Troubling Times: Game over, Marverni wins

[Amhazair]

Looks like that's settled then. Thanks all for an enjoyable game. I've added a final 24h for those who want to have a last look at the Llamaserver for some unfathomable reason, and will take the game down over the weekend.

I have kept all my turn (and 2h) files of the game, anyone who is intrested in checking (part or all of) them out, feel free to let me know.

[Aethyr]

Congrats again Amhazair. You were the winner in the first MP game I ever played in, and I learned a lot from you then. If anything, you have taken your awsomeness to an even higher level.

Please keep me in mind if you've inclined to start another game sometime; it's always great fun to play with one of the best.

[Amhazair]

Originally Posted by chrispedersen

I'm sorry to splash some cold water, but I really think a game as large as faerun is not advisable.[...]

Originally Posted by PriestyMan

Its the map. Faerun is cursed. its such an awesome map, but its just cursed. no game can ever be succesful on it.

Hah! Hah, I tell you.

In other news, I had more or less considered writing an AAR for this game, and actually started writing along with the start of the game, but very much as I expected I didn't get very far. (Though I can help anyone intrested in an AAR of the first 10 turns. ) What can I say, I'm a lazy person. I'll post a quick overview of my game tomorrow or so.

[yandav]

I wad going to spend 999 gems next turn to try to overwrite your Arcane Nexus: how many gems did you spend?

[PriestyMan]

To be fair, it is still cursed. We had 3 major powers get subbed out (ermor,formoria,helheim) all at really bad times, and two minor powers (ctis and abysia.)

this isnt a legitimacy thing at all i promise, its just that its still cursed with making people dissapear

[Amhazair]

Originally Posted by yandav

I wad going to spend 999 gems next turn to try to overwrite your Arcane Nexus: how many gems did you spend?

Less

In fact I had cast a relatively small nexus, (around 250 gems if I recall) with the idea to overcast it to 999 myself next turn too with the help of the gems it generated. I did get less pearls than I expected though, ("only" 190, while had hoped for 300'ish and expected 250 by taking my gem income and multiplying it with the total # of provinces.) so I'm guessing I would have delayed my overcasting a turn, meaning you would have gotten control.

I also have a "literariy critique" type question: As I said, I had started writing an AAR for this game, but discontinued it due to it being a lot of work.

I still do have the ambition of trying it sometime though, perhaps for a smaller and/or no-diplomacy game (No promises, I am a lazy bum, and at 31 I don't think that's likely to change.) and thought it would be intresting to see if anyone would be intrested in reading this kind of AAR before going through the effort again, or if most people would think it far too long-winded or something like that. So, attached the result of my labors to this post to see what people think.

[PriestyMan]

That aar is..... huge. That would really be a full-sized novel if you did it for then entire game. I mean someone might get a kick out of reading it, but most people probably dont have time to read 18pages to get through turn 10. But if someone wanted to reasearch all about your playstyle or something it could be good lol

[Calahan]

That looks an awesome read Amhazair (which I will read for certain once a window of free dom time opens).

Not sure how many would be interested in seeing something that big as an AAR though, as it would take many sittings to read for a whole game, meaning the temptation would be very high to just skip large chunks of it if a text that size appeared "all at once" (ie. after the game). And people skipping parts would be a great shame given all the work and effort that would certainly go into it.

But what you've done there is very similar to the type of detailed DAR (D = During) that I've been itching to do for ages. And which I think players would read, regardless of text length, if the entries appeared at regular intervals (ie. every turn / 48 hours, or updated 2-3 times a week).

Doing a good detailed DAR though requires a good group of players who won't read the DAR thread, and a game with a very relaxed hosting schedule


ps. Congrats on the win, and possibly even more amazingly, managing to finish a game on Faerun.

[Hrum]

Originally Posted by Amhazair

...it would be intresting to see if anyone would be intrested in reading this kind of AAR before going through the effort again, or if most people would think it far too long-winded or something like that. So, attached the result of my labors to this post to see what people think.

Amhazair, thanks for posting this! I finished reading it and quite enjoyed it. I am sad that it stops right when the action between you and your neighbors seems poised to commence.

