OLY: breaking Beastmastery From: rcb@kaiwan009.kaiwan.com (Robert Christopher Butchko) Date: Mon, 18 Sep 1995 00:00:00 +0000 It seems like the latter stages of Olympia Game One is going to involve tens of hundreds of dragons splashing up against each other, as the AOO dragon farms confront other alliances and their dragon farms; every other fighting piece having been rendered irrelevant. Or, I could be wrong. Something bad will happen to the dragon armies and they will prove too costly to rebuild. Toffler, I'm not. (Note: I am uninterested in whether Toffler was Toffler. Do not respond...) Anyway, what should be done about the grand issue of our day: _Breaking_the_Back_of_Beastmastery-Breed_Beasts_ I. Moderate Suggestions A. Lessen dragons by changing their combat ratings They're over twice as good as giant birds (but they can't fly). What if they were not (500,500) but (250, 200) or so? Giant Birds are (200, 150), and they are the next-best piece. B. Lessen dragons by making them heavier Three dragons can mount up on two flying horses. Is this really an offense against reality that should continue? B1. No one item heavier than 150 can be flown. If you have a mass of items, all under 150, you can slop them together. Otherwise they walk. B1A. New construction skill: Make Cargo Net: Using hemp grasses and iron bits, construct a net used to transport heavy items from multiple flying pieces. One week is required to construct a cargo net, with one additional day to enlarge it for each hundredweight over its initial capacity of six. B2. Make them slower. Dragons cannot be carried, and move at walking speed. You can put the damn things on horses or oxen, either. B2A. New construction skill: Create Flatbed cart. Self-evident. C. Lessen dragons by making varieties. You have your landwalkers [286], big, strong, and hard to move. You could get firedrakes [287], flying beasts with breath attacks (25,25,100), or you could get Serpents [288], nasty snakes with vulnerable arteries running the length of their bodies (150,10). Other varieties are left as an exercise for the student. D. Lessen Breed Beasts by introducing Gestation periods Breed rats: one day. Breed giant lizards: three days Breed Nazgul: six days Breed dragon: 14 days. These dates are not my concrete suggestions, just examples. E. Lessen Breed Beasts by making each breeding a skill [9508]: Breed smaller mammals [9509]: Breed Avians or [9508]: breed rats or [9508]: breed rats named Willard on Thursdays F. Make crossbreeding a separate skill Makes it a research and study harder to get started. G. Make each crossbreeding a separate skill As above, making it a separate step harder. H. Require breeding before crossbreeding. Makes it harder to get to, and prevents: Dummy Breedonly [pf0k] Skills: Beastmastery Breed Beast, Grand Master (via scroll) I. Lessen Dragons by making Knights relevant (This shouldn't be a coding nightmare: catapults and towers already target castles) Knights, now quaint, antiquated, and useless, will automatically target dragons if they are selected to attack, and have a 50% chance of killing the dragon [or automatically destroy the dragon]. I think right now fighting men are sort-of secondary in the game. Why even make Elite Guards, after all? II. Stronger Suggestions A. Breed Beasts costing 1 NP It's important, hard, and an advanced knowledge. This will keep a faction from having too many beastmasters a-breeding, and make the larger alliances like the [grossly misunderstood] AOO and its [well- intentioned] member factions from being able to tax so many dragons per turn without significant pain. B. Breeding only takes place in Spring months You have two months per year to make as many animals as you can. Good luck. (This is also good so that my breeders can get off that duty an do some other damn thing part of the time.) B2. Breeding only takes place two months a year, each beast. Good luck finding out. Smaller mammals get frisky in the spring, lizards in the fall, and minotaurs in the heat of summer. Dragons don't breed in consecutive months, but in ___ and ___. This is an annoying little wrinkle, but is a bit of info that's more of a stumbling block that'll become irrelevant once known. And who cares when rats breed? C. Beasts have Gender. You know, there are plenty of giant lizards around, but there are damn few male ones. And isn't it vexing that giant birds kill almost all the females in the nest? All this makes finding matches hard, and breeding fatalities a big problem. D. Breed Beasts Requires Religion and Beastmastery Sorta like Druidicism. Few factions have more than one priest, and they usually have enough interesting things to do. E. Beasts cannot enter or attack Structures Sure, it's a big change. But when do you think we'll ever see a big attack out on a field of battle the way things are? Unless there's some reason to intercept an attacking force, all we'll ever see are seiges and rare ambushes. I actually like this the best because it would bring about a host of tactical changes. (Note: beasts should balk at entering castled provinces. Nice try, guys) This would also reaffirm the usefulness of men, as the only pieces that matter for attacking/defending castles. E2. Beastmasters cannot stack when holding beasts, and beastmasters cannot have both beasts and men. I haven't thought this all the way out, but I'm sure it'd be a pain in the neck sometimes... [end proposal mode] That all said, I really liked the beastmastery system before the emergence of dragons as the be-all end-all. Maybe if it's tweaked a bit I can someday achieve my dream of rampaging rat armies.... -cb Referenced By Up