Maelstrom Test Game

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

The map image is too large to paste here, but attached is the Map of The Maelstrom.

Can this be provided in a Powerpoint format like prior Resurgent map was?

Let me see....

Thank you! Resized this a little and now it prints out great! If you're able to darken and/or thicken the border lines between regions that would show up better but otherwise this map is gorgeous!

[Acererak]

Playing the CI in Krynn. Notice a few things (besides how cool everything is):

1) Setup references Northern Mists multiple places
2) Since I selected Krynn, and CI has special ability for winter it doesn't help in home region (not sure if this is supposed to change or not)
3) Didn't see any new spells in setup
4) Not sure the math on 1CI worked out right comparing to old. Certainly the top two companion brigades as mammoth in 1CI showed up, but as noted in the release notes CI gets 1 Mammoth and 1 Viking so 1CI should have 3 Mammoth and only has two. Although it's pretty powerful as well- over 32K in terrain starting!
5) I'm pretty sure I convinced Rick CI should have trackers but they did get Military Tradition (Conan was well renowned in his tracking abilities)
6) Paladins show up in recruitable and companion, companion shows max as -1 ?

Excited to see all the new possibilities!

4th cycle release notes: http://kingdomsofarcania.net/forum/showt...8#pid56728

[Ry Vor]

The map image is too large to paste here, but attached is the Map of The Maelstrom.

Can this be provided in a Powerpoint format like prior Resurgent map was?

Let me see....

Thank you!  Resized this a little and now it prints out great!  If you're able to darken and/or thicken the border lines between regions that would show up better but otherwise this map is gorgeous!

Thanks, I like it both aesthetically and for the new strategic considerations it brings to Alamaze.  I do the drafts of the map myself, and then turn it over to the master cartographer Ralf S. in Germany to make it beautiful.

[Acererak]

Agreed the new map looks great and presents lots of new challenges

[Ry Vor]

Playing the CI in Krynn. Notice a few things (besides how cool everything is):

1) Setup references Northern Mists multiple places
2) Since I selected Krynn, and CI has special ability for winter it doesn't help in home region (not sure if this is supposed to change or not)
3) Didn't see any new spells in setup
4) Not sure the math on 1CI worked out right comparing to old. Certainly the top two companion brigades as mammoth in 1CI showed up, but as noted in the release notes CI gets 1 Mammoth and 1 Viking so 1CI should have 3 Mammoth and only has two. Although it's pretty powerful as well- over 32K in terrain starting!
5) I'm pretty sure I convinced Rick CI should have trackers but they did get Military Tradition (Conan was well renowned in his tracking abilities)
6) Paladins show up in recruitable and companion, companion shows max as -1 ?

Excited to see all the new possibilities!

4th cycle release notes: http://kingdomsofarcania.net/forum/showt...8#pid56728

Trying to be brief here:
1.  Several comments on setups.  As you've figured out, the setup text hasn't been updated.  I believe the spell lists and traits should be updated, any changes in brigades and companions.
2.  You likely didn't know which regions had winter, but yes if you want to use an advantage of winter or summer abilities you'll want to be in regions subject to those effects.
3.  You should, maybe that is an open item.  You should see all the spells in another thread on Maelstrom 2019 that are given to all kingdoms, like Winged Horse, Invisible Character, Blanket of Fog. We definitely want these tried in this test game.
3.5.  On existing spells, kingdoms like the Cimmerians and Dwarves got some staple spells earlier, and some vital ones like dispel Dome of Invulnerability earlier.  Cimmerians get Valor, Shield, Fear, Lesser Masking earlier than before - seems to make sense.  Again, all kingdoms start with at least four wizards and adepts and all can have assured power of at least Power 5.  Some kingdoms with major spell list changes include Halflings and Atlantians.  
4.  Yeah, I don't think those are cummulative - they get the two Mammoths but not three.  Like you said, somewhat formidable as is.  Good, we need our generals to feel they are a match for the wizards.
5.  Yeah, good point, should have added Trackers to the Cimmerians.  They were slated to have the new traits Killers and Decisive, but we didn't add new traits.
6.  The "-1" is a code notation, should read as not limited.  When adding regional character we went through some iterations of what we could do: originally we wanted to add companion types to regions as well as kingdoms but this was too invasive through the code so found a way to add some recruitable brigade types by region to accomplish a similar objective.  The Paladins and other new brigade types are recruitable by region.  Stormgate Guards are very tough.  Several brigade values changed, Red Dragons are about 80% of before, as said, Undead are about 20% stronger, other changes.

