Council members (and all interested spectators),

What quest should we set for Theleb now that I have completed his?

rushing genius AIs is still way too easy

If you submit your 5000 score, you should see a rise of about 100 points.
[Message Edited]

I still don't know what to make of this Green Druid myself. Here I was, slinking in the shadows around the Tower, minding your business, and this guy comes along. (Hey, I watch nearly every major empire's business. What can I say?)

He starts rambling on about how a precisely balanced coalition of good needs to defeat a race of evil genius Drengin. Interesting stuff. I might have to look into this quest later myself.

Interesting fellow, maybe we should invite him to join us.

But since he has posed us with a quest, it would insult him to not receive one in turn. From his current abiltiy, we should give him something challenging.

You, me, and staffa being short games rather than points. There are several ranks beyond that as well. I may be playing for awhile. HEHE. I'm short games for even your rank still being a fleet captain myself.

I'm going to put my money on EBZM reaching there first.

A smile comes to the Strange Celt's face as he turns to Ray the Wanderer
"So then, there may be hope for this universe yet. Where many have failed you have found shining sucess. Through focus, perfect optimization, and by taking the initiative you controlled your environment, and sucessfully completed my quest."
A sparkle enters the great man's eyes as he idly fingers a green sash tied to his waist
"Yet like most quests true worth is found in the journey... and not the result. What did you learn Ray the Wanderer? Knight Maike Geng has spoken truth-- and we all know that Truth is the greatest of virtues. Indeed, what would happen if you did NOT rush Mordor, but rather allowed the shadow to manifest itself and dealt with it then?"
Pausing dramatically and looking about the assembled wizards he continues
"I once knew a Prince, Benedict by name, one of nine. Benedict would recreate the same battle again and again and again... each time trying something slightly different and watching the result. Indeed it was not uncommon for him to fight the same battle 1000 times or more, observing, absorbing. A waste of time your say? Perhaps... But I ask you this, when true conflict comes would you rather stand with or against such a man?"
As silence falls upon the assembled wizards, The demeaner of the stange man changes noticeably and in an ominous voice intones "This I tell you true, while you feast in your hall, and watch the ascendance of mankind across a thousand galaxies, a darkness grows in a void beyond sight and mind. For one day the Eater of Worlds will return, and in his wake-- FIRE."
Gaining strength he continues "And when the cataclysim begins only the strongest, the wisest, and the most patient among you will have any hope against the abomination. Perhaps... just maybe... I can prepare you in time."
Grabbing a loaf of bread with his dirty hands and swinging up onto a great steed in green livery, A look of determination settles on the strange man's Face.
"Lord Ray I will return hence in three days time to honor our agreement. Be ready! I take my leave of your hall."

Theleb K'aarna

"I'm going to put my money on EBZM reaching there first."

Yeah, the way EB is churning out the games, so do I.
He is apparently having a long weekend so there will be no stopping him.

"Interesting fellow, maybe we should invite him to join us.

But since he has posed us with a quest, it would insult him to not receive one in turn. From his current abiltiy, we should give him something challenging."


The White Council is the guardian of the Balance in Meta and seeks to destroy all enemies to this Order.
Remember I mentioned that our empire alignment is Lawful Neutral.

So Theleb (and anyone for the matter) is most certainly welcome to join us if they believe in this mission.

Well, he is rather new to the game and is now testing the Challenging level so maybe a unique but not too hard challenge. H

e was gracious to me in not setting Dregs as Maso in his challenge. Now, that would be a serious challenge as Maso AI is much harder to rush with their massive bonuses and without a good start. I'll think about it.

"Indeed, what would happen if you did NOT rush Mordor, but rather allowed the shadow to manifest itself and dealt with it then?"

The Council knows better than to toy with Mordor, Theleb. It must be exterminated before its evil influence pervades.

So it was with Frodo and Samwise. A penetrating strike deep into Mordor that resulted in the destruction of the One-Ring.

