 |
|
 |
 |
 |
Fellowship of the Ring Empire Thread
|
 |
|
 |
 |
Cirrhosis,
Why'd you leave?? Everything okay?
          
| |
|
Cirrhosis,
What's up? Thought we will hear more from you once you return from your trip.
Theoden,
Thanks for putting that stuff into the FAQ. 
   
| |
|
Very quiet lately. Everyone waiting for the Xpack?
| |
|
Some interesting games coming up. UFO-Aftermath has gone gold. The Temple of Elemental Evil, a D&D CRPG will also be released on 16 Sep.
| |
|
Just completed my Maso Medium for 27k, a good jump from the Small score. Used the Terror Star endgame for the first time. It is indeed overpowered. The AI simply has no time to react to Terror Stars being erected all on the same turn and disintegrating their planets. What I could suggest to balance is that Terror Star modules should only be allowed to be built one a turn. In addition, any attempts by anyone to build Terror Stars should be viewed with extreme prejudice. That will allow the AI time to attack the partially completed Terror Stars before they are deployed.
I've also completed my quest to top all three morality boards. I've above EBZ, Pontius and Cotal by just a whisker. Don't think this will last too long and I certainly think this feat is much harder to obtain and retain than getting first. 
| |
|
Just submitted an unmodded Masochistic game and got anomalous difficulty. I think I must have overexploited the three minor races who were willing to pay cash for techs.
I think I'll resume posting my stories here, since we still don't seem to have the website set up properly for it.
Last Ditch
“Here’s a funny thing,” said Gwainhar, as he rested after the long flight. “According to my father, when The Ring was first taken to Mount Doom and used to destroy the Dark Lord What’s-his-name, my ancestor Gwaihir went to the volcano, and found a couple of midgets who claimed it was them who’d dumped The Ring in the big pit. No sign of Ray at all. Don’t believe it myself. Probably just senile ramblings. A man like Ray would never claim credit for someone else’s work, right?”
“Right,” said Downie, uneasily. The land they were standing on was barren and desolate.
“Well, anyway. I’ve got you past those big gates, the volcano’s in view. Once you’ve destroyed The Ring and made it back to safety, I’ll come and rescue you.”
“Thanks a bundle,” said Milady. Beyond Mount Doom, a sinister tower stood stark against the horizon, high in the Ash Mountains.
Gwainhar took a run up, and after a few false starts managed to launch himself into the sky.
“My shoulders are so stiff,” complained Milady.
“Well, that’s budget travel for you,” said Downie.
They set off up the slope. It was gentle, at first.
“What’s that tower?”
“Barad-Dur. Once, the flaming eye of the Evil One stood at its peak, glaring balefully at the world. Then, after he was gotten rid of, the tower was reopened as a tourist attraction. It was quite popular, for a while. They even hired me to write advertising materials for them. ‘Experience the rich and dangerous atmosphere of the Great Years of The Third Age of Middle Earth!’”
“What happened?”
“It was one advertisement that kept its promises; everyone involved was eaten by trolls. By then I’d left to do a similar job for the Moria cave-tours people. I wonder how they’re getting on?”
“Better than us, I suspect,” said Milady. She had caught a glimpse of an orc patrol, and the patrol had caught a glimpse of them.
“Why?” said Downie. “Something up?”
“Orcs!”
“Oh, come on. Who ever heard of an adventurer being killed by orcs? Just deal with them and we’ll be on our way.”
There were but six. She killed the archer first of all, for orcs have some skill with the bow, and can usually kill a man with three or four shots, while their swordsmen have a tendency to leave themselves open. When he fell, her thrown blade in his heart, most of his compatriots focused their attention on her. Twice more, her knives flew out, and two more orcs fell, and then a pair of them were upon her. She ducked a furious horizontal slash meant for her skull, and halted her assailant briefly with a kick. The other sword blow, she took upon the metal rods sewn into her sleeve, but its force was such that the rods buckled, and her arm was sorely bruised. In this time, she took one of her blades into her right fist, the tip protruding between her knuckles. A punch to the face of one opponent left him half blind. Meanwhile, she could see Downie, facing down his single adversary, unarmed save for a musical instrument and a philosophy of passive resistance. This orc had a scimitar raised for a death blow to the throat. But another orc moved across her field of vision, and she saw them no more. She heard, though, a chord. It sounded like the opening note of Downie’s favourite tune, but it was swiftly cut short.
