[Dominions 5] Grogspocalypse Now! (FINISHED)

[al_infierno]

Game page on llamaserver:  http://www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo.cgi?game=Grogsgame


Figured we should get a new thread rolling for the new game.   The game's still open to anyone who wants to join.  I think we're leaning towards Middle Ages, but haven't decided on map size or # of thrones.

Here's the list of confirmed combatants so far:

Solops - Agartha
Ajidica - Mictlan
TheMeInTeam - Eriu
W8taminute - Uruk
al_infierno - C'Tis
Myrmidon - Sceleria


My faction choice will be C'Tis regardless of era.  I'll let the other players post with their choices.

[solops]

Agartha - noble, inoffensive, peaceful one-Eyed folk who channel the love of Mairon the Admirable.

[Ajidica]

Didn't realize a new thread had been started.

For nation, I'm good with MA as that is what I have been practicing but I'll list my full picks here.

EA: Lanka
MA: Mictlan
LA: Man

As far as map goes, I'm good keeping it as Biddyn. The map has 81 land provinces, which with 5 players gives us all 16 provinces each (not counting water), and includes additional cave provinces for Solops/Agartha. I'm also down to play another map, but I've had terrible luck finding midsize maps on llamaserver as for us to use them they have to be both uploaded there and have a download link for us.

As far as thrones, I think the 6 thrones, 5 points to win with 4 level 1 thrones and 2 level 2 thrones has worked well; but I wasn't part of last game's throne rush so I don't know how well it worked out for those participating in it!

[Myrmidon]

Please count me in!  I'd like a stab at Ermor if it's available.

[TheMeInTeam]

MA vs EA Ermor are a LITTLE different from each other, so you might want to clarify that pick .

I might as well just pick TNN or Eriu since I've been playing them a lot.  I'm not exactly ready with prep on them, but if we're starting soon I'll grind out some practice.

As far as thrones, I think the 6 thrones, 5 points to win with 4 level 1 thrones and 2 level 2 thrones has worked well; but I wasn't part of last game's throne rush so I don't know how well it worked out for those participating in it!

Solops was *very* close to winning by claiming the throne near your capital.  After I repelled that I was mistaken as to which throne was the two point throne, so the game didn't end in a throne rush but rather the others going AI after W8aminute was down to one besieged non-cap province and my economy/research got too far ahead to counter.

If we add more players we might want to increase throne count to compensate.  We're not doing something like those 12-20 player games where this would make actually winning/doing throne rushes onerous with more, and it's nice to have techs after the 5-7 range matter.

[Myrmidon]

Most of my experience is playing EA Ermor, but I love the idea of playing the undead version of it in MA, so I'm happy to do my Due Diligence and give it a go!

[al_infierno]

Most of my experience is playing EA Ermor, but I love the idea of playing the undead version of it in MA, so I'm happy to do my Due Diligence and give it a go!

If you want to play the "undead version" of Ermor in MA, I'd actually recommend picking Sceleria.  You'd have access to both mainline human troop and hero production, while also having good access to Death magic.  It's your call either way, but MA Ermor might not be a great option for online play if you don't know exactly what you're doing with them.

Adding people's picks to the original post - looks like we're leaning towards MA so I'll just add those picks to the main post.

[Ajidica]

Great to have a new player!

MA Ermor plays very differently from EA Ermor as it is a very cancerous nation due to it being a freespawn nation whose dominion kills population. We're in no rush to start so why not try out other MA nations? MA has a lot of nations that can communion like EA Ermor or break out high level death magic like EA Ermor.
If you want to play MA Ermor, be aware that it generally paints a massive target on your back.

[TheMeInTeam]

In terms of lore, Ermor splits after its catastrophe and Sceleria is one of its offshoots.  Unit-wise, you will feel more familiar with them than MA Ermor.  Both are very strong nations centered around oppressive masses of undead and death magic ultimately.

MA Ermor, unlike Sceleria, is also a popkill nation and tends to attract the wrong kinds of attention as a result.  Sceleria, Ermor, and Pangaea are all comfortably top 5 nations for MA.  Agartha and Ulm are up there but lots of nations are similar to those two.

With Ctis also in the game already and either Ermor or Sceleria we're going to be seeing more skeletons than last game.  A lot more.

Edit:

Nobody has yet, but don't pick a water nation if we're playing on Biddyn.  It breaks the map and places water nation capital ~ 2 provinces from multiple other capitals.  Amphibious nations like Agartha/Shinuyama/Xibalba should be fine like last time since the game still gives them land capitals. 

[W8taminute]

So good to see all of this interest as well as new faces joining in.  I'm thinking about taking MA Uruk for this game.  Need to mess around with them a bit more before I say for sure.

[Myrmidon]

Good thoughts from everyone.  Based on some of the guides I read about them, It sounds like a reasonable call to play another nation.  As fascinating as they seem to be (fired up a SP game with them), my relative inexperience in multiplayer Dominions and the fact they draw the ire of everyone around them might make them a choice for another round.  I'll do some more reading and pick another nation. 

[solops]

This last game was my second MP game. I also indicated an interest in MA Ermor in the pre-game discussions. Adjidica talked me out of it, saying basically that Ermor was a people killing machine that the other players would eradicate before it's cancerous spread became fatal. I played a game against it and three other standard AIs. I now understand why he said that. The game needs a population migration dynamic based on Dominion to balance things out and allow the repopulation of barren provinces. Even that might not be enough.

[solops]

We are up to 6 players. I messaged Yskonyn, so he might make 7!

[al_infierno]

I'll gladly edit my post if anyone wants to change their pick, by the way.  Don't think you're locked in just because it says your nation in bold next to your username in the first post. 

[Ajidica]

Just to clarify, if one of you guys want to play MA Ermor, feel free to do so. They are a blast in single player, but I just want to make sure people know what they might be getting into running the nation in MP.