[Draugr]

I found this in the original discussion
Is this correct for political? Without player aids could get very annoying if we do not know at least some basics
Political Model
Regional control moves from 50% to 60% of regional census. An additional level of regional influence is Tight Control which requires 80% of regional census.
There are now 5 Regional Reactions (instead of 4), the most favorable now being “Loyal”. A kingdom can only get to Loyal by Enamoring or High Council decree while having Tight Control of that region. If Tight Control is lost, the Regional Reaction reverts to Friendly.
PC resistance base (before modifiers like maintain status quo effects) is as follows by reaction level:
· 1.0 for Loyal (only possible while having Tight Control)
· 1.5 for Friendly (was 1.0 in The Choosing)
· 2.5 for Tolerant
· 3.5 for Suspicious
· 4.5 for Hostile

Base PC resistance is:
· 1.2 for Village
· 2.5 for Town
· 4.0 for Minor City, including Hidden and Mythical cities
· 5.0 for major cities, the Cities on the map.

[Ry Vor]

I found this in the original discussion
Is this correct for political?  Without player aids could get very annoying if we do not know at least some basics
Political Model
Regional control moves from 50% to 60% of regional census.  An additional level of regional influence is Tight Control which requires 80% of regional census.
There are now 5 Regional Reactions (instead of 4), the most favorable now being “Loyal”.  A kingdom can only get to Loyal by Enamoring or High Council decree while having Tight Control of that region.   If Tight Control is lost, the Regional Reaction reverts to Friendly.
PC resistance base (before modifiers like maintain status quo effects) is as follows by reaction level:
·        1.0 for Loyal (only possible while having Tight Control)
·        1.5 for Friendly (was 1.0 in The Choosing)
·        2.5 for Tolerant
·        3.5 for Suspicious
·        4.5 for Hostile

Base PC resistance is:
·        1.2 for Village
·        2.5 for Town
·        4.0 for Minor City, including Hidden and Mythical cities
·        5.0 for major cities, the Cities on the map.

Yes, very important stuff.  We will need Mike to chime in as to what is in place - this was one of the very last things which I thought he would not have time for and then he said he did and wanted to do it, so the above was a draft of earlier, but this is what should be in place:
     1.0 for Loyal (only possible while having Tight Control)
·        1.5 for Friendly (was 1.0 in The Choosing)
·        2.0 for Tolerant
·        3.0 for Suspicious
·        4.0 for Hostile
So the major change is adding Loyal which is where Friendly was in The Choosing.  IMO, the single most powerful order in The Choosing was Enamoring from Tolerant to Friendly - really an amazing change, making everything twice as easy.  So that is a deep engram in our Alamaze consciousness that needs to be modified here in Maelstrom.  You can still achieve the remarkable 1.0 resistance, but only at Tight Control and Loyal, which will require an enamoring from Friendly, not an automatic shift (right Mike?) by controlling the region.  When Tight Control is lost, Loyal reverts to Friendly.

Friendly is now where it should have been, at 1.5, which is still about a third better than Tolerant, just as Tolerant is about a third better than Suspicious.  So now the Enamor to Friendly is more in line with all other Ruler orders.

Base PC resistance should now be:
·        1.5 for Village
·        3.0 for Town
·        4.5 for Minor City, including Hidden and Mythical cities
·        6.0 for major cities, the Cities on the map. 

Yes, it is important that we all know what is in place, and if these are not the values I'll ask Mike to make the changes.  This will effect your political strategy.  Good news is with pretty much round numbers, the math can be done in your head, but I realize we will need a new player aid, and this was part of my hesitation to make these political changes, is I can't promise when to do this.  What Frost Lord did in The Choosing is pretty intricate - even though it was what in part at least he did professionally to capture all the variables with the kingdom traits and the addition of Stir Unrest, etc., tables for 24 kingdoms behind the scenes, it was a real undertaking.

Also note the base noble relocation range is 7 in Maelstrom rather than 8.  Those who follow discussions here know it has been discussed to have nobles actually move as with patrols which almost never can move even 7 areas let alone 8, so that just some of the background.

