The Will of the Senate - out of character thread

**Mount Suribachi** · 06-02-2006, 21:15

This EDU thingy, can you just patch it onto your current game and carry on? Don't have to reinstall from scratch or owt?

**econ21** · 06-02-2006, 21:38

Originally Posted by Mount Suribachi

This EDU thingy, can you just patch it onto your current game and carry on? Don't have to reinstall from scratch or owt?

Yes, I believe you can just add it on. I guess it is mainly accessed during battles.

By contrast I understand some other files - e.g. the descr_strat file we altered to give Quintus et al their starting Roman leadership traits - are only accessed at the beginning of a campaign, so we are stuck with them.

**TinCow** · 06-02-2006, 23:24

As a side note to anyone taking a Spy over a Diplomat... Spies don't accumulate influence, but Diplomats do.

**GeneralHankerchief** · 06-02-2006, 23:51

Perhaps stealthiness could be our version of influence?

**econ21** · 06-03-2006, 00:54

Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

Perhaps stealthiness could be our version of influence?

I'm wondering about giving spies (& assassins) bonus votes equal to (subterfuge/5), rounded up, compared to (influence/2) for others. I can see how subterfuge might give you some political leverage, but I would not want an spy, however good, to rival an ex-Consul who is a conqueror etc. I suspect Upper House senators won't accumulate that much influence anyway, so it should balance out.

On another matter, I don't use spies much, but I know it can be a risky business if they are used aggressively (the kind of thing that gives subterfuge). Maybe people controlling spies should give some instruction to the First Consul (via PM) about how aggressive or not they want their spies to be.

**Death the destroyer of worlds** · 06-03-2006, 01:37

I like GeneralHankerchief and econ21's ideas. I'll second them. Spies tend to live a long time, but assassins tend to die really fast however. We might say we will not make the assasination attempt if we have less than 50 % chance of success or something like that. Then there is the real possibility of getting assasinated. In my last campaign I lost four generals to that, two of which were my very best. Especially Anatolia (Turkey) can be really nasty as it is a sort of crossroads. I remember a shot where my general was in a city with 10 (!) assassins around it. That didn't end well. I advise sending spies with capable generals. That helps to keep the number of assassinations down.

**econ21** · 06-03-2006, 01:46

Originally Posted by Death the destroyer of worlds

...assassins tend to die really fast however. We might say we will not make the assasination attempt if we have less than 50 % chance of success or something like that. Then there is the real possibility of getting assasinated.

I never used assassins until one campaign, a Macedonian assassin started systematically taking down all my generals in the region. I asked around and the advice was that recruiting my newbie assassins to kill their elite assassin were my best counter. It worked. Assassins, strangely, are the easiest target for other assassins.[1]

Ever since, I've used "double-teams" of spies (to find the enemy assassins) and assassins (to nail them). You can get very high subterfuge assassins that way. In the recent WRE PBM, TinCow used them very effectively to decapitate the Slav horde. Personally, I'd rather players did not take assassins as avatars (spies are fine), as sometimes - as TinCow showed - it can be best to take risks with them.

[1]Also, I might be imagining it, but I think if you end your turn with your assassin in one of your settlements he is immune from enemy assassination - is that right? I've never had one assassinated anyway.