Aardwark - Finished, Raiel wins!
 

I´m back from Kenya and ready to once more enter the fray!

I have four requirements for signups:
1. Read and sign Baalz good player pledge
2. That you are willing to play and post in character.
3. The diplomacy is not bound to any ethical rules, you may under no circumstance start metagame whining about broken deals, channel that anger into some roleplayed vendettas instead.
4. No delays longer than 5 hours for the first 20 turns(24hQH), the game will start the 12th of august.

Era: Middle
Map: Urraparand (might need to check if start locations are ok)
Amount of players: 11
settings: normal (renaming on, money 125%)
Mods: CBM 1.5
Played on: Llamaserver PBEM

All nations are kosher.

Signed up:

Machaka - Fantomen
Ashdod - Black Sun Empire
Agartha - Ghoul31
Pangea - Jarrko
Vanheim - Aethyr
C'tis - Stattis
Pythium - Starshine Monarch
T'ien Ch'i - Baalz
Shinuyama - Ferrosol
R'lyeh - Raiel
Atlantis - DomDomDom

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

Inspired by my recent journey I want to play the only african themed nation, Machaka.

Behold N´gai. Father of all, the one who sent the cattle and rain to his blessed children. He has arisen to anger and awareness. The cattle has been scattered, the rain falls on the crops of heathens. And the heathens shall fear him, for he comes in two shapes: N´gai Narok the benevolent, and N´gai Nanyokie the vengeful!

All cattle must be herded by his children, the Machakans. The world must bow to his supremacy!

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

I am in enough Dom3 game right now, but I have some suggestions if you want to use the Urraparand map. I played on it a lot SP, and the game is prone to put 3-4 nations pretty close to each other.
a/ designate starting positions manually depending on the # of players.
b/ There's a mod that adds some connections through the straits, as the map is full of chokepoints otherwise.
c/ you might want to turn a few wasteland/mtn into grassland/bordermtn provinces close to some disadvantaged starting locations

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

I would be willing to play.

I'm a new player, but very keen to play. I've already signed the pledge and prefer games with people willing to fight to the end.

Ashdod - BSE

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

I'll take Agartha

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

I'd like to join with Pangaea.

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

Van please.

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

Good suggestion, I´d need someone to help me out though. If no one with those skills sign up we might just chose another map.

So 5 out of ten, I bid you welcome. Feel free to introduce your pretenders and discuss any wishes you might have regarding the setup.

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

I'll join as C'tis.

Setting up what you need for the map isn't hard. I'm no map expert but I've done it before and will gladly help out if you want it.

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

I'll play as Pythium. I'll be gone most of this week and so might only get my pretender in at the last minute.

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

Good. We just need to make sure the starting positions are fairly balanced.

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

I'm in as TC.

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

In as Shinuyama

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

Just one slot left then.

I´ve decided to increase the player count by one and reserve the last two slots for water nations in order avoid a single dominant water power, everyone ok with that?

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting!
 

Then I'd like to play as R'lyeh.

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting (one slot left underwater)
 

Aww come on, no one wants the other water nation?

Re: Aardwark - CBM MA - recruiting (one slot left underwater)
 

Ready to join as MA Atlantis.

Re: Aardwark - upload pretenders!
 

Exellent.

I made some test games and decided the map is ok as it is. In the description it recommends money 150% but I didn´t want it so high so I compromised at 125% so it still offsets the barren map a bit. If a majority wants it at 100% I´ll change it.

So the game is created now, go ahead and upload your pretenders.

The game will be started early morning wednesday the 12th so send your pretender in before tuesday night.

Re: Aardwark - upload pretenders!
 

I won't be playing because I can't figure out how to upload a pretender.

Re: Aardwark - upload pretenders!
 

@ghoul31 (from Llamaserver FAQ):

- Make sure you have the same mods enabled as the game you're playing in (Preferences->Mod Preferences) although only mods affecting pretender design, such as Conceptual Balance, actually matter
- Go to Game Tools -> Create a pretender god in Dominions. Don't set a password, since for PBEM games they're not helpful and occasionally annoying (e.g. if you need a sub)
- 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 in the subject line of your e-mail

A few minutes later you should get a confirmation e-mail, and if you check the website you should find your nation added to the list of nations which have joined the game.

Hope this helps

Re: Aardwark - upload pretenders!
 

Well you still have six days to figure out...:)

To clarify the post above, your email should look something like this:

Send to: pretenders(a)llamaserver(dot)net
Subject: Aardwark
Attachments: mid_agartha.2h

Re: Aardwark - upload pretenders!
 

Ok, I found out what the problem was. Vista stores the info in a strange place.

\Users\[your login]<YOUR name user>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Dominions\".

Re: Aardwark - upload pretenders!
 

Just decided I'd let people know that I've returned from my vacation and will have a pretender up sometime tomorrow.

Re: Aardwark - upload pretenders!
 

I finally had a chance to create a build for R'lyeh; uploading my pretender has automatically started the game. That's not a problem for me, but if anyone else was expecting the game to start on the 12th no matter when pretenders were uploaded (as I inferred from the OP's comments), a delay may be in order. Just a thought.

Re: Aardwark - upload pretenders!
 

That shouldn´t be a problem. I postponed hosting by 10 hours (until the 13th 12:45) so everyone should be a able to get the first turn in before that I suppose.

And so it began...

I hereby officially welcome you to Aardwark, the arena of yet another epic struggle of divine domination.
May your hearts be the hearts of warriors, knowing not victory or defeat but only the joy of battle, the sweetness of death.

This will be the first game I organise, I do hope you will enjoy it. If you have any wishes or concerns feel free to PM.

