MP Game, Early Era, Random Nations, Victory Points

[Baalz]

The bloody empire continues to expand. A large force has gathered inside the scholars' fortress, fearing to meet us in the open. Our honorable priest king has no patience for a protracted siege and has avoided this province, preferring to collect sacrifices around the less defended villages. There have been ominous reports from our other borders, fantistic figures seen in the distance. Reports initially were that large groups of toops using these mechanical flying devices were deployed along our western front, but apparently these are some sort of frosty angelic beings, their wings are not mechanical, they are (super)natural! Equally disconcerting, reports from the eastern front are of men of gigantic purportions, equally icy. There are also rumors of some sort of sentient fish swimming beneath the waves, though few believe such old wives tales. There has been no hostility yet, but defenses are being mobilized as we wait for one of them to decide for us which nation will follow the scholars into the sacrificial pit.

[Tyrant]

The night air was chilly as the three battered chiefs sat to their gruesome feast. The occansional cries of wounded men carried up from the ragged encampment below.

"That did not go well," pronounced Gerulf with more cheer in his voice than the night warranted.

"Nope," grunted Korgoth from beneath a burning stare.

"I heard that those Tien Chi guys are coming in right behind them. Heard that last bunch were some sort of slave army they sent in first to clear the way."

"Worked," said Ervig staring laconically at the camp below.

Gerulf adjusted an arm on the pile of corpses the three were using as a dinner table.

"Kinda wierd the way they all just wandered off into the woods after the battle. Whaddya think that was about?"

The pop and snap of the fire filled the silence as the others stared dully at Gerulf. Korgoth wiped a new trickle of blood off the bubbling wound on his face and went back to bone he was gnawing on.

"Don't worry about it Korgoth, you were ugly as dog's butt already anyway."

"Ain't worried," he replied.

"Think the next lot will have as many archers as the last bunch," asked Gerulf as he worked the fat from his meal into his beard.

The other two exchanged incredulous looks before Korgoth asked "Does he ever shut up?"

"Only when he's sleeping," replied Ervig as he slammed a hammer fist into Gerulf's startled face.

[Maltrease]

Nice Tyrant!

[RamsHead]

As the last flaming arrows fell, the few Ulmish troops who managed to survive the rain of fire limped off the battlefield. The Hannyas surveyed their surroundings. Crimson ground, burning flesh, and piles of bodies were everywhere. In amongst the corpses, they found the two Dai Oni who were slain in combat. Both T'ien Ch'i and Ulmish troops had tasted the blade of the Prophet. He died an honorable death.

The Hannyas ordered that the heads of the soldiers of Ulm should be piked. This would certainly send the message to the barbarian nation that revenge had been achieved. With mountians of dead bodies, the Hannyas decided that this was enough. That they had been successful in their mission for vengance, and no more Yomi had to die. The army was disbanded, and everyone went home. They knew that in the future, when people would talk about Ushi Ushi, they would tell of how his army had slain hundreds, and of how no other nation killed so many troops in one month. Victory was both lost and achieved.

[Corwin]

Very nice AARs Tyrant and Ramshead.

[Corwin]

It has begun.


The mighty nation of Helheim has decided it is time to put their play-seal aside and to strike at Tien Chi Empire.

Apparently they have spent several turns positioning their flying sacred troops deep in the back of Tien Chi nation. This turn the infiltrators got the order to attack. Meanwhile main Helheim armies are moving through Ulm lands toward the heart of Tien Chi empire.

All this doesn't seem to be distracting Helheim one bit from finishing brave but small Vanheim nation, whom they have already pretty much defeated in just few turns.


So this turn Tien Chi Empire has found itself facing by far the most powerful nation of our realm, who is also allied with Ulm, which is the 4th nation on several graphs.

Needless to say the odds are heavily stacked against us. Helheim is clearly trying to eliminate what their perceive as the largest threat to their plans for world domination, as they informed us themselves in their letter we recieved this turn. We can't say we blame them for this.


