04-03-2015, 05:54 PM
If you haven't played Titan before, it's a bit of a mental challenge trying to keep all six Kingdoms organized, and a bit of an endurance test to enter orders for all of those Kingdoms, BUT for those who opt to persevere through that, it can be a real blast.
With that said, the composite average length of a Titan game is slightly over seven turns, as one side or the other sees the writing on the wall and generally concedes. Not a critique, just a reality.
On top of the three slots (a likely increase in fees of either $10 or $20 per month, depending on your service level), given that the setup cost per side for Titan is $42, that can be a bit of an expense to absorb for an average game length of seven turns. Again, not a critique, just a reality. I am definitely NOT begrudging Rick a way to generate some revenue!
In that light, I just played a really fun experimental Titan game with some additional player-regulated (i.e. not coded into the system) rules:
1) No enemy group-to-pop-center or group-to-group interactions until beginning of T6.
2) No High Priestess 750 divinations or Wizard 751 divinations until beginning of T11.
From my perception, this helped to extend the game, to the end of T9, and so I'm wondering if it might be better to take it a step further, even.
1) No enemy group-to-pop-center (interactions with neutrals are OK) or group-to-group interactions until beginning of T11. (Again, this would be a player-regulated rule, and NOT a suggested change to the code.)
2) Pagan (no High Priestesses at all, although 751 would be allowed). This would hopefully be coded, since it appears to be a currently available variant.
In the game I just finished, even with no all-out battles between groups or pop centers, there was still a lot of conflict and maneuvering in the first five turns, particularly among political emissaries and agents and certain non-group-related spells. By having this "limited war" concept in place for the first ten turns, you could spend some time building up and even making your ESO before the "all-out war" phase truly begins in earnest. And then you're having bigger battles, with more troops, more wizards, and in my opinion, more fun.
It may even be neat to try extending the limited war to beginning of T16, although that might potentially feel too long.
Anyway, I toss it out here for the purposes of discussion. I'd be interested to see if this might spark more Titan games, as Titan game starts currently seem very low. (Once again, not a critique, just a reality. It may be perfectly fine for certain variants to be less popular or even extremely rare.)
With that said, the composite average length of a Titan game is slightly over seven turns, as one side or the other sees the writing on the wall and generally concedes. Not a critique, just a reality.
On top of the three slots (a likely increase in fees of either $10 or $20 per month, depending on your service level), given that the setup cost per side for Titan is $42, that can be a bit of an expense to absorb for an average game length of seven turns. Again, not a critique, just a reality. I am definitely NOT begrudging Rick a way to generate some revenue!
In that light, I just played a really fun experimental Titan game with some additional player-regulated (i.e. not coded into the system) rules:
1) No enemy group-to-pop-center or group-to-group interactions until beginning of T6.
2) No High Priestess 750 divinations or Wizard 751 divinations until beginning of T11.
From my perception, this helped to extend the game, to the end of T9, and so I'm wondering if it might be better to take it a step further, even.
1) No enemy group-to-pop-center (interactions with neutrals are OK) or group-to-group interactions until beginning of T11. (Again, this would be a player-regulated rule, and NOT a suggested change to the code.)
2) Pagan (no High Priestesses at all, although 751 would be allowed). This would hopefully be coded, since it appears to be a currently available variant.
In the game I just finished, even with no all-out battles between groups or pop centers, there was still a lot of conflict and maneuvering in the first five turns, particularly among political emissaries and agents and certain non-group-related spells. By having this "limited war" concept in place for the first ten turns, you could spend some time building up and even making your ESO before the "all-out war" phase truly begins in earnest. And then you're having bigger battles, with more troops, more wizards, and in my opinion, more fun.
It may even be neat to try extending the limited war to beginning of T16, although that might potentially feel too long.
Anyway, I toss it out here for the purposes of discussion. I'd be interested to see if this might spark more Titan games, as Titan game starts currently seem very low. (Once again, not a critique, just a reality. It may be perfectly fine for certain variants to be less popular or even extremely rare.)
