From the Mouth of Sauron Issue: E-12 Date: 03-18-94 Note: all authors retain exclusive rights to their material. Reprinting is allowed for non-commercial game use only. First Word Hello to all! This marks a new start to the Mouth, the first issue where you'll have two editors instead of one. Brian Mason, ME demi-deity, has agreed to co-edit the Mouth (which I believe I mentioned in the last issue). A sucker for punishment, Brian will be reviewing articles, taking submissions, and adding his comments each and every week (unless he's off in some exotic locale peering at the stars and unraveling the secrets of the universe). And I only had to get down on my knees and beg once.... The Mouth will have a slightly different format. There are now two editorial columns: First Word and Last Word. We'll switch off in each issue, with one doing the opening comments and the other closing. Another change is making Brian's submissions concerning stragegy and tactics for particular nations a regular column. We'll provide alternative views on how to run the nation in question during the opening moves of the game, asking one and all for comments and criticism (especially criticism; it's best to find the flaws in the plans BEFORE they're implemented by some- one). Submissions: boy, do we want submissions! There isn't a page limit on the Mouth, nor any requirement that you be in twenty games before you send something in. All comments, articles, questions, etc. are most welcome and will be printed in the very next issue. An especial call goes out to the New Guys, whose fresh approach to ME-PBM often results in the development of entirely new and unexpected strategies (as I found out to my dismay in game 68). Don't be shy! Get on that keyboard and let your fellow gamers in on what you're thinking. Submissions again: if you submit something to us, we're going to bounce it back and forth so we can both see it. That means that something that comes in on a Thursday or Friday will most often be held over to the next Mouth rather than put in that Friday's Mouth. If you don't see your submission, hold on until the next issue. If you still don't see it, that means it was most likely lost or perhaps never arrived. Drop us a line and we'll try to find out what we did with it. Mail: the amount of incoming mail has finally drawn comment here at my work. Given that the comments were negative, I'm going to ask you all to redirect your mail to my AOL account which I access at home. The i.d. for this is: kazandar@aol.com. I'll check this account nightly, so you shouldn't see any slowdown in re- sponse time (still same day). Last, but certainly not least, there's a brand-new commentary by Leslie Foreman in this issue. I'm not sure how Leslie finds the time with a new baby and all, but one doesn't question good fortune granted by the gods.... That's all for me. Don't miss Brian's 'Last Word' at the end of the Mouth. Tom Encounters Giant Spider: COMMAND the spider = combat for all. This result may work under peculiar circumstances (character has a particular artifact). I'd suggest trying it with someone who has Ungolrist, or the other artifact (which I can't remember) that's good against spiders. Giant Eagles: Brian Lowery and Steve Latham went to the trouble of calculating the combat worth of Eagles. It looks like they're worth about 10,000 points. It may be somewhat variable, as Mumakil are; Eagles in lone encounters take out a range of points rather than a single amount. Ents & Huorns: I recently had the good fortune to fight ents and huorns in one of my games. Unfortunately, we were defeated after a protracted battle and so were unable to estimate the actual combat strength of the ents. The only thing I was able to ascertain with any certainty is that ents are worth at least 20,000 points. Dragons Angurth: For those of you who missed my quick note last week, Act HAUGHTY = injured/killed for Free Peoples. I verified this personally (ack!). Once again I've been hearing rumors that GSI is going to mess with the encounters because of a leak, either in their office or in the office of I.C.E. And once again, GSI has denied this, saying that they won't change the encounter lists for the 1640 game (no promises at all for the new game starting this summer, though). So the final word is: encounters will not be changed, have not been changed, are not being changed. For those of you who sometimes get results different from those on the table, let me remind you: you'll get that result a MAJORITY of the time, not EVERY time. Some people are still operating under the extremely faulty assumption that x response gives y reaction no matter what. THIS IS NOT TRUE; IT HAS NEVER BEEN TRUE. There are a range of results for reach response, some of which only happen once in a blue moon, others which happen more often. The linear x/y thinking outlined above gets players into trouble because they don't take into account the unexpected, resulting in rumors that the encounter lists have been changed. Gostir: Gostir hasn't been sighted in about