Barbarian Invasion - Rule Discussion

[Boron]

I had the idea for a special Scenario MP game.
In the Alliance vs. the Dead thread i suggested it already:
Thread

The base concept of the game is that it will be roughly a fantasy Barbarian Invasion.

2 players will be allied and play Western and Eastern Roman Empire, the other players will also be allied and play the Barbarian Invaders.

Settings:
-Most recent CB Mod, 5.2 or newer.
-Zen's Europe Map
- 6-8 Players

If you are interested post and then suggest/vote for my suggestions open for discussion which i will post now:

1. Roman Nations
suggest 2 Nations
2. Barbarian Nations
suggest up to 6 Nations
3. Should conquering the sea provinces be allowed?
a) yes
b) no
4. Victory Conditions for the Romans
a) Barbarians are very strong. In this case the Roman Victory condition will be to survive till turn X.
b) Somewhat balanced start. Romans have to kill 50% of the Barbarian Nations.
5. Victory Conditions for the Barbarians
a) Kill the Romans before turn X
b) Conquer either Rome or Byzantine
6. Magic Sites Frequency
suggest frequency
7. Shall we play with 500% Supply and 200% Resources (compared to Vanilla)
a) yes
b) no
8. Shall the Romans have many castles (simulating Limes + better roman infrastructure)?
a) yes
b) no
9. Fast Research, i.e. everyone gets a few immobile special researches in his capitol which give 100-200 research per turn.
a) yes
b) no
10. Shall the starting armies be rather national or may the nations also have some mystic help by ancient monsters, their gods etc.?
a) keep them national
b) also add monsters
11. Human pretenders only or free pretender chosing?
a) Humans only
b) all allowed
12. Shall artifacts and magic items be distributed too like in the artifacts game?
a) absolutely
b) no

P.S.: Morkilus, Huntsman, Folket, RonD and Arralen have reserved player slots till they state otherwise because they already showed interest in the old thread

[Morkilus]

Thanks for reserving a spot for me, but I'll give it up if anyone else is interested and all the spots are taken, since I'm in 3 games already. I'm not sure about starting rules, since I'm pretty inexperienced, but... sounds like you're interested in getting the game off to a fast start.

[Truper]

1. For the Roman nations, you already made the obvious suggestion in the other thread, Broken Empire and Pythium.

2. Again as on your map, except that T'ien Ch'i doesn't belong in Europe, so I'd replace them with Jotunheim. I'd also suggest Arco in Palestine, just so that the Roman nations don't have a monopoly of Astral magic.

3. I'd say yes to conquering sea provinces. If the map has seas, might as well use them

4. I'd prefer that the Roman Nations are strong, but that there are around 6 Barbarian nations. Victory for the Romans is to hold 2 Barbarian capitals (it migh be easy for them to cooperate and rush Ulm), victory for the Barbarians is to sieze either Rome or Byzantium.

5. See 4.

6. Oh, 50%

7. No.

8. If there were 6 Barbarian nations, it would be appropriate for the Roman nations to have 3 castles each.

9. No. Research will be fast enough without any added boost, at least for the Roman nations.

10. Undecided, but with slight preference for national - if someone can come up with an appropriate set of monsters, I wouldn't object.

11. I like the idea that the Roman nations hold more territory and castles but must use human pretenders, while the Barbarians can use anything they want, and are strongly encouraged to use monsters or Titans. It might even be fun to specify the most thematic pretenders - i.e. Jotunheim must use a Son of Neifel, etc.

12. Possibly, depending on balance. It is going to be hard to balance things, but the Roman powers starting with some "ancient artifacts" might be thematic.

[Folket]

1, Broken Empire and Pythium, a must.

2, I would like a theme of all monsters or all human with monster pretenders. A all monster with 4 barbarian tribes would be Pangea (possibly carrioin woods), Jotunheim, Abysia and C'tis. Or perhaps exchanging or adding Caelum.

As humans Man, Ulm, Marignon, Vanheim, Then Chi and Arcosephale works great.

3, no, but I will with whatever the majority say.

4 and 5, I agre with Truper

6, no idea, perhaps low, with barbarians starting with some extra special sites.

7, no

8, One fortress facing each opponent and one fortified City in Rome and Byzantium.

9, I think romes research should be somewhat crippled, so that they will have to relay on national troops facing a mystical enemy. Perhaps forcing romans to take drain 3. The two roman empires will have much more income then the others, so they will outsprint the others in research unless we do something and I would feel better the other way around.

10, national troops only.

11, I like the theme about I like the theme about roman steel agianst the unknown worlds magic, so I want romans to have humans while the barbarians have more mytical creatures.

12, no, but I may v'be convinced if someone has a good idea.

[RonD]

1. BE/Pythium
2. The suggestions so far make sense.
3. Yes I would prefer that this be a *dom2* game with teams and a particular theme. I am not in favor of trying to make this some sort of "alternate history war game" (AHWG). Outlawing sea provinces would make sense for the AHWG, but not for dom2.
4. ? Maybe for the Romans to occupy some percentage of the original barbarian provinces. Maybe even require the Romans to build forts in some percentage of the originally barbarian provinces (so the provinbces are truly civilized). But I'm flexible.
5. see 4.
6. 50. Something that doesn't swing the balance too far either way.
7. Not tried that, so I suppose I have no opinion.
8. Either way is OK. I suspect the Romans would build castles if they start with them.
9. no
10. Adding a few monsters for the barbarians might be fun, but it could also allow an early exploit if someone thinks of something clever.
11. Either way is OK with me. Truper's idea might be fun.
12. No. I think it will be tricky enough to have this game balanced as is.

If Folket's idea of Romans required to take drain is adopted - count me out. I understand his rationale, but the idea of playing a magically crippled Pythium doesn't appeal to me.

[shovah]

i agree with what others say but i think there should be atleast a few barbarian monsters

ps: are there any free spaces left because in my current mp game im gona die soon

[Folket]

RonD, since we start with so many provinces there will be no such thing as magicaly crippled. Everyone will be able to afford to research.

[Morkilus]

Shovah, there should be one spot open assuming Truper is playing too. If not, you can have mine; I'm not dying in Artifacts any time soon (unless there is a big conspiracy afoot)

[shovah]

is it a barbarian spot? is yours?