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[Bluerobin]

Hey look it's one of these. So, I've been wanting to do an LP (for a long time actually, never done one) and I've recently been re-bitten by the Dom3 bug, so here we are. Basically this is going to go pretty much how you think it would. I'm gonna ask you for an age/nation/game options (and potentially map/number of opponents/identity of opponents if anyone has strong opinions) and then set up the god and scales on my own to deal with any challenges you guys happen to throw at me. I'll just be going up against AI and there's a fair chance I might lose if I'm playing a nation I've never played or something like that, but I WILL try my hardest and take suggestions if you guys offer them. So, here we go:

The mods I will be using:
CBM 1.6 (before dwarven hammers were made unique, but gem gens ARE unique)
Better Independents (makes the really crappy indie units more or less unbuyable so the AI doesn't suck quite as much)
Streamers and Standards (cosmetic mod that replaces the flags of all of the nations with better looking ones. color schemes are mostly untouched, so they should be identifiable)

Now, choose me an age/nation!

Spoiler: Early age nations (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Middle age nations (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Late age nations (click to show/hide)

And a map:

Spoiler: My map list (click to show/hide)

If you have suggestions that I don't have, let me know and I'll take a look.

And any non-standard options!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'm going to have renaming on and probably score graphs as well. I typically like a slightly inflated number of special sites (50-55, regardless of age), but that (along with all of the other options) are up to you guys.

I think that's about it, so pop in and throw in your two cents and I'll try and get rolling on this tomorrow if there's interest!

[Neonivek]

Wow the demo doesn't do justice to the game... though it does sometimes make it seem frustratingly difficult.

Especially when dealing with sea civs when your not a sea civ nation.

[EuchreJack]

Generally, the giant-types make more formitable foes, so I'd request those as AI.  I can pinpoint better once you begin, but Agartha always adds "fun".

Oh, and I'd like to see water nations.  If your playing a water nation, I'd suggest one AI as water nation to contest the seas.  If your playing a landlubber, I'd ask for one AI to be "under the sea".  They should be quite strong by the time you enter the water.

[KaguroDraven]

I'll vote for my normal settings.
Mid Era Ulm
Large random map
1 Starting Provence
9 Independant power
Money, Resource, and Supply multipliers at 50
Hall of Fame at 15
and Magic Research Difficult.

Note to people who haven't played this before, these settings effect the AI as well.
Also for sea nation, I request Ryleth as our enemy, insane people are fun.
And finally, if you'll allow it, I request Hildegard be made our Prophet once she appears. One of Ulm's best heros in my personal opinion.

[gp1628]

Are you going to host it yourself?

[Bluerobin]

I realized after I made the OP last night that a normal game against the AI can get a little... boring once you overcome the initial rushes. I was trying to think of ways to make it a bit more interesting (maybe my pretender's a narcoleptic and I'm not allowed to play every 4th turn or something), so if you have challenges for me, let me know. The last three I've played I managed to win with MA monkeys (Bandar log), LA Atlantis (they have some kickass sacred troops apparently), and MA Abysia (my first blood sacrifice nation... dom killed everything). I was thinking about requesting a nation that's known to suck, but I don't know if I actually want that.

Generally, the giant-types make more formitable foes, so I'd request those as AI.  I can pinpoint better once you begin, but Agartha always adds "fun".

Oh, and I'd like to see water nations.  If your playing a water nation, I'd suggest one AI as water nation to contest the seas.  If your playing a landlubber, I'd ask for one AI to be "under the sea".  They should be quite strong by the time you enter the water.

Sounds like a good plan. I think I agree with the AI giants being harder to deal with.

I'll vote for my normal settings.
Mid Era Ulm
Large random map
1 Starting Provence
9 Independant power
Money, Resource, and Supply multipliers at 50
Hall of Fame at 15
and Magic Research Difficult.

That would be very, very different from the normal way I play, so that could be a fun challenge.

