[IndyPendant]

I still haven't been able to research much at all. So I decide, this time, to change that. I basically rant and rave at Oceania a while, promising to drag him down with me if he attacks anwhere other than my southern territories, and apparently intimidate him enough to succeed in stopping his advance beyond those southern provinces--which have all been taxed at 200 for like 20 turns (hey, I didn't actually think I'd be *keeping* them that long! : ), causing 300+ unrest (that's how I did it, btw, Oceania...: ) Oceania doesn't declare an NAP or anything; he just...stops attacking me. Bad news is, he gets Hellheim's capital, and the final kill. Ah well...

And I begin to realize that I just have not been enjoying myself lately. I've been spending more time in Private Messages than actually playing the game, and I'm a builder at heart, not a warrior--yet all I've done this *entire game* is fight, fight, fight, and...oh, btw, fight.

Around this time, Tien-Chi begins sending me PMs asking if I'm okay, and if there's anything he can do to help. I guess he was nervous, watching my province-graph plummet. What he didn't understand was that a) I didn't want to fight anymore, and b) the only way I could avoid fighting was apparently to STOP HAVING THE MOST {CENSORED} PROVINCES! : ) Yomi ends our NAP, but says he isn't interested in attacking me; he just wants to jump on my corpse if it looks like I'm going down, without feeling guilty about breaking his word. --Oh, and could I be so good as to tell him if I'm going down, so he can snap up some of our neighbouring provinces, and not 200-tax them into oblivion?

*blink*

I...have to laugh. He's direct, I'll give him that!

So I make use of the break by building mages. Screw the army, I need to research, and I want to build, and I have only limited funds...so I'm building. Start producing Eagle Kings and Harab Seraphs. And...notice that the disease messages I have been getting are continuing. "This province loses xxx population to disease." Wait, what? I had assumed that was Hellheim! But Hellheim is dead! --Hrm. Then my *leaders* in my castles finally start to get diseased, not just random provinces. I go heavy on the patrols in my home castles.

And lo and behold, expose a Harvester of Sorrows in one of my castles--and owned by C'tis. That turn, he sends me a private message stating that the Harvester was on its way to Yomi, and sorry about that. Now, take a look at Mara; the Harvester was exposed in the Kingdom of Dhara (69). Notice anything strange about that province? Yep, it's not on the way to anything! When I call C'tis on that, he starts babbling about not knowing there was a castle there, cuz the Harvesters fly-3. And that he 'didn't know' they would cause diseases so fast; I guess by that, he was trying to say that he figured if he kept them moving, they wouldn't cause harm. Yuh huh. I threaten him out of my lands--and since he apparently didn't want a war with me at that time, he complies. I pretend to be 'mollified'--but I don't pretend well. I'm not mollified all that much, and I'm pretty sure he knows it.

So much for the 'alliance'.

And my 'fun' meter drops down another notch.

I'm realizing that my attempt at researching and building leaders is pretty much too little, too late. I don't have any real gem production, I'm too far behind on research, my army is the second-weakest in the game, and I'm spending half my time stomping rebellions. And yet...a strange lull sets in, for everyone. No one attacks anyone.

Yay! I can build!

C'tis tells me he's ended his NAP with Yomi, and he'll be attacking in three turns. Will I join him? *sigh* Yeah, I will...but since I no longer trust C'tis at all, I'll be waiting for him to attack Yomi, thenkyouverymuch. And...lo and behold, three turns pass, and C'tis doesn't attack Yomi! Oh, and look! Now that I've exposed C'tis, the "Diseased Province" messages I have been suffering for over a year have completely stopped! Shocker!

Meanwhile, Oceania is building more and more forces on our borders, and Tien-Chi is slowly coaxing me into a mutual, simultaneous strike against him. I agree, cuz Oceania is the biggest threat atm--but I'm made nervous by the fact that C'tis is *also* building on my borders. Both his Harvesters sit on our mutual border, there a ton of chariots in the middle province, and his castle has a huge number of summons. We have an 'alliance', but would he hesitate to break it if it would suit his needs? Yeah, right. Yomi has really given no indication he would attack me--but he also has huge armies on my borders, and he and I don't even have a working NAP!

