I ronly brought it up on this list 'cause it happened to be the latest email
that had the changes in it, and I wasn't paying as much attention as I might
have earlier...sorry!
I'm not convinced the FP have gained a huge advantage, but I don't have a
huge problem with the modifiers -- other than the fact that now, if a player
wants to play a nation of Men, there will be a tendency to be Neutral or Evil
rather than FP -- so rather than fewer FP being Elves or Dwarves, there will
be more Elves and Dwarves than there are Men on the FP side. That may be
somewhat the case anyway, I don't know.
What I do know is that if E30 rank costs 500 points and C10 rank costs 200
points, but +10C on a character who has C rank can be worth as much as 600
points (assuming 60 is max rank allowed and you pay 1100 for a C50 and then bump
him to a C60), then an FP Men nation is getting an extra 200 points worth
and both Neutral and DS Men are probably getting in the neighborhood of 500
points worth of bonus -- either directly as E30 on a non-emissary or as
something worth anywhere from 200 to 600 points as +10C. The N/DS Men bonus is never
worse than the FP Men bonus, and almost always better -- i.e. it is only the
same if the N/DS Men player decides to take C10 on a non-commander rather
than either the E30 or improve some other command rank. That isn't different
-- that is just better. Also, if not limited to 60 max rank, then the +10C
could be added to a C60 -- but hey, anyone willing to pay 1700 for a C60
already isn't really gaining that much by making him a C70, other than point value,
I suppose -- he still has to figure out how to buy his other 7 characters
for 4300 points, so it is more likely he is going to want the E30 bonus anyway.
Ah well. Sorry I didn't bring up the topic earlier. Most nations can buy
what they need anyway. I just don't care for Men having much better bonuses
if Neutral or Evil, while Good Men get the smallest bonus given. (Dwarves can
take the same bonus, but they can also take the A20 rank, another 500 point
value.) Thing is, agents got tougher for all allegiances, not just DS, Men
are still the main choice for those who want the best emissary power to start
with but Name E40s is a decent alternative with the higher emissary costs and
pull back on number of starting pop centers, but for players who want to get
the most out of the nation building points, I expect Good Men will be the
least popular choice.
Also, in the past I have sent in, on more than one occasion, Mannish setups
in non-mountain areas, specifically so I could say I'd play any allegiance
(the possibility of being Neutral being the reason for non-mountain setup, also
not taking any allegiance-specific SNAs), whatever made the setup process go
a bit smoother. Now if you have a Mannish nation, and you want that E30
bonus, you gotta be Neutral or Evil.
Anyway, go for it -- keep the bonuses the way you have them described now,
and see what sort of setups you get. It should be interesting -- it is going
to be a bit of headache to set up, just from the different pricing schemes
for different skill ranks, though if Mike or whoever does a bang-up job on the
Excel spreadsheet that will obviously help.
Though I don't see why for Dwarves and Good Men the C10 couldn't be C20
instead. At the new prices, that is only a 300 point value -- same as the Elves'
M30 bonus. And since it is on a character without C rank, rather than a
+10C bonus to possibly existing C rank, it is only the equivalent of a few turns
of training -- it isn't like it seriously increases the nation's ability to
do tax changes, downgrades, etc. Whereas a bonus of +10C can indeed alter a
Neutral or DS Men nation's ability to do those very things.
Okay, enough whining, time to get some sleep... 
-- Ernie II
In a message dated 12/9/2005 11:59:11 PM Eastern Standard Time,
me@MiddleEarthGames.com writes:
Evil and Neutral Humans are listed as having the option of "10 Command rank
bonus to any character", while Good Humans only get 10 Command rank on a
character without command rank and Dwarves have the option to get that
as well.So does that mean Evil and Neutral Humans can name a C40 and then bump it
to
C50 with their racial bonus? If so, why are Good Humans and Dwarves
limited
to only adding 10 Command to characters without command rank while Evil and
Neutral Humans can add it to anyone they like? (In fact, if any race was
to
get +10 C to any character, I would think dwarves would be the ones...)
Yes that's the case - I'm a little confused why you didn't bring this up on
the FAS list though as this was, primarily intended for the wider player
base as per Steve's request. I don't mind you bringing it up but just a
tad confused.
I would suggest all of the +10 Command options be the same. Either any
alignment/race that has the option can add it to any character, or else
they can
all only add it to a character that does not have command rank already.
It was partially to offset the weakening of the DS as suggested by Erving
and Neutrals in general and that a few players mentioned that FP were the
strongest now.
I would also question why both Evil and Neutral Humans have the option of
either +30 E or +10 C while Good Humans only have the option of +10
C. Why not
+30 E as well?
So that they are different.
Clint
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