Game 5693 - Partial Diplomacy

[Zar@shand]

AM-LY

Sorry, I have been away for some time and have not been on the forum. Did you convert my captured agent or is she in your dungeon? (If you converted her it is my own fault as you did warn me that you would attack the pop) If she is available can I ransom her from you?

R

I have your agent and you can have them back. Let me know when you have the orders and then transfer me 1 gold.

AM-LY

I could do it this turn if you can. Let me know. I will also throw in a belly scratch.

R

Order is in for this turn, agent for 1 gold

[RELLGAR]

GI-DK, check

[VballMichael]

GI-DK, check

DK - GI
Not sure what your chess metaphor is about. Yes, the GI will pretty much defeat anyone he invades early. But that is just the battle, not the war.
As the DK continues to harass, it will be difficult for the GI to move on to new targets, which will make it very hard for the GI to win this.
But, if your only goal was to do better than Vball in a game, then you have accomplished that with your well-timed and executed invasion into Mythgar.

[Eregnon]

GI-DK, check

DK - GI
Not sure what your chess metaphor is about. Yes, the GI will pretty much defeat anyone he invades early. But that is just the battle, not the war.
As the DK continues to harass, it will be difficult for the GI to move on to new targets, which will make it very hard for the GI to win this.
But, if your only goal was to do better than Vball in a game, then you have accomplished that with your well-timed and executed invasion into Mythgar.

FO-DK

Speaking of harassing, where exactly does your 1DK think it's going? Do you really want another enemy?

[VballMichael]

GI-DK, check

DK - GI
Not sure what your chess metaphor is about. Yes, the GI will pretty much defeat anyone he invades early. But that is just the battle, not the war.
As the DK continues to harass, it will be difficult for the GI to move on to new targets, which will make it very hard for the GI to win this.
But, if your only goal was to do better than Vball in a game, then you have accomplished that with your well-timed and executed invasion into Mythgar.

FO-DK

Speaking of harassing, where exactly does your 1DK think it's going? Do you really want another enemy?

DK - FO
Desperate measures. The Giant has me on the ropes. You can sacrifice one village and maybe I can stick around long enough to slow down the Giant.
Or, you can jump on the pile and hope you are not on the Giant's path after I am gone.
So, no, I don't want another enemy, but that would be your call.

[RELLGAR]

GI- look8ng to buy food, only 6k needed, but will trade 10k gold

[Maximus Dominus]

Welcome to the game thread that receives little love.

Postings are infrequent affairs, here in the 5693 game thread. So, let me go ahead and stick my head in the verbal noose, and begin posting some of my thoughts about this, my second outing with the Underworld kingdom (and only one turn behind my first outing with the Underworld kingdom, which remains an ongoing undertaking, also).

My confidence in certain aspects of the game continues to build. That doesn't make me a better player, per se, in and of itself, but I am growing less hesitant to try newer things, and I'm also growing more bold in my internal thinking. Someone else's advice poster in some old Alamaze threads is taking root in my mind. I can't remember their exact wording, at the moment, nor even who it was that posted the advice in question, but it basically cautioned against playing defense.

Which is really what you can blame that assassination of an Amazonian agent that I had one of my own operatives to carry out, last turn. And this turn, of course, my army didn't move (and I know that I double-checked to Verify my orders). Can't move across the sea, yet I tried to move into a plains area, first, and I could have sworn that my path of movement got the OK from the aloof Verifier.

It isn't a case of sour grapes, nor of crying over spilled milk. The grand purpose of this multi-games undertaking is for me to learn. I don't want to visit that Tutorial game, again. I don't want a mentor, per se. Rather, I want to experiment, and learn at least some lessons the hard way. Why? Because they are more like to stick, that way. I can always join a new game of Alamaze, if winning is what I want to pursue.

This game and this thread have probably already firmly persuaded me that this will likely be the very last Partial Diplomacy game of Alamaze that I will ever try. Far better to yield national secrets and increase my kingdom's vulnerability, by blabbing aloud about stuff in here, than in enduring the tormenting hell of so much silence.

And to think - not one, but two warlords just appeared on the scene in the kingdom of Amazonia. Just my luck, huh?

