Hotseat General Recruitment Thread

[Nightbringer]

Am I supposed to do something or do replies usually take a month?

I'm sorry actionhac!

Thats strange, I could have sworn i did reply to you. I must have written the message then got distracted before I actually hit reply or something like that. In any case, I don't really have a preference between lead and autoresolve. I think they make for very different games and I enjoy the variety. I know that some people like silvershield have a strong preference for lead battles though.

As far as starting a new game, do you have any ideas for specific variations or mods?
@PilaPis Welcome!

It looks like we are starting to get a game going now, so feel free to weigh in on what sort of game you want to do.


Personally, I think it would be good to get a vanilla or ss6.4 game going without any special rules. Either lead or autoresolve. What do you guys think of that?

[Buzghush]

In SS mod Western Factions too OP. Vanilla or Broken Crescent would be better, IMHO.

[Myth]

We already have one vanilla game in place. BC could work, the last save got corrupted by a member who hadn't installed correctly I think.

We can limit our SS game to eastern factions only and no expansion past a certain border.

[Buzghush]

Can we choose Mongols in SS hotseat? Little bit OP for start, but, european soldiers far better in late game. Byzantine soldiers too OP too but Cumans simply have nothing. SS isn't a balanced mod.

[actionhanc]

You can't pick em as an early faction in SS so that would be a no. Unless we play late ofcourse. Can we simply incorporate the entire map to spread players out a bit more? Or do you veteran hotseat'ers seek a different challenge?
Adding an imaginary boundary through the map does add some unbalancing. As Lithuania you can only expand into the maw of Novgorod and no scandinavia for example, whilst being barraged by catholic western europe without the possibility of retaliation. Just to give an example.

[actionhanc]

Or everyone chooses a faction, massas their starting forces and teleports to a random x,y coordinate to start anew. The coordinates could be determined on forum to prevent cheating. Could make for an interesting game. I've rp'd Principality of Antioch with the Scots in this manner. Swung the Teutons all over the map aswell :)

[Myth]

OK so if SS is unbalanced to you then I'm open for suggestions for other mods. I know @SilverShield likes Crescent Moon. We can get a game going on that, though it is similarly imbalanced IMO.

We can also do a vanilla Britannia, Crusades or Teutonics game.

[SilverShield]

yea i do like broken crescent its pretty unique im always up for a new broken crescent game. u know i still got that ghazni grand vision of world domination in my head

[Mana Æ Varyl]

Hiya, all! It has been awhile...

I am back and ready for hotseat action. I'm pretty much up for anything, although I find the possibility of a Broken Crescent game to be appealing.

[Nightbringer]

It seems like a few people are interested in that. Do you want to just do a pretty normal game using it, or something weird and different?

[Mana Æ Varyl]

Well, actually, I've been playing singleplayer with the Jirza, Dhimmis, and Kafirs submod. It adds a lot of flavour to BC, including the division of Islam between the Shia, Sunni, and Ibadi, Jirza tax on non-muslims, and even the Jewish and Zoroastrian minority faiths(neither are playable though) that can be interacted with. I think it would be even more interesting if we could get a hotseat going with this and I believe it makes BC more balanced too. I'm not entirely sure about doing something out of the ordinary, but getting a large amount of players would be nice. I'd like to see a lot of diplomacy and intrigue, so I'd rather not have teams.

[Myth]

@fallen851 is also up for a game. Guys, let's get this going! Let's re-start Empires of the East if you like. Fallen, do you have the Broken Crescent mod?

[Myth]

To be honest guys, I'd also like to try another Teutonics expansion game. I'd be up for a lead battles game as Poland.

[Theris]

Hello everyone!

I'm new here, and I'm interested in trying hotseat games. I find the diplomacy and intrigue between actual human player to be very interesting and want to give it a try. (I also what to sack Rome as the Scots again.. but that will probably come later)

I have M2TW with the Kingdoms Expansion, but no other mods besides a very simply adjustment to Vanilla to "add" Hotseat for the grand campaign. I did test it and it does work, so my game was not broken by this little endeavor.

[Nightbringer]

Hi Theris, and welcome.

i'd be happy to do a hotseat if we can drum up some people @Myth @SilverShield @Visor

[Theris]

That would be excellent Nightbringer!

What would you say about the Crusades or Britannia Campaign? Or do you know where I could download some of the mods that are talked about in here. I'm open to trying new campaigns.

[Nightbringer]

Sorry on the slow reply, life is very hectic for me right now. I would be happy to do either of those campaigns.

As for the mods, the main one we use is Stainless Steel which you can find at http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=314

Stainless Steel definitely makes for a slower game though, and the kingdoms campaigns are probably better for smaller amounts of players.

Was there some other one in particular you were interested in?

[Theris]

Not a problem, I just graduated from college so I understand the grind.

Crusades sounds like fun now that I think about it, if that alright with you ^^

Stainless Steel sounds interesting lol I might want to try it after a game or two.

If you know of one that uses the grand campaign that would be awesome! otherwise I am open to suggestions

[Myth]

Sorry for the late reply guys, I totalled my car and had some stuff to deal with. I'm fine though.

As far as hotseating goes, playing vanilla is a vastly different experience from Stainless Steel, mainly because SS really rebalanced the autoresolve mechanic. In vanilla (or Britannia, Crusades etc.) heavy infantry trounces everything else. In SS, archers and cavalry have a much greater impact on autoresolve results.

I've won all 3 games I've played in Britannia, all of them wtih an ally. It comes down to this: someone makes a pact with England and they steamroll the rest. At the end, England and their ally win, or if the English player doesn't want to share, he can overwhelm his former ally because England is so blatantly more powerful than the other factions.

The only way I can see it becoming interesting is if Wales takes over the English infrastructure, then they can become strong with upgraded merryonid spears.

The Crusades campaign has two Catholic factions with great infantry, the ERE which also has decent infantry, and Egypt and the Turks who are lacking in that department. Crusades in lead battles is much different though, as then the horse archer factions at least have a chance.

The Teutonic campaign is reallty interesting for MP, but the Teutonic Order is much more powerful than the other factions due to its starting armies, position and the ability to recruit 21 armour Order Spearmen from tier 2 castles.

[Nightbringer]

Damn, sorry to hear that Myth, glad you are ok though!

I think giving the crusades hotseat another go could be a lot of fun. Do you know if you would prefer battles to be led or auto-resolved Theris? Allowing them to be led tends to turn the game into a battle of forts and just making absolutely sure that you always get to be the attacker, since it is so easy to beat the ai in led battles. Auto-resolve tends to create a lot more possibility for surviving a defensive battle, but is also somewhat exploitable in terms of knowing what the system favors in terms of recruitment.

[Theris]

Sorry to hear that Myth, Glad to know your alright though ^^

I would have to say led battles sound better, even if it can turn into a war of forts, though from what I remember in Crusades forts tend to be very expensive at 2500 per fort. Also, I downloaded Stainless Steel a few weeks ago and WOW, that is an incredible mod.

[Myth]

Forts are indeed expensive in Crusades, and you can't just plop them down wherever you please in the desert. We can make a maximum fort rule to balance this out. Say, you get 1 fort per province and only the King and his Heir can build them?

[Theris]

That sounds more than fair, and makes fort placement and garrison a lot more tactical in the long run.

Also, how does a clean Diplomacy sheet sound? No starting Alliances, and no starting Enemies?

[Myth]

Sounds good. Since you're new, why don't you start the thread for the game and pick your faction. We'll join too. Apply a standard list of banned exploits (merchant forts and such).

[Theris]

Alright ^^ I think I've got everything, let me know if I miss something or if something seems off.