Rattlehead - MA Newbie game (running)

[Skor]

Thank you very much for Alliviate my unkeep, you are a good friend for care my economy.
Seems that finally you will win the war. You see that you don´t have be pessimist.
Congratulations for you victory. Dark Kitty and you had played very well.
I going to resist while i can, but going to be very dificult.
Greeting.

[Belac]

Originally Posted by Num

I am sorry but I disagree : That was a 1 versus 1 when you attacked on turn 87 or 88, and that became 2vs2 on turn 93. I was and I am still in the same situation as you : Stuck between 2 opponents, one attacking some turns after the first one. Like you, my empire is not in its best shape right now. But it is surviving and will cause again lot of suffering before disappearing !
Anyway I agree it would be another story if it would remain like on turn 87 until now.

Skor, the map was a mess, I have cleared a little all of that. You should be thankful, I am taking care of your nation upkeep.


If you get time once finished playing, I would like that all of you will write what you are thinking about the game, Dom3, strategy and everything you want. I will do it and I expect you will do the same...

The difference is, you were winning the first war, and your 2nd opponent didn't smack you down hard right when you were about to launch your 2nd offensive...losing Arcane Nexus and the Astral gems I lost trying to retake it was the killer.

Anyhow, if we still have no active admin I am completely hosed (not that I'm not hosed anyway), as I will again have to stale at least once over the weekend. Frankly, I'm shocked we made it to turn 76 without anyone needing more time per turn, and that it hasn't been that much of an issue since then.

[Num]

Snalltrippin does not answer to my pm, you can try if you want, maybe you will have better chance. I cannot do more. Having an Admin out of the game was a complete noob mistake.

However C'tis Empire is just about to collapse. Numa thought his marshmasters were mastering death but the dead monsters davastating his lands are showing that he was wrong. He has no answer to that threat, far too powerful and unpredictable.
C'tis Empire will defend itself until the end anyhow.

[Dark Kitty]

Beware ennemies of Shinuyama, for the Bakemono sorcerers have grown tired of waiting in their castles and are joining the battle now.

We are sending to C'tis the head of Bellakah on a plate right now, next will be the god of Tien Chi

[Num]

I do not know what the God of Tien Chi looks like, but soon a great battle will surely decide of the fate of his lands, and mine.
There are no more elemental Queen or King of anything serving Belakkah. Lizards have slayed them. Sooner or later the remnants of Machaka will follow, and I hope Skor's people will suffer the same destiny in a few time...

[Num]

Outch !

[Skor]

I think that the winner of the game will be Shinuyama, i´m defeated and don´t believe that C´tis would can win to Shinuyama.
Congratulations for your victory!
If you don´t have objetion i going to pass my nation to IA.
Thank for this playing.

[Dark Kitty]

If Num thinks so too, I would be ok with it, as I have exams coming and 24h turns started to be really short a while ago...

I think it was pretty close between the last four of us, I got pretty lucky in the end (but I was about to dispel your last enchantment and cast a few of my own, so I also think I would have won in the end)

However, since I have written exams next week, if the two of you want to continue playing, you can do so without me for a week (I would have to stall most turns anyway), "rebalance" the situation (since I won't be able to defend myself), and we could continue with a more balanced situation when I get back. I wouldn't mind that either

So it's really up to you two.

[Num]

I was about to make the same suggestion : Skor, I cannot beat your best tartarians (I do not know what to do against eartquake), and anyway I would be crushed by Shinuyama at the next stage. I do not have any more supercombatants (1 useable I think), I lack that endgame requirement since too much time, and I cannot get more right now. So I cannot win, no chance at all. We have already talked about with Dark Kitty, we knew who would be the winner if our alliance were beating Tien Chi+Machaka.

Bravo au vainqueur

That was a great time playing this game. That was my first one, Dominions is a really good game, I regret not having discovered it before 2010... Thank you all for playing.

A little comment about the only Rattlehead game (If you could do the same...) :
My plan was to play the way I did (lot of research, temples, strong dominion and scales, a not really useful dormant monolith pretender, lot of marshmasters, few troops, Spamming raise skeletons, Darkness+Foul Vapors+Poison protection, that works perfectly, I did not lose lot of battles), but I completely underestimate the SC point in the endgame (I have never played more than 50 turns in a sp, and no mp). Well I did not thought about it... I had some tarts but no more than 3 good ones, despite lot of death and nature gems. In addition, I lost so much time to get a death-4 mage. And I did not have any plan to reach the right numbers in death, astral or nature.
I did not have any access to air, earth, fire or blood paths, I did not know anything about any nations in the game, you cannot imagine the time it takes to me for understanding the game mechanics, the spells, nations, etc...
I survive the beginning thanks to Archos and Belac for not having attacked me (I saw the Archos' elephants very soon, something like turn 5, I was horrified). Thanks Archos for letting me the path to the peninsula, I was stuck so soon, you saved my game definitely. Diplomacy saved me, well everything in Dom3 is about diplomatic moves. Bad strategy, nice neighbours, that is my recipe ! Well, one of them was not that nice, sorry Belac .
I am sorry for Agartha, Marignon, Ermor and TC, you were on my way. Archos, excuse me for having abandoned you. Belac, you were too much versatile, and that was weird for your allies, well, neighbours...
Thanks DarkKitty for the endgame alliance (obviously, language has helped, but Hey ! France is the heart of the world and deserve victory ).
The Dom3 endgame seems a little standardized, that is the other bad point for me, that is disappointing after so much variety before.
Maybe I am going to play another one soon (I already played in another game but it is slower and I intentionnally do not make any diplomacy, no talk, not a lot of time so).

See you,

[Dark Kitty]

Thanks to you two and the other players, I had fun and learned a lot

About Rattlehead : I did get astral and nature on my pretender as I thought they were important paths, plus that way I could easily have access to high magic in every path but air and blood.

My plan was to turtle quietly so I could get a lot of research done until someone decided to attack me and make heavy use of Bakemono sorcerers with troops + Alteration spells, unfortunately I got in an early war with Man and it left me really behind in research for a long time.

I was never the strongest nation (until very late) and I had good diplomatic relations with many neighbours (enough I had to keep an eye out with some^^), so I didn't get ganged upon even though I casted some nice enchantments (FotA, GoH, Maelstrom, Arcane Nexus, etc...). That's probably what allowed me to survive until the late game (even though in this game, the powerful nations of the beginning, Ermor, C'tis and Tien Chi, and then Machaka later on, all made it to the endgame), and then the power of the bakemono sorcerers started to kick in with high research.
So I think the sheer reason of my victory was the strength of the bakemono sorcerers and my lack of strength in early and midgame^^ (I also received a load of gems from an anonymous donator midgame )

It was my first endgame so I learned a lot, especially about thugs and SCs.

Thanks to Num for choosing me as his endgame partner and to Skor for being a sportsman