Atlantis Times v1.1 v02n08 From: JJC%MP068@MPA15AB.mv-oc.Unisys.COM Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 03:05:11 +0000 ######################################################################## =-=-= Atlantis Times v1.1 Volume 2 Number 8 =-=-= ######################################################################## Words from The Big Guy: One person appears to be playing mutliple factions. That person (or persons) should contact me ASAP. Ok, I can report that the game will continue, but at a new host. The address for orders is: JJC@MP068.MV-OC.UNISYS.COM. Mail sent to the GM%TRPASB address will forward while that machine stays around. REMEMBER, send game problems to: jjc@MPA15C.mv-oc.unisys.com. I don't read the mail at the other addresses!!! Remember, there is a limit of 72 characters per line for Times submissions. Anything over 72 characters will wrap around auto- matically. Well, we no longer have heffalump. The mailing list is no longer available. I'll keep running the game, but we really need a list server of some sort. Anybody got a system we can use? Send Times to: jjc@mpa15ab.mv-oc.unisys.com Send Orders to: JJC@MP068.MV-OC.UNISYS.COM Send problems/comments/bug reports/questions to me personally at: jjc@mpa15c.mv-oc.unisys.com I read the mail at the times address once a week, when I'm setting up the Times. I NEVER read mail where the orders go to, so don't send anything but orders there. Good luck, and enjoy. - TBG ######################################################################## Sludge looked around the table at the Vermin. They were all sweaty and flushed with excitement from their first live performance. "Pogo," Sludge said, pointing to one of the Vermin, "How much did you make?" "Sixty silver, chief," Pogo said. Sludge was impressed. "How about you, Fledge?" "Sixty silver, Sludge," Fledge said. Sludge looked around at the other Vermin, receiving nods of agreement all around. Amazing place, this Atlantis, where everyone received the same amount in handouts for entertaining. "Any good gossip out there?" Sludge had instructed the Vermin to keep their ears open while performing. Pogo raised his hand. "I heard about this faction of people without swords looking for people with swords." Fledge hit Pogo on the back of the head. "That's people with swords looking for people without swords," Fledge corrected. "Oh." Pogo blushed. "That's more serious, then." Sludge scowled. "Any idea who these people are?" he asked. "I heard," Pogo said, "that they call themselves the Newbie Alliance." Sludge took a deep breath and counted to ten. It didn't help. "You idiot," he yelled, standing and hitting Pogo on the back of the head, "that's us! We're part of the Newbie Alliance. Do we seem like the sort of people to hurt unarmed folk?" He smacked Pogo across the back of the head again. "Er, of course not, chief, sir," Pogo said, rubbing the back of his head. "That's better then," Sludge said, "let's have no more of that rumor." ------------------------------- The Skulking Vermin! World renowned entertainers and vagabonds. More knock knock jokes since the last Doors concert! ------------------------------- Skulking Vermin (109) ######################################################################## Hans Shadowspawn's Guide to a Good Time in Atlantis brought to you by Merry Prankster Publishing ============================================ INTRODUCTION This month, we travel to Roddendor (4,6), the city that never sleeps. One problem with giving a guide to Roddendor, is that whatever you say, it's been said before! When it comes to strange lifestyles and bizarre inhabitants, Roddendor is the place to be. GEOGRAPHY Roddendor is located in the southwest of the continent, in the southern plains. It overlooks the lovely bay of Roddendor, with sweeping beaches making up the coast. The mountains of Aberdaron overlook the entrance to the bay, like a giant wall shielding Roddendor from the ocean. Swamps and forest make up much of the remaining surroundings. THE NATIVES The strange natives of Roddendor can be seen at all hours of the day, or more often, the night. There are the bizarre (like the reptilian Saurian Siblings), the crazed (such as the manic Skinflayers), and the ones with the cool accents (like the members of the Professional Association of Trading Oligarchs.) There are even rumors of a strange organization of Merry Pranksters, but they are rarely seen anymore. THINGS TO DO Hey, you're in Roddendor. Maybe we should list the things you CAN'T do to save space! Anything at any time seems to be the motto around here. Despite the strange people (and otherwise) around here, visitors find themselves very welcome, once they get over the shock. One warning, however: if a Skinflayer seems a bit TOO friendly, maybe you should find an excuse to vacate the premises. EDITOR'S NOTE Two months ago, we did a review of Mizip. Since then, we have received a few complaints about the accuracy of our report. While there has been a bit of trouble (the rumors of the cause of the Emporer's death range from spice overdose to complete peasant rebellion), and some random violence, we at Prankster Publishing maintain that the SUBSTANCE of the report was generally correct, and that we cannot be held liable for any damage or deaths due to misreading our review. ######################################################################## The swordsmen practised their art on the lower deck under the watchful eye of the master swordsman, Bos. Lord Hetherington was pleased as he watched from the upper deck of the galleon which had taken the shipbuilders over a year to