MP: Fame and Riches - game ended, Numahr - Agartha won!

[Numahr]

Waou I did not know Szivi had all these artifacts in his hands at the time he got devoured!

The micro management mistake put aside, remains the question of the delicate balance between long term investments (ring of wizardry...) versus immediate power. When a secondary power like you invests so much in powerful artifacts, then temptation is great for the competitor with not so many Rings but many more Swords to intervene without waiting... From that point of view, can't we say the Horror was indeed a manifestation of Justice avenging you for your Greed of arcane power, not taking into consideration more mundane and military power?

OK this is a bit teleological I recognize... still...

[earcaraxe]

U may be right

however i was convinced i can quickly build up an army full of SC's in case of need, mindhunting anyone who dares to enter my empire. with the chalice the danger of feebleminding was nonexistent. however i lagged behind in terms of sieging power, and i seriously lacked earth and astral income, i had to alchemize like mad.

[Hylobius]

Out of character: I was hoping to eventually defeat Ulm and then with Agartha fully engaged against Bandar I would attack Agartha. I figured that Agartha would win, but not without a good fight. With all diplomacy limited to this forum I could not reassure Bandar that I would help when I could, or Agartha would have quickly crushed me. Of course this is all academic as I was unable to deal with Ulm. I thought that my large research advantage would eventually win the war, but everytime I developed a new war-ending advancement Ulm pulled another rabbit out of the hat. Props to Ossa, I learned a lot this game.

[Numahr]

Thx for feedback Hylobius.

I think you were clear enough with BL. You had once called "what are the monkeys doing, let hem awake from their long sleep" or something like that, which convinced me that you were not to be trusted. I guess BL also got the message. It was also strategically logical that if you ever conquered Ulm, you would ally with the N°2 against the n°1, the only way to a possible victory - at least you had the research, a key success factor. That is another reason why:
1. I wanted to protect/keep Ulm as a kind of Western protectorate, hence my threat at you at some point
2. after Szivi's accident, I wanted to attack Bandar before you may take the lead on your war (and before Machaka recovers from the seemingly costly war against Ermor and finishes its infrastructure development plan). So I stroke at Bandar without further delay.

Although, before Szivi's accident, I had designed an alternative attack plan on BL. I thought, if one and only one minor nation joins him against me (not easy to achieve from a diplo point of view), so in practice either you or Machaka, then I can play defensive against Bandar with maybe 30-40% of my forces defending castles and counter-raiding and -hopefully- rush the minor nation with like 60-70% of my forces. I believed this is what I needed to conquer you or Machaka, although the challenges were very different - lack of research of Machaka made it more tempting, more lands easier to grab. Bandar would be stuck with the alliance and would not conquer much of the crumbling minor nation, maybe only at the very end when all hope had faded. The resulting strategic situation, assuming quick and clean victory against the minor nation, would have me being so much more powerful than Bandar that the war would be virtually won, without the need to attack Bandar's territory. So before Szivi's accident I was hoping BL would find one, and only one ally to give me an easy prey. When you asked him to awake against me, I was actually hoping he would accept.

Ulm: in this perspective, attacking Ulm made no sense as there was no spoil important enough to increase my power (4 provinces), Ulm was much more useful as an independent nation and skillful general defending his honor with no hope of victory but keeping you in check. Plus I kind of developed a genuine sympathy for them and attacking them would have felt like a betrayal... Pretender Gods have feelings too :-)