__________ __________/ \__________ <__________ Turn 1 __________> \__________/ _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Wednesday February 25, 1998 at 08:55 AM EST by The Untouchables to all players; Untouchable Truths Vol. 1, No. 1 "All the news that fits, we print!" ============================================================================== Game B05 - Turn 01 - Side 01 *** The Front Page News: Vijay wakes up hungry on a dirty side street in an impoverished slum of the U.N. (United Neutrals) City 01. There is no warm food in his belly, but a fire burns in his eyes. He has had a dream, and it can only be a sending from the gods. He knows what he must do. He wraps his tattered shirt around his shoulders and tightens the colorful yarn that holds up his oversized dungarees over his thin chicken-legs, and shivers slightly in the chill morning air. That will pass soon. It is always summer in New India, and there's no need to fear the monsoons that no longer come. Following the urgings of his dharma, he heads northwest. Breakfast is lifted from under the noses of some fruit vendors in the street market. Within half an hour he is happily hiking up the road into the New Himalayas, wondering what his test will be. There is always a test! Or is there? As he hikes up the mountain valley, Vijay's inner sense leads him up an unusual side canyon. He finds the ruins of a city of the Old Years, the years which everyone murmurs about, but which are never taught in the UN schools. And hiding in the ruins is a venerable Djinn, crying endlessly at the altar of an old temple. A small stream flows from the altar, down the temple floor, out the door, and down the steps into the mountain valley. Vijay, thirsty, stops for a drink, and discovers that the water is salty - a river of Djinn tears! The Djinn doesn't even look up as he splashes up the stream. Vijay looks at the quivering heaving back of the giant creature, and wonders at the might and power which such a being may have, for the Djinn's skin seems clothed in energy - sparks of electricity, tongues of flame, jets of hot gas and frozen snow! Fearless as only one with nothing to lose can be, Vijay taps the Djinn on the shoulder and asks: "Mr. Djinn, why are you crying?" And the Djinn answers: "No one wants me anymore!" And Vijay says: "I have been sent here by some mysterious dream. Surely there is a reason for it?" And the Djinn brightens a little, saying: "None has walked this way for thousands of years. All my powers are wasted because no one cares about them! But it was prophesied that one would come, one with the most fabulous form of wealth, and then it would be time to rebuild the world. Do you have that wealth?" And the Djinn stood and grew tall, and terrifying, and the sparks danced upon his skin like a thunderstorm, and Vijay stood there with fire in his eyes and no fear, and said "I have no wealth, but my conscience is clean and my spirit is independent and unafraid. Doesn't that count for anything?" And the Djinn said: "Young lad, if you have a clean conscience and a pure spirit, then you *do* have the most fabulous form of wealth, for as long as you do not squander it, you shall have all you need in life. It is time for us to rebuild the world!" And the mighty elemental vanished down his salty stream like liquid lightning flowing through a wire. Vijay did not question these events, and did not hesitate, but sought out the guidance of his spirit, and continued to the far reaches of the valley in the northwest. There was in that valley a venerable old spirit lurking in the shadows at sunset, and the spirit was greatly moved by the sight of the humble yet noble young hero, who acted not out of greed or lust or any base desire, but only sought to follow the guidance of his soul and follow his dream. So the mighty ghost flew down to Vijay, and made himself visible, and Vijay was unafraid. The Ghost smiled, and said in a ghostly whisper: "You have the Way of the Untouchables about you. The Way has long been lost, but now it is back! It is time for us all to follow the Way..." And the ghost vanished into the darkness to the southeast. Vijay settled down to rest. Back in City 01, the Elemental Djinn arrived. Having electroplated himself with all the precious metals in the mountain stream down which he had flowed, and encrusted himself with all the gems in the earth beneath the river, he planted himself before the gates like a golden statue, and the UN guards were instantly converted. The Djinn ordered them to disperse, liberate the poor citizens, and train the giant bats which swarmed like pests in the slums, so that they would leave the slums and carry messages, goods, and leaders throughout the land, spreading the news that The Way was being revived and the Untouchables were now going to inherit the cities of the world! Impatient was the elemental, and he raced south along the river to City 12, and liberated it as well, although the U.N. garrison tried to fight there. And the Untouchables of the slums rose to lead in justice and fairness, and they renamed their cities 01-Mumbai and 12-Delhi, after ancient cities of the Old Years... *** The Diplomatic Pouch: * To All New Nations - Let us unite and overthrow the tyranny of the United Neutrals! For now, we in the Northwest seek only to liberate those who languish in poverty and to reincarnate the world, filling it with life and hope. This is the Way of the Untouchables. Our primary nature is peaceful, and we prefer diplomacy to bloodshed whenever conflict can be avoided. * To A Friend - We have not yet seen your true nature, but if it is reflected in your name, then we are kindred spirits, and we would like to offer at least a truce and a negotiated border, and perhaps someday an alliance. Our nations are relatively close, and the world is very large and empty, with many neutral cities sitting unliberated to our south. So we would prefer to unite and clear the map of exploitation and oppression, rather than fighting over nothing in the north. We propose that both sides shall have free access to the North Temple, and neither side shall block either the temple or the approaches to it. We propose that neither side will travel across the north-south line running through the City 05 and the North Temple, unless permission is obtained first from the other side. We propose to occupy the City currently languishing as "05", since we do move ahead of you and it would be immoral to destroy it, but we will not build units there capable of attacking any of your cities, and we trust that you will not threaten ours. We are willing to negotiate further, but we await your reaction first! * To Celeborn the Wise - We seek no quarrel with you. Let us write many a noble tale as we liberate the people of the world from the bureaucratic nightmare of the United Neutrals! When the time comes, we hope that we may find mutually beneficial solutions in all our dealings with your nation. * To King Warren - Monarchy is distasteful to those of us with no rank, title, land, or wealth. But perhaps you are a benevolent king? For now we remain neutral and without any hostility to you, your lands, and your people. We hope that your campaign against the United Neutrals goes well! As we are unsure of your intentions so early in the game, and many miles lie between our capitals, we have no particular offers to make at this time. But we are receptive to any mutually-beneficial offers you may propose! *** Executive Summary: New Untouchable Hero Vijay arrives in 01. Gold at Start of Turn: 13039 Vijay visits NW Elemental and NW Ghost and finds Elemental and Ghost. Elemental pillages neutral city 12 for 175 gold. New Build of Giant Bats purchased in city 01 for 160 gold New Build of Giant Bats purchased in city 12 for 160 gold 01 renamed 01-Mumbai 12 renamed 12-Delhi *** Statistics: | Start of Turn | End of Turn | Net Change ================================================================== Cities: | 1 | 2 | +1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Finances - Gold: | 13039 | 12894 | -145 Income: | 64 | 112 | +48 Expenses: | 25 | 0 | -25 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Experience | | | Vijay: | 0 | 6 | +6 Hero #2: | n/a | n/a | n/a Hero #3: | n/a | n/a | n/a =================================================================== _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 1 Gamefile Sent To: A Friend (Yellow) (dembe739@student.liu.se) Date Sent: Wednesday February 25, 1998 at 08:55 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Friday February 27, 1998 at 08:55 AM EST (In GMT+0100: Friday February 27, 1998 at 2:55 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 1 Gamefile Sent To: Celeborn the Wise (Red) (sbest00@svpal.org) Date Sent: Friday February 27, 1998 at 06:46 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Monday March 2, 1998 at 06:46 AM EST -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Friday February 27, 1998 at 06:51 AM EST by Demitrius Berg to all players; Hi guys! I got the gamefile in on time but I will not be able to send my turn report until I get back from work this evening. I know it's against the rules and I'll accept the penalty for it... -Demitrius Berg _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Saturday February 28, 1998 at 05:22 AM EST by Demitrius Berg to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 01, SIDE 2 (Yellow). ______________________________________________________________________ Gold at start: 13039 + 175 Elemental pillages City 23 - 160 Giant Bats built in City 02 - 160 Giant Bats built in City 23 ----- Gold at end: 12894 Income: 112 (+48) Expenses: 0 (-25) Yashimalis begins with 0 and ends turn with 6 experience points. City 02 renamed 02-Neulibertala City 23 renamed 23-Xarite Start with one and end turn with 2 cities. ______________________________________________________________________ The story: --------- "I'm ready!", she says. The memories of her fathers death and his hard won battle for the existence of their people will never be forgotten. The young and relatively unexperienced Yashimalis is now at age 21 the new and righteous leader of the proud and strong people known to take care of each other. She looks up on the brightly colored flag hanging high up in the air and she's determined to protect everything it stands for; the yellow for prosperity, the blue for liberty and the red for all blood spilled over the years. The preparations for the new leader has taken many years, but now she's expected to use all skills necessary, diplomatic and strategic, to deal with the unknown peoples on the outside. With the map and the sword she heads out in the world... According to a legend powerful friends can be be found in various ruins around the world. The will be very valuable to her as she has little experience or knowledge about the outside. The two closest ruins are well in range to her on this first day. The legend was true, she found a elemental and a ghost and they immediately accepted to join Yashimalis in her explorations of the world. The elemental wich can travel a great distance reached the city known only as number 23 on the map. The lone scout defending the city surrended to the mighty elemental at once. Yashimalis is satisfied with this first day on her own and lays down to rest for a couple of hours. -end Meassage to The Untouchables: ----------------------------- We find your offer of truce and all other conditions acceptable for now. We are always willing to talk. _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 1 Gamefile Sent To: King Warren (Blue) (wgillett@goldengate.net) Date Sent: Sunday March 01, 1998 at 03:50 PM EST Date Gamefile Due: Tuesday March 3, 1998 at 3:50 PM EST -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Sunday March 01, 1998 at 04:05 PM EST by "Scott C. Best" to all players; End of Turn 1 Report for Celeborn the Wise, Red Player #3 Starting Gold: 13039 Manwe searches SE Elemental, recruits 1 Elemental Manwe searches SE Ghost, recruits 1 Ghost Elemental takes 33, pilages Scouts for 175 Rename 03 to Taniquetil-03 Rename 33 to Valimar-33 Build Giant Bats in Taniquetil-03 Build Griffons in Valmar-33 End of Turn Hero Experience: Manwe: 6 (+6) Final Gold = 13039 + 175 - 160 - 1700 = 11354 End of Turn Cities: 2 Gold 11354 Income 112 Expenses 0 =========== From the pen of Rumil, Noldorin Elf of Tirion the White Walled city of the Vanyar in Eldamar, the Ainulindale (the Great Music of Creation) is so written: "There was Eru, the One, who in Arda is called Illuvatar; and he made first the Ainur, the Holy Ones, that were the offspring of his thought... "And in came to pass that Illuvatar called together all the Ainur and delcared to them a mighty theme, unfolding to them things greater and more wonderful than he had yet revealed: the glory of its beginning amazed the Ainur, so that they bowed before Illuvatar and were silent... "And...when they were come into the Void, Illuvatar said to them: "Behold your Music!" And they saw a new World made visible before them, and it was globed amid the Void, and it was sustained therein, but was not of it... "..the Ainur looked upon the habitation set within the vast spaces of the World, which the Elves call 'Arda', the Men 'Earth', and their hearts rejoiced in light, and their eyes beholding many colors were filled with gladness... "Thus it came to pass that of the Ainur some abode still with Illuvatar beyond the confines of the World, but others, and amoung them many of the greatest and most fair, took their leave of Illuvatar and descended into it. But this condition Illuvtar made: that their power should thence forward be contained and bounded in the World, so to be with it forever, until it is complete, so that they are its life and it is theirs. And therefore they are named the Valar, the Powers of the World." (1) The great amoung these spirits Men have often called Gods, and amoung them many names are given. The elves who