ShatnerMA Noob to Intermediate (Running)

[shatner]

Just a heads up to everyone that once turn 17 goes out I am delaying hosting until Monday to accommodate two players being unable to reliably play over the weekend. Unless I hear for the need for further changes, everything will return to the normal schedule after Monday.

[shatner]

Originally Posted by Winner

This is shaping up to be an exiting game. I'll just have to be patient over the weekend, as I am really looking forward to see how the next few turns play out.

I agree and I'm quite looking forward to the next couple of turns. As Atlantis, I've pretty much had my head stuck under water the entire game and have been only distantly aware of non-aquatic nations (or, in other words, the MAJORITY OF THE GAME). Since we all have a weekend break from the excitement, would people be interested in posting some updates, insights or short AARs? I understand the game is underway and you don't want to give too much away but say what you feel like you can; MP games are made all the more enjoyable by sharing the spectacle of it with others.


...News From Atlantis...
MA Atlantis is a nation with ****ty amphibious troops, decent aquatic troops/summons and awesome but seriously expensive recruit-anywhere commanders. It's like playing Pangaea but wetter and without the stealth or freespawn.

Since Atlantis is a nation of quantity over quality, we went with an awake SC pretender with horrible magical ability so we could afford halfway decent scales (the cold-3 was just for points; heat and cold don't affect income under the water). Using our rugged aquatic-only troops and our SC, our plan was to claim as much underwater real estate as fast as atlantianly possible. We then wanted to plop down a few forts in a picket formation between us and our underwater neighbor, R'lyeh and see where things went from there.

Our research has been furious and expensive (none of our mages are sacred so the upkeep is painful) but if investing in mages over troops was a bad idea, we won't have to live with the mistake for much longer. We promptly entered into a turf war with R'lyeh (I'm sure you're all shocked) which has since escalated into a death match. Both sides have some really large and/or powerful armies but there haven't been any truly major clashes just yet. It's just been a bunch of maneuvering, counter-maneuvering and territory grabs on both sides. Still, the next 2 to 3 turns are likely to have some major, major battles which are likely to determine who gets to claim ownership of the ocean. Sadly our god got caught out in the open (by a rather ill-thought out move on our part) and paralyzed long enough to be mobbed to death. We mourn the loss of Primordius but our Coral Queens will call him back into being soon enough. Just because you got killed is no reason to stop fighting!

R'lyeh has much better troops, pound-for-pound, than what we atlantians can field. They're either cheaper (lobo guard), tougher (crab hybrids) or more tactically flexible (illithids and freaky void-spawn critters) than what we've got. Also, they can field an entire functional army of troops costing only 1 resource apiece, allowing them to churn out armies almost instantaneously (provided they have the money). However, their stuff is expensive and/or requires special leadership, which helps level the playing field. We're hoping that our quantity and superior income will allow us to attrition R'lyeh into submission. We'll see.

Speaking of income, from the charts you may have noticed ours having some crazy spikes and drops in it. Twice now we have felt the need to muster a WHOLE lot of cash really quickly and so have resorted to short bursts of massive, empire-wide over-taxation. That ultimately hurts our net income (you get more money overall from not over-taxing like that) but we're hoping that the large chunks of cash upfront will pay off in the long run with our survival. Whether this proves to be a bold and brilliant play or just the over-reactions of a noob has yet to be seen.


So... what's up with all you land lubbers? The charts indicate that a lot of people are fighting. How's that working out for ya?

[triqui]

Ashdod and Ermor are at war too. When the first scount went out, I found Ermor very soon.
I looked at the map, and I see no easy border between us. We are too close, and there is no clear chokepoint that can work as a defensive border. We are, thus, doomed to battle each other. As I saw Ermor has an awake god, I thought the faster the war starts, the better for me, as probably time runs in Ermor's favor.
I choosed to assault then. However, with the Rollback I stalled one turn, which ruined my attack, and after some chit-chat about possible diplomatic solutions, we finally didn't find one. There has been no big battles. Ermor has a big, concentrated, 160+ units with mage support army, while I have several different armies with a couple troops. We have been dancing around, and so far, I 've lost more troops (when his big army connect, it kills my small armies), but I've won more provinces.

My build is pretty standard for giant nations: Very big Earth and Nature bless, for high armor, reinvigoration and regeneration. Ermor has a high Astral, low earth bless.

[shatner]

Hey everyone. We're approaching the end of year two so I'm wondering if you guys would like the hosting interval extended. Personally I'm fine with it as is and have really been enjoying the rapid turn around but I want to be democratic about this.

So, if you do want the hosting interval extended, either post a response in this thread or PM me. If you are fine with the status quo, you can remain silent on the subject.