Re: Aardwark
 

@ghoul31: You have chosen not to receive PM:s. This is your choice of course but I strongly recommend you to enable them. Diplomacy is very important in this game and in-game messaging is quite ineffective, so without PM:s you´ll be left behind (and missing the fun) in all the secret conspiracies.

Also It is good for the admin to be able to send you PM:s about stuff.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

"Let me get this straight. We have two powerful nations to the east of us, and to the west we have several dozens of independent knights guarding the provinces there?"

"That is right, sir. Although the other province guarded by knights has only four knights left, the prophet and his army was able to kill most of them before the knights pierced him."

"Hmm... Send word to Bukefalos. He won't be happy, but he must be informed. At least the main-army is mostly intact still."

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Alas, so soon after I started this game, I must leave again. Chrispederson will be subbing in for Pythium starting Sunday, but I'll be back for good on Friday for sure. Thanks Chris, I owe ya one.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Email changed.

@Chrispedersen: Your PM inbox is full so I couldn´t reply.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

"Sir we've noticed a mad Bull named Bukefalos to the NW and we're also surrounded by Knights."

"Hold position and draw them into your heartlands."

"Sir, Bukefalos is raiding our lands"

"Just wait, we will have the last laugh"

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

"So, let me get the facts right one more time."

"We lost out prophet to knights."

"Check."

"We lost our god to the giants of Ashdod."

"Check."

"Our army is ordered to counter-attack the giants."

"Check."

"Ok, sounds like a plan. Proceed."

"Roger that, sir!"

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

I have to leave for 6-8 days. Fortunately Ano agreed to sub Atlantis from Thursday. I've sent his e-mail to Fantomen's PM box.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Ups, not from Thursday but from Tuesday :)

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Alright, I've got Shinuyama in the water next to me, R'lyeh encroaching on my land on one side and Atlantis on the land to my other. You guys are confused!

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Image my surprise when I find my underwater expansion blocked by Shinuyama's army of shamblers :cold:

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

A most "neighborly" map this is. :rolleyes:

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Ha... you think we're confused? Well, yes, we are. I just found C'tis' pretender - in the water.

"Neighborly" might be a good way to describe a map where my capitol and that of my nearest competitor are seperated by only one province, but I used a few different words when I first realized it.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Just a quick note, this map is very small, hard for a newbie like myself to get started.

Anyway, I need a 36-48 hour extension, sorry people.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Did you read the sign up conditions? It says no extentions longer than 5h for the first 20 turns. I´m sorry if you missed that but I won´t make exeptions, perhaps someone can do the turn for you.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

I'm only a temporary sub in this game but it seems to me that having strict inflexible conditions is always bad for people. Be flexible - it's a key to success in any business:).
Just a side note, nothing more, but I'd never sign into a game with conditions like this. A lot of things may happen in life and who knows where we are the next day. Sacrificing your game due to unexpected circumstances doesn't sound good and good subs are not always easily found.

Once again, just an opinion.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Well, the other side of that coin is that pacing is an important part of maintaining game enjoyment which is why we have set deadlines in the first place. A stale here or there isn't going to kill anybody and the idea of having no delays for the first X turns is that the early turns can be done in a short period of time so it's not reasonable to hold up the entire game over a turn that can be put in in 5 minutes in a pinch.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Hm, maybe that's my personal attitude to staling. I must say I never staled a single time and I'm not going to. But things do happen and not having an escape way may be very painful.
Btw, I'm not agree that stale early on is a lot less important than a later one. Early years determine how your nation will look like after indies are over and 3-4 provinces you lose due to stale always matter.
But, of course, all this is a matter of personal preference. I see absolutely no problem in doing early turns *relatively* fast, I just don't like limits:).

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Maybe a rule that at least two people should ask for each 10-24 hour delay could be better.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

I understand your opinion Ano. But since those conditions were clearly stated in the game description, wouldn´t suddenly abandoning the rule be unfair to those who signed up expecting a fast paced start?

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Well, the rules were posted by Fantomen in the first post of this thread. There are just four rules in this game, so anybody signing up must have read those through. I mean, it's just the first 20 turns, turns seldomly take many minutes to complete.

I for one signed up for this game spesifically because of the four rules mentioned by Fantomen in the OP. If the rules would be now all of the sudden changed, I for one would feel cheated.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

It's only an opinion and small discussion, nothing more. It is your game and, of course, everyone should have read what was written before signing inn. Also, in this particular case, Black Sun Empire's nation is too small for such a big delay.
OTOH, he said 36-48h delay which may mean two stales. Probably that is a bit much.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

What I suggest is probably adding 5h two times which will result in 10h total for BSE to have chance of preventing another stale.
Actually, I don't care much what happens because here my role will (hopefully) end when DomDom returns.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Also, I'd like to add that it is my first game (or several turns) with CBM. And I must say that even in such early stage it is obvious how expansion is eased in CBM compared to vanilla:)
And Atlantis' troops are verygood for the price in CMB at least in terms of expansion. However, other nations' troops may be even better - I don't know.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

Dau shook his head in disbelief. Everything had been going so well. The spider riders taking one province after the other, the fevered sweating red power in their beds, the dark secrets about to be unfolded.

The one eyed giants had emerged unexpectedly from the seas, taking the capital in less than a month, annihilating the machakan armies.

Dau sighed and went back to the construction site of his new lab.

So I have been successfully rushed by Ghoul31(congrats, well played!), I will fight to the end but stand no chance. I have no lab, no capital and hardly any troops left. So there will soon be need for a new admin.

Re: Aardwark - started!
 

If we do end up needing a new admin, I guess it should be someone who isn't adminning another game and, even better, if this is the only game they're playing in. How about we have a show of hands for all that apply? This is currently my only game, but I'd rather not take the job of admin, not while school is so close anyway.