I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Finished (Ulm won by agreement)
 

Greetings. I lurked these forums for a little while anxiously awaiting a PBEM newbie game I could actually join to, yet my patience went dry. So, I jump the gun first!
Up to this point, I played only SP and I hardly can be considered a good or experienced player as I got my entrails spilled out of me by AI several times not so long ago. Does not matter to me, though. Also note that is still one of my fresh games with the CBM mod. Only my last 2 SP games were with CBM and I am still discovering the various changes.

Anyways, this IS A NEWBIE game. I am not going to set some "played game limit" as it looks silly to me, but please do think over if your level of skill will make the game enjoyable for you as well as for example, me (:angel)
Mods:
CBM 1.84
hosted on llamaserver (completely no experience with this either, hopefully I wont commit a sin)

The game is over - Ulm won by diplomatic agreement :) Congratulations to Mightypeon!

Link to the map -> Plane of Rusty Nails v4 - v4 is at the bottom of the thread

Number of players: 11 - final number
Map: will be based on number of players gathered
Era: Middle Age
Strength of Indies: 7
HoF: 15
renaming on
Graphs on
Picked nations
Research: Normal
Gold multiplier: 125
Resources multiplier: 125
Supply multiplier: 125
Diplomacy: Encouraged! Machiavellian type, but with a 3 turn warning before breaking a NAP treaty. All nations are to be hostile to each other at the start of the game.
Turn frequency: I'll follow the general standard here, start fast (36h) and gradually grow slower as the micromanagement rises

Last, but not least: as this is a newbie game I optimistically do not expect to meet problems regarding using of exploits that I stumbled upon reading on these forums. But just for the record, I dislike such behavior. Stay fair, people. If you cannot swallow a defeat, then you will be a newbie forever. In spirit of my previous sentence, please do not go AI after a single major battle lost :)

Looking forward to an enjoyable game!

Current list of players (11) and their nations:


FAJ - MA Abysia, Blood and Fire
Anaconda - MA Ashdod, Reign of the Anakim
krpeters - MA Atlantis, Kings of the Deep
BewareTheBarnacleGoose - MA C'tis, Miasma
jimbojones1971 - MA Ermor, Broken Empire
momfreeek - MA Man, Tower of Avalon
Squeelch - MA Marignon, Fiery Justice
Heinrich - MA Pangaea, Age of Bronze
cool_hc - MA Shinuyama, Land of the Bakemono
Lung Drago - MA T'ien Ch'i, Imperial Bureaucracy
Mightypeon - MA Ulm, Forges of Ulm - winner

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

I would like to join as Marignon.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

Added you in ^^ If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to speak your mind :)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

I would like to join as Shinuyama. Thanks

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

Hi! Could I join as C'tis?

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

I think I've played about 8 MP games, so I'm not a complete n00b but I'm still pretty green (not to mention inept).

If you think its appropriate, I'd like to give MA Ermor a shot (or, failing that MA Jotunheim).

(I am, however, reasonably comfortable with how the llamaserver works, so if you need any tips I am very happy to help, whether I am playing or not.)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

Well as I said earlier I do not believe that skill of a player can be measured simply by played games (real-life experience :D). It's ok. Thanks for your offer of help, I will certainly keep that in mind!


5 players already! I think this is shaping up quite nicely :happy:

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

Hi. I'd like to join as Man. My first MP :)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

It has been a long time since I have played, and I was never terribly good :) Trying to get back into the game, essentially as a newbie.

I would like to join as Abysia.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

Thanks everyone for signing in ^^

Since players began to pour in (which I am happy to see) I think it is ok for us to slowly begin deciding on which map do we want to play on :) I kinda like how the map "Urapparand" looks, what do you guys think? Also Shahrivar or Cradle of Dominion look good to me.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

I would like to give MA Ulm a go.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

I would like to play Atlantis. My experience: I've played 3 MP games, and sucked in all of them. I should be easy meat for anyone with a clue.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

I have no preference on map so just choose whatever you want to.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

With respect to map choice, I like the idea of a wraparound map, but Urraparand is fairly linear (check it out, it's a thin snake working itself around the world). Is there another reasonably sized one with a better shape? The Desert Eye is shaped well but probably too small, and Orania is huge.

Also, can we leave score graphs on, so I can see who's most dangerous and attack him first?

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

With the way new players are coming in, I think Orania could pretty well be a valid choice. A solid one at that.
Another possibility would be Riverlands (V1.2). I'll propably start a poll in the near future regarding the map now that we have some names to work with.

