From the Mouth of Sauron Issue: E-10 Date: 02-25-94 Note: all authors retain exclusive rights to their material. Reprinting is allowed for non-commercial game use only. Editorial Before I ramble on, good news! David and Leslie Foreman had their baby (actually, I think Leslie did most of the work) and everything was fine! Here's the note I got from David this week: Gang, To use Mike Hostetter's term, here are the baby parameters: Name Garland David Foreman Sex Boy Length 20.5" Weight 7 lbs 5 oz Apgar Score 9-9 (Blue feet like his sister) Lngth of Labor 8 hours Unusual terms used During Labor 0 Forms Completed 1,485,537,532,964,532,664,563,259,053 All are well and fine. Thanks for the thoughts, and ignore Chris' statement about messages since all are well and I'll be checking email regularly (thanks though to Chris). later! (wah, wah, cry, sniffle, scream!) -- David R. Foreman No doubt David and Leslie will be a wee bit busy for the next eighteen years or so, so don't expect to see much from them in the Mouth for awhile. Congratulations, guys! Delays: my personal life has become even busier than it used to be. I'm experiencing delays with trying out new mailings, getting people on the subscription list, etc. I might also miss an issue or two in early-to-mid March as my Significant Other is getting some minor but painful surgery. If Friday rolls around and you don't see the Mouth, or if you aren't yet on the mailing list, be patient; I'm getting there. Winter Olympics: this has nothing to do with ME-PBM, but I just have to say: right on, Dan J.! You finally got your gold medal! Format changes: I'm going to be experimenting a bit with reformatting the Mouth for easier reading. Changes this issue: - I'm pulling the "In Your Ear" section. Unfortunately, you're all just too polite to really duke it out over controversial stuff. - It looks like we have the artifacts down pat, so I'm going to pull the artifact changes section as well. If any new info comes up, it'll make a brief reappearance. - And finally: it looks like the Personals section just isn't that popular. This'll be the last issue personals appear in, unless I get a flood of 'em next week. If you have any ideas for the format of the Mouth, I'd be happy to hear them. Just drop me a line any time! Encounters Nothing this time. Dragons Angurth: confirmed that a DS who ATTACKs Angurth will end up recruiting him. Leucaruth: confirmed that anyone who ATTACKS Leucaruth will get eaten. Other Corrections and Notes From Brian Cash I am currently trying to figure out the difficulties of the agent orders, how stealth is used, how effective guarding is, how successful scouting is, etc. for agents AFTER "the change". Please send any info/thoughts you have to: bcash@bnr.ca. Please include as much detail as possible, ie nationalities, locations (nation of pop center agent was at), relations, items, results, etc. I will put the results in MOUTH when I get enough info. From Jeremy Richman David, Your reponse about going after Khamul made me puzzled enough to ask GSI about this. You aren't the only person who has suggested that when a agent tried to 615/620 another character with agent skill, it is harder to do because of the target being an agent. This was NOT what I understood, so I asked GSI directly on CI$; you may have noticed their answer already, but here it is, prefaced by my question: Q. I've spoken with several players now who all have the idea that when an agent tried to kidnap/assassinate another character who has agent skill, the target's agent skill makes him more difficult to take out, e.g. a 40-pt agent is a tougher target than a 40-pt mage. Is this true, or just another false rumor ?>> A. Just another false rumor.. The skill ranks of the target (regardless of skill type) are the only factor (besides the agent rank of the character, the luck roll, relations, and any guards) taken into consideration.>> So hopefully Khamul will soon be dust. (Editor's note: the same Q&A was submitted by Keith Peterson at almost the same time that Jeremy's note arrived in my mailbox. Apparently this is posted on CIS). From David Foreman In the recent MOUTH, Tom stated that 'you can't overrun an enemy force that's sitting on one of its own (not an ally's) fortified pop centers.' THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE! As I stated (not well apparently, sorry gang!) in my SHAFTED article last issue, you absolutely can! Bill Nealon had 100 HI on an MT/tower he owned. Gothmog overran them with about 900HC while moving EVASIVELY! All three of Bill's chars with the army were killed during the overrun. Needless to say, he was mad. Bill Field says that the check on armies occurs individually (as you said) and that no factors modify the chance of survival for the little army. Thought you'd like to know. (Editor's note: alas, I misspoke. David is right here. My apologies if I screwed anyone up. Though there does seem to be some evidence that you can't