Recommended turn order based on play times:

Ouch thats pretty nasty Hiliadan , Im not aware of any cheating by Darkrider , we worked very hard on our teamwork strategy , and i did explain it to you in private when you asked me on steam chat.

Please explain to me how you think he cheated ?


I still have the game paused on my turn , and invite you to review the map further if you so wish.

If you wish to witness our teamwork practice in effect in a demo vs AI EMP , we can perhaps make a video for you....it is a strong tactical gamble that has paid off so far and got us to the final ....review my final scores from other games posted....maybe it make slightly more sense then.

I do not appreciate being labelled a cheater.......

I've tried through the year to be somewhat of an unofficial ambassador for AoW3 welcoming new live players , taking the time to teach them , hosting the first ever pbem tournament.


Again i stress absolutely no knowledge of any cheating....and request u remove my ban.

If you find legitimate evidence that DarkRider did somehow cheat then i would like to know.


even ask some of the Regular live players , i often use similar strategy in live MP team games...... Griffith or Castaneida or Lightform can confirm this, among others.



As you probably realize , i am definitely not any kind of tech guru or computer hacker.... and when i messaged you with the black screen - crash , was the one putting forth the suggestion that something had perhaps been tampered with in the pbem save.

 
anyways i did not cheat and protest this harsh judgment.

== For all PBEM tournaments and all PBEM ranked games ==
DarkRider was discovered cheating on his 2vs2 Tournament game vs gabthegab and Tussel. The three judges, Fistandantilus, Markymark and Hiliadan, all reviewed the proofs and concluded to cheating by DarkRider. It was also judged that his team mate, SeeR, was very likely aware of the cheating, especially since the judge repeatedly asked questions which should have led SeeR to monitor his ally.
The details of the cheating, etc. won't be communicated to avoid inciting other people to cheat. Please note that we have ways to find cheaters, so let's all play fair!
As a consequence, both DarkRider and SeeR are disqualified from all PBEM tournaments and are banned from participating in ranked PBEM games. More to come later on how they will be replaced.
For ongoing ranked PBEM games, I advise players to consider continuing the games and report DarkRider and SeeR as quitters at the end of the game.
We are very sorry about this situation...

== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
About 25.5 days left before the end of the round.

== PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
About 21 days left before the end of the round.

== Balance ==
@Zytozid: not the Cosmic Events' heroes without MCI were not abused that much I think, also because the number of games reaching such late game stage is limited (basically that's only the 8 player large maps).

== Misc ==
New poll launched! In what types of AoW3 videos are you interested (e.g. on YouTube)?

Really now, heroes appearing in cosmic events did NOT have mind control immunity? Woah. Never noticed. Was this abused a lot?
Sounds terribly unbalanced to me

== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
About 30 days left before the end of the round.

== PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
About 26 days left before the end of the round, except for the match between Coup de Grâce and West Coasters, which will get an extension due to delays in judging procedures.

== Balance ==
First, I'd like to argue in favour of a change as some veteran players seem opposed to it:
GC52
A new setting is available for “Defenders Strength”: “Strong with Normal rewards”: Treasure sites do not give +50% reward value any more

=> the idea behind this change is that when we choose Strong Defenders for tournament settings in the first place, our aim was to make clearing harder, with stronger defenders, all things being equal. We did not anticipate that the rewards would also increase with the defenders. So the current situation where treasure sites (i.e. most sites, except Gold Mines, Mana Node, Magma Forge and a few others which are Resource Sites; I'm not sure about Visit structures like Shrines) provide 50% more reward than they're supposed to leads to a power creep in terms of items, mana, gold, research, and even spells, that was not planned and that is bad for balance. It gives an advantage to players good at clearing that is bigger than what is necessary (to reward clearing skills). This has two additional negative induced impacts: 1/ it increases the snowballing effect: when you start to clear high level sites, it becomes easier with each sites cleared as the rewards are huge (e.g. 500 RP from Sphynx Temples instead of about 330 RP; 2 T3 from Dungeons instead of 1 T3 and 1 T2; etc.), 2/ it makes mind-control strategies independent of the economic strength of the empire because you can just clear your way out of lack of gold; with -33% gold (we are at 150% reward now so it's -33% to get back to 100%), the gold income from clearing and selling would be reduced.
Overall, the game has been balanced by the devs for incomes associated to standard Defenders, not Strong ones. Bringing back the rewards to where they should always have been will help solve several problems (though it is of course not enough in itself, but that's part of the small little things that add up to a solution when taken together) such as mind-control strategies still too strong vs production strategies, the persistence of a few pre turn 20 rush strategies and the "no city economy" issue.

Then, please note more feedback is needed for these changes, considered for v1.23:
GC33a
Combat Healing starts with an initial 3 turns cooldown (was 4 turns).

