MP: Power Beyond Comprehension aka "My power is still raising!" newbie game - Running

[Legendary League]

I will likely need a postponement after this turn is through (since my laptop is refusing to reboot and has been in startup repair for 24 hrs as of now). I can't say for how long, unfortunately.

[jimbojones1971]

Originally Posted by Legendary League

I will likely need a postponement after this turn is through (since my laptop is refusing to reboot and has been in startup repair for 24 hrs as of now). I can't say for how long, unfortunately.

No worries, thanks for letting me know.

[jimbojones1971]

No response from Abby or Arco. It seems pretty clear Arco needs to be set to AI. I will get someone to check Abby for me and tell me if it looks viable - if not, AI too. Otherwise I'll troll the forums for a sub.

[jimbojones1971]

OK, Abby is probably still in the game, but Arco is dead.

When I get a moment I will post for:
a) a sub for Abby, with some description of where they are at (from what I know)
b) someone to turn Arco to AI.

Then, back on track!

[krpeters]

Just wanted to mark my agreement that good form is to at least go AI if you're in a hopeless position, and preferably to find a sub if your position is still playable.

[Anaconda]

...on the other hand we might want to note that AI really messes things up - more likely than not. If nation has some muscles, AI is preferred or simple stale... Now if we do the math, staling does not in fact delay the fast paced game much at all. The delays, as I have noted above start when adming starts postponing the automated host for the stallers. The greatest delays come from players who face force majors and thus cannot play for several days. If thise pile, the delay is somwhat upsetting. However, if there aint stallers in a game of 48H interval, we might save some 6H for each turn which means a full day for one complete week of turns... that not that much...

[HoleyDooley]

The delay is annoying and really avoidable, but certainly not a game breaker.

Staling though is a game breaker. At least the AI will build some troops and put up some kind of resistance as opposed to a free ride into the staler's capital for the lucky person who is fighting them.

[jimbojones1971]

It seems we have a sub for Abysia, and possibly for Arco. More details soon.

[HoleyDooley]

Good work as usual Jimbo.

[HoleyDooley]

Interestingly Calahan gives some good reasons NOT to go AI. Quoted below the next paragraph.

However, people SHOULD play the game out unless they have real life reasons not to. To walk away from a game in which you still have a part to play is pathetic. I KNOW there are players here who will continue to play as long as they have a chance of winning and drop out as soon as things go sour, despite their empire being strong enough to influence the game.

----------------------------------------

Mr Calahan...below.

There are several problems with natons turning AI, and why staling is the preferred option (or at least my preferred option), but for now I'll limit my reply to just the two main ones IMO.

1 - Turning AI is permanent. So while a sub can be found for a staling nation even after several stales, once a nation is set to AI and the turn hosts then that can't be undone (unless you rollback). So mainly because of this I'd rather anyone who has to leave the game suddenly and is unable to contact the admin (ie. real life emergency), then I'd much rather that they just walk out of the game without turning AI first.

As you'd be surprised how often this scenario occurs, and how often players in such a situation think they are doing the game a favour by turning their nation AI rather than just letting it stale. When in practice the exact opposite is the case. As while in theory it sounds logical that an active AI, no matter how poor, would be better than a staling nation, Dominions just doesn't comply with that theory. Even though I have no doubt other online MP games do (my online gaming exp is limited to Dom only, so have no knowledge of how other games play with AI nations)

Although an important aspect in this theory is often how caring and active the game admin is, as sadly some admins couldn't care less if nations are staling and show no corcern at all if their game is falling apart due to multiple staling or AI nations. But luckily for you all I'm a fantastic admin biggrin.gif biggrin.gif biggrin.gif and I do care about the quailty of the games I play in, and especially those I organise and admin. So unless I start forgetting to look left and right, then I certainly won't be letting this game become a staling or AI happy festival.


2 - The AI is dreadful. Really dreadful. If I personally had to choose between fighting a staling nation or fighting the AI, then from a difficulty prespective, and especially from a time needed to defeat them PoV (which is a critical aspect of MP games), then the AI is far easier to beat every time than a staling nation. Mainly because a staling nation can't suicide all it's troops, which is something the AI loves to do, and to the point where its play becomes 100% predictable. (although I'm sure Gandalf would disagree, as the AI is excellent in his mind)

Nowhere is this seen more clearly than in fort sieges, as if you park a Scout on an AI fort then it will always attempt to break siege with everything inside the fort because all it can calculate is an easy victory. So all you have to do is bait the trap with a Scout, then move all your forces in for an instant win. No tricky fort storms required ever, or any need to get sufficient numbers to break the walls down with repairers inside. Whereas if the nation was staling you'd both have to break the walls down of an occupied fort, and battle your way through the gate of the fort (if you lacked the magic and strategic option to win by other means, such as if it's early in the game). And doing that can take considerable time and effort that could genuinely cost you the game if it takes too long, but that time factor disappears against the AI because as I said, it will always attempt to break siege, enabling every fort to be taken in 2-3 turns.