Turn 15

I am removing Lavaere from the game. Whatever he has been doing it has not been beneficial to the team and in fact could be viewed as detrimental. Apparently his dominion strength is set at 1.

I will see if I can take the turns temporarily for Bandar, throw whatever armies he has at the enemy. Forge whatever I can and distribute any surplus.

Ulm (Joelz), you will take his provinces and cap.

That settles that issue.

Ulm and Caelum, any success at finding alternates/subs?

Septimius Severus wrote:I am removing Lavaere from the game. Whatever he has been doing it has not been beneficial to the team and in fact could be viewed as detrimental. Apparently his dominion strength is set at 1.

I will see if I can take the turns temporarily for Bandar, throw whatever armies he has at the enemy. Forge whatever I can and distribute any surplus.

Ulm (Joelz), you will take his provinces and cap.

That settles that issue.

Ulm and Caelum, any success at finding alternates/subs?

So, turn 15 posted. Did anyone actually take Bandar's turn?

Squirrelloid wrote:So, turn 15 posted. Did anyone actually take Bandar's turn?

I did. I didn't do much other than take a quick look, as I wanted to get things moving.

Ok, my two attacks vs TC failed.

My two attacks vs Ashdod in 306 and 285 succeeded. I am currently beseiging Ashdod in 285. I can either maintain the siege and take the fortress or move on to his cap 2 provinces away (currently has about 30 archers and 3 Talmai elders).

T'ien Chi' in addition to resisting my attacks has moved a large force of most barbarians and non-nationals into 245. He may attempt to interfere with my besieging army in 285 and help Ashdod. His capital has a large force of footmen and so forth as well which can reinforce 285 and surrounding area if need be.

Agartha, can you move on his fort in 228 this turn? If not apply whatever other pressure you can.

Edit:

C'tis: I am putting off building a fort in 303 or 306, in case you need another route to Ashdod. Once we finish with Ermor and hopefully with Ashdod, you'll also need a route south to help against TC.

More later.

Septimius Severus wrote:I am removing Lavaere from the game. Whatever he has been doing it has not been beneficial to the team and in fact could be viewed as detrimental. Apparently his dominion strength is set at 1.

I will see if I can take the turns temporarily for Bandar, throw whatever armies he has at the enemy. Forge whatever I can and distribute any surplus.

Ulm (Joelz), you will take his provinces and cap.

That settles that issue.

Ulm and Caelum, any success at finding alternates/subs?

Things aren't looking too bad from where I'm sitting. Atul has decided I'm easy prey and is coming for me, which is exactly what I want.

next turn I'll have some nasty magic ready for his army, and I've got a fair number of mages ready to throw this magic, along with my pre-prepared counter to his skinshifters.

In bad news, my teleport-magic duel attack on Ashdod failed. I could manage another one with two mages this time if it is needed however.

Me and atul are taunting one another in the shrapnel forum. He seems to be writing me off already - which I think is a gross underestimation.

However, if there's any fires-from-afar or seeking arrow casters about, could you chuck some damage at province 10? I think I'm entitled to a little artillery after he set marignon on me with raiders and cap-unrest events.

Regarding Bandar: (see current map)

For those concered, Ulm and/or Shin.

Bandar has 4 provinces and is under siege by some unidentified commanders in 234. Several indies surrounding. I will attempt to break the seige in 234. Is that Eriu in 221? If so I can move forces through.

I need an outlet to the enemy to throw all these troops at em. It looks like north/northeast may be the way out.

Ulm, unless you suggest otherwise perhaps I'll move north take some indies and so forth and see if I can get a way to the enemy that way. Post your map if you can.

Ulm, take any provinces of Bandar's that don't have troops in them.

Bandar's cap has 40 PD, so when it is emptied, you may need a few troops to take it.

Current inventory: 1300 Gold, 4 air gems, 3 earth, 45 astral, 38 nature.

Construction level 3.

Will forge whatever I can and distribute this turn or next.

Marignon's forces *demolished* my little army of spiders. He had grand masters there spamming Prison of Fire as his crossbows just destroyed my troops. My troops had just come through the wasteland and were starving... and 5-7 morale is NOT enough to break out of that spell. I've got plenty more troops, but they're not in excellent positions, so it'll be a little longer before I can counter his army.

