Out of character thread XIX

Yeah, I tried to be fair as Chancellor and not get anyone killed. As it happened only Johann, who was Illuminati, died as a direct result of my actions. :shame: :thumbsdown:

I also raised the subject of the loyalty of my troops for this battle with GH, who concocted a die roll test to see if the non-mercenary ones would stay faithful to Fritz. If you thought my movements were cautious, the possibility of having rebellious Teutons charge your HQ and general will do that for you. :laugh4:

Max and I discussed his action and Ruppel was the priority target of his flip by far. It's a shame the Imperial quicktopic and general discussions weren't more active, I had a load of excuses ready for anyone who wanted to jump on Fritz the Attacker for being a duck after he deployed. :inquisitive:

:egypt:

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Originally Posted by Elite Ferret

Boy am I glad I got left out of all these crazy hidden political fights. Apart from Fritz but he's just a big girls blouse really :clown:

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you were actually in the middle of it without knowing. Jan was protecting Dieter yet trying to get his help and support at the same time. With Dieter's vote, Jan, Elberhard, Siegfried (who Econ had the voting power over in the 1300 Diet), and Hans could pretty much kill any CA they wanted.

It was our only real leverage against the Order and we played that trump card in 1300 to kill Dassel's CA.

Jan always liked his brother-in-law and trusted him. It was a balancing act trying to get Dieter's help while leaving him out of the rough-and-tumble politics for his own good.

In the end, it didn't work because it looks like Fritz and the rest are about to kill Dieter on the field but Jan tried his best. :yes:

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Originally Posted by Ramses II CP

Yeah, I tried to be fair as Chancellor and not get anyone killed. As it happened only Johann, who was Illuminati, died as a direct result of my actions. :shame: :thumbsdown:

I also raised the subject of the loyalty of my troops for this battle with GH, who concocted a die roll test to see if the non-mercenary ones would stay faithful to Fritz. If you thought my movements were cautious, the possibility of having rebellious Teutons charge your HQ and general will do that for you. :laugh4:

Max and I discussed his action and Ruppel was the priority target of his flip by far. It's a shame the Imperial quicktopic and general discussions weren't more active, I had a load of excuses ready for anyone who wanted to jump on Fritz the Attacker for being a duck after he deployed. :inquisitive:

:egypt:

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You actually raised my eyebrows when you said in the OOC thread that your army's move was conditioned on what Dieter did. It made me take a long look at the map where I saw how you had placed the army. That's how I guessed that the black flag was meant for Fritz.

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Originally Posted by Ramses II CP

Yeah, I tried to be fair as Chancellor and not get anyone killed. As it happened only Johann, who was Illuminati, died as a direct result of my actions. :shame: :thumbsdown:

I also raised the subject of the loyalty of my troops for this battle with GH, who concocted a die roll test to see if the non-mercenary ones would stay faithful to Fritz. If you thought my movements were cautious, the possibility of having rebellious Teutons charge your HQ and general will do that for you. :laugh4:

Max and I discussed his action and Ruppel was the priority target of his flip by far. It's a shame the Imperial quicktopic and general discussions weren't more active, I had a load of excuses ready for anyone who wanted to jump on Fritz the Attacker for being a duck after he deployed. :inquisitive:

:egypt:

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I couldn't exactly moan at you after Dieter typically sat around doing nothing, reminds me of the years spent in Magdeburg :clown:

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Originally Posted by Elite Ferret

Boy am I glad I got left out of all these crazy hidden political fights. Apart from Fritz but he's just a big girls blouse really :clown:

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That's Kaiser big girl's blouse to you, according to Peter's last word on the subject! :smash:

:egypt:

ah it is all so clear now! Your sig says Tyranny's end in it! You wrote a whole AAR about killing Peter! How coud I not see this before :wall:


:clown:

You know Fritz was really rather fond of Peter, it was only Peter's place in the system and his lack of faith that wrecked him as a potential ally. Of course there was Fritz's long suffering 'second son' mentality working against them too after Peter became Prinz.

Now Elberhard. That guy, Fritz really had it in for, right down to the end. As I see it he probably went around kicking puppies for a week when Elberhard 'escaped' by dying in Italy.

:egypt:

Poor Becker. I wish that 3rd party bit had come together, it'd be fun to have to turn around and do this thing again. I hope he flees a long way, the Reich is going to grow a lot in Fritz's last few years.