build but was capable of carrying 150 men with swords and armour. His face changed when he began worrying about his magician. He had spent $200 on chemicals and equipment but he wasn't sure that it was possible to study magic in the small cabin on board the ship while it carved though the Great Ocean. Does anybody know? Could the Times (which was delivered by carrier pigeon) have an article about the possible activities on board a ship? Lord Hetherington was very keen to tax the coastal regions upon which he came but was it possible without leaving the ship? ######################################################################## "FFFFOOOOOOooooooooPPP!" All around the quiet town of Badalona, echoed this mysterious noise. Then there was silence again. Under a tree, where once Starmage Squielperder of the Thoughtmages of Drakewood sat unmoving, there was little to be seen but a faint trace of yellow smoke. "Gee", thought Lynn to herself, "That _was_ some spell!" ######################################################################## Dances On Oceans rode high in Seaweed Nellie's saddle, his face beatific and glowing with pride. The tent revival meeting, which he'd at first thought was a bit of a flop, had actually paid great dividends! Of course, there was the cleanup required after all the rotten eggs and tomatoes, and the tar and feathers to be scrubbed off...many of the Zamorans were surprisingly resistant to religious conversion! But it was the enthusiasm of several of the small boys who had slipped in underneath the tent wall that made it all worthwhile. They came up to him after his bath, telling him how much they'd enjoyed his stories of the sea, and how they'd always wanted to sail the great oceans. They called themselves the Lost Boys, and said their only friends were far, far away in never-never-land. Their leader was this rather foppish young fellow named Peter, who never seemed to sit still for long. But after Dances had explained the great danger of staying in Zamora to face the great warlords of the Northern Wind, Peter finally settled down and discussed shipbuilding. Now, at last, Dances on Oceans finally had a promise of a full hundred devout followers, ready to build the mighty vessels that would carry the Gospel of the Oceans across all of Atlantis! Of course, his new followers were all untrained and unruly boys, who didn't seem very committed to his sermons and kept looking at stars and trying to fly... But still, it was a start. And today, even the dread news of great wars to the north, and the stories of vivisection and cannibalism by his temporal master Doktor Vox, couldn't dampen his spirits. Soon he would ride the great Oceans in a fleet of towering silver galleons, shouting his message to all! And behind him, the Lost Boys were whispering excitedly about a return to Never-Never Land... ######################################################################## EFFECTIVE CAVALRY The abundance of plains in Atlantis begs the upstart emperor to ask when is it worthwhile to turn the infantry into cavalry. A unit must have a skill level of two in riding to gain the combat bonus. This requires three months of study without a teacher and only two with a teacher. All calculations will assume that a teacher is available. A unit with a sword skill of one [60 days training] will fight like a unit of skill three when trained in riding for two months. The same unit would have acquired a sword skill of three [180 days training] in the same time it would have taken to learn which end of the horse points forward. Because the bonus only applies to units fighting in a plain sector, it would have been better to have continued study in sword. At skill level two [120 days training], the cavalry unit would fight at level four. If the unit had trained in sword instead, it would only be at level three [240 days]. It would take another month's study in sword to fight at the same level. At this point it is worthwhile to study riding (provided the unit stays in plain sectors). At higher skill levels, the difference becomes greater. The table below shows how many month's extra study is required for an infantry unit to fight at the same level as a similar cavalry unit. Starting Extra months of Level study needed -------- --------------- 1 0 2 1 3 3 4 4 5 4 6 5 7 7 A riding teacher is easy to obtain (three months of training) while it is not always practical to have a higher level unit teaching sword. Without a sword teacher the difference is greater, which makes study in riding even more attractive. In summary, for units that are staying in plain sectors it is always better to train in riding once sword level two is reached. This analysis courtesy of Dr. Duncan, Professor of Political Science, University of Zamora (faction 21). ######################################################################## Mithin never knew what hit him. He was in the Cellar, studying some difficult passages from the Innkeeper's "Book of Things" when four knives entered his body simultaneously, silently and from behind. Grieve, Black Father and the new master of the Brotherhood of the Mist accepted his Black Cloaks' report without expression, then dismissed them. Discipline was his mastery, and the emotions that raged within had no chance of revealing themselves to his inferiors. He touched a small switch, and a section of wall panel slid back to reveal a darkened passage way that ended abruptly after ten feet. At the end hung a tall mirror, its glass clouded in mist. "Mirror, mirror in the hall, who has the most evil mind of all?" droned the Black Father, fully expecting immediate