I will take one of the air-2 enchantresses I've gotten so that she can cast Mist to help counter all those crossbowmen.

His units were very densely packed when I fought them, which tells me I should use cloud attacks.

Ye Olde Turn Report:

Ashdod did not attack me, instead he moved his Adon and Sheashai Anakim to 284 (rejoin the Rephaite sage?).

Scouting reports indicate the third Ashdod fortress is in 267. I'm two territories away, but would have to go through 'strong PD' and his SAnakim (which my vague reports number at about 20 - i'm not sure where the extras came from if there are indeed more than 8, or how many more than 8 there are).

FWIW, I could use some mage dueling teleporters in 284 to kill that Adon.

I did get attacked by yet more independents. Again behind my capitol, and again in a province i've already had to clear twice. Isn't order supposed to make crap like this less frequent? This time it was some 140 mandragoras and manikins lead by an ancient presence. Dealing with them....

I did successfully clear Exithobia of 85ish barbarians with no losses. Of course, now i have a mage on 'kill indies' duty, just because there's so damn many of them.

I got a totally useless lab in a barbarian province from an event. Why can't i get free labs in useful places...

Shinuyama would like to express gratitude for the large numbers of water gems that came its way. It should be a few turns before i can burn through all that. Casting tiamat's and forging an ice pebble staff (with hammer) each turn at the moment. (Numbness = more fatigue for Anakim).

Completed Enchantment 2 + 3. Yay skelly spam.

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GK holding in current province for now. Likely to attack it next turn, and then move to the other water province adjacent to Ermor's capitol.

Ocean army attacking some trolls and a hydromancer.

Cleaning out another province in my backfield that was lost to independents.

Army of 30 dai-bakemono attacking Ashdod's province in 254.

Army in 282 attacking independents in 294.

Massive army in 280 bypassing/ignoring Ashdod's army to attack 302. Moving scout to 284.

Scout in 284 attacking current province and retreating in the hopes of pinning Ashdod.

Reinforcements moving from fortress 2 to 282.

Basically, i realized my troops would starve if i reinforced 280 again, so what I'm trying to do is either move around his held immobile army, or barring that get into a 'chicken' scenario where i bypass his army and head for his capitol, and trade 280 for 302. The attack on the nearby independents opens up more options for maneuverability without 280 in my possession.

All research directed to Evocation, heading for Evoc 6 (magma eruption/banefire) (will finish 4 and ~1/3 of 5 this turn). Will care about Ench 5 for fire arrows when i'm fighting someone who isn't mostly immune to them.

Edit: One fires from afar in 10 coming right up. (Seriously fire gem limited, that's all i can do.)

As far as I understand the dom 1 was a mistake on his part.

Bandar is a good nation and it would be a shame if we lost it's summoning power and it's top mage (the Rishi). It should still be able to play it's part and it's capital is worth far more to us in bandar's hands than as the 4th or 5th fort of someone else.

With these settings armies may always be dominant in this game. But Thugs will still be very strong and Bandar has them in abundence.

Changing the leadership is fine. But to kill Bandar off is not a good idea.

We do have alternatives I believe. And if not I am happy to play both Jot & Bandar for a while as it doesn't really matter if they stale that much due to their position.

Anyway my vote is to keep Bandar alive. And leave him with those gems! Unless someone is in desperate need of them they will be more useful for bandar (especially the astral) than anyone else. He should be researching summons not Construction but on easy research that should be easily fixed.

Well I have been given a stay of execution.

For some reason marignon did not attack and my fort is up. Which means I can build another Skratti And it should take him a while to successfully siege me out of there.

Unfortunately Caelum suffered another defeat at my Capital I am not sure if there were meant to be just mages or if something went wrong. Anyway he arrived, Vanheim who had a Vandrott & a Vanjarl plus 200 or so troops gift of flighted some skinshifters who chopped up the mages (or some at least).

The siege should last a little longer before Vanheim breaks through as there is still 150 points left.