overrun an army sitting on one of it's own fortified pop centers if you're NOT successful in moving evasively into the hex. This happened to me just this last turn - failed to overrun two small armies because non friendly/tolerant fortifications stopped movement, and the fortifications belonged to the player with the small armies). From Keith Peterson I (and several fellow players) have found that when the pop center limit is reached, camps may still be created at ruins. The hypothesis behind this is that ruins are counted in the pop center tally, and consequently are not impacted when the limit is reached. From Wes Fortin More on the Agent Equation: First, I want to state the equation presented was a recovery based on facts provided, piecemeal, from Bill Fields. So, it may not be the actual equation used in the game system. It does seem to be accurate for calculating worse case scenarios. With that disclaimer in there, I will proceed. Darren's comments/observations are repeated frequently in the game. Basically, an impossible feat occurs. His 65 agent, according to Bill, should stop an agent twice his rank (130). Why didn't it? There are two answers, the first hypothetical, the second gospel. The "double agent rank" rule for guards may be a variable. I look for "Mouth" readers to test the equation and provide feedback like Darren's. According to Bill, the old rules only had the agent rank as a modifier, that seemed ineffective, so the double rank was created to encourage more guards as a deterant from widespread agent gods. I could be that the benefits provided by the agent could be variable. It could be 1-130 (using the above agent), or 66-130 wher the additional "doubling" is variable in effect. Another possibility is this. According to the Bill-god, GSI has built a critical failure/success system into the equations. Those of you familiar with ICE's RoleMaster system are real familiar with how this works. If the attacking agent got a real good "success role", it doesn't matter how good the target is, or how well guarded. Theoritically, it is possible for a 10 Agent to assassinate Elrond with a REAL GOOD roll. Likewise, there is a critical failure result also. If you get a real bad roll with that 150 agent, you could not only fail, you could die! I have lost 60+ agents stealing from unguarded camps. Very unlikely, but that critical failure role came in to effect. In fact, much of GSI's success/failure/effect system mirrors RoleMaster and like systems. There are extremes, and a large middle area. Agent actions are the most frequently observed. Your 65 agent could die (a poor role), succeed in the guard with reduced effect (low midlin roll (yes, I caught the error - so my spelling stinks!)), succeed with normal effect (mid range roll), injure the assassin (better than average), capture/kill the assassin (great roll). We also see this phenomena in Commander/Army action. I have had 10 Commanders succeed in capturing 50 rank characters with enemy armies. And, the 10 Comms army was destroyed in the process. Either I got real lucky, or they got real unlucky. Maybe both. GSI guards closely the real range of effects in each scenario. Bill built in these effect ranges to "spice up the game" and keep those 100 rank characters from always succeeding. It also ensures character turnaround so gameslast longer, thus more money for GSI. Reply to Wes Fortin From Tom Walton Just a couple of added notes. I can attest to the extremes of rolls which is especially apparent in agent actions. An example: I had three 50-60 point agents in a row get killed trying to sabotage the unguarded tower of a dropped nation. On the other hand, in one of my games Khamul got captured by a 20-point agent while trying to waste a 30-point commander. You can also see this in challenges. In game 60, for example, an opponent who had a 95% (according to David Foreman's calculations) chance of beating one of my characters into jelly was instead himself thrashed, without a mark being laid upon my character. In fact, I won 4 lousy challenges in a row due to sheer luck, which was somewhat demoralizing for the enemy (having some of your best guys killed by a nobody is definitely irksome). For numbers people, a statistical run on the data points produces a curve like the one Wes outlines. This doesn't mean that the formula is the same as that in RoleMaster; just that whatever formula being used produces the same type of curve. But the connection is fairly straightforward, allowing us to assume with good reason that the RoleMaster system has been transcribed into the game code. From Tom Walton Here's an interesting note. In an earlier issue of the Mouth I stated that you could move directly to an encounter and issue order 285 'ReacEnc', giving a response, without first doing order 290. I said this based upon statements made by Bill. A couple of people have reported trying this and failing. I thought perhaps they weren't giving a response for order '285', or that they were just unlucky and didn't have the encounter, but I went back and actually found the paper copy of the Q&A with Bill (I threw all the others out once I transcribed them). Here it is, blow by blow: Q: I'm somewhat confused concerning an earlier answer you gave in response to a question about encounters. You said that a character in the same hex as a dragon could force an encounter using the '285 React to Encounter' order. Does that mean that I could have a character skip order '290' and move straight on to order 285, giving a reaction (e.g., 'Act Meek')? A: Yes! But you had best know what the encounter is before you react. You may not want to.... Q: If the answer to the previous question was 'yes', can I do this with other encounters, assuming I'm willing to bet I know what the encounter is (e.g., Daeron, Demon of Aglarond, Slyardach, Amon Llhaw, etc.)? A: Yes. Rather unequivocal, I'd say. There were other questions concerning this topic, but they were basically a rehash to see if I'd get the same answer several times in a row (I do this in case Bill is having a bad day). Personals Game 27 To the remaining Dark Ones....Harad has joined the fight after 34 turns) and your days (maybe hours) are numbered. Argeleb II Game 43 Eothraim, how long do you think you can hide? We have destroyed your armies, killed your characters, driven you from Rhovanian and you continue to fight on...too bad your allies didn't help you sooner. Ji Indur Game 61 Dark Ones, my allies come, the Western Lords have gathered, your days are over.... Mahrcared Game 104 Dear subjects, we have nothing to fear but our own alliance. Haruth Raman ME-PBM Wish List From Darren Beyer Army Retreats: Through out history there have been quite a few battles which resulted in the losing army either being wiped out or vanquished as an effective fighting force. Little Big Horn, Bannockburn, Crecy just to name a few. There were many more battles, however, which resulted in each side leaving the field with a fair number of troops left in fighting shape and each army still able to act as a viable entity. I would like to see some additions to the tactics that can be issued. Consider: A RETREAT Tactic. This allows the army to fight only one round of combat before retreating from the field. This tactic would yield an unfavorable Army vs. Army modifier for the retreating army vs. all other tactics and would leave both armies in the same hex after the one round of combat. If neither army issued a move command they would be there to fight next turn. PRESS THE ATTACK Tactic. This would counter the retreat tactic, forcing a "fight to the death" between the armies, but, like the RETREAT tactic, would yield unfavorable army vs. army modifiers against all other tactics. Another thing on my Wish List is using a different combat value for troop types from different nations. I play the dwarves in game 60 where my vaunted dwarvish pony riders swoop down from the mountains and crush everything in their path. Should these "pony riders" be just as effective as the fabled cavalry from Rhovanian? I think not. The Eothraim should have maybe an 18 combat value for Hvy Cav, but not as effective infantry (8 or 9 for hvy inf, 4 for light). The dwarves should have a 14 or so value for Hvy Cav and maybe a 12 for hvy inf. The Sinda and Noldo should have better archers, the Dog Lord, Long Rider good cav. I don't have enough data on the other nations to make suggestions about them. This type of system is already in place for navies, and the basic structure is there for armies (GSI already lists combat strengths on each nation's startup sheet, they're just all the same). This could add some flavor to the game. From Doug Bergstrom Naval Arena: 1) Can anyone picture the Minnow being able to take as much damage as the Bismark prior to sinking? Constitutions of warships and transports should be different. 2) How about having the southern river (help me with the name guys) (Editor's Note: the name of the river that cuts through Harad is the Harnen) extend through Harondur to the Mordor mts? Switch the Cloudlord and Blind Sorceror positions around, toss in a harbor and a few warships and whalla, the Blind Sorceror has an avenue for using the cross open seas and the Quiet Avenger has a point of rapid reinforcement. Suddenly, Harod becomes a major area of contention (not just a neutral playground) with naval invasions possible in both directions. Heavy vs. Light: How about simply giving troops w/o heavy greater movement or normal movement equal to force marching? The real unaddressed advantage in light troops should be the ability to move farther faster. Neutrals in Grudge matches: You have two decisions to make, are you going to stay in the game and how soon to declare for the servants. If you have decided to stay in you should start to aid the DS immediately. Trust me, the FP don't need you and sooner or later the ultimatum will come - join or die. And if it