dwelt in Valinor knew their names in the Elven toungue spoken there: Seven were the great Valar Lords, and Seven were the great Valier Ladies. The first of all Kings was Manwe, dearest to Illuvatar in closest in purpose, unequalled in might save The Enemy breatheren Melkor. In Arda, the winds and air are the delight of Manwe, and in millenium to come the kings of the air, the Great Eagles, knew themselves as Heralds of Manwe. In Valinor, Manwe dwelt above the ever-lasting snow, in great towers atop Taniquetil, the highest mountain peak in all of Arda. From there nothing can be hidden: it is said Manwe can see further than all other eyes, through mists and darkness and deep into the depths of the Sea. Along paths seen from above, it is said that Manwe strove from Taniquetil, stratifying a future known only to him. Risking the fury of Ungoliant in her lair in Avathar, he released an elemental herald of Aule, Ainur of the great depths of the Earth, the gems and gold hidden therein and the skills of there fashion. Beyond Taniquetil the herald hastened, to the center of Valinor, and there called up the greatest of Valar cities, Valimar of Many Bells, with great golden gates and a thousand domed silver towers. In time, the Two Trees known forever to all elves would come to grow upon mounds arranged within the heart of this city. Yet Manwe strove onward, deeper into the Moutains along a path walked never again. At its terminous, a herald of Namo was releaed from its wait. There Manwe spoke: "Herald! Great is Namo who dwells in Mandos and is keeper of the dead. He knows all things that are and that will be save for the freedom of Illuvatar. From the Halls of Mandos he will be my Doomsman, pronouncing the fate of Elves, Men and Valar as I command. Prepare!" The Ghost of the Forgotten Path bowed, and was given to fly by Manwe, whence it immediatly set forth to a future unspoken. And so it came to pass, that before the end of the first season, Manwe sent bidding to the furthest reaches of the North and West, where songs of herosim had already been heard. To these unmet powers Manwe spoke: "There is work to be done, and our paths do not conflict. I ask only this: the temples will remain unguarded and our obvious perimiters untresspassed unless in times of war. I lay no claim to the cities nor ruins upon the perimeters, but if mine haste should exceed yours, be not alarmed, as I will not should your futures outspeed me." Beyond those words, there is no knoweldge of more. (1) _The Silmarillion_, copyright 1981 by Random House, Inc., pp 3-10 _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 2 Gamefile Sent To: The Untouchables (White) (rheeter@jet.uk) Date Sent: Wednesday March 04, 1998 at 03:24 PM EST Date Gamefile Due: Friday March 6, 1998 at 3:24 PM EST (In GMTGMT: Friday March 6, 1998 at 8:24 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Wednesday March 04, 1998 at 05:23 PM EST by Warren Gillett to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 1, SIDE 4. Warren looked back at Earth's past to the days when kings ruled the land by divine right. He knew that this was right. The world needs a ruler. Warren realized that it was his destiny to rule over all the Earth, his divine appointment. He would be king. Warren declares himself King of the World and sets out to liberate those in the grips of the U.N. and the other emerging factions. He begins by running the garrison out of city 04. He renames the city London, as he models his new kingdom after old England. London now starts training Giant Bats for the King's army. After securing a capital, King Warren searches for allies. He finds them in Elementals and Ghosts. The King immediately dispatches them to liberate more cities. The swift moving Elementals pillage city 42. This city's name is changed to Cambridge and Wolfrider training is implemented. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Gold at Start of Turn: 13045 New hero King Warren arises in 04. King Warren searches SW Elemental and SW Ghost, is joined by 1 unit of Elementals and 1 of Ghosts. King Warren's Elementals take city 42, pillage 175 gold, change name to 42-Cambridge. City 04 is changed to 04-London. New Build of unit type Giant Bats purchased in 04 for 160 gold. New Build of unit type Wolfriders purchased in 42 for 450 gold. Final Cities: 2 Gold: 12610 Income: 112 Expenses: 0. Final Hero Experience: 6 from 0 _______________________________________________________________________________ __________ __________/ \__________ <__________ Turn 2 __________> \__________/ _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 2 Gamefile Sent To: A Friend (Yellow) (dembe739@student.liu.se) Date Sent: Saturday March 07, 1998 at 06:24 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Tuesday March 10, 1998 at 006:24 AM EST (In GMT+0100: Tuesday March 10, 1998 at 12:24 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Saturday March 07, 1998 at 06:24 AM EST by The Untouchables to all players; [ Hi guys - sorry for the delay; the Remailer outage messed up my schedule and real life got in the way after that, so I couldn't get this out on time. Hopefully we can speed things up and catch up with the other games now! ] Untouchable Truths Vol. 2, No. 1 "All the news that fits, we print!" ============================================================================== Game B05 - Turn 02 - Side 01 *** The Front Page News: Sonja hears the call of the Djinn in 12-Delhi, and she knows that the moment for action has arrived. The spirits move as strongly in her as in her friend Vijay in 01-Mumbai. Perhaps it is not so much that she found the giant bat, as that it found her. Regardless, she finds herself with a leather-winged furry beast inhabiting the corner of a tiny basement room in the slums of 12-Delhi, and she knows that her first test is to tame the ugly beast for riding. Some might try to conquer the winged creature by force, and to break its spirit, but instead she chooses persuasion, love, and bits of food that she gave it. She feels hungrier than usual for a few days, for she must give the bat her own meals, but she soon wins its friendship, and she now has a flying steed! She comforts herself that, after going hungry for a few days, she is now a lighter burden for the poor thing as well! On the back of the giant bat, she soars above the city, showing to all that the task the Djinn had set for the inhabitants, to tame the giant bats, could indeed be done! While high above the city she spots a strange man living in a secret penthouse atop the city's tallest building, and instinct tells her she must find out about him. She circles around for a second, closer look. He is young, strong, and devilishly handsome. He sits outside, sunbathing in a small swimsuit, but he hardly needs the exposure - his skin is already a sort of reddish golden color. Mesmerized, she lands her bat, and approaches. Somehow, she knows he is important. But how? He is startled to discover that there is actually a rider on the Giant Bat. How had this small, thin, raggedly clothed, dirt-covered impoverished girl managed to ride a giant bat? Then he sees the look in her eyes, and he knows that she is no mere street urchin. The spirits flow within him, and he knows that she, too, is part of the Way of The Untouchables. He rises, and nods to her. "Yes, it is time, isn't it?" A strange passion flickers between them, but he knows that he must save his persuasive and seductive powers for later. And so they part ways. Sonja flies off to the southwest, while the Devilish man joins the Djinn and goes south. And so it is that the Way of The Untouchables continues its expansion. The Djinn liberates City 15-Karachi, and the ghostly Spirit alone is enough to recruit 13-Calcutta and 17-Rangoon. Vijay returns through 01-Mumbai and begins a new mission to visit the Northwest Military Academy and recruit some new commanding officers. As he passes through Mumbai, the light in his eyes (and some lingering awe of the Djinn) persuades the local university biologists to join the struggle wholeheartedly, and these genetic engineers mix the genes of the giant bats, eagles, dolphins and equines to begin raising intelligent pegasi. It is an expensive project, and the money flows from some unknown source, but there seems to be plenty of it, at least for now. Indeed, some of the engineers go to Calcutta to start a second project raising Griffins, while Rangoon and Karachi begin training cavalry. Perhaps the Untouchables have made some mistakes, and those who move after them will do better; each side is already making its own choices! Except perhaps for some resistance in the center, all of the United Neutrals shall soon belong to the Friends, Celeborn, King Warren or The Untouchables! And then what shall happen? ... *** The Diplomatic Pouch: There is no diplomatic news at this time. We acknowledge receipt of all "friendly" messages. :) *** Executive Summary: Gold at Start of Turn: 13006 Sonja arrives in 12-Delhi with a Devil for 1012 gold. Ghost pillages neutral city 13 for 175. Ghost pillages neutral city 17 for 175. Elemental pillages neutral city 15 for 175. City 13 renamed 13-Calcutta. City 17 renamed 17-Rangoon. City 15 renamed 15-Karachi. Pegasi installed in 01-Mumbai for 2000. Griffins installed in 13-Calcutta for 1700. Heavy Cav installed in 17-Rangoon for 1200. Light Cav installed in 15-Karachi for 200. *** Statistics: | Start of Turn | End of Turn | Net Change ================================================================== Cities: | 2 | 5 | +3 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Finances - Gold: | 13006 | 7419 | -5587 Income: | 112 | 232 | +120 Expenses: | 20 | 20 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Experience | | | Vijay: | 6 | 6 | 0 Sonja: | 0 | 0 | 0 Hero #3: | - | - | - ================================================================== _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 2 Gamefile Sent To: Celeborn the Wise (Red) (sbest00@svpal.org) Date Sent: Wednesday March 11, 1998 at 06:27 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Friday March 13, 1998 at 06:27 AM EST -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Wednesday March 11, 1998 at 06:46 AM EST by Demitrius Berg to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 02, SIDE 2 (Yellow). ______________________________________________________________________ Gold at start: 13006 -1351 Kesczhan recieved a bonus for joining + 175 Dragon pillages City 26 + 175 Ghost pillages City 22 + 175 Ghost pillages City 25 + 175 Elemental pillages City 27 -1000 Archers built in City 02-Neulibertala - 300 Heavy Inf. built in City 22 -1300 Minotaurs built in City 23-Xarite - 160 Light Inf. built in City 25 -1700 Griffins built in City 26 - 200 Light Cav. built in City 27 ----- Gold at end: 7695 Income: 268 (+156) Expenses: 20 (+20) Yashimalis begins and ends turn wiyh 6 experience points. Kesczhan begins and ends turn with no experience points. City 22 renamed 22-Ogulapatra City 25 renamed 25-Electralee City 26 renamed 26-Fhex City 27 renamed 27-Transferera Start with 2 and end turn with 6 cities. ______________________________________________________________________ The story continues: -------------------- As she's done every morning for as long she can remember when she wakes up, she looks up on the brightly colored standard and remembers what it stands for. She must go on... In the recently liberated City 23-Xarite a young man called Kesczhan decided to join the everso beautiful Yashimalis in her quest for glory. The private dragon of his was immediately put to work. The three allies proved to be very useful in the taking of four neutral cities. All cities were pillaged for gold but new production was initiated immediately. Yashimalis has successfully expored the northeastern ruins and is ready to move on to new adventures, still travelling with a giant bat. Yashimalis is very satisfied with this second day and she's pleased with her new companion and the results of his Dragon. -end Meassage to The All: ----------------------------- We find this peaceful development very encourageing! :) _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 2 Gamefile Sent To: King Warren (Blue) (wgillett@goldengate.net) Date Sent: Saturday March 14, 1998 at 12:14 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Tuesday March 17, 1998 at 12:14 AM EST -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Saturday March 14, 1998 at 12:19 AM EST by "Scott C. Best" to all players; End of Turn 2 Report for Celeborn the Wise, Red Player #3 Starting Gold: 11466 Ulmo joins in Valimar-33 for 1232; brings 1 Elemental Ulmo takes 37, pilages Scouts for 175 Elemental takes 56, pilages Scouts for 175 Elemental takes 32, pilages Scouts for 175 Elemental takes 35, pilages Scouts for 175 Build Elephants in Taniquetil-03 Build Griffons in Valmar-33 Build Spiders in 35 Build Spiders in 37 Build Lt.Infantry in 56 End of Turn Hero Experience: Manwe: 6 (nc) Ulmo 2 (+2) Final Gold = 11466 - 1232 + 175 + 175 + 175 + 175 -1500 - 1700 - 700 - 700 - 160 = 6174 End of Turn Cities: 6 Gold 6174 Income 256 Expenses 10 ------ Apologies; no time this turn for prose. Note to Yellow though, to be sure my intentions are clear: City 06 is up for grabs; cities 31 and 55 are mine. See, no problems. :) -K- _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 3 Gamefile Sent To: The Untouchables (White) (rheeter@jet.uk) Date Sent: Tuesday March 17, 1998 at 12:17 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Thursday March 19, 1998 at 12:17 AM EST (In GMTGMT: Thursday March 19, 1998 at 5:17 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Tuesday March 17, 1998 at 12:37 AM EST by Warren Gillett to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 2, SIDE 4. Randi realizes the truth of the King's ways and joins him in his task of building a kingdom. She brings to the cause a powerful Archon creature and immediately sets off to bring glory to her King. King Warren's Ghosts speed northward. They relieve two cites of their UN oppression. Meanwhile, The King's Elementals take two more cities and expel their worthless garrisons. Training of new royal troops begins in all the new cities. The King also orders Pegasi to be trained in his capital. