The Anteroom - community discussion thread

[phonicsmonkey]

Obviously you haven't seen my character track record in MTW2 rpgs. Most of them have died in some similarly pathetic manner. I must admit none were anywahere near ten stars, though.

This is true!

[Myth]

At the beginning, I meant: the first few turns of Uoti :D I used to do that "what if" when I was learning. Most of it i'd done in SP. If we start a vanilla campaign I won't need to do it. Or a SS one. But when I started playing here I had zero experience with Britannia or FN. I tried a lot of the stuff in SP vs the AI. I went around and started with each faction in SP to take a look at their units, terrain and settlements.

From then on I've mostly attacked when I would know beforehand that "yes, bringing such and such armies to the front will mean I win". The logistics of moving units can't be fixd via loading, sine it takes more than one turn to consolidate a stack, and positioning plays a key role.

Sometimes I've retreated out of caution, then I upload the save, and then something gnaws at me and I try to attack just in case. But that doesn't happen any more, I pretty much have all the info I need on the basic army strength in AR, of unit composition etc. And with my new job ihardly have the time to play M2TW scientist.

My overall view is that it's pretty obvious who is a good player and who has more to learn. I consider myself the latter, while some of the vets here are in the former. Who wins and who loses a hotseat may not always be because of their skill. Sometimes people just get unlucky or fall short in diplomacy. Or there's greedy neighbors who just want thieir stuff and that's that :D

Realoading naval battles - well I didn't know that. But I tend to run the hell away if i see more ships vs me, especially if i have an army on board. I do the same in SP.
BTW the stakes thing happens in SS. It happened to me as England in SP when I attacked some Irish rebels who had Yeomen arhcers. Ouch...

[Cecil XIX]

I don't spend much time at TWC, and when I do I rarely log in, but I think it just comes down to the fact that the Org is a smaller, more close-nit community. Zim also makes a good point about how the forums are organized. Here, hotseats are placed in the same category as games about roleplaying. Over there, they're placed in the same category as the more impersonal, online multiplayer of TW games.

[phonicsmonkey]

At the beginning, I meant: the first few turns of Uoti :D I used to do that "what if" when I was learning. Most of it i'd done in SP. If we start a vanilla campaign I won't need to do it. Or a SS one. But when I started playing here I had zero experience with Britannia or FN. I tried a lot of the stuff in SP vs the AI. I went around and started with each faction in SP to take a look at their units, terrain and settlements.

This is totally fine IMHO and quite advisable. Wish I'd done more of this before we re-started WWC...

[Myth]

I'm actually thinking of writing an extensive guide for hotseat play. I'll post it here, and I'll be expecting comments and tips from the others. Hopefully this will bring in new blood to the throne room. You can try and make it a featured item on the main page Phonics.

[phonicsmonkey]

Fantastic idea Myth! I'd be happy to proofread and contribute and I can certainly get it a spot on the Front Page.

[phonicsmonkey]

ok guys, I want to talk about stories.

Stories are what the Throne Room used to be all about. AARs, Succession game writeups and a heap of stories to support and add flesh to the various RPGs which were hosted here.

So much so that when hotseating started it was only natural that each game should have some kind of AAR or story thread that was contributed to by some or all of the players.

Stories in hotseats can be used for a number of things:

- For immersion in your faction, enriching your RP experience and that of others.

- For communicating good or bad news to other players. Bragging rights or condolences, loudly proclaiming victory or mourning the loss of a key army or territory.

- For predicting the outcome of a game.

- For spreading misinformation among the other players.

- For revealing secret plans to the world.

- For documenting something strange or interesting that happened and which you don't want to pass by without the proper recognition.

You don't have to search far in the Throne Room to find excellent stories written by hotseat players who are long gone or still here, but sadly the practice of story writing has largely died out.

I would like to try and revive it - on a personal level I love to read and write stories but more broadly I think it's part of our unique culture which sets us apart and makes the Throne Room a special place.

Perhaps you feel intimidated or self-concious about putting words down? Don't be: I strongly believe that everyone has a story to tell and even if your first language isn't english or you don't think you are a good writer I encourage you to have a go. Your fellow gamers will enjoy your attempt no matter what, for all the reasons above and more.

If you need inspiration, I can point you to some beloved stories of our Throne Room tradition, whether they be beautifully written epics, hilarious comedies, or simple tales of crushing victory.

Please, next time you play your turn in a hotseat think about the story you are writing just by moving the pieces around, and try to put some of it down in words for us to enjoy. And if the game you're in doesn't have a story thread but you have a story to tell, let me know and I'll make sure you have somewhere to tell it.

[Thanatos Eclipse]

I support this message!!!


Really, it's a lot of fun. Even if you don't consider yourself a writer, give it a try. I never thought much for writing in the past, but I've really enjoyed some of the stories I've written here

[Zim]

I wrote stories once upon a time. Even had an HOF nomination (did I mention that one was mostly the work of far superior cowriter Overknight? ).