Also for sea nation, I request Ryleth as our enemy, insane people are fun.
And finally, if you'll allow it, I request Hildegard be made our Prophet once she appears. One of Ulm's best heros in my personal opinion.

R'lyeh can be a pain to deal with in multiplayer, so hopefully that's the case if they're AI too! I like the idea of requesting that certain heroes (or your own named commanders) take certain roles, so thanks for the suggestion.

Are you going to host it yourself?

It's a let's play, so it's going to be single player and I'll be writing up turns as I go to show off to you guys. I'll take requests for input throughout (game setup stuff now, names for commanders/requests for strategies later).

[KaguroDraven]

Well for a challenge I'll go with the obvious one, even if it ain't MUCH of a challenge, no buying provence defence, you only get what random events give you. I know in multiplayer provence defence isn't alot of use, but it's incredibly useful against the AI, esspecially as mid era Ulm who at upper levels of it has a rapetastic defence.

[gp1628]

1] Turn on the AI's for Independents and ally them against you (having the white flags maybe build armies and attack you can be a surprise)

2] build alliances within the other AI nations against you (such as allying Ermor with the only AI nations that have strong priests so they dont take each other out but concentrate on you)

3] Give the AI reasonable pretender/magic/scales so that it plays better. maybe also some starting equipment and extra starting armies

4] lower independents strength and higher settings for resources/supplies also helps the AI play smarter

4] set the map as NI (no independent recruiting) or PI (partial to something like 1 in 10) to decrease micromanagement and increase the AIs intelligence. You could play with a modified file for one of the maps you have such as Partial_anos for the parganos map

5] run the map thru SemiRand to scatter surprising provinces. You could use Faerun map or a modified file for a map you have such as the Aran_Dom file for the aran map

6] I would say that a Lets Play should be unmodded. But since you are already going with cbm you might toss in a surprise nation. Such as one of the AMOS mods which are not for players as much as for interesting AIs

7] Make it a tourist game. Have one of the servers such as Dom3Minions.com host the game and allow people to connect and load turn files so they can actually look at what is going on. The AI's turn files, and maybe yours if you want. It could be set to make them available something like 3 turns behind the turn you are posting so that people dont comment/suggest on the turn you are presently doing.

[Bluerobin]

So... I have no idea how to do most of that. I think most of those actually involve some amount of using mods or modding the map I'll be playing on, but I'd be willing to do that if you could point me in a direction.

[gp1628]

1] seems simple but might be a server only thing. Unless you know how to "host" your own game you might have to host it somewhere else to get it

2] adding the ally command to the end of a map file. The .map file is just a text file. You can use notepad to add an alliance for AIs

3] also map commands. there are conversations on the official dom3 forum about how to do that. Apparently just giving the AI an unmoving god like a monolith can keep it from doing things like sending their god to war or to the arena. But giving someone like Ermor a god that is the giant Eater of the Dead monster is funnier

4] those are in the game settings. You can do that

5] the easiest thing would be to download Aran_dom map from www.Dom3Minions.com or play one of the SemiRand blitzes that are always open on the same server.

6] there is an online browsing catalog for nation mods. If you want I can find that link

7] Just email the Dom3Minions server with the game settings you want (the Hosting Games link). No matter how wild or impossible you make it. You will usually get back an email telling you the address and port number to log in and play it. OR if you want to simplify and get started you could always play one of the always open games (the Hosted Games link). In fact, if you just start one of the vsAI games then I think it will already have most of the settings you want

[Bluerobin]

Alright, so after looking at some of those options I think I'm gonna go with the Partial_anos map and set up some AI alliances. I really wanted to do one of the tower or pipeline maps (or the MEGAMAP!) but they're either too big or not all that exciting for an LP.