is any kind of a competent FP this will happen prior to turn 10. At least the game will be fun (maybe for a short while) and the DS really need the help. If you decide (as I did by turn 10 - Harad) to join the FP, it comes down to letting them steal your gold, assassinate your characters and influence your pop centers (all has happened since I have joined them). Why? Because they feel that they did more in 10 turns then I did so why should I be in first? The fact is there is nothing that I can do to change their minds, believe me I have tried. Editor's note: what follows is an exact description of Doug's situation as Harad. He sent this to me this morning, and I couldn't confirm whether he wanted it in the Mouth or was just filling me in on the game. It wouldn't be relevant next week, so I decided to play it safe and include it. If I'm wrong, Doug, I'll get down on my knees and humbly apologize. Uhm, like didn't want to sound like I was complaining about being a neutral in a grudge match (the other day). But having my first neutral position being a grudge match and having Harad I thought the game would be "VERY" interesting. This is the way events have gone: Rhudaur drops Easterlings join FP (FP offered 75,000 gold & a MT) FP demolish WK/Drgonlrd Dunland is threatened join or die QA is basically taken out of the game (Vamaug falls T2) Corsairs turn good. Dunlands armies face Cardolan/Arthedain/Dwarf armies he tells me it is no-win and will join FP With QA out, Corsairs good, Easterlings good, S.Gondor Sinda, and N.Gondor having their way, I decided to join the FP-like alot of choice. I cut a supposed deal with the Noldo, relinquishing 1st with the understanding I would help N.Gondor monetarily. I was told that I couldn't have first since N.Gondor had done all of the major work (10 turns!) All this happened by turn 11. Since then I have sent 20,000 to Gondor, had my new alliance steal another 40,000, perfect their emissary skills on my pop centers and assassinate one of my characters for a Dwarven victory condition. Caught a Corsair agent attempting to steal gold. And it is not that I haven't acted as a true ally since I have joined the free peoples, my only real point of attack was the QA, I challenged his characters and captured his capital. I am sending 3000 HI to Mordor to assist if not take the IK capital. But I am abit perplexed as to next moves. There is no way I can com- pete against Elrond (who has been around) or woodmen agents. "Their answer to this 'Gee only 20,000' (last turn)." Anyway that is why I feel the way I do about neutrals in grudge matches. It is not good to make an opinion based on one experience but if I am ever in the position to do it over...I would immediately start aiding the DS with full intentions of joining them. (Editor's note: Doug, if I were you, I'd transfer all of my stuff to the DS and suicide against the FP with a character war. Teach 'em a lesson in diplomacy....) Yesterday I put forth the idea of switching Cloudlord/Blind Sorceror positions and running the river Harnen (is that right? if so thanks for the last issue!) to the Mordor mountains. The idea was twofold, allowance of the BS to use it's talent of crossing open seas and rapid support for the Quiet Avenger. Last night another possibility came to me....How about a secret river passage extending through the Mordor mts connecting the Harnen with the Sea of Nurnan (did I get that one right too?). Make it an available route for only skilled sailors who know "Crossing Open Seas". Either picture huge caverns with a river flowing through or possibly a grand scale Colorado river with swift and deadly turns. Dragons: Do dragons die in battle? If not why don't they? I feel that if an army is strong enough to beat another army that has a dragon along then the dragon should have a good chance of dying. It is not unheard of that dragons die while engaged in major battles. Plus an extra bonus should be given an army & commanders surviving such an encounter. It could be gold, artifacts, experience morale, etc....but the army should be greatly boosted by withstanding dragon fire and winning the day! Reply to Doug From Tom Walton I agree that at most of the time a neutral should join the Dark Servants just on general principle. The Servants have a much harder time of it than the Free, especially in winter games (as I recently experienced first-hand), and neutral opposition makes their situation much more desperate. Yet I can't say that I've done this. I've played neutrals six times now; four times I joined the Free, once the Dark Servants, and one time both sides were so bone-headed I just attacked and conquered everyone around me regardless of allegiance (my most enjoyable game yet). Why so? In three of the four cases where I joined the Free, I did so because Mordor made a pre-emptive strike, either with agents, military units, or both. In all three of these cases, the Dark Servants started off with threats ("join