Big Problem - Unbalanced random events

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by Chris Byler:
PvK, I see your point, but having your home province beseiged by a vampire lord on turn 5 isn't a "unique and interesting challenge"; it's instant game over. You have no realistic chance of *ever* breaking that siege. You can't even raise an army to do so: your only fortress is beseiged!

It's only an "instant game over" if both your pretender and already produced troops are also dead, as the count's army isn't that hard to dislodge. You only need to make them rout after all.

Early loss of temples, labs, 50+ instant unrest, and even killing 1/4 of your population aren't necessarily instant death (although if you're in a MP game where the abilities of the players are anywhere near close, they're very likely to doom you). But having your home province beseiged by an immortal ethereal undead on turn 5?

It's not certain to doom you, since the other players also likely had similar events, or they paid the nation points to prevent them. The vampire count's immortality means nothing in this instance, since he isn't in friendly dominion.

* A thief has stolen (number) (type) magic gems from your treasury. (requires order 1 or less)
* (Province) has revolted against your rule and declared independence.

These two already exist.

[Chazar]

Originally posted by Chris Byler:
PvK, I see your point, but having your home province beseiged by a vampire lord on turn 5 isn't a "unique and interesting challenge"; it's instant game over.

I entirely agree! Luck is a part of the game, but it shouldnt decide a strategy game in an instant. I my opinion, a MP game is only interesting if all players are on an equal level:
A crippled development can hardly be recoverd quick enough in MP, hence that player is an easy prey, but not a challenge for the other neighboring players!

Please: include an option to disable severe random effects on capitals for the first 10 turns. Thats all that is required to settle the issue in my view.

[ March 31, 2004, 15:11: Message edited by: Chazar ]

[PrinzMegaherz]

It's only an "instant game over" if both your pretender and already produced troops are also dead, as the count's army isn't that hard to dislodge. You only need to make them rout after all.

Well, of course not, unless the vampire count refuses to rout after killing his mindless peasants and begins to flood the field with soulless which, after a long battle, even kill my vampire queen.

I dont mind it, it was SP after all.

[PvK]

It's still not really game over, especially in SP. In MP, it's time for diplomacy and secrecy. Independent attacks never assault a castle, so you should have some units that can be mustered to relieve the seige, while perhaps you summon some creatures or forge magic weapons (bye bye, ethereal protection) and/or research appropriate spells inside the castle. Also, if you were prudent, you have some cash reserves and can hire mercenaries, and even without a castle, troops can be hired in other provinces. This is a good situation in which to use the so-called "useless" low-resource light troops, because for a single battle like this, strength can really lie in numbers.

Still, I agree it'd be nice to have limits on the early-game disasters, and I do like Chris' suggested events.

Oh, and I think it was earlier on this thread I mentioned I wasn't sure, but there is a "large numbers of immigrants arrive in province Q" event.

PvK

[PvK]

Originally posted by PrinzMegaherz:
...Well, of course not, unless the vampire count refuses to rout after killing his mindless peasants and begins to flood the field with soulless which, after a long battle, even kill my vampire queen.
...

Does your immortal queen then immediately come back to your castle, allowing you to endlessly keep trying to break the seige using her?

PvK

[PrinzMegaherz]

Does your immortal queen then immediately come back to your castle, allowing you to endlessly keep trying to break the seige using her?

She did.
To be honest, I just took her to find out why most people in this forum agree on her being a good SC. She did not match my expectations however, and so I ended this game

[Gateway103]

Originally posted by PrinzMegaherz:

quote:

---

Does your immortal queen then immediately come back to your castle, allowing you to endlessly keep trying to break the seige using her?

She did.
To be honest, I just took her to find out why most people in this forum agree on her being a good SC. She did not match my expectations however, and so I ended this game

---

From my experience, Vampire Queen is a good SC, as long as she has some decent equiptment. Without equiptment, however, she lacks sufficient fighting power to defeat anything substantial by herself, unlike a Dragon or Wyrm could. Therefore, VQ is more of a mid-game SC, rather than an early-game land-grabing SC.

-Gateway103