Game #122 - Better to Be Lucky Than Good

[Brogan]

Easy, easy, easy fix: the GM assigns the SVC just don't use any that have a 2 region minimum. OR don't allow the order until turn 15. The last two games I was in ended on turn 11 and 12, that is ludicrous. Why don't the game masters address this gaping hole?

[Stillgard]

Congratulations HeadHoncho! The game was getting interesting. My 17 brigade Troll Army was going head to head with the AN and his nasty wizards, was looking forward to that battle!

[Kalrex]

Now I know why you wanted Dragonslayer so soon HeadHoncho glad I hung onto it and pretty sure I woulda won next turn but alas.

I have 0 issues with the SVC. That's what people get for making early alliances, grouping up against the wrong positions and whatnot. In a "perfect" game all the SVC's are difficult and some near impossible. Too many people make NAP's and ally with people that forces their hands to be tied into the mid-late game.

Brogan, just try other games like the silent games and whatnot and those should go well longer.

[kevindusi]

That's a lot of whatnot, Kalrex.

[HeadHoncho]

What was your SVC, Kalrex?

On the artifact, you'll note that I didn't push it or pester as the deadline approached and we still had no confirmation... it's just my nature to love to collect artifacts wherever and whenever I can, simply because I think they're cool. I promise I wasn't trying to just get more status points! Were that the case, I would have passed on the ally declarations with DA/AN, since they're now worth negative points.

[Kalrex]

Technically, I think the game plays pretty much perfect assuming 15 players are playing relatively well.

"The last two games I was in ended on turn 11 and 12, that is ludicrous. Why don't the game masters address this gaping hole?"

Possibly, the game could be "balanced" for positions like Troll and have some sort of clause that if the long game positions achieve some goals the game cannot end early? Troll is the only sure thing long game position and maybe the UN (Wizards too maybe but they usually come online by mid-game and sometimes pretty fast). Other positions are debatable but maybe weight a group of positions that play well into the late game and give them some early objective that counters an SVC?

[Kalrex]

HeadHoncho, I was joking regards the Dragonslayer. A little

I mentioned trading it in the 1st place, wanted the Town.

Good game all.

[DuPont]

Well, avoiding the whole SVC issue for the moment, this game didn't go all that well for me, but it was really my own fault. I was distracted right at the start and didn't do much in the way of diplomacy. The end result was that the RA was spooked into thinking that I had my eye on him (I didn't) and organized a three-way alliance to invade my region. I found the BL, SO and RA on top of me before I knew what was happening. Fortunately, the GI/WA came in on my side and we had a battle for a couple of turns. But the GI realized that this was likely to be a static war with nobody really gaining much advantage and brokered a truce. It did involve Arcania being sliced 5 ways but I was just happy to not be under pressure, so I took it. I didn't need the region for my ESO and would have been quite happy using Zarathon as my base to raise skeletons and go from there. The RA got the biggest share, but he was just short of control. It suited me to have him in control, so I traded one of my villages for two of his in other places. Said village, btw, had been poached from the GN who was unhappy enough about this to declare me an enemy, but with 5 people in the region, I didn't have any qualms about taking it - as a player, I always expect such things to be gobbled up by the dominant persons in the region eventually.
Not much to say after that, really. Took me a few turns to get on my feet and raise a decent army and then I was marching towards Torvale to see if I could get involved in the TR/AN war, but the game ended early. I really don't care because I had no chance of doing well in this one, but I will admit that two region SVCs should perhaps be looked at. I know that it's more than just the two regions - there are always other conditions as well and very few games end this early - Brogan has just been unlucky enough to be in two of them. It has made me paranoid enough to start attacking people who gain two regions, though - oddly enough, I just did that in another game only to find that the poor fellow's SVD involves substantial in 5 regions and he was nowhere near his SVC.
I think if there was a rash of games that started ending early I would want to look more at the SVC, but then if they are made too hard, it becomes more of a grind-it-out game where the goal is to pummel people into dropping. I guess I've played such a number of games since the re-launch and very few end this early. I think it's as much about alliances and allies 'helping' their teammates to win that is also doing it and that's not a design flaw, that's just how the community has developed.

[Lord Diamond]

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