us or die"), either as a group or from individual regional players. In essence, the Dark Servants convinced me that I could expect nothing better than threats and an end-game character war, which irritated me to no end. In the last case, I suffered a brain cramp upon receiving a very friendly letter from a neighoring nation and changed my mind at the last minute (indeed, on the turn I was supposed to cross over the river and conquer said neighbor under Sauron's banner). Doug's point is well-taken. Unfortunately, I've experienced what he seems to be going through at the hands of Mordor much more often than with the Free Peoples. In only one game has the Dark Servant team actually tried a little diplomacy, and because of that I'm now throwing everything I have (as Harad) into protecting Mordor. The point being: whether it's the Free or the Servants, picking the team that's least likely to give you the shaft can be difficult. It's also far more important to a neutral than picking a team based upon it's allegiance or how it's doing in the war overall. It's no fun jumping in on a side and giving your all if said side smacks you upside the head with agents and emissaries when the war's all but over. As a side note: I still find it amazing that some people seem to think that threatening a neutral will actually convince it to join their side. This might work in real life, but not often at all in the game; after all, we players have nothing to lose, and there's no greater satisfaction than stomping all over some obnoxious idiot who's been giving you a hard time - even if such an endeavor results in your ultimate defeat. Dragging an enemy with you to the grave is a time-honored goal in gaming. If you actually wish to recruit a neutral, beating your chest and grunting won't do it. This juvenile and boorish tactic is only going to alienate the potential ally. Recruitment tends to happen earlier, and much more whole-heartedly, if the allegiance avoids threats altogether and simply tries to convince the neutral just how unified and friendly it is. Throwing in a few minor goodies helps too; after all, if you're the Servants you have artifacts to spare. What's one or two +20 artifacts in comparison to having the might of a nation equal to any two or three Dark Servants joining your side? How I Got Shafted in ME-PBM From Brian Mason This is not so much a "How I got Shafted" but a listing of rules mis-interpretations and errors in my first couple of games. In writing this I feel like I'm in a confessional. Forgive me father, for I've been dumb as a door. - I assumed too much. I was guessing as to enemy strengths and capabilites without having any good idea. I had characters blindly wandering about in the middle of nowhere hoping to find something good. - I did not read the rules CAREFULLY! I recognized the need for emissaries (as described in Tom's excellent article on them in "The Mouth" #9) on turn one of my first game. So I named one with a 30/10 mage/emissary. Down goes 5000 gold, out comes a 10 emissary. The character didn't pass 30 until turn eight. - I did not recognize and use my capabilities well. I did not see the value in recruiting lots of troops, so the hire army ability of Cardolan was not adequately used until a half-dozen turns or so had passed. - I didn't take the time to understand well how the combat algorithm works. GSI, in their example, goes to great lengths to, and I quote: "the army of Borgen, although out-numbered 3/2, by virtue of..." blah blah blah. I took this to the heart and valued quality over quantity, and for the longest time would not even CONSIDER recruiting until I had bronze or steel handy, and I always went out of my way to train. - DON'T LET YOURSELF GET SPECIAL SERVICED! Find out how long mail takes to be delivered from your door to Miami. Double it. Add a day. Then take it to the post office that morning. You've got to plan ahead, but it'll save some heartache later. - I assumed that if I found no characters on a scout for characters that there were no characters to be found. Wrongo! - I didn't read the requirements for orders carefully. One game, I had an army commander make steel armor. On the very next turn he upgraded armor. But he left out that he wanted to upgrade to steel armor. Never mind that he only had steel armor present. No upgrade. Another example, in a recent turn I executed TranCar in my capital to send gold to someone else. I told them where to (4133), I told them what (gold), I told them how much (10000). Unfortunately, they wanted to know where I wanted the stuff to come from. I was promptly told that I could not transfer gold FROM 4133 as it was not mine. No joke. - FAX machines will and do run out of paper. If you are faxing in a turn, do it a day early or call to make sure it arrived or, sorry Charlie, tough luck (sound familiar, Glen?). - I did not always read what affects orders. Understand each order well. - I did not appreciate how often Dragons