Game 5705

[Maximus Dominus]

The Alchemist pondered this strange posting as he reached for another ingredient.

"Hmmm, said he.  It appears the rookie Warlock is already kicking sand at the very veteran Druid.  Perhaps the Warlock will be wishing HE had a tree to hide behind."

Or it could just be that the Druid player and myself played in a game of Far Horizons, together, years back, and this is a rematch, of sorts.

In that game, a space PBM game, I happened upon the idea of assuming the guise of Darkseid, and by pure luck, one of my ships found his homeworld really quick. My thinking was, what would it be like in a space game, if someone happened upon a world like Apokolips and its foremost inhabitant, Darkseid? Or worse, yet, what if Darkseid's space fleets happened upon you, instead? That game ended way to early, but the back and forth of our postings in a forum made the game more fun for both of us. MY ships would get named after various Darkseid minions - Granny Goodness, Mantis, etc..

I sent the Druid player an invitation to join me for a game of Alamaze that was forming, and he took me up on the offer to "resume" our war - here in the realm of Alamaze.

Thus, it's not just a rookie Warlock kicking proverbial sand in the face of a very veteran Druid player, Dan. This particular episode goes much, much deeper than that. 'Twas this very same Alamaze rookie that invited this very same very veteran Druid back to Alamaze.

And NOW you know the REST of the story. . .

[Maximus Dominus]

The Alchemist pondered this strange posting as he reached for another ingredient.

"Hmmm, said he.  It appears the rookie Warlock is already kicking sand at the very veteran Druid.  Perhaps the Warlock will be wishing HE had a tree to hide behind."

See here, Dan: https://kingdomsofarcania.net/forum/show...0#pid85530

[RELLGAR]

LY-BL you may want to tax your town in Triumvia this turn.
LY-UN you may want to rptax your village in Triumvia this turn or next turn.

LY- all, come join us out under the full moon for our Luna celebration. It will be an all night event.

[Maximus Dominus]

The Warlock kingdom has been blessed with a great harvest of food.

If your kingdom has need of such, then kindly extend an offer in gold for how much food that you believe your people to need.

Otherwise, I am going to dump it on the open market.

[Maximus Dominus]

Last call for a food trade on 5705.

It's going to the open market, otherwise.

[Maximus Dominus]

Talking about a truly bungled effort, thus far.

I like the Warlock kingdom (so far). Yet, how is it that I started off worse in this game, than the three that I started playing in before it?

I don't have control of a region, yet. Heck, I still don't have control of the major city in my region. I know HOW to do it. I know HOW to do BOTH. Yet, here I am, just a big mess. My combination of diplomats that I sent to Ramhorn didn't get the job done, last turn, and the same team of diplomats didn't get the job done, this turn, either. Yeah, that's not a game design flaw. That's definitely a player flaw. At least I managed to get the city to turn Neutral, and away from Human control, this time around.

I'm just a fish flopping on the ground in this one.

:igh::

[Maximus Dominus]

   

[Windstar2]

Talking about a truly bungled effort, thus far.

I like the Warlock kingdom (so far). Yet, how is it that I started off worse in this game, than the three that I started playing in before it?

I don't have control of a region, yet. Heck, I still don't have control of the major city in my region. I know HOW to do it. I know HOW to do BOTH. Yet, here I am, just a big mess. My combination of diplomats that I sent to Ramhorn didn't get the job done, last turn, and the same team of diplomats didn't get the job done, this turn, either. Yeah, that's not a game design flaw. That's definitely a player flaw. At least I managed to get the city to turn Neutral, and away from Human control, this time around.

I'm just a fish flopping on the ground in this one.

:igh::

Maximus,

I have a clue for you on taking the city in your region: Send your duke, your count, and either one of your ambassadors or a governor to the city. Have the duke and the lesser diplomat do a 315 order, and the count with the 330 order. If you don't think that you have enough clout, don't do the usurp but the rebel, and then take it the next turn. If you start with a lot of influence (like I experience by playing the DA), then you can forgo the leser emmie. This is a FYI for your next game (and I hope that you play another).

---

Talking about a truly bungled effort, thus far.

I like the Warlock kingdom (so far). Yet, how is it that I started off worse in this game, than the three that I started playing in before it?

I don't have control of a region, yet. Heck, I still don't have control of the major city in my region. I know HOW to do it. I know HOW to do BOTH. Yet, here I am, just a big mess. My combination of diplomats that I sent to Ramhorn didn't get the job done, last turn, and the same team of diplomats didn't get the job done, this turn, either. Yeah, that's not a game design flaw. That's definitely a player flaw. At least I managed to get the city to turn Neutral, and away from Human control, this time around.

I'm just a fish flopping on the ground in this one.

:igh::

Maximus,

I have a clue for you on taking the city in your region: Send your duke, your count, and either one of your ambassadors or a governor to the city. Have the duke and the lesser diplomat do a 315 order, and the count with the 330 order. If you don't think that you have enough clout, don't do the usurp but the rebel, and then take it the next turn. If you start with a lot of influence (like I experience by playing the DA), then you can forgo the leser emmie. This is a FYI for your next game (and I hope that you play another).

BTW Maximus: I would recommend playing the DA next time. You have the best agents in the game after the UN, you have a decent military (with 5 groups), and the starting position is fairly good as regards to magic and traits.

