MP: ThreeFort - Experimental game - Squirrelloid/Bandar Log wins!

[Valerius]

Summary

The intent of this game is to emphasize the mid-game (to me the most fun part of the game), discourage turtling and have national mages and troops be relevant throughout the game.

This is accomplished by limiting magic to level 6, having all spells (except for some remote attack/movement spells) be set to level 0, having all sites already discovered (and double gem income in your cap), remove all global spells (even those below level 7), no indies (including magic sites that allow recruitment), no mercenary recruitment, no diplomacy.

If you think you might be interested please download the attached mod and two versions of the map (one with preset starts for six nations) and take a look.


Game settings

Era: Middle
Number of players: 5
HoF: 15
Gold: 125%
Resources: 125%
Mods: modified version of CBM 1.6 (see attachment)
Starting provinces: six preset start locations of 8 provinces each (see fort section below)
No indies, no mercenary recuitment
Map: modified version of a section of Cradle (see attachment)
Hosting: 24 hour interval until turn 10, 48 hours until turn 30, 72 hours after that. The reason for this is that I expect turns to become complex very rapidly. Turn 10 in this game should be similar to turn 30 in a normal game in terms of the armies being fielded.
Other rules: Attack orders can be given on turn 3, no sooner.
All other settings default


How it works

1) Choose a nation (see list of banned nations below)
2) Once all six positions are taken rdonj will message everyone their randomly selected starting locations.
3) You will then let him know where you would like your capitol and up to two additional forts located.
4) Play!

Note: Thanks very much to rdonj for his help. His assistance means that we won't know who our neighbors are before the game begins nor will we know everyone's fort locations.


Details

Banned nations - All water nations, Ashdod & Jotunheim (giant nations in a no-SC game), Ermor & Pan (free spawn issues in a game without battlefield clearing magic).

Map - This is a modified version of a section of Cradle. I've tried to balance the terrain types. Most importantly, each nation only has two neighbors (note that the position in the middle of the map does not share a border with the two nations in the northwest corner). The only indie provinces are four water provinces.

NAP to begin game - You cannot issue attack orders until turn 3. I'd like to see some good fights - not just a first turn attack from a flying pretender on an opponent's cap.

Diplomacy - There is none. No trading, no NAPs, nothing. General talk in the game thread about how you are destined to rule the world is welcome but don't reveal any game information such as "nation x has their cap in province y" or "nation x has their army in province y".

Indies - This is a no indies game. I've modded indie units to have a resource cost of 800. But it's quite possible I missed something. If so, we're on the honor system - just don't recruit it. IMPORTANT - no recruiting mercenaries either!

Magic - Magic is limited to level 6. So there won't be a traditional endgame with army destroying spells and SC's dominating the battlefield. Remote attack and movement spells have been put at level 3 for the same reason as the NAP that begins the game. Researching these spells is actually the only reason to have mages research at all - since all other spells are set to level 0. There are no global spells at all - again, to remove any incentive to turtle. If you've got gems use them to summon/forge. If you want more gems or gold, conquer someone.

Forts - Each nation will be limited to 3 forts. With only 8 provinces per nation this means almost 40% of provinces will have forts. The aim is to prevent raiding from being too powerful but also to keep the game moving and not have every province castled. Income and resources will be set at 125% to offset the lower province count. At the start of the game you must select at least a capitol province. You can select up to two other provinces to have forts. The forts will be whatever your nation builds in that type of terrain. The forts will also have labs and temples. If you leave one or two fort slots free you can later build a fort in whatever province you choose, at any stage of the game. You may want to leave fort slots free in order to see if you have particularly valuable provinces you want to protect or to give yourself strategic options later in the game. The cost is one less recruitment center at the game's start and of course you'll have to pay for the fort (and lab/temple) yourself. Note that if a nation has a free fort slot and that nation is eliminated the fort slot is lost (i.e. does not go to the conquering nation). IMPORTANT - fort provinces, once selected, can never be changed and never torn down! If you receive a fort through a random event you must tear it down as quickly as possible (but if you have a fort slot free you can choose to use it on the free fort you received).

Sites - All sites are set to level 0. There is no need for site searching! Mages are for forging, summoning, and fighting. Sites that allow recruitment of units have been removed (this is *really* a no indies game). Sites that cause potentially deleterious effects have been removed (it would suck to preselect a fort province and find it was causing disease, incinerating your undead, etc.). Sites that provide bonuses to schools of magic have been removed (no ultimate gateway ftw). Your capitol province will have double the amount of gems of each type as normal in order to emphasize your nation's magic. However with all sites discovered you may well end up with a strong gem income in a type of magic your nation doesn't have - keep that in mind when designing your pretender.

Blood magic - If you want to play a blood nation take a close look at the mod first. Blood magic was nerfed heavily - all summons more expensive, many spells removed, etc.

Misc. changes - Naiad warriors nerfed; hereos blade, soul contract and lifelong protection not forgeable; Machakan spider forms have upkeep cost; Pythium's cap gem income 10 gems, like other nations.

Balance - Obviously I have some concerns with balance given my list of banned nations, but I can't guarantee anything given all the changes here. It would be nice if some usually weak nations did well (and I think they might) but I also suspect astral nations will be very strong. While they lose some high level spells the battlefield also becomes safer for communions with rain of stones out of the picture (but earthquake is still available). If the game turns out to be fun but with balance issues I'll make changes for the second game. One possibility is having some level 7+ spells made available (perhaps with reduced effectiveness) or even removing some spells currently available. I'd also consider adding more thug options if there's an interest in that - but no SCs.


List of Players

Agartha - NooBliss
Bandar Log - Squirrelloid
Caelum - LoloMo
Eriu - Valerius
Mictlan - LDiCesare


PROPOSED SETTINGS FOR SECOND GAME

Number of players: 6-8
Map: looking for a map that averages 12 provinces/player (no water nations)
HoF: 15
Gold: 100%
Resources: 100%
Diplomacy: Yes
Independents: Normal indie settings; merc recruitment allowed; magic sites with mages/troops allowed
Starting provinces: 4
Forts: Normal fort rules.
Magic: Currently same as first game; max level 6 magic, all spells level 0 (with a few exceptions at level 3 and MoD banned), no globals. *Note: blood magic will be somewhat un-nerfed.
Sites: all sites level 0; 30%+ Conj./Blood and all Constr. sites banned
Banned nations - water nations, Ashdod, Jotunheim, Ermor & Pan

Special rules:

Misc. changes - Naiad warriors nerfed; soul contract and lifelong protection not forgeable; Machakan spider forms have upkeep cost; unique magic items (less powerful ones of course) assigned to Constr 2-4-6 so that random events still grant magic items.