Game 5644 Maximumus Dominus begins…

[admin]

Maximus, steel means that there are no NAPs or alliances in the game, no more than three trades (transactions) between 2 kingdoms in the space of 6 turns--where you can trade food, gold, and mithril from another playerl THe only communication allowed is in the forum. THere is also a silent one, which is meant for confederation games (where each player has 2 kingdoms to rule over at the same time in the same game). Full communication is both good and bad. It is good because you can team up with another player and do all sorts of things, but it it bad becasue it can lead to 2-on-1 team ups againts a third party which can ruin someone's gaming experience and cause them to leave Alamaze forever.

Oh my lord! As if giving new players even more to remember on top of all that is already there would never motivate someone to leave Alamaze.

Everything's a trade off, I guess.

NOTE TO SELF: Never sign up for a Steel game.

[Wookie Panz]

Turn #1

Well, the time deadline was approaching, so I went ahead and sent in my turn orders by clicking that Ready button. None of the errors are attributable to Rellgar. Just so that everyone is clear on that.

Not everything went as planned. Heck, not all orders worked - and for various reasons. So much to absorb (and remember).

Question: When moving troops around (patrols, brigades, whatever), if you just move them, but do not search for pop centers, will the pop centers stay hidden? Or will they be revealed, anyway, but perhaps just not divulge any information on them?

Question: Will searching for pop centers with brigades, etc. reveal only ones on the path of movement? Or will it also reveal any on either side of one's path of movement?


The first turn presents some very difficult choices. So much that I wanted to do, but so very little that I could actually do. And then, for me to botch several of my limited amount of game opening orders, it just bites you in the ass really fast. Nothing that I can do about it after the fact, though, so I'll just have to shake it off and try to do better on my turn orders for Turn #2.

My commands/orders that I issued went fine, so I don't consider the turn to be a total loss, nor even mostly a loss. All things considered, I think that I did OK - not great, but OK. I did better with moving troop groups than I had figured that I would do. Better than I did playing the solo tutorial. I had originally planned to just keep on playing the solo tutorial, and worry about getting the basics of troop group movement down, later down the line. Then, I got sucked into joining this full multi-player game, before I was ever actually ready. If this is how one learns to swim in Alamaze, then I didn't drown on my first turn, but I did swallow some water.

MAX,


When you move you will get a report on any pop center you pass on your turn and it will appear on your map (unless the pop is invisible) you will be told if the pop is neutral, human or, owned and by which kingdom. Search for pop, will do the same unless your group runs into a pop then it will STOP on the first pop and stop moving. To find an encounter you need to stop on the hex it is in , it will not tell you if you move over it. You can also use an agent order for level 4 agents and above to search for pop in four connecting hexes. (Great for searching mountains). There is also an spell Eagle familiar that will search 4 hexes and report any Pop. Group, or Encounter in those four hexes. All the Best!

R

Max -  A few more things on pop center searches:
Searching with military groups is free verses agent searches you pay for.  Also if you do have a group that happens to end it's turn on a pc  and is strong enough to take it you can get leader and troop promotions plus the production of the pc, plus you are closer to controlling the region.  Invisible pop centers (hidden capitals)  are found when your group ends its movement on them.  They will not automatically stop there either.   It has to be the last square of their movement command.
Agents level 7 or higher look for both encounters and pc at the same time, just like the wizard eagle command.

The raven does the same for 1 square but hey, it's free and no risk.
Agents level 1 and higher can do the 1 square search but level 1 agents can die just searching.  Safer to use a 2 or higher.

It's never too early to look at what you need to control the region.  Look at the region.  How many villages and towns does it have , and is the city a major or minor?
A major region like Darkover has 7 villages, 5 towns, and a major city.  I figure a village is worth a point, town 2 points, minor city 3 and major city 4.  Darkover should be 7+10+4= 21 total.  If you need 60% to control the region, rounded up, you need at least 13 points.  It never hurts to have an extra point or 2 to be safe.  As SOON as you pass the threshold required an more pc in the region that are neutral flip to your control.  Human controlled and player controlled will not flip so they are prime targets for military action.
Remember that the most valuable resource in the game is not food, gold, or mithirl.  Those you can catch up on later.  Time is the most valuable resource and one you can't recover once you let it slip away.  The best Alamaze players always find a way to get more done with less orders and it's something that takes time to learn.  Not saying I am one of the best but I did learn a lot from the best.

