"A Song of Ice and Fire", veterans-only game, MA. In progress, midgame...

[Lingchih]

It's kind of an unwritten rule. Once one nation looks like they are about to win, all nations declare war on them. Sorry... I thought you were familiar with it.

And hey, someone knock down that Sea of Ice. Things would get a lot more interesting.

[Lingchih]

Geez, of all the possible timing. My PC (that I play Dom on), just bit the big one. It's a deader. I could transfer everything to my Mac, but it's like 4 upgrades behind, and seriously, since I am such a bit player, I don't see the point.

You guys let me know if you want me to upgrade my Mac system, and play on that, or if I can just stale out.

[karnoza]

Guys, the official turn interval in the game is 3 days now, but in fact turns are constantly delayed and we have 7-9 days between turns. I just don't understand why I should do my complex turns in time and then wait for another several days until all delays are over. Seriously, guys, if we are not fine with 3 days interval, let's officially accept 7 or 9 days or whatever, but no matter what the interval is, let's try to keep it.

[Corwin]

Originally Posted by karnoza

Guys, the official turn interval in the game is 3 days now, but in fact turns are constantly delayed and we have 7-9 days between turns. I just don't understand why I should do my complex turns in time and then wait for another several days until all delays are over. Seriously, guys, if we are not fine with 3 days interval, let's officially accept 7 or 9 days or whatever, but no matter what the interval is, let's try to keep it.

New turn.

Sorry for my part in the delays guys. Recently at least half of our delays are my fault. The rest are due to other players contacting me vs PM or email and requesting delays. I always grant them.

The reason for my own delays is that my turns have been taking huge amount of time recently. ;( Now that I control almost half of the map, and in war with 2, soon to be 4 nations, each of them being played by strong players such as yourself. When facing such opponents I am fully aware that any serious mistake on my part will be immediately punished, as it was demonstrated many times in the past in this game. Not to mention we all change tactics constantly to adopt to each other new developments.


That said, I will try to keep delays it the minimum in the future as far as my nation concerned. I suggest that perhaps we should stick to 3 days timer, with any players requesting delays if needed. The reason for this is that I am concerned that switching to longer then 3 days hosting timer may cause some players to lose interest in the game. Am I right? Or do you all guys feel that 4 days delay is better at this point of the game?


So it's up to you guys. Personally I am totally fine with 4 days timer, in fact it would make making my turns quite a bit easier. But I don't want to lose players because of such switch or lessen players enjoyment of the game because of it.

So what are your opinions?

[Executor]

Ouch, that was unpleasant.
Well I kinda half way gave up after that bloody massacre on the central front, still not sure how I lost that one.

I managed to keep ahead resource vice during this war and not lose ground on the main island, but as of last turn this changed.

I've lost the Ulm - Bandar lands, the seas are lost, former TC lands too, and as of last and this turn effectively 70% of my SC's are down with virtually no loses on your side.
What's left of my forces is cursed, severely afflicted, horror marked and what not. You've broken the northern front, whipped out my army on the central front, and broken the southern one once again.
Ermor is ready to concede, well played.

[Corwin]

Originally Posted by Executor

Ouch, that was unpleasant.
Well I kinda half way gave up after that bloody massacre on the central front, still not sure how I lost that one.

I managed to keep ahead resource vice during this war and not lose ground on the main island, but as of last turn this changed.

I've lost the Ulm - Bandar lands, the seas are lost, former TC lands too, and as of last and this turn effectively 70% of my SC's are down with virtually no loses on your side.
What's left of my forces is cursed, severely afflicted, horror marked and what not. You've broken the northern front, whipped out my army on the central front, and broken the southern one once again.
Ermor is ready to concede, well played.

Thank you Executor. Very well played yourself.


Guys, here is a news update for all nations who may not have a large spy network over Ermor/Pythium frontlines, together with few comments and my analysis of the current situation in the game:


After critical victory against Ermor on the central front 1 turn ago turn, I've redeployed most of my non-injured SCs in the area to the southern front. It was the last front of Ermor/Pythium war where Ermor was still strong (they have defeated me there earlier and were besieging my castle, with a large group of SCs and strong army)

This turn there was a huge battle there, in which Ermor's army was pretty much annihilated. 12 Ermor SCs have been wiped out together with their army, with practically no losses on Pythium side.

Also 2 more Ermor SCs have fallen during the conquest of Ermor's underwater castle during this turn. All and all - I estimate that Ermor is down to less then 1/3 of SCs that they had 2 turns ago.

On my side I currently I have about 30-35 fully equipped SCs on 4 ermorian fronts alone, in addition to few hundred mages and large armies with gate cleavers to back these SCs and that are capable of tearing any castle's walls in 1 turn. (That not including numerous SCs on Jotuns and TC fronts, as well as those that have not been deployed yet.)

Combined with losses from earlier battles over the last turn, the situation indeed has become hopeless for Ermor, as Executor have explained.

With Ermor's military backbone broken, their remaining lands will be quickly absorbed into my own territory.


All and all - I have to say that I am positive that the fate of the game can not be changed at this point. The remaing nations still have strong armies and significant resources, but the final outcome of this struggle is no longer in question - the Pythium can't help but win this game at the end. The difference in the gem income and money income alone is too great.


Therefore by the imperial degree, the Pythium Empire would like to offer a honorable surrender to all remaining nations in the game:

You have fought bravely and well. You have survived to the endgame in a world full of mighty opponents, most of whom are no more. I think that it is time to end this bloodshed and start rebuilding the shattered land, under the benevolent guidance of the Pythium Empire.


