155 ended Turn 32 - WI victory

[Lord Thanatos]

Congratulations Cloud on your well-deserved victory!

This thread is to tell the tales of 155 . . .

1 WI Cloud 23,125 32,986
2 WA Lord Thanatos 12,715 20,045
3 RA Jumpingfist 7,480 13,135
4 BL Bash Grimtooth 5,300 9,661
5 GN Holding For Player 4,600 9,395
6 TR Airborne Ranger 4,455 7,719
7 SO Pedinski 3,395 6,242
8 RD Mad Mardigan 2,300 5,279

[Airborne Ranger]

Who was the GN player?

As TR I started out slow getting region, when I finally did grab region the same turn had a GN army and RA army show up for a visit. I lost my city to RA and a few pc's to GN. I retook city quickly and saw no more of RA for entire game. But GN hit me hard with emmies and armies. I initially planned to go north into Oakendell but GN took that off the table. 

The rest of the game was a constant battle with the GN. My armies took control over both Torvale and Runnimede but I suffered horrible emmy loses and agent losses. I lost my King a few times and all agents also. I was down to a few emmys but I hired more but lost them as fast as I hired them. I had GN down to 1 or 2 pc's a few times but he stubbornly stayed active.
I worried about RA or EL coming into my region every turn while I was fighting GN but no one showed up. They must have been busy. GN started to lower my food production but someone unknown started to cast spells upping my production? Thanks for who ever did that it helped. I had tons of gold but with GN keeping my influence at 8 and continuous harassment I could not use it, every time I raised a emmy or agent he died, my wizards were all dead but my armies were unmatched by GN. When I finally started to move against RA the game ended. The turn before game ended I had the WI emmys show up and had nothing to counter him, he had invisible army at my city and emmys at all my pc's with nothing I could do to stop him as my armies were in Runnimede and headed to Arcania!

Fun game, learned  a lot on how to play anon game, first time tried!!! 

[unclemike]

Who was the GN player?

The "Holding For Player" phrase occurs whenever a player drops out of the game and the program is waiting for a standby player to pick up the kingdom (only lasts 3 turns of missed orders). The game just happened to end before that timeout triggered so the default text displayed instead of the former player.

As for disclosing the Gnome player, I'll never say for anonymous games. It's up to that particular player to reveal themselves. I actually don't like having the personas displayed in the final status points section for anonymous games and would rather provide an option for the players to "opt-out" and prevent their names from being displayed but that's another discussion...

[Jumpingfist]

Who was the GN player?

The "Holding For Player" phrase occurs whenever a player drops out of the game and the program is waiting for a standby player to pick up the kingdom (only lasts 3 turns of missed orders). The game just happened to end before that timeout triggered so the default text displayed instead of the former player.

As for disclosing the Gnome player, I'll never say for anonymous games. It's up to that particular player to reveal themselves. I actually don't like having the personas displayed in the final status points section for anonymous games and would rather provide an option for the players to "opt-out" and prevent their names from being displayed but that's another discussion...

One of my favorite parts of an anonymous game is finding out who I was playing against in the end.  They already get the option to quit and become unknown which is crappy enough.  Unfair is that those that dropped get to see who took them out but those that finish the game do not get to see who they took out.  In my case the UN played a great game and forced me to fight with him for 20+ turns finally I won out but that was no dishonor to him he lost the fight but fought it well. 

[Lord Diamond]

Who was the GN player?

The "Holding For Player" phrase occurs whenever a player drops out of the game and the program is waiting for a standby player to pick up the kingdom (only lasts 3 turns of missed orders). The game just happened to end before that timeout triggered so the default text displayed instead of the former player.

As for disclosing the Gnome player, I'll never say for anonymous games. It's up to that particular player to reveal themselves. I actually don't like having the personas displayed in the final status points section for anonymous games and would rather provide an option for the players to "opt-out" and prevent their names from being displayed but that's another discussion...

One of my favorite parts of an anonymous game is finding out who I was playing against in the end.  They already get the option to quit and become unknown which is crappy enough.  Unfair is that those that dropped get to see who took them out but those that finish the game do not get to see who they took out.  In my case the UN played a great game and forced me to fight with him for 20+ turns finally I won out but that was no dishonor to him he lost the fight but fought it well. 

This disagreement is one of the things that is holding up Valhalla. Or has maybe even killed it. It is a rather profound disagreement and it looks like UM has the sole vote on how this turns out since he has the key to the data. 

I'm with you Airborne Ranger. If players don't want their identities to be revealed in an anon game, I say they be allowed to sign up with a unique persona at the beginning of the game. 

[Frost Lord]

Who was the GN player?

