Re: HELP - El Mythico...

From: casben@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (andrew bennett)

Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1993 15:08:19 +0000

u9036547@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au (Mcdermott Eric Peter Wright) writes:

>casben@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (andrew bennett) writes:

>>quirke_a@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz writes:

>>>   I've been conned into joining up in a game of El Mythico, a game
>>>   If you have experience with this game, please email me with comments on
>>>strategy and tactics, as I appear to have been dropped in the deep end. I'm

>>email me and we can continue this withhout taking up too much bandwidth.

>Noooo!  There's too much Legends/DM/etc already.  I'm into the 4th turn
>of my first game of ElMo and I'd love to pick up some tips.  Post
>public - it'd make a refreshing change ;)

Okay - well, then if there's interest in it, here goes.

Straight out - the best thing that can happen to you during game SETUP is
that you get to be a Governor of a province. Sorry, but there is no way
around it - the Governor has a BIG advantage early on in terms of
available manpower (all in the one place - his town) and the equipment he
can buy and deliver to his port. As a guerilla, you have a better chance
of being close to "across-the-border" villages and if your governor hasn't
played before he MAY not be entirely sure where you start, but that's
about it. Before I go any further, perhaps I better give a brief summary
of what the game is about for anyone who DOESN'T know what ELM is about.

SUMMARY: El Mythico is a PBM game set in a mythical south American country
  somewhere between El Salvador, Nicauragua(sp?) and Guatamela(sp?). There are
  usually 18 players involved in the game and you represent the remaining
  powerful groups left in the country after most of the reigning government
  was killed by a bomb blast in the capital. The country is divided up into
  6 provinces and a capital city, three players to each with one of them
  being nominated Governor of that province and starting in the Provincial
  capital, the other two being guerilla leaders starting in a village
  somewhere in the province.  The objective of the game is to accumulate the
  most victory points as you (and your allies maybe) use your economic and
  military forces to dominate the country and bring it under the rightful
  control of the people - namely yours. A game generally lasts between 32
  and 36 turns but most seem to be finished by turn 33. Costs will vary
  with the company running your game. WHEW !!!!!!

Now, I guess I can start by saying your game will be influenced a LOT by
your choices during setup - allignment and player type can be limited by
where you start.  For example, a guerilla player would be less likely to
choose a left-wing allignment if he was starting next to a right-wing
border such as in Cortes. The Table below gives probable allignment
choices for each province.

Cortes      Tacopulco     Galvez       Libertad    Hycondea    Diosa
Right/Centre  Left/Centre     ANY           ANY         Left       ANY

Your choice of player type affects the amount of PERSONAL income each
character generates each turn as well as the special abilities you gain at
later ranks in the game. Most people choose one of only two types - the
Military or Underworld leaders are BY FAR the most popular.  The
Politician or the Clergy are mostly ignored by all but seasoned players
and as such can often be good choices - they are both similar in their
special abilities which require you to be present in an urban centre aT
the end of a turn to work. The military leader only gives his combat bonus
to combats in which he is present (WHILE he is present) naturally. The
underworld leader is pretty weak early on and should probably go and hide
in the jungle somewhere. However, later on - his invest order is so very
powerful that it can pay for huge military forces even though you may not
control even a single population centre. I generally choose either
military or underworld and make every effort to wipe out my competitors
for the rank 6 position BEFORE we get there.

As a general comment - TALK TO THE OTHER PLAYERS IN YOUR PROVINCE - it has
been my proven (shamefully) experience that a player who doesn't talk to
anyone early in the game will certainly be attacked by the other two in
his province or his next door neighbors if he doesn't know them.

Something else that should influence your allignment choice is the type of
equipment available to you from your arms supplies. Although you can
usually buy equipment from anyone, obviously a left-wing supplier is going
to charge you much more if you are of right-wing allignment.

Left wing get the BEST APC in the game - the BMP. They also get the BEST
helicopter, the Mil-24 Hind. Their fighters are on a par with most
right-wing aircraft. They also get a range 5 artillery unit which no-one
else has an equivalent of - be careful though, support orders only work
out to 4 hexes range. Left wing gear is more expensive that right-wing but
in my opinion - better quality. As a fair guide to effectiveness in ELM -
cost in AP = relative effectiveness.

Right wing players get the cheapest hardware and a really good
fighter/bomber in the A4 skyhawk and cheaper artillery with shorter range
though. That is a about it - infantry weapons cost the same for everybody
but the righ-wing player has a wider choice of AT weaponry for his ground
troops.

Centreist players get the BEST aircraft in the game - the Mirage III and
they also get a really wide selection of Tanks to build. They also get the
BEST standalone air defense unit in the game - the Rapier. Centreist
equipment costs a little bit more than right-wing but usually not much
more. Their range 4 artillery unit costs the same as the left-wing range 5
unit.

Allignment will also affect the way AP spent on population centres is
calculated - left-wing players are more effective at influencing the
workers, right-wing the rich and centrist the middle-class. Try to balance
your spending so that you get an approximately equal effect between
villages initially.

In my next post, I'll talk specifically about strategies for the early
game.

Andrew Bennett.
casben@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au
<standard disclaimer>

References

HELP - El Mythico...
quirke_a@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz
Mon, 12 Apr 1993 15:49:15 +0000
Re: HELP - El Mythico...
casben@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (andrew bennett)
Tue, 13 Apr 1993 04:28:21 +0000
Re: HELP - El Mythico...
u9036547@wampyr.cc.uow.edu.au (Mcdermott Eric Peter Wright)
Tue, 13 Apr 1993 12:43:40 +0000