In three short movements, she dispatched both of her surviving foes, and turned to see her friend, mentor, and sexual-harassment-lawsuit-waiting-to-happen, with blood on his face and across his chest.
But the blood was dark. It had come from the arrow-pierced jugular of his attacker.
“You killed him?” she said.
“Yeah. Sorry, did you want them all for yourself?”
“But what of your pacifist creed?”
“What of it?” he said. “Orcs don’t count. I mean, honestly! Morality is one thing, but refusing to kill orcs? That would just be inconvenient.”
“You refused even to kill one of the undead! Don’t orcs have feelings too?”
“Yes, but orcs are... orcs! You have to kill them! It’s what they’re for! If you didn’t kill orcs, how could you call yourself an adventurer?”
“I never killed an orc before today. What do we do now?”
“Traditionally? You search their bodies for gold coins. Filthy habit, if you ask me. I prefer to live on tips.”
“It’s a wonder you haven’t starved to death.”
They continued up the volcano path. It was strewn with ancient rubble and ash. It got steeper, the further they up went.
“How’s The Ring treating you?” she said.
“Not as badly as I feared.”
“I thought you taking a life, even an orc life, was a sign that it had darkened you further.”
“I wish you’d stop saying ‘darkened’ to mean ‘made more evil’. It sounds racist.”
“You say things like that all the time!”
“Only when I can’t think of anything else that scans.”
“This seems too easy, somehow,” said Downie. They were now most of the way up.
“I wouldn’t say that,” said Milady. “I mean, firstly, I’m exhausted. And, secondly, you’d have been in big trouble if I hadn’t been here. You couldn’t have taken on all six yourself.”
“Maybe not,” he said, lazily. “But I could have run away from them. I’m faster than any orc. Dammit!”
“What?”
“It’s what you said, about orcs having feelings too. I’ve started to see things from their perspective. Imagine how it feels, being part of an army of villainy, numberless as flies, hurled against the walls of the good and pure, the cannon fodder of some nameless Dread Lord. Poor guys.”
“Speaking of which, I notice there are rather a lot of them following us.”
Downie turned. There was, indeed, a veritable horde of orcs massing below them.
“Like ants,” he mused. “And this is the anthill.”
“I think we can beat them to the top,” she said. “But by then, they’ll have cut us off.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Downie. “Something’s bound to turn up.”
“Like what?”
“I expect that when The Ring hits the lava of the Crack of Doom, a mighty fire will rise up within the earth, and the orcs will break and flee, and then, out of the West, Gwainhar, Prince of Eagles will swoop down to save us.”
“All that?”
“Usually.”
And then they reached the top, and peered over the edge of the gap, and their hearts sank.
There was no lava, no glimpse into the flaming heart of Middle Earth Below. A thick crust of pumice had formed across the fissure. It was more like a ditch than a crevice. They could drop ‘The Ring’ in there if they wanted, but it would be simplicity itself for someone to climb in and get it out.
“It seems to me,” said Milady, “that what we need is a dwarf with a pickaxe and suicidal tendencies.”
“Pity,” said Downie. “If I’d known, I could easily have brought one instead of you.”
“Got any backup plans?”
“I would have, if I hadn’t already called in the favour that earth elemental owed me.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Oh, well. I suppose there’s always my last ditch never-failed-yet strategy for escape.”
“What’s that?”
“I leap like a salmon over the heads of my foes, and escape before they know what’s happening.”
“And what happens to me?”
“A gallant last stand against three hundred orcs? It’ll make a great song!”
“I don’t want to be a song! I’m too young to die!”
