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I did read with amusement about the free dwarven hammer and gems from Vanheim to Caelum. Those two races were originally begun by boyfriend and girlfriend and that is the way they always play on those occasions when they both join the same game. They are always allied on day 1, they never attack each other, they give gems, money and artifacts freely between each other, and they will assist one another as needed throughout the course of the game. It is kind of sad that they felt the need to do that in a game that is supposedly for fun only.
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Panther, I think you are missing a big part of what a multiplayer game of Dominions II is about. There is something called 'diplomacy'. It involves setting common goals, making common decisions, and implementing coordinated plans... all of this for a common benefit.
I know that you think that me and Petar are cheating by 'allying on turn one'. I have written more than I care to admit trying to explain exactly what our
non-agression pact entails, how much weaker than an
alliance it is, and that I cooperate less with Petar than with any other ally of mine.
Still, you continue to slander us, any little chance you get. You and Cohen, two of a lousy kind. You both have suffered humiliating defeats, and you will go to any extents to somehow explain your pathetic showing with anything but lack of skill. I am really tired of you dragging our names through the mud. Petar and I no longer play MP games together but there is no shutting you up, is there?
Let me tell you about the Last game I played... as an example of the kind of diplomatic relationships I often enter.
I found C'tis capital early on. There still was a three province indy layer between us. I messaged him and offered a fair division of all the indy provinces between us. We agreed on a non-agression pact and started trading at once.
Soon afterwards, we pooled our death gems, in order to forge path boosters and throw a 'Well of Misery' up. We shared the death income from the global until it was dispelled. We coordinated our globals, for example he let me keep a Gift of Health until my pretender was healed, and then I left the slot open when he needed to heal his Tartarians.
When the nearby world war about produce a clear, powerful winner, we coordinated an attack on Jotunheim, and split him among ourselves. This forcibly pacified everyone else, as the leading nation stopped rolling its enemies over, and brought the troops home in case we kept going beyond Jotunheim's borders.
Afterward, we exchanged spy information, coordinated our covert sabotage of Abysia, while, of course, maintaining our trade. Eventually, the cold war became hot, and when Abysia was pressing C'tis pretty hard, I was supplying him with air gems, staff of Storms, and anything that he could use to turn the tide... at a time he could not afford to pay me at once. When he handed the main devil army a sound defeat, I like to think it was at least partly because of my help.
Well, I was not sitting idle at the time - I had taken over Arcocephales, and then in two or three turns left Pythium with nothing but besiged castles.
At that time, C'tis realized that I was the one to beat, and allied the surviving nations against me... but until that time, we were communicating daily, coordinating our moves and we were stronger for it. And, I assure you, C'tis was not being played by my boyfriend.
In another game, which I am playing right now, I have just a strong an alliance with another nation. We agreed on common borders before turn ten, we trade extensively, we are crushing a common enemy, and we have coordinated pretty much every attack since the beginning of the war. It has happened that one of us was late in a trade, and it is ok. And again, this is a third player, not my boyfriend, and not the C'tis player from 'Live and Learn'.
This, dear Panther, is diplomacy. It helps two nations become stronger by negating each other's weaknesses. Unless diplomacy is expressely forbidden by house rules, it is madness not to trade and coordinate as much as possible. I play Vanheim, and I have found that being the friendly smith is a great way to smooth the bumps in the road to victory. I scout extensively and try to draw borders that are mutually agreeable. I hate early wars, and unless an agressive player like Cohen inflicts them on me, I stay out of them...
And you constant harping annoys me a lot. I do not mind it when people are wary of me because of my victories. I do very much hate it when someone tries to dismiss my successes with 'oh, her boyfriend helped her'.