GrimFinger's Learning The Game Thread

[admin]

The purpose of this thread is to facilitate myself learning the game better, that some degree of mastery of it might eventually be attained.

Accordingly, and in pursuit of this objective, I will be asking all kinds of questions, in a bid to acquire knowledge that yourself and other players of the game may already take for granted.

Thank you for your patience and assistance,

Charles

[admin]

King’s Influence
The influence level is of major significance in determining the success of a kingdom’s
emissary activities because the emissary's power, and so his chance of success, is based
on the kingdom’s influence. The kingdom’s influence will never be less than 8. There are
certain activities, like selling influence and bestowing a title, that will not be allowed if that
action would result in lowering a King's influence below 8. However, a Ruler with minimum
influence may hire new emissaries without further reducing his influence.

#390 – Receive New Title
Use this order to increase the rank of a political emissary. The emissary must be located
at the kingdom’s capital to be bestowed a new title. This order counts as the mission for
the political emissary for that turn. The king can grant this additional power only by
relinquishing certain land grants, etc., previously under his direct control. As such, the
king's influence will decline by 0.3 points with each issuance of this order.

Buildings
• Forum [10,000 gold, 20,000 food, allowed in city/town] +2 status quo, +10%
census, may title emissaries (raise rank) at popcenter outside of capital, +0.3
influence.

---

I am playing the SOLO game, in order to get a grasp on HOW to issue orders, as well as to get a better feel for the game and its design.

I have issued orders for the first six turns, thus far, and having now taken a couple of days off from issuing turn orders, I now seek to resume playing. One thing that I am curious about is the bestowing of titles by the monarch character. I don't seem to have this option available to me in the SOLO game that I am playing.

Is this normal?

If not, what am I missing? Or is this option only available to certain kingdoms?

I ask that, because in the Alamaze rulebook, it states:

---

Ancient Ones
To bestow a title upon one of our political emissaries (Order #390 Bestow Title), the

Consul must be present at our kingdom’s capital.

---

The rulebook, however, does not seem to list this passage under all of the kingdoms, hence why I find myself wondering whether bestowing titles is available to all kingdoms, or just to some.

Here's a screenshot of what I see, when in the game:



The available King's Actions does not include the #390 – Receive New Title order as an option, even though I have several emissaries located in the same location as my kingdom's monarch.

What am I missing?

Also, with regard to the Forum building type, that is only necessary if one wants to have their monarch bestow a title upon an emissary who is not in in the same pop center as the monarch, correct?

Does your monarch have to be located in your kingdom's capital, in order to bestow a title on an emissary located in a pop center other than your capital?

[Zar@shand]

I far as I am aware the King cannot give titles to himself.

If you select any character of duke level of below you should be able to give them a title, provided they are at the capital or there is a forum building at there location. this will use there order for the turn.

[admin]

I far as I am aware the King cannot give titles to himself.

That's not a question that I was asking.

If you select any character of duke level of below you should be able to give them a title, provided they are at the capital or there is a forum building at there location. this will use there order for the turn.

There is no option to do that - at least, not in the SOLO game that I am in.

Separate and apart from this, the bestowing of a title only requires the issuance of one order, correct? It is an order for the monarch character to issue, as that is the bestowing entity. The receiving character, upon whom the title is being bestowed, does not have to issue any kind of Receive Title on their part, in order for the title to be bestowed.

[Zar@shand]

As far as I know the solo game is using a different version then the current version for running games, If I select one of my emissaries then it gives me the option to receive new title. Thus the confusion that you cannot see this.

Oh, and yes only he receiving character needs to issue the order

edit

just to make it clear the character receiving the title gives the order, the king doesn't need to do any thing. As long as the character is at the capital or a forum it should work.

[admin]

As far as I know the solo game is using a different version then the current version for running games, If I select one of my emissaries then it gives me the option to receive new title. Thus the confusion that you cannot see this.

