As some interest has been expressed in when the "agent
tweaks" took place, I have begun to research my games to
determine when the "agent tweaks" took place. I have not
finished. So far, I have been through GSI ME-PBM 1650
Game 68 (my first game), which ran from January 22, 1993
to January 24, 1996. In that game, I found the following
reports of "tweaks" from GSI. Not all of them are agent
"tweaks" Since I went to the trouble of finding them, I
reckoned I would include all the "tweaks", in case anyone
cares. The changes for agent actions might not be those of
concern, but they were those reported in turn results
between the given dates. Other than my typing errors, the
messages are given verbatim. Anyone who cares to argue
with them needs to take the argument to GSI, not to me.
If future leisure gives me opportunity, I shall report on any
other old "tweaks" I find.
Steve Allen
GSI
ME-PBM 1650
Game 68
Turn 18 results
October 6, 1993
Order 948 now allows the character to issue the order in the
capital OR the origination hex of the transfer.
Success with Order 670 and 675 is now also a function of
the level of the target. Thus, citadels are more difficult to
sabotage than towers, and ports are harder to sabotage than
harbors. The overall order difficulty is still as listed in the
rules.
Several changes to mechanics were made to better balance
the various skill areas of the game. For example, emissary
actions will be more useful. The 500 order is slightly easier
and the 525 order now reports a measure of the loyalty of
the pop center, even if the order fails.
Additionally, the strength of agents was over-balancing the
delicate balance between the strengths of the various
nations/allegiances, and thus there have been some subtle
changes made to agent actions. For instance, guarding has
been slightly enhanced and guards are slightly more likely to
be injured rather than killed. Offensive agents actions will
generally have fewer missions that simply fail - more
injuries, capturings, and deaths instead. Also, scouting will
tend to be a bit more effective. Finally, the 690 order will
generally see less gold taken during successful attempts. All
of these changes are subtle, yet the combined effect should
put agent actions more in line with emissary, command, and
mage skill activities. The potential rewards are still there,
but the risk for those actions is now somewhat higher.
Finally, high-level characters now have an `extra' chance to
avoid dying in encounter combat. This helps protect the
critical characters from `chance death', although severe
injury is still likely and death can still happen, and retains the
balance of the nations longer into the game.
GSI
ME-PBM 1650
Game 68
Turn 33 results
May 4, 1994
Effective April 1, 1994, GSI made a number of changes to
ME-PBM game mechanics. We are sorry for the delay in
getting the word out about these changes. These changes
are summarized below.
1 ) The use of the 940 order, with regard to casting of the
Artifact Lore spells (412, 418, and 428), is slightly
modified. Chances of successfully casting the above listed
spells is now further modified by the level of the target
artifact. The casting rank is still modified by any artifact
bonus when determining if the spell is successfully cast.
Now, however, the artifact level will also be a determining
factor. Thus, where before a `net' casting rank of 100+
would have been a sure thing, now (depending upon the
artifact level) it might result in unsuccessful spell casting.
The bottom line is that the more powerful the artifact, the
harder it will be to cast one of these successfully. The only
exception is the One Ring - which may now be slightly
easier to find ...
2) Loyalty effects due to current tax rate are now slightly
more randomized. Whereas the changes in loyalty due to
current tax rated used to be (normally) a fixed amount, they
will now be randomized within a certain range - with the
average of the range being exactly what the fixed amount
was before. If, with a certain tax rate, you received a 1 point
loyalty increase, you may now get more or less than 1, with
the average remaining about a 1 point increase per turn.
3) New 7-hex maps will also be generated for any Major
Town/City located entirely off-map that has a high loyalty.
Only the map graphic will be generated - not any textual
reports. These new maps will begin appearing on turn 0.
4) New games will also see that a combat artifact has
already been put `in use' on turn 0. Also, special abilities
assigned to starting characters in new games will also see a
description of the special ability appear on turn0, just like in
a normal game.
--- In mepbmlist@y..., LBear <ditletang@c...> wrote:
Well, thank you Jeremy!
[ ... ]
I would also like to see the line
where these agent "tweaks", and others, occured between games.
There was a
skew in the results. The program was modified to address that
skew. What has
happened since? That is the question. If you make a change today
to address a
problem in the past, the results of the past do not make your
experiment a failure.
If the recent results post-tweak show similar skewedness (?), then
it's a safe bet
that changes can be further made, well in advance of a far-off
future 2nd Edition.
···
Regards,
Brad G Brunet
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