3rd Cycle Anon ends by Rex turn 24

[Son of Conan]

Game 509 ended today. Maybe first 3rd cycle to end?
Lots of magic kingdoms at the end.
In order it was DU DA WA SO TY IL PI.

[DuPont]

PI: So, I played the Pirates in this one. So far, it's my favorite kingdom to play, though it's certainly not easy, particularly in Anon. When I got my setup, I was annoyed to see I was starting in the Sea of Mystery - for my money, it's the worst of the seas to have your capital in. I wanted to do a bit of an experiment and see if people would leave the seas to me if I stayed off of the land and let me build up that way? I figured it probably wouldn't be the case, but wanted to have a go.

I got on the HC the first time and that enabled me to build up my influence early, which was a nice bonus. But turn 3, I had hit most of my early goals. Next turn, the SO took my starting village in Torvale that was on the land. This annoyed me a bit as he'd already gotten control the turn before and didn't need it for that reason. I a duke back in the next turn - perhaps he'd simply made a mistake? But, no, it was the start of a war that I didn't think would really benefit either of us and I wasn't well suited to react to.

Things started to get rough; the DA took my village in the Sea of Drowning, cutting off trading revenue from those fleets. By turn 10, I was down to two pop centers, my hidden capital in the Sea of Mystery and my village in the Sea of Terror. I battle back, but I had been careless about keeping a group at my capital and the SO found it and people there I'd hoped would be safe started to die. And then he launched a fleet with an invisible group and took my capital late in the game - I'd been counting on my patrolling fleets to keep me safe, but he slipped past. I did wind up with a presence in three seas (all but Mystery) and had relocated to the Sea of Drowning and was making that my new base of operations. I had an army group with low numbers thanks to some lean months, but I was building them back up by hitting DA villages. But the game came to and end and that was that!

Contrats to the VBall Michael for his win and to Atuan the SO for the fun fight!

[Atuan]

SO: I took over for HH after turn 13. A rerun of that turn cause the PI to gain a Crystal of Seeing rather than a Ring of Protection. Luckily HH had spent the last few turns attempting to locate PI capital with Agent 4 recons. Turn 14 we turned up the heat on the swashbuckler by hitting 2 agent 7s a agent 8 and agent 11... failed on his 13 over the next 3 turns we picked off the rest of his agents except that 13, claimed a princess and a countess. I spent a few turns building up 10 fleets of Splendid Triremes and took his capital with a group after using agents to lower his fleet total there. I spent the next couple of turns moving emissaries and setting up 2 groups to combat the Druid as he was starting to run away. Sadly a turn to late it seems as I am invisible with enough emissaries and groups to take the Oakendell and move on his capital at FH where he had a nice selection of prisoners.

Hats off to VBM for the victory and to DuPont for continue to keep me busy and off balance for most of the game.

[VballMichael]

I played the Druids in this first anon 3rd Cycle game and was fortunate to grab a Rex victory on turn 24. I am going to lay out my game sort of turn by turn, including my stats every five turns so folks can see how at least one kingdom was developing along the way. This is not THE way to develop your kingdom, just one way a person could do it. Also, I am providing status points each 6 turns, though the DA seems to have led the entire game. Also including all HC bids for the stats collectors. As an aside, I looked at my Fool success rate for every turn and he averaged .203 per turn at 3,000 per order, almost exactly in line with the cost/return ratio for the 480 King order. Finally, at the end, I will comment on where I did things differently for 3rd Cycle than I would have for 2nd Cycle.  

1 -  PI gains HC with 39,014 gold. I remembered to do my Order 11 (+1 influence, 15000 gold and a scrying mirror - I chose items that would always be useful - in the Betas I had chosen cooler items but did not use them as often as I would like) and entered a standing order 483 for my fool to raise influence. Sadly, did not find many pop centers. But good news: nobody at my city except my Duke. Spied on the city in region 2 - NE there with 2 emmies.

2 - AN gains HC for 36,500. I turn my city neutral and again find very few new pop centers.

