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Old June 27th, 2008, 09:34 PM

MaxWilson MaxWilson is offline
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Default Re: Countering Master Enslave...

Okay, Jim. I agree with your and Sector 24's point that 50/50 attacker/defender goes first would not be satisfactory. (I guess you were concentrating on the 50/50 scenario and not on the broader picture.) I still like the idea of squad-level initiative for thematic reasons, but Ironhawk dislikes that for valid reasons and some other people might too. Since I haven't ever actually been bitten by this problem in my SP games, I won't be worrying too much about this in the near future.

I hate the idea of alternating, though. It's neither thematic nor a solution to the current problem--you'll simply scramble to find low-numbered casters and lots of high-numbered chaff casters to pad them with. Look to BattleTech for an example of how those kinds of systems play out; I think it's artificial.

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Old June 27th, 2008, 10:01 PM
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JimMorrison JimMorrison is offline
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Default Re: Countering Master Enslave...

Well I simply brought up alternating, because it's the closest you can get to simultaneous, without running the battles in some sort of real time engine. In lieu of real time running, there are serious snags with any potential setup - including what the game currently has - but at least what we have now doesn't require a significant change of game mechanics, AND can be mitigated somewhat by slowing research so as not to get all magic schools at 9 by turn 50-60, which is the only reason that this issue should ever come up. With slower research, forcing choices in spells means that even in the "late game" you are struggling more often with checks and balances, rather than playing a game of "lets all do everything all at once until we get sick of it or someone just wins, possibly because the other guy staled from being sick of it".

Ultimately though, I think that perhaps the most elegant solution to this actual problem, is to analyze the spell itself. Perhaps the best way to avoid this problem, is to change Master Enslave from affecting the entire battlefield, to simply having a huge AOE, such as the massive endgame evocations. In this way, one person having the spell is still a huge boon for his war effort, but both sides having it leaves much more room for an actual magical tug of war for supremacy, and it makes multiple casts of the spell into something that is much more vital to its effective use.
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