What will you say, Lords of Song of Ice and Fire?

[Corwin]

Originally Posted by Executor

Ouch, that was unpleasant.
Well I kinda half way gave up after that bloody massacre on the central front, still not sure how I lost that one.

I've actually watched that battle closely during replay, since it was the most important battle of our war. Well, if you are interested in my opinion - I think it was a combination of several things. But me using my water/blood tartarian as a secret weapon during that great battle has played a large part in it. That tartarian alone has banished to inferno 4 of your SCs before they had a chance to engage in melee, including some of your best anti-SC ("boxing" grendlekins). Also my best Tartarian Titan equipped with Mage Bane and best items that gems could buy had fatigued and killed one or two of yours in SC vs SC duels. All together that has shifted number of SCs on both sides from aprox. parity that we had in the beginning of battle toward me having advantage in numbers of meleeing SCs. Plus the quality of my remaining SC vs your remaining SC was slightly better - I had a couple of Ember Lords, Water Queen and Gredlekin, in addition to regular tartarians we both used. But that was a minor factor.

Perhaps you may have won that battle (or at least made it into draw) if you would keep your SCs in the back for the first 5 turns, beyond the reach of my Claws spell. Or if you would screen your SCs with non-GORed tartarians. (Both these tactics I that I was planning to employ against DrP's blood magic in the next few turns, should we continue playing ) But in your defense - that was the first time I've used blood magic against you in battle, so you didn't know to expect it. Also sending more of your mages into that battle would help too - you've wiped out my mages very efficiently early, but you didn't send too many of your own mages into battle. Since the battle had lasted for a very long time, and you've successfully sabotaged my anti-magic spell, eventually your mages would likely paralyze and soulslay some of my SCs if there would be more of them.

Nevertheless it was a close call. You didn't slay any of my SCs but you've come very close with several of them. And pretty much all of my melee SCs got a lot of nasty afflictions. I even had to pause my tartarian factory and organize improv Chalice-powered hospital in that province where we've fought battle. Even now two turns later more most of the participating SCs are still recovering from their wounds. BTW that's why I didn't counterattack you on the central front the next turn after battle - most of my SCs were crippled, and I wanted to heal them before sending them again into battle.

Anyway, just my two cents.

[DrPraetorious]

That's a shame, as I was finally turning things around on my front .

But with Ermor conceding, and given how long it takes to script an effective defense *everywhere all the time* (sigh), I'm inclined to accept. Let me take a bit of a longer look at this turn, though - with proper defenses in place, I can possibly beat your armies and just banish all your tarts to hell. It'll be tough, of course, as you won't be sitting still and waiting for me to do that; and even if it's possible, I may just not have time to do justice to the turns.

[Corwin]

Originally Posted by DrPraetorious

That's a shame, as I was finally turning things around on my front .

But with Ermor conceding, and given how long it takes to script an effective defense *everywhere all the time* (sigh), I'm inclined to accept. Let me take a bit of a longer look at this turn, though - with proper defenses in place, I can possibly beat your armies and just banish all your tarts to hell. It'll be tough, of course, as you won't be sitting still and waiting for me to do that; and even if it's possible, I may just not have time to do justice to the turns.

I understand your reasoning DrPraetorious. And I respect your fighting spirit. But what you are describing won't be possible I am afraid - I am well aware of the power of inferno/claws banishment (I've used it against Ermor myself with great success) and that you are going to rely on it to try to banish my SCs to inferno. But it just means I will have to use counter-measures against inferno banishments, and I would, believe me. Nevertheless I partly agree with you, your blood magic will certainly limit my SCs usefulness to some degree, and it will mean that I will have to rely less on my SCs (or rather be more careful with the way I deploy them), and more om my armies, mages, communions and unique artifacts. But it won't be able to stop me.

Let me share more of my current situation: I control large majority of best unique artifacts (pretty much everything except Scepter which I have no need for). I have the only remaining fully functioning (healing) tartarian factory (outside conceding Ermor). If we continue to play in 4-5 turns most of the Ermorian lands as well as probably most of TC would be under my control. You and BL won't be able to prevent it in time due to map's geography and locations of your armies. Finally once Ermor's globals fall I indent to try to fill these slots with my own globals, backed by a lot of gems. Considering the difference in gem income, I except I should be able to grab at least 4 globals slots. (Starting this turn BTW - I've been saving gems to cast powerful global for the last 4 turns, once I've noticed BL's repeated attempts to kill off the caster who has frozen the Sea ). I also have a forging factory that creates 50 items each turn with hammers and forging site bonus, to equip all my new SCs and mages.

Finally with Ermor's resistance greatly diminished, at least 15 fully equipped SCs from their fronts are immediately coming to your front during the next few turns, by the means or personal teleportations, as well as by Gate Stone and Boots of Planes. Plus I am creating and fully equipping 6-7 new SCs per turn, most of them would be heading to your front as well, since you are the most powerful of my remaining opponents.

Please don't get me wrong, I am not bragging, just sharing with you a honest account of my situation, so you and other players could make your decisions knowing all facts. I am also sure that if we would continue your armies would cause me significant losses before they would be dealt with. Nevertheless even your powerful blood magic will not be able to turn the tides of war in your favor at this point - the odds are simply stacked way too heavily against you and your allies. Trust me, I love a good fight (as long as it can affect the final outcome) and I wouldn't make my offer if I wouldn't be 100% certain that the fate of the game is sealed at this point.

[Aethyr]

Congrats Corwin, by all accounts you have played a masterful game.