o> Speaking of impressive initial expansion, with the recent addition of Ulm, we've managed to fill 60% of an all-nation game in 1 day of recruiting. :up:

Speaking of cajoling, start working over your MP buddies to join-in...I'd have no problem starting the game this Saturday if we can fill the roster.<o>

</o>

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

I'm glad that this game is filling up so fast. I have one question though, what map are we going to use for this game?

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

You'll be suprised to hear I was not filled with confidence when I read that thread. Which is a pity because I'm used to Baalz posts giving me a warm fuzzy feeling inside :D.
Oh well I'll do my best. Don't blame me for not being much of a threat to the other two water naations and I'll stick with this and hopefully learn something.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

MA Oceania is even more handicapped than you know! if you do not play with Throne of Heroes, Oceania does not get ANY heroes whatsoever. Shameless plug for my update to WH 1.8 for the Middle Era.:):) I know-no mods. But no heroes:confused: What a sad race with no heroes.

I tweaked the Fallacy Map. Fallacy had 22 players. So let me know if you want to use it. if you do I will see if Llamabeast can download it directly to his server so it is one of the available maps. I may do that in any event as my plan to use it one day myself.

Good luck.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

Actually, I would request that we use Worthy Heroes at least - I don't think it substantively changes the balance of the game in any way (unless Oceania is overpowered suddenly, if maybe they might possibly get a minor hero?), it just spackles in a few cracks. ;)

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

Bah, if you do use a hero mod for the middle age you should use Throne of Heroes rather than WH. Since Throne of Heroes is an update to Wh 1.8 for the middle era only. It is a Turin approved update to Worthy Heroes 1.8. Turin being the creator of Worthy Heroes.

Besides correcting a few bugs in WH 1.8, it does add about 8 new heroes, including 3 for MA Oceania who really needs them. Those heroes were all done by Burnsabre. Shameless plug two:D.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

that's not true?

many times i've gotten triton king multi-heroes as oceania.

okay no unique heros but regardless heroes aren't really anything to rely on as a strength, and they don't seem to change much at all.

Edit: may be because of worthy heroes but heroes still don't really change anything.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

Count me in with Agartha, please

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

may i have Bandar Log?

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

C,
So tempting to join but too many irons in the fire right now. I'll enjoy reading the AARs.
-SSJ

PS Just occured to me. Another crazy addicting game the wife and I play teamed together is "Bookworm". Strangely addicting for us at least.

http://www.popcap.com/gamepopup.php?theGame=bookworm

.... with decent Free trial period. -S

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

Bandar Log please :)

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

slayers_ai it looks like Omnirizon already chose Bandar, though Cleveland hasn't yet had a chance to update the first post (Agartha has also been chosen since the last update).

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

Can newbies join the game? I'd like to join with Eriu but I never played a MP before.

Re: All MA Nations Game - Any interest? - Signup/Open/Recruiting (only 9 left)
 

Marignon please

Thank

Re: All MA Nations Game - "ComfortZone" - Signup/Open/Recruiting (5 left) - starts 11
 

I was delighted to wake up to 18 nations!

Per the opening post, the game is now official. In the no-mods, no-frills, aversion-to-change spirit of the game, it shall bear the name "ComfortZone"

Are there any objections to beginning the game this Saturday, 11/15 @ 12 GMT? This is about 24hrs from now...I'm happy to push it back 1 week if desired.

Regardless, I'll get the map stuff sorted out very shortly, and the game will show up on llamaserver soon, so get your pretenders designed! If you haven't played through llamserver before, here's how: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=35160

SSJ - Too bad! Maybe next time. We shall all do our best to keep the AARs flowing. Oh and Bookworm is definately addictive, particularly for someone like me, who's weekly futile attempts at the NYT crossword leave him feeling pathetic each Sunday evening...

slayers_ai - Unfortunately Valerius is right, Omnirizon reserved Bandar Log 45min before your post, and nations are first-come, first-served. However, Arcoscephale, Caelum, C'tis, Jotunheim, and Machaka are all currently available, I hope you stick around.

Xeitor - If you're still following this, could you send the Fallacy map? I'll start generating some random maps just in case, though.

Re: All MA Nations Game - "ComfortZone" - Signup/Open/Recruiting (5 left) - starts 11
 

Nobody likes lizards? Poor lizards.

I will take the lizards so they don't get any hurt feelings.

C'tis, please

Re: All MA Nations Game - "ComfortZone" - Signup/Open/Recruiting (4 left) - starts 11
 

Alright, the map is complete!

I lucked out with the random map generator, getting a map with 345 provinces (15 per player, with proper proportion as sea) in a "surrounded single ocean" configuration.

Here's what it looks like:
http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3...artsrl3.th.jpghttp://img266.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif

I've made 20 land starts and 3 sea starts (yellow dots), all of which are randomly assigned. Nobody will start on the Southwest landmass, which intentionally can't be reached by sailing. All start locations have at least 6 neighbors, and have at 2 indy provences between the nearest enemy.

The map looked like crap as a wraparound, so I'm trying something interesting to keep the corners from becoming un-dislodgeable safehavens: the 3 corners of the Northeast landmass are interconnected caves (red dots); similarly, the 3 corners of the Southwest landmass are interconnected caves (orange dots).

It's available in Post #1. Please download and check for errors. And please give feedback.

Now to figure out how to upload to llamaserver....

Re: All MA Nations Game - "ComfortZone" - Signup/Open/Recruiting (4 left) - starts 11
 

It looks to me like the starts in the SE corner are VERY tight.

Actually most starts are pretty tight, but the west has a little more room, and it appears as though that SW corner is only accessible by water provinces? And easily defensible by whatever water nation crawls out of the sea first...

Just some observations, not saying I'm rejecting the map.

Also if you plan on sticking to your 12h quickhost for the weekend I will have to drop out, there's no way I can manage that.

Re: All MA Nations Game - "ComfortZone" - Signup/Open/Recruiting (4 left) - starts 11
 

You can't get to the comp twice in the first 24h, and have your first couple of turns memorized, and can do them blindfolded underwater? Are you sure you're a Dominions player? :eek:

Re: All MA Nations Game - "ComfortZone" - Signup/Open/Recruiting (4 left) - starts 11
 

What happened to Fallacy? I haven't seen it before but I have to say that I never have enjoyed playing on these random maps as much as the man-made ones like Alexander or Epotara. This one looks like there are 4 mountains in the whole map...