riadsala

And here are the suggested alliances. Thanks to my friend for putting these together. I suggest team 1 above (Troy and ShadowTiger) get first pick, then team two, etc etc. Just post below with the alliance you'd like. First Alliance: ERMOR, NEW FAITH and C'TIS, LIZARD KINGS. Ermor is an empire of humans centered around a great city, with a long history of martial expansion, cultural annexation, and a surprising degree of apathy and subsequent tolerance towards the cults and rituals of other nations, which has enabled their proliferation throughout the world. The old ways are fading, however, and a new cult has arisen, sworn to eradicate all opposing faiths in the name of an emerging god. They are not alone in this endeavor. C'tis is a nation of lizard-folk, based around a fertile swampy river valley and the surrounding sandy deserts, and it has long been subject to Ermor. Lizard auxiliaries are known to round out the Ermorian legions, and their ties run long and deep. Now the C'tissians have joined the Ermorian cult, eager to claim their position in the emerging hierarchy. Second Alliance: VANHEIM, AGE OF VANIR and HELHEIM, DUSK AND DEATH. The vanir are a proud and ancient race of the misty moors and bitter forests, tall and innately magical, and harboring a terrible hatred of inferior species. In fact, the primary division in vanir society arises not from internal politics, but from a difference in their approach to lesser races: the vanir of Vanheim believe in live sacrifice to sate their god, while the vanir of Helheim prefer to kill their enemies outright as fuel for their death magics. In either case, when a single divine patron unites the vanir under a single banner, the message is clear: the lesser races of the world will submit or be exterminated, by one method or the other. Third Alliance: LANKA, LAND OF DEMONS and YOMI, ONI KINGS. Neither Lanka nor Yomi are strangers to hardship. Both are accustomed to long traditions of demon-worship in a world that has long assumed their dark brethren were banished back to the Nether-Realm centuries ago. Lanka is the successor nation to Kailasa, the kingdom of apes that collapsed beneath a combination of Ermorian aggression, hierarchical collapse, and enslavement at the paws of the Rakshasas, who rule Lanka to this day. Yomi's history is not so dissimilar, as it is home to the great cone-shaped mountain that conceals the entrance to the Nether-Realm at its summit. From this gate entire nations of pot-bellied oni demons have emerged, hunted and despised by other nations for their crude manners and taste for flesh. Now, however, an awakening patron, demonic and hideous, promises to unite the demon-kin and lead them to inherit the world. Fourth Alliance: PANGAEA, AGE OF REVELRY and OCEANIA, COMING OF THE CAPRICORNS. Sailors have always remarked upon how the frolicking Oceanians of the sea appear uncannily similar to the Pangaeans of the wild wood, and for good reason. Eons ago, Pangaea and Oceania were one species of beast-men, living on the boundary between the forest and the sea. As legend would have it, a quarrel between lovers created a rift between these nations, as one disappeared into the depths of the forest to dance and drink and seduce, caught up in revelry at once wild and somber, while the other drowned beneath the waves, cold and dead until she drew second breath and became the mother of the first intelligent aquatic race. As such, the animosities of these wild but clever creatures have long been the norm. However, a new god has arisen, claiming the title of Bridge-Builder (an appellation that makes little sense to the Oceanians), promising to shepherd them into a world free from the encroachment of so-called civilization, and forging new ties between the cultures and lifestyles of these once-united species. Fifth Alliance: MICTLAN, REIGN OF BLOOD and MACHAKA, LION KINGS. While most human civilizations, the great city of Ermor and the golden coastal ports of Arcoscephale, have grown fat over the course of their time in this world, the nations of Mictlan and Machaka have lived at the fringes, jealous and patient. Mictlan has been isolated for centuries in their deep jungles, rich with slaves and blood, and lusting in secret for the bronze, wealth, and able bodies of their ignorant neighbors. Machaka, on the other hand, has historically roamed the plains, wary of settling down and accepting the fattening comforts of civilization. Only recently have they united under the rule of the Lion Tribe, and only this at the signs in their totems that a new way is opening. Much to the surprise of both nations, their salvation has been revealed as one and the same, a voice from the sky promising that the inhabitants of the civilized world will pay with blood for their arrogance.