I am fighting in the Holy Sea (1) for my first water province. I don't think Abysia is next to this so I don't think there will be any friendly fire. And attacking Grypha (71) which is a Vanheim province by my fort and next to Caelum's new province of Betame (he took off Eriu this turn).

Hoplosternum wrote:As far as I understand the dom 1 was a mistake on his part.

Bandar is a good nation and it would be a shame if we lost it's summoning power and it's top mage (the Rishi). It should still be able to play it's part and it's capital is worth far more to us in bandar's hands than as the 4th or 5th fort of someone else.

With these settings armies may always be dominant in this game. But Thugs will still be very strong and Bandar has them in abundence.

Changing the leadership is fine. But to kill Bandar off is not a good idea.

We do have alternatives I believe. And if not I am happy to play both Jot & Bandar for a while as it doesn't really matter if they stale that much due to their position.

Anyway my vote is to keep Bandar alive. And leave him with those gems! Unless someone is in desperate need of them they will be more useful for bandar (especially the astral) than anyone else. He should be researching summons not Construction but on easy research that should be easily fixed.

I have to agree. In fact, i'm tempted to say Bandar should expand within a protected bubble into its backfield, and otherwise buy mages and research pure conjuration.

I agree with you on that. Bandar Log might not have the greatest armies, but instead has good mages and great summons. Besides, I don't really have enough forces right know to start capturing Bandar's provinces. Really tied up with Eriu currently.
The turn went rather nicely. My armies in Trottern (177) managed to kill 3 Tuathas and 33 of his Fir Bolg slingers. Killed another Tuatha in Gintmark (187). Killed a Sidhe lord in Ulm (153). His other Sidhe lord managed to take Pirenna (141) which is adjacent to my capital.

Attacking Phalicia (139) and Linshire (134). Caelum can reclaim them later on.

Found a few magic sites. Earth income is now 10+ a turn. I have atleast 1+ a turn for every other gem type except death and blood as well.
Regarding alternates, if Hoplo isn't interested in playing Ulm for a few days, I'm sending a PM to one of the alternates once I come back from the LAN. I'm leaving early on monday though, so I don't know will they anwer before that.

Joelz wrote:Regarding alternates, if Hoplo isn't interested in playing Ulm for a few days, I'm sending a PM to one of the alternates once I come back from the LAN. I'm leaving early on monday though, so I don't know will they anwer before that.

I don't think I should take over. Ulm is a crucial power (and one I know very little about) and I still want to take turns for Jotunheim. That risks both powers going stale.

I don't mind taking over Bandar for a while as if both Bandar & Jot stale that doesn't matter much. Especially as both should be doing mainly research at this point and money, gems and research stacks up through stale turns.

But we don't want Ulm to stale.

PS to ULM: I tried to pm you back but am not sure if it worked or not....

Ok. PM'ing to Stretch (once I figure out how to find his account in Dom3 forums).

My prov does not conenct to his. I am going to move a large force his way, so that he will be aware that he has to defend himself. I am going to attack 239, so I will border his fort and then I can join the fight.

I also have a fort going into 222, but it has 2 more turns until completion. I am moving my largest forces to him, but man my guys are SLOW..

Also, I am searching for Earth Gem Sites, so I can start pumping out Golumns.

I hope to have all my forces over to there when my fort finishes.

Septimius Severus wrote:Ok, my two attacks vs TC failed.

My two attacks vs Ashdod in 306 and 285 succeeded. I am currently beseiging Ashdod in 285. I can either maintain the siege and take the fortress or move on to his cap 2 provinces away (currently has about 30 archers and 3 Talmai elders).

T'ien Chi' in addition to resisting my attacks has moved a large force of most barbarians and non-nationals into 245. He may attempt to interfere with my besieging army in 285 and help Ashdod. His capital has a large force of footmen and so forth as well which can reinforce 285 and surrounding area if need be.

Agartha, can you move on his fort in 228 this turn? If not apply whatever other pressure you can.

Edit:

C'tis: I am putting off building a fort in 303 or 306, in case you need another route to Ashdod. Once we finish with Ermor and hopefully with Ashdod, you'll also need a route south to help against TC.

