6401

Posts like the one above me make me wonder if I’m in over my head. I mean, I understand all of that, mostly, I just don’t think I engage on quite that level. My score and output in Pacific Dreams so far should attest to that.

6402

Well, I was referring to when Shadow Vestals go up against only the PD. Ermor attacked a province of mine with a PD of 35, and the PD barely made a dent in his attack force, since the Shadow Vestals pretty much took all the blows, blows that extremely rarely connected. True, he had additional units with those Shadow Vestals, but how is a PD with their non-magical weapons solely supposed to defend against such a common ethereal unit?

6403

Well, and again I’m no expert, but sprinkling mages in which your pd should help. Did the mother that I think comes with your PD not cast any air evocations? I’m just wondering how effective they were. Here are some spells I think you could try:

Fire arrows, but hard to do as man.

Swarm might be interesting, the flies have 15 attack AN and most importantly magic attack (I think), which should pop the twist fate. If the bite isn’t magic it’s a lot less useful. Maybe someone here knows.

I thought poison cloud, but then I remembered undead.

The spell flambeaus cast should be very effective if you can get someone to mail you some.

I suspect an A2 mother casting orb lightning is fairly effective.

If vestals are cap only, which I think they are, rain of toads/raging hearts/blight/etc his capital and that should at least cut off the spigot.

But in short, if unaided PD can’t touch them, then I think you’ll need to find a way to aid your PD.

6404

They aren’t. PD is there to catch spies, and so jackasses like me won’t take provinces from you with just scouts. PD can’t and shouldn’t stop any serious fighting force.

If your opponents army is taking your provinces, you’ve got to stop him with your army.

6405
  1. Machaka
  2. Bandar
  3. Pythium

I know nothing about playing any of these nations and only chose them because they look cool.

6406

My choices are:

  1. Machaka
  2. Caelum
  3. Pangaea

How does this work with each player listing their three, preferred nations?

6407

Pacific Dreams: I will need a turn extension for turn 34 - I will be out until Friday. I got 33 in today. Thanks!

6408

Having failed to marshall the forces of any allies versus Yomi, we engaged the enemy in a 300 on 300 battle. Hundreds of troops died, and Ermor’s forces withdrew to lick the sap from their wounds. The two worn armies still face one another across the border.

The urgency to attack is far lessened now, since we cannot claim any of Yomi’s three victory points before Summer. It looks as though Yomi, Arcoscephale, and Caelum will take the lead at 4 VPs, with the southern nations trailing with 3.

Personal note: I have played many MP games of Dom, and only in this game did I realize that a safe way to transport gems for one’s armies is to use scouts. Until now, I have always given gems to non-stealthy commanders.

6409

I have to say, the battles in this game have been a harsh and frustrating learning experience. As Ermor attacks my troops (I’m sure he thought he’d be attacking Vanheim’s troops), I’m watching my troops execute their orders, but they sure as hell don’t look like the ones I gave them. Although given the Fire at Cavalry command, cavalry archers are advancing into the oncoming infantry. I figure, “Oh, so that’s how it works. If all the cavalry is too far away to target, my cavalry archers will stroll right up to the advancing infantry to get into range. Nice!” And to make matters worse, their commander does the same thing!

I was expecting to engage only one division of Ermor’s troops in P44, but he ended up sending two divisions in from neighboring provinces. My 194 troops engaged his 585 troops in a long battle, but my men eventually routed. I lost 81% (158) of my troops, while Ermor lost only 48% (285) of his. If he had moved his division from P52 into P59 instead of into P44, I likely would have won both battles. Oh, well…live and learn, I suppose.

6410

Quick update on new newbie game: Waiting on Kid Socrates to get his nation pick but he’s out of town.

There’s also 2 more slots open and the game can go from 6 to 8.

6411

I’m not a newb but would play in the game under the condition that I can’t make allies with anyone, if you want me. No problem, if not!

6412

Wahoo, can you clarify how the nation selection is going to work. Are we pretty much just getting the first nation we chose?

6413

I agree with this. In fact, I think one of our rules should be that everybody gang up on Dave and keep him down. It’s the only way to be sure.

6414

I like the sound of that, naughty boy.

6415

Will you also dock yourself 100 points during pretender creation? Oh, yes–I am e-vile.

6416

Handicapping is an interesting idea. I was in a couple of games organized over at OO that had a mix of experienced and newer and downright new players and we had a couple of discussions on how it might work better.

Nation selection: This is easy and requires no other house rules or handicaps. Have the experienced player(s) take things like MA-Agartha or MA-Oceana. Don’t let them take a blood nation or a ‘powerhouse’.

“Active” handicaps:

Gang up on the pro: An OK idea, but it distorts the game into a team game and doesn’t give the newer players a real sense of what a free-for-all MP game is like.

No alliances with the pro: A better idea, but maybe not very much of a handicap. Easy enough to include no matter what else is decided.

Pretender design: Lots of possibilities here, most of which I’ve never seen actually used.

Point docking 100? 200? whatever you want.
Awake human pretender only (so no SC, no big point bonus for sleeping/imprisoned)
Awake human, points spent on dominion only (a pretty serious handicap)
Pretender designed by other players (that could be a really serious handicap)
Research cap (would obviously be on the honor system)

Other ideas?

6417

If a player wants to really be handicapped, let the other players choose their nation and Pretender. Paths et al. can still be chosen by the player.

6418

I don’t know. If the other players are new they won’t know which nations are weakest. Suppose it is MA and they randomly pick something. If I’m told I must play Pan (just something I plucked out of thin air, not a powerhouse) and use, say, a Frost Father, I’m quite sure I could design him to give White Centaurs a good blessing and use them to win the game.

6419

But they’ll be talking with each other, no?

6420

I like the idea of just docking pro players 100 points or so- because we can always gang up on them later if we need to.