MP Game: Age of Men - Completed - Arco wins! - Page 5

Ironhawk · #41 January 24th, 2005, 05:15 PM

So, Cohen brings up an excellent point in his in-game message: How do we handle the situation of one player attacking and storming another players research center where they will be practically gauranteed of being over the 1:25 mage ratio. I'm going to think about it some today but does anyone have some suggestions?

msew · #42 January 25th, 2005, 04:50 PM

The purpose of the game is to make mages on "active" / "usable" when there are 25 non mage units.

When mages are out searching by themselves they must have their orders set to: "retreat".

If there are N mages out searching without troop support they must have all their orders set to: "retreat".

When mages are moving from army to army they have their orders set to: "retreat".

When mages are moving they have their orders set to: "retreat".

Okie. Cool. We all agree on that.

So: Now we have mages hanging out in their respective forts. Researching perhaps. Idling about. Just arriving from being out in the field. etc etc.

So by those rules ALL mages must have their default order be retreat. And only when they 25 non-mage units allocated to them may they choose to change it.

So if you have a research province all of the mages that do not have 25 non-mage units must have their orders set to retreat.

Consequences:

a) if all of your mages are concentrated in one area and can only retreat you better make certain they have a place to retreat from or you will lose them.

b) An enemy attacking a concentrated research province could massively disrupt your researching. And maybe kill off some mages in the adjoining provinces with secondary attacks

c) this stops the tactic of: making forts and dumping 10 mages that are "researching" and can defend that fort quite easily from the 50 unit 2 mage assault force

Cohen · #43 January 26th, 2005, 02:08 PM

So on who's got a Watchtower will be able to bring his retreating mages to safety, meanwhile who's picked a castle has his retreating mages trapped inside ... not fair.
I'd suggest you can't script any mages that excedes the limitations. The tactical AI will start to buff them with shields, and all other stuff, then start spamming crap spells.

I'd change too the "retreat" option of the site searching mages. Keep in mind in a such game, Provincial Defence could be worth. Indeed some nations get a mage too in Provincial Defence (for 20 men).
I'd apply for site searching mages, and all mages outside/inside castle without their 25 troops retinue, the rule of not being scripted.

Those cases are purely defensive however, in attack you're forced to the 25:1 ratio.

I'd suggest an exception for Mercenary mages, as they could be considered always active. They're avaiable for all, and this could enhance their value. Don't forget if they retreat you'll lose them. So I'd believe this could be fair.

To substitute the uber-micro needed for the "all retreat", according to my rule, we can add an string to the scripted mages, to check better if someone tries to trick the house rule, like "***" (three asterisks) at the end of the mage name, to identify him as scripted. (We will notice so on an F2-A1 mage scripted doing something like Air, Summon Phoenix Power, Fireball, Fireball, Fireball ... meanwhile an AI lead F2-A1 mage casting Air Shield, Fire Shield, Charged Body, Air, some buffs, then spamming spectral warriors or something like =P )

quantum_mechani · #44 January 26th, 2005, 08:16 PM

I would use msew's rules, with the exception of capitals (i.e., you can stack as many mages there as you want without retreat orders). This would allow everyone a safe research base, while keeping the mages out of battle most of the time. While this would make players hard to kill, this is not neccesarily a bad thing. Also, you could always 'starve' the capital mages out from lack of gold.

Ironhawk · #45 January 28th, 2005, 04:40 PM

It's really ridiculous that we are stalled again here for the 2nd day in a row. These should be 10-15 minute turns. To keep this from happening again I will be moving this game to 24hr quickhost once this current turn generates.

Additionally, if this current turn does not generate by 7pm Eastern US Time, I will force it. So, one way or the other, there will be a turn tonight and we will be on 24hr quickhost from here on out.

I'll send cohen a PM to warn him now as well since he is the only person out....

YellowCactus · #46 January 28th, 2005, 05:04 PM

Slow, deep breaths Ironhawk....
I'm the first to grumble when the turn isn't in, but lets keep in mind that this game isn't on quickhost. And even were we Quick Hosting, some players are going to stale. Complaining about it makes you feel better, but won't stop players from going out of town, or playing DaoC until they're blue in the face. So sharpen your pikes and host without them!
<Unless someone requests more time>
-Yc

Ironhawk · #47 January 28th, 2005, 07:17 PM

I'm not that upset, cactus. But its an adding insult-to-injury situation here, you have to give me that. I mean, not 2 turns ago I specifically sent out an in-game message asking people to respect the informal 24hr.

And of course I have no issues with people needing more time and going out of town, etc. But there was no communication to that effect. Coupled with the simplicity of these early turns some irritation is warranted.

Anyway, the game will be progressing tonight so there is that to look forward to.

msew · #48 January 28th, 2005, 07:36 PM

new turn is up

Ironhawk · #49 February 2nd, 2005, 10:06 PM

I've put some thought into the "Researching Mages" house rule problem and I think msew's option is the only way to go. Cohen's suggestion is really nice cause you dont have to go through and set all your mages to Retreat, which is kind of tiresome. But the truth is that you cannot be 100% sure that unscripted mages will not cast important spells.

For example, if someone tried to attack a research center of my Arco Mystics they might be up against 10-15 of them. And I feel very sure that the first spell the AI would pick would be Mind Burn or something like that. 10-15 of those a turn would be a significant force on the battlefield. Not to mention my priestesses all casting Protection on my troops and continual SoCs.

So, unless someone can come up with a third option then we just have to set all mages to retreat. I suggest that you bind Retreat as a scripted order and just assign it to every new mage you recruit as they arrive.

As msew pointed out this decision has serious consequences. Even more than a normal game, you DO NOT want your research centers being stormed. :} Fill them up with skellies or vine men or something. Also, to address the point of fleeing from Forts: I believe that the fort type does not affect whether or not you can flee. So if you have a fort and Retreat from a Storm attempt you can still escape so long as there is a province to flee to.

Ironhawk · #50 February 6th, 2005, 02:05 AM

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I am going to be gone from Feb. 8th to Feb. 13th. I'll be at the irl wedding of one of our fellow players, Tomahawk. Since I will be staying at his place for that period I should be able to continue to do turns, but perhaps not as quickly as when I was home. Just thought I would let you know in case I start causing slowdowns