Recommended turn order based on play times:

== 2018 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
Less than 2 days left, except for match #21 and #22 who have 7 days on top of that.
To clarify my messages in all the game blogs except game #21 and #22: the last player of the turn should apply the procedure described only AFTER the deadline of the round expired, i.e. 2019-06-30 8:42 PM GMT+0.

Reminder: round 4 will use v1.28 of the balance mod.
Please start thinking about your class/race!

Round 5 will start only in 3 months or more.

== 2019 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
About 39 days left until end of round.


== Balance ==
These changes are confirmed for v1.29:
GC61a
Swimming now uses 4 MP/hex on the strategic map. Sea Creatures get Natural Swimming and still uses 3 MP/hex.
Sea Creatures do not take attack of opportunity when moving near other units (like Flyers near walking units).
 
GC61b
Flying and Floating units get a "Flying over water" penalty of -1 defense, -1 resistance when flying over water. Mariner cancels that malus.



Check out the preliminary changelog of v1.29 here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.co... />

KaZoR joined !!

had a turn program crash , more details in the 2v2 game blog  , can please get go-ahead to resume , or does one of judges wish to watch my broadcast upon reload ?


holding off on turn for the THUMPS UP 

holler at me on steam marcus or hili  or   whos third judge ?

appreciated

mhved joined !!

== 2019 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
Please update the status of your match to "ongoing" if it started ("I would like to" then "Change status to 'Ongoing'" in the game blog).

3 players have been replaced as they did not show up. Still need to replace Moridin.

The two assistant judges are Jonny Thunder and Marcuspers.

== 2018 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
A bit more than 8 days left until end of round.

== Balance ==
These changes are confirmed for v1.29:
GC41g
Armor Piercing costs 1 upgrade point (UP) (was 2)
Inflict Immolation costs 3 UP (was 4)

GC41h
Inflict Severely Poisoned costs 4 UP (was 5)
Phase costs 3 UP (was 4)
Projectile Reflection costs 3 UP (was 5)
Rapid Reload costs 2 UP (was 3)
Guardian Flame costs 4 UP (was 5)
Martial Art costs 3 UP (was 2)
Tireless costs 7 UP (was 6)
One with the Tree costs 5 UP (was 6)
Life Steal costs 3 UP (was 2)
Energy Drain costs 5 UP (was 4)

GC43a
Free Movement costs 3 upgrade points (UP) (was 2)
 
GC71a
Immolating Touch costs no action point (was takes all remaining AP)


These changes will be confirmed for v1.29 if no further feedback:
GC61a
Swimming now uses 4 MP/hex on the strategic map. Sea Creatures get Natural Swimming and still uses 3 MP/hex.
Sea Creatures do not take attack of opportunity when moving near other units (like Flyers near walking units).
 
GC61b
Flying and Floating units get a "Flying over water" penalty of -1 defense, -1 resistance when flying over water. Mariner cancels that malus.


And those changes are considered for v1.29:
GC43b
Floating costs 5 UP (was 4)

GC11b
Mind-controlled units cost more in upkeep:+50% gold / turn (was +25%)

Dr21b
Inject Mana Fuel is Once per battle and cannot be dispelled (was has cooldown “ and can be dispelled).



== Misc ==
The new Stronghelm Globe has been published, that's the last edition of this fan magazine for AoW3, check it out!

== 2019 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
Several matches have started, missing class/race and screenshots of the settings of other matches.
Please pay attention to the fact that round 1 is played with the Tournament Edition of the balance mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sh... Other rounds are likely to be played with the main branch of the mod. The Strong Defenders Normal Rewards (SDNR) mod also needs to be used: https://steamcommunity.com/sh... />
Round 2 might use v1.29 of the balance mod.

== 2018 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
About 21 days left until end of round 3. (+ 1*7 days for matches #21 and #22)

== Balance ==
This change is confirmed for v1.28:
AI09b
AI will now cast the following spells in auto combat: Killing Spree, Dampening Field, Sadism, Gift Of Nekron, Rite Of Malediction, Smoke Screen, Bane of the Unnatural.

