Decline 2, We Require More Rains of Stones

[Dayyālu]

We cannot allow a mineshaft gap in evocation.​

After last year concluded with an epic duel in the arena, crowning KoolNoodles and Dayyalu joint winners it's time for the next game!

This time, by popular demand* it's going to be EA and a wrap-around map. Also there are whispers about random drafting & disciples. Gentlemen, sign up and your opinions please.

Dayyālu Malakal Grimwulf Muty sqeecoo Lizzurd @ Joined on the 4th of July and of course anyone else.

* biggest capslocker wins

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Picking is done, here are your opponents:

Dayyalu - Atlantis
coldcrow - Ermor
hoverdog - Kailasa
thesheep - T'ien Chi
Berekaen - Hinnom
Malakal - Tir na n'Og
Grimwulf - Xibalba
KoolNoodles - Mictlan
Johannes  - Machaka
Joined on the 4th of July - Lanka
JohnTheRevelator - Maverni
JackOfTrips - Arcoscephale
Mraston - Fomoria
CaptainCoxwaggle - Ulm
Muty - Berytos
ChrimsonAngel - Pangaea
raw - Helheim

Also, by request here are the picks:

Spoiler

Nations for player >> Grimwulf << are:
1 Xibalba
2 T'ien Ch'i
3 Agartha

Nations for player >> Berekan << are:
1 Hinnom
2 R'lyeh
3 Caelum

Nations for player >> Joined on the 4th of July << are:
1 Mictlan
2 Lanka
3 Pelagia

Nations for player >> JohnTheRevelator << are:
1 Marverni
2 Pelagia
3 Yomi

Nations for player >> thesheeep << are:
1 Mictlan
2 Yomi
3 T'ien Ch'i

Nations for player >> CaptainCoxwaggle << are:
1 Ulm
2 Berytos
3 Ur

Nations for player >> KoolNoodles << are:
1 Mictlan
2 Caelum
3 Helheim

Nations for player >> Mraston << are:
1 Ulm
2 Fomoria
3 Pangaea

Nations for player >> Johannes << are:
1 Atlantis
2 Pelagia
3 Machaka

Nations for player >> JackOfTrips << are:
1 Vanheim
2 Arcoscephale
3 Atlantis

Nations for player >> hoverdog << are:
1 Yomi
2 Kailasa
3 Oceania

Nations for player >> coldcrow << are:
1 Pelagia
2 Ur
3 Ermor

Nations for player >> Malakal << are:
1 Tir na n'Og
2 R'lyeh
3 Niefelheim

Nations for player >> Dayyalu << are:
1 Ermor
2 Atlantis
3 Yomi

Nations for player >> CrimsonAngle << are:
1 Ulm
2 Pangaea
3 Tir na n'Og

Nations for player >> muty << are:
1 Pangaea
2 T'ien Ch'i
3 Berytos

The Map will be our very own Codex-Map done by Grimwulf. Link

Thanks to our own raw for the intro, and let's keep the show going. At turn 79, the survivors are:

+ Atlantis, under the wise leadership of Dayyālu, ruling the seas and a bit of everything else
+ Xibalba, under Grimwulf, a lovely Late Game Blood Nation
+ Marverni, under Lizzurd, random madman out of the bowels of the Cyrillic Internets
+ Ermor, enduring under Sqeecoo
+ TNN, with Malakal
+ Lanka, ruled by Joined on the 4th of July

Good luck to everyone, and let's finish this.

 

[Muty]

 

[Grimwulf]

For the record: it's currently turn 79, and we've been playing since January. All was fine, until some demented moderator merged our glorious thread with 6 other, less glorious threads, that resulted in complete clusterfuck. But thankfully, Raptor Jesus DarkUnderlord bestowed this sub-forum upon us, so the least we can do is try to save what's left.

Here we go. Op-post lacks the llamserver link, here: http://www.llamaserver.net/gameinfo.cgi?game=Decline2

The current map, that is most likely fucked up in several places:

Colours:
Xibalba - badass black;
Atlantis - depressing blue;
Tir na n'Og - boring green;
Marverni - vomit green;
Ermor - fabulous purple;
Lanka - where is Lanka? Can't find it. Oh, there it is! Fading red.

