Basically this is for all the players that wish they could of been in the first dominion 3 game and missed the chance or had some bad luck and were knocked out of the first game.
Guidelines:
1) yea,its a noob game,so lets see if we can keep it to under 10 MP games played. Naturally exceptions can be made hence the guidelines category. just please be honest and state your experience level upfront.
2) We'll vote on a map to use and what mods if any.
3) Feel free to suggest away here,I'm just starting the bandwagon not trying to be the band leader.
Players:
1) Abysia player........... EmersonPF
2) Arcoscephale............. Rasael
3) Caelum.................... louist
4) C'tis........................ ghostwes
5) Marverni.................. Tophat
6) Niefelheim............... Elana
7) Sauromatia............. bpalczewski
8) Ulm....................... Shadowtounge
AIs aren't that much fun...
Either they will get rushed and taken out, or they will be an annoying non diplomatic presence for their neighbors.
Anyway, I've got a map fixed up with 8 random starts. Granted I 'know' where the starts are, but I guess you have to trust me that I won't use that to my advantage. And really, I'm going to forget where they are in another hour because that's how crappy my short term memory is.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=738772
For the map (get v4 in the last post though it won't affect this game either way).
Otherwise I set HoF to 15 and kept renaming on. Everything else is standard as it was initially.
The Map is wraparound, and no one should be starting closer than 4 to anyone else. Some are 5 or 6 from some neighbors, though I think everyone has at least one neighbor within 4. Some starts are a bit more 'roomy' than others, but everyone should have enough space to carve out a bit of empire in peace. Well there are a few nations who can rush well in this game, but who knows if they'll chance it, knowing they have to send their scout/army out in the right direction quickly or else the rush will meet a much better prepared target (well, in theory).
Yeah, don't worry about the rushing Elana says he (she? sorry, I don't know actually) the Giants are too peaceful to rush, and Sauromatia is the only other one I'd be particularly concerned about... Anyway, rambling a bit, I'm starting it!
My PMs still stand for those I sent them to, and my request for A and E still stands.
Let me know if you see anything funky with the map or starts, but hopefully it all works properly.
Also, and this is VERY important!
Be sure you delete all the files in your savedgame folder for this game! otherwise there will be problems potentially when you try to run your turn.
So if you made a folder called 'Dawn of the Morning' be sure you empty it before you copy the .trn file in to it.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/misc.php?do=flashchat&room=1
Come by and chat if you can I'll be around for a bit to answer any questions if you're having any problems with the game or map or whatever.
Most people have only played with vanilla AIs. They can be improved and made surprising.
And assign it the Eater of the Dead as a pretender. That will really make it a troublesome grenade
lol...
I don't think that's really appropriate for a noob game now...
So to sum up:
In my savedgames DawnOfTheAncients folder created for this game I first delete everything.
I got a turn file from llamaserver.....I place this into my newly emptied DawnOfTheAncients savedgame folder.
I download the rustynails map from the link you provided above.....This is our new game map.(Note:There was only one file to download at that location,hope its the most recent map)
Then run the game and do our first turn.
Submit turn per directions.
Yep, that should do it. If you have any problems come find me in the chat.
Interesting map,really since it wraps it looks small to me. Already put my turn in,now the waiting.
It may look small, but it's the size people wanted
Two quick questions... GMT is the time zone given for turn deadline... is the Greenwich mean time?
Wraparound map means the top edge is 'adjacent' to the bottom edge, and the left edge is adjacent to the right edge? thanks... EDIT: never mind about map, saw map, understand. my first thought was, "why are all the startups showing? Then I realized, oh, its my startup repeating itself on the wrap around map. Cool
Thanx GP..
edit first turn submitted - seems Ok
can you recommend any AI mod that makes real improvement as in comparison to vanilla one?
Amazing what difference the aesthetics of a map make! It almost undoes the niggling in the back of my mind that I really do not enjoy vanilla Caelum
Good luck everyone!
Mods? There arent nearly as many mods for it as there should be. Most of the suggestions are in the other areas of boosting. Server scenarios, settings, maps, and 3rd party programs. But there are a couple of mods. The Better Indepents mod and the AI Opponent Balance mod. Here is a thread about it all...
