Wrath of the Khan 2: RECRUITMENT and rules discussion

[phonicsmonkey]

First turn of vassalage 92,000 florins (on turn 15). Yes, ninety-two thousand florins.

That does sound unbalanced and we should probably then ban making the AI factions vassals. Their provinces won't count towards the VCs anyway and they don't stay loyal so there's really no reason to vassalize them except for this cash injection.

assassins killing generals (but not family members).

I think they should be allowed to kill family members - with the rule in place about how to use assassins (one attempt per turn and before anything else) it's easy to check each assassination to ensure it's legit. I think this takes away the threat of whole families being wiped out by them.

As for VCs I've been thinking about this a bit more. Myth suggested:

Mongols:

- Hold 50 Provinces, eliminate factions x, y, z

OR

Hold 25 provinces, capture Warsaw, Cracow, Hamburg,

OR

Hold 15 provinces, capture all of the above + Paris, Rome, London.

I thought of a few issues with these.

Firstly, if the Mongols are required to eliminate particular factions what's to stop you guys just continually relocating those factions further and further away? To avoid that we'd have to ban the trading of provinces which would handicap you guys (because it would make sense for you to exchange castles near the front line so that you could each recruit troops there without transporting them).

Secondly in the second VC the cities are all in Central Europe which creates a very predictable expansion path for the Mongols. We should add more cities as options in that one otherwise I'm just not going to opt for it and it becomes redundant.

Thirdly I think Paris and London are a bit harsh! I'm never going to choose to try to get to London. If you really want to put London in there I think it becomes a VC all of its own. If I get all the way to London I win!

So what about this instead?

-Hold 50 provinces including Kiev and Cairo.

OR

- Hold 25 provinces including three of Budapest, Cracow, Benghazi and Constantinople.

OR

- Hold 15 provinces including two of Rome, Frankfurt, Tripoli and Lubeck.

The cities aren't necessarily historically accurate paths for the Mongols but what it creates is a North/South line in each case where I have to get to before I win the game, and provides me different paths to get there so that it keeps you guys guessing about what I'm going to try to do.

For the non-Mongols I think we should have what NB suggested which is:

- Outlast the Mongols and capture an 15 additional provinces from one or more human non-Mongol players.

OR

- Capture and hold at least 3 Mongol cities and take 27 additional provinces from one or more human non-Mongol players before the Mongols win the game.

What do you think?