PBEM game: King of the Hill (Over)

Rainbow · #1 November 17th, 2004, 05:59 PM

Alneyan, can you specify the exact victory conditions? If we only need to hold the hill for a relatively short time, we have to go for a quick pretender SC and take the hill. If we have to hold the hill for a total of 20 turns AND 7 consecutive, there may be a chance to get to some higher level research and allow for some other plays.

Also, what will the indies on the "hill" be like? Normal for the terrain type, or will there be a very hard group of indes with a hero guarding the hill?

/Rainbow

Alneyan · #2 November 17th, 2004, 06:18 PM

The clock for "holding the hill" starts on turn 10, so a *quick* SC would probably not be needed. A SC would likely be needed however. The two conditions were supposed to be a "OR" case, where it was either seven turns in a row (pretty unlikely, but who knows?), or twenty turns in total. The first "in a row" condition could be removed though, leaving the only win condition as "hold the province for twenty turns".

While testing the modified map, I noticed I bLasted *all* the special independents back to the Void (I didn't intend to do it however). In the original game, there are Eternal Knights and a leader or two keeping three provinces leading to the Hill, with the Hill itself having a fairly powerful defence. However, all these three provinces have a fortification, and Independents never, ever, patrol their provinces; there is therefore no need to fight when just travelling through.

Would the players prefer the original setup (where you only have to battle the defenders if you want to take the "full" province), or something more common where all provinces have the regular defenders? The Last option would be to leave the defenders while removing the fortifications, but that would probably put too much focus on flying to avoid these battles (or simply make them "yet another bunch of independents", for powerful SCs).

Lastly, Zen's mod reduces the effectiveness of a few of the most common Pretenders (Ghost King to name but him), so SCs may be a bit weaker than before. And of course, there are five other nations that would love to get you out of the Hill, which should be expected to gather their forces against you.

Zen · #3 November 17th, 2004, 06:24 PM

Just an Idea: Perhaps you could load up the "Hill" with customary anti-SC troops and equipped units. Throwing a magicless Pretender with SC attack equipment (Forcing the Pretender to fight instead of cast until fatigue) with some Mandragoras and some flying resistant units (Bane Lords with equipment might work) to stop the cheese Wrathing of the Hill.

You could also try giving some commanders some Soul Contracts. So as time goes by there is more and more of a force to deal with at the Hill.

Alneyan · #4 November 17th, 2004, 06:33 PM

My concern with making the Hill too heavily defended (for a turn 10 offensive) is that nobody would want to be the first one to go in; waiting for someone else to start clearing the defenders would be safer, and there would be a good chance of having a weaker enemy SC to take down.

Soul Contracts are nice, but again the winner of the battle could have one or two of them (if lucky), or nothing at all, which would be a fairly different situation. I suppose the Soul Contracts do not qualify as being "cursed", and do not have a higher chance of being picked up?

Zen · #5 November 17th, 2004, 06:41 PM

Another Idea could be to put the Chisslick Swamp and Inkpot End in the Hill.

Of course these are just ideas, I'm not saying you should or you shouldn't, but it's always fun to make situations with these type of Take and Hold things.

Alneyan · #6 November 17th, 2004, 06:49 PM

I thought of putting these wonderful sites on the hill, but I was too gentle when making my first post. Now... Well, that could be a lovely idea, though there may be a problem with Ermor (which would not suffer in the least from these sites). Hmm...

Cainehill · #7 November 17th, 2004, 08:16 PM

I'll go with, mmm, Vanheim.

Rainbow · #8 November 17th, 2004, 08:19 PM

I will take Tien Chi. I'll send the pretender tomorrow.

/Rainbow

Cainehill · #9 November 18th, 2004, 02:48 AM

If there's no objections, I may reconsider Vanheim, largely because of Zen's mod - not many of V's pretenders were altered much, and I like having a go with the more mutated ones.

Should have a pretender ready tomorrow - Alneyan, send me an email when/if you have everyone elses and are waiting on mine.

One question - any reason for HOF setting of 10? I realize we only have 6 nations, so nominally 4 non-pretender slots (more if we have arch sages or immobiles

) but generally HOF 15 gives a little more interest and oomph to the commanders.

Alneyan · #10 November 18th, 2004, 03:49 PM

No problem with changing your nation now, as you did it quickly.

I picked HoF 10 because I am lazy, and happen to love even numbers. So it will be HoF 15, as there is no reason not to go with 15 spots.

The Last question (I promise) before being able to launch the game: does anyone want to have some special defenders? If so, inside fortresses (you could get the province with a mere scout), or outside? And along the same lines, would you like some nasty surprises on the Hill, or do you believe the other players should fight to get the Hill themselves?