New Kinda Noob game Starting

[Kobal2]

I'm ambivalent. On the one hand, it removes the whole gimmick of the map, and starting on the island is a tough proposition without the gem boost to fend off 3+ opponents at once. On the other hand, I really have no idea how much of a difference "Many Sites" make, or whether it would shift the balance the other way round and make the central nation(s) roll over everyone else easily.

[attackdrone]

Normally, each player would have two land neighbors, plus one more if they are one of the players on the island.

X-X-X
|.....|
X....X
|.....|
X-X-X

Opening up the island as a start position for two people results in each player having three land neighbors (the usual two plus one on the island) with each island player having three neighbors as well.

X-\../-X
|...X...|
X-..|.-X
|...X...|
X_/.\_X

The second diagram is not completely correct, but it is fairly close.

[mscfish]

I'd like to join as OCE.

：）

[attackdrone]

I have the map 98% done, so I just need to double check for errors and make sure all of the starting positions are balanced.

The changes:
A: The center island no longer has the "Many Sites" modifier.
B: Eight land and one sea starting position have been added.
C: It is unlikely that the island player will take the entire island at the start and become neighbors with six players, they'll likely have 3-4 neighbors. But if they do extremely well, they get 6 neighbors as a reward!

My criteria for the starting positions are as follows:

A: Each start has at least 4 territories between it and another starting position (Excluding the water start).

B: Each start is adjacent to at least four territories, with the following ratio:
4 adj. territories = 2 farmland + 2 forest/mountain
5 adj. territories = 1 farmland + whatever else
6 adj. territories = does not need to be adjacent to farmland.
(The water start gets four adjacent sea territories, no tiny corner sea for you!)

Edit: Here it is, the map uses the regular image file. Land of Legends: Multiplayer. Two lucky players start with only three territories between them, but each has their capital adjacent to a large farmland province. Seems all right to me.

[attackdrone]

CBM 1.71 is released! This merges in the EDM among others (Armor Rebalance being a major one).

Buffs to EA Agartha (better provincial defense, slight heat preference), EA Arcoscephale + Abysia (Armor Rebalance means their troops have much less encumbrance, Arcos. Myrmidons are now 7 instead of 10, and Abysia sacred troops are 4 instead of 6 for example), and EA Ulm (their shamans now have a chance to get Astral magic).

Sounds good to me!

Edit: Other highlights:
-Sanguine Dousing Rods, Jade Knives, and Dwarven Hammers are now unique.
-Ring of Earth added: E4Const6, Misc slot, +1 Earth.
-Titans are less useless

[Finalgenesis]

Thanks to attackdrone for the ichy map stuff, the criteria looks good.

I'd vote to stick with CBM 1.6 + EDM 1.1 for this game and wait for CBM 1.7 to shake out a bit more first, there seems to be fairly drastic changes. We could consider throwing in the armour revamp mod on top. Otherwise if folks want to try 1.7 I'd cringe but will go along (Oh Noz big changes! Panic!). Though Agartha for sure could use the very interesting auto-darkness buff on pd

On the other hand, more good news, I heard from qm in irc that a newer CBM 1.7 with heavy nation rebalancing is being worked on.

[Ragnars Wolves]

GREAT JOB Attackdrone!!! The map sounds great... Question, will the starting sites be random or will they be preset? What I mean is I know they will be preset as far as the actual starting province. But, will they be random on who goes in those preset provinces?

I think we will stick with 1.6 until it is tested a little more and all the bugs shaken out. I know it helps a number of folks in here but I don't want to get 30 turns in and find a bug that makes it unplayable.

We have a person that wants to play Oceania. However, he has been around a couple of years and may be a little over our heads. What is the concensus of you guys on letting him play...

I told him NO as of the moment but could ask him agian if we want to.

You might want to PM Fingergenesis and ask about it and some other details.

When will the map be available AD?

[attackdrone]

Originally Posted by Ragnars Wolves

Will the starting sites be random or will they be preset?

I think we will stick with 1.6.

When will the map be available AD?

I: There are 8 land and 1 sea start, but it is random who gets assigned which province. What I did was simply set all provinces except those nine to be ineligible start positions (meaning this map cannot be played with more than 8+1 players). It'd be simple enough to change that again if needed.

II: 1.6cbm + 1.1edm sounds good to me!

III: The map is ready, and posted above. Here is another link.

Land of Legends MP

Originally Posted by Finalgenesis

We could consider throwing in the armour revamp mod on top.

I am not sure if the stand-alone Armor Revamp mod is compatible with 1.6cbm and 1.1edm. There might be unit or gear conflicts. This is likely why it was all merged together into a single mod for 1.71cbm.

[Finalgenesis]

Originally Posted by Ragnars Wolves

... If you can't make your nation work, you are expected to fight to the end anyway...

I'd like to emphasize the above with some extrapolations, please do correct me if it departs from what the host intends. I've seen hosts say the above in a few games, and ideally you fight tooth and nails to the end, however we all know this is unrealistic and is sometimes (often?) ignored by some, we ask that you at least:

Please have the courtesy of giving the players a headsup to any multiple stales, going Awol (multiple stales in a row) without a heads up is in bad taste, barring actual unforeseen circumstances where you are physically unable to post on the forum (alien invasion; meteor taking out your service provider; you were tied to your bed post and left to die; emergency taking you away from internet access...etc).

Real life can (and will) interfere with your dom 3, we're all cool with this and games are often generous with postponement or sub/AI at worst, what we're not cool with is going awol with zero communication. We all know awol in many circumstances gives undue advantage to certain players and in general lowers the quality of a MP game, a heads up so that the host can delay/find sub or switch to AI goes a long way to maintaining the game quality and enjoyment of its players.

If you find others you play with in a MP game to be beneath your consideration and the 30 seconds it takes to post a heads up, you do not belong in this game (or any MP game for that matter).

We otherwise welcome anyone who can commit to the courtesy of informing the participants when they can no longer play (or require a delay) for whatever reason, hell even if you just don't feel like playing anymore.

[GrudgeBringer]

I think that about sums it up for the most part...

However, what I was trying to say is this, We are all new and do NOT have all the answers. One moment we are expanding smoothly and the next you run into Hinnom and you are retreating in a rush. You feel somewhat dejected that everything didn't continue to work out like you wanted.

I am not expecting you to spend a long time on your turn when your getting a azzz whoopin or are hemmed in and can't do much.

I DO expect you to continue playing (unless of an emergency, and trust me if you have a number of 'emergencies'in different games, folks will remember you)and try and put up whatever fight you can to slow down the opponent or make your small empire as hard to take as possible (hell, build a fort in every province etc).

It is just a game and real life is more important, but you do make a commitment to 6 to 12 other people who are giving their time to go as long as you can. IF you just want out, man up and say it...we can understand that as we have all felt that way and their are a number of vets who 'specialize' in taking unwinnable nations and play them as a kami-kazi, just to make your life MISERABLE (gotta love em!!) and we will try and get one.

NEVER put a password on your game PLEASE, as it really does ruin it for eeveryone else.

That is all I can think of and this isn't directed at anyone as most of us have played together since we have started. I just wanted to have my say...lol

BTW, I am up at my folks (GrudgeBringer) for dinner and am using his comp..sorry I forget sometimes it doesn't show up as me.

Ragnars