six months time, so far as I can tell. That source is several players removed; the last reliable word I heard about the dragon (i.e., from someone who encountered him) was over a year ago. Considering that I've had characters all over the Iron Hills/Northern Wastes area in a couple of games, I'm beginning to wonder if this dragon hasn't been 'retired'. If anyone has directly encountered Gostir within the last year, or who knows someone that has who they trust, I'd appreciate hearing about it. The general location of the encounter would be nice too. Other Corrections and Notes ME-PBM Wish List From Doug Bergstrom I have an idea for a new order, here is how it goes: Order: Place Bounty Action: Emiss/Misc This order places a bounty on the death of a certain character. A designated amount of gold is offered by an emissary. The gold will immediately be removed or rather set aside for collection. The bounty will be expressed in Nation Messages for all to see. Only amount and character will be given: I.E. "$10,000 has been offered for Elrond's death" No offering nation or collector will be given/seen. No one will know who the collectee is if the action happens. Only one bounty per nation at one time. Why? This order could be alot of fun and fairly easy to implement (in my view). Of course there might be a needed remove bounty order but....This order also accomplishes for those of you with extremely weak characters the chance to have someone else take care of things for you. Besides that think of the mayhem it could cause! Especially those freelance nations out there. In a couple of games we have been discussing how to balance things out for the DS. It seems that with the amount of info now available that the DS need extremely skilled players to overcome their financial weaknesses. Two things that I would like to see happen for the DS: double their starting bankrolls and have the DS coming out of Mordor to start with warmachines (why going against the likes of Gondor w/o any doesn't make sense) or build them at 1/2 cost. In the case of doubling - this wouldn't drastically change the starting game - at least not position wise. But it would give the DS a better leeway in getting off to a stable start (especially in winter). True it could force the FP to work on agent development but by the time they were ready most of the gold would be gone anyway. About raising initial prices for goods, I think this would even be more beneficial to the DS who need high prices to stay stable (in game 61 - just about everything is selling for 1 - real tough on the DS). From Tori DeYoung Many people contend the role the Dragon's play in battle swing the balance of the game in favor of the evil side (creates an unfair advantage). While recruiting Dragons is not exactly easy, given experienced players, it happens more frequently than problably intended. The following new spells are intended to balance the power dragons add to the evil military and create another use for mages. ( Which could be argued the least useful class of characters). The following spell list may either start as a lost list or one that must be learned (no characters start with it)! These spells can only be used by a mage traveling with an army who is in combat vs. an army with a dragon. MINOR SHIELD VS. DRAGON FIRE DIFFICULTY: EASY When this spell is cast, it deflects one third (with small variable factor based on mage rank) of the dragons generated offensive strength. MAJOR SHIELD VS. DRAGON FIRE DIFFICULTY: AVERAGE When this spell is cast, it deflects two thirds (with small variable factor based on mage rank) of the dragons generated offensive strength. DRAGON STRIKE DIFFICULTY: HARD When this spell is cast, it deflects ALL (with small variable factor based on mage rank) of the dragons generated offensive strength and there is a chance the dragon will be chased away. What do you guys think? The DeYoungs How I Got Shafted in ME-PBM From Darren Beyer Tom's Note: this is a little odd. I don't know if Darren wanted me to actually print this, but I couldn't resist. A story follows: Its midweek in Florida and Darren is thinking about doing his MEPBM turns. Only this week its hard to find the time because he's getting ready for a trip which will take him to Washington to see his knee doctor. He thinks and thinks, "what should I do?" thinks Darren. Then he remembers, his home in happy Washington comes fully equipped with TV, kitchen, bed, couch, running water, parents, various food products and a fat black lab named Chelsea. And, oh yes, a fax machine! Now Darren can work on his turns at leisure at his happy home in happy Washington then fax them to the happy company known as GSI. The only question is when to fax. Darren thinks and thinks, and thinks again and decides that Sunday would be the best time to fax. He will be happily flying back to his other happy home in Florida late on Monday and can call the happy company known as GSI before he leaves to make sure the fax made it OK for his Tuesday game, a very important game. Perfect, Darren