These changes are confirmed for v1.29:
GC26c
Forbidden Sanctum’s extra reward multiplier is 0.07 (was 0.25) so that you can get maximum 200-300 mana in addition to CP and free skill

GC45
Inflict Despair is available at level 7 (was 5)

These changes will be confirmed for v1.29 if no further feedback:
GC41g
Armor Piercing costs 1 upgrade point (UP) (was 2)
Inflict Immolation costs 3 UP (was 4)

GC41h
Inflict Severely Poisoned costs 4 UP (was 5)
Phase costs 3 UP (was 4)
Projectile Reflection costs 3 UP (was 5)
Rapid Reload costs 2 UP (was 3)
Guardian Flame costs 4 UP (was 5)
Martial Art costs 3 UP (was 2)
Tireless costs 7 UP (was 6)
One with the Tree costs 5 UP (was 6)
Life Steal costs 3 UP (was 2)
Energy Drain costs 5 UP (was 4)

GC43b
Floating costs 5 UP (was 4)

GC43a
Free Movement costs 3 upgrade points (UP) (was 2)

GC61a
Swimming now uses 4 MP/hex on the strategic map. Sea Creatures get Natural Swimming and still uses 3 MP/hex.
Sea Creatures do not take attack of opportunity when moving near other units (like Flyers near walking units).
 
GC61b
Flying and Floating units get a "Flying over water" penalty of -1 defense, -1 resistance when flying over water. Mariner cancels that malus.
 
GC71a
Immolating Touch costs no action point (was takes all remaining AP)

And those changes are considered for v1.29:
GC11b
Mind-controlled units cost more in upkeep:+50% gold / turn (was +25%)


Dr21b
Inject Mana Fuel is Once per battle and cannot be dispelled (was has cooldown “ and can be dispelled).

AnarchCassius joined !!

BBB joined !!

== 2019 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
The Tournament Edition of the balance mod has been updated to v1.28 and games can now be hosted.

Please do not start games until you get a green light from a judge (me for now) on the game blog.

== 2018 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
All matches get a +8 days extension given that all matches except one were delayed for about 8 days due to judging processes. The deadline for the end of round has been updated on this page: https://www.the-battlefield.c... />Matches #21 and #22 get an additional +7 days due to a late start caused by delays in round 2.

== 2019 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
The tournament is launched! The end of round will be 6 August when Planetfall is released. The roster is available here: http://www.the-battlefield.co... We currently lack one player so one of us gets a free pass for now but I hope to find a player to fill that slot soon.

Please check your opponent and send me your class/race by private message (PM: http://www.the-battlefield.co... For Markymark (who plays vs me), please wait, I'm going to choose some assistant judges as soon as possible (sorry I'm a bit late!).
Please remember rule 5: http://www.the-battlefield.co... />"5. A player can never play a class or race that he/she played in all his/her previous matches (so you can play Goblin only once in the whole tournament, you can play Sorcerer only once, etc.). As there are only 7 classes, after your 7th match, the “counter is reset”, i.e. you can play all the class/race again. However, in your 8th match, you cannot play the class or the race that you played in your 7th match.
BEFORE the match, you must let the Judges (but not your opponents) know what class and race you will play for your upcoming match by private message in the Battlefield website."

It is NOT necessary to have DLC to play the tournament, to answer one question I got. The other player will then host with DLC.

Also, please do NOT host games for now, I need to get the Tournament branch of the balance mod updated so that we use it for round 1. We'll use v1.28 for round 1.

Don't forget to apply malus on you and gladis for the week delay vs me and marcus.

== 2018 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
About 22 days left in round 3.
An extension is being discussed among judges for matches #20 and #22 which started two weeks late due to delays in round 2 and team replacements.

Please also note that in case of score victory, in addition to the malus applied to players exceeding 24 hours per turn (outside announced business trips, etc.), an additional malus will be applied to players joining the game late and thus delaying its start.