GC49
Public Bath costs 120 gold (was 150)

GC40a
Spell upgrades for heroes cost 4 (was 5), except:
– Chaos Rift (stay at 5)
– Chain Lightning (stay at 5)
– Last Stand (stay at 5)
– Slayer’s Doubt (stay at 5)
– Stiffen Limbs (stay at 5)
– Repair Fortification: costs 3

GC40b
CP upgrade costs for heroes are reduced to 5+5+5+5+6+7+7 = 40 in total to get to 85 CP (was 5+5+7+7+7+9+9 = 49)
Destabilized Mana Core costs 60 CP (was 50 CP)

GC51
Heroes appearing in Cosmic Events have Mind Control Immunity


== Misc ==
Last 3 days to vote: How user-friendly and effective do you think each of these sections of the Battlefield website are?

== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
About 41.5 days left before the end of the round.
Round 5 will use v1.22 of the balance mod. Round 6 might use v1.23, depending on the progress on this version when that round will start.

== PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
An extension of 3 weeks is granted to this tournament, as it started during the summer holiday period (end of July).
Round 6 will use v1.22 of the balance mod and round 7 will very likely use v1.23.

== Balance ==
Reminder: you can check what proposed changes become "priority" or are confirmed here: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... (please check the last messages only)
Please also remember to read the news and this Player Pool on the BF as all changes and the planning of release are announced on these locations. ==> PBEM and Single Player Balance Mod v1.22 released and available in 3 languages!

== Misc ==
A new live multiplayer (not PBEM!) tournament is being organized: Live MP Beginner Tournament 2017 4 slots left and supposed to start very soon so join fast!

Also, please remember the poll (only 10 respondents so far...): How user-friendly and effective do you think each of these sections of the Battlefield website are?

Do we know when v1.22 will be moved to Main branch?

Wodokan joined !!

Nemesis_Zero quitted!

I see and yo uare right Hiliadan. It's the lesser of the two evils. You're doing this well.
Keep up the good work (:

== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
v1.22 is ready on the beta branch. Matches can start (if both players sent their class/race, we're still missing the ones of Skuns and AlX as far as I know), so @all the hosts, please host the game with the beta branch (not the main branch as usual) and post the settings as screenshots as usual and let's start ASAP. I'm going to update the counter to the end of round on the Tournament page so that it lasts 2 months from now: https://www.the-battlefield.c... />
@Zytozid: yes, it is somehow unfair to those who already played Dread and didn't benefit from the boosts. However, boosts to Dread were announced a while ago on the news on the BF (+ on different other channels, e.g. the official forum has a discussion dedicated to boosting Dread) and anyone willing to understand the incoming balance changes could have planned that well in advance.
The rules clearly states that the judges can decide to use the latest version of the balance mod as the tournament progresses and that is mostly what I expect us to do until the end of the tournament. In my opinion, it is much better to be a bit unfair to games played in previous rounds than to destroy the interest of a tournament's latest rounds by not implementing critical balance changes. That is somehow what happened in the previous Duel tournament where everyone had to play Necro to win, as the tournament was not using the balance mod. The key in my opinion is to communicate the changes sufficiently in advance and to give indications of the broad lines of the future changes, so that everyone has the same information and can plan accordingly (and there is no "insider trading" with some people benefiting from having the information before the others).

I'm out but...isn't that unfair to those who picked dreadnought before?

== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
Zaskow is working on v1.22 to release it on the beta branch of the balance mod as I write. It should be ready in a few hours. So if all goes well, games for round 4 should be able to start tomorrow. Sorry for the delay but it should be worth it, as we get really needed boost for Dreadnought's heroes and Leaders (Inject Mana Fuel) and nerf for Exalted Martyr strategies.

== Next tournament ==
Reminder: the next tournament organized (at least by me) won't be a PBEM one but an Arena one. So time to discover that new game mode and train on it! See info on the Arena pool: https://www.the-battlefield.c...

== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
As Zaskow was quite busy, and we were very late for the release of v1.22, I stepped in and did the final 3 changes that were missing. So a "full" v1.22 is ready but not yet released through the usual Steam workshop channel, as Zaskow needs to copy my edits in his folder, maybe do some additional checks/add some descriptions (that are still not yet all in the mod) and upload the updated mod.
However, we NEED people to test the new version as much as possible, to avoid bad surprises. I did test everything, but better to have double checks. So I hope some of you will be interested to help: you can get the new version in the usual Dropbox folder for the balance mod: go to the /20170903_v1-22-alpha folder then download the .taf and put it in your C:\Users\[your user name]\Documents\My Games\AoW3\UserContent folder. Then when you launch AoW3, select "PBEM & Single player Balance Mod 1.22-3".
(known issue: the animation of Inject Mana Fuel is not yet implemented, so no "blue color")

Let's give us 72 hours of test and let's start officially the round on the 6th of September, around that time.

