Hello and Welcome, this is a test post

Welcome, lads, lasses, lovers, lurkers, and loafers to the pitiful, puzzling, pristine paradigm that is the purloined empire of the Balseraphs!


I am your pridefully posting purveyor of pain, Northstar1989, and tonight we have with us:

Tasunke's cruel Calabim, led by the flailing Flauros the fair!

Saruman's sorrowful Sheahim, led by the tasteful Tebyrn the terrible (a spirit after my own soul!)

Ellmist' elusive Amurites, led by the voluptuous Valledia the Even

Kragroth' corrupt Clan, led by the joyless Jonas Endain the jealous

and our very own bustling, bountiful, beautiful, beaming Balserasphs, led by the prestigious Perpentach the plentiful!


And a plentiful play-through this shall be, when I bring my painted, pained, plastered profile to it!

Prepared to be pleased!


Regards,
Northstar

Kingsport. A town of history. A town of tradition. A town of secrets.

And more recently, a town of dark signs, murder, and whispers in the night.

Now someone has called a town meeting. He claims that the murders are the work of horrors not at all friendly to the race of man...and that these unworldly perpetrators serve something even worse. Now they must be stopped, for the shadowy gaze of Something has fallen on your town, and if Its servants seek to bring It ever nearer to the threshold.

The hour is very late, and there is a scratching at the lock...

This is the sign-up for Warewolf 36, the much-discussed “back to basics” game.

(February 4th, 2015, 08:10)Ichabod Wrote: People, embrace again that old scum hunting feeling of yours. The one from the first games, when everything you had was a notepad tab opened in your PC and your own brains, tired after rereading 1000 pages of walls-of-text for the eight time, all the while with your wife pestering you to go to sleep and not waste time with such stupidities. The games where we used to make cross tables of 12 (!) days of votes, with complete analysis of every single player, only to reach the conclusion that we should lynch Gaspar and seeing him role village. THAT'S WHAT EVERYTHING WAS ALL ABOUT! THAT WAS LIFE RIGHT THERE! My friends, let go of the non-fun meta lynches that we have grown used to. That's not WW, that's not what you want and, deep down, you know you know it. Don't you want back the thrill of seeing the name popping in red purple when you know that it was only your scum hunting that made it possible? I bet you guys already forgot about that feeling. We live at a time where all we hunters do is wait for the next reveal and for the power roles results. We wait to see who of our trusted fellows die during the night, just so we can scratch another power role from a long and meaningless power role list. We are growing old and shallow, just going by with the motions, controlled by the GM's setup. You know, the GM, those MJWs and BRicks that watch you playing into their hands, doing exactly what they expected you to - we used to play open world WW, now we play WW with Quick Time Events and with a JRPG story. We are becoming the Civ 5 of WW.

Anyone else got a beta key? I just got mine; figured it would be more fun to explore the game with other people!

Because it's region-locked, I guess it'll have to be Europe...

Thou shalt have no other gods before me, I Cassiel am your God!

This thread is not for Aurorarcher. If you are Aurorarcher, please leave!

I don't actually have anything to show yet, as this game isn't started until I manage to find a little extra time (at home). It's just that I got the idea for the thread title, so I figured I'd use it before I forget.

I guess we might as well hash out overall strategy, while we're here.

So what's notable about this game? Northstar asked for map settings that fit his chosen civ well. The Lanun definitely like having water around, and a big map favors an economic civ like them.

That said, I think he made a mistake asking for Inland Seas instead of Waterways. Lanun naval advantages are pretty minor compared to the coves, and waterways gives tons and tons of nice coasts, perfect for coving up. Waterways also makes it harder to settle away from water, which is likely to be relevant with our cliché playstyles.

I could have argued against these settings, it was pretty clear they don't favor a scout choke. But I'm pretty sure I can win this anyway. From what I've seen in his other games, I wouldn't be surprised to find Northstar lose some of his advantages by micro and...questionable macro choices, too.

What do I expect from him? Honestly, bog-standard Lanun play. Build coastal cities, coves, research Octopus Overlords, build a navy and probably the melee line, come looking for trouble. Or else full-bore OO, with a Drown/Stygian invasion and no boats at all.

What's my gameplan? Jerkitude . That is, constant harassment. He let something slip in the map discussion: "One we reach a critical level of development where we're both ready for war, I don't see how a little wilderness between our borders is going to change much..." That strongly, strongly suggests a FFA/SP mindset, where you build just enough military to keep the AI from attacking and focus on economy. Then, when out of room or when you reach your preplanned fun tech level, bulild an army and attack!

