Richard,
Hate to disappoint, but from my experience playing under GSI, the correct words are "my way or the highway". They act like they did build a perfect game. I even tried making an example at a gaming show (a gencon one year) where playing the corsairs, I had 8 characters assassinated in the same hex in the same army with 6000+ troops and a huge number of ships over a period of 3 turns, and several of them were guarded by 40+ agents right after "guards were doubled" and the answer I got was Well, your luck sucked. You wont get satisfaction from GSI, there is none to be gotten. Never mind the fact that assassination is non existent in ME, never mind the fact that whole nations economies can be destroyed by 4 guys in cloaks, and never mind the fact that an agent can walk into Lorien, and assassinate Galadriel while she is sitting in her home looking into her mirror...That GSI for ya. Sucks, but these arguments have been made to them for, what, 8? 9 years? Customer satisfaction is not what they have ever been about. I am happy that Harlequin has made the changes that they did. Special games were non existent...the only time those happened is when games became absurd and DS started assassinating DS and FP started infing away FP.
-Ken
···
From: "Richard DEVEREUX" <rd@pagan-47.fsnet.co.uk>
Reply-To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
To: <mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Re: Article on Assassin
Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 21:35:15 +0100----- Original Message -----
From: GearonSkywalker
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 4:10 AM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Re: Article on AssassinFor my 2 cents on this...
Agents and Agent nations are by far the best to play. IMHO
I have been the Cloud Lord and LOST Jindur on Turn 5 to a dragon
encounter while with an army...but still able to make something of a
KILLER group of thugs and have my nation place in the top three when
our side finally won.Recently I have been in 2 FA games and have made strong Agent nations
with both FP and DSers. Of course the DS and 60 As with +20 knp/ass
are much better than what a FP could easily put in the field.Agent nations if well protected from army attacks can in fact help
armies do better in the field (Poof, where did that enemy army go),
they can help EMIs do their INFOTHR job...which is all an EMI is good
for after the POP limit is hit...AND Agents can wipe mages up all
over Middle Earth if any old curses squad lands in the same hex.Now I am not trying to join any debate on what is what...but I do
have to speak up for the inherent strengths that Agents have...as
they stand out so much more than any CHAR class alone or combined for
that matter. IMHOGary
That is EXACTLY why I oppose agents being so powerful: under ME rules agent powers reach absurd heights. Not only can they raid a nation's treasury despite all the obvious precautions that any ruler and his servants would take, but a company can carry out up to NINE assassinations per turn, and will cut thru any guards who intervene.
This is totally absurd: nowhere in history or myth are NINE ssassinations carried out simultaneously.I drop the argument that the rules favour the DS: the agent rules permitting the above are a nonsense, regardless of allegiance.
I agree with a previous contributor who said he disagreed with making a rule against something just because a rule was being abused. It is up to the rule-maker to come up with rules which are not open to abuse, and to amend the rules if they are abused.
ME is a brilliant game but that does not mean that it can't be improved. The steam engine was a brilliant invention, it still works, and it still has a romance about it; but it is not as efficient as the latest trains in France or Japan (forget the UK).
There has been no shortage of suggestions for rule changes/improvements but all GSI bring out is 4th Age, with no rule changes, a couple of rules bolted-on to the old framework and a few different artis thrown in.
This shows nothing but contempt for the consumer. I am almost as angry at GSI as I am at the current Labour govenment whose contempt for the electorate is even worse. Better stop there!
Richard.
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