gratification. "The Band of Restless Acquaintances, Oh Toxic One", was the indifferent reply. "Impossible!", exploded Grieve, "I've dismembered babies, flung innocent men into cesspools and served Cascade Blue Lager in the Inn! How could anyone top that!" "The Acquaintances have similarly dismembered, flung and served, Oh Noxious Master, and have also mugged defenseless people, indulged in insurance fraud and cheated on the Social Service", replied the Mirror. "I've done all that", snarled Grieve, "What else?" "They smell pretty bad, too". With that, the Mirror clouded over and fell silent. Grieve stormed back into his study and flung his bottle of "Eau de Festering Corpse" into the fire where it smashed, filling the room with its unique fragrance. Outside, several trees died. Grieve sat down, and penned a diplomatic missive - "To whomsoever commands the Band of Restless Acquaintances, On reflection, it would appear that yours is the discipline most advanced in the pursuit of those ideals held dear by the Brotherhood of the Mist, of which I am honoured to be the leader. Please accept this as our token of respect and plight of fealty. I hope that our two states can work together to further the spread of discipline and enlightenment, and the elimination of the weak and unworthy. May the Mist be with you, Grieve. ######################################################################## Memoirs of a not so lonely scout part IV I'm sorry all you faithful readers that I didn't write something for you last month. The reason is that I planned a vacation and decided to take a trip south. Guess what happend. Just as with my last trip I ended up in a lot of water without a ship to take me anyway. So it was nothing to do than to return to the peaceful (but rather boring) Village of Sledmere. Here the unresting news reached me. In most of the northern provinses unrest had broken out. Lonely scouts had agitated to the peasant masses and tried convinced them that they should stop paying taxes to the Padisha Empire and the House of Diamante. The Knights of the household og Diamante didn't take this with ease and brutaly slaughtered all the scouts causing the unrest. The rumours tell that a lot of innocent bystanders also lost there lives. And I who had thougth to go and visit Mizip this summer. Don't think that that sound like a good idea now that scouts live a dangerous life in the northern provinses. Rumours of great troop movement into the mountain of Grisbygd has also reached us. It seems like the Emperor Shaddam has passed away and that the alleged cannibal Dr. VOX has lead agreat force up from the south to get his hands on spieces that the empire hide away. Well to be more accurate than that I have heard that the Empire and Diamante was slaughtered and barbecued up in Grisbygd. Some even claim that black magic was used to throw lightning bolts on the Imperial troops. I'm also told that the Empire plans to evacuate the continent and they are building boats as fast as they can. Well that could save a few of the nobility but I doubt that the main army will be able to evacuate. Just hope that the war doesn't reach Sledmere. Well why should it here is absolutely nothing to find. Well that all for this time my faithful readers ######################################################################## Loriman watched from one of the X X_o X few useable rooms in his tower as the XX | XX \o builders slowly worked to make it a XXXXXXXX | o larger structure. It would still be many XXXXXXXXXX| |\ months before it was completed but it XXXXXXXXXXXXX X would not be needed to keep the people XXXXXX XXXX \o o warm until the winter arrived. Not that XXXXXX XXXX | X/| everyone would be able to benifit from XXXXXX XXXX _| _| it, only a select few would have quarters. ######################################################################## ATLANTIS ECONOMICS PART 11 This week: The military solution to peasant overpopulation. Attacking the peasants in your own territories may seem extreme, but it may be the only way to restore profitability to your empire. Don't be concerned about "overkill" either. In migration from adjacent provinces will quickly repopulate even a province completely denuded of peasants. Since each adjacent province migrates out 5% of its population a turn (in one of 4 random directions), net in migration will be 1.25% of the difference between the target province and each of its adjacent provinces. For an empty province next to 2 plains (~3500 each) and 2 forests/mountains (~1500 each), this amounts to about 125 people a turn. This means that even if you kill all the peasants in a swamp, you may need to do it again in 8 months! Recall the formula for hand to hand combat "even battles" developed in Part 5. Na/Nb = Square root (Pb/Pa) where Na = Number of troops on Player A's forces (attacker) Nb = Number of troops on Player B's forces (defender) Pa = A's probability of hitting B Pb = B's probability of hitting A Let Player B be a 1050 peasants in the target swamp. The troops needed in a single unit to fight them "evenly" are: 1050 Level 0 525 Level 1 Swords 150 Level 2 Swords (or better) Clearly Level 2 swordsmen are the soldier of choice. Since half of these are expected casualties, level 2 troops also cut your loses significantly. Note that 1/7 the number of level 2 troops, should be the minimum you should consider attacking with. To ensure victory, also bring along a tactician, The 73-74 casualties in the free round should ensure victory. The number of level 2 swordsman can be reduced by substituting behind troops of equivalent killing power. You don't