TucoTuco - MA game for new/newish players (upload)

[Darkstone]

If I was so strong, why haven't I attacked yet?

I wouldn't count you out just yet Jim... considering my position in the center is strategically weak, and NAP's tend to evaporate at the worst possible moments. Where as you have the mobility to attack from wherever you choose... I'm limited in that any force I send in any particular route, is committed.

Lastly, even if you didn't have a sense of humor, I'm not sure you'd get upset if you'd lose any particular game... since you're such an active player (a truly jaw-dropping amount of games).

[JimMorrison]

Well you're correct, I found it not entirely funny that you stripped 3 territories off of me when I was at my most vulnerable, and specifically told me, in the middle of that process, that it wasn't an act of war.

And you are also correct, that at this point I may partly sound fatalistic because I am dreaming of a different start for my lovely Caelum. I won't suicide the nation or go AI, but I'm not looking at the game as an economy that lasts to the end - more rather planning each move based on what does the most damage in the short term. Ironically, since I feel that if I don't behave that way, I won't have a long term, it also coincides with doing what is best FOR the long term, which I won't have if I don't fight like a cornered dog. With wings.

I still don't find it particularly funny to lose my only non-mountain provinces the way that I did. But I don't hold it against you, it's those bloody Vans, they're bastards.


You're actually quite lucky right now Darkstone, I'm reasonably certain that if our other players weren't represented by subs atm, the aforementioned NAPs would in fact be dissolving as we speak. I do what I can.


Oh also, not sure if I was misunderstood. It's less that I am bitter about my own position in this game, just that I really prefer larger maps with more players, and I'm bitter that I placed myself into a small one, and then chucked my pretender into Inkpot End in the first year. <3

[Darkstone]

Let's clear a few misconceptions up.

You shouldn't have grabbed territory so far from your capital and so close to mine, if you had no ability or desire to defend it. As for it being or not being an act of war, I said I was willing to consider not being at war, as much as being at war.

I attempted and began negotiations, and you decided to end them. So instead of keeping that third province and getting a couple items for a NAP with me, or making some yet different arrangement, you chose war. I still believe you chose rashly, as you didn't get anything out of it except possibly some sense of satisfaction, but this really shouldn't be that big of a deal.

--

Secondly, I'm not sure what you are fatalistic about, each of the 4 major nations left has a good shot at winning the game.

As for starts... well, since you play so many games, I'm sure you realized that luck has a lot to do with how your game turns out, even if you pick the same nation on the same map, against the same players, with the same game setting.

--

As for the NAPs, anything is possible.

--

Lastly, if you prefer bigger games, I guess you can make that happen easily in the future, but complaining about it now doesn't make a lot of sense. As for your pretender, that sucks. You didn't run off and cry like Bandar (who was next to both Arco and Caelum who lost their pretenders just like Bandar). People who expect their game to go perfectly shouldn't play Dominions.

Sticking to a commitment deserves respect, and I think the other players recognized that, in regards to Arco, you, etc.

At least, I did.

[JimMorrison]

Your offer amounted to 10 gems, for 2 provinces. I was not going to accept that, as it amounted to 10 gems for 2 provinces AND a NAP. I gained nothing from refusing, but I did not so cheaply sell my honor as you wished to have purchased it.

Of course it's entirely possible anyone could win this game. However considering that it was related to me that TC and Vanheim were allies rather than NAPed neighbors, this tends to validate certain assumptions about the potential directions the game might take. In my eyes, this not only implies that TC has a poor shot at victory unless they negate their alliance - it also implies that Caelum is the next molestation victim. All this on turn 40, there are 2 superpowers, and 2 nations with rather gloomy outlooks (and 1 nation who is all but crushed already).

Perhaps you might think these are hasty conclusions to draw, however that would just be semantic differences. In my eyes an alliance is far more significant than a NAP, and it is a grave matter indeed if someone wishes to dissolve that alliance prior to the agreed time (typically when there are no other contenders), whereas a NAP is simply a gentleman's agreement to not rush off to war without a polite warning of imminent hostilities. I do not make a habit of breaking alliances, nor do I make a habit of asking people to break alliances. If the wording was a mistake on Wrana's part, that is unfortunate, as he is absent to clarify the point, and I hardly see it in your best interests to dispel the notion if I am wrong, as it leads directly to me trying to corrupt TC over to my cause - since you are clearly much more of a threat to their chance of victory than I am.

As far as complaining about the small size of the game, I was merely grumbling and expressing myself, it's not really a focal point of anything - I just prefer short games to be short, and long games to be long - rather than this sort of scenario that we find ourselves in now.


Anyway, sure, I shouldn't have taken those provinces at the start - it cost me a lot. But what you're overlooking, is how much you're going to end up paying for them. That is a cursed and wretched stretch of land in those swamps, and no good will come of claiming it, the future will show the truth in these words. How many huskarls are you hiding beneath that flock of crows? I wonder if they'll sound like popcorn. <3

[Psycho]

It's the diplomacy part that I enjoy the most. Darkstone, it's a shame that our other game is so simple in that regard.

[Darkstone]

I concur Psycho. Diplomacy is a lot of fun. I like to grab an ally in a game, discuss strategy, hear about what's going on elsewhere, battle results, etc. It makes a big difference from just playing SP against really smart opponents.

[JimMorrison]

Must be fun.

I got lucky and got stuck in a corner between -

Abysia = refused to even NAP, as he wanted to war me sooner than later, which he even hinted at.

Bandar Log = No time to ally before he mysteriously went AI and disappeared.

Vanheim = Attacked me before even saying hello, plotting a very different course for our relations.


<3

[Darkstone]

Sorry Jim, we can't all be allies, then nothing would happen.



Edit:

By the way, nothing was stopping you from opening a dialogue yourself.

[JimMorrison]

I don't want everyone to be allies, that's silly. I just want enough people in the game that it takes longer to get down to the last few. So that a single alliance doesn't determine who will be victorious.

Nothing against you, if you win that's great. I'm pretty sure you didn't arrange this situation from the moment that signups started, you just had a good run.

[Darkstone]

Don't act like I've won just yet. I suspect things will be more chaotic as soon as the other players come back. Besides, if I was a betting man, I'd probably place on Pangaea.

Likewise, if you win, that's also great.

Good luck.