Mara - EA game for newish players - full

[IndyPendant]

I suppose this could devolve into a he-said-she-said sort of thing, but...

Tien-Chi and I still had a 3-turn NAP in effect when he attacked me without warning. Make of that whatever you will. : )

[sum1lost]

Eh. I just attacked C'tis, but we do not have an NAP in effect. And I was bored.

[parcelt]

The vile nation of Yomi made the fatal mistake of initating agression against the C'tis empire. If he owes you any money, gems, or favours, we suggest you collect these asap. C'tis is a peaceful and honorable nation. However, such treacherous acts of agression cannot be left unpunished. Yomi will soon cease to exist.

[Snacktime]

FYI Caelum attacked me last turn as well. But we had no treaty, so fair enough.

I'm actually a bit relieved, it's been a weird, long period here without any fighting

[sum1lost]

Totally not treacherous at all.

We just want to give the lizards a hug. An icey hug of death from the grave, but a hug nonetheless.

I'd also like to remind the lizards of our agreement prior to war.

[Warhammer]

I'd like to request everyone to do a write up of this game afterwards. I think it would be interesting.

[sum1lost]

The nation of yomi sat in their corner. At one point the men and goblins had a war with the naked men to the south. There was great slaughter, until the demons of yomi joined the field, and waves of fire, darkness, and great spinny blades swept the naked men from the field, even as the naked men sought to strike back with slings and magic punches through space.

Then, they sat around as everyone else beat eachother up, and researched and recruited more demons. Recently, they declared war on the lizards too.

[parcelt]

Sounds like a good idea (the write-up).

Yomi, that's a good start but don't bother, C'tis will be writing the rest of your history.

We will honor the agreement you mentioned.

[IndyPendant]

Here, as promised, was the game, from my viewpoint.

First, my mistakes: poor pretender design, and not concentrating enough of research leaders. Taking Misfortune-3, so that regularly 1-3 provinces a *TURN* were rebelling in some way. (Never, ever, EVER taking Misfortune, EVER again!) Not site-searching early enough. Also, constant warring is *badt*; I had to put all my resources into troops, and not enough into leaders. Caused a snowball effect causing me to be *way* too far behind on research, despite being one of the largest nations for much of the game. --Which, btw, only painted a great big target on my forehead. Causing more wars. Vicious cycle. Too many castles built, and poor positioning for one of them. Trusting *anyone* to keep their word.

Second, the whining: I've decided that Caelum's army *SUCKS*. Elephants are good for early expansion, but are too easy to rout mid-to-late game. Caelum's infantry is laughably pathetic, and their archers are only passably good. Their extreme mobility helps, but hit-and-run tactics can only get you so far; eventually you have to face your opponent's army directly, and when you do you need *at least* a 2-to-1 superiority to even have a *chance* at winning. And even then you will often lose. Eagle Kings are powerful air mages, but at 400 a pop they're hard to mass, and since my research sucked this game...*shrug*.

--And my position! It didn't help that I was the *only* player who started in the middle of the map, with *every* player as a neighbour! And! With only four neighbouring provinces to my capital--one of which was a plains, and the other a 'blank' province. Compare that to, for example, Yomi's start, which was (if I got it right) in a corner of the map, with no less than six neighbouring provinces, *all* of which were mountains and/or forests. Arguably, only Oceania's was worse. Heh. Thanks, Llamabeast...*sigh*. My opponents were all tripping over themselves for the chance to take me out before anyone else did! Corner start for me next game, please.

/whine off

[IndyPendant]

Now the game. As mentioned, I find myself starting in the middle of the map. Grand, I think: this will be a short and brutal game. I slowly build up an army to start expanding--and quickly discover I have done so *too* slowly; Marverni and Lanka both end up conquering provinces only two short hops away from my capital. Absolutely unacceptable, of course. I conquer the big, juicy Plains that Lanka took near my capital, and send a message to Marverni that essentially reads "I don't want an early war, but I can't allow you to be so close to my home province. My fault, for not expanding fast enough early game, so I offer you a trade: what would you like for these three provinces?"

Now, I'm expecting almost *anything* from "Screw you, they're mine" to "Fine, I want all the provinces south of the mountain range" to "Tithe me 100g for ten turns" to "1200 gold, up front, and they're yours" to "Join me in an early war with Yomi". Almost anything, in fact. Except what he actually did: "I think not", and conquering one of my own provinces--which was also one of my capital's neighbours, to boot!