“All humans are too young to die. While I, who am clearly old enough to die, live on.”
“Big help you are.”
“Very well. I do have one last idea.”
The heaving mass of goblinoids surged upwards, surrounding the two travellers.
They paused then, tentative, knowing that the first dozen into battle always seem to get killed.
And the elf stepped forwards, a glint of gold held between thumb and forefinger. “Behold! I have returned The Ring of Power to its true home, Mordor! A new age shall arise for we who stand against the forces of Man! Serve me, and join in my glory, or resist me and be struck down by my eternal wrath!”
There was silence a moment, and then the throng burst into cheering. The two were lifted high, and borne to Barad-Dur.
“Funny old thing, life,” thought Downie. “I was just starting to think I’d seen it all and done it all, and now I’m a Dark Lord. Oh well, all part of life’s rich tapestry, I suppose.”
  
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Matthew,
Send the save to stardock support if resubmission fails. They may be able to help.
Or resubmit that game once the Xpack is out. Sometimes anomalous scores are cured at a higher version.
Rick,
I'm still top of Medium and Gigantic. Large looks doable. Huge is still not showing so no idea where I stand.
Tiny and Small are v tough as there are dedicated top10 players hitting those map sizes.
Looks like I have to be content with my record of topping 5 filter boards.
Hmm, looks like the Fellowship and MWC have a fondness for Large maps.
Medium doesn't look popular - probably because that map size is quite tricky.
| |
|
Congats on breaking into the Top25, Alex! 
| |
|
|
|
| Could you explain the anomalous more? Have you tried to resubmit? I have gotten two anomalous scores on un-modded games (well, except for the lower volume Drengin music) and both were "cured" by resubmission.How does one "overexploit" a minor? I must be guilty of that every day because I try to get every bc I can squeeze out of them. .I started a thread about anomalous scores but didn't get any great insight. Please explain more so we can avoid anomalous scores. Thank you. |
|
If I knew how to avoid them, I wouldn't have got one. Can you explain how you manage to score more on moderately difficult games than I get on Masochistic?
I don't know if there is such a thing as overexploting, but I was able to get them to pay me amounts like 1500 per turn for 50 turns, using the usual techniques (eg giving someone extra money so they can pay you more per turn). It may be that income above a certain amount counts as cheating; isn't that what the 'crankers' were suffering from?
(I've accidentally discovered a new Masochistic strategy; delibarately make morale low on one of your less important worlds, in order to create the I-League. Then sell them your techs and trade goods for an outrageous amount.)
I'm going to wait for the X-Pack before resubmitting. If it does work, it should score a lot more that way (due to the new Masochistic bonus).
| |
|
#1787
by Citizen musicfan55 - 9/13/2003 1:49:58 PM
| Can you explain how you manage to score more on moderately difficult games than I get on Masochistic? |
|
Lately I have been trying to play games I can finish in one day (easier on the brain) and with the minimum keystrokes (easier on my hands & wrists). I turn off all victory condition so a military victory is the only option. Then I play a large, tight cluster map so there is no premature culture flipping that might end the game too early. I play rare so I can often get an advantage on the computer by going after 13 & 14 PQ that the AI won't touch. This can make up for a lame starting position because over-using the control-N is really big time cheese that will never show up on the scores. It is easier for me to win with a good start on painful than a bad start on anything.
Rare planet setting means less management of planets so you don't have to hit "next" so often on the planet screens. I always max out on diplomacy points and on tiny through medium, I use the other five for PQ, morale (higher taxes), and maybe luck (free rangers). On large maps I used the other 5 for speed. I set all AI to pure evil and aim for pure good morality. This is more fun to me by eliminating certain UP events and simulataneously raises score because it is more difficult (no allies). I always thought the Yor were a little weak so playing with the Yor at intelligent and the rest on bright makes the tough level fun and interesting for me. For me (not a power player), I can win at painful but it takes much longer and I lose points by being able to research less trade goods/wonders/tech before the AI grabs them, so I play tough - just for fun. During the game I race for planets, then for tech, broker tech for tech and cash, and keep production up like everyone else.