More later.

I am an idiot! So I send two Arch Theurgs to kill the thugged-up Adon in 340, right? Had them placed all the way in the center-back, where they should be safe. Can you guess what happened? Yep, Adon flew right up and killed them both in the first round To add insult to injury, the attack was pretty much unnecessary, as he seems to have pulled that Adon back to his capital anyway (probably going to give the gear to a non-astral thug). I really need to think things through a little better sometimes

Anyhow, things weren't a total loss. I took 321 back from Ashdod, killing 4 of his Sheshai Anakites at the same time (although I blew 55 gladiators on it - that was probably overkill, but still cheaper than his 4 giants). Also took 354 from Ermor.

From 354, I'll hit Ermor in 345. He's put together all the units that escapted before he capital was put under siege (about 30 units, including his prophet), but it should still not be much of a problem.

Squirrelloid, you are planning to attack 302, correct? If so, I will move my army at 321 to the northeast, and attack Ashdod from above.

Squirrelloid wrote:Ye Olde Turn Report:

Ashdod did not attack me, instead he moved his Adon and Sheashai Anakim to 284 (rejoin the Rephaite sage?).

Scouting reports indicate the third Ashdod fortress is in 267. I'm two territories away, but would have to go through 'strong PD' and his SAnakim (which my vague reports number at about 20 - i'm not sure where the extras came from if there are indeed more than 8, or how many more than 8 there are).

FWIW, I could use some mage dueling teleporters in 284 to kill that Adon.

I did get attacked by yet more independents. Again behind my capitol, and again in a province i've already had to clear twice. Isn't order supposed to make crap like this less frequent? This time it was some 140 mandragoras and manikins lead by an ancient presence. Dealing with them....

I did successfully clear Exithobia of 85ish barbarians with no losses. Of course, now i have a mage on 'kill indies' duty, just because there's so damn many of them.

I got a totally useless lab in a barbarian province from an event. Why can't i get free labs in useful places...

Shinuyama would like to express gratitude for the large numbers of water gems that came its way. It should be a few turns before i can burn through all that. Casting tiamat's and forging an ice pebble staff (with hammer) each turn at the moment. (Numbness = more fatigue for Anakim).

Completed Enchantment 2 + 3. Yay skelly spam.

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GK holding in current province for now. Likely to attack it next turn, and then move to the other water province adjacent to Ermor's capitol.

Ocean army attacking some trolls and a hydromancer.

Cleaning out another province in my backfield that was lost to independents.

Army of 30 dai-bakemono attacking Ashdod's province in 254.

Army in 282 attacking independents in 294.

Massive army in 280 bypassing/ignoring Ashdod's army to attack 302. Moving scout to 284.

Scout in 284 attacking current province and retreating in the hopes of pinning Ashdod.

Reinforcements moving from fortress 2 to 282.

Basically, i realized my troops would starve if i reinforced 280 again, so what I'm trying to do is either move around his held immobile army, or barring that get into a 'chicken' scenario where i bypass his army and head for his capitol, and trade 280 for 302. The attack on the nearby independents opens up more options for maneuverability without 280 in my possession.

All research directed to Evocation, heading for Evoc 6 (magma eruption/banefire) (will finish 4 and ~1/3 of 5 this turn). Will care about Ench 5 for fire arrows when i'm fighting someone who isn't mostly immune to them.

Edit: One fires from afar in 10 coming right up. (Seriously fire gem limited, that's all i can do.)

The reason that Adon is not already dead is because he retreated it off the field before I could magic duel it, so my guy just wasted a bunch of pearls. :/

Will try again, but I will need pearls soon with having the fights coming up near me

Very well then Hoplo and crew, we shall attempt my original plan then. To keep Hoplo in the game (we need your expertise), you shall attempt to play both Bandar and Jottun, until the latter is destroyed.

My interest is keeping things moving along and I frankly don't have the time to play two nations right now. You can either mass your armies together and throw them at the enemy via Omricia (Ashdod is near) or expand in Ulm's backfield some more.

If an alternate comes in as for Ulm or Skinu, I'd rather they do have a full chance of playing and meeting the enemy head on.