Well...the Svartalfar are ready for war from T0, buddy. As HK pointed out, Combat I Sinister scouts can beat warriors anywhere outside a city, and they're only one victory away from Shock, after which they can beat even copper warriors. On top, they're 2-movers, and the forest-move ability gives them even more mobility. Done properly, I ought to choose all the fights, and have them at good odds. And they're cheap! It really doesn't take much damage for a 16-hammer unit to pay for himself. One worker kill per three built scouts, and I still come out ahead.

I can repeat this with either Fawns or Hunters, in the next stage of war. I probably want to add in Horseback Riding at some point early, too - for mobility promos and for a couple units who can pillage.

The biggest challenge I face is the sheer size of the map. It'll take me a while to find him, and it'll take a while for units to get to him. I may not be able to arrive with scouts before he's got something stronger. My test map had ~1150 land tiles - quite a bit for a duel!

Hmm. Although, looking at Seven's description of the map, that may be only because I didn't turn off the AI's to generate the test map. He says Mirrorland dimensions depend only on # of players, not on official mapsize. In that case...hmm. Do I want to propose an alteration to Northstar, to get something like what he's expecting? On the one hand, he's got the same ability to test the map as I do, and he agreed to Mirrorland explicitly. On the other, well, he asked for Small in the clear expectation that it would matter.

My gut says yes, I should inform him and find a different script. I want to bend over backward, so that when I beat him he has no excuse. I just don't want to spend the effort to find a new script and maybe negotiate all over again .

------

Anyway, back to strategy talk, while I mull that over. And give a chance for lurkers to inform me if my understanding of Mirrorland is even right.

So, we'll want to get a bunch of scouts out early, regardless. Want to find my foe and start harassing him. But even if that doesn't work - we also want to work on animals and barbs. It shouldn't be hard to get scouts up to 10 XP/level 4. That gives a lot of options - really fast harassers, or Combat IV/Shock, or Capture Animal. I may show up late, but if I can show up with some really well-promoted hunters, that'll still work out. Or some spiders and griffons.

Now, as a backup plan, we also want to grow up fast and strong. I figure this is my best chance ever to get the Grand Menagerie, and otherwise we'll go classic elven econ: Fellowship of Leaves, big cities with an ancient forest on every tile. We're Creative, so we can afford to spread out the early cities in anticipation of growing tall. It's not exactly a tragedy if we end up working a whole bunch of specialists to go with our Ancient Forest cottages, so I shouldn't overdo it. Lanun gives him an advantage in quick start, but I expect micro can outweigh that. Elven econ is especially strong on a random map, because you can make food and happiness out of any terrain.

Elven econ doesn't actually require that much tech. Fellowship of Leaves, Education, Guardian of Nature, Priesthood, maybe the recon line. I can afford to skip magic, metal, and all kinds of other stuff, so long as I get the basics.

He'll go OO, so we want to stay away from the sea, but we'd want that anyway since sea cities are generally weak.

So one less than ideal thing about Realms Beyond is that the front page of the site is pretty out of date, both in style and content. Some people, myself included, have talked about a grand rebuilding to update the front page and make it more useable. But so far that hasn't happened, and I know I don't have the time, desire, or ability to build/rebuild a whole content filled website. Especially when even if we have one, at least 95% of everything relevant will happen on the forums anyways.

So I had a little idea I wanna throw your way:

Here's a link to a simple, new initial landing page for Realms Beyond I've thrown together.

It could certainly be styled better, or have better intro text, but it's something simple, clean, and up to date enough that it won't scare people away. Gives a short summary of what we do here, and then sends them right to the forums where all the activity happens anyways. That seems to be the most important use of an updated front page at this point anyways.

You'll also notice a link on there to a Wiki for RB, that's hosted on our site and devoid of content. When I was doing some website admin stuff, I realized I could set up one of these wikis pretty easily. And it's something I also think could be really useful, as it's a more static and easy to organize place for things like Game summaries, Info pages on Mods we make here, strategy articles some people are keen on posting, a place to upload some of the farious tools and plugins people have developed for this site, and so on.

I am aware we already have a google spreadsheet for game summaries, and something like this isn't strictly needed for stuff like mod info, but I feel like it's potentially a better universal place for organizing and stylizing those things. So if you think it'd be useful, go ahead and start filling stuff out on there, it's open to registration and anyone registered should be able to edit the wiki.

Likewise with the front page, I'm not giving a "this is going into effect one week from today", more than anything I want to put word of it out there, hear what people think, and go from there. I feel like an updated front page of some sort would really be nice for anyone who comes across this site, but I'm not rooted to want to go this direction if I'm the only one that thinks so.

So sound off what you think about the front page draft and/or the wiki below.

The Amurites have no ancient history, no glorious empire in the Age of Magic to hearken back to or trace their lineage from. In terms of civilizations, the Amurites are newcomers on the world stage. Nevertheless, they are a force to be reckoned with, feared by some, and respected by all. Part of that respect stems from the tremendous magical power the Amurite armies command, but no small part of it stems from the incredible story of their genesis.