We are missing the class/race of the following players:
- Skunx
- Mr Hawk
- AlXStormrage

== 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
Round 3 ended. However, v1.22 is not yet fully ready... The number of changes that needs to be implemented is very small so hopefully it should get ready soon. So games should wait until the new update is released + 1 to 3 days to make sure everything is OK, before being hosted. We'll confirm here when games can start. Sorry for the delay, Zaskow has been quite busy and thus unable to finish v1.22 on time.

Meanwhile, it's time to send your class/race to judges that you don't play (Fistandantilus, Marcuspers, Hiliadan) and get ready. You can check the changelog of v1.22 on the usual page: https://docs.google.com/docum... />
== PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
At least 45 days before round 6. There might be an extension (to be discussed between judges), as the round started during summer holidays, as mentioned before.

== Misc ==
Only 9 voters for Would you be willing to donate some money to cover the cost of the purchase of 4 models for the Shadow Demon units of the Shadow Realm Community Expansion? Please vote, even if it is to say you can't or don't want to donate any money.

== 2017 Duel Tournament ==
Minimum 5 days and maximum 11.5 days left before the end of the round.

== Misc ==
In order to assess the interest and donation capacity of the community to support the Shadow Realm Community Expansion, a new poll was launched: Would you be willing to donate some money to cover the cost of the purchase of 4 models for the Shadow Demon units of the Shadow Realm Community Expansion?
You can get more details on my latest post in the PBEM Player Pool.
Please cast your vote (including if you can't or don't want to donate anything, there is an option for that) so that we can get a good idea of how much money could be collected.
The money collected for the Shadow Realm expansion would be used ONLY for the models and nothing else.

== Next tournament ==
Next tournament will probably not be a PBEM tournament but an Arena game mode tournament!
The Arena game mode is for those interested by manual tactical battles between human players, but who do not want to spends hours playing a full live MP games. This new game mode has short preparation phase and then big battles, for a total of about 45-120 min per session (rather on the 45-60 min range but it depends on the relative strength of players among other things).
Please check out the Arena Pool to see how to play Arena battles. We're still in the development phase but it's stable enough for most players to test now.
The tournament might start in about 2 months if everything goes well.

== Balance ==
These changes have been confirmed for v1.22:
Dr21a
Dreadnought heroes can choose Inject Mana Fuel at level 11 for 5 points, a self-buff active ability costing 0 AP which gives them Wall Crushing, Demolisher, Tireless, Reinforced, 40% shock weakness (and add blue particle effects to represent the mana injected in the veins of the units)

Wa05a
Researching Death March allows to cast Death March for 60 CP and Scout Death March for 20 CP, which has a similar effect. Scout Death March affect only T1 Irregulars in target stack (and units can only be targetted once by Death March or Scout Death March).

Th10a (that's a temporary fix while we wait for a better one)
When Exalted Martyrs is researched, Martyrs evolve into Awaken Martyrs at Elite. Awaken Martyrs have the stats of an Elite Martyr and have Evolve into Exalted at Elite. They don’t get any bonus on medals (not even HP or defense, damage).

Confirmed for v1.23 (not v1.22)
GC26
Forbidden Sanctum's batte enchantment is Mass Bless / Mass Curse and Shock Missile cast every turn on a random enemy unit

Ne06g
Ghouling Strike does not give any damage bonus (was +5 physical, +5 blight)

These changes will be confirmed for v1.23 if there is no more feedback:
GC40a
Spell upgrades for heroes cost 4 (was 5), except:
– Chaos Rift (stay at 5)
– Chain Lightning (stay at 5)
– Last Stand (stay at 5)
– Slayer’s Doubt (stay at 5)
– Stiffen Limbs (stay at 5)
– Repair Fortification: costs 3

GC40b
CP upgrade costs for heroes are reduced to 5+5+5+5+6+7+7 = 40 in total to get to 85 CP (was 5+5+7+7+7+9+9 = 49)
Destabilized Mana Core costs 60 CP (was 50 CP)

Ha28
Farmers cost 45 gold (was 50)

Hi all! Thanks for the name suggestions! Please prefer the chat for such short and rapid discussions: https://www.the-battlefield.c... />It would also you to give some feedback on other topics currently discussed in the chat, would be very useful for the Community Expansion too!

For a really simple name, my favourite is AIXStormrage's "Battle Armor".

For a more dramatic flare, I prefer Zytozid's "Deus Ex Machina".

My own suggestion would be "Empowered Exoskeleton", which is basically just a fancier way of saying "Battle Armor". Might be a bit long though.

Hi Hiliadan,

how about naming it "Oil veins" or "Oil blood" something like that? It symbolizes well that the hero is human but embraces machinery.
Or call it "Deus Ex Machina"?

Mechanised Warfare

---

how about "Suit Up!", or Battle Armour?