[General Tacticus]

Originally posted by Saxon:
think one of the earlier people said it best. It depends on each game. I do not play impossible and I rarely play with more than four enemies. For me, it is not as hard to win and the chance that the winner will use it on me is very real. In a huge game at a high level, it is tough to win and is unlikely to bother you afterwards.

You're right ! I usually play impossible, but recently tried a huge map with easy opponents - I was testing stuff. The Arena Deathmatch comes up, and the AI didn't send anything better than an unequipped prophet... So the risk is vastly dependant on the difficulty level.
And of course versus 4 opponents you'll have only 2 or 3 match to win, against 17 you'll often have 6 or more...

The game is played different ways by different people, so each part of it will have a different impact on each person. To judge a part based upon your own style may not give a balanced view of how it is viewed by all players. Your view is still valid, but it may not represent “the truth.”

How true... I still say the reward should scale up with the number of competitors. But I must accept, I suppose, that against Impossible AIs it's impossible to win in the Arena...

My idea for a change would go the other way from many of the other suggestions. Instead of a huge prize to make it tempting, place a penalty on those who do not enter! “Gee Bilbo, I guess Gandolf isn’t as tough as we thought, he is afraid to take on the bad guys.” “Yes Sam, you are right. Why are we busting our butts to get the Ring to Mt. Doom when the big guy is slacking off? Let’s go back to the Prancing Pony and have a beer!”

Maybe a big jump in unrest for those who do not enter with smaller penalties for those who fight and lose. After all, everyone is bummed when your team is knocked out of the first round.

There I must disagree. Bad enough that I have no chance of winning, but I really see no reason why there should be a big jump of unrest in my 50 province Empire just because some nobody is hosting a competition somewhere with a prize far inferior to what I forge each turn
Hey, I have 10 unique artifacts gathering dust in my lab, not to mention a few jade knives if somebody is unhappy, who cares about that stupid trident ?
Now that I think of it, I also have (finally) somebody who has a chance of winning. Plus the 16 AIs are now 11, one of which is mising a Pretender. Bring it on !