Cantering to the door a look of concern etched itself across the Wild Man's Face.
"Indeed you still see the Drengin as the true enemy of the free peoples in my test? Wizard Ray you suceeded at the test of steel, but failed the test of spirit."
Raising an eyebrow Sovereign Raychau speaks carefully measured words, "Old one, if I had failed to mercilessly slaughter the Drengin and raze their civilization to the ground, you know that is exactly what they would have done to the galaxy themselves!"
A sad look comes across the Druid's face as he speaks "And would the Drengin Have slaughtered the Alterans without cause? What did the Torians do to deserve your wrath? You boiled their oceans and served their young as appetizers on toast... Then there is the matter of the Yor--could even the Drengin conceieve of such black treachery as sending "freighters" to all of your friends' planets simultaneously only to realize that they are not full of trade goods but troops who poured out to massacre billions of men, women, and children?"
The Green man settles his unblinking gaze on Ray "No it seems you burned the galaxy to the ground to save it, with the power of the One Ring, and in the end became worse than that which you sought to destroy. No the drengin were not the true shadow of my challenge, you were only meant to think they were. The true test was to see what you would due with absolute power and the universe before you... It would seem absolute power corrupts absolutely. Perhaps you are not the one to bring balance to the metaverse," the Green man sighed, suddenly looking much older than when he first came, and without a whisper vanished from the hall.

Theleb

Hey, Ray remember that John Greenwood kid, who was complaining about CTDs upon loading a saved game.

It cracked me up so much, when he started the post with the greeting: "High!" rather than "Hi!"

Kids these day. Makes me wonder if he was high when he wrote all that. Anyways I hope he doesn't read this.

Theleb,

Do not depart our Halls in such haste. I hold you to your word in the fulfilling of a quest for the Council.
[Message Edited]

The Redemption of the Woods

Theleb,

An evil shadow has befallen the Dark Woods to the north of the White Tower. One of our Council adepts procuring spell components there a day ago found himself beset by wraiths. Overwhelmed by superior foes, he is now part of the Fallen. While we mourn his loss, we are duty bound as Guardians of Meta to deal decisively with this Evil.

We charge you to lead a force of Council members to eradicate this Evil and restore the Balance to the Dark Woods.

Your Mission

Medium Map
Tight Clusters
Occasional

Humans (rename as The White Council)
Dregs (rename as The Undead, Pure Evil, Bright)
Alts (rename as The Alliance, Pure Good, Bright)
Arcs (rename as The Orcs, Chaotic Evil, Normal)
Tors (rename as the Ents, Neutral, Bright)
Yors (rename as the Hobbits, Chaotic Good, Sub-Normal)

Only Conditions:
1.White Council must play as Good
2.You are considered to be victorious once the Undead and Orcs are destroyed.
3.The White Council must declare war on Undead and Orcs once contact is established

Intelligence from the Wizard’s Eye spell

The Undead is your key enemy in the Dark Woods. However, be warned that Orc patrols have been spotted and if you do find Orcs, you are duty bound to exterminate them as well.

The Alliance, comprising Humans, Elves and Dwarves has an outpost near the Dark Woods. Being pure good in nature, they are likely to be willing allies to the Council.

The carefree Hobbits have a little village nearby. They may be persuaded to join the cause to fight Evil but honestly they are better talkers than fighters. Be warned that if you allow them to be captured by the Undead or Orcs, the battle may turn against you.

The mysterious Ents have always been neutral but if they choose to join the conflict, they could tip the course of this battle. They will turn against you if you carelessly destroy trees in your battles.

May the Light be with you, Theleb as you journey on this quest.We await your tales of honour and courage when you return victorious to us.

Ahh, the Green Druid is a pure spirit. It seems that we warmongers would have failed that test regardless of who took the test.

When presented with the Ring, we would use it to dominated the galaxy rather than destroyed it to share the galaxy between four peaceful people. But then again we were never that pretentious to declare ourselves as purely wholesome and pacifist. Indeed all of us have the ambition and the intention of conquering the known world.

message edited to add an 'n'

[Message Edited]

The White Council has no qualms about crushing those that seek to disrupt the Balance and the order of the Meta.

Yes, that may make us warmongers when the need arises, but we are duty bound as Guardians.

Hey Ray how do you get such a high score for your games on large and medium. I can't seem to score very high even on gigantic. Do you have a huge military??? I tend to have the dominant military very early on. Wondering if I was overdoing it or not enough.

