Olympia: Auraculum changes

From: Carl Edman <cedman@lynx.ps.uci.edu>

Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000

John Morrow wrote:
: srt@aero.org (Scott Turner) writes:
: >Take auraculum notification.  No doubt the players who auraculated
: >later in the game complained that notification put them at an unfair
: >advantage.  Strictly speaking, that's of course true.  But doesn't
: >that add some spice and interest to the game, knowing that if you do
: >this thing you'll be challenging a power structure?  Doesn't it make
: >it interesting to rush to be the first to auraculate?  It makes the
: >decision on when to auraculate interesting as well.  Wait, and be
more
: >powerful?  Or auraculate sooner and get the drop on others who
follow?
:
: The ability to auraculate first is largely based on finding the
: required material first which advantages large alliances who cover
: large tracts of land the fastest.

On this issue I'm probably better informed than anyone else short of
Atnerks himself, and I do not believe that you are correct.  All it
takes is 100 gold and 5 mithril which can be found in the deep mines in
any mountain province.  Gate crystals are rare, but mithril isn't.

Indeed at the time BtA auraculated he had had the materials at hand for
years and the next few mages to auraculate (however briefly) mostly came
from minor alliances without big resource gathering capacity.

When a wise mage auraculates is determined not by resource scarcity but
by the fact that auraculation is a one shot doubling of maximum aura.
Any point in time is a trade-off between current power and long-term
power.  When BtA auraculated he did receive (and lovingly frame) a
letter from an otherwise well-informed enemy taunting him for "premature
auraculation".  But he showed them all, didn't he... ! (manic laughter
fades into the distance).

What BtA can thank his alliance for is a huge number of aura items which
enabled him to remain the leader in the maximum aura race until he
passed on despite his early auraculation.  I do suspect though that this
happy state has not lasted.  By now any number of other AOO mages have
auraculated and with much higher base maximum aura than BtA had.  Those
mages should have bypassed him some time ago.

As far as the rules change is concerned I think it is a mistake to do
away with auraculum notification.  As it is the game has precious few
threads of real global competition.  Ruling large tracts of land is
fairly obvious and it may allow you to claim the highest honor in that
area.

But what about the mage race ?  For many players winning it was the main
goal in Olympia.  Without auraculum notification it isn't even possible
to get a standing in this contest.  If you want to make it fairer and
remove the advantages of the early auraculators give a complete listing
of all auraculators (including time of auraculation and maximum aura at
auraculation) to all auraculum owners every time a new member joins that
group.

Carl Edman

References

Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
jeremy@insignia.com (Jeremy Maiden)
Wed, 20 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
skrenta@rt.com (Rich Skrenta)
Thu, 21 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
bfw@icpsr.umich.edu (Ben Wu)
Tue, 26 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
srt@aero.org (Scott Turner)
Tue, 26 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
morrow@newton.crisp.net (John Morrow)
Wed, 27 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
jeremy@insignia.com (Jeremy Maiden)
Wed, 20 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
skrenta@rt.com (Rich Skrenta)
Thu, 21 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
bfw@icpsr.umich.edu (Ben Wu)
Tue, 26 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
srt@aero.org (Scott Turner)
Tue, 26 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Olympia proposed G2 changes, for review (long)
morrow@newton.crisp.net (John Morrow)
Wed, 27 Nov 1996 00:00:00 +0000