Newbiegame3 , evil error

[The_Tauren13]

Panther has agreed to let me play this game instead of him. (We have the same CD key between us so us both being in the same game is, while not undoable, somewhat of a hassle.) I'll be playing man.

[Lex]

hmm.. I was looking at the map some more, and I noticed that Soapyfrog (playing Mictlan) currently has the entire Southern Hemisphere to himself! We definitly need 4 more players! (remaining races are Arco, Atlantis, Pythium, Ulm, Ctis, Marignon, and Machaka)

[Soapyfrog]

Hey, I am Mictlan I need every little advantage I can scrape up!

I figure if I can make it past turn 30, we'll have a GAME!

[Huzurdaddi]

Oh, and how do you spot a "special" province?

Well I know of only 2 ways:

1) they have freaky troops in the scouting report. That usually means something is up.
2) You can simply look at the map file. That will also tell you exactly what is defending the province.

Oh and I just tried Diabolic Faith Marignon. Not Bad. With a very heavy bless (F9S9) they are not too horrible. Of course this means that you have no SC. And that's really, really bad.

[Huzurdaddi]

2 air only costs Pythium 250 gold. 1 Theurg and 2 communicants gives you more magical power than a single Arch Theurg.

Well yes and no. You have to realize that those communicants are *dead* if the battle goes on for any amount of time. If you have access to releif then they will survive a little longer, perhaps until turn 10. But then they are dead. And there is really nothing that you can do about it.

I have learnt my lesson with them. Make sure that when you use them the battles are short and sweet. This means pull out the biggest guns you have as early as possible. If you have research shimmering fields, bLast away. If you have nifel flames bLast away. You can control the exact endurance useage for the 1st 5 turns. And you probably can get your communicants to survive that time. If the battle goes 10 or god help you 15 rounds they will never survive.

R'lyeh and Atlantis

I would rank R'lgeh quite a big above Atlantis. They are really a 1st rate nation.

The blood nations can also be very powerful given time thanks to things like the devil commanders and soul contracts, along with the very nice blood items.

Indeed. Few nations scare me more than Blood nations that are able to sit for a while by themselves. They scale very well.

Really, the only nation that has a lot of trouble as the game goes on is the two standard themes of Ulm.

I would say Ulm, Atlantis, T'ien Ch'i and Matchaka all suffer as the game goes on.

Oh and probably Pangea, but not on this map. Hellkeep if they can keep it away from Ermor would, I figure, make all of the difference in the world. I know I would base my pangea strategy ( if I had one ) around getting that province and keeping it.

Arco, Atlantis, Pythium, Ulm, Ctis, Marignon, and Machaka

Only C'tis and Arco are really near him from that list. But it would be nice if those two nations are taken. They are both great nations. It's a shame to play without them.

And I *suppose* we need an atlantis if we have a r'lyeh.

Oh and hey, Pythium is taken!

[Tannath]

Hi, I would like to play Pythium, but as it is already chosen I'll try Arcos.

Thank you

[Graeme Dice]

Huzurdaddi said:
Well yes and no. You have to realize that those communicants are *dead* if the battle goes on for any amount of time.

Which doesn't change the equation in any noticeable manner. Two communicants gives you the ability to cast more than three times as many spells as many spells as the master could normally cast. They are also cheap enough that you can afford a dozen a turn.

If you have access to releif then they will survive a little longer, perhaps until turn 10. But then they are dead. And there is really nothing that you can do about it.

Sure there is. You buy more in your wizard's tower.

If the battle goes 10 or god help you 15 rounds they will never survive.

As long as you have enough to bring the fatigue cost for any particular spell down to 1 per cast, then they can handle 5 spells per turn indefinitely. It's a matter of how many masters you have.

I would rank R'lgeh quite a big above Atlantis. They are really a 1st rate nation.

R'lyeh loses to Atlantis underwater due to its inferior troops in the early game, and loses in the late game due to its inferior mages.

I would say Ulm, Atlantis, T'ien Ch'i and Matchaka all suffer as the game goes on.

Atlantis has access to the highest astral income in the game more easily than any other nation. They should have little problem keeping up in the end game as they can reach the 100 clam benchmark at turn 51 using only their starting gem income. Shorter if they use the hammers that they'll have fairly soon.

T'ien C'hi is weak only if you don't use their superior forging ability and have to go up against a nation with astral magic.

Machaka has great counters to just about everything, but needs to build large armies to make it work. They also have as much gold income as they need to build these large armies once they get their fever fetish production going. Webs and tangle vines are great for killing SCs, and Machakan hoplites are the best human troop available.

Oh and probably Pangea, but not on this map.

Pangaea should always make use of its blood magic. Earth stones are a great investment for them. They can also swamp SCs with a horde of Lamias.

[Lex]

Huzurdaddi said:

Well I know of only 2 ways:

1) they have freaky troops in the scouting report. That usually means something is up.
2) You can simply look at the map file. That will also tell you exactly what is defending the province.

Oh and I just tried Diabolic Faith Marignon. Not Bad. With a very heavy bless (F9S9) they are not too horrible. Of course this means that you have no SC. And that's really, really bad.

i just looked at the map file, and almost everyone's got at least one special province near their capital, EXCEPT for Caelum!! what an outrage!!! the nearest specials are like right smack inbetween Ermor and Pangeae or between Pangeae and Vanheim! Talk about asking for trouble!!

(and I'm guessing that "special" provinces basically have alot more magic sites then normal provinces)