== 2019 Duel Tournament ==
We have about 27 players registered for this last tournament! Still missing 5 though, so please let your friends know about it!

It's here: https://www.the-battlefield.c... />If we don't reach 32 players, I'm probably going to switch it to single elimination, to reduce its duration and make sure we keep everyone on board without players dropping out.

phirpo suggests to change one setting to Random heroes match player race: On (instead of Off currently). Please express your opinions here (or on this game blog): https://forum.paradoxplaza.co... />
The tournament should start in a few days (6 June).

== Balance ==
The main branch on v1.27 has been updated to fix some exploits. Work is still ongoing on it so I'll probably tell more when the situation is fully stabilized.
The fix had also been pushed to the beta branch on v1.28.

This change will be confirmed for v1.28 if no further feedback:
AI09b
AI will now cast the following spells in auto combat: Killing Spree, Dampening Field, Sadism, Gift Of Nekron, Rite Of Malediction, Smoke Screen, Bane of the Unnatural.

These changes will be confirmed for v1.29 if no further feedback:
GC26c
Forbidden Sanctum’s extra reward multiplier is 0.07 (was 0.25) so that you can get maximum 200-300 mana in addition to CP and free skill

GC43b
Floating costs 5 UP (was 4)

GC61a
Swimming now uses 4 MP/hex on the strategic map. Sea Creatures get Natural Swimming and still uses 3 MP/hex.
Sea Creatures do not take attack of opportunity when moving near other units (like Flyers near walking units).
 
GC61b
Flying and Floating units get a "Flying over water" penalty of -1 defense, -1 resistance when flying over water. Mariner cancels that malus.

GC45
Inflict Despair is available at level 7 (was 5)

And those changes are considered for v1.29:
GC11b
Mind-controlled units cost more in upkeep:+50% gold / turn (was +25%)

GC43a
Free Movement costs 3 upgrade points (UP) (was 2)

GC43c
Swimming costs 4 UP (was 3)

GC71a
Immolating Touch costs no action point (was takes all remaining AP)

Dr21b
Inject Mana Fuel is Once per battle and cannot be dispelled (was has cooldown “ and can be dispelled).

AlXStormrage quitted!

Old-Germany quitted!

== 2018 2vs2 Team Tournament ==
50 days left in round 3.

== 2019 Duel Tournament ==
Registrations are open for the new Duel Tournament!! It will start in about one month.
We should have at least one AoW: Planetfall copy offered randomly to all active players when the game comes out, maybe a few more! So register even if you're not a veteran!! It's the last AoW3 tournament I'll organize and I hope to have more than 32 players involved, though we'll see how much we manage.

Details here: https://www.the-battlefield.c...

== Balance ==
This change is considered for v1.28:
AI09b
AI will now cast the following spells in auto combat: Killing Spree, Dampening Field, Sadism, Gift Of Nekron, Rite Of Malediction, Smoke Screen, Bane of the Unnatural.

And those changes are considered for v1.29:
GC11b
Mind-controlled units cost more in upkeep:+50% gold / turn (was +25%)

GC26c
Forbidden Sanctum’s extra reward multiplier is 0.07 (was 0.25) so that you can get maximum 200-300 mana in addition to CP and free skill

GC43a
Free Movement costs 3 upgrade points (UP) (was 2)

GC43b
Floating costs 5 UP (was 4)

GC43c
Swimming costs 4 UP (was 3)

GC61a
Swimming now uses 4 MP/hex on the strategic map. Sea Creatures get Natural Swimming and still uses 3 MP/hex.
Sea Creatures do not take attack of opportunity when moving near other units (like Flyers near walking units).
 
GC61b
Flying and Floating units get a "Flying over water" penalty of -1 defense, -1 resistance when flying over water. Mariner cancels that malus.

GC45
Inflict Despair is available at level 7 (was 5)

GC71a
Immolating Touch costs no action point (was takes all remaining AP)

Dr21b
Inject Mana Fuel is Once per battle and cannot be dispelled (was has cooldown “ and can be dispelled).