:egypt:

Alright, the Chronicles of the Illuminati are up. It represents about 8 months of IC communications, with the OOC stuff stripped out. It also clocks in at 182,739 words, so it's a hefty read and the thread has a sluggish response time. If for some reason someone wants it in Word doc format, let me know and I'll put it up for download somewhere. Also, please forgive any spelling, grammar, or formatting errors. It's a big document, and none of us have time to edit every last word.

it's been a great read so far. And it is nice to see I have been so badly abused behind my bcak :clown:

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Originally Posted by Elite Ferret

it's been a great read so far. And it is nice to see I have been so badly abused behind my bcak :clown:

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If worse things, much, much worse things, haven't been said about Fritz behind his back I'll order him to surrender to you this turn. He earned every one of 'em. :laugh4:

:egypt:

no no of course they haven't, no need to worry about that. Now about those orders...:clown:

edit:wow of my 4 posts on this page all four have a clown smiley at the end, maybe I need to take life more seriously...

nah :clown:

Curse you Ramses, Andreas had been going to join the Imperialists largely because he trusted Fritz. :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Ramses II CP

If worse things, much, much worse things, haven't been said about Fritz behind his back I'll order him to surrender to you this turn. He earned every one of 'em. :laugh4:

:egypt:

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If he had trusted Fritz enough he no doubt would've changed sides with him as well. Believe me, Fritz was extremely loyal, reliable, and completely unwavering in his support for the Illuminati. It's only when viewed from the outside that his actions appear inconsistant.

:egypt:

Considering the very last message sent in the Chronicles of the Illuminati thread, I just want to make it clear to everyone that no messages were exchanged between Max Zirn and the Republicans until Max switched sides. If he did, he would have been subject to a die roll. Same with Fritz. The only communication was the flags, which was pre-arranged in OOC discussion (hence why it wasn't in the Chronicles).

The problem is that Andreas was "extremely loyal, reliable, and completely unwavering " in his support of the established powers that be, and a catholic and Swabian loyalist to boot. Matthias coming out as a member of the Order would have been tramatic enough, I have no idea what Andreas would have done if he found out about Fritz as well.

A rather moot point considering what happened to him, though. :clown:

At least my newest avatar hasn't died yet, although he's pretty close. :sweatdrop:

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Originally Posted by Ramses II CP

If he had trusted Fritz enough he no doubt would've changed sides with him as well. Believe me, Fritz was extremely loyal, reliable, and completely unwavering in his support for the Illuminati. It's only when viewed from the outside that his actions appear inconsistant.

:egypt:

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yeah Zim, you sure do go through them fast, I joined before you and am still on my first one :clown:

I'm still totally shocked that I've ONLY ever player Arnold...

has anyone played just one person in the entire game?

me, you and Deguerra are the only ones to still be alive but a few others only ever had one avatar (vpmd, warmaster horus, etc)

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

The only communication was the flags, which was pre-arranged in OOC discussion (hence why it wasn't in the Chronicles).

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If it was arranged OOC, then how did Fritz know what the flags meant? Or did they?

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Originally Posted by TinCow

We were always cautious about doing things that would make the game less fun for everyone else. We certainly had the power to do things like that if we had wanted, but the point of the game is to have fun, not to 'win' (if there is even such a thing in a game like this). Annoying other people in the process just hurts the game.

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It's good to hear you say that; I think you'd want to know that you weren't entirely successful. Between Fritz's succesful alienation of Becker and GH's decision not to allow third parties, Becker was effectively barred from participating in the final battle. (That's not to say the you forced *me* out of the battle, of course. I could have just had him to join a side anyway.)

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Originally Posted by Cecil XIX

If it was arranged OOC, then how did Fritz know what the flags meant? Or did they?

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We never translated it into an IC discussion, but it was agreed upon well before the battle started. The IC communications tended to take a back seat to OOC for the last month or so, since wrapping KOTR up was a lot more OOC involvement than IC.

My only choices as far as when to flip were this turn or the last one, and I considered doing it last turn (As NN can attest) and decided I'd rather wait just one more in case Ruppel got away and tried to flee towards me. The flag didn't really make any difference, though if the battle had gone differently it could have.

:egypt:

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Originally Posted by Cecil XIX

It's good to hear you say that; I think you'd want to know that you weren't entirely successful. Between Fritz's succesful alienation of Becker and GH's decision not to allow third parties, Becker was effectively barred from participating in the final battle. (That's not to say the you forced *me* out of the battle, of course. I could have just had him to join a side anyway.)

