With repect to Ed, I think he has, perhaps unintentionally, dragged a red herring under our noses. I don't know any ME player who believes that navies CANNOT move across open sea hexes. I too was in the game that he refers to, and the Brit Ed mentions simply chose not to run the risk of 'cutting the corner' even though it was only one hex of open sea. Presumably the program rolls a dice for each open seas hex crossed, in which case, each player must judge for himself how much of a risk crossing a single hex entails.
I do not recall anybody calling the designers of ME 'stupid.' The fact that everybody on this list is (presumably) playing it, and that it has run successfully for decades, testifies to the fact that ME is a very, very good game. Messrs Feild and Stassun are obviously very clever, maybe brilliant guys, and all ME players are in their debt for giving us such a great game.
That doesn't alter the fact that there are some aspects of the game that could be improved, and I am sure neither of the game's creators would claim that it is perfect. I very much hope that the guys at Harle are up to the task of making improvements without throwing the baby out with the bath water. Harle now have it in their power to run the original, unimproved game, as long as players want it, meanwhile running 'improved' versions alongside, and then players can decide which they prefer.
I started this message talking about navies. Here's another anachronism: I have had a Corsair fleet, sailing open seas admittedly, attacked by pirates! Come ON guys, the Corsairs ARE the pirates! Quite apart from the unlikelihood of pirates attacking a warfleet with over 20 warships! I don't recall Tolkien writing about any pirates other than the Corsairs, nor is there anywhere else pirates could be based other than Havens of Umbar.
So here is one simple, logical, Tolkien-consistent change that I recommend: only FP or neutral fleets can be attacked by NPC pirates.
Richard.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Come ON guys, the Corsairs ARE the pirates! Quite apart from the unlikelihood of pirates attacking a warfleet with over 20 warships! I don't recall Tolkien writing about any pirates other than the Corsairs, nor is there anywhere else pirates could be based other than Havens of Umbar.
** Agree with you on this point wholeheartedly. "The pirates" gave MY pirates a good reaming in my last Corsairs 2950 game. I had the same thoughts . . ." Yeah, sure, a band of pirates attacking a fleet of 30+ ships . . .".
Russ
···
----- Original Message -----
From: richard devereux
To: mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 3:52 PM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Navies in Middle-earth
With repect to Ed, I think he has, perhaps unintentionally, dragged a red herring under our noses. I don't know any ME player who believes that navies CANNOT move across open sea hexes. I too was in the game that he refers to, and the Brit Ed mentions simply chose not to run the risk of 'cutting the corner' even though it was only one hex of open sea. Presumably the program rolls a dice for each open seas hex crossed, in which case, each player must judge for himself how much of a risk crossing a single hex entails.
I do not recall anybody calling the designers of ME 'stupid.' The fact that everybody on this list is (presumably) playing it, and that it has run successfully for decades, testifies to the fact that ME is a very, very good game. Messrs Feild and Stassun are obviously very clever, maybe brilliant guys, and all ME players are in their debt for giving us such a great game.
That doesn't alter the fact that there are some aspects of the game that could be improved, and I am sure neither of the game's creators would claim that it is perfect. I very much hope that the guys at Harle are up to the task of making improvements without throwing the baby out with the bath water. Harle now have it in their power to run the original, unimproved game, as long as players want it, meanwhile running 'improved' versions alongside, and then players can decide which they prefer.
I started this message talking about navies. Here's another anachronism: I have had a Corsair fleet, sailing open seas admittedly, attacked by pirates! Come ON guys, the Corsairs ARE the pirates! Quite apart from the unlikelihood of pirates attacking a warfleet with over 20 warships! I don't recall Tolkien writing about any pirates other than the Corsairs, nor is there anywhere else pirates could be based other than Havens of Umbar.
So here is one simple, logical, Tolkien-consistent change that I recommend: only FP or neutral fleets can be attacked by NPC pirates.
Richard.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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