#129 - Master & Apprentice

[Jumpingfist]

1. On the first turn I try to recon at least the city(s) in my starting region as this is the only place everyone knows the location of and can have a lot of action. Even if I do not plan to take the city I want to know who is in there. I also would almost always use up the P1 wizards for the free Recons. Scouting island or other area that may not be good to scout using one of the special 4 area Recons for artifact or pcs. I tend not to use the low level agents as much on the first turn because I want to raise them to lvl 4 to do the artifact searching as soon as I can.
2. My first orders cut would be extra raven spells that I am just using because they are free. But I tend to keep what I view as critical scouts over other orders like double feeding a group for moral or resting a group. Actually I would almost always cut my rest or double feed orders over anything.
3. If at piece in my starting region I would divine an artifact name on turn 2 expecting to get all but maybe 1 village on T3 anyway. If at war early I will divine either my enemy pcs in there region especially T2 when you could learn the capital location before they start taking PCs or divine PC in the other region. It is always best to bring the fight to the enemy rather than defend your own region if possible.

[kevindusi]

1) On turn 1, standing orders were set up to look at the cities in our respective regions. These continue on through turn 4. As the SO, I did 1 recon outside of that on a town that I was not certain would be open when my emissary moved into it.
2) Because of Cloud's negotiations, I was able to trim down on the recons (as noted above, only 1 on a PC), which allowed me to do a couple of things that I normally would save for later turns.
3) Yes. And it was a good one.

[Veltran]

WI again...I firmly feel it is my obligation as a returning newbie to make at least one mistake each turn and so far I am batting 1000. Miscalculated a 799 cost this turn which prevented some recons from going off. So yes I have been trying to do recons (varous orders) each turn. I am divining artifacts when I have an order free and money to spend. Decent turn, but Winter has rolled in. Setting up some Wall of Flame spells to keep the troops toes warm. With limited orders, tough to determine which ones t cut. Have to weigh options and choose which ones give most bang for buck long term.

[Jumpingfist]

Due to utter failure in support and near absentee master. This will be my last post in this forum thread provided no attack against me or direct question. Out of respect for players involved in the game I will not quit the position and continue playing my turns as normal.

[Lord Thanatos]

Lord Thanatos, Red Dragon Master, posting:

This is, I believe, a good format for not just the newer players but also for the experienced players. I find myself having to evaluate/challenge my beliefs/assumptions about this game in order to answer the thoughtful questions from my apprentice.

Jhereg is doing a wonderful job at contacting the other apprentices and then we bounce ideas off each other until we settle upon a course of action.

This format should be repeated for all interested new/returning players.

The game started with three unplayed kingdoms. All three of those kingdom capitals interferred with the players and Rick had to manually make changes. Certainly not a major problem. But once the error was fixed it meant Jhereg now controlled Runnimede. It also meant The Deliverer controlled Arcania (boo, hiss, spit).

As it stands now 9 of the 10 regions are controlled, excepting only Torvale.

Elven, Darkelven and Sorcerer (I think) are the three kings on the High Council.

The absence of the AN/DE kingdoms left the TR with an unexpected bounty of available riches in Torvale and a completely unoccupied Arcania - which perceptibly shaped early negotiations.

RD/GN and TR/EL are at war. Are all the other kingdoms at peace? Things should get more interesting real quick now.

We always issue our full compliment of orders (to answer an earlier question). In fact, it has been my practice when completing turn orders to enter my orders without respect to the cost in food or gold initially. This is my optimal order sheet. Then I calculate food and gold and adjust the optimal sheet accordingly. There is always plenty of orders that need to be issued.

Recons are vitally important. Recons and Raven Familiars are often standing orders. Palantirs are usually placed with a group so the ability to conduct reconaissance becomes mobile.

Due to a dearth of gold and the expense involved it is all-too-often that my HP orders are the ones that don't get utilized enough.

Finally, the TR lost his capital to hungry wyverns in the forest. The more blood thirsty dragons are now in charge since those dragons imploring us to first attempt diplomacy were haughtily rebuffed. Where did that TR capital go? Stay tuned....

[Hawk_]

1. About how many (if any) recon missions (Agent + Palantir + Raven = total) are you doing? More specifically, after three turns, how many for each turn, T1 - T3?
2. Since all players indicated they are issuing the max orders per turn, if you have to cut from the total you wished to issue when planning your turn, which potential orders are the ones most likely to be cut?
3. Have you used a High Priestess to divine an artifact?

OK, Hawk the DW here. Having just returned from Orlando and dropping my siege of the castle located in the Magic Kingdom.

