OK my 4th Age poll closed today and the results are in so I'm going
to make a few cooments on the options and their popularity I'm going
to break them down into 4 different categories (1-4 votes, 5-7 votes,
8-10 votes and more than 11 votes). All comments are welcome.
More than 11 votes
···
==================
All the options below got 13 votes out of I believe 14 or 15
respondants. This category seems to be things ME Games really should
be looking at.
Regional Setups (13 Votes)
The regional setups seem popular and I understand why. When I played
previously starting in the South was such an advantage that it made
your chances of winning that much greater. The regional setups with
extra PC's for the cold northern nations has reversed that, and if
anything slightly pushed things the other way. My main comment is
that I think some of the regions cannot easily support two nations in
them and this may need looking at. This option in itself requires no
additional programming so can be easily implemented, however the
additional PC's have to be added in by hand so don't show up on
starting nations reports and the production is not always correct.
More Varied Encounters (13 Votes)
This is another popular option. It would be nice to see ME games
develop this, and my experience in the IT industry suggests to me it
would not be difficult to program in the extra encounters.
Recosting the SNA's (13 Votes)
This is being tested at present in the test games for the new format.
The SNA's have now been costed more appropriately to their value.
Problem is that there are only a few that are really valuable and
thus the choice is now restricted in terms of design. I would like to
see some of the more useless SNA's improved and their costs upgraded.
The SNA recosting would not require any additional programming. Any
improved SNA's would which is a downside.
Allowing Other Nations to Build Roads (13 votes)
This was an idea of mine that seems to be fairly popular. Since the
code is already there in the program, it wouldn't take much to raise
the limits on this so all nations can use it. I made a mistake
originally as all nations can build bridges.
8-10 Votes
This category is has things that seem desirable to most, but won't go
down well with everyone.
Making it harder to assasinate army commanders in larger armies (10
votes)
This seems to have been one of the more popular agent reduction
options and I think this may be something that ME Games should look
at generally, although this would require some reprogramming of the
assasination percentage algorithm.
Making 60 point characters on a sliding scale (9 Votes)
Again this option (currently being tested) seemed quite popular. The
original scheme was slightly abusive and this nicely closes it off
whilst still giving some advantage. Also this requires no programming.
Random Artefact list from a larger Pool (9 Votes)
This idea would mix things up and hopefully introduce a few more
interesting artefacts with abilities that seem to be lacking in FA.
This would I assume just require a bit of additional data.
Restrictions on Nations taking +20 Kidanp / Assasin (8 Votes)
This is being play tested at present, only allowing two nations (one
FP and one DS nation) to take this SNA. My main complaint about this
is that it hinders the chances of a neutral team win. This requires
no additional programming.
King and Prince Characters (8 Votes)
Again no programming required for this. I'm a little so-so on this
idea currently being tested as it doesn't add much - why not just
give the nation additional points to spend any way they like? However
it does have some roleplaying merit, so I guess its Ok.
Allowing Neutrals to start in Mountains (8 votes)
I never really understood this restriction. With bonus pop centres
being giving for placing on roads and not in mountains I think this
restriction becomes even more irrelevnat. Again no programming is
required for this.
5-7 Votes
This catagory has some support, but I suspect is in the area of
probably shouldn't be looked at, but ME Games could consider.
Allowing a Curses SNA (6 Votes)
This would require a little additional programming, but not a vast
amount and would make mages stronger in the game. However players
seem not to like their characters being killed by Agents let alone
adding mages into the mix. There was some support for this however.
Banning +20 Kidnap / Assasin SNA (5 votes)
There are already variants in play with this option, and there is
nothing stopping ME Games playing with these variants in the future.
It is clear though that players in general do not want a complete ban
on this SNA.
1-4 Votes
These are more whacky ideas that were not really taken up by players.
Make Assasinations harder in the program (4 votes)
Not the most popular agent reduction choice. This seems to have been
trumped by the sub suggestion of making it harder to assasinate
commanders in larger armies.
Play without Twin Kingdoms (2 votes)
This idea didn't really seem to have much enthusiasm behind it. I
suspect this is partially as it would remove must of the only flavour
that is in the 4th age game.
Change Kidnap / Assasinate to +10% (2 votes)
It was not a popular idea to make this SNA less powerful. I believe
most players felt that there was a better solution to the agent
menace. This would also require a minor programming modification.