3 - SA gains HC for a measly 6,000 gold. Someone slept my Duke while I was trying to take my city. I was lazy and chose other priorities so I did not ward him. Whoops. SO gains region 4 and AN gains 10. PI dominating HC issues. My folks finally do a good job at finding pop centers.

4 - AT gains HC with 20,000 gold. SA sends an emissary to MY city and tries to assassinate my Duke who is sitting there, and someone sleeps another of my emissaries who was taking a neutral town (folks just slowing me down - my guess was the SA or NE). Picked up Bow of Heracles at an encounter.

5 - DA gains HC with 27,100 gold. I have to waste gold and an order to denigrate the SA as he is in my region trying to do things. I guess he will be my first target later. Despite the interference, I now control region 1. IL gained region 8. 
STATS as of turn 5: Duke, Count, Baron, Gov, Amb, Fool, agents 6,6,6,4,2,1. Infl: 14.2, Not on HC. 8 total brigades about 20k in value, make 23k food and 29k gold (bad season), own region 1. Wizards: 5,2,2,2,1,0,0.

6 - Just trying to survive the bad season. All regions controlled except 5 and 7.
STATUS POINTS:  I am tied for 10 out of 12 on status points. DA in lead. But I pretty much ignore turn 6 status points as they are so preliminary and kingdoms are all close.

7 - Picked up a Power 2 wizard at an encounter. Found 3 more encounters. Just building up slowly due to the bad season.

8 - TY gains region 7 and declares SA enemy (SA harassing him down there?). I finally take SA town in my region (hard to take PCs from SA in 3rd cycle). Picked up a Princess in an encounter, and she also added +1 influence and a reaction level in region 2 where I found her. Picked up a Palantir. My main group accidentally landed at NE cap in 2. My plan is to defend and leave, even though my group is only a little smaller than his group. Building up and using wizards to find PCs in other regions.

9 - SA gains region 5. Finding artifacts and building up. No battle with NE - I guess he also defended.

10 - region 6 goes uncontrolled (DA invading from 9 perhaps?). Picked up Demon Bane dagger, found Portal. Hit ESO: chose brigade, brigade, influence, influence, adept.  Just building up and continuing to look around region 2 with agents (standing order to look at NE cap).
STATS: 3 princes, 1 duke, 1 gov, 1 amb, 1 fool, agents 11,11,11,4,2,1, influence 19.5, not on HC, 11 brigades in 1DU with value 25k vs PC, make 87k food and 87k gold, own region 1, all regions are owned except region 6 and nobody owns 2 regions. Wizards: 5,2,2,2,2,2,0,0,0.

11 - Picked up Shield of Hector and the Morning Star of Torag. PI small army takes my village in the water in Oakendell at IA. I assassinated a NE Power 1, but generally have not been successful with assassinations thus far this game.

12 - My Duke captured by SA in his attack on a town in region 2. This is obnoxious because I am trying to pick up the outer pop centers while WA is invading region 2 in force and plus it gets rid of my Duke for a while. Region 2 goes uncontrolled and just in time as NE declared me an enemy this turn (looks like WA attacking region 2 in force).
STATUS POINTS: I am 6th on Status for this turn and overall. Order is DA, WA, SO, TY, AN, DU, SA, AT, IL, NE, GN, PI.

13 - My L11 got captured by WA in his invasion of 2. WA gains region 2. I assassinated an SA agent 2. Failed at getting a skel from NE a couple of times now. Mostly just building up and deciding where to attack, could be 2, 4 or 5. SA has been dominating the HC issues lately, so guessing his influence is very high and his pop centers are hard to take, but may still opt for Amberland as regions 2 and 5 are other mage kingdoms with Domes and bad, scary magic.

14 - Just building up. Sabotaged defense of PI village in water to 0, but the village is still there . Minor harassment of NE on border PCs.

15 - Enamoring 5 and promoting emissaries. Recruiting, summoning, and raising wizards. My two L14 agents keep missing on assassinations.
STATS: 4 princes, 1 count, 1 fool, agents 14,14,6,5,1, influence 19, not on HC, 17 brigades in 1DU with value 43k vs PC, make 87k food and 107k gold, own region 1 (DA and WA each own 2 regions), my wizards are 7,6,4,3,3,3,2,2,1, my best leader is Commander

16 - Began slow invasion of 5 and also taking edge pop centers in 2. SA has declared 2 enemies so he cannot declare me one. Teleported to Avalon (NE capital) with large army and decent wizards (7,6). My 17 brigades are facing 17 NE brigades at Avalon and he has P6, P3. I am expecting a tough battle but will attack on a 3, I mean why not.