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------- Gold at Start of Turn: 12722 New hero Lady Randi arises in 42 - Cambridge at the cost of 1078 gold. King Warren's Ghosts capture cities 43 and 47, pillage each for 175 gold. King Warren's Elementals take cities 45 and 57, pillage each for 175 gold. City 43 is changed to 43 - York. City 45 is changed to 45 - Lincoln. City 47 is changed to 47 - Canterbury. City 57 is changed to 57 - Oxford. New Build of unit type Pegasi purchased in 04 - London for 2000 gold. New Build of unit type Griffins purchased in 43 - York for 1700 gold. New Build of unit type Spiders purchased in 45, 47, 57 for 700 gold each. Final Cities: 6 Gold: 6544 Income: 256 Expenses: 14. Final Hero Experience: King Warren: 6 from 6, Lady Randi: 0 _______________________________________________________________________________ __________ __________/ \__________ <__________ Turn 3 __________> \__________/ _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 3 Gamefile Sent To: A Friend (Yellow) (dembe739@student.liu.se) Date Sent: Wednesday March 18, 1998 at 12:00 PM EST Date Gamefile Due: Friday March 20, 1998 at 12:00 PM EST (In GMT+0100: Friday March 20, 1998 at 6:00 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Wednesday March 18, 1998 at 12:00 PM EST by The Untouchables to all players; [ Hi guys - I spent the last 2 days upgrading to a new laptop (G3!!!), so I'm still a bit slower than I wanted to be. We're now the second-slowest game in Round B, so I hope we can all try to speed things up? Now that there's no reverting for a while, we should be able to go faster... ] Untouchable Truths Vol. 1, No. 1 "All the news that fits, we print!" ============================================================================== Game B05 - Turn 03 - Side 01 *** The Front Page News: We have seen Vijay and Sonja guided by the Way of the Untouchables, but until now this mysterious Way has itself gone unexamined. Simply put, when enough humanity has been subjugated for too long, a transformation occurs. When the cup of misery runneth over, it becomes a flood tide, a vast outpouring of human energy seeking change. Most of the time this leads merely to uncoordinated riots and general chaos, but there is a mythic, Gaian force that emerges at times of true crisis, and guides the revolutionaries further along in the quest for the greater global good. This, then, is the Way of the Untouchables, named for the way in which it guides even the poorest and most impure caste in traditional Hindu society to achieve great things of which they can barely dream. The same force goes by a different name in other societies, of course: in the United States it was once known as the "Spirit of '76". Sometimes humans have sought to mimic The Way, but if they lack the true Spirit of the Untouchables, the Way ignores them, and eventually they fail. Such is the history of totalitarian communism. The Way takes many forms, and its nature is not well known, but one things is certain: it grows in strength not from the genius of a single individual, but from the collective power of those who decide to follow it. And that power must be shared by the individuals, for the true power is The Way, not any individual genius. So it is that this history is written by an unnamed news team, and not some single solitary scribe-witness. Indeed it is truly like a flood how The Untouchables, guided by the Way, flow across the landscape and spread the power of the Way this turn: * Vijay overcomes generals of the old guard and recruits some fresh military talent from the Northwest Command School. * Sonja rides her mutant giant bat and retrieves Aladdin's flying carpet from a long-forgotten treasure trove. * Elemental, Ghost, Devil, and a light cav race along the roads and fly across the skies, and five new cities join the Way! * All of humanity in the Northwest rises in a surge, and invests in the production that will carry the Way forward in turns to come. --- News continued below in the Diplomatic section --- *** Executive Summary: The Untouchable Heroes have both been active this turn: Vijay visits NW Command and receives Command Item A. Sonja visits Lower NW Flight and receives Flight Item B. The following cities have revolted from the United Neutrals and joined the Untouchables this turn, each contributing 175 gold to the Way: City 11, recruited by the elemental. City 14, recruited by the ghost. City 16, recruited by a light cav. City 44, recruited by the elemental. City 51, recruited by a devil. These cities have now been renamed: City 11 is now 11-Tehran City 14 is now 14-Saigon City 16 is now 16-Nairobi City 44 is now 44-Jerusalem City 51 is now 51-Cairo The following new production has been installed: Wolves in 11-Tehran for 450. Catapults in 12-Delhi for 1000. Spiders in 14-Saigon for 700. Elephants in 15-Karachi for 1500. Archers in 16-Nairobi for 1000. Spiders in 44-Jerusalem for 700. Spiders in 51-Cairo for 700. *** Statistics: | Start of Turn | End of Turn | Net Change ================================================================== Cities: | 5 | 10 | +5 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Finances - Gold: | 7631 | 2456 | -5175 Income: | 232 | 364 | +132 Expenses: | 32 | 32 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Experience | | | Hero #1: | 6 | 9 | +3 Hero #2: | 0 | 3 | +3 Hero #3: | - | - | - =================================================================== *** The Diplomatic Pouch: * To all - We are now starting to begin bumping into one another. Fateful decisions must be made! It is time to seize the initiative and do what we can to show our side among the strongest this round. Although no battles have been fought, the outlines of a war begin to take shape... * To A Friend - As your moves have until now been quite similar to ours, we hope that your eyes have also looked southwards, and seen what ours have seen. While we both have expanded in balanced fashion, perhaps leaning more to the south where there is more room, Celeborn and Warren have taken the east-west path and headed the bulk of their forces towards one another, leaving few units with which they might establish their borders with us. It seems that now we each have the ability to seize control of all three of the edge border cities: 44, 08, and 11 on my side, and 24, 06, and 31 on your side. Celeborn asks you not to take 31, yet there is nothing he can do to prevent it, and he offers you very little in exchange. Meanwhile, in the north, we continue to uphold our prior agreements, and have done as much as possible to avoid threatening your cities during our expansion, including delaying for one turn our liberation of 52, so that you will have time to get established yourself. And we think we have much to offer you if we remain at peace. What do you say to a stronger treaty between our sides? Please let us know if you like the following arrangements: - As already agreed, we will hold City 05 and City 14 in a nonthreatening way, and you will hold City 21 in the same way. Perhaps we should declare the region between 14 and 21 a neutral zone, with no units allowed except for the garrison of 05 (which will not include units with forest or hills movement) and temporary visits by our ghost (to take 05) and your flying hero (to visit the gold ruin). Does this sound good? - As we already agreed, your hero is welcome to the contents of the Northern Gold Ruin. We will not put him in danger if he does not put us in danger. (We will seek our wealth elsewhere...) - Both sides may use the North Temple, and neither side will cross the north-south line through it, nor leave units blocking the Temple itself. - We propose that the center cities (61 and higher) be left up for grabs, except the city facing towards each of us which is naturally part of our own territory. (61 for White, 62 for Yellow.) - Neither of us shall fight the other (unless provoked by a break in these agreements) until the remaining opposition is reduced to 8 cities or fewer, unless a full two turn's warning is given. We're willing to be flexible about the exact details. We would prefer not to engage in a two-front war, and we feel in the current circumstances that The Way of the Untouchables can grow most rapidly to the south. If we agree, then both sides have a reasonably secure border on one side, and no need to tie down valuable units that might be useful elsewhere. * To King Warren - On Turn 1, you wrote: >Warren looked back at Earth's past to the days when kings ruled the land >by divine right. He knew that this was right. The world needs a ruler. >Warren realized that it was his destiny to rule over all the Earth, his >divine appointment. He would be king. It seems that you have fallen into the fallacy of the divine king, long ago destroyed by revolutions of The Way. It seems that soon, unless you have something valuable to offer, history shall repeat itself, and the massed peasantry of The Way will be forced to set itself against your blue-blooded so-called nobility! >Warren declares himself King of the World and sets out to liberate those >in the grips of the U.N. and the other emerging factions. He begins by >running the garrison out of city 04. He renames the city London, as he >models his new kingdom after old England. London now starts training >Giant Bats for the King's army. King Warren, it seems thou art an old-style king, strong but not necessarily noble. We trust that the law of might-makes-right is close to thy heart, and trust that ye do not feel any anger at our actions, for we have simply taken what we could reach with greater force this turn. If you do not wish conflict, though, say so now, for we shall not hesitate to take what we may in the future. * To Celeborn - Although great distances still separate our forces, and the situation remains ambiguous and fluid, know that we keep all possibilities open, and hope someday that we may find a chance in later years for agreements of mutual benefit! Although we have asked A Friend for a treaty, know that it is only because our own interests must come first in this conflict, and we prefer to negotiate our borders rather than to squander armies needlessly in meaningless battles. Know this at least: while there is peace between White and Yellow, Blue will definitely be kept busy in the north! *** A final note: The authors were exhausted today after many hours of other activities, and little sleep, and it may be that we have mis-written or spoken in a tired, possibly crabby fashion. This is not intentional. :) If you find something looks strange or offensive, just ask for a clarification and we'll be happy to supply one when we are sane again. :) _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Thursday March 19, 1998 at 02:15 PM EST by Demitrius Berg to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 03, SIDE 2 (Yellow). ______________________________________________________________________ Gold at start: 7943 + 175 Lt inf pillages City 53 + 175 Ghost pillages City 21 + 175 Lt cav pillages City 54 + 175 Elemental pillages City 24 + 175 Elemental pillages City 06 -1000 Catapults built in City 53 - 300 Heavy Inf built in City 21 -1500 Elephants built in City 54 - 160 Giant Bats built in City 06 - 160 Light Inf. built in City 06 -2000 Pegasi built in City 06 - 700 Spiders built in City 24 ----- Gold at end: 2998 Income: 388 (+120) Expenses: 26 (+6) Yashimalis begins and ends turn with 6 experience points. Kesczhan found flight item D in Lower NE flight. Kesczhan begins with 0 and ends turn with 3 experience points. City 06 renamed 06-Saqceita City 21 renamed 21-Awaco City 24 renamed 24-Salacie City 53 renamed 53-Respor City 54 renamed 54-San Civilia Start with 6 and end turn with 11 cities. ______________________________________________________________________ Diplomacy: Message to The Untouchables: ---------------------------- We admired the way your elemental moved through the terrain and took the neutral City 44. We tried a similar move towards City 31 with our own elemental on our side without succes, it seems as if the terrain was somewhat different on our side. At least City 06 was secured... We agree to your proposal regarding the northern region. We will only produce defensive units in City 21-Awaco and we are especially grateful to the offer that grants Yashimalis acess to the Northern gold ruin. :) The arrangement with the central cities sounds just fine, but I don't think King Warren and Celeborn the Wise will leave us alone with our plans for the area ;) We also agree not to fight each other until the remaining opposition is reduced to 8 cities or fewer, unless a full two turn's warning is given. Message to Celeborn the Wise: ----------------------------- We left the cities 31 and 55 to you as you requested. _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 3 Gamefile Sent To: Celeborn the Wise (Red) (sbest00@svpal.org) Date Sent: Thursday March 19, 1998 at 02:15 PM EST Date Gamefile Due: Sunday March 22, 1998 at 2:15 PM EST -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 3 Gamefile Sent To: King Warren (Blue) (wgillett@goldengate.net) Date Sent: Sunday March 22, 1998 at 10:02 PM EST Date Gamefile Due: Tuesday March 24, 1998 at 10:02 PM EST -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Sunday March 22, 1998 at 10:17 PM EST by "Scott C. Best" to all players; End of Turn 3 Report for Celeborn the Wise, Red Player #3 Starting Gold: 6420 Ulmo searches SE Devil, recruits 1 Devil Manwe searches SE Command, takes Com +2 item Devil takes 34, pilages Scouts for 175 Spiders take 36, pilages Scouts for 175 Elemental takes 55, pilages Scouts for 175 Build Spiders in 55 