For no particular reasons--nothing anyone has done, in particular--my 'fun' meter slowly ratchets down a bit more. I begin to think that maybe I'm just...getting burnt out.

I decide to try one last tactic. I've researched Evocation-7, Construction-6, and Alteration-7. Let's try boosting my Eagle King's air magic, getting a couple Staffs of Storms, casting Mist Warriors, and nuking everything with like 20 leaders and 80 Iron Crows. Meanwhile, my elephants will go underwater. We get it timed up, and I move into position, finally ready to coordinate with Tien-Chi. Tien-Chi mentions that he has been moving forces into a province that neighbours two of mine (alarm bells), positioning himself so that he can 'pretend' to be attacking me *alarm bells*, but we will attack at the same time *ALARM BELLS*.

And...I just don't care all that much, anymore.

Which is probably why I move my flier-army, but in rearranging my magic items, accidentally cancel my underwater-elephant army's move orders. Tien-Chi sends me a 'what-the-heck?' message, but I'm already too nervous about Oceania. They're going to attack me. So I tell him he can join in on my attack if he wants, or wait a turn while I prove that I will attack Oceania. Since C'tis *still* hasn't attacked Yomi, 8-10

And--despite the fact that I have *no* armies on his borders--the same turn my flier army destroys one of Oceania's, and move my elephants into position for an underwater strike--Tien-Chi takes two of my provinces. Yep, *my* provinces. Not Oceania's. Shocker. Again. Tien-Chi sends me a message along the lines of "you were taking too long, so I figured you weren't going after him, and attacked you instead". Yuh huh. Just another filthy liar. And, just to add icing to the cake, barbarians rebel that same turn. For like the 1293847123947th time this game. In one of my home castle's neighbouring provinces.

Still, there's a little good note in this--I now want to destroy Tien-Chi. C'tis might, just possibly, have *somehow* been telling the truth earlier. Tien-Chi's betrayal is unequivocal and total. A brief resurgence of interest in the game! I send a PM to Oceania telling the absolute truth--that I had attacked him preemptively cuz I knew that he would be attacking me soon if I did not. That I no longer *care* if I win or lose, so long as I get to take down Tien-Chi in the process. That I even would offer him to join me against Tien-Chi if he wants. Oceania says he's going to 'take a small bite' out of me first, then hop aboard. I warn him that I won't tolerate more than a truly small bite; if he wants some vengeance, that's understandable, but unless he wants

And, well...you all know what happens. Next turn, Oceania's 'small bite' is like 1/3 of my provinces. Tien-Chi destroys 1/3 of my armies, Oceania blasts the leader-army down to roughly 3/4 of its strength. C'tis moves his Harvesters back into my provinces. I am no longer a contender in the game. I could repel Oceania *or* Tien-Chi--but not both. I'm done. Kaput.

Thank. *GOD*.

These MP games have soured Dom3 for me, for a while at least. I'm just not good at MP games with strangers. Too much betrayal, backstabbing, and downright vicious evil. It's just...not my style of game. I'm going back to GalCiv2 for a while. : )

More power to you. Have fun, the lot of you.

However, one thing about this writeup: it's been both cathartic, and head-clearing. You know what? I'm not going A.I. yet. I'm not going to make it that easy for you.

Yomi, you've been the *only* one that's stuck to your guns and played completely fair. (Oceania, you came close, but...I just can't forgive that last landgrab. And I did make you a promise I intend to keep to the best of my rapidly-reducing abilities...: ) So this turn, I'm giving you everything I own. Go ahead and take my provinces; I'll fight to the death against the others, but let you have whatever you can conquer without a fight (including the castles). (Assuming you're interested, that is!)

I lean slightly in favour of Yomi's winning. Oceania is a close second--but I did promise I would do my best to take you down with me if you attacked, Oceania! Since I can't do it myself, I'll try to help Yomi do it. Keeping my word, and all that. But, best of luck you two. May the best player win.

I certainly have learned a *lot* from these two MP games. (Including the fact that I hate them. : )