17 - NE is fighting back in region 2, but not much. I am continuing to take towns in 5. AN gains region 8. GN drops. I assassinated a NE Duke, very happy about that. Ok, so here comes the big battle of mage v mage, 17 v 17, P7 and 6 and 1 v P6 and 3. All of my troops are regular, most of his are veteran or elite. So, not surprisingly, I have my P1 protect leaders, then my P7 destroys undead and my P6 summons death. His P3 throws a Wall of Flame and his P6 throws some spell I cannot decipher. I attack on a 3 and he defends on a 3. Before the battle, my spells take out 5 undead brigades and 4 other brigades, so when the battle starts it is 17 to 8 brigades. It is a rout. I lose 13% and he loses 70% (really 88% when you factor in the pre-battle spells. The funny part is that this epic battle, despite 13% loss and an otherwise even-looking fight with both us on a tactic 3, does not last long enough to "blood" my troops. Oh well. 

18 - I eliminated the last of the NE troops and took his cap at Avalon. Captured his Fool so I have 2 fools now. NE eliminated (not surprising since WA took region 2 from him early on). WA on HC for 31,000. I took some pop centers in 5 and the region is now neutral. AT dropped.
STATUS POINTS: I am still 6th for this turn and overall. DA and WA way out in front, with DA a little ahead of WA.

19 - WA off HC due to skeleton from DA. Too funny. He just got on the Council last turn. I am at enough places in Amberland to take control, already own Avalon plus 4 towns and 2 villages. Denigrating SA in Amberland. Assassinated SA ambassador. Not seeing much resistance in region 5.

20 - I joined HC for 61,500. Gained control of region 5 as I took Evanon and 3 other pop centers. Sitting at SA cap in 5 opposite a small SA group. Assassinated SA king with a Demon. Failed at stealing some artifacts but agents survived.
STATS: 4 princes, 2 fools, L14, L14, L11, L10, 22.6 influence, on HC, own regions 1 and 5 (DA owns 6 and 9, WA owns 2 and 3), 17 brigades in 1DU, Wizards are 7,6,5,5,3,3,3,2,2 and best leader is Grand Marshal, no ships, am producing 127k food and 228k gold, 6 artifacts total of 700 points.

21 - Took SA cap, capturing some emmies and a Priestess and some prisoners. Also, finally got my Duke back. IL took region 8. SA dropped or eliminated. I am now fully invading region 2 and plan to take just under 50%. Assassinated PI agent 4 and agent 13.

22 - WA joins HC and immediately moves to kick DA off (I guess to repay for the earlier skeleton incident). I accidentally took region 2 so now the pressure is on to take a 4th region quickly. AN dropped. Each of my fools added 0.3 for me, which is very nice since they keep working even after influence is above 20. Started invasion of region 3 as the WA seems busy with the DA in region 6.

23 - Took city and a town in 3 and destroyed a town. DA kicked off HC. At enough pop centers in 3 to take region next turn (1 army group will take a town, 2 division sized groups will destroy towns, and 3 princes will take villages). Also taking more in region 2 to be stronger there. No invasions in 1 or 5 that I can see, so those are safe for now, so I should have a Rex victory next turn. DA took region 6 back. My influence is 25, thanks to the awesome Fools.

24 - Took enough in region 3 to take my 4th region and declare Rex. WA fighting back but too little. One more turn would have been fun; just landed at hidden WA capital with my 1DU. Though it sounds like SO has invaded Oakendell with groups and emmies (I got no notice of anything), so maybe it is better that it did not go another turn.
FINAL STATS: Emissaries: PPPPDCFF. Agents:14,12,11,11,1. 2 HP. Infl of 25. Have 5 friendly regions, 5 suspicious. 5 prisoners: C,C,G,A,L2. No ships. Wizards: 7,6,6,6,5,5,5,5,3. 1DU 15 brigs many vets, no elite, 63k. 2 other division sized groups with good wizards useful for pop center destruction. PCs: 999k pop, 193k food, 359k gold. 6 artifacts, none great.

