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To be honest, I think you, Frank, are too experianced to be playing in a newbie game.
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I'm not sure how that could be possible. This is my first multiplayer game of Dominions 3. In fact, I've never completed a game of Dominions 3, I've never seen the message that says that you have won or lost. And it's my first game as Tien Chi: Spring and Autumn. Actually, it's my first game as any era of Tien Chi, but I gather that the others aren't that similar anyways.
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I don't know if your attempting to act in character or anything, but acting like a jerk, even in character, doesn't enrich the game for anyone, so I don't know why you do it.
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There's a couple reasons. The most important is that Tien Chi is based on early China. Pre-Chin China even. So I've decided to put into practice the diplomatic decisions of Emperor Wu:
"Never let a barbarian know he has something you want. Value
nothing that comes from far away."
That became Imperial Doctrine under the first Emperor of Zhou, and since we're during the Spring and Autumn time period, that seems immensely appropriate. It's a studiedly political stance. By refusing to acknowledge that other empires have anything you fear or value, the Empire of China was able to inflate the appeal of their own goods in distant lands.
But there are also occassional deliberate choices made about
what boasts and threats we send out. For example, the infamous "Witch Kings are not Gods!" speech was made to hide the fact that at that moment my third army was out of position - there was literally
nothing standing between his raiding force and the deeper bowels of my empire. He could have marched virtually unopposed all the way to Abysia, burning as he went. So we made a speech about how there was
no avenue of escape in order to bluff Sauromatia into sending his troops to attempt to force a path back to his home supply lines - a path which was thouroughly closed.
Similarly, when we announced that we were going to invade Arcocephale in a few turns if they didn't negotiate we were pretty sure that they were just going to attack instead - and we timed the release of that demand with the movement of a group of troops into the border province knowing that we could move more troops into that area than Arcocephale already had in the adjacent province. The result was a stomping.
So yeah, there are some calculated bluffs thrown in there to attempt to draw opponents into "proving us wrong" in ways that aren't actually to their advantage. But mostly it's a pastiche of historical Chinese diplomatic posturing. Even the trade in items for gems mimics the Chinese demand for payment only in gold. (But in Dominions the most valuable currency is gems, not gold, so we use that instead).
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But I still don't understand why you think I broke an alliance or anything.
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You didn't. Ulm did, and they'll pay! Grrr.
Helheim honestly did announce their invasion of my lands. Arcocephale, Sauromatia, Yomi, Abysia, and Ulm did not. Abysia and I eventually made a peace settlement of sorts and that particular war ended with no hard feelings and relatively few casualties.
Tien Chi would be completely happy with accepting an alliance with a "barbarian" nation and attempting to declare a co-victory. Honestly, I can't imagine wanting to play this game to the bitter bitter end. I think I prefer the Victory Point model being used in the other games I'm playing. At least that has a fixed ending in sight. Unfortunately, Ulm decided to "go out with a bang" and attempt to burn my capitol to the ground.
-Frank
And here's the in-character bit to Ulm:
You will find now that you have passed our wall that it will be difficult for you to make progress, harder still to take your spoils back with you. As you approach the heart of our nation, know also that you approach our labs and and our forges. Even now our armies reposition to hold you fast.
These are the lands where our magics rule, and you will tire quickly. Every turn we can distract you, delay you, misdirect you is another turn that we move closer to defeating you. Do you think that you can stand against the armies that destroyed Yomi's forces? If you turn back now, I will spare you their wrath.
The Great Catsby has Spoken
Re: Begun it has
Hexxagon Champion!
Hybrid Mode
