(Review) Fantasy Nations From: Jacob@Proffitt.com (Jacob Proffitt) Date: Wed, 09 Jul 1997 00:00:00 +0000 Okay, I mentioned a couple weeks ago on a different thread that I was pretty pleased with the game I'm currently playing and suggested posting a review. True to promise, here goes. First, about me. I have played only a limited number of PBM games, spread out over the last decade. I tried a number of the 'beta-tests' you find announced here from time to time. I tried one or two free games. I had fun. I find that I tend to be pretty obsessive, though, so I've cut all my PBM energies into a single game (allowing me to 'have a life'--well, sort of). Fantasy Nations is the only PBM game I've sprung actual cash for. My preferences are for the leading nation type games as opposed to true role-playing (I take my role-playing in real life). I like complex, open-ended games because I'm so good-natured that I hate games where conflict (armed and merciless) is inevitable, expected, and cheap. I like to grow internally more than externally, and I like a reasonable economic factor. Okay, the history stuff (skip to the *** if you want just the game related stuff): Fantasy Nations is run by a small RPG store owner in Mesa, Arizona. Mike began with a real-world game he created called Struggle of Nations that he called play-by-mail, though it was more of a carry-into-the-store game. Most of the players were local and diplomacy happened more in store than anything else. Mike was the GM and hand-figured all events, battles, economy, and the effect of player actions. Still, it was pretty formalized with a number of business and army sheets and most of the turn processing (with the exception of battles) was a matter of transferring numbers from one sheet to another (with appropriate adjustments). Mike made changes and honed the game for the kind of economic balance he enjoys, including technology, supply lines, and troop balance. I rather liked playing Struggle of Nations, but a career move took me away from the action. Recently (on a random search on the internet and with fond memories of Struggle of Nations), I found that Mike has gotten modern, at least to the extent that he has a web page (sort of) and is trying to move into the PBeM market. The original Struggle of Nations has been split into two separate games, one futuristic (with more emphasis on technology) and one fantasy (with an emphasis on other things). The one that interested me most is the Fantasy Nations. *** You start Fantasy Nations by choosing a race. Your race determines what equipment you can buy and a special ability or two. There are currently around 40 different races ranging from your stock Elves and Dwarves to Heaven's Gaters, The Dread Pirate Roberts, Merchant Prince, or Viking. Each race has its own specialties (and therefore, its own weaknesses). Personally, I'm one of two Merchant Princes. I chose this race because I planned on concentrating more on internal growth than conquest. I started with 40,000 gold and an ability to hire unlimited numbers of mercenaries (everyone else is limited to 6). My ground troops suck, but buying mercenaries balances this a bit, as does pretty strong naval potential. Who you choose to be to start will largely determine what strategies you can expect to use during the game. The second choice I made was whether to go with the Universal Church or with Magic. Each has its advantages, but they are mutually exclusive. Magical troops can be quite tough (especially if you can afford a dragon), and magic can even be directly threatening (a little rock storm to tenderize the opposition). I chose to go with the Church because fanatic troops intrigue me, Heros counter the strength of magical creatures (mostly, though they can be quite unpredictable), and some of the improvements that allow church spending also increase the chances of attracting scholars (who can open doors in other areas of the game). The first couple of turns went well. I have two island provinces and three land provinces on the coast of a small peninsula. Strategically, I control the main north-south sea route (something I haven't been able to exploit, yet). About four turns into the game, I found that the frantic warnings of another player about my only neighbor (the Drow) were indeed true and that he had decided to take some of my provinces for his own. This meant I got to experiment with combat. Combat is very complex mathematically. Not only do you have to purchase and train troops, but planning an offensive involves distances and supply trains. It gets expensive, fast. Moving a unit into battle costs supplies for the unit, plus supplies for their supply train. You'll pay at least twice the original purchase cost of the unit, and potentially a lot more. Fought over territories degrade as populations decide that battle-fronts are bad places to live. Just so I'm clear, I consider this a *good* thing. I was lucky enough to find a relatively powerful ally at this point or my sojourn into the game would have been a short one. It seems that my neighbor had pulled this same stunt on a number of people and resentment was rather high. Though we were individually smaller than him (even combined we were slightly smaller), we managed to rally enough others to help us out in our small conflict. My position is still pretty perilous, but not as much as it was before--I've got all my original provinces back, and we've robbed him of a number of his foreign conquests. Small allies really can gang up on a bigger, nastier neighbor and make him behave. I like the complexity of this game and that running a constant war will wear even the biggest guys down over time. Warring is expensive and complex. You have to plan not only for the battle this turn, but plan for what will be left over for the next, and the next, and the next. Combat without pause can sap considerable strength. Expansion needs to be properly timed, and thoroughly planned. Not all the players realize this, BTW. More than one country has gone to ground because somebody got greedy and stabbed a neighbor in the back. What this means, and what I really like about this game, is that there is a wonderful variety of ways to achieve your goals whatever they are. The same strategy will not work on all your foes--eveyone has their own weaknesses and strengths. Finding complementary allies is crucial, and playing to enemy weaknesses essential. *** The mechanics of playing over email are a bit, um, unique, and may represent the biggest drawback to playing the game. First, many of the players are still local to Mesa, and have no email access. That can mean a long-distance phone call or two if you don't use the internal diplomatic messages (which are unwieldy for true diplomatic by-play). I'd like to see that change where there are enough email players that we can form our own alliances. Right now, my main allies have email, so I'm spared that. Turns are due Wednesdays around 6 pm and are a matter of emailing an attachment (MIME) to Mike. Mike sends the results Thursday night (Mesa players don't get theirs until open of business on Friday morning) which consist of a map in .TIF format, a turn summary/news .DOC, a list of your provinces in .RTF format, and a multi-sheet .XLS spreadsheet with your financials. I've been able to do just fine with Corel's office suite, translating in and out to the necessary file formats as needed. The rules are also in .DOC format as is the races document. The game is commercial, with the payment per turn left over from the hardcopy origins (Mike prints your return .XLS sheets, so it makes sense to him). What it boils down to is $.50 per page. I've never gone over $5.00, but I haven't done any truly complex military maneuvers, either. I tend to average around $4.00 per turn. Diplomatic sheets and garrison forces are free. Additionally, you get a dollar off for everyone playing that turn who you recruited (though there's a dollar minimum per turn as well). In a unique twist, you can spend game money on 'Graft' and that will translate to turn discounts as well (the dollar minimum still applies). If you have all the necessary equipment (MIME capable email client, MSWord capable word processor, Excel capable spreadsheet, and .TIF graphics viewer), don't mind the big downloads, and can afford the cash, I highly recommend the game. The strategy is complex, the economic model well thought-out and your decisions affect future choices in a believable manner. I really like the latitude in the game, making it possible to choose your own style of play with reasonable expectations of surviving to see it all play out. Finally, if you *are* moved to try it out, please be sure to tell Mike that Jacob sent you (I'd love to get a discount, and it gives me real financial incentive to make sure you get what you're looking for in the game). To sign up or get additional detail (like the rule book), contact Mike at <rpg@cyberhighway.net>, check out www.cyberhighway.net/~rpg (though it's pretty sparse), or email me (don't forget to remove the "nospam" from the address). Finally, I believe Mike monitors this news group periodically (though I've chosen to be quite candid anyway :), so any discussion here should attract his attention. ("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._ | Jacob Proffitt `6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`) | Jacob at Proffitt dot com (_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-' | Spam filter made necessary by _..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,' | recent deluge of junk email. (il),-'' (li),' ((!.-' | | Go ahead, make my play! Referenced By Up