wander about mountains. The love emissary snacks! What now follows are a series of questions and the answers I sent in to GSI. For a while I had a fresh stack of a half-dozen questions or so every turn. Your response to some of the questions may be increduility (as mine is now, in looking back, but these are the thoughts of a new player on the zeroth turn of his first game). Be kind! - Q: Regarding victory conditions, do I understand correctly that if I fulfill a victory condition prior to the game end then I only have fulfilled the conditions if they still exist at the game end? A: Yes - Q: Who is Pochak? A: You will have to find out. See spells for ideas... - Q: What is the purpose of the "challenge" attribute of characters? A: See p. 52 - Rules: Personal Challenges - Q: When you name a new mage do you get to chose the spell(s) which he/she will have? If not, how are they determined? A: No, they are determined for you by nation - Q: Do we already have all information available on our territory which would be determined by a Recon Area? A: On your turn map, only icons and presence of items is indicated. Scout areas/recons also can provide names of characters/nations as well. - Q: Do we already have all information available on our territory which would be determined by a Scout Area? A: See above. - Q: Do we already have all information available on our territory which would be determined by a Scout Hex? A: No - Q: Do we already have all information available on our territory which would be determined by a Scout Population Center? A: No - Q: Do we already have all information available on our territory which would be determined by a Scout for Characters? A: No. This reveals characters in a specific hex only.. - Q: If a hex has a population center in it, will scout population center and scout hex determine different things? A: Yes - Q: Does it matter where within your country you spread rumors? Does it matter where in another country you try to uncover secrets? A: No. Yes, see pg 87 in rules - Q: What is my interest in hex 0508 (Lanthir Lamath)? A: See page 7 in rulebook. - Q: Is it possible to ascertain the loyalty effects of raising taxes prior to raising them? A: Not exactly, it is a function of the amount of change... - Q: With regards to spell lists for research of new spells what is a spell list? For example, is Lore Spells a spell list or is Divinations a spell list? A: See page 33 in Rules - Q: Can the same unit be put on army maneuvers by the army commander, and on troop maneuvers by another character with command skill with the army on the same turn? A: Yes - Q: Once a neutral nation executes order #175 (ChAlleg) to join the good or evil side, can it go back to neutral and to the other side? Can a good or evil nation use this order? Is there anyway to ascertain whether or not a neutral nation has executed this order other than the Perceive Allegiance and Perceive Secrets spells? A: No. No. By spying army icons, indirect evidence as well. - Q: It seems that for casting spells the spell proficency is much more important than the mage rank. Is this true? Is the only value of mage rank in determining the initial casting proficency of a new spell? A: Yes. And spell difficulty. See page 33 in rules - Q: Is it possible to research a spell that is "easy" on a list which is not "lost" even if the character does not have access to it? For example, one of my characters has the following three spells: 102 - Barriers on the Barriers Mastery List 208 - Word of Pain on the Word Mastery List 419 - Divine Nation Forces on the Divinations List Suppose I want the character to research a new spell. I know I can research spells up to one degree harder on each of these three lists, however, can the character research a basic prerequisite spell on another list (e.g. 402 - Perceive Allegiance)? A: Yes. You have access unless they are "lost." - Q: On turn 1 two characters of mine executed order 925 - Recon. The only information provided was a map. No information at all was provided vis a vis an alien army in a hex on the map (1715). Does this indicate the recon was unsuccessful or only partially successful? As Recon (925) is an easy command, with the +20 bonus on scouting/recon for Cardolan Agent/Command I would have expected to receive all available information. Is this true? A: The amount and detail of reported information is based on the command rank and incorrect reports are possible - see page #102 of the rules. - Q: On turn 1 I had 500 victory points. Is it possible to get in the future, an itemized accounting of how we get the points and where we rank (1-25) in each of the four categories? A: The exact break-down of Victory points is not revealed. See Page #6 for details! - Q: Am I mailing in my turn 1 moves or my turn 2 moves? For example, suppose I received a resultsheet with turn # 5 printed on the bottom, and I had 12 characters. If the moves which I would then prepare to mail in were turn 5 