Ok, so the teams are: 1) Troy & ShadowTiger 2) Greenturtle & heliocentric 3) ProcyonLotor & dknemeyer 4) Riadsala & Bisbo 5) valambrien & srslyyou as randomly determined here. For the time being, could everybody get in touch with their partner to make sure they still want to play!

Ok, so I suggest we try and get sorted and start the game this weekend. Is everybody still interested? Would somebody like to volunteer in helping get the game set up? The consensus seems to be playing in teams. 9 players gives 3 teams of 3. If we get 1 more player, we can go with 5 teams of 2. My plan is: ask a friend who's a huge fan of the Dominions lore to suggest some good race combinations. This will fit with ShadowTigers suggestion. randomly assign players to teams, and order teams for selecting which set of races they'd like leave each team to sort out who goes who within the set using whichever method they like. Some suggested house rules. Feel free to disagree or suggest other things. they're only suggestions please use your forum ID as your pretender name. If Dom4 is like Dom3, then keeping track of everything is hard enough without having to remember who is who. private communication only via in game messaging service. It's impossible to enforce this rule, but I like the fact that sending messages in game is slow... it takes two turns to send and receive a reply! Adds to the fog of war and the general feel. And you have to plan three moves ahead... public communication via this forum thread is fine. As chatting about the game as it plays out is fun! one turn per week, with no waiting around for stragglers. this thread can

Ok. It's now February, so time to think about starting. I'll give it til the end of the week before finalizing the list of players. Then we can argue about game settings and get started. :-)

Oh, I like the wrap around maps for just that reason! (And I don't really like artificial borders). But I'm happy to go with the crowd. Having (still) not played Dom4, I'll let others decide if we should go for a Disciples game or not. I know that the complex diplomacy was one of the main attractions for me in Dom3. so I'd want to keep a good number of rival sides in play. But teams of two should give us that, and avoid leading to having more pretenders than you can easily keep track of! I make it six interested parties so far. I wonder if Troy can get any of the other 3MA panellists involved.

I'm guessing I'm one of the few people who's a little sad to see a new Homeworld game. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that the old games are going to get a re-release, and I look forward to buying them on gog.com. but, isn't the story more or less done there? And, it was the story (and music) that really drew me into HW1. I guess this is just the way big budget entertainment is going: keep rehashing the same old IP over and over. I'd much rather see a "spiritual successor" in the similar manner to Proj Eternity and the new Torments game. Both look like they're be providing new worlds to explore.

Darthmod it is then. unless this is a bad way to initially approach the grand campaign?

a little off topic, while we're talking TW games, is there a stand-out mod that I should install if I want to play Empire? I'm still several CA titles behind current releases and I figure I might as well play them in order, as it gives the modders longer to improve on the base game! Earlier this year, I played the Road to Independance Campaign for Emp:TW and will try and play the Grand Campaign by the end of the year, (then next year I can move into Nap:TW).

There's a great Civ IV mod, legends of the revolution, that allows for empires to break in two, civil wars etc. I only played a couple of games with it (before getting distracted by FfH2) but I thought it was pretty well implemented and made for a really interesting game. Civil wars were linked to game play mechanics rather than random events so they were nowhere near as frustrating as in the TW games. And the game world felt far more organic and interesting. I should really return to it and write up an AAR

Hi, I finally picked up Wargame:EE up in the last steam sale (I know AirLand battle is newer and better, but it was also 4 times as much!) Anyway, I'm having a hard time getting into it. I've made it to the 3rd level, but then I get bogged down. Does anybody have some advice. I take it I should probably spend all my reinforcement points at the start of the game before moving out (weird that you don't spend all your initial points BEFORE the game starts). And I'm wondering if I should use infantry more? I'm guessing they're a cheap cost effective way to defend FOBs, if you hide some guys with rockets in the wood. Perhaps I should also avoid the bonus for completing the level in 20 minutes and instead move slowly making sure I keep everybody in supply. Hmmm. So many units to learn! it's all a bit daunting!

I like it when people say that And that's a great example of how its possible to go too far the other way! As, I couldn't understand any of it either. I guess the sweet spot is Troy talking about Civ. Or your discussion of Wargame [i'd love to watch the Tom v Rob stream of Airland Battle... you did challenge him... are you going to follow through?]