However if this will happen the game will be won by Helheim, without slightest doubts. This should be obvious to anybody who is familiar with uber-blessed Helheim and who has been watching graphs recently. Even before the start of the war, the Tien Chi Empire had almost twice less provinces than Helheim. As everybody know, the graphs for army strength are very misleading. Despite "similar" army size the Helheim nation has infinitely better army due to their masses of sacred glamour troops, both flying and cavalry, empowered by mighty bless of course. And unlike Tien Chi, Helheim nations didn't suffer any serious losses from the very beginning, so their have huge hordes of almost invincible W9 glamour sacred troops, with whom they can raid any uncastled province. (We knew it from the very beginning, and that’s why I’ve build as many castles as I could. But this will not be nearly enough in this situation.)


So this is the moment of truth for all Helheim neighbors, as well as all other nations. Helheim is already by far the most powerful nation of our world. In few turns they will get gem income and money income of most of my uncastled provinces, since there is little I can do at this point to prevent riding by glamour flaying sacred troops - Tien Chi nation is not exactly famous for its riding and counter riding abilities. If you look at the graphs, you can add most of my money income and gem income, as well as those of Vanheim nation, to those of Helheim, to get an idea how the Helheim will look like in 2-3 turns.


So here is the bottom line:

Helheim has made their move to eliminate the nation that they have considered the most dangerous for their world domination. Not only that, but they did it in alliance with another strong nation.


If Helheim is allowed to continue to grow, and to devour Vanheim empire and my own, they will without any doubts win the game. As a nation number two (or number 3-4 on other graphs), who is facing nation number one AND nation number 4 or 5 at the same time, we ask all other nations who would like to maintain the balance of power in our game, and to prevent Helheim from dominating the game even further that they are doing it already, to act. Any form of help - such as direct military intervention (best of all), or aid in form of water and air gems, or help with forging items, would be highly appreciated by Tien Chi Empire.


In few turns most of my gem and money income will belong to Helheim, giving them huge boost in power. To all free nations of our Realm - it is time to act if you want to continue to be free.


As for our own nation - on the behalf of Tien Chi Empreror, here is the Royal Decree, mobilizing our nation for war against Helheim invaders.

"We shall fight. We shall fight in the mountains. We shall fight on the plains. We shall fight in the swamps. We will fight in our besieged castles. We shall never surrender".

So spoke Geya, Ruler of Tien Chi Empire



P.S. We understand that the first natural reaction of some nations, when they would read the news of this war, would probably be: “Great!!! Now these two scary nations who lead in graphs will tear each other apart, while we will have a chance to grow and prosper. However such perception would be far from reality. Helheim is much scarier and stronger that Tien Chi. And by allying with Ulm before attacking their weaker rival they have ensured that they will win this war quickly, if other nations will not step in. Like I said, add gem/money income of Vanheim and Tien Chi to Helheim, and you will get the nation who is considerably stronger than all other nations combined.

[Maltrease]

A fine speach by a noble and powerful empire.

We do not argue that if we conquered the entire Tien Chi empire tomorrow, without losses and with the game situation exactly as it is now that we would likely succeed in bringing our form of peace to this world.

We wish we lived in the reality as described by Tien Chi's silver tongued leader, unfortunately the situation is a tad different.

Oni surrendered their lands to Tien Chi without a fight and instead sent their entire forces against Ulm. This allowed Tien Chi an easy assumption of power all the while seriously weakening ULM (their next target).

Where is Tien Chi's military loss in this conflict? Does their army graph ever dip? This turn I raided a few of their lands, how many provinces of ULM did he conquer (Again without significant loss, as the majority of Ulmish troops died to Oni's suicide). Check the oracles graphs! If we had not intervened Ulm wouldn't have lasted more then a few months in its weakened state. Even with our aid it will be a very tough battle vs. a huge empire with a MASSIVE gem income, varied magical mages and a HUGE income. Yes they have fewer provinces... If you want to double my income I will gladly trade away half of our lands.

