Re: ME-PBM: gold crisis

From: v011l6fc@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (DAVE ROSSELL)

Date: Thu, 10 Feb 1994 01:44:00 +0000

>So... what will happen to my troopies?  The rules seem to indicate that the
>troops are paid before they fight, so if I don't have the gold to pay them
>they'll quit before the battle.  Can't let that happen, can we?  What means can
>be taken to avert this?  I can sell some stuff, maybe get other Dark Servants to
>xfer me some gold - but which of these things will occur *before* the troops are
>paid?

The troops won't quit.  Your nation's tax rate will go up instead, possibly
driving you out of the game.  That happened to Rhudaur in our game, and
we're having all kinds of fun looting his decaying pop centers.  (Some of
his armies are still standing, in spite of the fact that they aren't getting
paid.)

If you don't want to be out of the game in a hurry, you'd better sell a
lot of stuff.  Troop costs are really something you have to plan a turn in
advance for, since if you want to dismiss or throw into battle to reduce
costs, you have to know ahead of time.  Otherwise, you get dependent on
sells going through.

This has been happening to me the whole game as the woodmen.  I decide on
turn 5, say, whether or not I'll have enough cash on turn seven to support
my troops.  If not, I call up my "allies" and tell them that either they send
cash, or they lose my military support, since I'll have to dismiss troops.

The sell orders are the only things that will go through before the maintenance
comes due.  The order works like this:  combat, sells, consumption, nation
transports.  You still have to pay troops you lose in combat or dismiss on
the turn they go bye-bye, hence the plan ahead part.  If your tax rate is
driven up above 100 percent, you lose.

Good luck!
>
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Dave Rossell                               "When you lay your dreams to rest,
v011L6FC@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu	            you can get what's second best,
                                            but it's hard to get enough."
						-David Wilcox

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References

ME-PBM: gold crisis
paisley@palmer.aoml.erl.gov (James Paisley)
Wed, 09 Feb 1994 21:21:34 +0000