RAND Game - Fomoria Wins!

[Jurri]

Ooh, congrats Micah! I had also placed you at Fomoria way early (before you attacked me), just based on the audacity of your game I also put QM at Abysia since no one else uses that kind of pretenders (although Vanheim also scripted very QM-like to my eye)... The rest, I had no idea about. Indeed, I thought Wraithlord was Sauro, just based on the temperate pattern of expansion.

I had some real big plans before the onslaught. Even when Fomoria attacked, I figured him attacking me was just excellent since that would mean he wouldn't sneak a win by grabbing other capitals when I was busy preparing for my play... Then I saw the Shadow Seers and the Enchantress and knew that was that

A fun game: thanks Pasha for hosting, and all youse for playing! How did you all know I was Ulm?

[quantum_mechani]

Jurri said:
How did you all know I was Ulm?

Well, I was reasonably sure you were Sauro, Fomoria or Ulm just from the early graphs. But Sauro used a lot of unorthodox summons I don't think you would have picked, and getting forge rolling seemed more your style than Fomoria's permanent state of rushing.

I'm not sure my pretender was such a bad choice. An awake PoD/Cyclops or blessing would have mopped up C'tis faster, but still not near fast enough that I wouldn't have been left in pretty much the same situation when Van attacked. And the free gems were suprisingly useful.

[Shmonk]

Definitely a great game, I was in it at the beginning (as Pan), and the end (as a replacement for Meglobob as Sauro). As Pan I fell quickly to Ulm, and it really irked as I had some bad luck in my first few turns (bad strategy, failed to take provinces 2 or 3 times in a row). So when a replacement was needed I figured I'd check it out. Decent position, but I'd never played Sauro before, so I was learning a lot. And damn, Fomoria was a pain to beat, I didn't know which tactics would work best. And I could tell from the graphs he was about to win, so I thought he would go for the Caleum capital. Instead he went for Lanka, and I wasn't prepared for that, and knew it was over. I tried to throw a last ditch strike against Lanka, but the seers and Giant Kings ruled the battle. Great game!!

I definitely can't wait for the next RAND game, hopefully it will start as late as June, only because I will be heading to South Africa for my brother's wedding at the end of May. Never been there (should be fun) and won't have a computer with me. Oh well, if it starts while I'm gone I'll be available as a sub when I get back. Unless of course the game starts now (hehehe). Great game everybody.

Shmonk

[PashaDawg]

Sent a variety of turns to folks. If you have special requests, let me know. I will keep the files for a week or so.

Pasha

[WraithLord]

I'm watching the replays now. Got to turn 20.

Boy, Does Micah have one helluva aggressive play style. From the get go he is simply pounding all opposition and somehow seems to ride a razor's edge between victory and defeat. In specific battles he seems to be taking risls but somehow almost always ends up winning. Got to give him credit, for he has got (in a manner of speech) one set of iron balls

I have never yet, in all my experience of playing dominions encountered such an aggressive play style. Nice making your acquaintance Micah, hope to meet you in future games. Though next time when I see a nation madly rushing for victory I'll go to help stop it, instead of selfishly trying to expand my empire

[WraithLord]

Got to turn 34 which gives a good snapshot of the war between Ulm and Fomoria. This turn shows Jurri to deploy very interesting raiding tactics.

I'm eagerly rushing to the next turns to see the dirty details of how that war goes on.

[djo]

Interested bystander here. I've been reading this thread since the win was announced, and I want to thank everyone for the interesting game notes.

I'm fascinated that people could identify their opponents. What are the characteristics people notice? Things mentioned above: aggressiveness, what a player summons. I would imagine pretender design and tactical scripting might also be distinctive. And WraithLord's point about economy of force. I'm interested more in what makes a player's style "personal", not simply experienced vs. inexperienced.

Anything else?

[Micah]

Thanks for the complements Wraith...What battles did you think I was taking large risks in? I don't recall being in doubt of the outcome of most of the pitched battles during the game.

I think the only battles I lost before turn 45 or so was the one against Marverni's 40-PD province, the wholesale slaughter of my fomorian giants against Jurri's gargoyle (bound to happen after 2 or 3 forts fell in a row) and the attempt on Arco's first army (which did take out about 40 mages in return for my kitted out king, so more of a draw really) There was the fear-induced fleeing from Ctis, but I didn't lose anything there aside from the teleport and Wrathful gems. A few kings died off over the turns as well, but you gotta crack a few eggs and all...I had over 30 at the end of the game.

I'm also surprised that I'm the most aggressive player you've seen...I think I was playing nearly as aggressively as possible within the bounds of a winning strategy, but I'm sure there are some players out there that are more aggressive (though ultimately less effective). In fact I just met one in Swarm...he attacked me, ignored my efforts at diplomacy, and took me out of the game...however, I did enough damage to himself in the process that he's pretty much doomed now...especially since he just lost over 60 high-end units to the 63 PD I have in my last stand province.

I also felt my hand was forced into some of the aggression, since the map left me precious little room to expand (and offered a tasty morsel up in the form of early-game research focused Marverni). After Marverni went down Mictlan started in on Tir, who was to be my next target, so I capitalized on their war and took out Mictlan while his forces were split...Tir was then a breeze, since Mictlan had already crippled them. Ulm was next, as the FotA was a ticking time bomb and I knew I couldn't let it stay in play...I was fairly confident I could win out against them with the shadow seer support and my superior income, and I proved correct (I lucked out that Jurri hadn't found any astral indies, luck and MR items would have made things a lot more painful)...and after that it was just a cap-grab for the win before TC could really engage with me (I think I could have held off Oceania and limited the damage Arco could do while I slowly killed Sauro off, but I knew I was done for once TC entered into the mix...there would have been too many fronts to deal with, especially with Calmon's superb raiding).

As a side note I was really happy with the E/N bless for the kings, I wouldn't consider playing them without it...The astral was a safety net in case I didn't find any astral indies, as was the point of fire. I wish I'd gotten to see Dance of the Morrigans in action, sadly the AI decided to spend tons of gems killing off a bishop fish/mermage combo from Oceania and a wraithlord from Sauro (all of which died from soul slays before they moved) and left all of my BEs uncast for the final assault on Lanka =(