And graphs are going to be on. It reduces the need of scouting somewhat, and I do not expect many players here to scout that good with the way I scout badly.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

I would like to suggest Plain of Rusty Nails v4. Advantages:
- it is a wraparound map, as requested, which prevents the weird dynamics that can happen if someone gets a corner to themselves
- Calahan has made it a personal crusade to correct the game, and by v4 it is a safe bet that it has few if any bugs left
- fixed starts, so no-one should start in a truly awful situation

I got stomped on this map playing T'ien C'hi, and can vouch that it is a good map to play on :-)

It does however have a limit of 10 land plus 1 sea. At the moment we've got 8 land plus 1 sea, so if we go with this map we could take two more players and then we'd be full.

Edit: Sorry, forgot the link to the map. It can be found here (v4 at the bottom of the thread):
Plane of Rusty Nails
It is already up on the llamaserver (with v1, 2, and 3 ...)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

How many provinces per player are we looking for? 10? 15? 20? We're going to need a lot more players for Orania. But I think we are going to wind up with more than Rusty Nails can accomodate.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

Personally I like big maps (20 provs) Counting 10 players, Orania comes out with 28 provinces per player (...big!) while Rusty Nails comes out with 15.5 provinces per player. RN really dwindles in size if more players come in. It is perhaps a good map for our current state, but not if we get more players in.
A bigger alternative would be Riverlands (with 24.5) that scales itself nicely up to 14 players and anything bigger than that is Orania.
Nah, I am going to set up the poll now ^^

edit: OK, voting is up. Let us see on exactly how big maps we will settle :)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

Pleas count me in as Pangea.

Thanks

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

"Diplomacy: Encouraged! Machiavellian type, with a 3 turn warning before attack"

Could you clarify this? Does this mean that NAP-3 agreements we make must be honored? Or does that mean that I have to declare war 3 turns in advance against anyone I meet, even if we have no other diplomatic agreements?

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

The first option. None treaties are considered unbreakable apart from NAP, breaking a NAP has to come with a 3 turn warning. All nations start at war at the start of the game. Hmm, maybe I could rephrase that in the original post.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

Where can I find Riverlands? Rusty Nails is fine too if we've run out of interested players.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

I found here a "fixed" version of riverlands (called crown5). Sounds like it'd be a better choice.

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=45414

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

The plain of rusty nails is looking pretty likely (assuming no late upsets in the polling!) - that would let us take in one more player (land nation), and then kick off.

When do you plan to make the call either way, Lung Drago?

BTW, I like the formal need to break NAPs, it will add a different flavour to the game which is always nice.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Open
 

You're right. I think I will set up the game on llamaserver now so we can send our pretenders in. In the meantime, we can accept one more player.

Wow thanks! I am happy that this is being accepted. I thought this little rule will help us react to attacks and minimize undefended 10+provinces-at-the-same-time invasions :)))

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders Phase(1 more slot op
 

If there's opening I would like to join with Asdod.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders Phase(1 more slot op
 

btw, could you link the correct map version?

nvm, found it from my study, lying around under the sofa.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

What is the deadline for pretenders?

Will quickhost be enabled?

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Friday 2nd September? I should be able to start the game any day (I turned auto-start off to make sure that all pretenders received are correct) so we can start as soon as all gods are in.

And yes, I will enable quickhost. The way I understood the llamaserver, it can be set in such a way that it quickhosts when all turns are received and also hosts after a set time (which will be 36h at first, I do get the impression that some of you must be from the other side of the globe given the time of replies).


Reminder: Make sure you are creating your pretender with CBM 1.84 turned on.
Link to the map -> Plain of Rusty Nails v4

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Esmeralda The Good Witch of Ermor is in.

Don't be deceived by all those tricky undead, or the whole Broken Empire thing - Ermor are really the good guys! :-)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Sorry, but I have never played multiplayer before, and dont know how this works. How do we join/ find the server, and submit pretenders?

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

You need to go to Game Tools -> Create Pretender God in game menu and send the created file to the server. Please read up on these two posts:
How to join a llamaserver game

How to play a llamaserver game

You can check on the status of the game here: I need More Power

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Pretender in for Abysia

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Just a quick warning on a pitfall to avoid, BewareTheBarnacleGoose. When you create your pretender, you will need to make certain that you have the CBM 1.84 mod both installed and enabled.

You can see the mods you have enabled in the top right of the Dom3 screen when you first open the game. Make sure than CBM 1.84, and ONLY that mod is enabled before you create your pretender.

If you get the mods wrong, when the game starts you will get an error message from Dom3 on turn 1 basically stating that you have cheated and that your pretender has been "adjusted" (= totally nerfed).

Its not too big a deal for Lung Drago to unstart the game and let you resubmit your pretender (the other pretenders stay submitted, from memory), but best avoided if possible.

