Gandalf's bl_nuances blitz

[RamsHead]

OK, here is the bl_nuances map. The game was in EA.


The dots represent the four nations' capitals. Sky blue indicates Acroscephale (PAR), bright green for Pangaea (Ramshead), black for Agartha (Saint_Dude), and yellow with a tint of green for C'tis (Foodstamp).

As you can see C'tis had the worst starting location. They were stuck on the end of a peninsula with only Agartha to expand into. Agartha's position was not much better. With C'tis so close, they were guaranteed an early war. Agartha at least could take advantage of the coastline and could expand elsewhere. Pangaea had the second best location in this game. With Agartha and C'tis sucked into an almost immediate war, they could expand without too much worry. Pangaea started next to some farmland as well as some wasteland, which evened things out. Since Pangaea focused heavily on the White Centaurs early in the game, the mediocre income for them stunted their growth slightly. Arcoscephale had the best location. They were at the opposite end of the map all by themselves with nary a wasteland around them. Now this is not to say that a nation's starting position decides a game, just that it is a good indicator.

War broke out between C'tis and Agartha early on, just as expected. Some fierce battles no doubt took place between them, but Pangaea didn't see them.

Pangaea, after some initial expansion, snuck a White Centaur army into an independent buffer province between Pangaea and Agartha. An attack was about to be launched, but a Black Harpy spotted C'tis on the peninsula as well. At that point, Pangaea decided to search out Arcoscephale. They were expanding as a good pace, and if Pangaea got itself involved in a three way war, Arcoscephale would have lots of time to themselves.

Pangaea quickly found Arcoscephale and attacked them. Numerous battles took place and Pangaea won them all. Acroscephale's armies were fairly large, but they could do nothing to stop the blessed White Centaurs, who had an E9 N6 blessing. Pangaea's Dryad Prophet and her army made it to the Acroscephalian capital, but after several months of sieging, the gate simply could not be damaged.

Around this time Grock, Agartha's Risen Oracle God skilled in Earth, Death, and Astral, was killed by C'tis. Without him, Agartha's troops would be massacred by the C'tissian forces. Agartha retreated most of their forces into the nearby sea.

With the loss of Agartha's God, Pangaea knew that C'tis would soon be at its doorstep. Pangaea's armies withdrew from Acroscephale to deal with C'tis. At this point, Pangaea said it would get Agartha's capital back for them and return it to them once C'tis was either destroyed or sufficiently weakened if Agartha distracted Arcoscephale for awhile. Agartha agreed.

Pangaea battled C'tis around the coastal provinces close to the Pangaean capital. With the Pangaean God, Vega, a Gorgon, leading an army against the C'tissian forces, Zu, C'tis's Shedu God, a powerful Astral magic with some skill in Earth magic, was killed in a large battle when he was petrified by Vega. C'tis's power reduced significantly with the death of their God. The Pangaean forces pushed forward.

Around this time, Agartha had invaded Arcoscphale in the north. This caused Arcoscephale to halt the steady taking of Pangaea's land and deal with Agartha. The Agarthan forces managed to build a lab and fort at the red number one on the map. From there, Agartha quickly smashed the opposition and took Arcoscephale's capital. At this point, Arcoscephale lost its remaining territories to the Pangaean and Agarthan forces, though it would be awhile before Arcoscepahle would be officially destroyed.

Pangaea had anticipated a skelly spamming tactic by C'tis, so the Dryads feverishly researched evocation. At the Agarthan capital, Vega unleashed a mighty earthquake that shatter the C'tissian army and their commander's morale. C'tis went AI. Pangaea would take the Agarthan capital and push forward into C'tis. The army could not put a dent in the Tel City's gate, so the Pangaean army returned to Agartha. From that point on, the Dryad Prophet, the various famous Dryads, and a large Centaur army (many had four experience stars) would remain at the Agarthan capital to keep C'tis bottled up and to keep the capital out of enemy hands.
(more later)