Lately I have been trying to balance the AI against each other through bribing for wars against the top two AI races. On rare planet games, it is also wise to have a "parasite combat transport" ready to capture the minor if the major has eliminated all the minor ships and has them down to about 10 billion pop. Although I like to keep minors healthy & wealthy, it is usually better that you capture the minor than give up that gem to the majors, especially on rare setting. Exceptions are if the minor is in your backyard, you will flip the planet anyway so don't sweat it, or if the minor is in the backyard of the only remaining major, you may want to let the major have it so you don't end the game too early.
I find the ship on ship combat boring (I play Combat Mission or Gettysburg for military games) so I prefer to beat the AI into submission through a strong economy, culture bomb, then after cornering them, research the rest of the tech. During that time spent hitting the enter key you can turn pure good through the pop-ups (plague, robots, meteors, etc.). When you are pure good, build trade centers and don't forget the trade wonder. If you are really lucky, you can trade the evil AI for advanced slavery and dark side and make slavery and life force. After you research the rest of the tech, build terror stars and end the game in one turn. Then, go watch a football game or a movie so you don't burn out on Gal Civ. And, that is how I get 17k scores on large/tough. On games where the AI gets planet bonuses, telenanth events, always capitulates to the stronest AI, allies with each other against me (rare with evil AI), and sharks eat my starbases, it takes longer.  .
But mostly, I do this for fun rather than points. On maps larger than large, the strategy map in the upper right corner is harder to use so after my huge the other day, I will stick to large or smaller maps to avoid some mouse work. One can't see starbases at 100% setting for example so it is definitely more labor intensive to play huge/gigantic. On maps smaller than large, it is easier to culture flip, especially on the spread-out unclustered star setting (whatever that is called?). If you culture flip before researching all the tech, you forfeit points. Except for the last few (Beyond Human and Final Frontier take forever), researching all the tech is fun. So you can have the fun of a tech victory and culture victory with the points of a military victory. So, that makes me have fun, helps the FOTR produce empire points, and saves my hands and wrists for another day. .
You folks who win on maso are the best players and I take my hat off to you, but the hardest levels are not always the most fun levels for many of us.
Rick
 
| |
|
|
|
Thanks Ray - well spotted.... I don't know how long I'll stay there though - it's quite competitive at the bottom of the top.
I suppose it's that fancy little gold medal to go for next...
Alex
[Message Edited]
  
| |
|
| I suppose it's that fancy little gold medal to go for next... |
|
By all means, Alex. I welcome the competition.
Good to see more Fellowship members submitting games.
| |
|
| Rare planet setting means less management of planets so you don't have to hit "next" so often on the planet screens. |
|
ricbayer: It may be that you know already, but if you hit 'sector map' on the far left, you can circumvent havng to look at all of the planet screens (assuming you use governors).
   
| |
|
|
|
A belated Congrats, Ray, for topping 5 filters.
| |
|
Thanks Lothmorg. Cotal's overtaken me on Good already with those Huge games that she pumps out. She looks good to overtake to 2nd place at the rate she is going.
The Huge filter is fixed! Cotal's top as expected. Would be very tough to unseat her.
| |
|
Ray, can I ask a dumb question? How do you delete old game saves in the new version? I can't see how one does it!!??
| |
|
It does seem that they have used the Delete Savegame slot for the new Retire function, Killa.
Didn't notice that.
Guess we have to use the old fashioned way of deleting those saves in Explorer.
| |
|
Thanks Ray. That's a shame. I liked just deleting game saves as I went along. Should I complain now or at release?
| |
|
Killa, why don't you revert to 1.05 and refuse to upgrade to the Xpack until they fix it back for you?
| |
|
Hmmm, because I think maybe Stardock might call my bluff?
| |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
 |
Copyright 1995-2026 Stardock Corporation. All rights reservered.
Site created by Pixtudio and Stardock, designed by Pixtudio.
|
 |