[gp1628]

To set up AI alliances you add a line to the map file for every two nations you dont want to attack each other.
Here is a quick-ref list of map commands.
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/map_qref.txt
The full doc file on map commands is in your doments3/docs directory

And here is a reference list of the nation numbers
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/nations.txt

So if you add
#allies 12 15
#allies 15 1
#allies 1 12
then you have said that Early Ermor, Agartha, and Vanheim will be allied.
They will not waste time and resources on attacking each other.

[Bluerobin]

Perfect thanks. I was just about to go looking for how to do that myself, so that works well. I think I'm gonna get started shortly, so I'll have a bit of an update in a few.

[Bluerobin]

((Double post for first update!))
---------------------------------------------------------------
And so it begins.

Spoiler: In the beginning, there was Chaos (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Now the Wheel has turned once again (click to show/hide)

There was a clatter as the meeting adjourned and committee members left their seat to perform their duties.  The Pantokrator, the so called divine overlord of all that there is, was missing. A decision had been reached that Ulm should rise to fill this gap. As the sole nation built on the strength and vigor of the earth itself the leading committee of Ulm had agreed that it was better suited to be the guiding hand that the world follows. No one really wanted to be led by a singular god. A leader should not be manipulated and coerced by the insidious magics that other nations held in such high esteem. Even the land around Ulm seemed to agree; the lush wooded territories to the north and west, the seas to the southwest, and the marshes to the south and east appeared to be strengthening and fortifying the gathering armies. One commander, while drilling with his troops, has begun showing signs of an almost divine favor from the lands. This man has been chosen to be the vanguard of the Ulmish army.

Spoiler: Ulm in its river delta home (click to show/hide)

---------------------------------------------------------------
I'm going to try and RP a good chunk of this, but I'm going to put notes from me in italics throughout to get input and give more information. We have a few points to deal with right away. First: a name for our prophet! I'm going to prophetize the commander we start with while I round up a few more troops for him to lead. Our first scout's going to head out and try to get our bearings in this crazy new world.

Spoiler: Our scales are pretty great (click to show/hide)

They're actually even better than this. I tweaked them to be Order3/Prod3/Heat0/Growth3/Luck2/Drain3 because Ulm's researchers ignore drain.

and our pretender is dormant. I'll introduce her later.

Spoiler: The scales help offset the penalty from the game settings (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Here's our nation (click to show/hide)

There's an introduction to the Ulm I'm playing here: LINK

Essentially, we have a whole bunch of human ground troops with good strong defenses and one kind of meh crossbowmen. We have a bunch of similar commanders too, with their only differences seeming to be their weapons and whether they have hats. There are some cavalry (which is cool, I haven't played with cavalry before, just elephants), and some siege units (both recruits and a commander). Finally, we have guardians, which seem to be defensive units good at guarding forts and made to kill magic or sacred enemy units, and our mage/priest smiths. Ulm's smiths are it's specialty. They have pretty ok magic access (especially for a nation that spurns magic overall) and a forge bonus which makes constructing magic items 25% less costly. I have no idea what to equip with these magic items because I've never played Ulm, but... yeah. Oh and our scouts are spies which lets them do cool stuff I've also never played with.

Here's the map overall and our opponents. I'll be introducing them as we go, so if you want a bit of a surprise, don't look.

Spoiler: Actually kind of a spoiler (map) (click to show/hide)

Spoiler: Actually kind of a spoiler (opponents) (click to show/hide)

[KaguroDraven]

First of all, focus magic research on construction, forgeing items is what ulm is best at and it makes your commanders far stronger than they would normally be.  Attempt to get the Legendary forge items before other people can, esspecially the Monolith armor, it encumbers someone alot but it gives them the max protection of 40. Crossbowmen are meh against some enemies but against armored enemies they are actuilly very powerful due to armor pierceing ammo. When you have the income always get the Black Plate version of any unit, it's just better than the normal one all around. That's all that comes to mind at the moment, besides the fact you could have taken drain all the way down without ill effect for more points to something else.