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This was more of a sanity decision than anything else. As you can see in the Chronicles, Herrmann did propose a three-way battle in which Fritz would betray the Imperialists and Max would betray the third party, but when I realized I'd be doing the battle the idea kind of died. It would just be too much work. The clincher was probably when Bresch and Bohmen joined sides. It just wasn't worth the trouble with such a small party.

I'd like a word doc of this - it's not working for me

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Originally Posted by gibsonsg91921

I'd like a word doc of this - it's not working for me

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http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/illuminati.zip

Well played, certainly had not expected us Imperialists to be outnumbered from the start with two starting behind our own lines.

I guess this is why GH was reluctant when I told him how Fritz and Matthias' armies were very much off balance before the battle :grin2:

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Originally Posted by FactionHeir

Well played, certainly had not expected us Imperialists to be outnumbered from the start with two starting behind our own lines.

I guess this is why GH was reluctant when I told him how Fritz and Matthias' armies were very much off balance before the battle :grin2:

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Hey FH, you should check out the Chronicals of the Illuminati if you haven't already. I have worked all day reading them and there is some great stuff in there. It seems that you and I were their favorites. I take it as a badge of honor...

^_^

Don't you wish Jan's kids were of age already? :grin:

Will read it later. Have a lot of project work to do.

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Originally Posted by FactionHeir

Don't you wish Jan's kids were of age already? :grin:

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Well if they were, they'd be on the battlefield next to Dieter about to get impaled by Arnold. But, it's where they would want to be... :yes:

Great work to the Illuminati! Apart from TinCow, I had no idea of their existance. Now I know why Lothar was so keen on supporting Wolfgang, and here was I thinking that it was all for innocent reasons.

I might as well reveal the unknown stuff about all my characters. AS some of this happened over a year ago, so my memory might be a bit stretched in places.

First of all, I'd like to say a huge thanks to TinCow and econ21, but especially econ. He really helped introduce me to the mechanics and politics of the game, which I'm extremely thankful for.

1. Sigismund der Stolze

Being new to fully participating in a WotS style game, I was naturally not overly adventerous with my first character. As Sigismund's traits were chivalrous, I decided to roleplay him as loyal and a chivalrous knight. As a result, he was a safe character - one who didn't dabble in intrigue.

I then(with Prinz Henry's approval), appoached the Bavarians with an offer of an alliance. Basically, they would support Sigismund for Chancellor, and in return they would get a war against Milan, in which they'd play the prominent part. This in the end was unnecessary, as I was the only candidate, but it was a useful alliance that endured for the next term.

As Chancellor, Sigismund, contrary to his nature, was biased. All the Reich's treasury was funneled into the Bavarian and Swabian war machine. Not unsuprisingly, Austria and Franconia complained. Fortunately, success against Milan prevented any action being taken. The major cases of bias were disbanding most of Vienna's garrison(and not taking steps to strengthen it), and refusing to supply soldiers to Franconia for use to defend against the Poles.

With Sigismund, I deliberately tried to make the game more challenging for everyone, and I think in this I succeeded. Duke Leopold had to repulse at least three tense assaults on Vienna by the Venetians, who had superior troops and numbers. Dietrich von Saxony had to face off mounted and dismounted Polish noble with little more than general's bodyguards and peasants. Kaiser Heinrich and Otto von Kassel had very expensive assaults on Genoa and Milan respectively.

As a result, the Reich experienced it's only real period of crisis, which I hope everyone enjoyed. I hope my inexperience didn't ruin the game for anyone, as I wasn't trying to kill anyone's character.

A fitting, but extermely infuriating end came to Sigismund when he was murdered by a French assassin. As far as I know, Sigismund is the only general to be assassinated in WotS style PBM.

2. Ulrich Hummel

Ulrich was my second character, and his traits again affected how I roleplayed him. Having only 2 loyalty, he was the ideal candidate for being a disloyal general, concerned only with himself.

He attacked Rheims, because I wanted a challenge, and the thought of conquering most of France appealed to an egotist such as Ulrich. Unfortunately, a silly clause in the Imperial Charter allowed the Chancellor to disband most of Ulrich's army, making it impossible for me to continue. On reflection this was good for the game, as it stopped us from simply blitzing the AI.