1. We are trying to max out recons & 978's as orders allow and see what is happening in other parts of the map.

2. I would say the orders that have been left out would be things like rest group, sell food, and some group scouting of squares in favor of agent scouting. Resources have been limited until this turn so many of the more expensive orders have had to wait.

3. I bet all teams with the wizard kngdoms have been chasing the WIZARD artifacts via order 790 and admit we sure are too. We all want our team to get one of the 2 wizard rings or the stone of minds.

No such luck for us thus far but we have located the wand of fire so we'll see if we can secure that one for status points.

I have also been studying the new status point chart and considering how to position the WI-DW to place well if this game were to last until turn 40. In game 104 the DW position was played by Thalion and he ended in 3rd even though he did not control a region. I want to make sure we take advantage of as many ways to score points as possible under the new system.

[Veltran]

WI/DW here...well at least what's left of the WI . It became evident this turn that one of the downsides of this format is that it allows a team to share turns and very effectively blitz a position. Granted each team has that same option open to them also and yes the same thing could happen in a regular starting game. I did go thru a good number of turns with great guidance on how to build a position, and even more importantly, got a rapid refresher course on the orders and rules. Paying by month and service level, instead of by turn, players being flogged can still try to be a PITA to their aggressors, at least until a new game starts.

Not giving up...just have 30 holes in the dike and only 8 fingers and a nose to plug them with.

Less orders, less food and gold, so definitely went from a veritable buffet of order options down to the kids menu. This definitely has gotten me digging through the commands and the rules trying to find every little thing I can to help the cause.

I will try to keep you busy errrr entertained until my hairy vertically challenged friends arrive.

[Hawk_]

WI/DW here...well at least what's left of the WI . It became evident this turn that one of the downsides of this format is that it allows a team to share turns and very effectively blitz a position. Granted each team has that same option open to them also and yes the same thing could happen in a regular starting game. I did go thru a good number of turns with great guidance on how to build a position, and even more importantly, got a rapid refresher course on the orders and rules. Paying by month and service level, instead of by turn, players being flogged can still try to be a PITA to their aggressors, at least until a new game starts.

Not giving up...just have 30 holes in the dike and only 8 fingers and a nose to plug them with.

Less orders, less food and gold, so definitely went from a veritable buffet of order options down to the kids menu. This definitely has gotten me digging through the commands and the rules trying to find every little thing I can to help the cause.

I will try to keep you busy errrr entertained until my hairy vertically challenged friends arrive.

Probably our biggest error was not declaring the WA an enemy. Capping the WA at Tolerant in R2 would have helped vs. 171 and emmy actions had the declaration been made prior to the invasion.

So far, I haven't seen many defensive enemy declarations made by other kingdoms. Evidently there are a lot of NAPs in place or we were not the only ones living dangerously.

[Brogan]

My apprentice and I (BL and DA) had the good fortune of starting alone in each of our regions. As per the guidelines we spoke about we wanted to accomplish but he conducted all diplomacy. We both gained seats on the HC which is very nice. Right now we are building while other kings make war. It's turn 8 so the game has stated to enter its sophomore phase. I would say for recons we try and do 2 to 3 each, but these orders are the first I usually cut unless it is critical I need it. The situation up North is starting to worry us, but with peace agreements in place we need to be content and focus on other objectives.
I generally don't go after artifacts, unless I happen to land on one by accident. I think they are mysterious, rare, and cool, but not worth the gold and orders to track them down.

[kevindusi]

Sorcerer here....

So far this game has been a blast. It's been great to see Cloud take the lead on negotiations (though also a bit frustrating as that's one part of the game that I absolutely love), and our team has had some fun wandering far from home to bring the fight to the enemy.

One thing that I think is apparent is that you never want to fight on home soil. To that end, I think GN, BL, myself, and DA are well off... no competition (yet) and no aggressors in our region. The north and west portions of the map are a mess with conflict. Rumor has it TR has lost a capital and his ally, EL (that DuPont guy) has an army at his doorstep and seems to be bleeding wizards.

Cloud and I have tried to strike a balance between chasing artifacts and having assets available to do other, more fun, things. We've picked up a couple of fun toys mostly via luck and there we continue to spend some resources towards looking for artifacts. Random sightings are a ton of fun and, while sometimes you get a stinker (looking at you, plow of the prophet) you can often find stuff that will make a huge difference. Imagine picking up a weapon artifact the turn before you are planning an assault on the enemy capital, or a staff which enables your king to enamor an extra region per turn... these types of things can sway the success or failure of your kingdom.