want to reduce the forward troops by more than half though, if the peasants break through to the behind troops their hit probability goes from 1% to 40% (assuming they are attacking level 1 armed bowmen)! To calculate the substitution value of your behind troops, compare their hit probability to the 49% of the level 2 swords. Soldier Substitution value(in level 2 swordsmen) L1 Longbow 0.20 L2 Longbow 0.51 L3 Longbow 0.82 L4+ Longbow 1.00 L1 Crossbow 0.27 L2+ Crossbow 0.33 Note that I calculated the value of a crossbowmen by dividing his 1 round value by 3. This underestimates their substitution value, as a hit in round 1, is more useful then a third of a hit in each of the first three rounds. They also get a full attack in the free round. The substitution value of a wizard can be similarly calculated. A lightening bolt kills about 6 a turn, so a wizard can replace about 12.24 level 2 swords. This "overestimates" the value of a wizard though since you have less troops, your break point will come up quicker. Provided all your substitutions in wizards and bowmen result in the net size of your force getting larger, this effect can be neglected. The above calculations give you a minimum value for the size of your force. Don't hesitate to use more (a lot more if you have it), since provinces do repopulate quickly. One final caution, never attack peasants that are guarded unless you have absolutely overwhelming force. Even a single guarding wizard can shift the odds significantly. A behind wizard with a lightening bolt has the killing power equivalent to 600 peasants! Wait a turn and wipe out the guarding troops before engaging the peasants. Next installment: Shipbuilding strategies (may not appear in next week's Times) The above analysis generated by the scribes of faction 59, "Larson's Adventurers", formed in Gurkacre (9,14) on Jan 01 reachable at "Bill_Larson@ncsu.edu" ######################################################################## Once upon a time. On one hot july night like this one. Many many years ago. The great crohyze himself had to earn his name. Knife in his teeth. Paint on his face. He silently darted among the fields of tall crakin grass. Blowing with hot wind. Even at that age. He had already learned the way of shadows. The hormuz were strong. They had told him. Their stone structures lined with fire spitters. They were vigilant. Ever aware of crohyze and his comrades. But tonight was to be different. Tonight was to be the birth of the great one. To be continued. ######################################################################## "What a glorious morning" thought Islena, soaking up the sun as she visited the guard posts. No-one was asleep at their post, everywhere was quiet, but her mood was terse as she sensed the danger. Then Islena heard the scream and the harsh sound of a blaring horn. The hordes attack was beginning. Giving Islena a troubled glance, Laurana and Thallen came closer, a grim silence almost overwhelming as they realised the grave extent of the situation. Islena turned to her friend, " Thallen, go tell Iridal what is happening. We shall gain you some time, so run as fast as you have ever done." "Laurana, you and Silk go and gather the scouts together. And Hurry!" ordered Islena. "Everyone is assembled awaiting your command Islena" reported Ewan. "Awaiting my command" thought Islena. Drawing a deep breath she sighed, she did not want to fight again so soon. Everything in her life had been meaningless until she had joined the chain. Her death would not be the same. If Iridal needed time, that's what she'd get. "Let's go" she called. ............ It was morning when the storm over Ebonok blew itself out. The pale gold light streamed over the tents as the sun rose above from the east. "Iridal, I must speak to you!" called Thallen. "What is it?" asked Iridal, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "The Sepultura Hordes have taken the field and attacked Dane Battalion." "Are you certain?" asked Iridal as she scrambled into her clothes. "Yes, I saw them myself, a hundred or more" replied Thallen."Islena and a few others have challenged them, although they are outnumbered, to give us some time to prepare." "Sound the alarm" Iridal ordered, rattling off other instructions. "And have everyone ready to fight in five minutes, these fools have made a fatal mistake." ######################################################################## Gar was back in the tavern, again. Sprawling at the rough hewn table with him was Flynn, one-time swordsman and manic depressive. Both men were almost incoherently drunk. Arrete had stopped bringing them foaming tankards, and was now trying to decipher their slurred speech. Without expletives and vague pauses, their conversation could be reconstructed as: "Think I'd get some sort of an award. Third time, you know. Third time. I've been down there three times." "Cold. No good for your sword hand. Fingers just sieze up." "Three times. Each time, stopped a war. Should be a hero. Am I a hero?" "Mate, you're a hero." "Not to Thorin, I'm not. You know what? He hasn't stopped. Building a bigger army. Bigger. You know why?" "Cold. Too cold for fighting." "The peasants. Says they eat too much. I spent a month on my knees, praying, and it WORKED! Could've just said, too bad, kill the lot of 'em. Didn't. Wanted to stop the blood from flowing. And now he wants to kill two thousand peasants, 'cause they eat too much!" ######################################################################## =-=-= END TIMES 208 =-=-= ######################################################################## Up