Dominions 5: Multiplayer Warriors of the Feint - 2018 Stabby-Stabby Edition

@Baconsoda time is running out…

QT3Lizzies Pan turn 4 (or something)

Expansion is going well, and I’ve received my first offer of diplomacy. While I am eager to enact this one as it’s a very logical border, I am leery of over-NAPing myself, something I’ve done in previous games.

To my east lies Ur, and as they don’t seem to be expanding my way I’ve redirected my forces to take the forests on our borders, as they’re the largest clump of woods in the area. I’m planning on staying at least 1 province away from his capitol; he’s taken a nice town/field province and I think he’s letting me have those forests…what a nice guy!

I see C’tis to my west, and Sauromatia to the north, so will have to look at defining my borders there as well…

Ah, so you’re LittleMissPiggy!

QT3Lizzies, Kailasa

Fortunately, our monkeys know how to read and write at the 1st-grade level so we were able to sign (ie scribbled with a crayon) a NAP with our first encountered neighbor, a bunch of powerful human ladies leading human men by their nose-rings. The divine Monkey God will now divert his mighty army in other directions. Uh…if we can find another direction our monkeys can actually travel, that is…

Oh, Hi there neighbors! /waves at @Evil_Steve and @tylertoo!

Nope! But, I did just run into her!

squeeeel!

QT3Lizzies Pan turn 5-ish

Why, hello Ur! I had no idea you were there to my east! Fancy bumping into you like this! My, what a nice dragon you have there. Perhaps we should talk? I had a nice conversation with my other neighbor C’tis the other day, yes that was very nice. We could have a nice talk too!

More expansion this turn, and to cap it off I had a very nice message from C’tis asking for borders and perhaps a NAP. It turns out there’s a natural river border between us, and since I don’t have any amphibious/river crossing troops (and he does) it made sense to make the river our border. There was one exception though, a province adjacent to my capital directly across the river. To be safe I asked for that territory, which C’tis agreed to. I did offer to make that territory a demilitarized zone once I took it, to sweeten the pot for @AStott.

I do see Ur to the east, and there’s a nice throne between us. I set up a scout to peek at the Throne defenders, and I’ll see what’s there before deciding if I am going to try for an early Throne or not. I’m tempted to as it’s a Throne in a forest, which would be very nice for Pan! On the other hand, if I try to take it and fail then Ur could very well swoop in and clean up. Decisions decisions! I send some reinforcements from my capital to the area to give me some options…I’m worried that I’m leaving some neutral territories to my north too long but a throne in a short game is probably more important.

QT3Lizzes Ur

Well now, this map just got a lot tighter. Therodos, Iike I suspected, wanted some Cavemen as well. But my prophet and some hard hitting sacreds were a match for his ethereal troops. No doubt I will have to send him a message in game.

I see Pythium, and also the Hydras he is making. No doubt that is too take on the War Elephants occupying a rich farmland nearby. I will have to talk to him as well.

And hello Pan! I see that you love the forests, like Ur loves the swamps. I get to make special troops in there, just like you get cheap researchers and archers in that forest. Be careful with that throne, I see 140 Zulu types on it. I will have to send HIM a message as well.

Finally,to my south! Rus and Ctis, side by side. That will make for some interesting hot and cold interactions. Time to send in the scouts, and talk to both of them.

In other news, I am rapidly approaching the time I need to start another castle. But mine cost 750 gold. And I have a lot of neighbors with itchy trigger fingers. Best wait and build up a bit more.

QT3Furies: Fomoria

Well LittleMissPiggy (E6N6, E&N protection buffs) was all up for some truffle action, but I have to say this is a really tight start for the squealer, and expansion has been a mite conservative. Mictlan is just over the river, and there’s two thrones in the immediate area along with a swamp commanded by a Grotesque.

“Well they were very…tight.
Tight?
Yes, you could see quite clearly. . .
Oh I see.
Everything. Outlines. The lot.
Oh. Yes thank you.
Clear as day.
Thank you very much.
Nothing left to the imagination.”

And here, i didn’t even think Pythia existed yet in this timeline…

Kailasa, Lizzies Turn 7(?)

