SkyMoLek,
Having
"all the port forawdings needed, firewalls turned off, etc"
doesn't guarantee successful connections, especially since as I've posted several times the REAL issue is the level of NAT-
filtering being applied to people's connections by
Symmetric-NAT modems, routers and or ISP NAT-filtering.
Port-forwarding is only the last-ditch effort in order to force the connection process if NAT-filtering can't be relaxed. Having said that, even if you forward your traffic from your router to your PC, but UPSTREAM of your router (ie. at your modem for example) those ports are being blocked it doesn't matter that you forwarded them from your router to your PC, your router isn't even getting the traffic to forward on in the first place.
Now let's say you in fact have done everything correctly........if even ONE of those other players hasn't.....you WILL have issues. Of course with more players, the chance/effect of having issues increases.
Since everyone connects to everyone in P2P, YOU having things "relaxed" is only one piece of the puzzle. Everyone must have the same "relaxed" settings and be a reasonable distance from one another in order to enjoy lag-free P2P gaming.
Also, if you're connecting wirelessly you must know unless your router does WMM (wireless multi-media streaming) your wifi connection will "go to sleep" (standby/low output) at times, causing loss of sync etc.
Also, the more you encrypt your wireless data the slower things will get (ie. more overhead).
Plus I believe the actual amount of data transfer in Demigod is rather large at certain points during the game creation/starting process as well as during certain points in the game and can saturate some people's internet UPLOAD bandwidth. (I have actually tested this......I have a large bandwidth cable connection which doesn't get saturated.......however my lower bandwidth DSL connection is quite easily saturated by a MORE THAN 3v3 person game and I've been able to consistently break my game by saturating it in my testing! 
)
.....and finally. Don't tell me other games work fine. Even when I buy another bottle of my favourite scotch (the Balvenie) each bottle has it's own distinctive taste. Each and every piece of software has it's own distinctive way of utilizing the network stack. NO comparisons are ever valid. Period.
My suggestions moving forward would be:
1. Try to find out if your ISP is "filtering" anything (this is easier said than done, since some of them won't ever admit they're even doing so in the first place)
2. Make sure any firewalls and NAT-filtering on your DSL modem is turned off
3. If you're in a double-NAT scenario (as described in my guide) then take steps to alleviate that (ie. by placing the WAN IP of your router into the DMZ on the DSL-modem)
4. Make sure any firewalls and/or NAT-filtering on the router are turned off as well (if it's present TURN ON gaming mode)
5. Finally, ensure the people you are playing with also have an understanding of their network and have performed the above.
the Monk
