Game 546- Full Diplomacy

[The Gray Mouser]

I don't think HA had any chance of taking bronze, even with Runnimede. I'm one who fights untill the end also, except when I played the HA, lol

Well, perhaps the Druid (you) might have clung (or is it clinged?) onto 3rd with the Halfling having two regions at the end. 

My point is I was trying to determine if the Halflings are viable, or should there be genocide?  I am but a mediocre player, and did have help from a wizard kingdom.  But I think players would enjoy the uniqueness of the Halfling experience and I don't think Ry Vor is thinking about offing them anymore.  A really good player could go for gold with them, I just aspired to Bronze.   And I knew either the Sorcerer or Dark Elf were going to win, and the other get Silver.  Probably our two best players right now.  I had no contact with the Druid to know what he was doing other than seeing (through Halfling ability) the massive trades with the Illusionist. I was pretty much doing a bit of artifact hunting, building Cradia up to an unassailable level, getting brigades like Ents to veteran, and for the Halflings, building up a respectable magic corp.  

I would definitely choose them again.

I tend to like the Halflings, Amazons, Lizard Kingdom, Dwarves and Rangers.  No, victory is not going to be easy.  But it is a fun game especially if you aren't jumped by three kingdoms early.

[RELLGAR]

I don't think the HA are there yet. Need to raise there wizard lvl cap and or lower Dome. They can't defend themselves, which is why you needed another kingdoms wizards help. Then they would be viable and on part with most other kingdoms. I'll never play them again.

[JonDoe]

I have seen two HA kingdoms do reasonably well in this game and another. Both were full diplomacy and both the HA communicated with neighbors. The HA has many flaws but can produce a lot of gold and work the right deal to effectively hire some protection. In this game I was given 25k gold per dome I had cast. What wizard would refuse that in the early parts of the game while developing other wizards. In a full diplomacy game a think the HA as said has there challenges but is not impossible to win with. In an anon game I think they are basically lost for the reasons Relgar is saying. They actually make more gold than they can spend in fairly short order. In a team game though the HA can prove to be one of the strongest allies funding other allies while building there own political arsenal.

In this game I was most impressed that the HA actually forced the RD to defend on there initial meeting at cradia. for help I actually only cast a grand total of 4 domes for the HA and it was enough to send the RD running with his tail between his legs.

[Ry Vor]

Interesting stuff.  In Fall of Rome, the main criticism was the kingdoms played similarly - it was chiefly a military game, with magic only through weapon artifacts and the High Priestess. 

What we have been trying to do with the 24 different kingdoms currently available in Alamaze is to provide 24 unique experiences.   I may not be impartial, but I think we've pretty much done that.  The High Elves and Dark Elves some might say are similar, but the traits make them different.  The Dark Elves still have the most traits, and some powerful ones, but the High Elves enjoy Oakendell and slightly better archers.  The Amazons and Nomads have some similarities, but we hope some of the nuance beyond geography show through.  I don't think I've seen kingdoms anything like the Ancient Ones or Demon Princes in other games.  Or Pirates or Red Dragons for that matter.  The Halflings were somewhat a daring experiment and have been tweaked some for example with introducing the Ents.  I agree, their advantages in diplomacy games are diminished in anonymous games.  Again, Alamaze was not designed to be an anonymous game, that is an accommodation to players who request it.  I admit it is a little less intense format, but it does kind of tie one hand behind the back of some kingdoms.  

I'm hoping I can get the meat of Maelstrom to Mike sometime next week.  I've got a little case of writer's block.  A couple people would like new kingdoms, but what is it we haven't covered?  I will try to do the Lycans: werewolves and vampires as the main characters.  The ideas for all but any new kingdoms are down in writing, but all that has to be expounded upon in order to code.

In addition to the intention that any kingdom can be in any of the 12 regions in Maelstrom, that the regions themselves each provide different experience and strategy.

[Netstrider]

As the Dragon who had to turn and run, I will say that trying to play the RD against the SO is nigh impossible. I have personally chased the RD out of R4 twice as the SO. Doesn't matter how early you try to jump on them, it's just too easy for the SO to get dome and once that happens it's all over for a military kingdom.
I have played the HA and done well in team games. So I knew what strength the HA army would likely be and it was about the same as the RD force. Between the mountains and the HA leaders it's a bad scene for the poor dragons. And then once the SO popped in and started doming things there was clearly nothing that could be done.
So yes, HA is fine in a team or diplomacy game and a valuable partner. By themselves in an anonymous game they don't have much going for them IMO. I would never play them in an anonymous game. Well, that pretty much goes for most of the bad mage kingdoms, so the HA isn't special in that regard.

[Ry Vor]

When there is discussion on kingdoms, and I think, "that doesn't seem right", I use the best tool I have which is Valhalla kingdom rankings.

So, glancing at that just now, we have:
1.  Underworld.
2.  Necromancer
3.  Illusionist
4.  Pirates
5.  Warlock
6.  Druid
7.  Red Dragon

Then we have Halfling at #11 and Sorcerer at #15. 

From my perspective, and has been true "for all time" for Alamaze, the important thing is the difference at pretty much anytime between, now, 1st and 24th, is right around 100%.  So 24th might average 6400 points per game, and first place averaging around 13,000.  If you've played some other games like MEPBM or Hyborian War, you might know the spread there is more like 1200%.

Probably the most common topic I had with Phil when he was running it was, "Which is more important, the kingdom or the player?"  Not that the Halflings play anything like the Sorcerer, which are both much different from the Red Dragon. 

That's sort of my point.  The kingdoms are very different, not like white vs. black in chess, or stratego, risk, or pretty much any game.  Right now the Black Dragons reside at #24.  But the other part of that is who has been playing them, as I mentioned elsewhere regarding the Sacred Order.  If say, Netstrider played the Black Dragons, I would expect he would have a good shot at a top 3 finish.