is happy. Now its Sunday and time to fax. Darren carefully puts the fax in the fax machine and dials the number to the happy company known as GSI. The phone rings not more than once and the machine is greeted by a happy fax machine squeal from the happy company known as GSI. "Good" thinks Darren, happily, it is done, the fax machine even says everthing is OK. He goes to sleep thinking happy thoughts, Darren is happy. Now its Monday and time for Darren to go to the knee doctor. This visit is a good one and the knee doctor happily says everything looks good. Darren is happy. He is even happier than happy because he has finished seeing the knee doctor early and can get on an earlier flight to his other happy home in happy Florida. Better yet, Darren can happily be home at his other happy home in happy Florida before the happy company known as GSI closes, this way he can call to make sure his turn is there, a very important turn. One of Darren's happy parents offers to make the call and change his flight. Darren is happy. Now its time to go to the airport, Darren is happy. Darren's parent drives and drops him at the door to Dulles Airport and says goodbye, Darren is happy. Darren goes inside and sees no line at the ticket counter, Darren is happy. Darren is greeted by a smiling happy blonde at the US Air ticket counter named Tawny, Darren is happy. Darren is told that his flight doesn't leave from that airport, it leaves from National airport, his parent had made a mistake, Darren is not happy. Darren is told that there is no way he can get to National Airport in time, but he can take another flight from Dulles, Darren is happy. But that it won't get into Florida until 3 hours after his other flight, Darren is not happy. Now Darren is unhappy, not only will he get to Florida 3 hours late, but he won't arrive until after the happy company known as GSI closes. He wants to call the happy company, but unhappily realizes that his security codes are on his turns which are in his luggage which were checked with the happy blonde named Tawny, Darren is not happy. On the plane Darren sits in front of a loud child who likes to kick, Darren is not happy. Darren arrives in Florida an unhappy person. Now its Wednesday and after Darren pays a $150 speeding ticket, he makes a call to the happy company known as GSI to make sure all the turns for his other happy game have arrived. The happy person known as Stuart who works at the happy company known as GSI answers and says, "the following positions did not get their turns in: 11, 12, 14, ..." Wait a minute...Darren is player 12, this means that the fax did not make it, Darren is not happy. This means that Game 45 got missed, Darren is not happy. This means that Darren must call in 2 turns Wednesday night, Darren is not happy. Now it is later on Wednesday and Darren is definately not happy. It is likely that Darren will not be happy for some time. Darren may be put under psychiatric care after his e-mail recipients read his happy story and realize Darren is mental. Darren is not happy :( Strategy & Tactics: The Noldo Elves By Brian Mason How do the Noldo Elves compare to other nations? At the start of the game they rank as follows (Allegiance Comparison Tables, Tom Walton): among all among FP Total Tax Base tied for 10th tied for 7th Resource Base 20th 9th Combat Strength 25th 10th Character points 1st 1st Artifacts 1st 1st The Noldo is marvelously powerful, and can be among the most fun of the nations to play if you enjoy character action. Initially, the Noldo must decide what course of action to take, and how to best accomplish its goals. With many (four of eight) of its population centers unfortified, an large initial boost of taxes is likely to work against the Noldo. They might stand a chance of losing some of these population centers later in the game. It might be possible to make a marginal increase to taxes without harming the loyalty significantly, perhaps to 55%. They do start the game with a relatively small gold reserve, and with their deficit they must do something about it quickly. They are hardly able to afford the troops which they have, much less field a significant force. The most significant internal need is that of improving the economy. The Noldo Elves are blessed with a relatively secure area within which to develop, and they should begin doing this immediately. However, participation of the Noldo militarily in the game can only occur much later. Also, the Noldo have a need to find artifacts. Exceeded by only the Blind Sorcerer in total mage points, the Noldo need to establish one or two characters as artifact locators and use them in that capacity. There are also many other immediate strategies which can be arranged with the nearby allies of the Noldo. Specifically, these are: 1. The Noldo start with four footpads. As mentioned in my previous article on Strategy and Tactics for Cardolan, the Cardolani have no need for four locations to port their ships. Cardolan should determine which ones are unnecessary and have the Noldo sabotage those which are not. This will save Cardolan gold, increase Cardolan security, and improve the skill rank of Noldo agents quicker than is normally possible. 