I myself only have one key, but apparently by using two e-mail addresses I was able to submit both turns to the server.

I will send you the current turn file, do you have another e-mail address other than what you used via llamaserver? That may be the safest way to try it. Post it or PM it to me.

A note - bandar can probably forge cauldrons of broth for shinuyama.

Very little new to report. My armies moved in unmolested and I've breached Ermor's walls. Preaching at his city walls has reduced his capitol's dominion from 7 to 2. At this rate, he must preach from within his walls (can he do that?), or have neutral/unfriendly-disease-ridden dominion in his capitol next turn. This leaves me with yet another descion:

Option 1: Act now - storming the castle in the hopes that his defending force of 50+ units with (at most) 12 Grand Thaumaturgists can't hold off my 215 units and 8 H3 priests and 6 D2/D3 mages. Sounds like it might be winnable, but it would probably be a CLOSE fight. In all likely-hood, his mages would survive even if he lost.

Option 2: Continue to preach; storm the walls with a scout; face the same descision next turn, albeit with slightly more knowledge of what I'm up against. The downside to this is that it gives Ermor at least 1 more turn to summon and reanimate additional defenders, and it delays action against Ashdod. The upside is, if I win a storming next turn, Pythium (TwoBits) will probably have sealed off retreat for any fleeing enemy mages.

If I were the vets, and I wanted to make the most out of this loss, I would probably airdrop on 359 while Ermor's Vestals move to 355 (this turn). If they leave 359 undefended for the Vestals to capture, would fleeing mages survive next turn's storming?

Answers, suggestions and comments are welcome!

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On another note, I'm perplexed by the fact that vets have IGNORED my nation with the single exception of 1 flying thug for 1 turn in 1 province (which I'm considering taking back this turn). To those of us with a little more MP experience: What's the deal? I didn't want to attract so much attention that I get squashed, but did my start look so unimpressive? Or is this an accurate reflection of how much players despise fighting in C'tis' dominion? Sorry to sound whiny, but I thought I would have taken several meaningful beatings from several sources by now, and I'm trying to get a feel for how different things will be in other MP games I play.

I'd keep preaching and try to domkill him. Taking the fortress from the AI should be much easier than taking it from a player.

Hm, you might just want to sit tight for now Raiel. I should be able to take 345 next turn, and if so, should be in a position to attack both 355 and 341 after that, and hopefully run down the last of Ermor's forces outside their capital. Then there will be no place for survivors to flee once you storm his capital. Heck, storming might not even be necessary - you've got 8 Priest-Kings preaching at his capital, I've got a temple and a Theurg preaching in 358, my prophet is with my army circling his capital, and Shinuyama's GK is somewhere up north above his capital, so Dom-Kill still might be a possibility. I would at least test the waters with a scout this turn before considering an assault.

Where have the Vets been? I've been wondering myself. I don't have Miasma, but I haven't been bothered much yet either (I can't believe my capital hasn't been hit by unrest Rituals yet). I think Ashdod was tasked with helping out Ermor, but, despite my stupid disaster, I think the fear of Magic Duel caused him to pull back (I expect he'll have non-Astral thugs in the field soon though).

Vanheim would be another likely person to help out (after all, someone shot at me with Seeking Arrows a few turns back, he'd be the likely suspect for that), but if he CTed in, say, his Vanadrotts, that would likely be a one-way mission (no way to get home outside of capturing/building a lab), so he may be reluctant to get that involved. Plus, he's trying to take out Jotunheim at the moment, and might not have much to spare.

Eriu would be another likely trouble-maker, but Ulm and others seem to be doing a good job of keeping them busy, and inflicting casualties on their thugs/raiders. Let's hope they can keep it up.

Attacking Ashdod in 290 and TC in 268. Uploaded current map.

Just thought to drop by and tell that Stretch is up for the sub. Unfortunately I did not save any turns for him to watch
He should start subbing me by turn 16.

Noob Gold Total - 227412
Noob Gem Total - 1068

Vet Gold Total - 101634
Vet Gem Total - 642

This turn you guys managed to pull up to almost twice the gem income as the vets (per turn, not overall). Good job.