Warlords III: Darklords Rising just released...

[Dave Allen]

...on GOG for $5.99 - and I bought it.

Could someone start an 8-player, play-by-email game?
There are a lot of setup options, not really sure what's noteworthy - but the victory condition I'd like to experience is a 4-against-4 capture the flag.
It says, "the first side to collect all eight Powerful Magic Items and have them held by one hero will win on the following turn."

I never played it back in '98, so I've loaded the user manual on my tablet to study and could be ready to go by Saturday.

[Archinerd]

I'm interested.

[Pyperkub]

I'd love it. Of course, if you check the credits, you'll see that I worked on it too!

[Dave Allen]

[content removed to diminish the splendor of my ignorance]

[El Guapo]

I've literally never played any Warlords game before - gather that it's turn-based strategy? Would love to pick it up and play if people are fine with having a n00b involved.

[Dave Allen]

I'd love it. Of course, if you check the credits, you'll see that I worked on it too!

Did you test for Red Orb or SSG?

I've learned a lot more about DLR in the last few days, Pypercub. Would you mind if I cut my teeth setting up this first PBEM game?

I've literally never played any Warlords game before - gather that it's turn-based strategy? Would love to pick it up and play if people are fine with having a n00b involved.

Well then, that makes two of us, El Guapo. Go get yourself a copy, and we'll get going soon.

[Pyperkub]

I'd love it. Of course, if you check the credits, you'll see that I worked on it too!

Did you test for Red Orb or SSG?

I've learned a lot more about DLR in the last few days, Pypercub. Would you mind if I cut my teeth setting up this first PBEM game?

I've literally never played any Warlords game before - gather that it's turn-based strategy? Would love to pick it up and play if people are fine with having a n00b involved.

Well then, that makes two of us, El Guapo. Go get yourself a copy, and we'll get going soon.

RedOrb was the "gaming" section at Broderbund. Also worked on Carmen SanDiego, Riven (Myst sequel), Print Shop, etc.

Sorry I missed the post over the weekend, may not get to it until Thursday, it's a really busy week.

[Pyperkub]

I've literally never played any Warlords game before - gather that it's turn-based strategy? Would love to pick it up and play if people are fine with having a n00b involved.

This game is turn based, but for multiplayer, the turns are run simultaneously (email still takes turns on a specified order, as I recall).

[Archinerd]

I've not played 3 either, but I played 2 a fair amount 20 some years ago.

I'd be for starting after the Holiday, this week is busy for me as well.

[Dave Allen]

OK then, I'm willing to set this up.

The first seven who PM me with your email address by December 1 will be in this first OO W3:DLR PBEM game.

We'll play on a "surprise me" (totally random) map with no AI opponents and no personalities (perks).
The size of the map will be determined by the number of us playing.

Everyone creates a custom side (name and armies) within these parameters:
1) Under heroes only choose: 1.Wizard, 2.Summoner, 3.Necromancer, 4.Shaman
2) Choose only fantasy creatures for your (8)Regulars, (3)Mercenaries, (4)Allies, and (1)Ship
3) Get as close to 2000 (max pts.) as possible.
Post your list for #2 above.

Victory condition: The first side to collect all eight Powerful Magic Items and have them held by one hero will win on the following turn. Heroes carrying these magic items have a wavy flag appearing below their “Stack Number”.

I've tried to promote the use of spells, questing, and balance to maximize fun for us all.

[NickAragua]

No idea how to play this, but I'll just bungle along until I figure something out.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I think I played this back in the day, but spent way more time with Warlords 2. Some of my best gaming memories as a kid was playing a hot-seat game with my oldest brother and one of his friends. Mainly I remember that friend taking an hour per turn when my brother and I usually only took five...

I am definitely interested in playing as well, but I'm not sure how much time I'll have. If you guys are planning to do a bunch of turns per day, I may not be able to keep up.

[Pyperkub]

I think I played this back in the day, but spent way more time with Warlords 2. Some of my best gaming memories as a kid was playing a hot-seat game with my oldest brother and one of his friends. Mainly I remember that friend taking an hour per turn when my brother and I usually only took five...