Primary differences for 3rd Cycle. Use the Fool. Cheap standing order that almost always works and keeps going after you hit 20. Gain a second fool and you really move. Meteor Strike replaces the other pop center destruction spells. Yes, it is harder. You must have troops and you must be at the pop center. BUT, throwing the spell does not hurt your regional reaction any more, so now you can combine that destruction strategy with a take-over strategy (had to choose between those in 2nd Cycle). Harder to get Divine spells now, so I relied on the P5 spell of finding pop centers by sending a brigade with two P5 mages from region to region to gather my info. One huge change is the 2 enemy rule. As I was deciding who to invade, I noticed that the SA owned Amberland and had already declared two enemies. Thus, I could invade without fear of him declaring me an enemy very quickly. Other than that, the combo of 560, 565 and Mage summoning allows a Wizard kingdom to get a quick army group. I did not bother with a super army, just enough to take a city, and then two small groups to do destruction if needed. With a hidden capital, on which I may have over-relied, I did not bother moving capital to a water square and working on ships. I had no ships this game, perhaps for the first time ever.

My opinion two years ago was that winning this game depends a LOT on luck, although you still have to take advantage of any opportunities that arise through good development and preparation and spying. That opinion has not changed. It seems like people were fighting all over the board, but nobody ever attacked me in my regions (except the minor interference I described in the first few turns), just lightly fought back in their own regions. Good luck for me. A wizard kingdom, unattacked and unslowed, can be devastating and quick. I owned 1 region on turn 18 and had 4 by turn 24 with almost no resistance, because the attacks were solid and the defenders were either weak from other fights or were engaged elsewhere. Again, good luck for me.

Thanks to all of the worthy competitors, and to Acererak (DA) for the Silver and Son of Conan (WA) for the Bronze. And yes, I will be playing more 3rd Cycle games .

[Jumpingfist]

Excellent write-up Vball and congrats on the first 3rd cycle Rex victory. I especially likely the 3rd cycle difference section. Thanks

I played the AN and dropped after being forced to miss two turns through no fault of my own. I am glad that it likely had very little impact on the outcome of this game.

[Tomag Ironfist]

Thank you for the awesome write-ups! I love reading other player's perspectives!

[Ry Vor]

Thanks VBall Michael for the time you took for that write-up.  I think most players can learn something there.

Once again, Alamaze was designed as a full diplomacy game.  The Anonymous format is offered because the players requested it.  I agree there is more luck in Anonymous as to who attacks who when there is no correspondence, but I don't really think this variant that players requested reflects badly on the design, or that "luck" is a main factor in winning a campaign.  It's just easier to play when relieved of the diplomacy aspect, but the game doesn't reach full bloom that way.  I like the compromise of the Alliance format, where four teams of three kingdoms can coordinate closely but are relieved of diplomacy with 9 other kingdoms.  To each their own, I suppose.

I would also encourage players of all levels, from beginners to champions to play Duels.  It is a different kind of somehow intimate contest, with none of the "luck" or 3 on 1 aspects.  You have one opponent and one enemy, and you can experience new kingdoms easily and gain skill.

Meanwhile we have signups now for Warlords, Alliance, Anonymous, Full-On, and DUEL Challenge Arena.

I'm also feeling players are still adjusting, learning, 3rd Cycle nuance and strategy.  Don't forget about your own or your enemies Traits.

[Acererak]

I'll be posting on my enjoyable first game in 3rd cycle as the Dark Elf Imperium soon. I like laying out my post game similar to Vball..

Congrats on the victory Vball, I seem to be destined to a life of 2nd place in these contests. I guess it could be worse.

[Diamond Cutter]

I was the TY.
The Gnome put up a good fight for some time but I wore them down. Sacred Order was also attacking off and on.
I tried to steal the Crystal of Seeing from the Pirate when he was moving through Region 7.
Not much else, experimental game.