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=44783
*chuckle*
I don't enjoy them either
We could work together to get you past this issue though
Though in one of the last full games I played (I was a 'lame' dual bless Niefel) Caelum stood very tall against me (and my Yomi friend). Amazing what those birds can do with the right research. It was all for naught though, the Jarl SCs fully decked out put an end to those skinny chickens
Though there is great potential with EA caelum, certainly compared to the later age versions. You don't really need A gems though, so trade them
Caelums "balancing" factors (such as flight) work best on large maps or bigger. I think they get alot more solo play than mp play. Altho they can be a surprise.
Yes, the game has begin. Good luck to all. Lets have fun, learn some new things, oh and did i mention, have fun?
There are certainly some nice tricks Caelum can play, but they look tough without reaching critical mass. CBM really gives them a welcome boost, letting them contend even in the early game.
This turn, and this turn only, I will pay 3 N for 2 E!
First come first serve!!!
Abysia knows not of this "fun" of which you speak. You must have meant, "have fire." That makes much more sense.
The Astral Current
All the news you want just one projection away!
(Now available daily for only one astral gem a year)
News: The sages of Arcosesphale forecast much merry celebration in the capitals of the various nations of our great world as the strands of fate are woven and destiny draws close.
In other news: Abyssians in uproar as several Niefelheim Jarls propose a Global Enchantment to drop average temperatures by at least 20 degrees globally. Other nations have yet to comment although experts say the situation is already inflamed.
The Blue News: All the news that's fitted to scribe
Smurfette fetish suggests that the icy winds are not intended to be global, but merely to give the jarls a cool reception....
Heatwave hits hidden nest! "The ice almost melted..." - unnamed insider says.
Translator begs forgiveness for mistranslation fiasco. Abysia bureau chief out in cold after use of archaic "fun" instead of time honored "fire."
No takers ehh...
Well if anyone sends me 2E this turn, I will send you your 3N next turns since I won't be around to update my turn before it processes.
Ulm reminds you all, well mostly for those who may not realize, forge bonus is a good thing. Hammers are a good thing. If you can't make your own hammers (Const2, but need an E3 mage to forge) we can make them for you. At a nominal price even!
Supplies will be limited though, so get on the waiting list now! Beat the rush, don't be left paying full price when you can manufacture your own discount!
Tophat, would it be possible to edit the initial forum post to show the nations and who is playing them?
By the by...
In the interest of 'teaching' let me point everyone here...
http://www.llamaserver.net/showScores.cgi?game=DawnOfTheMorning
Yeah, nifty little score summary, with numbers instead of graphs like you get in game. No, I'm not giving anything massive away here, some of you may already know this/do this (and it's why some games have score tables turned off), but you can glean a lot of information from these tables, especially early game.
So you want me to spoil it for you?
Of course you do!
1st Table Provinces
This lets you get an idea of how quickly people are expanding, duh, but it actually can tell you a bit more, or let you make 'educated' guesses. So for example after the 2nd turn (no one took a province on the 1st turn) we can see that 2 nations are still on 1 province, and 1 nation is already at 3! Go go Abyssia! Now if you know the troop types and leaders available you can make a guess if they made 2 armies and hit 2 provinces, or if they used 1 army and 1 SC pretender! I won't give you my theory on what Aby did, you can try to figure it out for yourselves. Oh, and hint, it helps to look at the past turns stats as well, sometimes. As to Caelum and Arco stuck on 1... well the question is did they try to take a province and fail, or did they have a lot of tough indies they didn't want to risk, or are they just playing safe. If we were playing with rushers (which we're probably not) then nations slow out of the gate here can paint a target on themselves. Of course no one knowing where anyone is (short of sharing that info, which I cautioned against already) it's not that dangerous, and we're on a biggish map, though, just a heads up.
2nd Table Forts
Not much to see here, no one lucked into finding a path0 fort (if those even exist, I don't remember). However, as the game progresses number of forts tells you a lot as well. Again, it helps to know the other nations a bit, for what their cap only recruits are, but many nations need to get that 2nd (and then more) fort up fast so that they can double their mage recruitment. Keep an eye on this one as the game goes on, tells you who's about to take a big jump in research or push out big armies.
