Warlords of China update

[AGRICOLA]

Gareth, don't be so bloody humble. The difference between you and me is that you create beautiful things whereas I merely cr*p on people's beautiful creations.

And please don't poohpooh your brilliant 'Left Hook'. After reading about it, I studied that option in depth before deciding that Brian had really closed it off by a last second change in German deployment.

[fairline]

No, I really am distracted by shiny objects

...and don't do yourself down John; I think most SLeaguers would agree you provide an invaluable service with your unparalelled playetests

[Boco]

Originally posted by techumseh
He's written a book too, it seems.

ROTFL Tech, this one may outshine "Dave's Last Moments". Be wary of Scots arguing over their big cannons!

Originally posted by the guy who still hasn't started his promised playtest.
Neither of you guys do squat for SL!

[techumseh]

Ok Dave, I see you're a published author as well!

[techumseh]

And here's my latest tome:

[AGRICOLA]

That's terminally sick...................but only too true.

[techumseh]

Here's yours, John. I must be the only scenario designer who goes out of his way to make fun of his playtesters. I may never get this thing finished.

[AGRICOLA]

OK, wise guy, I just figured out how to blow WOC out of the water.

However, being the nice person that I am, I am not going to post the gruesome details.

Later today, please expect a discreet e-mail with a section of the League of 5 Provinces OPSUM attached.




P.S. I'm going to download the poster, print it and frame it. Sincere thanks, I really love it.

[fairline]

TOTFL @Tech



OK, who's gonnna make Tech his very own Osprey cover

[Sarsstock]

Just out of curiosity Tech, from what actual war is the artwork from in your "Canadian Army in the 21st Century" from?

[techumseh]

Originally posted by Sarsstock
Just out of curiosity Tech, from what actual war is the artwork from in your "Canadian Army in the 21st Century" from?

It's from the Osprey page, Canadian titles. I think it's from the Monongahela book. http://www.ospreypublishing.com/

[curtsibling]

Hilarity!

As a Mod, I must warn against making me spill my tea with laughter at such images!

[techumseh]

Here's an update on Warlord's progress.

1. Strengthened the minor warlord's counterattack. 5 provinces have minor warlords, represented by barbarians. When you capture one of their cities, a large number of barb units are generated the next turn. The problem is that these units didn't represent a challenge as they were too weak and moved randomly, despite using a moveunit event.

Introduced a new warlord infantry unit (+1 a, d, and hits) for use by minor warlords (barbarians) only, and made all event-created minor warlord units veterans. Eliminated the moveunit events since they didn't work anyway. The changes make attacking minor warlords much more dicey, and larger forces and a bit of planning is now required.

2. Made things tougher for the human player by eliminating the ability to bribe cities (the AI can still do it) and reducing caravan payoffs by reintroducing flight to the tech tree. This makes the Communists, in particular, much more difficult to root out, as you can no longer bribe their bases.

3. Strenghtened the Kwantung Army by giving them Tsingtao at the start of the scenario. Historically, the Japanese captured the city from the Germans in 1914 and didn't give it up until 1922. By also including Tsingtao in the randomized reinforcement events, I hope to encourage Kwantung Army expansion in north-central China. Increased the frequency and number of Japanese land and naval reinforcements. The Japanese 'Nagara' class cruiser has also been strengthened.

Yet to do, is to add the 'Manchukuo' inf unit as a cheap, weak garrison unit for the KA, once certain Chinese cities are captured.

4. Minor fixes, including those pointed out by AGRICOLA.

5. Finally, I made a new barbarian leader unit.

I hope the effect of these changes will be increased competetiveness of the AI vis a vis a human player, including barbarians, the Communists, and the Kwantung Army.

I'll zip up the modified files and send them off the my playtester(s)? this weekend.

[AGRICOLA]

2. Made things tougher for the human player by eliminating the ability to bribe cities (the AI can still do it) and reducing caravan payoffs by reintroducing flight to the tech tree. This makes the Communists, in particular, much more difficult to root out, as you can no longer bribe their bases.

I have 2 comments on these changes.

Unless the size of the Commie "Area" cities is increased to 2, it will be be impossible to capture them. The cities will be razed when a warlord unit enters them.

The caravan payoffs are pretty slim as it is. The best that I've seen or tested while playing Kuomintang and the League is around 170 gold. That's not very much for a unit requiring 70 scarce shields (1 to 1.5 years for the most productive cities) to build. Playing the League, I've given up on merchants as a cost-effective way to raise cash and cash flow. There are better ways.

[Boco]

Are merchants important for the tech rate?