Ministery of information?

[Krill]

It is not just Beta, Klo and ET who would hold grudges. Snoopy was on a team that was backstabbed by the Horde, so it would not pay to say that any one person would hold a grudge. It would probably be wiser to expect everyone who knows BOH to be wary of them.

And James got a long stay in Mingapulco, about 2 months, atleast. Problem is that James is Padys' cousin, and james had already impacted the game, or rather, may have done so with infomation he should not have had access to.

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There was just so much going on in that game. 6 different teams on one pangaea does not lead itself to political stability.

OK, here is a link to the world map. Dominae made the scenario, so he would have complete pics, but other than that...



Effectively, it was me and Ormuzd in control of Ankh-Morpork, the civ with the dark red colour scheme. BOH was the next civ around clockwise, and Babylon the next around anticlockwise.

(Just posting this because, as you know, a picture is worth a thoasand words)

On the public forum, BOH posted roleplay, which would be better known as Bull****. Nobody liked it. It pissed alot of people off.

They treated me and Ormuzd with respect, in private, though both of us were asked to act aggressively against BOH members in public. Just another example of how BOH tried to control people.

BOH backstabbed 2 teams, was at war with 3 teams at once (split their armies into 3 different groups, and still outnumbered each individual opponent), and had been at war with every single civ at some point or another.

Aggressive does not even begin to describe them.

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I would not trust BOH, to be honest. They are manipulative, aggresive, and very stubborn posters, as CM showed last night.

[Dominae]

Sarantium seems like the team to watch out for. alexman and Fried are probably their best players, but alexman will probably not get too involved, and Fried will probably get bored because it's too slow. He's ultra-competitive, though, so I imagine he would like nothing better than to beat us, if the opportunity arises.

The Horde are very aggressive, yes. In this, they are a known quantity, which is to our advantage. What sets them apart from pure warmongers is their propaganda in the public forum. In the C3CDG no one was really prepared for their style of play; this time teams will be much more wary and they will get away with a lot less. In terms of game knowledge they're no slouches, but it's hard to really know given James the Scots' double-login trick; he was a very active strategist, so the information he had access to via team Bablyon (assuming he used it) could have granted incredible advantages, even if his teammates were not aware of it.

As for the Mercenary team, it's no secret that I dislike their team's concept. Part of this has to do with victory conditions (as I posted in the public forum), part to do with the difficulty they're going to represent in-game (which I cannot really complain about). I think many teams will view them as allies because of the services that they could potentially offer. This will offer them a diplomatic "shield" of sorts that no other team will possess. This is brilliant, and annoys me endlessly!

If they are far away, will we surely encounter them later on because of this survivability. If they are close, I recommend we use them against themselves and take care of them, permanently. I do not see us being able to "use them" to any particular advantage over other teams. I believe they will ultimately pick sides regardless of contracts, and will justify it any way they darn well please. For instance, they are free to make "defensive alliances", regardless of contract. So, in essence, they are like any other team, just "friendlier" with everyone. That's not good for us if we're neighbors.

As for the other teams...

[Arrian]

Dom,

How would we use the Mercs against themselves? Purchase the use of their units, have them put in a vulnerable spot, slaughter them and then invade?

I'm up for it

-Arrian

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Arrian
Dom,

How would we use the Mercs against themselves? Purchase the use of their units, have them put in a vulnerable spot, slaughter them and then invade?

I'm up for it

-Arrian

I was thinking the same thing... pay them to go fight some far away war, then invade ourselves while their mercs are away. Sounds like fun, if only we could take the 'backstab' attitude hit from other teams.

DeepO

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Dominae
Sarantium seems like the team to watch out for. alexman and Fried are probably their best players, but alexman will probably not get too involved, and Fried will probably get bored because it's too slow. He's ultra-competitive, though, so I imagine he would like nothing better than to beat us, if the opportunity arises.

ET is part of the team too, right? And Trip can play a game of CIV too... no shortage of talent on that team.