2. Cardolan also starts the game with a fleet. It might be advisable for Cardolan to transfer their ships to the Noldo. This will immediately make them stronger (combat value four instead of five), and will make this combined force stronger than all navies except that of the Corsairs and Southern Gondor. Of course, if the Noldo were to do this, they would necessarily need to be more aggressive on the seas. 3. Arthedain starts the game with no back-up capital. The Noldo should trade Arthedain Forlond or Harlond for an Arthedain village and town. These will have equal tax base, but the new Noldo population centers will have better resource production while the new Arthedain population center will have better loyalty. 4. The Noldo must decide early if it anticipates building a fighting army for later in the game, or if it plans on issuing lots of challenges. If it does not, then it should loan some or most of the Noldo combat artifacts to Arthedain and Cardolan. Specific, turn-by-turn recommendations follow: 1. Artifacts are transferred and put into use. The 0611 navy moves to 0708. Elrond and Erestor learn research artifact. Tax rate changed to 55%. The 2209 army begins moving west to join with the other armies. 2. First emissary named. Artifacts are transferred and put into use. The navy formerly at 0611 combines with the 0708 navy. Elrond and Erestor learn locate artifact. The Imladris army continues moving west. 3. Second emissary named. First emissary moves out to begin camp creation. Elrond and Erestor learn locate artifact true (maybe). The Imladris army continues moving west. 4. Third emissary and first camp named. Elrond and Erestor learn locate artifact true (probably). The Imladris army continues moving west. 5. Fourth emissary and second and third camps named. Elrond and Erestor learn locate artifact true (certainly). The Imladris army reaches Mithlond-West. 6+. Continued economic development until many camps are created, some in rough, some in forest. The timber goes to unfortified population centers to build towers. After about a dozen camps are created then the camps start becoming upgraded, first to villages and then to towns. Elrond and Erestor locate artifacts which Elladan and Elrohir go retrieve. Glorfindel stays as a subcommander in the sole army where, through both army and troop maneuvers his challenge rank is maximized. Cirdan assists in the camp creation/population center development/fortification building. Of all these moves, that of the Imladris army is least appealing. It is not economically wise to invest too much gold in making it an effective fighting force when slog much will be needed for character creation and the initial creation of camps. It is tempting to have them strike at Goblin-Gate. Even knowing that they will lose, it is possible to inflict damage such that it might be taken by someone else (e.g. Dwarves) soon after. It is also possible to coordinate action with the Dwarves to attack, to simply stay on Imladris to impeded movement, or to retire the army. I have chosen, what is to me, the best of these many poor options. From Tom Walton My thoughts on the Noldo are more general than Brian's. I tend not to plot turn-by-turn, because my nation actions vary depending on the starting locations of characters. - I'd have the high mage/emissaries go out and create camps right away, after naming one or two new emissaries. Elrond, Erestor, and Cirdan all have nice starting ranks in both emissary skill and mage skill; they could create camps and research the 'locate artifact' spells on the same turn (since 'create camp' comes before 'research spell'). Benefit to this: you get good, high-loyalty camps right off the bat, ones that future emissaries will be able to upgrade to villages with little problem. Drawback: the characters in question won't be able to prentice or improve other skills. I believe this to be a minor point, as the Noldo are already very skilled and really don't need additional training early in the game. By spreading around the mage artifacts, it guarantees that the 50-point mages won't have problems researching the necessary spells. - I'd keep Elladan and Elrohir in an army for the first five turns, training up their skill ranks. These two tend to be favorite targets of the Dark Servants; increasing their challenge ability and upping agent rank can't hurt. The Noldo won't have the locations of any interesting artifacts for the first few turns anyway. - Mark the Imladris army for doom and get rid of it right away. This will lower the deficit and keep the Noldo from wasting characters by putting them in command positions. - Trade Imladris for a town and village in Arthedain. This gives Artehdain a fairly secure major town in the heart of enemy territory, at which he can recruit to his heart's content. It'll also mean the Noldo don't have to worry about garrisoning it