Game 5712 full diplomacy game thread

[Strongwill]

Welcome all:

   

   

[Maximus Dominus]

Cimmerians - Turn #1

Game 5712

Full Diplomacy Game

I'm ahead of the curve, but not quite ahead of everyone, as I have my turn orders for Turn #2 already issued, with only Windstar of the Lizard Men and Jon Deaux of the Pirates and Milo007 of the Rangers, and Strongwill of the Sorcerer beating me to the punch. Just a moment ago, I realized my first mistake of this game - I forgot to rename my king. Ack! Not a fatal error, certainly, but an annoyance, just the same. I can't do anything about that, now, though.

This is the first game of Alamaze that I have played/am playing where I moved five different Groups on Turn #1. I'm transferring between groups, I'm creating patrols, stuff that all that long ago was out of my reach as a still-relatively-inexperienced player. I'm getting the hang of some of this military stuff for Alamaze, though I've still got a way to go, before I develop any mastery, at all, with the military side of Alamaze. Even still, I'll count my victories, both small and large, where I can.

Group movement costs less for Cimmerians, compared to what I've been used to with other kingdoms that I've played in other games of Alamaze. That's certainly nice. Bite it, people! Bite it big.

If I counted right, there will only be two areas within my starting region of The Crown Islands that won't have been searched for population centers. So, I've definitely got that going for me (which is a good thing to have going for me, actually).

The primary reason why I chose to play the Cimmerians in this game is much the same as the reason why I chose to play the Dwarves in Game 5663 - to force myself to begin experimenting more with the military side of the game. This kind of compels me to confront my dearth of knowledge and experience with military matters in Alamaze. I want to get more comfortable utilizing my military assets, moving them, and carrying out transfers of troops (brigades), military leaders, and wizards.

Despite moving all five Groups around, I only managed to find two additional population centers on Turn #1. That was a little disappointing, but next turn should reveal several more. All in all, I'm feeling good, right now. That's always subject to change, though.

I invite each of you playing in this game to Alamaze to share a few thoughts of your own, if you can and if you will, after each turn that gets processed.

[Maximus Dominus]

Cimmerians - Turn #2

Game 5712

Full Diplomacy Game

My brain lost its space in the grand scheme of things, as I didn't even realize that this game would process, today. I must have just gotten busy and sidetracked, and forgot about it. Fortunately, with the trusty aid of advice from Wookie Panz (some of it which I even took), I had gotten my turn orders done for Turn #2 fairly early.

And what did Turn #2 visit upon me, you wonder? Well, as expected, I managed to peel back the fog on all of the remaining areas in The Crown Islands, except two. A point of clarification, though - it is only the fog on where population centers are located. I did manage to also find one unusual encounter (I guess that it's called), even though I wasn't looking for it. I guess now I'll have to actually devote some time, energy, and effort in learning more about the process of recovering artifacts. No sense letting it go to waste.

Overall, how do I feel about the Cimmerians as a kingdom, thus far? Well, they sure seem poor. Small court of characters (small amount of nobility, anyway), small treasury. Very little in the way of magic. Some of the military leaders seem to be higher levels than what I got used to early on with some of the other kingdoms that I'm playing.

The fact that I could mobilize five groups to go searching for population centers right out of the gate is a plus. I guess that, now, I'll try to consolidate some of my groups into one another. Not sure that I need as many patrols, now. The last of the unexplored areas in The Crown Islands will be explored on Turn #3. All things considered, that's a lot better on the exploring front than I usually do - and by far, at that.

I am hopeful that my kingdom's relatively sparse gold situation will improve noticeably on Turn #3. I will gain control of one, and maybe two, population center(s) int he coming turn. It will be a while, yet, before the Cimmerians are rolling in gold, assuming that my kingdom remains intact for a bit. You never really know who is gonna want to do the war dance with you.

Being only two turns into this game, thus far, it's really difficult to assess how good or bad that the Cimmerians kingdom is. What about the feel, the atmosphere, the vibe?

Well, clearly, the Cimmerians, as presently constituted, aren't in any danger of winning any awards for theme vibrancy. Later on, my view on this might differ, but just starting out, the Cimmerians kingdom has a very bland, dull taste to it. How does it compare to playing the kingdom of Cimmeria in Hyborian War? Honestly, it doesn't. The Alaamze version of Cimmeria is a pale imitation to the version that Reality Simulations went with in its PBM game of Hyborian War. Right now, the Cimmerians feels like A kingdom, and not THE, kingdom.

The naming convention for Cimmerians' starting characters is all over the place. It reminds me of raw oatmeal. Plain. Bland. Uninspiring. It just doesn't connect with my imagination on any level. The king's name might be patterned after the Vikings, but the rest of the starting cast of characters? God only knows, because I sure don't have a clue.