The mighty monkey army shambled into an independent province from the north and conquered it swiftly with few losses. Before they could even break out the victory bananas a large army of huge, horned men in bronze armor appeared suddenly over a rise to the south. They began clanging massive bronze axes on long shields and behind them rose a giant scaled wingless dragon, its horny head towering over the large beast-men. The presence of the dragon sent the bronze men into a wild frenzy and suddenly they all began to glow slightly, a blessing from their god! And then they charged…

The great army of the Monkey God was certainly surprised by the invaders but rallied quickly and formed ranks. They met the charge of the giant wild men in bronze and their dragon bravely, our own sacred warriors of Mt Kailasa taking the brunt of the impact. Men, ape and beast clashed with falchion, foot, axe, tooth and claw and many fell on both sides but eventually the invaders turned and fled back the way they had come.

The monkey armed finally had their victory bananas but they were bittersweet.

So yeah, this was an “accident”. Both Ur and I moved fairly large and expensive armies into the same province. Losses were heavy and about even on both sides. Now it’s time for diplomacy.

Sorry about the Curse and Horror Mark on your dragon. If it’s any consolation, my new 4-armed Hero commander that joined me last turn now has a limp.

Wow this map is tight. Well, at least my real Dragon isn’t Horror Marked. I believe thats an astral bless effect now? And I recall that your 4 armed hero is the blood 3 guy, if its the same guy from Dom4.

Glad I spent last turn buying more troops! There’s a few more Mushusus in the mix now.

Oh how I wish your pretender was LittleMissPiggy, @Akaoni. Because then your sacreds with your pretender would be the ultimate combo - Mushusu Pork!!

Oh, I missed out on a good opportunity there, you are correct.

I got a chance to look at the battle between monkeys and brutes. It was kind of sad, since it was waged in a cave. So the archers on both sides mostly missed, and then the melee sides bumped. The awe worked well, sadly, and the Fallen must have been able to see in the dark, since he racked up an impressive ratio.

In other news, congrats to Pan for taking a Throne without a loss! N7E7 blessed White Centaurs are NASTY.

My scouts have also revealed the last missing nation…now I know where everyone is…including a large Rus force on my border. Perhaps I need to prepare for unexpected visitors.

QT3 Lizzies Pan turn 6 maybe

or How I Took a Throne and Lived to Tell About It (not nearly as interesting as it sounds)

Well, I sent in Red, my Bull Pretender along with a goodly army of white centaurs, satyr warriors, and my prophet. I knew the prophet would be essential as the throne province lay outside of my current dominion. I also knew Red Bull wouldn’t be able to solo the province without great risk to himself, due to the presence of several Wizards. Not to mention that outside of his own dominion he’s quite a bit more vulnerable than one might think. So, my prophet tagged along to give everyone else a Divine Bless.

Red Bull, being the crazy guy he is, charged on ahead with his 3 bodyguards (a mistake in retrospect), while everyone else hung back to get blessed and have their courage fortified. As a result he started attracting the Wizards’ attention quite quickly - understandable when being charged by a colossal bull intent on trampling you. Reminds me of that old joke…“show him your badge!”

Anyways, it turns out that Protection 19 (or so) isn’t enough to stop spears wielded by humans all the time. Especially when getting zapped by Wizards with slow, enrage, and paralyze spells. Red Bull managed to shake off the first few spells, but MR 19 allows some leakers too. Red’s hit points started to drop from all those little attacks, mostly doing 0 damage but some getting through. I anxiously watched as the paralyzed Bull’s hitpoints drop from 150-ish down to almost 100. His bodyguard was trying to fight their way through to him but he’d trampled himself into the middle of a huge crowd of indy warriors.

Luckily the cavalry arrived and swept back the cluster of indy warriors around Red. He was bruised and tenderized, but Red would live to see another day (saving my priests a lot of useless chanting).

Wow, Sleep Cloud is nasty now! Didn’t it used to just cause fatigue damage? It appears to add a new sleeping effect now and instantly disables the unit if they fail an MR check. It said there was a 10% chance to recover each round and the dang guys stood there a really long time stuck. Ugh!

BotBaddict, I enjoyed your description of Red Bull’s mad charge. I’m a newb, and I learned a fair bit from your post! Thanks.

Glad to help! :D

Gah, surrounded on all sides by 3 Dom-vets. This could be a short game for me.

Yeah, this is super tight. Even if I can manage to take some strong thrones, my max provinces looks like 9 right now.