The Will of the Senate - out of character thread

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Wishazu, you can change from upper to lower house at a later date. If you intend to stay in upper house for some time I advise you to take on the avatar of our unassigned diplomat Oppius Vintruvius.

Considering the rules about ancilliaries :
(2) Chirurgeons and turncoats can be freely assigned by First Consuls.
(3) Priests can be removed from a character if that character is to stay in a settlement with the relevant temple.

It would greatly simplify the first consuls task if these are just merged into :
(2) Chirurgeons, priests and turncoats can be freely assigned by First Consuls.

All in favour ?

I am trying to follow Myrddraal's multiplayer campaign (information overload ). It looks extremely interesting so far. I have no idea how this will turn out.

[Avicenna]

Ah, but this statement:

(3) Priests can be removed from a character if that character is to stay in a settlement with the relevant temple.

most certainly does NOT agree with this statement:

(2) Chirurgeons, priests and turncoats can be freely assigned by First Consuls.

Perhaps Mars priests can be assigned to generals, but other (governors') priests should be obtained by the general being assigned to that particular province.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

most certainly does NOT agree with this statement

My dear Tiberius,

I never said that it did. I said it would simplify things for the first consul, as it will. Let me explain the issue in more detail.
As all the generals need to be almost constantly in the field to increase their military service and keep their ranks, it is not possible to put them in cities for a prolonged time. When I do assign a governor, I want to be able to give him a priest of mercurius and be done with it. The same for when I send a generals into battle, I want to outfit him with battle priests and be done with it.
The micromanaging of these little things is already a bother, imagine how horrible it becomes when we have 40+ avatars running around. I suggest using avatars assigned to upper house members to 'breed' the necessary priest ancilliaries. This would simplify things greatly and we would soon have enough priests for everyone.

Edit : Braden, I see your point, but I do not consider Chirurgeons, priests and turncoats to have great roleplay value, in contrast to an exotic slave, veteran centurion or a drunken uncle for example.

[econ21]

The current rules over ancillaries are a bit of a bother, but I don't think they are excessive. Some cities should have regular governors - Roma, big cities, etc - and these governors can regularly "farm" the priests of the temples there. The current rule says it's ok to take a priest off such a governor, provided the governor is going to stay there and so have a chance to pick up a new priest to replace the one they've lost. I suspect it's only really worth making an effort over in the case generals with armies (who should number only 3-4 at the moment - our 3 legates and the Consul) to give them priests of Mars and Jupiter (which raise their command).

Personally, I don't think the First Consul PMing people over ancillary trades is going to work at all. Now that really is a lot of bother. I'm finding Senators are hard bargainers and anyway the First Consul actually has nothing much to bargain with (he can't easily take other people's ancillaries to swop with yours). I think most PBMers probably want to play out their 20 turns as First Consuls fairly promptly - over a weekend or at most two. It's ok to have to interrupt things to give other players a chance to fight battles. That's fun. But horse trading over ancillaries is not something most First Consuls are going to want to delay their reign for.

[Braden]

Yup – got to admit that my idea, if not already, will certainly be utterly “unworkable” when the number of Avatars increases.

D'oh! D'oh! D'oh!

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I did not intend the first consul to PM with players over ancilliary trades. I suggest that during the senate sessions between first consuls, when the avatar gallery is updated, the senators themselves may negotiate deals among themselves. They could then notify the future first consul of any exchanges they would like him to make.

As cavalry is beyond our budget at the moment, most of the tribunes are used for such a purpose. Still, we could use the upper house avatars (like Tricky_lady) and unassigned ones to transport priests to the front lines from the cities. Problematically, I do not see many lower house avatars volunteering for governorship duties, so we will have to breed them off the students. This will require more building of temples in Rome and Syracuse. Still, this is workable. I can't say I'm enthusiastic, but I will go along with the present rules if there are no other 'dissenters'.

Another problem is that I need to assign cavalry to the 'transport' avatars to keep them moving fast while increasing their active military service. This is rather expensive.

[econ21]

I did not intend the first consul to PM with players over ancilliary trades.

I never meant to imply you intended that, DDW. Rather it was what most of us thought before we started the game.

I suggest that during the senate sessions between first consuls, when the avatar gallery is updated, the senators themselves may negotiate deals among themselves. They could then notify the future first consul of any exchanges they would like him to make.

Neat idea - people are free to do that under the current rules.

Another problem is that I need to assign cavalry to the 'transport' avatars to keep them moving fast while increasing their active military service. This is rather expensive.

I don't understand this point. Why does assigning cavalry to them make a transport avatar faster?

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

I don't understand this point. Why does assigning cavalry to them make a transport avatar faster?

A transport avatar generally goes back to fetch more troops emptyhanded. If I do not assign them a cavalry unit they will lose their tribune ranking and their military experience will stop increasing. I assign them a non-cavalry unit they will travel very slowly.

[Braden]

DDW -

I sort of support that idea. It certainly smooths things out and makes it less complex for the active player as Consul...

...but....

Do the active players actually want it to be less complex? Some players relish the greater complexity.

Also, whilst this is likely to considerbly lengthen a players Consul time in Real Life, I'm considering the Role Play implications. If I was an active player I would want to be "negotiated" with if someone wanted to remove one of my Retinue. Granted the Consul has absolute power in-game, and I think I'll support your revision of the rules and leave it to teh players involved to decide if they want to just:

1) Play as Consul and move Retinues about as they see fit

or,

2) PM the player before hand and offer them something in return....

....there's always that option open as the player sees fit then.

[Myrddraal]

Sorry to post off topic, this if for your info, not discussion really.

I am trying to follow Myrddraal's multiplayer campaign (information overload ). It looks extremely interesting so far. I have no idea how this will turn out.

In summary, the world has divided into three major alliances:

The Compact of Europa:
Britannia
Gaul
Germania
Macedon
Spain

The Order of the Eagle
House of Julii
House of Scipii
Carthage
Greek Cities
Egypt

The Pan Persian League
Pontus
Parthia
Seleucia


The Compact and the Pan Persian League have an alliance to fight and trade together till the Order of the Eagle is trampled. The Order of the Eagle are defiant.

It's turning out to be an interesting game, and we haven't even started the actual play

This really is a very brief summary, there has been so much diplomatic dealing to get to this stage it's unbelievable really.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Thanks for the heads up, that explains a lot. I will continue to follow this with much interest. [off topic discussion closed]

[Wishazu]

well ive taken a look at my Avatar, he`s young and tactless. Great :)

[econ21]

...tactless

Yes, I suspect there is a personal cost to making diplomatic initiatives that fail. Could be one reason to try to persuade the First Consul (and the fool Senate) not to send you off on some hopeless errand.

[TinCow]

Yes, I suspect there is a personal cost to making diplomatic initiatives that fail. Could be one reason to try to persuade the First Consul (and the fool Senate) not to send you off on some hopeless errand.

Hey, at least he's not being used as expendable cavalry!

[Wishazu]

would it be possible to attach all Consulate candidates manifesto`s to the thread in which we are required to vote? I believe this will help to make things easier for all involved.