All underwater provinces belong to Atlantis, so didn't mark them in any way. Marverni might have conquered a few during previous turn.

Next come the Pretenders, including ded ones.

And the Thrones. Have to say that balance of power is pretty equal. All thanks to batman who stopped Machakan Throne rush.

Finally, short history of the world, done by Atlantis. All credits go to him, although it's not very accurate.

Spoiler

A Short History of the World, By Kosuth The Basalt King

Atlantis and Xibalba spawn near one another, Xibalba nukes the first party of Atlantis on turn 2, getting him pissed off a lot
Xibalba attacks TC, Atlantis tries to defend TC, fails horribly and decides to start a contaiment policy that also fails horribly
Helheim dies due to Marverni and Machaka. His cap holds for a ton of time for reasons
Fomoria and Xibalba get ino a war, Fomoria dies
Ulm declares war Ermor and Mictlan, wins several battles and is a general nuisance
Hinnom gets eaten by Xibalba, Atlantis steals the cap and a Throne before the bat armies can reach it
Mictlan decides to nuke Atlantis and start planning, Atlantis understands that and thanks to Ermor's change of player organizes a nice gangbang
Mictlan dies, Ulm dies due to bats
Xibalba declares war against TNN, Xibalba loses war against TNN
Lanka wins war against Pangaea
Marverni and Lanka do nothing for 30+ turns
Machaka goes for Throne rush, get jumped by Xibalba, Atlantis and TNN
Arco and Berytos do stupid things, gets nuked and Berytos goes AI all of a sudden
Arco dies, Machaka gets eaten by bats
Lanka starts summoning tons of Blood stuff, pissing off Atlantis
Lanka casts Eternal storm, pissing off Xibalba
Lanka gets gangbanged and casts Astral corruption

 

[JohnTheRevelator]

Yeah that history write up isn't accurate at all. It completely omits Kailasa attacking me and it was their cap that held out for very long due to political reasons mostly. Sure Helheim cap lasted longer than it should have because of small, miniscule mistake of mine that's not even worth mentioning, still I got my mages there asap to kill that tree. That whole did nothing for 30 turns is huge stretch as well. 30 turns ago Helheim wasn't dead yet. Chronology in general seems not quite right. I'm pretty sure Fomoria got busted before Helheim for instance. Same for Pangea and Mictlan. Pangea was down to just their cap before Mictlan was even attacked.

 

[Grimwulf]

Chronology in general seems not quite right. I'm pretty sure Fomoria got busted before Helheim for instance.

Yeah, actually there were two Xibalba-Fomoria wars. First one ended in status quo, then more than a year later Xibalba attacked again. Fomoria invaded Machaka between these two wars as well.

And this

Xibalba declares war against TNN, Xibalba loses war against TNN

Is bullshit as well. We fought for long, both suffered caslualties, but ended up with what we initially had. Xibalba didn't lose a single province to TNN. In fact, we managed to conquer ourselves a mini-fort.
ATLANTEAN HISTORIANS

 

[Dayyālu]

ATLANTEAN HISTORIANS

HEY. I am offended.

No one pays me for a Ph.D. in Dominions History. Gimme me money and I can give you a 150+ page analysis of the game, with pretty pictures, well-researched notes and random sociological musings to please the psychotic feminists in Academia.

For an hack job done in 2 mins, that is excellent.

 

[Kane]

Gimme me money and I can give you a 150+ page analysis of the game, with pretty pictures, well-researched notes and random sociological musings to please the psychotic feminists in Academia.

How much?

 

[Dayyālu]

How much?

Stock payment for such crap? 13k par year for three years is the higher price, for a full 400+ of excruciatingly boring stuff with pictures no one will ever read. 5k each year for three years for the lesser Horror version, with 200+ pages of analysis and commentary.

Even cheaper? I can go to a 50+ pages paper for 200 bucks and a month, 50 for a 25+ pages one.

Can do the 15 pages version for free in exchange of RK47's sister's pictures , though.