[admin]

Max -  A few more things on pop center searches:
Searching with military groups is free verses agent searches you pay for.  Also if you do have a group that happens to end it's turn on a pc  and is strong enough to take it you can get leader and troop promotions plus the production of the pc, plus you are closer to controlling the region.  Invisible pop centers (hidden capitals)  are found when your group ends its movement on them.  They will not automatically stop there either.   It has to be the last square of their movement command.
Agents level 7 or higher look for both encounters and pc at the same time, just like the wizard eagle command.

The raven does the same for 1 square but hey, it's free and no risk.
Agents level 1 and higher can do the 1 square search but level 1 agents can die just searching.  Safer to use a 2 or higher.

It's never too early to look at what you need to control the region.  Look at the region.  How many villages and towns does it have , and is the city a major or minor?
A major region like Darkover has 7 villages, 5 towns, and a major city.  I figure a village is worth a point, town 2 points, minor city 3 and major city 4.  Darkover should be 7+10+4= 21 total.  If you need 60% to control the region, rounded up, you need at least 13 points.  It never hurts to have an extra point or 2 to be safe.  As SOON as you pass the threshold required an more pc in the region that are neutral flip to your control.  Human controlled and player controlled will not flip so they are prime targets for military action.
Remember that the most valuable resource in the game is not food, gold, or mithirl.  Those you can catch up on later.  Time is the most valuable resource and one you can't recover once you let it slip away.  The best Alamaze players always find a way to get more done with less orders and it's something that takes time to learn.  Not saying I am one of the best but I did learn a lot from the best.

Excellent advice.,

Question: A human controlled and player controlled pop center will not flip? What does that mean, exactly? That I can't make them rebel, and that I can't usurp control of those pop centers using emissaries?

[Wookie Panz]

Max -  A few more things on pop center searches:
Searching with military groups is free verses agent searches you pay for.  Also if you do have a group that happens to end it's turn on a pc  and is strong enough to take it you can get leader and troop promotions plus the production of the pc, plus you are closer to controlling the region.  Invisible pop centers (hidden capitals)  are found when your group ends its movement on them.  They will not automatically stop there either.   It has to be the last square of their movement command.
Agents level 7 or higher look for both encounters and pc at the same time, just like the wizard eagle command.

The raven does the same for 1 square but hey, it's free and no risk.
Agents level 1 and higher can do the 1 square search but level 1 agents can die just searching.  Safer to use a 2 or higher.

It's never too early to look at what you need to control the region.  Look at the region.  How many villages and towns does it have , and is the city a major or minor?
A major region like Darkover has 7 villages, 5 towns, and a major city.  I figure a village is worth a point, town 2 points, minor city 3 and major city 4.  Darkover should be 7+10+4= 21 total.  If you need 60% to control the region, rounded up, you need at least 13 points.  It never hurts to have an extra point or 2 to be safe.  As SOON as you pass the threshold required an more pc in the region that are neutral flip to your control.  Human controlled and player controlled will not flip so they are prime targets for military action.
Remember that the most valuable resource in the game is not food, gold, or mithirl.  Those you can catch up on later.  Time is the most valuable resource and one you can't recover once you let it slip away.  The best Alamaze players always find a way to get more done with less orders and it's something that takes time to learn.  Not saying I am one of the best but I did learn a lot from the best.

Excellent advice.,

Question: A human controlled and player controlled pop center will not flip? What does that mean, exactly? That I can't make them rebel, and that I can't usurp control of those pop centers using emissaries?