I am definitely interested in playing as well, but I'm not sure how much time I'll have. If you guys are planning to do a bunch of turns per day, I may not be able to keep up.

5 hours a turn? Wowsers!

[Pyperkub]

ONe thing to note - if you already own this (not from GOG), there are some hacks to getting it to work just on windows XP/7, so it may be worth the $5.99 to get it from GOG. I went ahead and got it from GOG, in part so I don't have to hunt for my old CD's.

[Punisher]

If you end up short a player let me know and I might give it a try. I too am a n00b on the game.
Some caveats though.
1) Pax Unplugged is next week, so I will be AFK from Wed until the following Tue(We are taking some extra days)
2) Not sure how often people are expected to do their turn. Work is very busy right now so I may only be able to do stuff on the weekends.

If these are OK and only if you are short a person (I don't want to take away from someone who really wants to play) then let me know.

[El Guapo]

OK then, I'm willing to set this up.

The first seven who PM me with your email address by December will be in this first OO W3:DLR PBEM game.

We'll play on a "surprise me" (totally random) map with no AI opponents and no personalities (perks).
The size of the map will be determined by the number of us playing.

Everyone creates a custom side (name and armies) within these parameters:
1) Under heroes only choose: 1.Wizard, 2.Summoner, 3.Necromancer, 4.Shaman
2) Choose only fantasy creatures for your (8)Regulars, (3)Mercenaries, (4)Allies, and (1)Ship
3) Get as close to 2000 (max pts.) as possible.
Post your list for #2 above.

Victory condition: The first side to collect all eight Powerful Magic Items and have them held by one hero will win on the following turn. Heroes carrying these magic items have a wavy flag appearing below their “Stack Number”.

I've tried to promote the use of spells, questing, and balance to maximize fun for us all.

I bought the game. In terms of the custom side...do I create that side before I get the game invite? Or do I have to join the game and create the 'side' within that game?

[LordMortis]

I've not played 3 either, but I played 2 a fair amount 20 some years ago.

I'd be for starting after the Holiday, this week is busy for me as well.

Thinking about it. I played a bit of 2 forever ago out of sheer love for the original but 2 didn't advance enough with a genre that had done a lot advancing. I played 2 hardly at all, but I used to bike ride 15 miles to a friend's house and stay up playing until we'd hear the birds telling me "oh shit, it's time to bike ride home, you idiot." This happened often enough that we referred to them as the "Oh shit" birds. For years many years after the 286 and loading games on to ram virtual drives, "Oh god the birds" telling me I neglected to go to bed was associated with Warlords.

TLDR, Warlords was my original allnighter. Before drinking, partying, projects for college, romance. There was Warlords.

The appeal to me would be playing a game here, moreso than actually discovering 3. I'll do some thinking about this tonight. $6 doesn't even cover a desperate "I really need to eat *something*" lunch from McDonald's anymore. So blowing that to see if we can get a fun forum game going is nothing.

[Dave Allen]

In terms of the custom side...do I create that side before I get the game invite? Or do I have to join the game and create the 'side' within that game?

I have to input all the custom sides into the game setup.

You can either post/send me a list of the armies you have chosen
OR
post/send me a screenshot.

Let me know what you want to call your custom side.
Also to make things easier, I'll randomly assign colors/flags to all the players.

From the 90-army pool it's possible to create a dwarven/undead/demonic, etc. theme to a custom side.

Here is what I created for my custom side the Dumbldorians:

If you end up short a player let me know and I might give it a try.

Sure will. Right now, only NickAragua and El Guapo have PM'ed me.

Not sure how often people are expected to do their turn. Work is very busy right now so I may only be able to do stuff on the weekends.

I'm thinking a 24-hour window from receiving to sending each email is generous enough?
I'd hope each of us would use only a small portion of it though.

[NickAragua]

Realistically, I'll be able to take about one turn a day, so 24 hours seems fine to me.

[El Guapo]

2) Choose only fantasy creatures for your (8)Regulars, (3)Mercenaries, (4)Allies, and (1)Ship
3) Get as close to 2000 (max pts.) as possible.
Post your list for #2 above.