Sadly, this seems to be a bit of a theme with 3MA over the past year. Although, I shouldn't be too critical as the podcast is, to my knowledge, the best when it comes to decent knowledge of strategy games. but I do feel that they have a tendency to put out a show on a new game before giving it a proper play through. Sure, reviewing strategy games is difficulty as they usually take a lot longer to learn and play compared to most other genres. But, I'd rather have a patient show which treats games properly and in-depth, than an up-to-date review show. I'm not trying to use the whole "reviewers must of completed the game before they review it" thing, as I think that's daft. I just think that 3MA is more than a review show. I don't really bother with reviews these days - I much prefer the more in-depth critical analysis that the best episodes offer. I g

So, here's a question: can anybody think of any (tbs) games in which it pays to read three moves ahead? The question has been generated by two games: Go and XCOM. This year, I've been trying to get good at Go (a game in a similar style to chess) and am acutely aware that I need to work on my readings skills if I want to get stronger. I've also (finally) started playing XCOM as a friend very kindly bought it for me in the steam sale. I'm really enjoying it, but I'm also noticing that you really don't need to read ahead. At most, you perhaps read 1 move ahead: "if I move my sniper, she'll be in a better position next turn." but, this isn't really what I'd call reading. For the purpose of this thread, can I make a distinction between "planning" and "reading." In Civ V I frequently have plans for moving units into position in order to take a city. The "reading" I'm talking about is when you think about what moves your opponent might make in response to your moves, how you you would then respond to those moves, etc, before deciding what move you should make. I definitely don't do this in Civ V. And so far, I'm not doing this in XCOM (although I'm still on my first playthrough on Normal, so this may well change when I step up to Classic). I just try and optimize my current turn and do my best to make sure everybody is in cover, and try and take out the closest aliens first. I guess I think a little about "well, if the alien moves here, then I'm flanked and in cover, so I should fall back" but to be honest, this seems to have minimal impact on my game. [please note, this isn't an anti-XCOM post, as I'm really enjoying it]

I think that's a little simplified. In my mind, "reading" is when you explicitly go through a sequence of moves to work out what responses your opponent could make, and how you would deal with those, in order to decide which of several potential moves would be best. This is a bit different from playing moves that are "good" in general. For example, in XCOM, I'm not "reading" when I do my best to end my turn with every squad member in cover and on overwatch. That's just sensibly preparing for an alien counter attack - I'm not considering what form the counter attack might take and how I would respond to the different possibility. Does that make sense? Perhaps a chess example (I don't really play chess though, so this might be stretching things a bit). A general principle is to make sure that your opponent can't capture any of your pieces next turn, and if they do, that you'll be able to make a satisfactory exchange. I guess this is reading 2 turns ahead. (depending if you count hte move you're about to make as turn 1) I'm guessing a good player doesn't always follow this principle, as they will read ahead and think "ok, if I let my opponent take my rook with his knight, then I will be able to move my queen here, and place his king in check. She could respond by making one of several moves,..." and you then start evaluating each of those moves, to see if they all lead to a board position that is favourable enough to make the initial sacrifice worth while. Does that make sense? And again, I'm not arguing that chess and go are better because of reading! The only game that has been covered on the podcast that I can think of is Blood Bowl. (which is perhaps a good example of a non-deterministic game with reading)

Hmmm, interesting. And again, I'm not trying to argue "chess and go are better games than "computer strategy" games." I'm just noting that it's perhaps odd, given the name of the podcast, that games which allow/reward/demand thinking "three moves ahead" are never discussed. [although, it's still a great name for a strategy game podcast!]. Thinking about it some more, it seems to me that the challenge of most "computer strategy" games (although also applies to most board games beyond chess and go) is one of system optimization, and even "tactics" games don't really have much scope for interaction between the two sides. TheLastBaron: Interesting idea, but I'm not sure that I buy it as the main reason. For example: you're trying to take a city in Civ V. there's a hill near the city and you'd like to put your catapult on it. But, the hill is on the flank - if you move your catapult onto the hill, then there's a chance their might be some enemy knights just beyond your sight range. So, move catapult > enemy knights move into attack range > but you know you can then retreat your catapult and send your spearmen down to guard the flank. > enemy knights chase catapults > you kill knights with spearmen. But you've spent 3 turns not attacking the city with the catapult, giving your opponent more time to build reinforcements. So going back to the current turn, perhaps you should put your spearmen on the hill to guard against the possibility of an enemy cav counter attack, and move the catapult forward. but, at least when I play, I don't go through these thought processes when deciding if I should move the catapult onto the hill. Does anybody else? Or is the game set up in a way that its just not deep enough to reward the mental effort?