I played those Crippling games in the builder style favoured by the Metaverse gods. Minimal conflict (usually just with minors) and maximum focus on economy and teching. I get all if not most of TGs/Wonders. Once my tech tree is finished, I flip everyone for a military win.

I've tested if military affects score. Doesn't seem to be significantly different for games where I had 200+ military rating throughout the game or when I have minimal military.

Well Pontius and Staffa are the experts with Gigantic scoring. They should know better.

Oh is that how it works. I usually assault two civs in lightning war. +2 speed, grav accelerator, and impulse stack very nicely for a fast moving roll over of enemies.

I'm way too militaristic. Maybe that's what's getting me lower. I usually lose out on the first couple TGs that way. Not that I'm going to change my style.

I find that rushing in Maso is unavoidable. Else you just get overwhelmed by the Incredible bonuses.

But I'm trying to disprove this in my current Maso game. I'm trying to build up (with limited rushes) and see if I can win.

My alliance victory was with limited rushes, but you aren't going to win militaristically or culturally for that matter. I was in cultural trouble the whole time and hopelessly behind on tech.

Like I said I barely squeeked it by that time. If you do better, please enlighten me.

You might find it easier on larger maps, more systems = more chances to steal tech and maintain tech parity when you go rushing. I always got behind when I did that on the smaller maps.

If the AI was better with ship management, I would love to engage in a huge ship to ship battle for supremacy. But since you can always avoid it, it's better to do that instead. After all Sun Tzu said, destruction of the enemy army is an inferior victory.

The Maso that I'm playing is on Gigantic. Won 1.05 Maso up to Large maps, so trying something new.

The thing about bigger maps is that the AI has more systems to apply their massive bonuses to but in return I have more resources to execute favourite strats.

Ahhh.... Another fellow reader of Sun Tzu, excellent.

I'm actually really keen to see if SD has changed the scoring for 1.09. Help me keep a lookout for Drengins who submit their beta games.

That's why I made EBZ a modern action hero when I recounted the great battle with the undead in my GROSS recruitment thread.

He's using a combination of a tech rush with the Technician model of deliberately playing real easy games on small maps to really churn them out. While I would have a problem with playing way below my skill, I cannot fault the results.

"Sire! Sire!", the young page panted, "The Green man has returned and the hounds are all in an uproar!"
Looking as if nothing could suprise him Lord RayChua spoke "Send the Hunt Master to quell the dogs and prepare the hall to receive our guest. Also see if one of the ladies in waiting can get the fellow to wash his hands this time."
No sooner had the page run off to do his lord's bidding when the doors to the hall burst open and in strode the great green man. He was covered in leaves from head to foot and appeared to be sporting bells on his shoes which made an od jingle as he walked. In his hand he bore a great two headed axe that few men could lift let alone wield. His beard was grey but his eyes were bright and belied some measure of youth still in him. Presently he spoke
"Well it seems three days pass more quickly in this land than I imagined. I have returned."
With an iterant flick of his finger Commander RayChau motioned to an elaborately dressed scribe who presented a sealed cyliner scroll to the Green Man. While the great man seemed the essence of all things wild, he apparently had some measure of refinement as he popped the scroll from the tube and carefully read its contents without assistance.
"Trouble in the woods you say? Know you that I am a lore master not a trained killer. Do I understand you correctly that you wish me to murder these orcs and undead with no attempt at parlay? Such is not my stlye... I believe in trimming the vines so that the whole may grow larger, but uprooting the entire stock without determining the depth of the infestation can have dire and unforseen consequences in the future."
Becoming irritated Ray confronted him and replied "So you refuse my quest then?"
"Nay" the big man replied "As they say a deal is a deal..." Gripping the haft of his great axe tightly he continued "I even broke my kegsplitter out of the shed as I had a feeling you would require its use."
Without delay the huge Celt spun on his heel and charged out of the hall, nearly knocking over a female attendant carrying a basin. Sighing under his breath Lord RayChua muttered "Just once I wish that guy would wash his hands."

Theleb

Ray murmured to himself as he watched the Green Man depart.

"The Undead need no murdering, Theleb. They are crying out for relief from their unnatural undeath. And the orcs, well, the gods have mercy on those hoping to talk sense with them."