The "Holding For Player" phrase occurs whenever a player drops out of the game and the program is waiting for a standby player to pick up the kingdom (only lasts 3 turns of missed orders). The game just happened to end before that timeout triggered so the default text displayed instead of the former player.

As for disclosing the Gnome player, I'll never say for anonymous games. It's up to that particular player to reveal themselves. I actually don't like having the personas displayed in the final status points section for anonymous games and would rather provide an option for the players to "opt-out" and prevent their names from being displayed but that's another discussion...

Uncle Mike,

I thought that this had already been discussed with Rick and he instructed us to apply Status Points to all players in a game regardless if they drop or not.  I saw your replies to his message and was under the impression that you were working to fix the system so that it complied with his wishes.  Please explain how you are going to do this without revealing the persona?  ...and without ruining the data integrity of Valhalla?

[twhitewolf10]

Well to answer question who was that stubborn Gnome player was well it was me. Sorry guys I did not plan on trying to upset anyone. To give you all a reason I was looking at game and saw that it would end soon and I was not going to make that top 3 spots. I was limited on games and wanted to get into the new pagan game.

And for my 2 cents I think that after game is over, its over and names should be shown.

[Lord Thanatos]

OK.

Let's hear from the players about game 155 now.

JumpingFist, how did you manage to make the podium? Such a rarity for you.

Cloud, what brilliant insights led you to victory?

I will be posting the story of the 2nd place WA kingdom in a couple days . . .

How did the RD manage to survive the WA onslaught?

Don't we all love wights?

[Cloud]

Cumberbund Bandersnatch

I started this game quickly, gaining the Mists on turn 3.  I had decided that I would play this game in a defensive, isolationist manner.  I would solidify my hold on R2 and prepare for invasion.  As part of this plan, I wanted 3 Power 6 wizards to summon Wights, and 3 Power 3 wizards devoted to raising the production of my capitol.  This was facilitated by gaining the Stone of All Minds later on turn 6.  I declared all my neighbors enemy and moved my cap to a water town.  Also on turn 6, RD attacked my starting village in The Talking Mountains so I moved into his village in R2 and took it.  He later would respond by attempting to take a random R2 village politically and failing.  This accounts for the sum total of aggressive action against me in this game.  Around this time, I took the DW village in R2 when it seemed the RD had him on the ropes for fear that it would soon become the DW capitol.  Despite an early standoff with the EL, I left the EL town in R2 alone and my town in Oakendell was likewise left undisturbed for the remainder.

Abandoned Pantones

The Stone of All Minds allowed me to get my ESO on turn 10 and I purchased a P1 wizard and two adepts.  This gave me a great jumpstart.   It was about this time that DA dropped.  I decided to see if I could share a piece of the abandoned pie and moved emmies into four pc’s at the western edge of R6.  Two reached their neutral targets and two bounced back due to RD and DW groups.  Recons confirmed fighting in R6 between them and RD had DW on the ropes.  To avoid conflict with RD, I opted for the better part of valor and withdrew all emmies from The Steppes.  Still, I saw an opportunity to hunt artifacts in region 3 and 6.  My agents carved up the regions quickly and I pulled my group with a P4 and 2 P3’s to devote to investigate sightings, raising the level on my ESO gifts up to replace that group at my cap.  By turn 12 I had my capitol boosters running and by turn 15, I had 3 P6’s positioned to start pumping out Wights and I was starting to bring in artifacts.

The Tumble Drying Aspect

I was concerned about the RD – I began issuing recons of his holdings constantly.  I repositioned emissaries and enamored R3.  I started making plans for dealing with him when he came calling.  But he didn’t.  He declared the SO and RA ally and I became more alert.  Then, on turn 18, he declared me neutral.  On turn 19, he declared WA and UN enemy and his invasion of R5 was on.  It was turn 20 and the whole world was at war except for me.  I had raised my Wight crew to P7 over the winter.  I had 12 artifacts.  My capitol was at 22K defense and brought in 54K gold per turn.  I had a group with 17 brigades, 8 of them wights, worth 72K vs. PC.  My political corps now had 9 nobles and my influence had been over 20 for many turns.  It was time to consider moving on the RD in R3 now that he had presumably moved all his resources to R5.  On turn 21 I cast a Curse on RD and tried to kill his King with a Sleep spell and a Summoned Demon.  I figured RD would just assume it was the WA.  The demon, regrettably, failed.  But something even more important happened – the EL dropped.