How fast do you think Tien Chi's research is going to be once all those site searching mages start hitting the books?

Thinking late game: Do you want to fight against some W9 blessed Helherdings? OR Warriors of the Five elements with a W9 F9 bless, that is with 50% immunity to all elements. How hard would it be for a diverse magical nation such as Tien Chi to cast battlewide spells that brings this resistance up to 100% against all magic?? What will mighty Caelum when facing 50 shock and cold resistance troops. Your thunderstrikes which would devastate our army would be worthless!

Do you want to fight a somewhat limited magical nation with Helherdings vulnerable to magic attacks, or a diverse magical nation with an incredible gem income (and the ability to use them all) with magically immune troops and powerful sacred summons that can take advantage of this W9 F9 bless.

Frankly I WOULD consider this situation "Two scary nations who lead in the graphs tearing each other apart". IF we had not stepped in now, ULM would be completely overrun by Tien Chi. Then with a massive gem and gold income, access to magically immune highly skilled fighters and the skilled leadership they would be truly unstoppable. As it is they still might be... Oni's gift to Tien Chi was extremely powerful.

Before being swayed by words (mine or his) I would ask that you do consult the oracles and their recordings of what has happend in the land. What do Forts mean in term of mages? What do mages do with gems? Late game what is more dangerous a bunch of recruitable glamoured troops, or a nation fully loaded with gems with high research and the ability to field massive numbers of powerful mages?

We did not ask for our conflict with Vanheim and frankly were hurt when our honorable brothers incorrectly saw us as the #1 enemy. If Vanheim would like to end its hostilities against us we would welcome peace with them.

[Meglobob]

Are you guys playing in the same game as me? All those wars and fun your having. Here I am stuck in the 'boring lands', where a mage opening his book is the height of excitment.

Oh great Wraith why did u place the giants here and not amongst the great wars to the southwest?

The giants of Nielfelheim are envious and jealous of both T'ien C'hi and Helheim.

We can not discern who is the most powerful or who will emerge the strongest...

[Corwin]

Here is my respose to the recent letter from my noble Helheim opponent.

Maltrease said:
A fine speach by a noble and powerful empire.

We do not argue that if we conquered the entire Tien Chi empire tomorrow, without losses and with the game situation exactly as it is now that we would likely succeed in bringing our form of peace to this world.

We wish we lived in the reality as described by Tien Chi's silver tongued leader,

You will, in few turns. I was talking about 3-4 turns in the future, as I clearly stated in my letter. Once you bring your raiders and armies. In the mid and late game whoever has the best raiders usually wins. And it is common knowledge that Helhheim has by far the best raiders of all Nations and all Eras. You have both flying and cavalry sacred, both with your W9 bless of course.

Tien Chi has no raiders at all. That alone would make any serious war very difficult for me, unless side without raiders have overwhelming force, which is certainly not the case with my nation.

unfortunately the situation is a tad different.

Oni surrendered their lands to Tien Chi without a fight and instead sent their entire forces against Ulm. This allowed Tien Chi an easy assumption of power all the while seriously weakening ULM (their next target).

Not quite. Me and Yomi were fighting serious war, and he has killed a lot of my sacred troops in several battles. But than Ulm decided to interfere and get a piece of Yomi lands while Yomi was occupied with me. Prior to this both me and Yomi asked Ulm not to interfere in our 1 vs 1 war. (It was Yomi's request BTW, not mine, but I supported it). Ulm disregarded it and attacked Yomi anyway.

So naturally Yomi was more pissed at Ulm, who suddenly attacked him in the back, than he was at me, with whom he was fighting this fair 1 vs 1 war, as he asked me himself.

So when Yomi told me that he had a change of plans and would like to teach Ulm a lesson instead of letting him get his lands while he Yomi was fighting me, of course I didn't object to it - why would I??? Would you said - "No, fight me instead, and let Ulm take your lands?" I don't think so.