== Misc ==
Please rate the 20 best mods of AoW3 in the ongoing poll: https://www.the-battlefield.c...

keika joined !!

== 2018 PBEM 2vs2 Tournament ==
Round 3 has started. Two teams left:
- LobEarLo due to the departure of EarL
- Crusher of Clans for personal reasons for both players

It is regrettable because those were two good teams.
Three teams had been eliminated in round 2 and could qualify to replace these two teams. After discussion among judges, we decided to allocate the two seats randomly and a random pick was drawn: MM&BC unfortunately did not make it in the two seats. Then we decided to have the following replacements, to avoid rematches of round 2:
- HoboTeam replaces LobEarLo and fights Bastards of the North
- SleepingDog & personian Bros replaces Crusher of Clans and fights Brews Bros

These two matches haven't started yet, please hurry up to avoid score victory.


Round 4 should be played with v1.28 of the balance mod.

== 2019 PBEM Duel Tournament ==
A new Duel Tournament will be organized and will start in June. Reminder: discussions on the settings and rules are still open here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/preparation-of-next-pbem-tournament.1156812 Please share your thoughts now, it will be too late in June!
Registrations should open in about two weeks.

== Balance ==
The changelog of v1.28 can be seen here: https://forum.paradoxplaza.co... (post #25329896 or #113)
It will be updated on the usual GoogleDoc soon, and v1.28 should be released on the beta branch this week.

== Misc ==
The videos of my first 51 turns of the epic Top 8 game have been released on YouTube, check out the playlist. First video:

There seems to be a way around this and I just tested it.
For those that can opt in for the beta, follow these steps:
 

1. Go to your library, right click on Age of Wonder III - go to proporties, find the "beta tab" - pick "opt in for beta"


2.  The game will download the necessary files and you can then launch the game


3. Do not enter any game to play or such, close the game


4. opt out of beta at the same place you previously opted in


5. Launch the game again and play your games

Let us know if this work also for you!

/Marcus


Edit: Seems the devs have launched the fix for the non beta bransh of the game, so you dont need to follow those steps, just launch the game normally.

A recent fix brought by Triumph to a problem with the legal documents from Paradox's server (which affected a tiny minority of users) had side effect and now many players can't launch the game on their main account. Several players on the BF are affected.
So please switch off the turn timers on all tournament games (and all games overall) to prevent turns from being skipped.

A fix has been released by Triumph but it's only on the open beta branch of the game (unrelated to the balance mod).
DON'T SWITCH TO OPEN BETA for PBEM matches as it would force all other players to also switch and several of us can't as we're on GOG.

The fix should probably be released by Triumph for everyone in the next 24-48 hours.

== 2018 PBEM 2vs2 Tournament ==
Round 3 has started! Good luck to all!
Please check the updated roster! I posted on the game blogs of several matches: please send class/race as soon as possible. Games need to be played on the main branch of the balance mod (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=661597466) and with the Strong Defenders Normal Rewards mod.

Please wait a bit before hosting as we had to wait until the end of round 2 to update the SDNR mod and it might contain some issues. The tests are still ongoing and it might get an additional update tomorrow, so it's necessary to wait before hosting.

For games #20 and #22, please note that we are still waiting for the end of round 2 matches to know whether it is Bastards of the North, SleepingDog & personian, Brews Bro or Hobo Team who won their respective games.
Also LobEarLo is probably going to be replaced (if EarL confirms he quits) through a replacement match between the 3 teams eliminated so far. More information on that as soon.

== Balance == 
Work on v1.28 is well advanced on Zaskow's side, we should get a release on the beta branch by next week end.

The following changes will be confirmed for v1.28 if no further feedback:
GC26c
Forbidden Sanctum’s extra reward multiplier is 0.07 (was 0.25) so that you can get maximum 200-300 mana in addition to CP and free skill

Also 3 changes for AI are still planned for v1.28, I'll send them to the extended group #1 next week.