Once your pretender is done, you can find them in the NewLords folder under saved games (they'll be named after your nation - use the date stamp to find the one you just created). Create an email, attach your pretender, and then send the email as follows:
* address to send email to: pretenders@llamaserver.net
* email subject: INeedMorePower

Hope that all helps - otherwise, keep asking until you get what you need :-)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Rosa Luxemburg is in, for the Proletariat! May the Ulmish revolution succeed with Hammer(s) and Sickle!

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Thanks for the help everyone, but I still cant seem to get this to work. I've tried making a pretender a dozen times, and I can access them if I try to start an SP game, but I cant find the pretender file in the savegame folder. Nor did I see a "newlords" subfile. Is there something Im missing?

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

What operating system are you using?

I've got both Windows XP and Windows Vista, and they both put the file in a different spot.

BTW, it took me a while to work this out the first time, so it's certainly not just you whose had this problem :-)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

On Windows XP my file path is as follows:

C:\Program Files\dominions3\savedgames\newlords

And the pretender (in the newlords folder) will be called something like "mid_ermor_0.2h".

I'll post what it is from my Vista machine (think that Win 7 is the same) later on.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Yes, Vista and 7 will propably have permission issues if you installed the game to Program Files. The "real" savedgames folder that is used by the game could be located somewhere either in

C:\Users\[your user account name]\Documents\My Games
or
C:\Users\[your user account name]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\dominions3

Note that AppData folder is most likely a hidden folder, so you need to turn "Show hidden files and folders" on through View tab in Tools -> Folder Options, accessible by pressing Left Alt in Windows Explorer.
If you want to avoid having your OS use these strange paths, there are two options: either do not not install games in Program Files folder on Vista/7 or explicitly start every game as an Administrator.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Thanks everybody, I finally got it. Just like Lung Drago said, it was in the AppData folder. The Barnacle Goose has been sent it, so..., um, beware it!

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

All pretenders are in and with correct nations, so on Friday, 2nd September at 0:00 of Earth's GMT+1 time...

It has begun!

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Just wanted to say, I love the name and the theme. :-)

Given that Ermor's policy is to liberate the Proletariat from the drudge of every day toil by setting them on fire, then stabbing them repeatedly and finally raising them as undead minions to serve in the legions, I can only hope that we will have a happy and meaningful diplomatic relationship going forward Ms Luxemburg!

- Esmeralda the Good Witch of Ermor, aka Class Enemy Number One

(Edit: The above is entirely tongue in cheek, no offence intended and hopefully none taken.)

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

I'm trying to update from 3.26 to 3.27

----------------------------
Dominions 3 has not been totally updated because of the following reason:

The access to the following file is denied:

dom3.exe: error - cannot replace, denied access
----------------------------

Yes, I have Vista. Vista sucks. Now what?

I'm going to try moving the whole dominions tree out of Program Files and see if that works...

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

If that fails, I think you can right click on the update exe file and run it as administrator, which should in theory get around the problem.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Moving the directory tree to C:\ worked -- and now I don't have to deal with VirtualStore anymore either. Yay!

But thanks for the rightclick/administrator idea. That might be helpful in the future.

I'll have my turn submitted shortfully. Thankfully, it started me in the big lake. Does that mean Ryleh and Oceania start in the small lakes? Or does the 1 ocean player limit mean he always starts in the big lake?

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

Dear Esmeralda, the world is known to flow as a river, in it's set direction, at it's own pace. Life comes in and out of our world in it's own natural way. It isn't wise from a man or god alike to be fighting the flow. Unlife is only an illusion of life and it is a serious imbalance in universe. People of T'ien Ch'i, followers of The Way, are akin to protect the balance of this world by their own choice, and they will do so. Please keep that in mind.

Best regards,
Ariasa, the Two-Spirited, Four-Handed God-Emperor of T'ien Ch'i

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Running
 

The rivers will flow as blood, against it's set direction, at my own pace. Life comes in and out of our world at my discretion. It isn't wise from a man or pretender alike to be fighting this flow. Hope is only an illusion of the doomed and it is a fleeting novelty of this universe. People of this world, followers of The Pretenders, are akin to sheep at the slaughter. There will be blood.

Best regards,
Big Red, the Beginning and the End, The Man Eater

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Running
 

By all that is sacred...this is blasphemy! This is madness!

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Pretenders phase(closed)
 

The map seems to be fixed starts, so presumably that means the water dude always starts in the same spot?

Mind you, last time I played we didn't actually have a water dude.

Re: I Need More Power! - yet another MA newbie game - Running
 

I am a man. But I am also on a horse.
I AM MAN ON HORSE.

Prepare for something that is perhaps not quite unlike the Kentucky Derby but you do not have a horse and shall lose.

- Man on Horse, God of being a man on a horse.