As another aside, another concept we couldn't do was having both human divisions outside the major PC's, and several human characters within, including an agent on CE and a higher ranking noble on MSQ.  So those aren't in that would further complicate the political side of your Alamaze life.

Overall, the changes in Maelstrom bring the balance a little more even between conquest militarily and politically.

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

I'm considering taking the M2 customization (+2 to Fleet Quality) but I need to know what the new maximum for fleet quality is. I currently have some fleets at Quality 17 and this customization would take them to Quality 19 but I want to make sure I'm not wasting my points by exceeding whatever the new Quality upper cap is.

[Acererak]

I found this in the original discussion
Is this correct for political?  Without player aids could get very annoying if we do not know at least some basics
Political Model
Regional control moves from 50% to 60% of regional census.  An additional level of regional influence is Tight Control which requires 80% of regional census.
There are now 5 Regional Reactions (instead of 4), the most favorable now being “Loyal”.  A kingdom can only get to Loyal by Enamoring or High Council decree while having Tight Control of that region.   If Tight Control is lost, the Regional Reaction reverts to Friendly.
PC resistance base (before modifiers like maintain status quo effects) is as follows by reaction level:
·        1.0 for Loyal (only possible while having Tight Control)
·        1.5 for Friendly (was 1.0 in The Choosing)
·        2.5 for Tolerant
·        3.5 for Suspicious
·        4.5 for Hostile

Base PC resistance is:
·        1.2 for Village
·        2.5 for Town
·        4.0 for Minor City, including Hidden and Mythical cities
·        5.0 for major cities, the Cities on the map.

Yes, very important stuff.  We will need Mike to chime in as to what is in place - this was one of the very last things which I thought he would not have time for and then he said he did and wanted to do it, so the above was a draft of earlier, but this is what should be in place:
     1.0 for Loyal (only possible while having Tight Control)
·        1.5 for Friendly (was 1.0 in The Choosing)
·        2.0 for Tolerant
·        3.0 for Suspicious
·        4.0 for Hostile
So the major change is adding Loyal which is where Friendly was in The Choosing.  IMO, the single most powerful order in The Choosing was Enamoring from Tolerant to Friendly - really an amazing change, making everything twice as easy.  So that is a deep engram in our Alamaze consciousness that needs to be modified here in Maelstrom.  You can still achieve the remarkable 1.0 resistance, but only at Tight Control and Loyal, which will require an enamoring from Friendly, not an automatic shift (right Mike?) by controlling the region.  When Tight Control is lost, Loyal reverts to Friendly.

Friendly is now where it should have been, at 1.5, which is still about a third better than Tolerant, just as Tolerant is about a third better than Suspicious.  So now the Enamor to Friendly is more in line with all other Ruler orders.

Base PC resistance should now be:
·        1.5 for Village
·        3.0 for Town
·        4.5 for Minor City, including Hidden and Mythical cities
·        6.0 for major cities, the Cities on the map. 

Yes, it is important that we all know what is in place, and if these are not the values I'll ask Mike to make the changes.  This will effect your political strategy.  Good news is with pretty much round numbers, the math can be done in your head, but I realize we will need a new player aid, and this was part of my hesitation to make these political changes, is I can't promise when to do this.  What Frost Lord did in The Choosing is pretty intricate - even though it was what in part at least he did professionally to capture all the variables with the kingdom traits and the addition of Stir Unrest, etc., tables for 24 kingdoms behind the scenes, it was a real undertaking.

Also note the base noble relocation range is 7 in Maelstrom rather than 8.  Those who follow discussions here know it has been discussed to have nobles actually move as with patrols which almost never can move even 7 areas let alone 8, so that just some of the background.

As another aside, another concept we couldn't do was having both human divisions outside the major PC's, and several human characters within, including an agent on CE and a higher ranking noble on MSQ.  So those aren't in that would further complicate the political side of your Alamaze life.

Overall, the changes in Maelstrom bring the balance a little more even between conquest militarily and politically.

Seems this changes the regular calculus of moving your Duke and Count into a city on turn 1 while enamoring to friendly and rebel then usurp in the same turn with an influence of say 12? If Major City is 6 what is the Human reaction? Tolerant?

[Draugr]

Ry Vor you mentioned in your aside you could not do both...does this mean there are groups of humans blocking PC? or things are as normal going into T1 we can move to the cities though much stronger political defenses