[shatner]

The following is a message intended for all nations of the world, as sent at the behest of the Coral Council, the Kings of the Kings of the Deep, the leaders of Atlantis:

With the last gasp of the Illithid military, we, Atlantis, have earned our title as the Kings of the Deep. Having forged an empire through might, magic and cunning we feel we are now worthy of addressing the world at large, to make our intentions known to all the land dwellers.

First know that once it was clear that R'lyeh had no hope of victory, we offered the mind flayers terms of surrender. Despite the ancient feud between our races, the Kings of Atlantis would not slaughter an entire people without first extending the webbed hand of mercy. R'lyeh was a fearsome opponent who fought well but their legacy shall endure because of their wisdom, not their ferocity: in the end they chose to preserve their people over their pride. Though the warriors of R'lyeh are no more, the civilians, the old, the infirm and the repentant have been made vassals of Atlantis and now under our rule and our protection. All hail to a worthy opponent, glorious in defeat as in victory.

Having established that we are an honorable people, we wish to inform the world that we make no claim to any of the land, save those provinces adjacent to our capital. Our scouts inform us that there is bloodshed enough on the surface; we have no wish to contribute to it further. If you find our military having hauled itself up out of the water, it is only to move into the watery province on the other side; your province will be left unguarded for your immediate reclamation.

Having established that we are a peaceful people, know that we will claim every ocean province in this world; it is ours by right and by intent. We have domestic matters to attend to for the moment but in time each province will be scouted and then seized. Where these provinces are owned by the nations of the land, we will attempt to negotiate the bloodless surrender of the province through trade of gold, gems or forged items. If no reasonable deal can be made then we will seize the province by force of arms, faith and sorcery. Our patience is deep but our wrath is as fathomless as the water we rule. Those who make us their friends will find us generous. Those who make us their enemies will find us terrible.

Know that we have no stake nor interest in your dry and dusty disputes with one another. This means we can be impartial and fair in our dealings with others. There is much that our nation has to offer yet there is much it lacks so we invite all, without prejudice, to come and trade with us.

[triqui]

When I send my turn I get the following message:

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.

A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its
recipients. This is a permanent error. The following address(es) failed:

llamaturns3@gmail.com
(ultimately generated from turns@llamaserver.net)
SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT TO::
host gmail-smtp-in.l.google.com [74.125.65.27]:
552-5.2.2 The email account that you tried to reach is over quota. Please direct
552-5.2.2 the recipient to
552 5.2.2 http://mail.google.com/support/bin/a...py?answer=6558 h46si6451568yhk.148


I think we need to put a delay on the turn until llamaserver is ok again. I'll stall otherwise.

[shatner]

I have been getting the same issue. However, despite getting the same "could not be delivered" message, my turns have all made it to Llamaserver successfully. I've even had a turn host in a different MP game and I can attest that my turn was received and handled successfully.

That said, I checked the ShatnerMA Llamaserver page and your turn, triqui, hadn't been received. I went in and delayed the hosting by 24 hours (it was gonna host in 20 minutes; good thing I got up early this morning).

I have already posted in the Llamserver Problems thread so I don't guess there's much else for us to do but wait. Triqui, try and submit your turn every so often today to see if it'll go through. I've successfully submitted probably 6 MP turns since this email issue started so hopefully the double error you are experiencing is just a short-lived glitch.

Let me know if anything else crops up.

[triqui]

I got the same msg in 3 different games. However, only in this one I stalled.

I think I'll go AI. Ermor was already winning, but with this, I'm completelly K.O. 2 stall turns is too much against a worthy foe.

[shatner]

Just so everyone knows, I'm going to temporarily extend the hosting interval from 24 hours to 72 hours starting tomorrow (Tuesday, November 22) and ending Sunday. This is to accommodate the Thanksgiving holiday season which can wreck a great deal of havoc on PBEM games.

If everyone is able to keep pace with our usual 24-hour schedule, so much the better, but I want to be sure everyone has adequate time to play their turns regardless. As always, PM me if you need any special admin-intervention.

[shatner]

So, green cat (the player of Marignon) has had 5 stalls so far. These haven't all been consecutive but 5 stalls out of 30 turns is pretty high. Also, I have repeatedly tried to contact them through PMs, admin messages via llamaserver as well as posting here in the thread. I have tried to contact them to find out if they need the hosting interval extended, need short term delays or need a sub (temporarily or permanently). I have received no response from this player and, according to message tracker, my PM hasn't even been viewed.

I say all of that to give context for this question: should I go in and set Marignon as an AI/find a permanent sub for green cat? The current stalling trend doesn't (to me at least) seem acceptable but would be fine if it wasn't going to continue. However, I have received no communication from the player indicating it's going to change, despite my continued efforts to make that communication happen.

Thoughts?