Boiling the Ocean (Started, needs alternate?)

[AdmiralZhao]

I would love to take Lanka from you. Sweet, sweet Lanka...

[Herbacious]

I'd just like to state that DrPraetorious changes to the map seem good to me.

[Sensori]

Well, even though I guess you may think I'm sort of a buzzkill, I don't think it's fair. I don't play lots with EA Vanheim but I'm going to go with it anyway. If all the people were going to start switching to nations they're good with... It'd make the whole random spirit of the game meaningless, and turn it into a game where people have chosen their nashuns themselves.

Yes, I seriously doubt it'd end with just you guys switching.

Oh yeah, I noticed that at least normally the game won't let you have more than 9 starting provinces. Is there a way to get around it or are we going to use nine? Or do we start with 1 province as per usual and try to get our share of the 400 or so provinces? That's the "if" that will determine what kind of a Pretender at least I will use. The original post says, and I quote, "20 players with about 20 territories per player", so I'm a bit confused. :/

EDIT: And I second the post above. DrPraetorious's edits wouldn't hurt, would they?

[Nix]

I think 20 provinces per player just means there's a total amount of 20 x # of players provinces. You start off with one prov but basically have 20 to expand into before you need to seriously deal with your neighbors.

[AdmiralZhao]

From everything I've read, Vanheim is even more overpowered than Lanka. So, I would be willing to trade for them too.

Carlosib, why do you want to trade away Lanka? They are a very strong nation.

[Sensori]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking of until I started overanalyzing things (this is never a good thing) and basically reading between the lines when there was nothing there... And then I started nitpicking in my head that some people might not manage to get 20 because of excessively strong indies next to them and blah blah blah unless they were given 20 at the start, and then, in the end, I managed to totally confuse myself.

And I don't think any nashun is excessively overpowered or anything, all tend to have their ups and downs. Some are really strong at the beginning while others equal and surpass them in other parts of the game. And... Helheim is more overpowered than Vanheim, they have Valkyries in EA! Valkyries own your pants off.

[carlosib]

Ok, no nation trading then, lets keep it random. And I have nothing against Lanka, i've never played them so i'm yet to find their strong and weak points.

[AdmiralZhao]

Ok, sounds good. I played Lanka in my last game, and was kicking myself the entire time for not taking a nature or earth blessing. They have some great holy units.

[DrPraetorious]

Quick Lanka advice:
Lanka is definitely a sacred rush position, so go for the big bless. You get natural 3s in Air, Death, Nature and Blood - so avoid air, death and blood on your God. You really want a nature blessing, and you'd like fire, earth astral and water if you can arrange it. Take Heat-3. You prefer Heat-2, but with Heat-3 a lot of your provinces will still be heat-2 most of the time, and you need the points.

Here are some possibilities:
Imprisoned Great Mother, E9N9, Order 3, Sloth 2, Heat 3, Misfortune 2, Magic 1, Domstr 6. Lankans with this blessing eat basically anything that gets in their way, and earth magic is great when she finally wakes up.

Imprisoned Mother of Rivers, W9N4, Order 3, Sloth 1, Heat 3, Magic 3, Domstr 7. Powerful blessing and great scales.

Dormant Great Enchantress, F4A1W4E3S4D1N4, Order 3, Sloth 1, Heat 3, Magic 1. Blessing is surprisingly effective, and you can summon water mages to *cast* quickness on your stuff. Strong diversifying magic, rapid research, good income. Best choice if you care about the late game more than early expansion.

Hope that was helpful. Anyone else playing a position with which they are not familiar? I've never played EA Vanheim so I can't be much help there.

[seej]

Yes, I agree with keeping it random. No swaps.
Yes, I agree with the changes - do i just append that text into the map file?