The Amurites call themselves the Children of Kylorin. According to their own legends, the arrival of the archmage Kylorin saved the Amurite people from obscurity, or possibly extinction, during the Age of Ice. Not even the Amurites know exactly why Kylorin picked these people as his chosen folk, but they maintain that it was because of a particular strength of character.

Whatever the reason, when Kylorin appeared he changed the fortunes of the tiny, struggling clan that had been the Amurites. For years he lived in their midst, taking new wives as his old ones died of old age or in childbirth, leading the Amurites to a level of organization and advancement unrivalled by any other nation in the Age of Ice. Generations came and went, but Kylorin remained a constant, working towards some arcane goal with the Amurites as his willing and joyous tools. Whether through magic or sheer force of will, he remained young throughout.

Until, one day, Kylorin strode out of his home. His face had aged many years, terrible purpose shone in his once soft and kindly eyes, and a magnificent blade hung faintly glowing by his side. With no farewells and no apologies, he went forth into the icy wastes and never came back. Soon after, the Thaw began.

He had, however, left behind a powerful gift: his children. Through the years there had been quite a few, and they all carried latent magical abilities. Though the advancement made during the guardianship of the immortal wizard started leaking away during the Thaw, Kylorin’s powers remained. Throughout the years, the children of Kylorin intermarried with the rest of the Amurites, and the abilities spread, making the Amurites the civilization that is most magnificently in touch with the magical currents of Erebus.

This link has affected every aspect of Amurite life. They run their nation like a great magical school, training as many of their young as possible in, at the very least, basic magic skills. Their schools are so famous, they even attract those with magical abilities from other corners of the globe to join their ranks. The Archmages and Headmasters of the schools and universities act like an aristocracy in a nation that does not really have one, wielding great political power beyond the walls of their institutions.

As with any large collection of scholars, the Amurites are mired in scholarly bureaucracy, the most insipid form of administrative quagmire known to man. The Archmages, like professors, are frequently involved in petty squabbles over obscure matters that develop into personal feuds. Positions and knowledge are jealously guarded and hard to obtain; potential rivals are stonewalled at every turn. It is easy to become a mage in the service of the Amurites, but it takes a shrewd, powerful and unscrupulous practitioner of magic to rise to the apex of magical power.

Above all, the Amurites have come to worship magic for its own sake. Their fascination with all aspects of magic is so deep that they do not feel hindered by petty alignments and concepts of “good” and “evil.” Any avenue of magic can be explored, but some branches, like necromancy, are governed by strict laws and regulations, in order to prevent abuse and disasters. Justice for a mage who ignores these laws and starts dabbling in the regulated branches without obtaining the necessary permission is merciless, final, and in keeping with their fascination with the uses of magic, rather spectacular. No possibility is left for a repeat offence. Since the Amurites do not feel themselves confined by the alignments most nations follow, they are treated with a healthy amount of distrust by good and evil civilizations. Evil civilizations dislike the regulation of the dark and chaotic spheres, good civilizations are worried that they are not forbidden entirely. While not specifically hated by any, they have trouble making truly close allies. However, they don’t feel they need any. As long as they are left in peace to conduct their magical experiments, they are happy, and wise rulers respect that. Those few who have crossed the Amurites and felt the fire of their arcane might have no desire to repeat the experience. Many have not been left the option.

They didn’t belong to a common civilization or heritage. They were just the scattered tribes that survived close to Letum Frigus until Kylorin united them. Under one banner they became the most powerful empire of the Age of Ice and changed the world.

But a common lineage does unite them now. Kylorin’s blood runs through his many children, and in that blood the strength of a former age, of a time when men were more than the desperate animals they have become. Newly formed they are an echo of past triumphs, and they will forever bring those glories into new ages.

Greetings fellow hunters! It is me, Northstar of the Svartalfar! (Volanna)

And today, I'm up against the great and might Bobchillingsworth of the Malakim... (Varn)


Yeah, I'm aware that the Malakim are pretty strong against the Svartalfar- but I had to pick my civ first, so I had little say in the matter. Clearly, though, Bob felt I was important enough to use a Varn pick on- his civ may not be great, but he has pretty much the game's most powerful Leader...


Here is what the start looked like:



And here's what it looked like to the north (GOLD!)



Now my first reaction when I saw the start was EGAD- the Malakim are going to have a FIELD DAY with this, with their starting Creative trait. But then I realized two things:

(1) The Malakim don't start with Agriculture. I do...

(2) The Malakim can't move through forests at double-speed (meaning it would cost them at least a full turn to settle anywhere useful except near the Rice), I can...


This is going to be !FUN!


Regards,
Northstar

This thread is not for Dreylin. If you are Dreylin, please leave