I’m a big fan of updating the Guide to reflect the way the game actually works. I also did not mean to imply you were changing the code on purpose just to change things! Just pointing out, for those in the back, that some changes have no doubt occurred, inadvertently. Definitely saw some things working slightly differently, see longer reply re sales etc., and some cosmetic things like inconsistent troop names which may reflect something in the mechanics but may not. And I suspect some things will end up actually working better, or at least there will be more accuracy in the guide as to how they work, but also, some things may end up working differently and more the way perhaps they ought to work and the way many folks might think they do work, but didn’t actually. 
For example, the impact of fortifications on agent orders. This was never actually a measurable factor in the original program, though some players (ahem) insist they do. Not mentioned in the rules, and personally I have lost too many characters to assassination and kidnap in heavily fortified pop centers like Moria and Minas Tirith to believe that they had any impact whatsoever. I’ve stolen plenty of gold from pop centers with castles and keeps to bother worrying about the walls. I remember the day that the original company sent out notification of the one change they did make regarding fortifications and one agent order - size of fortifications would henceforth determine difficulty of the sabotage fortifications order. 
But the MEGames guide, unlike the earlier Rules, do mention fortifications as impacting some other orders. And I agree, they should! Characters and gold and other resources protected by lots of fortifications should be harder to mess with! (And on a related note, characters in hidden pop centers should be a lot harder to find and mess with!)
- Ernie III
···
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-----Original Message-----
From: ME Games Ltd me@MiddleEarthGames.com [mepbmlist] mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
To: mepbmlist mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, Jan 18, 2018 12:32 PM
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Threatening a pc
That’s all games now. I recommend using the
GUIDE as the rules, and the rules as something that was correct 25 years ago.
Clint
For future games or all ongoing game? That’s quite a tweak!
Jeremy
At 11:36 AM 1/17/2018, you wrote:
The rules in the old book state you need X
numbers of troops and in sectoin 22 state a
minimum needed. But it’s one of those things
where the actual experience of players break that rules.So we’ve tweaked the rules to reflect what is
actually the case, the Guide being the appropriate ruling booklet.Clint
At 16:23 17/01/2018, you wrote:
What do you mean by “rules” and “ruling”…?? I
issue the order and the program rolls dice and
gives me results. What does the GM have to do with it?Brad
On Wed, Jan 17, 2018 at 11:05 AM, ME Games Ltd >> >me@MiddleEarthGames.com [mepbmlist] >> ><< mailto:mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
ÂWell there’s sense and then’s the rules. The
rules are now updated in the Guide to reflect
that as they’re our source of ruling now.Thanks for the feedback guys - it’s what I
personally prefer as a player and as a GM I think
it adds more skill to the game.Clint
At 08:58 17/01/2018, you wrote:
a C90 (with arties) routinely succeeds
threatening towns with only 300 troops, I’ve
often sent Ashdurbuk eastwards to take 2904 and 3002 that way.And as Arthedain, I’ve threatened Carn Dum with
much less than the required number of troops.I think it is in keeping with the spirit of
Middle Earth that this is so. One person can
be so powerful as to have this impact, it makes sense to me.Jeremy
At 02:06 PM 1/16/2018, you wrote:
And when there’s a random roll, there will
always be fog of war. But threatening is
really, really foggy. Some way to at least
estimate chance of success would be nice, and
if command rank vs loyalty is truly more
important than actual numbers, the ratio would
be good to know. Still won’t be able to be
certain, especially if loyalty isn’t known. But
fortifications impact, for example, should be
known rather than merely implied - there’s no
way my C130+ with a mere 1300 or so troops
should have been able to threaten a
city/citadel, unless the city liyalty was so
low they were just looking for an excuse to
rebel, which would have been unlikely given it
was the dwarven capital and they hadn’t been hurt that bad…That’s not fog of war, that is a billowing
cloud of dense black smoke obscuring the mechanics.E3
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-----Original Message-----
From: ME Games Ltd me@MiddleEarthGames.com
[mepbmlist] <<
mailto:mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>To: mepbmlist <<
mailto:mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>Sent: Tue, Jan 16, 2018 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Threatening a pcYeah but other players like - this is the rule so…
C
At 16:22 16/01/2018, you wrote:
I prefer a bit of fog of war. If everyone
knows everything, the game will be
less interesting. I think, a bit like there
is always a chance that a goodcharacter will fail, there’s always a
chance that a poorer character willsucceed.
DavidOn 16 January 2018 at 14:59 “ME Games Ltd >> > >> > < mailto:me@MiddleEarthGames.com>me@MiddleEarthGames.com [mepbmlist]” >> > >> > > << mailto:mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com> >> > < mailto:mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com>mepbmlist@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Yeah thanks Ernie, I concur it’s happened lots
the rules shouly really say minimum
recommended forced not minimum force.We’re updating the guide to reflect this.
Clint
At 14:54 16/01/2018, you wrote:
Despite what the rulebook said, the original
game always allowed a chance to threaten with
less than the official number of troops. It was
more weighted towards command rank vs loyalty.
In 1650 way back in the day I once threatened
Moria, a city/citadel, away from the dwarves,
with a dog lord army that had less than 1500
troops, but my comman rank was over 130 thanks
to command items, ironically including the dwarven ring of power.Now, I’d be in favor of a greater adherence to
what the rulebook claimed, provided the actual
mechanics were more transparent to the players.
But many, many games have seen high command
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