Nevertheless, what you provided is both an AAR of your early game, and sort of a proto-guide to early expansion with Marverni. Add more to it about your first war or two, and you would have near on a full fledged Marverni guide in AAR form (from someone who won the whole shebang with the strategies detailed). How awesome would that be!

In spite of my not playing in Troubling Times, I've been looking in on this thread once in a while since I was curious how the game would shake out with so many players on such a large map (BTW, I just looked at the mapfile to see what indies were added to Myth Drannor. That looks like that was a nasty one! Did anyone take that province and how gnarly was it? At least there weren't any demons flying around, so that's something to be thankful for, I guess... Just a huge TNN army accompanied by gryphons and sidhe thugs & mages - oh joy. ).

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed reading about your first 11 turns in the game and if you choose to add to that (albeit I imagine somewhat more summarized than the detail you included for those early turns) so that we can all hear about how Marverni progressed to victory, I would be eager to read more on this from you. I've never tried Marverni before, and didn't really know much about them before reading your AAR, and now I'm thinking I may need to give them a try at some point.

[Amhazair]

Originally Posted by PriestyMan

That aar is..... huge. That would really be a full-sized novel if you did it for then entire game. I mean someone might get a kick out of reading it, but most people probably dont have time to read 18pages to get through turn 10.

That was what I feared might be the case for some. I mean, I know I'd read it, but then again I readily admit I'm quite weird in a number of ways. And I can't allways tell what is and what isn't

Originally Posted by Hrum

Amhazair, thanks for posting this! I finished reading it and quite enjoyed it. I am sad that it stops right when the action between you and your neighbors seems poised to commence.

Nevertheless, what you provided is both an AAR of your early game, and sort of a proto-guide to early expansion with Marverni. Add more to it about your first war or two, and you would have near on a full fledged Marverni guide in AAR form (from someone who won the whole shebang with the strategies detailed). How awesome would that be!

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed reading about your first 11 turns in the game and if you choose to add to that (albeit I imagine somewhat more summarized than the detail you included for those early turns) so that we can all hear about how Marverni progressed to victory, I would be eager to read more on this from you.

But since others apparently do find it useful, I will at least keep the idea alive. I will warn you the chances of it ever actually happening are small to moderate at best, but hey, a guy should have some unachieved ambitions, right?

Originally Posted by Hrum

In spite of my not playing in Troubling Times, I've been looking in on this thread once in a while since I was curious how the game would shake out with so many players on such a large map (BTW, I just looked at the mapfile to see what indies were added to Myth Drannor. That looks like that was a nasty one! Did anyone take that province and how gnarly was it? At least there weren't any demons flying around, so that's something to be thankful for, I guess... Just a huge TNN army accompanied by gryphons and sidhe thugs & mages - oh joy. ).

At the end all VP province had been taken. (the heavily defended ones all have really good sites, so there's an incentive to go to some trouble for them) A few of them (Trollbark Forest, Vaasa and Northern Thay spring to mind) did remain independent till turns 60 or 70 though. I can't give you any details about Myth Drannor, it was held by Agartha by the time I got scouts in the area. The problem with those provinces is that, while some of them are quite impressive, they still behave as normal independents. (in other words: stupidly. And, perhaps more important, predictably) The SC/Thugs hang around behind the troops, melee surges forward in a big blob, and casters pick from the limited independant spell list. As such they're generally (relatively) easy prey for a properly scripted mid-game army.

Originally Posted by Hrum

I've never tried Marverni before, and didn't really know much about them before reading your AAR, and now I'm thinking I may need to give them a try at some point

I hadn't played them before either, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. They're generally considered a (quite) poor nation, allthough I think they're making a bit of a comeback in the minds of people. When I started playing they were accepted to be one of the very worst nations around, which I don't think is the case anymore?

I had expected them to be poor early on, and good in mid and late game, while I found them to be mediocre early, and a real powerhouse later. Druids are really, awesome. Really, really awesome. Of course this was the perfect map for them, and I probably would have had to compromise on my scales on a smaller and/or more crowded map. (For medium games I'm leaning towards an awake great sage with decent-but-not-awesome scales to get early Gifts from Heaven, but I'd have to think it over and hash out some numbers properly to be sure.)