3rd Table Income
Well this one can be misleading, but early it can tell you what kind of scales people probably took. Poor backwards Ulm vs. Mega wealthy C'tis for example. Though, getting a random which increases unrest can also drop that number, as can taxing and patrolling. I don't believe that gold from lucky events shows up here, but I may be mistaken on that. Anyway, another table which isn't that critical, but you can once again make some educated guesses about scales or unlucky events, or tax rates.
4th Table Gem income
Now this is a critical one. Early game not so much, but people with early jumps here, either really lucky, or took a rainbow pretender who's out searching (not researching, so you can tie that table to this one if their research drops after a couple turns). Mid to late game, many nations convert from a gold economy to a gem economy because their summons are better than their national troops. Or a forge economy where they are decking out thugs and SCs, or they start droping globals and other remote spells. All of that eats gems like crazy. So Gold vs. Gems? Early game the gold leader probably has an advantage. That transitions to gems at some point. Again, pay attention here, if someone starts running away on this one be ready for them to start pulling out some massive magic on everyone sooner rather than later. Again, I believe this only shows gems from sites, so if you have gem generators you can hide some of your income. Knowing which naitons can clam easily, or make blood stones, or fever fetishes lets you consider their position on this table differently. [also a plug for Ulm forging... we get a discount on our warrior smiths, we can make hammers, this is a 50% gem cost reduction, we can share though ]
5th Table Reserach
Ahh, another absolutely critical table. More for mid to late game, but even now we can learn a lot! For example, Ulm definitely took an awake pretender who has researched for 2 turns, probably rainbow, because going up high in paths would make it tough to be awake, and if you look at the ulmish unit line up, they are unlikely to go for a big bless strat. Arco, Marverni, and Aby also took awake pretenders, though it's not as easy to tell rainbow vs. focused, though if we want to think Aby took an SC, then it's an SC with a lot of magic paths. If we want to think Aby took a rainbow, then it's more likely they have 2 expansion armies rather than 1 + SC. Again, I'll leave it to you all to think about it, and apologies to Aby if he feels picked on I'm just trying to have a teaching moment Anyway, I'm spilling the beans on myself just as much I think.
C'tis, Sauro, Caelum, Niefel almost assuredly took asleep or dormant pretenders. Otherwise they'd have expanded more with a starting SC, or have more research. In the Nieful and C'tis cases it makes a lot of sense, so they can play a big bless. Sauro and Caelum could also have done this, or just bought better scales with an asleep pretender.
6th Table Dominion
Again, you can guess at how big of a Dominion score the nation took, but it's still a bit random how this moves, so really not a very useful table in my opinion. If your dominion gets low though, you might become a target for someone who thinks they can dom kill you. Not sure any of our nations are particularly adept at that. Arco maybe, but I'd have to look at the leaders. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about dom kills or this table much, it doesn't tie directly to nation strength as provinces/forts/gems does.
7th Table Army size
Mostly useless, I'm pretty sure it counts up units. So if you have 1000 militia you have an army size of 1000, but it's a worthless army Niefel is almost always low on this table, but no one thinks Niefel is an easy target because of it.
8th Table Victory Points
Doesn't apply to this game, we don't have victory by VP enabled, but if you are in a game which does, then it's pretty self explanatory.
Anyway, long post, giving some tips, hope you find them useful, hope no one is upset if they feel I gave them away (Aby ), and if you don't want me to blather my nonsense here just let me know As I said, I'm not playing so much to win (I'm not playing to lose of course) as to try some funky stuff with an underpowered nation, and to 'teach' or at least open peoples eyes to other ways to look at things in the game.
Enjoy! And please, someone sell me some freaking Air gems
Gems and gold from events definitely do not show on the graphs. Very good for high luck and turmoil types, since everyone cannot see what is going on. Gems from globals do show, gems from bloodstones, etc. do not. Blood slaves also do not show, so a heavy blood nation can be more powerful than they appear otherwise.
I think army size does not just count units, I think it counts size. 100 size 2 units would be 200, 100 size 6 units would be 600. Regardless, it is difficult to get any detailed information since it does not take into account equipment, magic, etc. Seeing how it changes, rising or falling, can be informative.
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