I really need to get back into it. I fell off as I ended up playing in more and more games.

[Visor]

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...-Tutti-Capi-IV

Need some more players, please?

[Zim]

More than 71? I always forget how big the Capo games get.

[Visor]

Yeah 100-125 for this one.

[Myth]

It's my not so seret dream to become a fantasy writer some day. I've been working on my world for years now, putting down ideas, refining the map, the cultural and political details, the religion, the magic system etc... I've been writing on othe forums under other names. I've had a "female POV" phase to improve my way of writing from behind a woman's eyes. There are two internet communites who would swear and vigoriously defend the truth that I'm a female :D I've had people who don't know me message me in private to compliment my writng or to ask what will happen next etc. (that's what's keeping me from being discouraged from the reality of the situaton - namely how far away a writer's career is from where I'm at right now)

I need practice in writing. Perhaps I'll start contributing here, since I've mostly abadoned the oter communites for various resons.

[Zim]

Visorslash Is that about average for most years or do the numbers fluctuate? Pretty much all I know about Capo is that it's busy and they advertise a lot.

Myth There's been a lot of great stories here, some of it unfortunately buried. I look forward to reading anything you write, an will try to do some scribblings of my own as well.

[Visor]

@ Zim

Uh, not really the averagecompared to other games. Capo is a massive game, one of a kind really, I think. This one will have the most players yet I think. And yes they do. I don't think its a yearly thing... but the numbers of players for the games have been steadily increasing. BUt it will flucuate.

In regards to stories, I haven't written anything for a hotseat in a while, I've written two over at TWC though.

[Zim]

I was speaking about the big Capo games in particular. I know most mafia games are much smaller.

I thought it was yearly, but that might just be an impression made by the fact that the big Capo games are far enough apart I tend to forget about them until the announcements start.

[Visor]

I was speaking about the big Capo games in particular. I know most mafia games are much smaller.

I thought it was yearly, but that might just be an impression made by the fact that the big Capo games are far enough apart I tend to forget about them until the announcements start.

Ah okay. Yeah, the playerbase for each game is getting bigger. It didn't happen last year. It may have used to been yearly, I wouldn't know.

You could be onto something, the announcements are many.

[Zim]

There are a lot of them, but I seem to recall they used to be more frequent and then the advertising became more ordered.

I can sticky an ad for it here if you like, although I think most regulars peek in this thread from time to time.

Did a bit of searching in Romanic's excellent Gameroom statistics thread. It looks like other than last year Capo has been yearly. The first game had over fifty participants, up to seventy odd participants the next two, and if they're still in the preliminary recruiting stage this one is looking even bigger.

[Cecil XIX]

I can't help but wonder if the decline in storytelling is related to the fact that we started sequestering TW RPGs in their separate forums starting at the end of KotR. Does anyone remember why this decision was made? I assume it has to do with reducing the amount of threads cluttering the forum, but I'm wondering if there aren't some unintended consequences.

[Zim]

I'm pretty sure it was related to thread clutter. Threads for other games could be very hard to find, especially as rpgs were larger through the next few years and at times we had two or three.

Hotseats used to produce a lot of stories as well but over time we've become more focused on the gaming side.

[phonicsmonkey]

I always assumed that was at the request of the RPG players, for convenience. It's something I'm happy to consider reversing if you think it's better that RPG threads should sit in the main TR.

[Zim]

That was around the end of Econ being mod and beginning of TC, wasn't it? I could ask TinCow about it.

Since that happened I know new rpgs have tended to ask for subforums, likely for convenience (and maybe because they saw existing rpgs doing it).

[Myth]

Guys I"m leaving from today until Tuesday.

[phonicsmonkey]

subs?

sly in FN?
NB, Than in GA?
Zim in UotI?
who in CoG?

[Myth]

Slysnake or Visorslash in FN, anyone who is on my side in GA (so Zim included). Only Zim in UotI. Anyone of my three allies in CoG. I doubt WotK will do a full round before I get back, but if it does, anyone who feels comfortable fighting 5-6 lead battles.

[Nightbringer]

I should be available for any or all of those.

[phonicsmonkey]

Guys, I'm going to be away from tomorrow until Friday at a conference.

I'll have forum access so I'll be able to arrange subs and and when my turns come up, if they do.

Zim will cover my admin duties for me.

[Myth]

I'm back FYI.

[Ignoramus]

I tend not to write stories in Hotseats because it gives away too much information. Crowing about your latest victory overt your enemy might give other players an incentive to attack. Notwithstanding, I tend to roleplay my in-game messaging as far as possible, even to the extent of revealing the location of my king to enemy players.

[Zim]

Very reasonable. Of course, stories can be vague enough to give the wrong idea...