Aridia- LA game for intermediate players

[Deadnature]

We can play out this last turn if you all want, but as of this turn "44" I still control six caps with no breached walls, so I think its impossible for me to lose now. To be honest, even if the game was to go on for several more turns, I could probably still hold any given fort by virtue of gateways/mass-cloud-trapize/remote summoning and so on, but you guys fought a really good fight nonetheless.

So let me know what you all think, we can call it now or wait for it to become official after we process the next turn.

[Groundworm]

No need to wait, we can call it now. I get the feeling that even if I had managed to take the fort by now, I'd still lose the game by a long, drawn-out process of you taking over the entire world.

Deadnature, you played a very aggressive game. You started conquering nations early on and basically never stopped until you won. You provided all of us with opposition that I we could not overcome; you not only fought against five of us at once- you *defeated* five of us at once. Your strategies were dynamic, solid, and well-utilized, and to say that I am impressed is an understatement. Extremely well done. I sincerely hope to one day be able to play anywhere near as well.

My compliments to Yandav, as well... until the last turn of the game, I could not finish you off. Your battle magic was fearsome, and I had no way of dealing with you short of domkilling you (which I was working on). You also played an excellent game... I think that had I not attacked you early, you would have been far better than me at effectively opposing Midgard.

I, on the other hand, feel like I did very poorly in comparison. I couldn't deal with Bogarus even though he had almost nothing left. This last turn was an extremely bitter experience of watching my three of my expensive thugs die to one single mage each. And, all the while, I was utterly incapable of breaching even a single fort... something Midgard did with apparent ease over and over and over again. While my early game was sound, my overall play was a great disappointment to me.

Does anyone oppose me declaring this game over?

[tratorix]

No objections here. The outcome of this game has been apparent to me for a while now. Very well played Deadnature, you seized the advantage early and never let up.

[Deadnature]

Good game guys, I'll post an ARR of sorts in a bit, but as was said, naked aggression was the cornerstone of my game; once my war started it never stopped until it was being fought on every front, early game lightning and infantry got me going, and later I mixed in some other things. But combat-air-magic and skinshifters essentially remained the backbone of my forces for the rest of the game.

One reflection I could make about what was said on me conquering forts with such ease:

What surprised me was that none of my adversaries whom I attacked (C'tis, Marignon, Jomon in that order) tried to hold out for a costly siege battle. Each of those foes opted instead to try to take on my overwhelming forces in the field, (except Marignon, who seemed to take a half measure on this approach, leaving a large force in the east). This meant that sieges were even faster and much less costly.

I'm not saying this was a bad idea, since to win one can't stay bottled up in forts. But in this case it played directly into my hands, since a field battle was exactly what my higher-quality/more-numerous infantry wanted.

Jomon did come close to winning a few field victories, but was too vastly outnumbered by the time the hordes of skinshifters got to him.

Plus sailing was perfect for this map and my starting position, so that really sped up the conquest as well.