Kingdoms need to be designed so that they connect with players' imaginations. Thus far, the Cimmerians fail that test for me.

[Strongwill]

This might be fun. Time to try and figure out who these “new” players are.

Since this is full diplomacy: FO moving on my region T1? That leaves your starting region empty. You must be a seasoned player with a name change.

SO-LY I have a town in your starting region, I’ll tax on 4? Good with you?

[Maximus Dominus]

If you're new or fairly new, one way to see how quickly that you begin to fall behind the real "experts" on Alamaze is by seeing which kingdoms usurped control of the major cities located in their "starting region" (even though kingdoms start in more than just one region, technically speaking).

           


Nyvaria = High Elves = Tharkus (Newcomer to Alamaze?!?)
Triumvia = Lizard Kings/Lizard Men = Windstar
Krynn = Rangers = Milo007

A major city's worth of gold, and all that much closer to gaining control of their respective regions - and this on just Turn #2.

And the major cities turned from Human control to Neutral on Turn #2?

       

Zanthia = Lycans = Brek
Zamora = Sorcerer = Strongwill

[Wookie Panz]

If you're new or fairly new, one way to see how quickly that you begin to fall behind the real "experts" on Alamaze is by seeing which kingdoms usurped control of the major cities located in their "starting region" (even though kingdoms start in more than just one region, technically speaking).




Nyvaria = High Elves = Tharkus (Newcomer to Alamaze?!?)
Triumvia = Lizard Kings/Lizard Men = Windstar
Krynn = Rangers = Milo007

A major city's worth of gold, and all that much closer to gaining control of their respective regions - and this on just Turn #2.

And the major cities turned from Human control to Neutral on Turn #2?



Zanthia = Lycans = Brek
Zamora = Sorcerer = Strongwill

Max you should see what happens when you become a serious threat and people start trying to sleep your guys in the major cities on the early turns!  Things can get interesting on turn 1!  Not that I would ever do that.

[Acererak]

Free Traders only wish for peace, and the Sacred Order certainly wouldn't start a war against us over a little city now would you? Let's discuss.

[Maximus Dominus]

Max you should see what happens when you become a serious threat and people start trying to sleep your guys in the major cities on the early turns!  Things can get interesting on turn 1!  Not that I would ever do that.

Well, it will probably be quite a while, if ever, before I become a serious threat. I've used Sleep spells, before, but as Game 5693 is showing, the military end of things is where I am really way behind the learning curve.

I do, however, grasp using Sleep spells on Turn #1, to try and prevent someone else from usurping control of major cities. On paper, it sounds great, though resources to do other things on Turn #1 sure seem to be rather scarce to me. I know that in my Demon Princes game (Game 5703), I dispatched Demon Princes to a city, but it wasn't on Turn #1, I don't think. That, of course, turn out to be a huge, clumsy flub on my part. Screw things up on Turn #1, and you can be behind the proverbial 8-Ball rather quick, if my own first-hand experience is any sort of early game indicator, at all.

[Maximus Dominus]

Cimmerians - Turn #3

Game 5712

Full Diplomacy Game

This turn brought with it bad luck. Neither of my attempts to usurp control of a population center succeeded. Maybe I'm using the new player aids wrong, but I already know that those aren't guarantees, but ranges of potential success/failure. I seem to be having worse luck with the new player aids than with the older ones, but that's likely me just getting bad die rolls. Still, it's annoying, and the gold situation is iffy, putting a damper on my kingdom's prospects, where it's actual choices of what to do. A duke and a count were insufficient to gain control of the minor city. At least the rebel part went OK. And a governor couldn't gain a village for me. Pah! The +5 for my kingdom's acuity didn't rise to the occasion on Turn #3.

I did decide to have a patrol with no wizard in it investigate an unusual encounter. That cost me a general, but gained me a Centurion. I'm not sure that's a good trade. Of course, another character gained a promotion, so I had that going for me, at least. A little gold came with the deal, also.

The last two unexplored areas in The Crown Islands managed to get explored, this turn, as expected.

Looks like it's gonna require me to work at finding love for this kingdom.

[Strongwill]

Max, FYI, You have a powerful military, take advantage of the winter attack bonuses, and the recruited troops that support them in the winter.

Wildings get excellent winter attack bonuses: 5% per Wildling brigade to attack and defense in Winter months in regions effected by Winter.

Regional reaction (friendly) and influence (13ish) should be enough to grab a minor city. Which one of your emmies rebelled and which usurped?

I’ll post help notes here when you posts, when you start fighting you will gain more love with the CI