The story is all told via "chose your own adventure" style text. If you're happy reading, then you'll probably enjoy it. It's certainly the setting that's drawing me in. I guess that's the biggest difference between it and something like King's Bounty. (although this game is also more focused on having a squad that you slowly level up and customize).Each person in your party has their own backstory, and I guess, personality. I had one of my scouts asking if she could leave the party for two weeks to go treasure hunting with some other folk. And yes, there are some side-quests, but I haven't played it enough to give you much more than that. There's a longer discussion of this game on the RPS forums: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/forums/showthread.php?10629-Expeditions-Conquistador-out-on-Steam-today-anyone-play-it-yet

Yes, I have it. Not very far in, but so far, I really like it. Lovely setting, and the game mechanics all appear solid so far. And the tactical combat system seems fairly elegant with some nice rules on positioning. After playing Elemental:FE's poor excuse for turn based tactical battles, this game is a joy to play. I love the camping mechanics too. My only worry is that maybe I should of started on a harder difficulty, or with iron man on. Or maybe the diffuclty ramps up later.

I'm still why I'm yet to see a sci-fi 4x game set in the near-to-mid future about man's expansion throughout the solar system. Something heavily influences by the Mars Trilogy. Each faction could represent a giant multinational company each with their own business interests and expertise. Do you develop your own spacecraft, or sign a contract with the company that specializes in rockets? Do you seek your fortune in space, or do you try and stake a claim to the melting Antarctic and get rich off the natural resources? Invest in biotech and make a fortune Set up a moonbase? Or invest in the long game and try and get to Mars first? When do you launch your ships? as the travel time will vary as the planets rotate around the sun. Maybe you decide to invest in some prototype warships and launch an offensive on your competitors colony on Mars, knowing that reinforcements won't show up anytime soon as Mars and Earth are on opposite sides of the sun. mix in some of the ideology-based lore from SMAC, and I think this would be really interesting. Maybe somebody has already made it.

Any news when they're fixing that bug? It sounds incredibly annoying, as I would of though ironman is one of the main ways to play XCOM?

And when I eventually do, I'll be able to experience the game without all those annoying bugs. Whereas, most people who jumped on XCOM when it first came out apppear to be more or less "done" with it now that the game actually works as intende

I agree 100% with Tom Chick. I'm possibly even more extreme... with most strategy games, I try to avoid playing them until they've been patched a couple of times. This even applies to games like XCOM (still not played). I heard there were some irritating bugs with the 3rd person camera, etc and didn't want them to spoil my initial enjoyment of the game. Likewise, I put off playing Civ V until the intial expansion was out, etc etc etc. I've been doing this since the days of Civ IV.. Its a game I love, but I think it's a shame that the majority of the time I spent with hte games was on the early versions of it. The "final" game is vastly better (more balanced and with better AI), but I haven't played that nearly as much. Which seems a real shame. (I should probably play XCOM this year)

I imagine it would work really well for XCOM? Rather than a whole new campaign, just add branches to the current campaign. A nice of choice, and random branching would be neat.

Hello, I'm looking for some suggestings of good 2 player games to play. I'm really enjoying A Few Acres of Snow and Frozen Synapse, and am now hooked on the format. So I'm now looking for something a little deeper/longer. I've joined in with a couple of games of Dominions 3 and Solium Infernium*, but they both require more than 2 players. Any suggestions? Something around the length/complexity of War of the Ring seems like it would be perfect, but while there's an online client, it looks like a pain to use, and would it support PBEM? There are loads of games on http://www.yucata.de/en and http://www.gametableonline.com/ but i'm not familiar with them. * we should totally get a 3MA Solium Infernum or Domnions3 game going!

I've mainly been playing Go recently... the Dragon Go Server allows for aysnc play, and is ideal as I can get away with taking a few turns during breaks at work. I'm trying to slowly work my way towards a shodan ranking

All true, and sounds like a really interesting game. But I wouldn't call that exploring. Maybe scouting, recon, etc. But exploring? Na. Exploring is venturing out into the great unknown blank patches on the map and searching for the source of the Nile, heading out west across the new world, etc.