Nations - MA, CBM 1.6, max lvl 6, NI, Assimilation - Olm/Man and Louist/Ulm win!

[Olm]

Some out of character comments:
I have had a lot of fun in this game, thank you for that. And I learned a lot, but thats nothing to wonder in my second MP game. (In fact turnwise it has topped my first one).
I think diplomacy is very difficult with so few nations and a clear gap between the 3 major and the two minor powers. But thats no reason to forbid it. In fact I think more about diplomacy than anything else with this game.

Now hear the words from Igraine, Mistress of Avalon:
It is not acceptable to Us that Pangaea and Ulm conquer the minor nations of Arcoscephale and Eriu. We will not stand aside while those nations are assimilated. So Ulm and Pangaea: You both have to withdraw your troops, or We will have to take proper actions.
As a sign of good will to Pangaea We will not push Our attack further. In fact We will retreat out of Giant's Rest. But don't misunderstand this as fear or weakness. We will come back, if need be.

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by Olm

I have had a lot of fun in this game, thank you for that. And I learned a lot, but thats nothing to wonder in my second MP game. (In fact turnwise it has topped my first one).

I'm glad!

Originally Posted by Olm

I think diplomacy is very difficult with so few nations and a clear gap between the 3 major and the two minor powers.

I agree. While I hate the micro that comes with it, more diplomatic options is one advantage of larger games. Even if we had managed to get 8 players things would have been better in this respect.

Originally Posted by Olm

Now hear the words from Igraine, Mistress of Avalon:
It is not acceptable to Us that Pangaea and Ulm conquer the minor nations of Arcoscephale and Eriu. We will not stand aside while those nations are assimilated. So Ulm and Pangaea: You both have to withdraw your troops, or We will have to take proper actions.
As a sign of good will to Pangaea We will not push Our attack further. In fact We will retreat out of Giant's Rest. But don't misunderstand this as fear or weakness. We will come back, if need be.

Very well, the (very short) conflict between Man and Pan over worthless ocean provinces has ended. And in fact we are not currently attacking Arco but merely stepped in to help Eriu when their capitol was put under siege.

On another note, I think I may be setting a record for most mountain/border mountain provinces without any E sites.

[Louist]

I really should check these forums more often, it seems. Arco, I was unaware that Pan had made any aggressive action against you. That said, my attack was motivated, in no small part, by my fear that you and Eriu would exhaust yourselves, and utter hardly a whimper as Pan gobbled you both up. As it appears Pan and Man have called a truce, that fear has hardly subsided!

My attack was otherwise motivated by the fact that of the three nations that border me, you were the sole one did not make any diplomatic contact, and you had no armies at hand and an capital ripe for the taking.

That said, I am not unreasonable. I will amend my orders and withdraw my forces if you apologize for your slanderous comments.

In response to Man, I have to wonder aloud whether you would prove to be such a champion to the minor powers if you hadn't been cut off from them yourself.

[Olm]

You may very well wonder, but this is not about "woulds" and "ifs", but about hard facts. And the fact is you attacked Arcoscephale. So We will very closely watch your next actions.


Just a comment: Could it be, that the three of us are just too reasonable for a War-Game?

[Valerius]

Originally Posted by Olm

Just a comment: Could it be, that the three of us are just too reasonable for a War-Game?

Lol. Actually it's funny because when I read your statement I thought you meant it sincerely and I think you may be right that there isn't a high level of killer instinct in this group. Ghoul can definitely be aggressive but he tends to choose 1 vs 1 fights rather than jumping in on a dogpile so that he can profit at little cost (uh, actually I'm more inclined to do that than him - I've been trying to improve my killer instinct ).

Fighting is good (that to me is the most fun part of the game) but dogpiles aren't much fun (unless the nation being dogpiled is so strong they are actually on an even footing with their many attackers) so I can see ghoul not being too happy about it.

Ghoul and I have been in a lot of games together and he's a man of few words. That can definitely work against him in games that have diplo. Like Louist, Arco was the last nation I had contact with.

I think another thing that works against Arco in this game is that he is the only strong astral nation. That makes him scary but it also makes getting access to his mystics probably the best prize in game. I actually had some concern that it was too good a mage to give other nations access to and that may prove to be the case.

The problem is if Ulm is no longer going to attack Arco that leaves Eriu facing Arco alone and I'm not going to abandon Eriu so I guess that means I'll be attacking Arco again, which means Man and I will be back at war, which will remove the threat to Ulm of Man attacking him so he'll probably grab some of Arco's provinces, and we're right back where we started.

[Louist]

Originally Posted by Valerius

I think another thing that works against Arco in this game is that he is the only strong astral nation. That makes him scary but it also makes getting access to his mystics probably the best prize in game. I actually had some concern that it was too good a mage to give other nations access to and that may prove to be the case.

Mystics are definitely too valuable a prize. Astral, combined with their fantastic diversity makes Arco far too tasty a target. Priestesses, even with their perfect healing, would be a better choice.