I have a question about the Gunboat games.
If a player comes across a newly created camp (i.e., not one of the starting position camps), is the player allowed to steal gold, influence it away and so forth with no knowledge of whether the camp belongs to an ally – or must the player make certain that the camp does not belong to an ally before performing hostile acts against it?
I hope one of you Gunboat veterans can answer this for me. Thanks.
If you land your character on the camp, it will tell you who the camp belongs to. Unless that was changed in Gunboat.
It hasnt been changed, if you go there it will tell you who owns it.
If its an ally you CANNOT do anything to it at all.
An enemy camp is fair game.
Thanks for the info. You guys have answered my question fully.
By the way, I would encourage anyone who hasn’t tried a Gunboat game to tell Clint you want to get into the next available Gunboat game. It’s a blast!
I haven’t looked through all the old threads yet, but what in your opinion makes a Gunboat game appealing? I’ve not tried one. Also, are there any particular restrictions of note?
Edit - I found Clint’s post awhile back giving the restrictions - what makes this variant more fun? More like a “wargame” in effect?
You are playing 2 nations, far apart geographically (like, Rhudaur and Cloud Lord, etc) and you are NOT ALLOWED to talk to anyone, ally’s or enemy. No coordination, no nagging that so and so doesn’t get his pdf on the group site within 4 hours, no 83 emails to reply to…but no idea what the heck your neighbour/ally is doing or why.
It would make it interesting, no? Have to try one sometime myself.
Team and ally play can sometimes be quite rewarding; but often – too often, in my opinion – it is tedious and aggravating and extremely time-consuming.
Rhuggha’s previous post captures the flavor of the tediousness of dealing with 10 or 11 or 12 allies week in and week out. (“I emailed you 12 hours ago. Why haven’t you replied yet?!?” or “We have to make the following last minute changes to our team’s plans. Please re-do your orders and resubmit them to ME Games before midnight tonight.”)
Still, as I said, team play can be very rewarding and team games make up the overwhelming majority of ME PBM games. But . . .
The Gunboat game is exciting and stimulating in ways that the regular team and ally games are not. You are on your own; and that fact in and of itself adds an edge to your weekly or bi-weekly moves and planning.
Yet you are not completely on your own. You control two nations; and these can treat each other as allies do in the regular ME PBM games, supplying character and financial support (military support is often harder because of the geographic separation) to each other.
Moreover, you still have friends – call them, “silent partners” – on your side, namely, the other Free or DS nations. Often, they will assist you without any communication or diplomacy taking place (gold transfers, military support, etc.). Indeed, there is something exhilarating and endearing (poignant, even) about allies with whom you’ve never communicated making a sacrifice or an effort on your behalf. You see those friendly army icons moving to shield one of your undefended pop centers and the emotional effect is astonishing. It’s also quite satisfying to provide unbidden support and aid to other nations on your side. They can’t say thanks; but in ways that makes it all the more satisfying.
I also feel the Gunboat game adds much subtlety to the game that is sometimes (though not always) missing from the regular games. In Gunboat games you don’t see the automatic grouping of all the best DS agents into one company, or forming unstoppable curse squads, etc and mowing down every single enemy character in sight. I never found that very enjoyable or satisfying – whether I was on the receiving or the delivering end of the slaughter.
For all those reasons (and a few others), I much prefer Gunboat games.
And so I strongly encourage those who have never tried a Gunboat game to email Clint without delay and let him know you want in on the next Gunboat game (and you can bet the mortgage that I’ll be in it, as well). And to those who are Gunboat vets: let’s get another one going
May we assume your first post on this thread was a rhetorical question? The first post implies a newbie. The last post implies a vet.
New to Gunboat games; not new to ME PBM.
There are quite a few Gunboat rules that are unclear. The primary rule in Gunboat is this: if there is any doubt, ask for clarification.