What does 'fantasy creatures' mean for this? Is that like every unit / ally which is not a person - e.g., NOT archer, soldiers, etc.?

[Dave Allen]

2) Choose only fantasy creatures for your (8)Regulars, (3)Mercenaries, (4)Allies, and (1)Ship
3) Get as close to 2000 (max pts.) as possible.
Post your list for #2 above.

What does 'fantasy creatures' mean for this? Is that like every unit / ally which is not a person - e.g., NOT archer, soldiers, etc.?

It was just a stupid stipulation.
Please use any army in the pool.

[Pyperkub]

One thing to note, the Thief hero is a bit overpowered with the speed skill.

[Dave Allen]

One thing to note, the Thief hero is a bit overpowered with the speed skill.

Yeah, the Thief hero has the highest (+5 movement) base ability, but isn't stack movement cumulative, too?
If you stacked together a Wizard with Heroism (+6 movement), a Shaman with Jihad (+4 movement), and a Thief with Speed (+6 movement) you'll add +16 to the minimum. Then there is the +2 movement for armies created near a stable and magic items granting movement bonuses, too.

Pyperkub, I thought limiting our heroes to just wizards, summoners, shamans, and necromancers would prevent anyone from unintentionally gimping themselves. I read somewhere that heroes like the General and the Bard are pretty awful.

[El Guapo]

This is my side. I'm calling it "Evilus Maximus".

I realize now that I have a warrior hero on there which isn't on the approved list - I guess switch that to another wizard (or any other approved hero type which is 8 points or less).

[Dave Allen]

This is my side. I'm calling it "Evilus Maximus".

I realize now that I have a warrior hero on there which isn't on the approved list - I guess switch that to another wizard (or any other approved hero type which is 8 points or less).

I don't see any advantage (+1 renown?) over our common hero build (wizard/shaman/summoner/necromancer), but you might miss all the cheap armies the rest of us will be summoning up.

Also, I see you brought your point total up to a full 2000/2000. I suppose that's what the money slider is for?

[El Guapo]

This is my side. I'm calling it "Evilus Maximus".

I realize now that I have a warrior hero on there which isn't on the approved list - I guess switch that to another wizard (or any other approved hero type which is 8 points or less).

I don't see any advantage (+1 renown?) over our common hero build (wizard/shaman/summoner/necromancer), but you might miss all the cheap armies the rest of us will be summoning up.

Also, I see you brought your point total up to a full 2000/2000. I suppose that's what the money slider is for?

Looks like I can get a Summoner in place of the warrior if I change the Light Infantry to Archers (in the mercenaries), so I guess I'll do that.

On the 2000, I just put together a group of cool-seeming evil-themed units (which initially put me ~ 2,600 points) then just gradually downgraded until I was just under 2000. Then tweaked force composition to get exactly to 2,000.

[NickAragua]

Here are my boring old humans.

Spoiler:

I played around with some single player stuff, and have absolutely no idea how to tell if I'm going to win a battle or not, so expect me to die horribly in very short order. Eventually, I may get a grasp of the meta-game, but that day is not today.

[Zenn7]

Loved this when I got it back closer to when it was new.. So tempted to buy this on GOG and join up with you all (note - loving it when it was newer not the same as being any good at it... even when it was newer...).

[Dave Allen]

I played around with some single player stuff, and have absolutely no idea how to tell if I'm going to win a battle or not,

If your army is next to a city or army you want to attack, move your cursor until you see crossed swords. Now hold the shift key - a question mark will appear. Continue to hold the shift key and left-click. The advisor will advise you of the outcome.

I also see, you selected white mana. It might be better if we all choose gray. Then everyone can pool all available (white, gray and black) mana. I kinda doubt the map generator takes into account our preferred mana.

[Dave Allen]

I played around with some single player stuff, and have absolutely no idea how to tell if I'm going to win a battle or not,

If your army is next to a city or army you want to attack, move your cursor until you see crossed swords. Now hold the shift key - a question mark will appear. Continue to hold the shift key and left-click. The advisor will advise you of the outcome.