I'm not really feeling anything in the way of enmity towards the Amazonians. Yet, all of this quietness is a bit more than I can bear. I'm here to learn, so let's poke the bear. Then, the bear can come and teach me a hash lesson (or perhaps several harsh lessons). Let's also find out if this bear bleeds.

With the Amazons, my thinking (right or wrong) is that this will largely be a military war. And that is surely one of my areas of least preparedness. Plus, too, I'm still largely handicapped, when it comes to the military side of this game.

Eregnon's early game admonishment of, "I will not move against your town in Zamora until the end of winter," is what led me to build my first fortress in Alamaze. Then, I've just been steadily building that fortress' defense values up, almost every turn. Heck, it could be every turn, for all that I can remember.

One thing that I find myself wondering, right now, is where are all of the Amazonians' big military groups? And why didn't two High Priestesses diving for their group locations in both Triumvia and The Crown Islands find them? Instead, I can only see a couple of Amazonian patrols coming my way (perhaps in response to discovering the death of a low-level Amazonian agent (Level 4). Is there a preferred way to go about taking out those patrols? Or are patrols basically immune? And how do I figure out whhich leaders and/or wizards are in those patrols?

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. It's in the rulebook.

Eregnon has not (as of yet, anyway), moved to take that Underworld town which now has a fortress in it, and that is actually what nudged me to lock horns with the Amazons, instead of with The Forgotten. The Lycans were nice enough to leave the village that i started with in Zanthia unmolested, so there was no real danger of me deciding to go after the werewolves.

Despite building up a rather sizable cadre of agents and fanatics, to a very large degree, I have mostly been flying blind over here in the region of Krynn, for most of this game. I have no doubt whatsoever, that the Amazonian player in this game will militarily collapse in the face of my Underworld military "might" (ahem!).  But I do have a few theories buzzing around in my head that I want to try and implement against the Amazonians (or should it just be the Amazons?!).

The sooner that I'm destroyed, the sooner that I shall be relieved of this Partial Diplomacy plight.

All of the spying (recon missions) that I did, this turn, one might think that I would know where all of those Amazonian emissaries are. Not so, though. Hmmm?

So, here I am, Jumping Jack Flash having just jumped out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. My kingdom might die, but let's see just how many enemy characters I can take out, before I lie vanquished in the dust bin of Alamaze history.

The Amazons already have control of two regions. If they move into and conquer Krynn, that will give them three regions. To move upon the Underworld with great military forces requires a reallocation of substantial assets into Krynn, thereby leaving the Amazons weaker and more vulnerable elsewhere along its vast frontier, or it requires bringing foreign, third-party forces into the fray against me, also. If that were to happen, though, my contingency plan is to shift my wrath and my assets, such as they are, against the intruding third party, so that they end up paying a bigger price than the Amazons, themselves. It is a form of assured destruction of some portion of these third-party assets.

If and when my kingdom begins to collapse, I also have a contingency plan to "feed the werewolves," by off-loading character assets to them. This should allow Underworld assets to carry on wars without me, once my presence in this epoch of Alamaze is no more.

If nothing else, perhaps this posting will lead to more postings by others in this game.

The flame of war is lit!

[Maximus Dominus]

Is there a preferred way to go about taking out those patrols? Or are patrols basically immune?

Patrol. This is a scout party consisting of at least one leader or wizard and perhaps
a dozen warriors. Patrols cannot attack or be attacked by other groups. Patrols may
move, combine with other groups, recruit troops, perform reconnaissance, etc.,
however, patrols are unable to block the movement of non-allied emissaries moving
into a popcenter.

SOURCE: 4th Cycle rulebook - Page #72

[RELLGAR]

Is there a preferred way to go about taking out those patrols? Or are patrols basically immune?

Patrol. This is a scout party consisting of at least one leader or wizard and perhaps
a dozen warriors. Patrols cannot attack or be attacked by other groups. Patrols may
move, combine with other groups, recruit troops, perform reconnaissance, etc.,
however, patrols are unable to block the movement of non-allied emissaries moving
into a popcenter.

SOURCE: 4th Cycle rulebook - Page #72

You can kill the leaders and wizards with kill leader/wizard spell and by an agents assassination.

[Glowamane1]

Elementalist looking to buy 50K food.