Re: long-term fun

From: Carol Mulholland <Carol@flagship-uk.demon.co.uk>

Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Andy Gaw wrote:

>> How about ageing monarchs, generals, troops?

I think this has been tried in games where the player's position is a
ruling family, so children have to be reared and trained to replace the
older generation. Works well in a simulation, but still doesn't really
reduce the strength of a long-established player.

The ageing players in a sports team are units rather than people,
so it's plausible to have some sort of deterioration of equipment -
with age or use - in a strategic game. But again, the strong players
will stay strong.

I think that the fixed map is the main problem.

Of course, any attempt to 'restore game balance' will be resented by
the long-established players! Why not announce that the First Age for
their region will end in 5 turns and that after this they'll be
honoured according to their scores in half a dozen stated categories
(won most battles, got the biggest navy, owns the most cities, runs the
largest alliance, hung on longest by skin of teeth, GM's choice,
whatever)?

I must mention Medokh, which had the brilliant design idea of new
events being triggered as the game progresses... pity it hit a major
snag - the software was too complex to program successfully.

Carol

References

Re: long-term fun
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Fri, 05 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: long-term fun
skrenta@pbm.com (Rich Skrenta)
Tue, 09 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: long-term fun
Andy Gaw <andy.gaw@zetnet.co.uk>
Wed, 10 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: long-term fun
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Fri, 05 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: long-term fun
skrenta@pbm.com (Rich Skrenta)
Tue, 09 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: long-term fun
Andy Gaw <andy.gaw@zetnet.co.uk>
Wed, 10 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000