Better for who? Someday you will finally get the Kin Strife off the ground. It will be interesting to see just what it contains. I don’t doubt it will be better for you.
In the end, ten strong nations fight better than 12 nations (four of them weak) and have a greater chance of victory. Those resources used to prop up the shadows can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
THAT explains my recent spat of Turn 9 eliminations as a member of ultimately victorious teams this year…!!! 
Why even better for the Noldo to camp at 2208 and wipe out the Rhudaur
if 2208 was hidden. Hidden capitals are a curse.
For me realistic is better, its got to be believable in a fantasy setting.
Improving a camp to a city 5 turns is believable as there are many examples
of this in both ancient times and in modern times. Alexanderia (ancient),
Islamabad, Brasilia and er Milton Keynes in modern. So is the Galadriel
point, certain diplomats/polilticians have had a phenomal rise in recent
times. Galadriel is a principal mage and rarely uses her diplomatic ability
except when hobbits and dwarves dare to enter her realm. Now why
wouldnt a character designed to be an emissary and spending their life
in emissary actions quickly overtake Galadriel?
Whatever the arguement for change is; the hole in the commander agent
relatioship would be filled by a hard comm capture agent order.
Both Clind and HolyAvenger are on the mark. For me it does not matter being DS. If half your team does not take part in planning. Add to that they are not very good. The DS will lose. Poor player’s will kill the team every time. Unless their eye and ear’s are open. If so, perhaps newplayers will learn and work better. I would like to see new player’s not get key nation’s. Let newplayers get at least one game under their belt first. I also don’t see any reason for a major overhall of ME 1650. For character’s every nation can name a 30 pt character T01. So, few player’s want to try and work the problem out. Most of the time I read about player complaining. To lazy over come the challenge. Like the online game Fire Arms. Every time a player got good with a gun. Other player’s complained instead of working it out. So then the gun got pulled or changed. Like the M60 an MG that can cut a person in half. In FA after the change M60 round’s were all over the place. So your target was quite safe standing in front of you. ;o) So, please make no changes. If you do, please keep em small.
Thanks
Wow,
that’s great !
I agree with Rob & Ed that there are plenty of things in ME that can be done by the FP to make life miserable for the DS.
I think it’s especially frustrating to make a lot of early progress and then have a game slip away from you so perhaps that make FP losses extra bitter?
I think it may also be that the FP don’t use teamwork so much because they don’t have to…and then fail to maximize upon their early advantages.
Pyschologically, if you start out winning and then the game turns around on you…it’s easier to blame the game, teamates etc. than it is to recognize that perhaps the strategy employed was flawed?
Guy, I have been thinking about your proposal. Yes, S & F feel (with justification) that conventional military forces are ineffective against “agents”. My considered opinion would be that conventional military are “almost ineffective”.
Certainly Zarquawi and Carlos the Jackel seem able to go anywhere they want and do anything they want, no matter how many “boots on the ground” there may be. But middle and small fry are sometimes caught up in dragnets and roadblocks.
So let me propose this variation on a theme. Command order (hard) “search for agents”. Small chance of success. But if your random number does come up an inverse rule would apply. The better the agent the more likely to escape consequences and the poorer the agent the more likely to be captured.
It is probably to late for Kin Strife, but maybe Clint would consider your finished proposal.
Very true, all the “the game is balanced” arguments, as are all the “FP are actually a better group” arguments.
But the DS win a Vast majority of the games (only Clint and Co can disprove that, as it’s accepted “fact” for years towards a decade or more now). And from every argument I’ve seen, it’s all the players fault…
1 game. 2 games. 10 games, not much of a data set. Hundreds (GSI itself was on game 318 or so when they sold out, who knows how many Harly/MEGames ran before or since…) of games tells a greater story than “FP players aren’t good teamplayers” or “FP players are lazy and incompetant”.
The merits of this or that item, Dragon lists no longer being a mystery, FP “hidden” defenses being more of a 215 detriment than any kind of defense, riddles/encounters for artifacts a gimme, etc. The game has changed drastically since S and F’s love child and less has been in the FP’s favour than otherwise.
I know nothing is going to “change”. I’m probably doing the game a disservice harping on about this (1650’s new clothes…?), but dangitall, after 10 some odd years, dozens of games and hundreds and hundreds of turns run, well, the addiction is losing it’s lustre. Bloom is off the rose so to speak.
Sigh.
Brad
Okay Gixxxx, short straw sacrifices themselves for the other…
I agree with your points about the game statistics. (are you talking more 1650 in general or grudge or both?)
What I was trying to say is that there may be groups that try the exact same tactic again and again as the FP…that works occasionally against weak\disorganized opponents. When the tactic “fails” as the game drags on…they may rationalize the strategies performance in that they were “doing well” up until they stopped following the plan or some other excuse.
Sidenote: There is a new development in market manipulation that probably will require a programming change by Harley…that gives the DS a HUGE advantage and is not stoppable by the FP. If not, it will be a common DS strategy very shortly.
Rob & Ed ?
I haven’t seen a posting from someone called Rob.
If you’re refering to something I don’t know, please let me know about it !
Have Fun !
Gixxx
Darrel,
there is DEFINITELY a counter to this market strategy. I won’t say more as I’m playing DS right now using it, but i’d be happy to play on an FP grudge team against a DS grudge team that employs the strategy. Done well, the counter can do more damage to the DS than if they didn’t use the market strategy at all I think. Of course, our team will have to play FP sometime to prove this… 
Dave
Dave, I’m eagerly in anticipation of the invite to the FP team that lines up against the DS squad who is prepared to utilize this market strategy…!
If you’re referring to the same thing Dave is, then it doesn’t really qualify as “new”. New to you, perhaps?
There is a downside - the use of it cannot be concealed, and even the particulars will eventually be given away (probably sooner rather than later). A counter should emerge from that weakness…
Brad,
it’d be a pleasure to play with you on the team to test out the counter.
Diehard,
bingo!
As with all the other “perceived” DS advantages…it is easier to play to DS advantages than the potentially complicated, high committment required FP counters. As with the “new” market issue, it’s easier to enact than counter… So be it sour grapes or what have you, the DS can/will only see their lead in Wins increase. And increase in a way such that I won’t be the only lazy, incompetant freepie whining to mamma Clint for code changes… 
Brad
I’ve had side discussions on how to counter this as well, but it may take the FP a while to get the right people to the right places…and there may be a little greeting party there to meet them too.
So, while I agree there is definitely a counter…implementing it is easier said than done unless the DS are asleep at the switch.
Yes, dumping most of the team gold on turn 1 to a single member to make the markets explode is a new one to me. Personally, with 24-25 people involved in almost every game and things like encounters, dragons published in detail and tons of articles written blah blah blah…I have a really hard time swallowing that this is not a newer strategy or word would have gotten out. Please tell me when you first saw it used and how many times you’ve used it?
Yes, if you’ve used it once before…it’s not officially new.