I also see, you selected white mana. It might be better if we all choose gray. Then everyone can pool all available (white, gray and black) mana. I kinda doubt the map generator takes into account our preferred mana.

A weird thing just happened. It just dawned on me that in the other room I have some old Prima strategy guides.
Sure enough, one of them is DLR.

[El Guapo]

I played around with some single player stuff, and have absolutely no idea how to tell if I'm going to win a battle or not,

If your army is next to a city or army you want to attack, move your cursor until you see crossed swords. Now hold the shift key - a question mark will appear. Continue to hold the shift key and left-click. The advisor will advise you of the outcome.

I also see, you selected white mana. It might be better if we all choose gray. Then everyone can pool all available (white, gray and black) mana. I kinda doubt the map generator takes into account our preferred mana.

Ah. Yeah, I selected 'black mana' (seemed more evil). I guess I should switch to grey as well?

[NickAragua]

I also see, you selected white mana. It might be better if we all choose gray. Then everyone can pool all available (white, gray and black) mana. I kinda doubt the map generator takes into account our preferred mana.

Sure, gray mana is fine. I'd probably have to reduce the max mana/initial mana count to do that though, it seems like it costs more points.

Also, I hate to ask, but at what point do you get spells and how do you use them? The manual doesn't seem to go into any detail about that.

[Dave Allen]

Also, I hate to ask, but at what point do you get spells and how do you use them? The manual doesn't seem to go into any detail about that.

Either does the Prima Strategy Guide unfortunately. I've learned that 5,000+ pages of helpful html are no longer accessable for W3:DLR. New players need to learn the ropes themselves, pretty much. Spells are abilities your hero can spend ability points to acquire at specific levels. But unlike other abilities you also need the mana to cast them. I will made a chart for the necromancer, shaman, wizard, and summoner spells so we all can plan (and look forward to) their availability. The total number of different spells for just these four hero types is 22 (43 if we used every hero type).

[Zenn7]

Get your 7 people yet? Too late to join in?

[El Guapo]

Is "Mana" your starting mana? I assume mana gets generated over time? Just noticed that I am set to start with zero mana - just want to make sure that I'm not precluding myself from casting spells or something like that.

Also, do you need the 'mercenaries' option under data in order to be able to hire mercenaries? And presumably "sell items" you need to have in order to be able to, um, sell items?

[Zenn7]

Yes on Mercs and starting mana.

You get more mana from some cities iirc (not all cities). Or maybe they have sites on the map and you have to have one by your city.

Not sure about selling, but that makes sense.

EDIT: you won't necessarily short yourself with no starting mana. You don't start with any spells either I don't believe. You get those when your hero levels up and you get an ability (or maybe it was a choice of abilities) and one is a spell. By then, you may be have mana generating cities.

Magic is cool, helpful, kinda powerful, but it's not overflowing like Heroes of Might and Magic or Age of Wonders. You won't be casting spells every turn at any point in the game (maybe weak ones towards the end game).

[El Guapo]

If you don't select 'sell items' does that mean your warlord doesn't understand how commerce works? Like, "I have this item, and I need money....but I'm stumped about what to do next".

[Zenn7]

If you don't select 'sell items' does that mean your warlord doesn't understand how commerce works? Like, "I have this item, and I need money....but I'm stumped about what to do next".

Think of it more like "it's against the law in this empire" or "this empire is not friendly to magic merchants". That make it sound more reasonable?

[Dave Allen]

Get your 7 people yet? Too late to join in?

So far, just El Guapo, NickAragua and me. Today, I will PM everyone who has expressed interest (Archinerd, Pyperkub, Ralph-Wiggum, LordMortis), but even if they're all in, that still leaves room for one more player.

PM me your email address, name to call your side, and custom build. Remember to choose only gray mana, and Shaman, Necromancer, Wizard, and Summoner for your heroes.

[Dave Allen]

If you don't select 'sell items' does that mean your warlord doesn't understand how commerce works? Like, "I have this item, and I need money....but I'm stumped about what to do next".

Think of it more like "it's against the law in this empire" or "this empire is not friendly to magic merchants". That make it sound more reasonable?

Or "I will not let myself get so broke I need to start selling my magic items"