 

[Kane]

We cost too much.

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

Hooray, our own thread in the mmorpg ghetto.

Map and histories look relatively accurate (bats and frogs can't help themselves from pushing their agenda always and everywhere so they are excused).

I came here to look for some earlier public diplo messages, but now I have to mine that megathread junkheap.

 

[Kane]

One advantage of our own subforum is that I can just put the entire forum on alert instead of just individual threads.

 

[Grimwulf]

Lanka, I am dissapoint. You could at least try to defend your cap somehow. Oh, well.

Is this for me?

 

[Joined on the 4th of July]

Is this for me?

You might have to ask from Dayyālu. He's eyeing it hungrily as well.

Adn hey... you got to set up an lsd party again at Lanka at least! And not only once.

 

[Lizzurd]

So there comes the war report.

Our peaceful peasants are barely stand against the almighty armies of Atlantis. Exactly here is a summary:

Spoiler

For some weird reason the text went wrapped but it is not important (not at all). As you can see Atlantis defended invaded this turn 7 of my provinces. Many citizens were slaughtered and raped! Angry people are already forming a partizan movement to fend off the occupants!
I also want to note that i conquered only 1 province, not seven as someone may tell you.

This is a secret picture of my army. As you can Marverni army is really strong, numerous and well equipped. We are sure that Atlantis will stop his defense invasion when he will see this photo.

Spoiler

And in the end there is also a picture of glorious Royal Atlantis Army. Isn't it strong?

Spoiler

Our nation hopes that this invasion will soon end and that Atlantis will pay for useless deaths. Preferably in gems.

 

[Grimwulf]

You might have to ask from Dayyālu. He's eyeing it hungrily as well.

Back off, frog lord! Crazy ape is mine!

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

Looks legit. So, 1,5 frogmen conquered 6 of your provinces? That's a war crime.

 

[KoolNoodles]

Poor Mictlan, slandered even in death. Didn't start a single fucking war.

(Kailasa, maybe? They went A.I. though)

Perhaps there will be a retelling, something along the lines of this?

I, Bernal Diaz del Castillo, regidor of the town of Santiago, in Guatimala, author of this very true and faithful history, have now finished it, in order that it may be published to the world. It treats of the discovery and total conquest of New Spain; and how the great city of Mexico and several other towns were taken, up to the time when peace was concluded with the whole country; also of the founding of many Spanish cities and towns, by which we, as we were in duty bound, extended the dominion of our sovereign.

In this history will be found many curious facts worthy of notice. It likewise points out the errors and blunders contained in a work written by Francisco de Gomara Dayyālu , who not only commits many errors himself in what he writes about New Spain, but he has also been the means of leading those two famous historians astray who followed his account, namely, Dr. Illescas Grimwulf and the bishop Paulo Jovio raw . What I have written in this book I declare and affirm to be strictly true. I myself was present at every battle and hostile encounter. Indeed, these are not old tales or romances of the seventh century; for, if I may so say, it happened but yesterday what is contained in my history.

I enjoy playing Mictlan though, would play again. Different bless though, with the nerf to Jags.

 

[Johannes]

That's some bullshit history, I never went for any throne rush, and made peace with TNN (which I attacked for economic reasons and was succesful against) as soon as the batmen convinced Atlantis to gang up on me and help them win.

Also no note of the 4v1 war I survived earlier, focus is on lies over actual facts.

 

[Grimwulf]

Also no note of the 4v1 war I survived earlier, focus is on lies over actual facts.

By the way, I mentioned that thing in previous thread. raw, can you gimme a permission to post your glorious CALLING FOR GANGBANG in private group convo? Since both Helheim and Machaka are dead already, it would be nice for the sake of history. I find it hilarious, especially considering the fact of how effective was Machaka at fighting 4 nations at once.

s soon as the batmen convinced Atlantis to gang up on me and help them win.

Now that's a lie. Atlantis joined the war after Xibalba took the upper hand, and Machakan defeat was guaranteed. I didn't CONVINCE them, just told both Atlantis and Marverni that Xibalba doesn't want Machakan Thrones, so they can take them over for all I care.