*blink*

Well, at least we're clear. Early war it is. Time to get on the diplomacy bandwagon. I desperately scream "HELP!!!" at Yomi: "Join me in this war against Marverni, and I'll even let you take their capital!" (--This was a minor 'sacrifice' for me, btw; I've found I hate sieging castles, particularly early-game, and with size-3 Caelum. They tie up your armies for too long, and you need greatly superior numbers--something I wasn't likely to have for a long time.) Since there's no conceivable way I can survive a two-front war, I 'apologize' to Lanka, move out of 'his' Plains province I had just conquered, tell him he can take it back, and offer the standard 3-turn NAP, all the while thinking pleasepleasepleasedon'tkillme...: ) He agrees with some grumbling, and I secure 3-turn NAPs with C'tis, Tien-Chi, and Oceania. I offer the same to Hellheim, and instead he says he 'won't attack me for six turns, and reassess then'. Hrm. Interesting, that...

It turns out (I think, anyways) that Yomi was already in a war with Marverni when my message reached him. (And if that's true, then I cannot fathom what made Marverni think he could handle a two-front early-game war!) So he seemed more than happy to agree. I start gearing up for war (and thus getting even further behind in my research. *sigh*).

Over the next eight turns or so, I chase Marverni's smaller army all over my territories. Once we even exchanged places. (Let me take this moment to explain that I had misunderstood a fundamental rule of Dom3: I had somehow come to think that the order armies attack enemy provinces is determined randomly. So I should have had a 50-50 chance of attacking his army before it could attack another province of mine, right? After roughly six or seven turns of chasing him all over the map, I began to think I was--just possibly, mind you--wrong. A post on the main forums later, and I discover that indeed, I am wrong. *sigh* More wasted turns. Grand.)

At least my other mini-armies have been busily conquering his other territories--and gobbling up the gold mine of indie territories I discovered south of the mountain range! For some insane reason, Marverni and Hellheim--the only others with access to that area--hadn't moved into those territories yet. (Marverni at least had an excuse; he was busily trying to survive a two-front war he started. I can't understand what was going through Hellheim's head though!)

Meanwhile, Yomi keeps throwing armies at Marverni, and Marverni keeps destroying them. The two of them spend most of the entire war apparently fighting over the same single province, neither able to move beyond it. Right around the time I discover my army-movement mistake, Marverni makes a beeline with that smaller army right for his own capital--where another stronger army is just coming out and moving on my home capital. And all I've got nearby is a smaller indie-conquering army, and the army that had spent the last 8+ turns or so chasing him everywhere.

Hrm. Okay, *now* I'm a little nervous.

What can I do, what can I do? His merged armies will destroy mine. Hrm. Well, he's making a bee-line for my capital..and in order to do that he'll have to move through this provinces...that is three provinces away from my capital! Hmm!

I research Evocation like mad, build a bunch of flyers, and move two of my mini-armies into that province. Just before Marverni moves into it, I dump *FORTY* PD into that province, move my fliers there, all of my Eagle Kings (a whopping FOUR of them. *sigh*). Marverni steps confidently into my trap, and their army gets annihilated. Stomped on. Crushed. The only thing I failed to do was kill his pretender (awww...

And then in real life, I go away on a trip, send Llamabeast *three* messages (long story) asking him to delay the turn, announce it in the forums...and still stale out. Right when indie heroes random-event attack my *capital*, and besiege my home fortress. For two turns. And also allowing Marverni to recover a bit, starving TWO of my armies in low-supply provinces down south, etc. Grr...

Nevertheless, a few turns later, I'm by Marverni's capital, mopping him up. I make him another offer: I keep the territories I conquered, and we go to 3-turn-NAP status. Admittedly, the offer sucked for him, cuz I had taken most of his provinces--but it was his only chance of survival, allowing him to concentrate on Yomi exclusively. Beggars can't be choosers, after all. His response? "Ah, so you are growing afraid. I have crushed Yomi's army, and now I can concentrate on you!" And then Yomi sends me a message: "I think I can take him, but I need you to provide a distraction."

*blink*

At this point, over about twelve turns, I have kicked Marverni's butt from my capital all the way back to his. While he and Yomi fence back and forth accross essentially the same few territories. Yet I am apparently quaking in my boots at Marverni's vast might. And Yomi wants me to provide a 'distraction'. Uh huh. I honour my agreement with Yomi, and wait for him to conquer Marverni's capital. And wait. And wait.

And Hellheim attacks me.

--Hello, what?