An MP match where you don't kill starting city?
 

Hey I was wondering if anyone had ever tried this before:

What about an MP game where there is the rule that you aren't allowed to completely wipe out a player by capturing their starting city? You can besiege it until they sign a capitulation agreement, but you must leave and are never again allowed to besiege this city unless they break their agreement.

The capitulation agreement can be anything. The only rule is that both players must agree. Once they do it becomes final and public so it can be enforced. If it's broken by the loser, the winner is allowed to besiege him again. If it's not broken, the winner is not allowed by house rule to invade his home region again. Players breaking the house rule would be booted from the game.

Could that be fun? I think it could be maybe, but only if the capitulation agreements are interesting.

-- John

Re: An MP match where you don't kill starting city?
 

Sounds a bit boring to me actually, you have already lost. You have signed some sort of agreement, but you still need to play.

It could be interesting if the interface allowed you to set some sort of AI that does certain things for you. (Like keeping the agreement).

Re: An MP match where you don't kill starting city?
 

The concept sounds interesting indeed. The game politics would be as unpredictable as politics in The Song of Ice and Fire. However D3 game mechanics are not that functional for vassal based feodalism. It nees to be something like Paradox's Crusader Kings, or alike.

In order to capitulation have some significance the subject needs to control more than just the seat of power, because isolated in his capital he cant really do anything.

Maybe politics like in Cryptic Comet's Solium Infernum is something you are looking for? Have you tried the game? I would highly recommend it! There even the loser can win the match it self, because the politics follow set of extremely complicated steps and rules and fighting seems secondary to the politics - thou politics can be enforced with war and vice versa - but fighting over all seems less important in king making.

Re: An MP match where you don't kill starting city?
 

I would think you would simply end up with dominion kills. If you're reduced to one providence how long will you last anyway?

Re: An MP match where you don't kill starting city?
 

Like vassals from civ 4?

Re: An MP match where you don't kill starting city?
 

Something similar was tried in a experimental game called one-fort. Where no one was allowed to build more than their starting fort; the effect was the same, the whole game went by with noone conquering another player and just turtling up the little area around their fort, very boring...then people quit.

I myself am just finishing up a game where I messed up early and ended up in a perpetual-besieged-state until late-game, controlling only my fort and maybe an adjacent province from time to time; that sucked too :)