 

[Johannes]

Meh, I kinda fucked the 4v1 up with that one stale costing me a fort (which I took back a year later) and almost 20 mages.

 

[Grimwulf]

You made it out of 4vs1 with basically the same borders you had initially. It's not something you see in every game.

Machaka sucks in EA, though. You were doomed right from the draft.

 

[Malakal]

I'd like to point out it wasnt 4vs1 since only me and Fomoria did any actual work.

 

[Grimwulf]

I'd like to point out it wasnt 4vs1 since only me and Fomoria did any actual work.

Helheim tried to attack, I witnessed at least one attempt of storming Machakan castle. That failed miserably due to SUDDEN Iron Lion Zion inside.

Fomoria moved in a large stack of Unmarked ones, smth like 150 IIRC, and that was still rather early game. They could inflict some damage on northern Machaka, but unfortunately most of them deserted for unclear reasons

 

[Kane]

By the way, I mentioned that thing in previous thread. raw, can you gimme a permission to post your glorious CALLING FOR GANGBANG in private group convo? Since both Helheim and Machaka are dead already, it would be nice for the sake of history. I find it hilarious, especially considering the fact of how effective was Machaka at fighting 4 nations at once.

Sure, go ahead.

 

[Grimwulf]

RAW INSPIRATION

There is always something new out of Machaka. -- Sölve The Elder
​

Welcome to my friends, my enemies, my temporary allies of convenience. Thank you for coming to this assembly on such a short notice. I’ll keep it brief.

For the past few years my people have become accustomed to a lifestyle that is the envy of all the Dominions. Due to loads of gems and sound fiscal management, we have been able to fund a large army, several fortification and of course a Sanguine Dousing Rod for every Vanjarl. But now that has all changed.

Industrialization has proven too costly on my dominion. Some of you may have already financed castle spamming for compensation or are considering it, something that the people of Helheim despise. Our finance team - the best in the world - tells me that in order for us to uphold our welfare programs, we must acquire more than 5 new regions for Helheim.

We attempted to solve this problem diplomatically by killing two armies of Machaka, but we were rebuffed - some diplomatic shenanigans best glossed over.

Wars begin by declaring grief of some sort, then followed by a quest for justice. Machaka did a bad thing to us, and now we must go after them to restore balance; they are bad people that are also black and need to be punished. They wiped one of our armies and took one of our provinces from my people. And so on.
As a response to the aggressor's claims of grievance against the defender and subsequent demonization, the defender inevitably claims that the stated reasons for war are unjust and a lie, and that the motives for the war are nothing but an asinine manipulation of politics. "We are being attacked just for money, for regions, for greed", the defenders say: the aggressors are lying shills. We have seen this drama played out for every war, in every in-game PM, in every forum thread.

This turn I am invading Machaka. But I am not going to bother with stating a particular grievance or demonizing the defender - I am declaring war because I need the regions and their resources for my people and my friends.

And so do you.

I am inviting you to a mass land grab motivated by economic pressure and necessary diplomatic realignment. The owners of the richest regions and the largest area total in this game have managed to politically isolate themselves and turn their allies into enemies in a matter of turns.

Who is right and who is wrong doesn't really matter: If we do not invade Machaka now we may never enjoy the kind of wealth we once had and instead wallow in wrenching poverty.

I am about to send my armies to the invasion zone. I hope for your participation.

One final note: do not underestimate the defenders. This may be a long war and we all have grown soft from too much peace.

Thank you for coming tonight. Good luck to all of us and may Börk be with you.

 

[Kane]

I'd like to point out it wasnt 4vs1 since only me and Fomoria did any actual work.

Helheim tried to attack, I witnessed at least one attempt of storming Machakan castle. That failed miserably due to SUDDEN Iron Lion Zion inside.

I actually never inteded to storm the castle, I was after his army. I made the strategically sound decision to wait one turn for reinforcements when the Iron Lion 1vs100 my army while the actual Machakan army cut me off in one swift move, nuking my entire force. Johannes knows how to end people's games.