Oh, and yes only he receiving character needs to issue the order

edit

just to make it clear the character receiving the title gives the order, the king doesn't need to do any thing. As long as the character is at the capital or a forum it should work.

Thank you for that clarification, Zar@shand.

Which begs the question of why that order isn't available in the SOLO training game?

Does anyone know what other orders are not available for the SOLO game? The bestow title order worked back in the Fall of Rome days. Alamaze is likely programmed differently, though perhaps similarly, but what benefit is it to the new player to not be able to test out all orders that are available in the full game? Just curious.

[Wookie Panz]

As far as I know the solo game is using a different version then the current version for running games, If I select one of my emissaries then it gives me the option to receive new title. Thus the confusion that you cannot see this.

Oh, and yes only he receiving character needs to issue the order

edit

just to make it clear the character receiving the title gives the order, the king doesn't need to do any thing. As long as the character is at the capital or a forum it should work.

Thank you for that clarification, Zar@shand.

Which begs the question of why that order isn't available in the SOLO training game?

Does anyone know what other orders are not available for the SOLO game? The bestow title order worked back in the Fall of Rome days. Alamaze is likely programmed differently, though perhaps similarly, but what benefit is it to the new player to not be able to test out all orders that are available in the full game? Just curious.

The solo game is a very basic introduction to the full game and lots of things have been left out to keep it simple.  The spell list are extremely basic.  If you play a duel you get quite a bit more but for the full experience you need the multiplayer game.

[admin]

The solo game is a very basic introduction to the full game and lots of things have been left out to keep it simple.  The spell list are extremely basic.  If you play a duel you get quite a bit more but for the full experience you need the multiplayer game.

Understood. The "full" experience would, indeed, require the multiplayer experience. That, I certainly concede, for playing Alamaze against others - against the wits and cunning and treachery of others - is the very apex of the experience that the game of Alamaze offers. There's no way around that.

As to the keep it simple, the flip side of the simplicity coin is that by withholding certain things, it also yields a reduced - and hence, less tempting - experience. And anytime that temptation is lost, whether in whole or in part, that can translate into a potentially smaller player base, when all is said and done.

The size of the player community, it seems to me, can be reduced by way of the proverbial "death of a thousand cuts," as by anything else. At some point, the size of a game's player community can achieve a degree of momentum that is self-perpetuating. The other side of the momentum is that negative momentum can yield a self-defeating proposition. The current player community for Alamaze is undersized. This can be - and is - frustrating to current players of the game. If nothing else, it simply ends up taking longer for new games to start, as that end of things is utterly dependent upon having a pool of players of size to draw upon. An undersized player community for a game can also yield frustration in other ways. For example, fewer "voices" in the game engaging in banter and "shit talking," which are sometimes a large chunk of the overall experience that players associate with playing a game.

Players of any game will virtually always quibble and squabble and rant and rave about the mechanics of a game. That's a normal and healthy part of a robust and dynamic interaction of a player community. Sometimes, personalities do clash, but there's no real way to drain the potential for disagreement without potentially tossing out the baby with the bathwater.

[admin]

OK, I started on my second tutorial SOLO game, tonight. I think that it said 3rd Cycle, when I created it.

Q. Does the SOLO Tutorial utilize both 4th Cycle and 3rd Cycle Alamaze?

I issued the #990 order on Turn #1, but when I received my turn results back, the monarch's name didn't change.

Q. Is this normal for the SOLO tutorial mode?

Here is a screenshot:

[admin]

Q. Does the SOLO Tutorial utilize both 4th Cycle and 3rd Cycle Alamaze?

I issued the #990 order on Turn #1, but when I received my turn results back, the monarch's name didn't change.

I suspect that I failed to save my turn orders, before clicking on the Ready button.

Q. Why doesn't the game do a check for Save Orders, BEFORE it allows the player to select the Ready button?

This strikes me as something that could really sour a new player's impression of the interface or the game, itself. It's so easy to do, that I apparently forgot to click Save Orders.