Build Spiders in 34 Build Pegasi in 36 End of Turn Hero Experience: Manwe: 9 (+3) Ulmo 5 (+3) Final Gold = 6420 + 175 + 175 + 175 - 700 - 700 - 2000 = 3545 End of Turn Cities: 9 Gold 3545 Income 340 Expenses 45 ------ A quick letter to the Untouchables: You spoke in your last missive about mutual goals becoming someday clear. I perceive such a clairty coming sooner rather than later. By the end of the fourth season, I predict that our ambitions will be so parrallel as to be worthy of formal alliance. A lot to ask, but my demonstartions of worthiness are rarely subtle. With invitation, then, may my words find you well. Kelley _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Tuesday March 24, 1998 at 11:38 PM EST by Warren Gillett to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 3, SIDE 4. Gold at Start of Turn: 6786 Lady Randi searches Lower SW Flight, finds Flight Item H. Lady Randi searches SW Command, finds Command Item D. King Warren's Elementals are blessed at South Temple. King Warren's Ghosts capture city 58, pillage 175 gold. King Warren's Wolf Riders take city 41, pillage 175 gold. King Warren's Spiders take city 46, pillage 175 gold. City 41 is changed to 41 - Ipswich. City 46 is changed to 46 - Dover. City 58 is changed to 58 - Coventry. New Build of unit type Griffins purchased in 46 - Dover for 1700 gold. New Build of unit type Spiders purchased in 41, 58 for 700 gold each. Final Cities: 9 Gold: 4211 Income: 340 Expenses: 39. Final Hero Experience: King Warren: 9 from 6, Lady Randi: 3 from 0. _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 4 Gamefile Sent To: The Untouchables (White) (rheeter@jet.uk) Date Sent: Tuesday March 24, 1998 at 11:39 PM EST Date Gamefile Due: Thursday March 26, 1998 at 11:39 PM EST (In GMTGMT: Friday March 27, 1998 at 4:39 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Friday March 27, 1998 at 10:17 AM EST by The Untouchables to all players; [ RL - Sorry for the delay. It should be the last time! I had a visitor this week and also received a job offer for after I get my Ph.D. Yahoo! ] Untouchable Truths Vol. 1, No. 1 "All the news that fits, we print!" ============================================================================== Game B05 - Turn 04 - Side 01 *** The Front Page News: All reporters were busy trying to keep up with their swiftly-moving assignments this turn, and no news articles were received at the press office before the deadline. Our rumor sources report that Sonja recruited a creature of power to the Way, while Vijay has followed Sonja's example and learned how to fly. Diplomatic embassies have been set up in the other lands, allowing us to negotiate swiftly and honorably as needed. *** The Diplomatic Pouch: * To A Friend - >We agree to your proposal regarding the northern region. We will only >produce defensive units in City 21-Awaco and we are especially grateful >to the offer that grants Yashimalis acess to the Northern gold ruin. :) It is only fair. We are glad that you agree to let us hold 05-Shanghai. Your placement of your ghost makes us somewhat nervous, however. Since Yashimalis will be able to fly on her own next turn, it does not seem necessary for your ghost to join her. We would like to be able to send our own ghost to the battles in the south next turn, but we cannot do that while your ghost is in the area. If your ghost leaves the area and goes south this turn, our next spider can protect 05-Shanghai while Yashimalis searches the gold ruin, and then Vijay and the White Ghost will both move south and avoid threatening Yashimalis. >The arrangement with the central cities sounds just fine, but I don't >think King Warren and Celeborn the Wise will leave us alone with our >plans for the area ;) Yes, this will be a contested area. All the more reason to demilitarize our northern border and bring our heroes and ghosts south to where the action will be! >We also agree not to fight each other until the remaining opposition is >reduced to 8 cities or fewer, unless a full two turn's warning is given. So it is written, and so shall it be done! * To Celeborn - >A quick letter to the Untouchables: > >You spoke in your last missive about mutual goals becoming >someday clear. I perceive such a clairty coming sooner rather than later. >By the end of the fourth season, I predict that our ambitions will be >so parrallel as to be worthy of formal alliance. A lot to ask, but >my demonstartions of worthiness are rarely subtle. > With invitation, then, may my words find you well. Your words do not fall upon deaf ears, but we must hear what you suggest before we contribute anything by way of reply. Know that we are honorable and will not break the letter or spirit of any of our agreements, past, present, or future. We trust that your diplomatic skills are equal to your skill at swift expansion! Will you respect our claim to City 63? * To King Warren - We hope that you are finding your experience as King an enjoyable, if challenging one? :) *** Executive Summary: Gold at Start of Turn: 2786 Sonja visits NW Demon and releases a Demon. Vijay visits Upper NW Flight and retrieves Flight Item A. Ghost pillages the neutral city of 05 for 175 gold. Light Cav navy pillages the neutral city of 52 for 175 gold. City 05 renamed 05-Shanghai City 52 renamed 52-Jakarta Spiders installed in 05-Shanghai for 700. Pikemen installed in 52-Jakarta for 500. *** Statistics: | Start of Turn | End of Turn | Net Change ================================================================== Cities: | 10 | 12 | +2 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Finances - Gold: | 2786 | 1936 | -850 Income: | 364 | 412 | +48 Expenses: | 71 | 71 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Experience | | | Vijay: | 9 | 12 | +3 Sonja: | 3 | 6 | +3 Hero #3: | n/a | n/a | n/a =================================================================== _______________________________________________________________________________ __________ __________/ \__________ <__________ Turn 4 __________> \__________/ _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 4 Gamefile Sent To: A Friend (Yellow) (dembe739@student.liu.se) Date Sent: Friday March 27, 1998 at 10:17 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Monday March 30, 1998 at 10:17 AM EST (In GMT+0100: Monday March 30, 1998 at 4:17 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 4 Gamefile Sent To: Celeborn the Wise (Red) (sbest00@svpal.org) Date Sent: Friday March 27, 1998 at 11:27 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Monday March 30, 1998 at 11:27 AM EST -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Friday March 27, 1998 at 11:27 AM EST by Demitrius Berg to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 04, SIDE 2 (Yellow). ______________________________________________________________________ Gold at start: 3360 + 175 Elemental pillages City 31 -1200 Hv Cav built in City 27-Transferera ----- Gold at end: 2335 Income: 388 (no change) Expenses: 92 (+66) Yashimalis found flight item C in Upper NE flight. Yashimalis begins with 6 and ends turn with 9 experience points. Kesczhan released a Demon captured in NE Demon. Kesczhan begins with 3 and ends turn with 6 experience points. Razed City 31. (Pure tactical move, sorry Celeborn the Wise) Start and end turn with 11 cities. ______________________________________________________________________ Diplomacy: Message to The Untouchables: ---------------------------- We are happy to have come to an understanding about the northern region. We have sent our ghoost on a mission towards the southern regions... We were forced to raze City 31 today. There was no way we were able to hold it against the red elemental and spider. I sort of blocked the passage for the elemental, It'll be interesting to see what he does ;) _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 4 Gamefile Sent To: King Warren (Blue) (wgillett@goldengate.net) Date Sent: Monday March 30, 1998 at 01:24 PM EST Date Gamefile Due: Wednesday April 1, 1998 at 1:24 PM EST -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Monday March 30, 1998 at 01:51 PM EST by "Scott C. Best" to all players; End of Turn 4 Report for Celeborn the Wise, Red Player #3 Starting Gold: 3840 Battle at Blue's 41-Ipswich: Red Devil versus Yellow Wolrider, enemy city str 1. No WarBot necessary. Red Devil survives. Devil loots 233 gold, pilages Spiders for 350 Rename 41-Ipswich to 41 Battle at Yellow's Elemental: Red Elemental + Red Spider versus Yello Elemental. No WarBot necessary. Red Elemental survives. (That Elemental wasn't so "untouchable" from the east...) Build Wolfriders in 55 Build Orcish in 41 End of Turn Hero Experience: Manwe: 9 (nc) Ulmo 5 (nc) Final Gold = 3840 + 233 + 350 - 300 - 450 = 3673 End of Turn Cities: 10 Gold 3673 Income 364 Expenses 74 ------ A Friend: I've given a great amount of though to what you asked of me, specifically what I could offer you in way of alliance. Depending on your perspective, I may not have much of an answer. Your Untouchable ally, my nortern enemy, has proven himself to be a forgetful sort, and with his border with you producing slow, defensive units to counter your massive spider production....I can see why you want his alliance! For while he's incapable of activity against you, you're free to pick apart King Warren's northern claims while gaining easy control of 61 and 63, with obvious bids on all the centers with but a single Griffon. No mystery to me why you wish his non-aggression! You are in an eviable position: screaming towards victory between a docile neighbor and a collasping one -- your timetable for dismantling one while quietly building up on the other *and* getting the lion's share of the center cities is laudable. What could I possibly offer that could be better than this? Perhaps, only expediance. As clears as it is to me, perhaps it is to you, that without grave error on my part, the Untouchables will never reduce me to a mere 8 cities. Further, King Warren's eastern realm is certainly turning a shade pink, if not distinctly red. And unless the Untouchables make a hasty path towards the center cities and not towards my fortified 55, your only challenge there or elsewhere could only come from me. But I do no see that this means we must be enemies. For between you and I we could easily and efficiently divide the map; we have both the position and the oppurtunity. The alternative forces me to consider a resistance towards you, to seek a seperate peace with my Quick to Raze neighbor who's so obviosuly being setup like a bowling pin (I know it so well since it happened to me!). So again, I offer you a clearer path. My preference is not a struggle against you. My preference is to be allied with excellence, to share with a peer the spoils of victory. I hope the same is true with you. If not, then I salute you success and prepare for the inevitable. Celeborn of Doriath _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Tuesday March 31, 1998 at 06:40 AM EST by "Robert F. Heeter" to all players; A mid-turn diplomatic message from The Untouchables: *** To A Friend: Sorry about the elemental! Those pesky guys have too much movement for their own good, don't they? However, this may be a blessing in disguise, because you have tied down the Red elemental for an extra turn, and you are now in a position to stake a strong claim to the East Temple. By denying Red the temple as well as City 31, your elemental has done good work. May all thy allies die after such successes! *** To Celeborn: We have read your last message with great interest. And we hope to give you a coherent reply by the time we finish our upcoming move. Your latest move showed great cleverness and skill, and we must give careful consideration to anything you say before making any decisions that might prove foolish - or fatal! Let us ask a question which you might perhaps answer using your own diplomatic message: - If we remain allied with Yellow, it seems clear that Blue shall fall, and Yellow and White shall then fight over Red territory. (With all of our heavy units in the south, and a demilitarized border, it would be far easier for us to fight Red than each other, and Yellow's builds on our border are defensive in nature, so Yellow will have little reason to switch sides either.) Obviously you seek to avoid this outcome, but for Yellow and White it is a good deal. Yellow and White need only face one enemy at a time, and as the war seems to be going our way so far, we are each likely to end up with a good overall outcome. Now, this is not a bad deal for us. But as you write: >I do no see that this means we must be enemies. For between >you and I we could easily and efficiently divide the map; we have both >the position and the oppurtunity. - Whether this is such a good deal or not depends upon how you propose to divide up the map, and of course it may be vastly overoptimistic for either of us to believe we have the position and the opportunity. If we, White, were to nullify our alliance with Yellow, and ally with you, it will take us several turns to reorient our forces and wait for our treaty with Yellow to expire. This will slow down our offensive against Blue, and give Yellow plenty of time to stalemate us in the north with his solid defensive builds. Meanwhile, you will be able to continue your attacks on both Yellow and Blue, and make considerable progress. This is clearly a good deal for you, but what is in it for us? So our question to you is, what are you willing to offer us so that we can be sure, after reorienting ourselves to join you, that we will not end up the junior partner in our new joint venture? What will be sufficiently valuable this round that we are willing to declare an end to a treaty we have just made, and make ourselves seem like indecisive allies in future rounds? It seems to us that without our strength on your side, you are likely to end this game in a poor position. So how much of the map are you willing to leave