So your statement that I get Yomi land without losses or fighting is incorrect - prior to Ulm rude intervention there was all out battles and serious losses on my side. Most of my early game sacred died at this war.

(BTW I am not saying you are telling lies, I am sure you just didn't know it. You can ask Yomi if you like, but I am telling the truth)

Where is Tien Chi's military loss in this conflict? Does their army graph ever dip?

Oh c'mon! There were no military losses yet because there were no battles - you just attacked me this turn with your flying raiders deep in my territory. You have destroyed all uncastled temples that I had in my empire , and you have got some of my best provinces. But that's just a beginning.

You do not even have a border with me yet, so no major battles were possible this turn. You will get border in 1 turn though - don't think I can't see the path your glamour troops are cutting through Ulm territory toward the heart of my empire.

This turn I raided a few of their lands, how many provinces of ULM did he conquer (Again without significant loss, as the majority of Ulmish troops died to Oni's suicide).

Again, not entirely correct - Ulm has suffered no losses with me so far. I didn't fight his troops yet - they all retreated to his castle and to his 3 big armies. The only military losses so far in this war were on my side where his PD beat me back (it was stronger than I expected). But that's nothing.

Check the oracles graphs! If we had not intervened Ulm wouldn't have lasted more then a few months in its weakened state.

And how many turns Vanheim will last against *your* empire? At least Ulm still has large army to protect his territory. Vanheim has almost no army. Frankly I wouldn't really use this argument if I would be you.

Even with our aid it will be a very tough battle vs. a huge empire with a MASSIVE gem income, varied magical mages and a HUGE income.

Ha! Have you seen the graphs lately? Your income is actually HIGHER than mine now. Which makes it what- "SUPER-HUGE"? Your gem income will also be higher than mine soon, since you'll continue your raids, and you will certainly do it on much larger scale that this first turn.

Most importantly - without research my gem income and mages are useless, as you well know. And my research sucks, and will continue to suck for the rest of the game, unfortunately. I made a mistake with scales by taking drain with Tien Chi. <sigh> ;(

How fast do you think Tien Chi's research is going to be once all those site searching mages start hitting the books?

Wrong again. They already did last turn. I only has 3 low level mages searching. What you see on the graphs is the best research ALL my mages can do.

Thinking late game: Do you want to fight against some W9 blessed Helherdings? OR Warriors of the Five elements with a W9 F9 bless, that is with 50% immunity to all elements.

Now you are definitely kidding. I will trade you 4 of my W5E for each of your heldrings, and you would be fool to accept such deal. W5E are VERY fragile. You don't need magic to kill them - a group indep archer will destroy them all without breaking a sweat. They die in melee 10 times more easy than herdlings, since they have much lower defense, lower protection, do not have shields, and do not have glamour. Finally they are neither stealthy not flying, so they can't raid. (which is huge factor)


Trying to convince people that W5E are more scary than heldrots is not going to fly for anybody familiar with Helheim. Helheim sacred are the best by far, to the point of being considered overpowered. While W5E are quite good with double bless, they are not uber by any means, and they die easely. Plus I am not sure why you keep calling them them magically immune - 50% resistance is not immunity. As I said – I would gladly trade my w5E for your heldrots at proportion 5:1, and I am not extravagating.




Anyway, the bottom line is I never said "I am suffering the terrible losses, look at me!". But I am well familiar with Helheim and with the current situation in our game to see what will happen in the next few turns.

What I said is " There is no possible way I can fight number one nation (Helheim) with his ally and prevent them from overrunning my Empire. So they are going to win this war and get my land as well as land of Vanheim. And once you add Tien Chi and Vanheim territory to your own, you will win the game. You have admitted it yourself in your post.

And we both know that it will happen, if this war will continue and other nations will not interfere.

Geya, Lord of Tien Chi

[Maltrease]

My bottom line is "take a look at the graphs" and come to your own conclusions before jumping to the aid of one of us "superpowers".

Megablog, weren't you talking about "fun under the waters" a while back? What happended to those plans?