The Shed of Ideas   

I didn’t waste a second.  I had long since divined the PC’s there, so I moved into Oakendell right away.  I could teleport my Army Group to Lorethane and move into several eastern PC’s with emissaries but most of them were positioned to go into R3 and I had to stepping stone them to their targets.  On turn 22, I entered the region.  On turn 23, I knocked EL out of control.  On turn 24, I took the region.  I had encountered no other opportunists.  I surveyed the map and decided I could win this thing.  So I drew up an eight turn plan to victory.  The early part consisted of raising the rest of my wizards up to P7, building another Army Group, hiring and raising emissaries, raising regional reactions, and scouting as much as I could of my target regions: Torvale and the Talking Mountains.  But I was also busy trying to take out the remaining EL presence in R1.

Our Assets Are Arguments

The EL had a monster group at Lorethane with one artifact and had built a sea village into a 39K defense capitol fortress but also had left behind 2 artifacts in the cap.  I had 14 artifacts now.  If I took out both the big group and the capitol, I could have 16 – maybe 17 by the time it was done.  It would take several turns to establish the navy necessary to pull it off.  So I set to it.  I cast Summon Death spells on the group and Destroy Village spells on the cap.  It was turn 26 now.  On the next turn, I would destroy the group and move to the capitol.  But that was the turn that the system changed.  My group reported no one to attack and the cap was now neutral.  The artifacts were gone.  But all was not lost.  My recons had revealed other artifacts at the GN town at SA so I adjusted my plan to teleport and attack there instead of Meridon, taking the city with my Prince when the time came.

Mr. Trousers

My plans also required a massive boost in Influence to hire and raise all those emmies and still end up with an Influence of 23 or better so I could have the full range of actions on turn 31.  I monopolized the High Council for
several turns and, though I feared that I would provoke the ire of the others, I needed it because my Wizards were busy leveling or whittling down EL defenses.  Well, since the EL was no longer an issue, I could cast Conjure Prestige spells and get my Influence that way.   About the same time, WA gained the upper hand on RD and took Control of R3 on turn 29.  This was a complication.  The WA had declared me enemy in the early game as a defensive measure and the RD still had me at neutral so I much preferred RD in control if someone had to be.  The good news was that someone (WA, I presumed) had destroyed many towns in R3 and my political corps was now surplus to requirements.  I considered changing my plans but I had invested too much into R3 already. 

What We Lost in the Fire

Things were little better in Torvale.  GN had been all but pacified.  The last thing I wanted was TR free to return home or attack me before I could spring my attack.  TR now had an Army Group at the GN capitol at SA and there was nothing I could do about it.  I knew the last chance I had to score Artificer of the Witchlord had just evaporated.  At least now I could ignore the town – it had a remarkably small census – but things were moving quickly and not to my advantage.  Enemy groups were all over my target regions but I kept moving toward my end game.  All I could do was hope that the battle had moved elsewhere by the time I struck.  I monitored the census of the PCs in R4 and R3 gamed out different combinations of ways to gain 50+% in each.  I finalized my emissary positions for the attack and issued a Sea Patrol in the Sea of Mystery hoping to keep the TR on that island but only caught the GN instead. 

The Cardigan of Destiny

On turn 31, the last turn of winter, I struck.  I moved 11 emissaries, teleported an Army group to each city, and had a second group with 3 P7s in each region which I used to Infuriate Populace.  I had no idea where everyone was.  For all I knew, WA especially had resources in region so on turn 32 I issued 5 Dispel Dome spells (none of which were needed).  I was very nervous in submitting that turn.  If anything scotched the plan, I could be antagonizing 2 strong kingdoms at once and ruining my game.  The plan was to issue a victory check on turn 32 and win in one decisive strike and it worked!  I took control of both regions and claimed the win with a amazing amount of victory points. 

World’s Yummiest

I ended the game with 14 artifacts, 9 P7 wizards, 4 lvl 10 agents and 6 lvl 7, two big groups with 13 brigades of wights, 4 marshals, 45 pc’s and 550K total production, 25 influence, and a record of leading the Status Points at every single update turn.  It was a slow-motion stealth game I played that would probably not be possible now with public SP updates, Secret victory conditions, and harder Sightings.  I had the benefit of some luck – if RD had chosen to attack me instead of the WA, this would be a very different Valhalla report.  But I also made some of my own luck - The EL’s drop was fortuitous exactly because I was in great position to take advantage.  Aside from that early exchange of villages with RD, I had no conflict until my game winning attack.  I’ve won before but this one was special because it was a solo win in anonymous, a format that has tested me previously, and because I made a plan and then made it happen – a luxury this game so rarely allows.

[Ry Vor]

Cumberbund Bandersnatch

Abandoned Pantones

The Tumble Drying Aspect

The Shed of Ideas   

Our Assets Are Arguments

Mr. Trousers

What We Lost in the Fire

The Cardigan of Destiny

World’s Yummiest

Nice stylization, Cloud!