Re: ME-PBM: neutrals in grudge games

From: Patrick F. McGehearty <patrick@convex.COM>

Date: Fri, 23 Sep 1994 13:22:31 +0000

In article <14824@eastman.Kodak.Com>, usenet <usenet@eastman.Kodak.Com> wrote:
...trimmed
> ... I also think
>it's pretty hard for a team to win while sabotaging
>a neutral that has joined (or any other team member)
>unless the opponents are incompetent.  There just
>aren't that many free orders which don't need to be
>used against the opponents. If the neutral keeps
>his characters moving and active in enemy areas,
>about all they can do is steal gold.  If they try
>to get his characters in enemy areas, the enemy might
>get them!
>
In a joint effort, a team could put 2 or more agents in each pop center
of a neutral, and steal the treasury dry (or at least enough to eliminate
any gold victory condition).  Companies of emissaries could influence
away popcenters.  Assuming the game makes it to turn 25 or so, a team might
have 30 emissaries of skill 60 or better.  That can grab quite a few
popcenters, eliminating the popcenter victory condition.  Armies are
visible and easy to catch with the scout army command.  Combined with Scout
for Characters, armies can be made to go away in two turns.  That eliminates
miltary power and possibly character victory conditions as well.  If a team
has been deceptive about their goals so the former neutrals are not
expecting the stab in the back, and the team prepared for this action by
slowly gathering information about location of pop centers, names of army
commanders, etc, they can prevent one to three neutrals from winning
in two moves near the end of the game.  Victory points can be a fleeing
advantage if your teammates start coming after you.

Of course, this likely to be more serious for the Dark Side, as the
individual players frequently have victory conditions which include
obtaining the death/termination of one of their allies starting characters.

>Also many games end with little or no warning (the
>enemy realizes it doesn't have a chance and wants
>to start using their money in a new game where they
>do.)  A team planning sabotage will probably not
>succeed in my opinion.
>
It happened at least once and was discussed in the Whispering Winds and
the Mouth of Sauron.  I prefer to play on a true team which does not
backstab and sabatoge.  In my current team game, we are transferring funds,
artifacts, resources, and pop centers around as needed, and coordinating
agent actions for maximum effect.

- Patrick McGehearty
  patrick@convex.com

References

Re: ME-PBM: neutrals in grudge games
usenet@eastman.Kodak.Com (usenet)
Thu, 22 Sep 1994 14:36:14 +0000

Referenced By

Re: ME-PBM: neutrals in grudge games
usenet@eastman.Kodak.Com (usenet)
Thu, 22 Sep 1994 14:36:14 +0000