LeafNosedBat- EA game (upload pretenders)

[Edi]

Between the two of you, it is not yet a decided game by any means. Depends on what each of you does with it. I've talked to both of you by PM and at this point I have no secrets left as such.

The place where the game went south for me was when Sniffleheim simply abandoned the game without even bothering to go AI or informing anyone so we could have gotten a sub. I had a NAP with him and didn't check the staling data, which Carkaton, my ally of the time did, thus getting all of Niefelheim's territory.

I should have attacked him at that point without warning, as it was essentially a betrayal of our alliance not to share the information. I'm not bitter about that, but this game would look decidedly different at this point if I had not made the mistakes I did. So I got boxed in, fell behind in research and by the time I got my stuff together, it was too late, C'tis had too much of a lead. A stupid strategic error on my part resulted in the complete annihilation of my main army when he took the province behind me and all of my combat mages died in retreat. Lost well over a dozen of them that way, all with equipment.

The province with the trolls helped me in the early game and has staved off my defeat by a turn or two. Losing my pretender earlier was not a big deal, since he was already mute and feebleminded by that time and recalling him got rid of those two afflictions, which was lucky on my part. Another thing that helped me was having Mother Oak up as long as I did, which allowed enough gems to arrange for the Gift of Health, which turned out to be a stroke of genius and really put a crimp in C'tis's plans when he had to spend a significant portion of one army just to take down my trolls.

The reason I am so friendly with Kailasa is that we have no common border and no hostilities and we've done each other some favors trading items and gems earlier, sharing intel and other small things like that. Aside from some common moves against Vanheim in the early game, I've had little or nothing to do with him despite us being nominal allies.

Another thing that might have turned the tide on a lot of things is if I'd had access to a single astral mage earlier, because it turned out that some of my provinces (one in particular) were crawling with useful astral sites. Finding the Library of Time 20 turns earlier would have made for a VERY different strategy on my part.

Right now I have disproportionate influence on future events due to all the goodies I've got around and the gem stash I'm sitting on because I have no useful way or even capability of spending it that makes any difference to my ultimate fate. So I can give an advantage to someone, but it does not mean the game is decided. Both C'tis and Kailasa have ways of fighting that will make life very, very difficult for each other. Abysia's disposition is really what will decide this, since he has more useful tools to fight a death nation than an astral one.

For C'tis and Abysia the best course is to crush me as quickly and thoroughly as possible while simultaneously attacking Kailasa and trying to get the Nexus down quickly. For Kailasa, well, I do not have a realistic assessment of his capabilities except for the pretender, no idea what mages and other things. My grasp of the monkey nations in general except for Lanka is rather weak.

So, let's see for a while yet. If Abysia looks like he's not coming back, I'll postpone the hosting so we can see if anybody wants to sub him.

[Carkaton]

If I remember correctly, you had rebuked my alliance offer Edi, taking just the NAP. Even still, I doubt I would have said anything about Niefel's leaving. In hindsight, it's something I'll never do again. It cheapened everything I've accomplished since. At the time, I had thought I had earned them by making him quit. But there's no such a thing as who deserves anything in this game. I do apologize about that.

I will say this though, I remote summoned all his provinces after his second stale. I was planning on doing that even if he had continued, feeling confident enough that I had him pinned to his capitol. It's impossible to be certain, but I like to think I would have ended up with Niefel's lands anyway, but probably would have lost a lot of mages and time if he had put up a good last stand. Which would have given you a bigger window to strike.

[Edi]

Could be we made no alliance and I misremember. That's always a possibility. It's been a long while. I think it might have been that I said I do not want a formal alliance to attack him immediately since Van was still alive and kicking and that would have allowed him to put a dagger into my back. It was also with the assumption that Niefel was still in the game. Doesn't matter much. Like I said, I have no hard feelings. Live and learn.

If I'd known about his abandonment of the game, I could have had several armies over the border in very short time, so we would probably have had a race for his capital. But no worries. It's just a game, so once this one is done, we can always sign up for others where we can avoid the things we did wrong in this one. I've made more than my share of mistakes.

[Psycho]

I did not say that the mentors were unneeded, just that they were not asked for. They were some sort of a bribe. Carkaton, we were not evenly matched, you had a big lead in both research and gems and it gradually increased. The nexus is an attempt to gain up on you. At the moment you are still much stronger.

I agree that we should not continue this game without Abysia. If Darkwind doesn't show up, we should search for a sub. Also I would not like to plan and play my turns without knowing what side Abysia is on. Abysia will probably decide the winner.

[Carkaton]

Edi: I just checked the message archive and you said that you welcomed an alliance and NAP. So I messed up there. I'm not sure how I responded because the forum doesn't save reply messages, only original ones. If you have it still, i'd like to see it.

The reason why I remember thinking we weren't in an alliance is pretty clear though, that you didn't want to get involved with a niefelheim war due to their NAP with you. Then Kailasa became friendly and traded with me and my direction of expansion was set.

In hindsight I would have gone the other direction if I didn't get confused, the only reason being that kailasa's heat scales would have been much better than your cold scales on my lizardmen.

Here's the original message(prior ones were in game and i don't have that far back still on my email):

LeafNosedBat - NAP & Other things

From: Edi

Hi,

Regarding the NAP and alliance in LNB: Ulm would welcome such a development. Vanheim declared war and we are slugging it out right now. Van's dominion is ORder 2, Sloth 1, Cold 1, Luck 2, Magic 2, no idea what sort of pretender. Vanheim's capitaal is in province 60. Abysia is located in the southern part of the map and has asked for NAP.

I currently have NAP with Niefelheim and do not expect that to change. I'm sorry I can't help you more, but I'll try to keep Vanheim contained and expand at his expense. Otherwise the danger is that I'll be caught between the rock of Niefelheim and the hard place of Abysia with nowhere to go. NOT a place I want to be...

[Carkaton]

Psycho, I knew where your main army was, I did not need to bribe you. As soon as you declared on Lanka I knew my northern frontier would be relatively safe. I mean it is a bribe, but it wasn't one that I thought would prevent an immediate backstabbing against ulm. I did it as an attempt to keep you happy so that Abysia and you wouldn't team up on me in the end game. Nothing really devious or diplomatically brilliant about that. Oh and if you check your message, you did say that they were not needed

I know that 27 research a turn is not that much and did not give us parity, but I was extending a gesture to try get it closer than it was. I was not going to shut down research to let you catch up, and I knew as soon as you killed lanka that your gem income would catch up.

[Edi]

Don't worry about it, Carkaton. Mistakes happen. I checked my end, it seems like it was that we had more than a NAP but not quite a full blown alliance.