in our hands at the end of the game, assuming that we are even capable of eliminating the valiant King Warren and the noble Friends in the Northeast? We asked in our last message about City 63, which we will be able to occupy next turn. Will you respect our claim to that city? How about 61 and 62, which we can reach before anyone else? Thinking ahead, which Blue cities are you willing to offer us in exchange for eventual peace on our future border? You see, if we are to consider your proposal at all, we will need to make specific agreements rather than rumors of vague promises. In the meantime, there is no reason why we may not remain neutral towards one another, while negotiating where we may. The more agreements we can come to now, the more likely it is that we might eventually trust one another, and the more trustworthy we will be to others in future rounds. But until we are able to agree on specifics, talk of an overall alliance is very premature. We have no intention of scaring our Yellow allies into becoming enemies, when we both stand to gain much from the alliance. *** To King Warren: Although we are not your allies, it is in our interest to see that Red does not overwhelm you before the diplomatic situation has resolved itself. (We would not want to negotiate at a disadvantage!) Red has put you in a difficult position. It looks like you will need to raze 57-Oxford and go on defense in the east. However, if you bring your blessed elemental back south and park him on the SW Devil ruin, his defensive strength with be 9, and he will be strong enough to kill off at least one of the Red units seeking to poach on your ruin. If Red loses his devil to get another one, that is all to the good; alternatively, if he loses his ghost, his hero will be unable to fly. Meanwhile, your flying hero/archon group can rendezvous in 45-Lincoln with your spiders, and pose a formidable counterstrike threat. Therefore Red will not go in and lose his ghost; either he will trade his devil for your elemental, or he will come up with something subtle - but something which leaves you a chance to recruit that devil yourself, make a counterattack towards 41-Ipswich, or at least buy time to build up your defenses. If you analyze the situation carefully you may find that you can protect 45-Lincoln against the enemy ghost-devil-hero group (your hero/archon and 1 spider would do) while still leaving a substantial defense in 57-Oxford (2 spiders, and if you fortify the city to +2 defense, they will do fairly well against the invading Red armies). However, beware of letting the city fall into Red hands, because then its defenses and production shall swiftly be turned against you. We wish you luck in your eastern defense! (Alas, we will not be giving you suggestions on how to defend your northern border. :) ) -- Scribes of The Untouchable Truths * Robert F. Heeter (Bob) | Email: rheeter@pppl.gov / rheeter@jet.uk * * PPPL/JET Collaboration | Phone: 609-243-2856 (PPPL Office S222) * * Fusion Energy Researcher, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory * * http://FusEdWeb.pppl.gov http://www.princeton.edu/~rfheeter * _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Tuesday March 31, 1998 at 03:59 PM EST by "Scott C. Best" to all players; Bob: Your last email really pissed me off. I've heard a little of the discuss about the distinct advantage that playtesters and organizers have in the tourney, and your recent advice to King Warren is paramount, imo, of me having to face TWO (as we call them in golf) "local experts". The more I think about it, the more it burns me. Consider this my resignation from the tourney; I'll complete Round B but I've no desire to continue in a mere gratification process for you. Does this belong in an "in-game" email? Absolutely as much as your unfair advantage advice to the others does, yes. King Warren and A Friend: Wow, Turn 5 and I'm already predicting disaster for all of us. Let's face it -- Bob knows this setup FAR better than all of us, prolly better than all of us combined. He's already in the center cities, and gawd knows his army production has the benefit of being thought out and test in four of five games. Bottom line: he's going to win this round unless we act now. Let's at least try to make this fun; let's stop fighting each other and try to make a challenge against Bob's huge advantage against us. A Friend, you certainly have the most to lose, since you can drift on Bob's coattails well into the teens before he turns his jets on you. But it will happen, you gotta know that. Yes, it's great to be allied with the best player. It's not so great to be eventually be burned by them! King Warren: I'll withdraw from your Devil's Ruin and let you have the ally which you'll need. I'll focus northward directly against Bob in the center cities. All I need in return is the city between my Hero and the Temple...the one you have with two spiders in it now. I know you have little reason to trust me, but you gotta admit..it is POINTLESS for me to weaken you when that will only assure Bob's victory, a dance I wish no part of. I don't need that city this turn, you can wait until you see my actions before you decide. A Friend, it is really up to you first: forget about preserving the temple from my useage, get your focus towards 62, and quickly. Redo your border buildups from Heavy Infantry, and get some Spiders going. I KNOW how secure you must be feeling, but certainly it is I that have cause against you, while you've little towards me. Let's not become real enemies, which is exactly what Bob wants. As a show of good faith, some advice: your Pegasus city is in jeapardy. The Spider you plan to sail there will still be in a boat come my next turn -- it is takeable then with my Elemental army, since the boat will not get the Spider's +2 advantage. Maybe you didn't realize this. Anyhow, that was my planned attack against you; my cards are on the table. Please consider my words! In either case, don't be fooled. Bob's played this map 4 or 5 times now, his strategy is optomized. We're winging it in a more "true spirit" of competition, to our own disadvantage. Yes, we could go back and read all the histories of Bob's games, to see what he did then, but this doesn't tell us what he *didn't do*, what he considered and dimissed. That's called learning -- do enough of it and you're an expert. In any case...good luck to us all! May all of my aggressions this day forward be against White only. Kelley _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Wednesday April 01, 1998 at 08:53 AM EST by Warren Gillett to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 4, SIDE 4. Gold at Start of Turn: 4026 King Warren's Ghosts are blessed at West Temple. New Builds of unit types Giant Bats and Lt Inf purchased in 45, 47, 55, 58 for 160 gold each. Final Cities: 8 Gold: 2746 Income: 316 Expenses: 84. Final Hero Experience: King Warren: 9 from 9, Lady Randi: 3 from 3. _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 5 Gamefile Sent To: The Untouchables (White) (rheeter@jet.uk) Date Sent: Wednesday April 01, 1998 at 08:53 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Friday April 3, 1998 at 08:53 AM EST (In GMTGMT: Friday April 3, 1998 at 1:53 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Thursday April 02, 1998 at 06:20 AM EST by The Untouchables to all players; *** Warning: This is a really long message! *** [ Real Life Comments start here: Hey Scott, I'm sorry my last message got you so upset. Apparently it got you mad enough that you stepped completely out of your role-playing persona and got personal about stuff, so I must really be doing something wrong. It's understandable that this happens now and then in this sort of intense game, but I think we'd all be happier if we could try to stay in character, relax a little, and enjoy the challenge of a competitive game. There's no telling where this thing will go (we've only finished 4 turns!), after all! >Bob: > Your last email really pissed me off. I've heard a little of >the discuss about the distinct advantage that playtesters and >organizers have in the tourney, and your recent advice to King Warren >is paramount, imo, of me having to face TWO (as we call them in >golf) "local experts". The more I think about it, the more it >burns me. > > Consider this my resignation from the tourney; I'll >complete Round B but I've no desire to continue in a mere >gratification process for you. Does this belong in an "in-game" >email? Absolutely as much as your unfair advantage advice to >the others does, yes. Scott, I can understand why you'd be upset (I'd definitely be frustrated too, if someone gave advice to my enemy and tried to foil my brilliant plan to steal a devil and wreak havoc upon his disorganized forces), but I think you're going a little bit overboard here. I really don't want to see you drop out of the tournament. I've been worried all along about how it will look to everyone to have me in their game. Maybe I should've excluded myself from being able to play, so that the problem simply wouldn't come up. The thing is, in order to make this tournament happen, I invested a huge chunk of my free time for the last two years, probably a couple hours a day on average. And not to be able to play in the tournament after doing all that work was really a depressing thought. I wouldn't have been sufficiently motivated to organize and run this thing if I didn't get a shot at being #1 myself, but if it's really a problem for people to have me playing in the tournament, I'm willing to exclude myself and just play in the Head-to-Head Ladder. I was hoping that with your brother Gary and I serving as co-Rules-Gurus, if one of us got into a sticky situation, the other one could serve as an arbitrator. That solves part of the problem, but it doesn't make it any easier for me as a player, because absolutely everyone in this tournament knows that I put a lot of time into it and have a lot of general expertise with the game. (Obviously I'm not much of a diplomat, though, and you and many others are far better at role-playing.) So every time I go into a game, it seems like someone (if not everyone) is paranoid that I've got all sorts of secret unfair advantages. Meanwhile, I'm paranoid that everyone is going to assume I have a huge advantage and gang up on me. So we're in a situation where we're both paranoid, which is pretty dangerous. Let's sort this out. My first comment is that it's explicitly allowed for players to give one another tactical advice, within the limit of having only 2 diplomatic archive messages each turn. This was in a W2WT message sent November 1 on "Diplomacy and Role-Playing Guidelines". I've sent a copy of this as a noarchive message so you can see what I'm referring to. The part that I'm specifically thinking about here says: >>You can even give explicit advice to another >>player - but be forewarned that anything you say may have >>unintended side effects! I wasn't sure what those unintended side effects would be, but I wasn't keen on seeing King Warren eliminated by you on Turn 8, which seemed to be the way things were headed. Aside from making the game completely unenjoyable for Warren, it would make your kingdom an extremely powerful threat if you were able to pull off that sort of coup! Now, you seem to think that I was able to give this particular advice due to some sort of special knowledge of the scenario. I wish that were true. I'd have been a lot more productive at work Tuesday if I could have pulled that trick out of memory and simply written the message to King Warren. My thesis is behind schedule and I need to get more work done on it! But instead I sat there staring at the screen for a couple hours thinking "that was a fiendishly clever move by Scott, how on earth am I going to deal with him when he steals the devil and uses it against King Warren?" I tried moving every piece I could think of to see if Warren had any chance of impeding your invasion. Finally I remembered that those elementals have long legs - which you yourself figured out already in killing off Demitrius' elemental - and realized that Warren might just have a chance if he put his elemental in the way. Maybe Warren thought of it already himself, but it was important enough to me that I was willing to risk pissing you off completely in order to try to slow you down. But it doesn't take any great experience with the scenario to see that his elemental can walk back down to the ruin. You've also been complaining about my having an unfair advantage in being able to expand and take over the middle of the map. I've actually been very worried because for each of the first few turns, you were all managing to get more cities than I had, by making moves that were improvements on the best I could come up with. Scott, when you pulled out a second elemental and raced him all over the place to balance out your expansion, I thought: "what a clever idea!" I had figured that you'd be taking your elementals straight into the middle, after building bats or something in City 55 and 56 to give the blessed elementals enough strength to take out the spider-building center cities. With that and your impressive hero-ghost-devil combination going after King Warren before he could get his defenses set up, I figured the game was going to be pretty tough. You had the ability to reach the middle at pretty much the same time I could get there. As the White player I know that I have the disadvantage of seeing all of you watch my initial moves and improve on them, but I have the advantage of being able to reach my choice of the middle cities/ruins/temples before anyone else. It was a big shock to *me* to see you take the second elemental and get a potential jump on the middle cities. But I don't have the luxury of being able to claim that you have an unfair advantage, so I had to just figure out a way to deal with it. I decided my best bet was to ally with Demitrius and hope