moves (I presume) I could not create a new character. If the moves which I would then prepare to mail in were turn 6 moves (I presume, again) I could create a new character. Which is true? A: They would be turn #5 moves. - Q: Can you give commanders (not ARMY commanders) travelling with the army orders for army commanders only, which then would be executed in the event the army commander was killed in personal combat? For example, bill is an army commander and ted is a back-up commander travelling with the army. Could you give both of these two orders 230 and 850 (for example). Of course, the only way ted's orders would take effect would be if bill were killed and he became army commander. This would allow you to make sure an army did what you wanted regardless of what happened to the commander. A: Yes - Q: Can you give a character two orders of their type (i.e. two agent orders, two emissary orders, etc.) knowning that only one could be executed. For example, suppose you had an enemy army at your population center where you had an emissary. Could you give him orders 520 and 550. 550 would take effect if the population center was destroyed, and 520 if it was not. The effect is to give a character only one order for that turn. A: No - Q: Are the production values given at population centers representative values for those types of hexes, or are they above the mean? A: The production values given when scouting a hex are the values at maximum (100%) production, all other values may have been modified by the climate modifier. - Q: Are production values randomly selected for each population center at the start of each game, or is a nations production set, and production shifted between population centers? A: Randomly selected. - Q: When creating or posting a camp what factors determine whether or not the camp is posted? For example, does it depend just on the skill rank of the person using the appropriate order, or does it also depend on the terrain in the hex, or nation tax rate, or season, or how well that nation is doing in the game, etc.? A: The emissary or command skill and the total number of population centers in the game. - Q: When improving a population center what factors determine whether or not the population center is improved? For example, does it depend just on the skill rank of the person using the appropriate order, or does it also depend on the terrain in the hex, or nation tax rate, or season, or how well that nation is doing in the game, morale of the population center, other characters present, etc.? A: The level of the emissary and the loyalty of the population center. - Q: If an army has more than one backup commanders, and the commander is killed through personal challenge, as a result of combat, or by assassination, which of the subcommanders will become army commander? A: The next best commander. - Q: Would the spell "Perceive Allegiance" show only active players of a specified allegiance, or would it also show those which are inactive (i.e. dropped), or would it show those which are defeated? A: yes and only neutrals which have changed their allegiance. - Q: Just a suggestion for modification of rules: An idea I had of a possible emissary order would be "Make Pronouncement" where you would be allowed to make a 20 word statement that would appear in each countries "Nation Messages" for the following turn. This would then get the message to all nations, even those who do not get "Whispers..." A: No response. - Q: Another suggestion for something to include in the new player supplies would be a map with the information provided on the large poster size map but in a small (8 x 11) size. The larger one is too bulky for easy use, and I think the resolution of laser printing might allow for the information to be reduced to that size. A: No response. - Q: Is gold production reduced as a population center increases in size like all the other resources, or does it remain the same? A: remains the same. - Q: Will Counter espionage work on the agent that executed the order? A: No. Commentary by Leslie Foreman (Originally published in the 'Free People Press') As I have mentioned in the past, I generally read 'The Press', but I must admit that I often find the names of the characters to be obnoxious. I feel that I am wrapping my lips around too many letters to be in just one word. Then when the sounds do come out, it is more like a foreign curse than a name. I realize that many of the names where given to you by GSI, but I also know that you have had the opportunity to create and to name characters of your own. With this in mind, I would like to suggest that you choose names which have meaning. I guarantee that it will help you keep up with who is who and what his/her purpose is. I have several examples. (I don't understand it, but I have remained true to the idea that names need to begin with a vowel. I have selected E for this example.) Eayuwanajoyn A commander which you know will raise