Taking the cross, Ulrich arrived in the Outremer too late to do anything, apart from fight a battle against a rather nasty Egyptian army filled with siege engines. Again, Ulrich's rebellious nature show itself, with him trying to sustain as heavy losses as possible without losing the battle. After having a flamming rock land right next to him and roasting 4 of his bodyguards, I decided that this was getting dangerous, and decided to finish off the enemy.

After one unsuccessful run for the Chancellorship, we come to the famous election of 1240. Ulrich was approached by the Illuminati, who promised to help him if he promised to act on 2 of their demands. The first was that Ansehelm von Kastilien be stripped of the soldiers for the Russian Crusade and pulled back from the front(after reading the Illuminati's account, I realised it's because they'd invited Ansehelm to join them but he'd refused), and to give Hans a desk job in the centre of the Reich(and thus prevent him doing anything useful).

I was quite willing to do both these things, but the Diet looked poorly on the purchase of Scotland from the English. Again, some OOC considerations influenced this decision. I was worried at the Reich's enormous wealth, and that there would be effective challange from the AI. So I found a convenient way to basically pour all of the Reich's wealth into two useless provinces. Ulrich also wanted most of Austria to revolt as well, resulting in Budapest's revolt.

Unfortunately, Ihad bitten the hand that fed me. I had no idea that Duke Arnold was Grandmaster of the Illuminati. The subsequent ignoring of the Imperial Charterr, roleplaying Ulrich's disdain for authority, sealed my fate.

As a result, I gave Ulrich up as a lost cause, and had him ride to death against the Turks, preferring to take up the clean slate of his son, Wolfgang.

3. Wolfgang Hummel

Wolfgang was tarred with much of the disloyalty of his father, and as a result ended up being only a slightly reformed version of Ulrich. After kicking up a fuss about Kaiser Sigfried ascending the throne, which was my IC complaint against MTWII's stupid succession system, he returned to Europe, after deliberately losing as many men as possible against the Spanish at Cagliarli(I was contemplating throwing the battle, as OverKnigt's comment, "If you lose this battle don't even bother of sailing home." sounded like doing so would be very fun. But then the AI was too weak to win, so I ended up winning anyway.

To be honest, it was TinCow that first put the idea of Wolfgang rebelling against Hans in the Cataclysm. I had never intended to do so for many reasons: (1). Wolfgang had staunchly defended and supported Hans in his bid to be Kaiser. (2). Hans had just made Wolfgang heir to the Duchy of Swabia. (3) Wolfgang had no reason to be discontent with Hans.

But the idea grew so appealing that I was determined to go through with it. It hardly made sense in charcter(but as OverKnight said, "One can go mad trying to find the logic in the Hummel's decisions>', but the fun I got out of it was worth it.

After much manouevering, I manage to seize relatively undefended Brugges from the loyalists. After a display of immense generosity(7 wealth being spent on Merchant Quarters) and a rousing speech, Brugges was won over and became a bastion of Wolfgang's cause. Unfortunately, I was unable to use Caen, simply because it was too dangerous to risk getting trapped by massive elite French armies.

I then marched on Rheims, only to be met by Athawolf von Salza. Having to retreat, I ordered one company of my Armoured Sergeants to feign desertion and offer their services to von Salza. Not seeing my trap, Warluster gratefully accepted.

Confident then of winning in PvP battle against him, I didn't retreat when our two armies clashed. As it turned out, the Armoured Sergeants didn't weren't the battle winner for me, but I still ended up victorious, having effectively eliminated von Salza as a threat.

I was then going to march on Paris and take on 2 full elite stacks(which gave TC a heart attack at my rashness), until I wisely decided that at best it was suicide, and decided to march on Antwerp instead. Antwerp was the closest and bloodiest assault I have ever fought. I lost 90% of my men, but Antwerp was mine. As a result, Wolfgang's army became mainly composed of Flemish Pikemen and Arquebusiers.

The entry of Zim and deguerra into the game provided me with an excellent opportunity of adding to my cause. With two extra generals, it allowed me to march on Staufen without fear of the French.

In the battle against the computer controlled loyalist army, I was literally on the verge of victory when Wolfgang was killed in a skirmish with enemy cavalry(6 seconds later the "do you wish to continue this battle" screen popped up).

So ended Woflgang's illustrious career. Had he survived Staufen, who know's what would have happened.