he could tie you down a bit in the east. I'd been exploring that possibility right from Turn 1, so it was a natural thing to do when I started to be worried about you. Hopefully by seeing how it all looks to me, you can realize that whatever has transpired so far has nothing to do with any unfair advantage that I might conceivably have by being a tournament moderator/playtester/organizer. It's just the turn-order imbalance (notice that wherever one player goes before another, that player has managed to occupy the border city 05,06,07,08) plus some attempted diplomacy on my part to keep you from upsetting the balance of power. You only need to look at a few of the Practice Round game histories to realize that it's pretty common for White to get off to a good start in any symmetric scenario, and then it's very likely that White will accumulate enemies who want to keep him from getting *too* powerful. I don't like being in this position because it triggers your paranoia about "unfair advantages" and also sets off my own paranoia about being a "marked man". I groaned pretty loudly when I saw the output of the game-assignment code! I'd rather be playing Red or Blue and be struggling to survive. I think it's easier to get a good ranking by doing respectably well with a disadvantaged side. You also get to optimize your first moves by watching everyone else, and if you survive the game you get to make some final attacks without having to worry about retribution. Now, if you really do think that the moderators and playtesters have an unfair advantage, let's talk about that. I'm pretty sure that we don't, but I'd like to know what you're worried about. Maybe you're right and there's something we should do about it. Maybe I'm right and I'll change your mind a little. But either way, it's better to talk about it. One thing I really want to mention is that *Demitrius* is *also* a moderator and playtester, and you don't seem to be complaining that he has an unfair advantage. And one question I have for you: is it an unfair advantage if a player simply spends a lot of time playing and thinking about the rules? That's basically all that I've done. Except that I also have to spend lots of time arbitrating rules disputes and dealing with the occasional player who is having trouble with email or dropping out or whatever. From some other parts of your message: > Wow, Turn 5 and I'm already predicting disaster for all of >us. Let's face it -- Bob knows this setup FAR better than all of >us, prolly better than all of us combined. He's already in the >center cities, and gawd knows his army production has the benefit >of being thought out and test in four of five games. [...] > In either case, don't be fooled. Bob's played this >map 4 or 5 times now, his strategy is optomized. Well, let's get this one clear. The only other game I've been involved in using this scenario is the X02 playtesting game, which some of us started when we released the beta version of the scenario to everyone. We could have played the game privately (many of the players in the tournament are running private playtesting games on the side now), but we wanted everyone to be able to see what was going on, so the game is on the Remailer and accessible to everyone. We even mentioned it in a number of the Round B emails. It's stuck on Turn 9, Side 1 at the moment, so it's not too far ahead of this game. Actually it's interesting because I'm Red in that game, and I tried a strategy pretty similar to what you're doing now, Scott (only not as well), so I was thinking maybe I'd given *you* an unfair advantage by putting an example online that you could learn from and improve upon! I'm struggling along in that game, trying to move up from 4th place into 3rd or 2nd. But there were some earlier versions of this map, and I did play in two of those games. The first game was an 80-city version which had very different rules, a completely different ruin setup, and a lot of different map features. In that game (Duel) each side had only one hero, and on your first move your hero picked up a speed item, a flight item, a command item, and a pair of ghosts, then took a city. (The heroes were supposed to be actual incarnations of the jealous Gods, you see.) But that wasn't very playable, because everything came down to building the most powerful double-speed hero stack, and 80 cities was too many to be manageable with WarBOT. The second game (DuelZ12) used a slightly modified 50-city map, with a ruin arrangement that was a little bit more like what we have now, but geographically still very different. I wasn't going to play in it at all; the point of the game was to see how easy it would be for players who had never been in a play-by-email game to learn the rules and WarBOT and such. We figured out that novices would have a bit of a problem because everything was so complex, so that was the origin of the PBEM Buddies and all the Rules Tutorials. I wound up playing in the game because one of the novices wasn't able to play. All in all there were only 5 playtesting games using the previous versions of this scenario, and the playtesters who were involved in those games generally played in 2 of the games (they were fun!), and a few of them have since become busy with other things, so there aren't more than 8 players in the tournament (at a guess) who have any experience at all with the previous versions of the scenario. And odds are that they aren't playing the same side now that they did then. Now, during the playtesting games we identified some problems with the map, and came up with some ideas for improving it. In order to keep the playtesters from having any huge advantage, we rearranged the ruin contents, moved some ruins around, and completely redid the geography in the center and in the border regions near the edge cities. We also changed the hero and ally rules, raised the starting gold, added the quests rule, turned razing back on, and made strong spider builds in the center cities. So during the expansion phase, and later on in the areas where most of the fighting will take place, the map is very different from anything anyone played on before. Then we released the scenario to everyone nearly a month before the actual start of Round B, started up X02, made it public, and told everyone it was there to watch, and offered to help set up playtesting games for anyone who was interested. So I'll admit to knowing a lot about the history of this map, but since I'm barely holding my own in X02 (against 2 players who'd never played on the map before, and one who hadn't seen it since the very old version from a year ago), and since each of you have done better in your initial moves than I did (except where I got the advantage of going first), I have trouble seeing any proof that I might have any advantage in this game. ... end of Real Life Comments ... Roleplaying back on... ] Untouchable Truths Vol. 5, No. 1 "All the news that fits, we print!" ============================================================================== Game B05 - Turn 05 - Side 01 *** The Front Page News: The Untouchable press corps has been busy fending off allegations of improper advances, and the lawyers have consumed the budget for this press run; the editors regret that there is no news this turn. All we have is a report by a wolfrider that City 08-Istanbul has joined the Way. Wait - this just in - a correspondent who had been trying to keep up with the Devilishly handsome man recruited a few turns ago by Sonja, has just sent in a report: "I was standing on the bridge just east of the West Temple, trying to find a guide who could take me into the trackless forests to the southeast where the Devil was last seen, when out of nowhere he comes racing back past me! It seems there were hostile forces defiling the West Temple, and the Devil and a spider group were forced to rescue the Temple. He's now returned to the bridge and offered me exclusive rights to the interview..." Evidently the thought of a blessed Blue ghost assassinating the unescorted heroine Sonja was more than the poor Devil could stand, and he chose to secure her safety rather than making a hasty and unsupported foray into the center cities. Meanwhile, the diplomats have been quite active... *** The Diplomatic Pouch: * To A Friend - Celeborn writes: > A Friend, you certainly have the most to lose, since you >can drift on Bob's coattails well into the teens before he turns >his jets on you. But it will happen, you gotta know that. Yes, >it's great to be allied with the best player. It's not so great >to be eventually be burned by them! Friend, it seems highly unlikely that there shall ever be war between us. Celeborn is far too strong, and the map is far too large, for us to expect such a possibility. King Warren has already stopped our advance, and once his +4 hero acquires the flight item he will pose quite a threat to 44-Jerusalem. Nonetheless, if the vague prospect of a war in the distant future worries you, know that we are perfectly willing to adjust the terms of our alliance, for we would rather have a Friendly ally than a nervous one. And if Celeborn's forces start to give you trouble, know that our swords are ready to stand by your side. We both stand to gain the most by staying on our current course, don't you think? If the time ever comes when you begin to feel otherwise, let us know and we will work something out. It is the Way of the Untouchables not to fight unless diplomacy fails. And it is always true that the enemy of my enemy is A Friend. :) One correction to Celeborn's treacherous urgings: > As a show of good faith, some advice: your Pegasus >city is in jeapardy. The Spider you plan to sail there will >still be in a boat come my next turn -- it is takeable then >with my Elemental army, since the boat will not get the >Spider's +2 advantage. Maybe you didn't realize this. Anyhow, >that was my planned attack against you; my cards are on the >table. Please consider my words! A spider in a city will never defend as a navy, even if Warlords shows a navy icon for it. WarBOT won't even let you make a navy in a city! Your pegasus build is thoroughly protected by that spider. (And even if it wasn't, you could return your bat, and leave the bat and spider blocking the bridge, and together they would be enough to stop the elemental.) In case you have any doubt, you can check out the actual battle, and you'll see the spider defending without any of the water splashes that it would have if it were a navy. You certainly don't need to divert your Demon to defending the city. We have also removed our Ghost from City 05, so your heroine is now safe to visit the Northern Gold ruin. We ask that, like your ghost, your bat not proceed to the ruin either. Our undefended rear cities have heard rumors of stealth bats that can travel without being seen, and we do not want the civilians to be afraid! As we have no units capable of threatening your hero, the bat is not needed as an escort in any case, and might prove useful elsewhere. * To Celeborn - Despite all that has been said, anything can happen. We have no hard feelings towards your kingdom; the dance has only just begun. We regret that you took our suggestions to King Warren so badly. The Way of the Untouchables does not discriminate - know that we will be equally ready offer you similar ideas, should you need them later on in this campaign, or in any future campaign. The very heavens are in turmoil, and none can say now how the stars shall align themselves in the days to come! * To King Warren - Celeborn writes: > King Warren: I'll withdraw from your Devil's Ruin and >let you have the ally which you'll need. I'll focus northward >directly against Bob in the center cities. All I need >in return is the city between my Hero and the Temple...the one >you have with two spiders in it now. I know you have little >reason to trust me, but you gotta admit..it is POINTLESS for >me to weaken you when that will only assure Bob's victory, a >dance I wish no part of. I don't need that city this turn, >you can wait until you see my actions before you decide. It is strange indeed to see your enemy suddenly declaring himself your ally, then demanding to be allowed to occupy yet another of your cities, when he himself already has more than you! But perhaps it is no more strange than receiving a message from your northern foe with suggestions for fending off your eastern foe... Still, how can such a sudden change of heart be trusted? *** Battlefield Reports: First battle for the Western Temple: Devil and spider team up to send King Warren's Ghost back to heaven: >WarBOT v1.0a >Armyset: Tournament b1-4 >WL version: Mac CD >Intense Combat: Off >Terrain: Ruin/temple > > Hero Bonuses Non- For- TOTAL Minus Fly > Natural Item Hero tify City Cancel BONUS Enemy Item >-------------------------------------------------------------- >ATT: 0 0 1 0 H *1* 0 No >DEF: 0 0 1 0 2 *3* 0 No > > Entered Final >Attack Units: Strength Strength Survival % >--------------- -------- -------- ---------- >Devil 7 8 0.70274 <-- Lives! >Spider 4 7 0.34755 <-- Dies.. > >Defense Units: >--------------- >Ghost 6 9 0.29726 <-- Dies... > >Attacker wins with 1 unit(s) remaining *** Executive Summary: Gold at Start of Turn: 2277 Blue ghost defeated at West Temple (WarBOT above). Wolfrider captures the neutral city 08, pillaging 175. Dwarves are installed in city 08 for 450. City 08 renamed 08-Istanbul. *** Statistics: | Start of Turn | End of Turn | Net Change ================================================================== Cities: | 12 | 13 | +1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Finances - Gold: | 2277 | 2002 | -275 Income: | 412 | 436 | +24 Expenses: | 116 | 109 | -7 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Experience | | | Vijay: | 12 | 12 | 0 Sonja: | 6 | 6 | 0 Hero #3: | n/a | n/a | n/a =================================================================== _______________________________________________________________________________ __________ __________/ \__________ <__________ Turn 5 __________> \__________/ _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 5 Gamefile Sent To: A Friend (Yellow) (dembe739@student.liu.se) Date Sent: Thursday April 02, 1998 at 06:21 AM EST Date Gamefile Due: Sunday April 5, 1998 at 06:21 AM EST (In GMT+0100: Sunday April 5, 1998 at 12:21 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 5 Gamefile Sent To: Celeborn the Wise (Red) (sbest00@svpal.org) Date Sent: Sunday April 05, 1998 at 01:15 PM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Tuesday April 7, 1998 at 1:15 PM EDT (In GMT-0500: Tuesday April 7, 1998 at 12:15 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Sunday April 05, 1998 at 01:15 PM EDT by Demitrius Berg to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 05, SIDE 2 (Yellow). ______________________________________________________________________ Gold at start: 2631 - 700 Spiders built in City 25-Electralee ----- Gold at end: 1931 Income: 388 (no change) Expenses: 135 (+43) Yashimalis begins and ends turn with 9 experience points. Kesczhan begins and ends turn with 6 experience points. Dragon and a light infantry unit blessed at the temple. Start and end turn with 11 cities. ______________________________________________________________________ Diplomacy: Later... [RL: I timed out (again!)] -Demitrius _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 5 Gamefile Sent To: King Warren (Blue) (wgillett@goldengate.net) Date Sent: Tuesday April 07, 1998 at 02:07 AM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Thursday April 9, 1998 at 02:07 AM EDT (In GMT-0500: Thursday April 9, 1998 at 1:07 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Tuesday April 07, 1998 at 02:19 AM EDT by "Scott C. Best" to all players; End of Turn 5 Report for Celeborn the Wise, Red Player #3 Starting Gold: 3963 End of Turn Hero Experience: Manwe: 9 (nc) Ulmo 6 (+1) Ulmo blessed to Str-6 Ulmo receives Quest to pillage 934 Gold Final Gold = 3963 End of Turn Cities: 10 Gold 3963 Income 364 Expenses 113 ------ Everyone: Just so we're all aware....Bob's winning! Nothing new, but nothing to take for granted either. Demetrius: So far so good! :) One whole turn now without us hurting each other. Let's keep it going. Keep an eye to the west; Bob's border cities are still making Spider's, and he's not vectoring them to obvious positions against King Warren. Yes, he's saving them for you. Good luck...and may city 62 welcome you! King Warren: I've kept my word and withdrawn -- you need everything you can get to hold off Bob's attack. I've no immediate advice to offer except to warn you to not try to hold *all* of your cities against Bob's attack. As painful as it sounds, I'd suggest abadoning 48-Coventry and Raze it to nothing, choosing instead to take a stand at 47-Cantebury. I've only looked a little, but it appears you cannot hold both -- at best you can hold one. At very best, then, you hold one and deny Bob the other with a Raze. Give it some thought; perhaps I miscalculated. But it appears that Bob's 2-Spider-Navy+Griffon stack can reach either city, and I'm not sure you can defend more than one city against that. Again, good luck! Kelley _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 6 Gamefile Sent To: The Untouchables (White) (rheeter@jet.uk) Date Sent: Thursday April 09, 1998 at 01:41 AM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Sunday April 12, 1998 at 01:41 AM EDT (In GMTGMT: Sunday April 12, 1998 at 5:41 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Thursday April 09, 1998 at 01:41 AM EDT by Warren Gillett to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 5, SIDE 4. Gold at Start of Turn: 2978 Lady Randi is joined by a unit of Devils at SW Devil. Final Cities: 8 Gold: 2978 Income: 316 Expenses: 153. Final Hero Experience: King Warren: 9 from 9, Lady Randi: 6 from 3. _______________________________________________________________________________ __________ __________/ \__________ <__________ Turn 6 __________> \__________/ _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 6 Gamefile Sent To: A Friend (Yellow) (dembe739@student.liu.se) Date Sent: Friday April 10, 1998 at 08:20 PM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Monday April 13, 1998 at 8:20 PM EDT (In GMT+0100: Tuesday April 14, 1998 at 1:20 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Friday April 10, 1998 at 08:20 PM EDT by The Untouchables to all players; Untouchable Truths Vol. 6, No. 1 "All the news that fits, we print!" ============================================================================== Game B05 - Turn 06 - Side 01 *** The Front Page News: The Untouchables position themselves for the coming confrontations with the southern forces, but they are forced to retreat from the center area... *** The Diplomatic Pouch: * To A Friend - We have much work to do if we seek to keep Red from dominating the center with his hero, who could easily fulfill his quest by pillaging the spider cities! I wanted to get my devil into 63 to raze it, but I couldn't get the devil back out of range of Red's elemental and ghost. (BTW, Celeborn - nice move with the hero/ghost and elemental/infantry!) I then took a look at the strength of Blue's +4 killer hero-griffn stack and decided the devil was needed in the West. Unfortunately I don't seem to have enough units to take 65 or 66 soon. Your dragon, however, might be able to raze 64 and keep it out of Red hands (especially if he ends the turn aboard your blessed light cav navy), and then on Turn 7 you may be able to take both 65 and 66 and hold them with your dragon-ghost-griffin group. This might leave you in control of the high-income center cities, and leave us both with the same number of cities, which is good. But Celeborn is pushing north fast, and we will need every unit we have to keep him from taking over the center. If he starts vectoring units into the area we're in big trouble. I've adjusted my own vectoring to bring more units to protect the center and the West Temple. It looks like you could also use more units near the East Temple? It seems that Celeborn's hero-griffin group at the demon ruin can get a lift from the spider navy and join his demon and elemental for an attack on the temple, and no doubt they are all hungry for blessings! I guess if you want to hold the temple you'll need to put everything you can on it, including your dragon. It's going to be interesting! P.S. Thanks for your cooperation in the north last turn! We were afraid you would bring your bat with Yashimalis to the Northern Gold ruin, and the two of them together would be strong enough to kill our lone spider in 05-Shanghai, so we were forced to let another unit be built there. It looks like our next step must be to bring our heroes south and try to match the forces of the South, who will soon have 4 heroes against our 2 in the south... * To Celeborn - Excellent move last turn. We look forward to seeing what you come up with next! It may actually turn out to be an inspired strategy to take what you can from Blue right away, and then make peace, turn north, and go after the center and Yellow. Who would have thought that our advice to King Warren might become a blessing to you in disguise? * To King Warren - This is going to get very interesting! You may have few cities, but your production is strong. We had hoped you might leave something for us to nibble on this turn, but your defenses have grown very formidable, and I can feel my momentum slipping away. I almost didn't realize that your elemental could reach 44-Jerusalem... I wonder what else I didn't realize? But beware of the orcish mobs in 41-Ipswich; Celeborn obviously doesn't plan for his armies to stay put there... *** Battlefield Reports: Light cav and blessed heavy cav attack the enemy/neutral spider in 61: WarBOT v1.0a Armyset: Tournament b1-4 WL version: Mac CD Intense Combat: Off Terrain: Enemy city 0,1,2 prod Hero Bonuses Non- For- TOTAL Minus Fly Natural Item Hero tify City Cancel BONUS Enemy Item -------------------------------------------------------------- ATT: 0 0 0 0 *0* 0 No DEF: 0 0 0 0 1 *1* 0 No Entered Final Attack Units: Strength Strength Survival % --------------- -------- -------- ---------- Cavalry, Hv 7 7 0.59765 <-- Lives! Cavalry, Lt 2 2 0.07777 <-- Dies.. Defense Units: --------------- Spider 4 7 0.40235 <-- Dies... Attacker wins with 1 unit(s) remaining As required in the rules, the city is pillaged for 350. *** Executive Summary: Gold at Start of Turn: 2329 Sonja visits the West Temple and receives both a blessing and a quest to sack and pillage 937 gold. City 61 is captured, pillaged for 350, and renamed 61-Manila. Light Inf and Giant Bats installed in 44-Jerusalem for 320 gold. Orcish Mob installed in 61-Manila for 300. *** Statistics: | Start of Turn | End of Turn | Net Change ================================================================== Cities: | 13 | 14 | +1 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Finances - Gold: | 2329 | 2059 | -270 Income: | 436 | 500 | +64 Expenses: | 179 | 175 | -4 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Experience | | | Vijay: | 12 | 12 | 0 Sonja: | 6 | 7 | +1 Hero #3: | n/a | n/a | 0 =================================================================== _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 6 Gamefile Sent To: Celeborn the Wise (Red) (sbest00@svpal.org) Date Sent: Monday April 13, 1998 at 01:00 PM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Wednesday April 15, 1998 at 1:00 PM EDT (In GMT-0500: Wednesday April 15, 1998 at 12:00 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Monday April 13, 1998 at 01:11 PM EDT by Demitrius Berg to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 06, SIDE 2 (Yellow). ______________________________________________________________________ Gold at start: 2184 + 700 Cities 62 and 64 pillaged for 350 gp each. - 700 Spiders built in City 62-Darligran. +1224 Yashimalis found some gold in the north! ----- Gold at end: 3408 Income: 452 (+64) Expenses: 185 (+50) Yashimalis begins with 9 and ends turn with 12 experience points. Kesczhan begins with 6 and ends turn with 7 experience points. Blessings: Catapult at Northern Temple, Elephant, Giant Bat, Light inf. and Kesczhan at Eastern Temple. Kesczhan recieved a quest to sack and pillage 901 gold... City 64 razed. City 62 renamed 62-Darligran. Start with 11 and end turn with 12 cities. ______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 6 Gamefile Sent To: King Warren (Blue) (wgillett@goldengate.net) Date Sent: Tuesday April 14, 1998 at 10:40 PM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Thursday April 16, 1998 at 10:40 PM EDT (In GMT-0500: Thursday April 16, 1998 at 9:40 PM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Tuesday April 14, 1998 at 10:48 PM EDT by "Scott C. Best" to all players; End of Turn 6 Report for Celeborn the Wise, Red Player #3 Starting Gold: 4214 End of Turn Hero Experience: Manwe: 12 (nc) Ulmo 8 (+2) Ulmo & blessed Ghost take City 63, pilage spiders for 350: ========================================================== WarBOT v1.0a Armyset: Tournament b1-4 WL version: Mac CD Intense Combat: Off Terrain: Enemy city 0,1,2 prod Hero Bonuses Non- For- TOTAL Minus Fly Natural Item Hero tify City Cancel BONUS Enemy Item -------------------------------------------------------------- ATT: 1 0 1 0 *2* 0 No DEF: 0 0 0 0 1 *1* 0 No Entered Final Attack Units: Strength Strength Survival % --------------- -------- -------- ---------- *Hero 6 8 0.87195 <-- Lives! Ghost 6 8 0.57949 <-- Lives! Defense Units: --------------- Spider 4 7 0.12805 <-- Dies... Attacker wins with 2 unit(s) remaining ========================================================== Orcish Mob takes city 07; pilages Scouts for 175 Build Giant Bats in 36 for 160 gold Build Unicorns in 63 for 1100 gold Build Griffins in 07 for 1700 gold Final Gold = 4214 + 350 + 175 - 160 - 1100 - 1700 = 1779 End of Turn Cities: 12 Gold 1779 Income 452 Expenses 200 ------ King Warren: A tough turn coming up for you: either you or white is going to get the Demon. If you get it, it will die with you when White attacks (he can get 8 units to the ruins his turn... including his own Demon, a Devil, an elemental, a griffin and spider). Ouch. I don't reccomend you try for it, though life will become difficult for you against two of them (ie, your pegasus is mostly useful now as a fleet killer). If you *do* try for it, aiming to inflict losses on White (ie, he losses an Elemental in the attack, the demon is lost to both of you), *please* consider leaving your command items in city-47 Cantebury. The items are useless as he has a devil attacking you, and he can't take city 47 this turn to take the items from you. Next turn you can get your 3rd hero in city 47, and pick the itmes right up again. In any case, good luck! A Yellow Friend: *Another* city that you raze instead of allowing to me. You really really really want to be at war against me, don't you? Well, just keep those matches handy. Kelley _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Friday April 17, 1998 at 12:20 AM EDT by Warren Gillett to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 6, SIDE 4. Gold at Start of Turn: 3141 The King prepares his forces. Final Cities: 8 Gold: 3141 Income: 316 Expenses: 202. Final Hero Experience: King Warren: 9 from 9, Lady Randi: 6 from 6. _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 7 Gamefile Sent To: The Untouchables (White) (rheeter@jet.uk) Date Sent: Friday April 17, 1998 at 12:20 AM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Monday April 20, 1998 at 12:20 AM EDT (In GMTGMT: Monday April 20, 1998 at 4:20 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Saturday April 18, 1998 at 10:56 PM EDT by "Scott C. Best" to all players; King Warren: I know diplomatic messages are of little interest to you. I still hope you give this one it's due: after White's turn, please describe the intentions of your eastern Hero, the one with your Archon and Devil. It seems to me those anti-Hero units should be on the front where you're being attacked by a Hero. Or, alternatively, on one which you plan on attacking one. So please write, after White's turn, but before mine. Thanks. Kelley _______________________________________________________________________________ __________ __________/ \__________ <__________ Turn 7 __________> \__________/ _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 7 Gamefile Sent To: A Friend (Yellow) (dembe739@student.liu.se) Date Sent: Monday April 20, 1998 at 10:17 PM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Wednesday April 22, 1998 at 10:17 PM EDT (In GMT+0100: Thursday April 23, 1998 at 3:17 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Monday April 20, 1998 at 10:17 PM EDT by The Untouchables to all players; Untouchable Truths Vol. 7, No. 1 "All the news that fits, we print!" ============================================================================== Game B05 - Turn 07 - Side 01 *** The Front Page News: A new song has taken hold of the popular imagination in the Northwest! Sung to the tune of "Rawhide!" - Revert, revert, revertin' Man, my wrists are hurtin'! Gotta keep revertin', Or Die! No more hesitating - New heroes are awaiting, Waiting for their time to Arrive. [ ... ] The song eventually becomes popular in 61-Manila, and inspires a young leader in the student movement there to take up arms for the Way of The Untouchables. Krishan leads the White forces out of Manila to stop Celeborn's Crimson Tide from washing any further north. Meanwhile, it seems that King Warren has foiled our plans yet again, and although Sonja is able to recruit an extra Demon, the King's forces remain safe behind their city walls for another turn. It took a really long time to think this move through, considering how little we actually did. It's agony trying to think through all the possible places where one might get a hero, and then trying to protect against all the possible places where everyone else might get a hero! Here's hoping The Untouchables didn't set themselves up for any major disasters... *** The Diplomatic Pouch: * To A Friend - Looks like your pegasus castle is in serious trouble, and possibly City 24 and City 54 as well. Celeborn's +4 hero is marching unopposed, and his demon can cancel your pegasus and minotaur, so you are at a serious disadvantage over there, and unless you want to make gifts of your cities, I'm afraid you'll need to retreat from 06 and raze it, reinforce 24 (vulnerable this turn) and 54 (vulnerable next turn), and hope that you can hold out until Yashimalis can release your Devil and it can get into position! :( Looks like you'll need your third hero in 24? I did manage to hatch a plan that might help. There is an easy way we can quickly get you an archon to stop Red's eastern hero, if we cooperate to complete your quest. If your questing hero can pillage 66 (with some help), and then park in 65 (with whatever units are needed to keep him safe - maybe you can hold both 65 and 66, at least for this turn, but I think you might need your dragon further east...), and if you can leave 62 empty without risking any invasions by Red, then my ghost can "borrow" 62 and vacate it again right before your next move, so that on your Turn 8 your questing hero can retake 62, complete his quest, and release an Archon that can fly east to help stop Red's killer hero, hopefully before he gets too deep into your territory! I'm in need of cash, and after pillaging 65 and 66 your hero will only need to pillage 201 more to finish his quest, so if you install a wolf or dwarf in 62 this turn and leave it empty, my ghost can pillage the spider (giving me 350 that I desperately need if I ever want to upgrade my builds) and your hero can then pillage the wolf, finish his quest, pick up enough experience to go up a level, and unleash an archon. You can then use another 700 gold to rebuild the spider (if you wish). In essence you'll be spending about 1000 gold for an extra level and an archon, but that should be worth it, and you're not hurting for spare change at the moment... Meanwhile, I've used my third hero and arriving units to start setting up a defense against Red's forces funneling into 63. Things there are very dicey, but at least I'm still holding onto the equator. Still, we are in serious trouble now, and it will be difficult to stop Red's advance! We will need to be more clever and thoughtful with our upcoming moves... P.S. Dumb question: Why did you switch your build from heavy to light cav in 27? * To Celeborn - I wish you hadn't changed your move to send the elemental after me! :) Nice setup for going to the Worm ruin too, BTW. I hadn't thought of that! * To King Warren - Interesting that Celeborn takes *another* city that was rightly yours (63) without so much as asking for it, and then fortifies it to the hilt - yet when you simply move your hero towards the South Temple, he gets all suspicious and asks you to explain yourself! Anyway, this turn should be another fun defensive challenge for you. :) *** Battlefield Reports: No significant engagements were fought. *** Executive Summary: Gold at Start of Turn: 2384 New Hero Krishan arrives in 61-Manila for 1152 gold. Vijay visits NW Devil and finds another devilish dude. Sonja visits SW Demon and persuades a demon to join the struggle. New Builds in 61-Manila: Giant Bats (160) and Wolves (450) *** Statistics: | Start of Turn | End of Turn | Net Change ================================================================== Cities: | 14 | 14 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Finances - Gold: | 2384 | 622 | -1762 Income: | 500 | 500 | 0 Expenses: | 252 | 252 | 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Experience | | | Vijay: | 12 | 15 | +3 Sonja: | 7 | 10 | +3 Krishan: | n/a | 0 | 0 ================================================================== _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Tuesday April 21, 1998 at 10:48 PM EDT by Warren Gillett to all players; >King Warren: > I know diplomatic messages are of little interest to you. >I still hope you give this one it's due: after White's turn, >please describe the intentions of your eastern Hero, the one >with your Archon and Devil. > It seems to me those anti-Hero units should be on the front >where you're being attacked by a Hero. Or, alternatively, on one >which you plan on attacking one. > So please write, after White's turn, but before mine. >Thanks. > >Kelley You have no need to worry. The King's forces are not yet moving against you. _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Saturday April 25, 1998 at 07:23 AM EDT by Demitrius Berg to all players; REPORT FOR TOURNAMENT ROUND B, GAME 05, TURN 07, SIDE 2 (Yellow). ______________________________________________________________________ Gold at start: 3675 -1029 Liberator joins up in 27-Transferera. + 700 Cities 65 and 66 pillaged for 350 gp each. - 450 Dwarfs built in City 62-Darligran. - 700 Spiders built in City 66. +1224 Yashimalis found some gold in the north! ----- Gold at end: 2196 Income: 626 (+174) Expenses: 249 (+64) Yashimalis begins and ends turn with 12 experience points. Kesczhan begins with 7 and ends turn with 11 experience points. Liberator has yet to earn any experience points. Blessings: Lt. inf. at Northern Temple and Hv. Cav. at Eastern Temple. City 06-Saqceita razed. City 65 renamed 65-Grabbit City 66 renamed 66-Capitalistan Start with 12 and end turn with 13 cities. ______________________________________________________________________ Diplomatic message to the Untouchables: --------------------------------------- I tried really hard to get a hero in City 24, but that never happened. Go ahead with your plans for City 62-Darligran! I can't say why the production was changed in City 27-Transferera, I never intended to change it. This coming turn will be very interesting! _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 7 Gamefile Sent To: Celeborn the Wise (Red) (sbest00@svpal.org) Date Sent: Saturday April 25, 1998 at 07:28 AM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Tuesday April 28, 1998 at 007:28 AM EDT (In GMT-0500: Tuesday April 28, 1998 at 6:28 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tournament Game: "B05" Turn Number: 7 Gamefile Sent To: King Warren (Blue) (wgillett@goldengate.net) Date Sent: Thursday April 30, 1998 at 12:47 PM EDT Date Gamefile Due: Sunday May 3, 1998 at 12:47 PM EDT (In GMT-0500: Sunday May 3, 1998 at 11:47 AM) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- _______________________________________________________________________________ The following message was sent on Thursday April 30, 1998 at 02:13 PM EDT by "Scott C. Best" to all players; End of Turn 7 Report for Celeborn the Wise, Red Player #3 Starting Gold: 2031 Mrs.Melkor emerges in 36 for 1043 gold Mrs.Melkor searches SE Worm, releases 1 Giant Worm End of Turn Hero Experience: Manwe: 12 (nc) Ulmo: 8 (nc) Mrs.Melkor: 3 (+3) Build Giant Bats in 63 for 160 gold Final Gold = 2031 - 1043 - 160 = 828 End of Turn Cities: 12 Gold 828 Income 452 Expenses 244 ------ Bob: I applaud you. I've been told you will do whatever it takes to win, and I shouldn't have put it past you to compromise the spirit of the tournament to do it. But you clearly have, it's completely within the scope of the rules, *and* it's working. Man is that frustrating! What, you say, compromise the tourney? Yes, clearly. As you recall...the "two message limit" was designed, amoung other things, to prevent the email-a-day puppetmaster situation. Yet, and worthy of praise, you've achieved it in spite of that. You've now got a situation of a single southern front, and a passive eastern puppet state who on his best day couldn't take and hold an enemy city. Without your help, of course. And *that's* where the spirit of the tourney is compromised. Demetrius, clearly a mediocre player (apologies for the hurt feelings there, if any), is going to walk away from this round with a better ranking than me or King Warren. And why? Because he was lucky enough to be postioned immediately after you in the turn order and be not good enough to be threatening AND willing to be your puppet for the balance of the game. It's perfect and man is it frustrating! And, for appearence, feel free to argue that "puppeting" point. I'm sure we've both been there before, so I know you, if need be secretly, agree with me. It's a LOT of work, I won't begrudge you that, and it may even be worth it. Is puppeting really against the spirit of the tourney? Of course it is -- we're scored on an individual basis. Demetrius' success is essentially your success; his tactical and strategic expertise is not being fairly measured. Really, he's been your puppet state for the balance of the game; his success is, so far and without exageration, SOLEY based on your puppeting. His score will be based on this success which is ENTIRELY your ability, not his. Again, don't get me wrong, a GREAT situation for you. I'm envious, though being someone atune to the spirit of competition, I'm not sure I'd be as machiavellian as you to win this round. Easy for me to be noble, of course, being unburded with success. :) For the sake of history, let's recap your puppeting for the game: 1-3: These turns, Demetrius essentially mirrors your moves exactly. Even complains that the map isn't even so he can't be you completely vis a vis City 31. Then there's your "advice" since then, to quote: > 4:you are now in a position to stake a strong claim to the East Temple. He did that. > 5: We have also removed our Ghost from City 05, so your heroine is > now safe to visit the Northern Gold ruin. He did that the turn following. > 6: Your dragon, however, might be able to raze 64 and keep it > out of Red hands He did that. > 6: and then on Turn 7 you may be able to take both > 65 and 66 and hold them with your dragon-ghost-griffin group. He did that (swap dragon and hero) > 6: It looks like you could also use more units near the East Temple? He did that. > 6: I guess if you want to hold the temple you'll need to put everything you can on it, including your dragon. He did that. >6: He tried! Put it nearby and huffed it. > 7: I'm afraid you'll need to retreat from 06 and raze it, reinforce 24 (vulnerable this turn) and 54 (vulnerable next turn) He did that. > 7: If your questing hero can pillage 66 (with some help), and then park in 65 He did that. > 7: so if you install a wolf or dwarf in 62 this turn and leave it empty, my ghost can pillage the spider He, gasp, did that. Now, of course you say, this is just "advice" to an ally. Let's witness now the full dynamics of your alliance, your mutual cooperation towards victory together. To quote Demetrius: > 4: We are happy to have come to an understanding about the northern region. We have sent our ghoost on a mission towards the southern regions... Woah; that was he being wordy! Good thing I was sitting. Of course, his ghost went on to the greater glory or your instructions. > 5: Diplomacy: Later... [RL: I timed out (again!)] > 6: none > 7: Go ahead with your plans for City 62-Darligran! And, uh, that's it. Quite an alliance! Look, I KNOW you're saying "I just advised good moves. And good player would do the same thing." I agree. Demetrius, though, ISN'T a good player. He's your puppet, and I can prove it. Here's how: try *just keeping it to yourself* for a turn or two, see what happens. See if Demetrius is worth the ranking your giving him. Let the spirit of the tournament back into B05; that is, try letting him suceed or fail based on his OWN ability. You've given him a quiet border, you've saved him a city or two, you're going to be giving him his quest, ya think that's enough already? I've been thinking about this a lot. Bottom line is, your actions are unimpeachable according to the written rules. And really, I sa