I agree with Fried maybe getting bored... OTOH, he has been admin on ladders as well, a job that does require a certain bit of tedium too. And yes, he will certainly appreciate any chance of beating us, but let's face it, all teams will. And we do the same

DeepO

[DeepO]

BTW, I foresee Sarantium going for a superearly religion, and possibly a rush tactic. We'd better not start next to them unprepared.

DeepO

[Dominae]

Originally posted by Arrian
How would we use the Mercs against themselves? Purchase the use of their units, have them put in a vulnerable spot, slaughter them and then invade?

Precisely!

They would probably not "fall" for something that obvious; I doubt they accept a contract for their own units to stand aside while we invade (that's partially why I do not trust their team-concept promises - I doubt most of them will hold up).

But we could achieve the same effect by declaring a minor war on some third party, then attacking the weakened Mercs at some later date. In this they would be very much like the AI. Of course, this requires we be aggressive against two civs at once - which may or may not be wise.

Another problem with the Merc teams is that their presence will, I think, promote warfare. Most teams will attempt to sign a contract with the Mercs as soon as possible because of the perceived advantage this will bring. Their services will be sought after, and their services are military. So if we find ourselves close to the Mercs, we can expect a fight (unless it's just us two on an island).

[Arrian]

I'm not thinking of sending them far away and then invading, I'm thinking of getting them out in the open, and killing them off. If we do it right, we purchase a set of units for which we have set up perfect counters, and thus we have a major combat advantage. Most of our units win and get XP. Theirs are dead. Then we heal up and invade.

Sending them far away is a possibility, but I'd hate to have our main invasion bog down long enough for their "far away" force to be recalled and hit us from behind.

-Arrian

edit: not in our territory, silly Arrian, can't do that...

[Dominae]

Originally posted by DeepO
I was thinking the same thing... pay them to go fight some far away war, then invade ourselves while their mercs are away. Sounds like fun, if only we could take the 'backstab' attitude hit from other teams.

I think we could "spin" the backstab in our favor by saying that contracts with a neutral team are...neutral. The Mercs could, then, of course, cry foul (unless they're superhuman in restraint), saying that their team-concept was "abused" by a opportunistic team. Yet another reason not to like them!

Seriously, their presence will offer so unique challenges, and I like that. But they might also cause some (bad) headaches.

[Arrian]

All this talk of war is making me ponder the Aggressive trait...

Tonight, perhaps I shall take the Inca out for a spin (I've only played them once, and played 'em like a builder).

-Arrian

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Dominae
Seriously, their presence will offer so unique challenges, and I like that. But they might also cause some (bad) headaches.

I agree.

I also agree that this might lead to an even more aggresive game... but last time already taught me that in demogames, you can't take too much risk. We brushed off Vox because they didn't use the military advantage they had over us... Vox nor others will make the same mistake. We need to be prepared asap, unless we start on a island all by ourselves.

DeepO

[Arrian]

Another team in Vox's situation may very well have killed us. They almost certainly would've hurt us badly.

Keep in mind that uber-lucky great leader we got really helped to! 1 elite win, 1 MGL. 1 hut popped, 1 settler. What the game took away from us in start location/land, it gave back in luck!!

-Arrian

[Krill]

Yup, definately defend this time. 5 warriors might not be a requirement, but we need atleast 3 to scout properly and defend, including the starting warrior.

[Krill]

Lego got a free settler as well, remember. I often think that that settler became Jackson, so two teams with 2 free settlers built the pyramids in the free town...

[DeepO]

Originally posted by Arrian
Another team in Vox's situation may very well have killed us. They almost certainly would've hurt us badly.

without luck, 3 out of 8 cities razed was the best they could have done, but more in case they had Mercs to stage a full inland assault, instead of GoW with only 2 elite horsies. we certainly can't open ourselves like this anymore.

We still need plenty of Grogs, including naval ones.

DeepO