First Post: Suggestions on Nation choices?

Networkingguru · #1 November 21st, 2007, 11:01 PM

Quote:

llamabeast said:
It was an inside joke, just because a week or so back we had two or three threads talking about the monkey PD being bad in excruciating detail. Well, one guy was quite upset about it being so weak and talked about it at great length and the rest of us were just a bit bewildered.

Signing up to MP games is not very hard in fact. The difficulty is just in finding one. The trick is just to look at the MP forum every day or two, and see if any games are advertising players. If they are' just post to say you'd like to play and you'll be started in no time. Games start up pretty frequently, and both me and lch host games for new players quite often (although you will be welcome to join any game).

The IRC channel is largely for blitzes, i.e. "I have several hours free and want to play NOW". Personally I never go on there - I just don't tend to have time.

Games organised here tend to have one turn a day and last for several months. Although it sounds slow, trust me, it gets exciting. In many ways it adds to the experience as you have time to really think about your strategies.

Wow. One turn a day does sound incredibly slow. That's basically PBEM speed. However, I enjoy very large maps, so a few hours isn't going to cut it either. Are there "middle-ground" games? If not, what does it take to host a game?

quantum_mechani · #2 November 21st, 2007, 11:32 PM

'A few hours' is a very loose description of blitz games. They almost always last at least 2-3 hours, and I've played them as long as 8. That said, you will probably have difficulty finding players that want to blitz on very large maps, since 25+ provinces per player past turn 40 can already be nearing an hour per turn.

Sombre · #3 November 22nd, 2007, 12:07 AM

I don't think the IRC channel is mainly for blitzes - a lot of mod discussion, balance discussion and whatnot goes on there. There are blitzes set up too, but that isn't the main thing we talk about.

Networkingguru · #4 November 22nd, 2007, 12:31 AM

Quote:

quantum_mechani said:
'A few hours' is a very loose description of blitz games. They almost always last at least 2-3 hours, and I've played them as long as 8. That said, you will probably have difficulty finding players that want to blitz on very large maps, since 25+ provinces per player past turn 40 can already be nearing an hour per turn.

OUCH! Having never played this MP, I am having a hard time seeing how it takes that long. In the late game, I may take 15 minutes to complete a turn (except for LA Ermor, LOL), but definitely no longer. How does MP work? Does each player take thier turn and then the next player gets to try? I was under the impression that turn decisions were simultanious?

quantum_mechani · #5 November 22nd, 2007, 02:13 AM

It's simultaneous, but as I said, it can easily take individual players close to an hour for a turn (though it depends on a lot of factors, especially if you are in an intense war, careful scripting eats a lot of time).

KissBlade · #6 November 22nd, 2007, 05:09 AM

Amusingly enough you seem to be very very fond of the powerhouse nations. You might consider Pythium next. They seem to suit your tastes for MA. If you want to try something that requires a bit more finesse yet retain the SC/thug feel, Yomi is a nice pick. LA TC is quite good actually. A variety of magics as well as a good amount of strats you can do.

Twan · #7 November 22nd, 2007, 06:47 AM

If you want to try a water nation like the ones you like, Atlantis is a good choice in all ages too (in Early of course, it's one of the best thug nation, with lot of high hp/good prot leaders, but in MA or even in LA the big mages/good hp leaders can become above average thugs, and in all eras summoned Sea Kings are also a good base).

ps : but note that sea nations aren't at all a challenge against most AIs, land computer nations are very unefficient at invading seas, you'll just have to worry about other sea powers

llamabeast · #8 November 22nd, 2007, 08:38 AM

Re one turn/day being slow: For the first 20 or so turns it is definitely a bit slow, but after that tends to feel about right to me. People often play two or even three games at once, but it's important to stagger them, otherwise they all reach late game at once and your head explodes.

Networkingguru · #9 November 22nd, 2007, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Twan said:
If you want to try a water nation like the ones you like, Atlantis is a good choice in all ages too (in Early of course, it's one of the best thug nation, with lot of high hp/good prot leaders, but in MA or even in LA the big mages/good hp leaders can become above average thugs, and in all eras summoned Sea Kings are also a good base).

ps : but note that sea nations aren't at all a challenge against most AIs, land computer nations are very unefficient at invading seas, you'll just have to worry about other sea powers

I'll give them a try as well, thanks. I haven't chosen water nations at this point as I have not played many water-heavy maps, but I will give them a try.

Networkingguru · #10 November 22nd, 2007, 12:17 PM

Quote:

KissBlade said:
Amusingly enough you seem to be very very fond of the powerhouse nations. You might consider Pythium next. They seem to suit your tastes for MA. If you want to try something that requires a bit more finesse yet retain the SC/thug feel, Yomi is a nice pick. LA TC is quite good actually. A variety of magics as well as a good amount of strats you can do.

Yea, I tend to like armies consisting of small numbers of big troops, mostly because they rarely fall, so I don't have to worry about attrition. I'm playing MA man right now, and while I am enjoying it, I have to replinish the army much more often than I would like. Also, someone keeps dropping an arrow or two from the sky every turn and killing my stupid crones, which is highly annoying.