anymore. General Game Play: - The first and most important thing the Noldo can do is improve their economy. More than any other nation, they come equipped with superb emissaries capable of going out on turn 1 and creating camps. By using the three characters outlined above, the Noldo can have a dozen camps in place by the end of turn five. By the end of turn nine (or earlier, if they created more emissaries), all of these camps can be improved to villages, upping the Noldo resource base by 48 points and increasing their tax base by 30,000 gold. This also allows the elves to immediately train the most powerful emissary team in Middle-Earth, capable of offensive action at any time. - Other than getting rid of starting armies, I don't believe the Noldo should become involved militarily in Middle-Earth until the mid- or late-game. All of their commanders except for one are better suited to other tasks: agent, emissary, or mage. Wasting them in command positions, when both Cardolani and Arthedaini allies are equally capable in this regard, somewhat defeats the purpose of having such nice characters to begin with. Instead, I would concentrate on: - building up a viable emissary team for offensive action. - creating a small but capable group of agents to join Elladan and Elrohir in their rampage across Middle-Earth. - learning every lore spell in existence, then using these spells to help Noldo allies gather information about the enemy, track artifacts, and so forth. - Rather than going on the offensive early on, the Noldo should stabilize their position and preserve their character base for when things really get heated in Middle-Earth. By using my plan here, not only will they be able to respond to emergencies, but they'll also be able to support their allies with gold and resources. Again, why do the fighting when Arthedain and Cardolan are just as capable? Send them the goodies to recruit and maintain troops, and concentrate on other tasks which the Noldo characters are better suited. - Do NOT engage in challenge games with the Dark Servants. This behavior is not only dicey, it allows them to second-guess their opponent by stacking all their best artifacts on some new character, then hunting down Elrond and issuing a challenge - end of Elrond. There's no sense in taking this risk when a loss will mean the end of a particularly skilled mage/agent/emissary. This is contrary to popular wisdom, but I believe the capabilities of a decent character with mage/agent/emissary rank are far more valuable than his ability to cut others into tiny pieces. Losing a good emissary or agent, especially, could cripple Noldo plans (and when you lose a starting Noldo character, you generally take a big loss in two or three skills). Now this may appear to be a 'no-risk' strategy often followed by Noldo players in our games. As most of us know, many Noldo refuse to get involved in the action, instead being more interested in wracking up victory points. My plan is similar to this anti-team behavior in the early game, but here's where it differs: - the Noldo can, after turn ten, provide enormous amounts of gold and supplies to allies. - after turn 15 or so, the Noldo can put together a credible emissary team which is also capable of locating/tracking artifacts and characters. Since the team will be constantly moving, the Noldo kill two birds with one stone: stealing enemy pop centers, and keeping their best mages (with all those lore spells) away from enemy agents (since they won't be able to catch up with the team). - the Noldo agent group can, early on, steal gold and sabotage unwanted harbors. Later, they're quite capable of putting the screws on individual nations, giving their allies needed relief or crippling a target prior to a big strike. - under this plan, the Noldo act as a primary information- gathering nation. Their ability in this regard is unmatched on the Free side, and information is always critical to the war effort. As a final note, putting together a small, elite cav force in the mid-game would be a good idea. This gives the Noldo a decent home guard and, with their transport/road movement capacity, allows them to intervene should some disaster befall an ally. COMMENTARY: by Leslie Foreman I was listening to some friends talk about The Game the other day and the focus of their discussion was the loyalty present in their pop centers. There are many aspects of The Game which I do not understand and others that I find confusing. The loyalty issue is one which I find confusing - we are discussing the loyalty of fictional characters and how to improve it. Now, if you really want to talk loyalty, let's talk dogs. That is loyalty in a nut-shell. The saying is "Dogs are man's best friend," not "Dwarves are man's best friend." With that said, maybe we should rate the loyalty of the pop centers with a canine reference. The camp, therefore, would have the loyalty of a chihuahua. This breed is small, like a camp. It is less able to defend itself if attacked, like a camp. There are no frills on this dog (not even hair if you call that a frill) like a camp. Camps have the basic requirements to be a pop center just as chihuahuas have only the basic requirements necessary to be a dog. As we move to larger pop centers, we reach the village. A village is as loyal as a poodle. This breed is larger than a chihuahua as a village is larger than a camp. This breed also has other attributes which are not present in the chihuahua. Poodles have some hair on their bodies and they do have a bark. Therefore, the inhabitants of a poodle level pop center would have more comfortable (i.e. more insulated) houses and they are better able to sound alarm when they come under attack. The only disadvantage of living in a poodle level pop center is that the population has odd haircuts, ribbons and painted toenails. Towns are the first pop center that really looks like a place where people may chose to live. That being the case, I have selected a breed which actually looks like a dog that people would chose to have. The town is represented by a schnauzer. It is a good looking dog, with a bark and a relatively good personality. Many civilians travel to towns when they go on vacation - they love to see all of the men with the cropped ears. I feel sorry for the people who live in a schnauzer level pop center for only a short period of time before its loyalty status changes. In that case, they have suffered the discomfort of the ear cropping for no good reason. I think I'd be really ticked. The beagle represents the major towns. They are not very large dogs, but they are extremely loyal. They are flexible in that they can live inside or out. They do not tire easily and they enjoy a good game. Their biggest asset is that they are very loud. You cannot get much by a beagle without him knowing it and sharing it. Since they represent a major town and not a city, it needs to have a better way to defend itself. That being the case, a beagle can run away very effectively, if necessary. Lastly, the city. Can you predict which breed I chose for this pop center? A collie? No. A rottweiler? A doberman? No, but all good guesses. I chose a pit bull. I have never actually met one, but their reputation precedes them. In The Game it is important that a pit bull level pop center has a reputation too. Some of these dogs are said to be nice, others would just as soon take off your arm. I am confident that some cities are nicer than others. For example, the pit bull level pop center is large enough to have a thriving theatre district and a Sauron Cinemas franchise, if they choose to do so. Finally, these changes would affect the naming convention of the pop centers in The Game. If you included the breed in the title of the pop center you would be providing a lot of information to your allies, and alas your enemies. (Sacrifices may be required.) What does the name Barad-dur say to you - very little. Now, Barad beagle, that works for me. Good gaming until we meet again, maybe at Carn Canine. Last Word Hello all. Tom has graciously allowed (read, I begged him) me to share in the glory (read, work) of the task (read, drudgery) of preparing for publication "The Mouth." As some of you already know, I am handling some of the regular email of "The Mouth" as well as mailings to most new and all future subscribers. Those of you needing back issues of "The Mouth" or the general info files, please email me (mason@chara.gsu.edu) and I will get them to you faster than a woodman can drop. Along the lines of email addresses, would mail sent to root@old- forest.middle-earth.gov go to Old Man Willow or Tom Bombadil? I don't believe Tom and I have yet worked out how we will split up editorial responsibilities, but we do share a few general editoral ideas, among them are that any thing you send in is ripe for publication. "The Mouth" is designed for the player of me-pbm, and if you have some comment, strategy idea, question, work of fiction, et al. it'll go in the next issue. On the next issue, we've reached an ominous number, issue 13, and scheduled delivery falls on another red letter day, that of April Fool's. Tom and I have cooked up a few ideas but we're in need of other submissions along a less serious vein. And on submissions, we need them! Large numbers of them, on a regular basis. What do you want? Make up a "Wish List." What do you not like? Make up a "How I got shafted in me-pbm" list. Got an interesting idea or strategy? Pass it along. Do you have new information on encounters or dragons? Share it! Any questions? Ask them. In the future, submissions for "The Mouth" can be sent to Tom (kazandar@aol.com) or myself (mason@chara.gsu.edu) as the spirit moves you. However, in the interest of doing our part against the Second Law of Thermodynamics, only send your submission to one of us. We do not want to find out that we both received and prepared the same article! Ah, one final point. In my discussion of editoral ideas that the two of us share, I failed to mention one point that we both agree on: The Dark Servants are going down in game 97.