You can.  They just don't automatically flip to you when you get enough to control the region.
You can just rebel, not usurp, a human or player controlled pc.  Phasing plays a role too

[admin]

You can.  They just don't automatically flip to you when you get enough to control the region.
You can just rebel, not usurp, a human or player controlled pc.  Phasing plays a role too

Thank you for that initial point of clarification.

What do you mean by "phasing," though, Wookie Panz?

[admin]

You can just rebel, not usurp, a human or player controlled pc.  Phasing plays a role too

So, if one cannot usurp a human or player controlled population center, is military force the only way to obtain control of them?

[VballMichael]

You can just rebel, not usurp, a human or player controlled pc.  Phasing plays a role too

So, if one cannot usurp a human or player controlled population center, is military force the only way to obtain control of them?

You can take either of those politically, just twice as hard than if it were already neutral. So you either need a high emissary (like a Prince can usually take a controlled village with a 330 order, while maybe just a governor is needed to take over a neutral one), or you can send two emissaries, one of whom will rebel or turn it neutral (320) and moments later (same turn) another emissary can take it over (330). This is where knowing the order of the orders is so important. And you can go a step further and have a third emissary do a 315 order which creates some favor in your cause even prior to turning it neutral at 320. But watch out for an enemy emissary doing a 310 order to make it more difficult to take over. It is a complex, but amazing game once you have a comfort level with the order of things.

[Wookie Panz]

You can.  They just don't automatically flip to you when you get enough to control the region.
You can just rebel, not usurp, a human or player controlled pc.  Phasing plays a role too

Thank you for that initial point of clarification.

What do you mean by "phasing," though, Wookie Panz?

By phasing I mean sequence of events in the turn processing.  Rebel happens before usurp.
You can use one guy to rebel and another to usurp the same PC if neither can do it by himself.  Or 1 to stir unrest for another to either rebel or usurp.  Stir unrest stacks too.
Military comes later in the turn.
Sequence is a big deal and quite a tool.

[Zar@shand]

Question: Is this game supposed to be steel, with limited interaction and no NAPs and alliances, with only 3 transactions over 6 months, or is it going to be full diplomacy, with players able to email each other and make war on their neighbors? I would liike the limited version, that way no one gets intentionally attacked by two other players (unless they are on the verge of winning that is). I believe that the game said all on.

I don't know. I had specifically asked the following, previously:

Are there any special rules about this game that is forming, now, that I need to know about? Basically, I will be flying blind, for the most part, but regardless of what happens, it will be a learning experience for me, though it may be a disappointment to you, when my kingdom implodes or gets overrun in record time.

SOURCE: https://kingdomsofarcania.net/forum/show...4#pid82904

I don't know what "steel" means, though I have seen the term bandied about. And what is a "transaction?" The game said full diplomacy.


Diplomacy              This is a Full Diplomacy game where all communications are encouraged among the players throughout the game.

Maximus, steel means that there are no NAPs or alliances in the game, no more than three trades (transactions) between 2 kingdoms in the space of 6 turns--where you can trade food, gold, and mithril from another playerl THe only communication allowed is in the forum. THere is also a silent one, which is meant for confederation games (where each player has 2 kingdoms to rule over at the same time in the same game). Full communication is both good and bad. It is good because you can team up with another player and do all sorts of things, but it it bad becasue it can lead to 2-on-1 team ups againts a third party which can ruin someone's gaming experience and cause them to leave Alamaze forever.

I am not here to rock the boat, but in the short time I have been here that is clearly not the case. 3 games started and in all of them I can point to cases in which this "Steel rule not being enforced"

In terms of only player communication through the forum that seems to be working as you said, but with the 2v1 and trading that is not.

Let me be clear from a personal perspective I actually prefer the free trades and attacking even if it happens someone else has attacked the same player( as this could be problematic if you are trapped in a corner or had spent serval turn planning an attack).

Personally I have no problem trading and attacking whoever you want, but maybe this would be better discussed by the community.

[admin]

Military comes later in the turn.
Sequence is a big deal and quite a tool.

Understood, and I agree.