[Maximus Dominus]

Maximus,

I have a clue for you on taking the city in your region: Send your duke, your count, and either one of your ambassadors or a governor to the city. Have the duke and the lesser diplomat do a 315 order, and the count with the 330 order. If you don't think that you have enough clout, don't do the usurp but the rebel, and then take it the next turn. If you start with a lot of influence (like I experience by playing the DA), then you can forgo the leser emmie. This is a FYI for your next game (and I hope that you play another).

Oh, I know how to take the city over, Dan. It's all a matter of choices and priorities. The gold shortage started abruptly when a neighboring kingdom decided to rebel my town that started the game in "their" region. It screwed up more than one might can imagine. Having sufficient gold to issue orders became instantly problematic. So, doing things like having one's king to increase their influence, which also aids diplomatic undertakings, is no longer a viable option. That, or leave a number of order slots empty for a turn.

BTW Maximus: I would recommend playing the DA next time. You have the best agents in the game after the UN, you have a decent military (with 5 groups), and the starting position is fairly good as regards to magic and traits.

Thanks, Dan. I appreciate all of your help and advice.

Side note: I had to look up the abbreviation code DA (again), since I still don't have them all memorized.

The Dark Elves don't really appeal to me. Besides, it is better to suffer, because the pain of failure tends to be an effective teacher of the game, more so than success, I'd say.

In hindsight, I might issue a few different orders, but I am gonna try the Duke-Governor-Governor combo, again, this coming turn. At worst, it fails, and the gold shortage and economic misery continue.

A sizable chunk of my region remains unexplored. Not having gold in Alamaze sucks about as much as it sucked in fall of Rome. The sad part is that I tried, early on, to improve my economy in this game. You can't take control of pop centers, when you don't know where they are at, or if you can't afford to move an emissary.

The whole start population centers in other regions, and then other players assuming that it's "their" region, even before the take it, and the abandoning of those population centers as a matter of routine - I just shake my head at it all. It's as fake as players attacking what is, in essence, their own population centers, after taxing them to make them rebel, and using them as target practice to gain veteran troops and promotions for military leaders. In almost 40 years of playing PBM games, it's some of the worst design elements that I've ever encountered.

For me, it's all just a learning experience. For newcomers, gold shortages which preclude them from utilizing their characters for missions, will likely prove to be highly demoralizing. You're new, and you don't know how to develop your economy yet, nor even realize the importance of your economy, and then you find yourself in a situation where you can't issue orders that you want to or need to. I can easily see many new players getting in that situation, and just saying, "Fuck this!" and dumping any future thought of playing Alamaze, again. Boom! Instant drop of the game.

Me? I understand enough about Alamaze, already, that baring invasion(s), I can still turn this economic mess around. This is the only game out of five games of Alamaze that I am playing where I am economically hamstrung. My Count is at another pop center (Neutral), this turn, planning to usurp it in the coming turn. I like the Warlock kingdom. I started off well enough, I thought. Not finding enough population centers early enough, combined with the abrupt loss of gold from one town, proved to be a combination of bad luck and bad timing. Boom! Instant poverty.

If memory serves me correctly, in Fall of Rome, if your kingdom went bankrupt, you were knocked out of the game. So, Alamaze isn't quite as bad, in that regard. Is the game more fun or less fun, when a player can't issue orders to their characters? To a new player, what would the likely impact be upon their morale as a player? Characters in Alamaze have loyalty to gold, not loyalty to their kingdom.

In fairness, the 4th Cycle Rulebook for Alamaze speaks of what it terms a "streamlined economic system to manage the necessary details of
ruling a kingdom." Obviously, one should not allow their kingdom to find itself in dire (or lacking) economic straits in the first place. Mistakes happen. Bad luck happens. Other kingdoms happen. A new player isn't really likely to care WHY they can't issue orders to characters. For me in my learning approach tot he game scattered across five games, currently, I simply apply what's learned in one game of Alamaze to all of my other games of Alamaze. It's a faster learning feedback loop, that way, than if I were playing in just one game of Alamaze. I doubt, though, that most new players will join multiple games of Alamaze, simultaneously, when they first start off trying to play Alamaze. So, if their first effort sees their economy go belly-up, then odds are, I think, that Alamaze will lose that player permanently. If Alamaze doesn't give then an economic second chance, so to speak, why would they be inclined to continue on with playing and them give Alamaze a second chance?

This whole dependency upon gold, an over-dependency I would describe it as, are game design considerations. They're not programming error. They're not mistakes, technically. The reality to the player is that gold shortages (and to a lesser degree, food shortages) can disproportionately impair a player's ability to run and manage their kingdom. To experienced players, programmers of the game, and to the creator and designer of Alamaze, maintaining economic solvency isn't a big concern. To new players who know nothing about the game and its inner workings, gold shortages can effectively castrate a kingdom while still ina state of utter infancy, in terms of how many turns that a player has been playing it in a given game.

Experienced players will immediately set about improving and growing their kingdom's economy and economic foundations. New players aren't experienced players, though. Accordingly, they won't think like experienced players. They will have different priorities. They will gravitate naturally towards more fun stuff - wizards casting spells, armies marching upon the enemy, dispatching agents for all kinds of nefarious activities.

Play Alamaze - the game where gold is king!

[Wookie Panz]

Max with your wizard kingdom you should certainly be able to use all your orders.
Move 4 groups, cover at least 16 squares for free.  Use 6 wizards and maybe make some gold.
Train some agents to level 4 and have them explore 4 squares a turn.
If you have extra orders reorganize troops and cut your overhead.
Even is Darkover, the largest region, you should have it covered pretty well in 4 turns.  The city should be yours on turn 3 with ease.