many troops. You know "Uncle Eayuwanajoyn needs you." Ehrsdahinimy A commander which you know will lead many men into many battles. Ehrdowegoh A commander created and attached to an army just prior to battle. Elpikneedelp A commander who, when created, is already at a military disadvantage. Ehrsdahrmee An agent created to scout for information. Ehrsdagohld An agent created to find his/her way into the treasury of others. Eayulissenin A character created to steal "pop centers" through emissary action. Eesded and A character who is created, yet his demise is Eestoste known to be imminent. Enuffe A quick, and somewhat clever, way of ending this commentary. Good gaming, guys! (If you need a key, there is one at the end of 'The Press'. Good luck!!) I hope you don't need these, but here are the names written in good ol' standard English. Eayuwanajoyn Hey! You want to join? Ehrsdahinimy Where's the enemy? Ehrdowegoh Where do we go? Elpikneedelp Help! I need help!! Ehrsdahrmee Where's the army? Ehrsdagohld Where's the gold? Eayulissenin Hey! You listening? Eesded He's dead. Eestoste He's toast. Enough Again, a good way to end. The European Connection By Brian Lowery Following is somthing I got off rec.arts.pbm I thought you might be interested. It would also be interesting to get the europian veiwpoint as I have been told that they run their own version of the software and it has not been updated with the latest agent/emissary order changes: Since the disasterous attempt by GAD in the UK to produce a newsletter for MEPBM I've been toying with the idea of producing one myself (with a help from a few friends and fellow players). This is a request for feedback on the validity of the idea. - Is there a need for such in UK / EUROPE ? - Would people want it ? - Are enough people willing to contribute articles etc ? Please let me know, and spread the word to those players you know who are not on the net. My e-mail address is: Ian.Pearson@afrc.ac.uk Contact me for my postal address if you need it. Ian Pearson P.S. Any non-Europeans reading this are more than welcome to comment/contribute. Mages in Battle By Tom Walton I've heard a number of comments concerning how wimpy battle magic is. Can't say I agree with them; there are far too many games on the market where magic is nothing more than the fantasy equivalent of nuclear weapons, destroying any real attempt at winning through wit (the idiots can get nukes just as easy as the smart guys). But magic in battle is underestimated in ME-PBM. Here's a simplistic example, involving two armies of 2,000 HI. Let's say that both armies are equal in every respect for ease of calculation, and that offensive strength works at to 10,000 points, defensive strength to 20,000 points. Neither has access to magic. In a normal battle, both would inflict 10,000 points on each other in the first round, reducing the armies to 1,000 HI apiece. Recalculate, and each kills off another 500 HI in the second round. This continues until both armies fall to less than 100 HI and are dissolved. Now imagine that the first army has two mages in it, each of whom is capable of casting a defensive spell worth 1250 points. Both cast for a total of 2500 defensive points in the first round. Army #1 inflicts 10,000 points, while army #2 only does 7500 points. Army #1 is reduced to 1250 HI, army #2 to 1,000 HI. The spells wear off (only good for the first round), and battle continues round after round until #2 is destroyed. Army #1 survives with about 550 troops. In essence, the two mediocre spells saved the army and kept 5500 strength points of troops from being wiped out. Try another example, where army number one also has a 1,000 point combat weapon. In the first round, army #1 inflicts 11,000 points, otherwise the battle is the same. Army #1 is left with about 660 troops at the end of the battle. Maybe this doesn't sound like much to you, but you can change this to say, light infantry and get a survival rate of 1100 troops and 1320 troops where otherwise the army would be destroyed. Or 2750/3300 men-at-arms. Vary the equation by adding some archers in, and suddenly the bowmen aren't dying in droves. It's usually better to use defensive spells than offensive spells, if you can expect to fight multiple rounds of combat. But if your troops really suck, or you're going to get wiped out in the first round anyway, casting offensive spells allows you to inflict more casualties. Used with precision, magic can change the course of a war, especially for the Dark Servants. Those extra casualties or saved troops add up over time, and having an army survive instead of getting destroyed allows it to continue to operate and be a pain in the butt enemy territory. This is especially so if the army is far from home and it'd take several turns to get a new one into the region. Best of all, magic doesn't cost anything in terms of maintenance, and can be used over and over again to annoy and discomfit your opponents.