Broken Crescent Hotseat: Commanders of the Faithful

[Ramses II CP]

I don't know if I'll ever get to siege weapons, so cutting out spies will quite likely prevent me from having a chance of victory. I'm okay with that though if I get a crack at some decent Mongol stacks.

BC's Mongol wars are some of the most fun I've had with MTWII. Their generals, even in 1.05, can 'swim' through thousands of cheap spearmen, and don't even think of bringing javelins against them. It makes for some great fun!

[Quirl]

Oh, I thought that the "create_unit" cheat enabled spawning of agents. Reading more about it just now, though, I don't think it does.

I'll do whatever, then...

[phonicsmonkey]

I don't know if I'll ever get to siege weapons, so cutting out spies will quite likely prevent me from having a chance of victory. I'm okay with that though if I get a crack at some decent Mongol stacks.

One thing I could do is add_population with the console so you have a big enough city to build the siege engine factory.

That would level the playing field a little with the rest of us (who, I believe all have siege engines available? is that right?)

[barcamartin]

I'm fine with whatever to be honest. As long as we agree on something, it should be fun. :)

Btw, "taking 15 provinces from a non-Mongol faction", does that mean 15 from one faction or 15 from several factions combined?

[phonicsmonkey]

Btw, "taking 15 provinces from a non-Mongol faction", does that mean 15 from one faction or 15 from several factions combined?

Thanks, that should really read 'take 15 provinces from non-Mongol human-controlled factions' - so you could take 5 each from 3 different players.

Of course you'd still need to beat the Mongols. And let me tell you, that's not going to be easy!

I won't go into detail here (because it will make the game more fun if there's an element of mystery involved) but I tested the game last night and the Mongols are totally badass.

In fact, so much so that I'm considering relaxing the rule on spies to allow us to use them to open gates, but not to spread plague. And assassins would still be banned.

What does everyone think of this? It would also mean I don't have to do anything to intervene like adding population for Ramses so he can build a siege factory.

I think the game is more or less ready to go, so if I can have everyone's comment on the following ruleset, I'll go ahead and make the new threads and post the first save (for Zim) as soon as we are all agreed.

Rule set

- The same rule on exploits etc as the old game
- 48 hour turn deadlines
- No plagued spies to be used to enter cities or castles.
- No assassins to be used.
- Battles to be fought (VH/VH) or autoresolved at the choice of the player

Mongol Victory Conditions
- Take and hold 25 provinces
- Sack three of the following cities: Ghazni, Rayy, Delhi, Baghdad, Cairo (NB. These don't have to be held, they can be captured once, sacked and abandoned)

Non-Mongol Victory Conditions
- Outlast the Mongols
- Take and hold 10 provinces from Non-Mongol, human-controlled factions

[Ramses II CP]

Don't make things easier on us. I could rip through the Mongols with 2 or 3 stacks of elephants. Admittedly it'll take me some time to generate those, and it's a lot different when a player can build forts, etc. but even with that in consideration if you give me spies at the pace I can currently produce them (~12 per turn) the Mongols will not have much of a chance. Forts won't protect them in the slightest, and will become death traps for otherwise decent troops.

[Ramses II CP]

I would also add, don't add any population for me. If I get to siege engines then I do, and if I don't that'll be okay too. My nation was crippled for half it's play time by the Ghorid war and I shouldn't get a bonus just because I let that happen.

[phonicsmonkey]

Don't make things easier on us. .....if you give me spies at the pace I can currently produce them (~12 per turn) the Mongols will not have much of a chance. Forts won't protect them in the slightest, and will become death traps for otherwise decent troops.

Fair enough.

I'm inclined to give Ramses' comments a fair amount of weight given how prodigiously he stomped the Mongols in his Rajput AAR.

So, back to no spies unless there's a majority in favour of them.

[Quirl]

lol. Are spies in or out???

I would personally rather be able to use spies. I respect the opinion of Ramses, too. But we've all seen Lemongate's ability with inferior Roman forces and being outnumbered. I don't think he'll be easy prey with superior forces and plenty of them! Mongol AI is challenging, but certainly beatable. I doubt the same will be the case for Mongol, human controlled (or, rather, "Lemon powered" ).

Also, confining the mongols to siege weapons will really slows their pace. As it is now, I think the Mongols have early game advantage. Our armies aren't really very prepared and built up to the efficiency of the Mongol stacks Lemon will start off with. If Lemon is forced to trudge through with siege equipment, rather than be able to blitz and sack cities to gain additional income (holding cities he considers defensible) I think we take a key advantage away from the Mongols, not to them. It will be our responsibility to hold off a Mongol blitz and build up our forces, hopefully gaining the advantage later in the game.

But that's all just my opinion. Regardless, I'm definitely with you on the banning of assassins and spreading the plague.

[The Lemongate]

I tend to agree with Ramses' assessment as well. From what I've seen of this game, Rajput armies are currently the best ones out there and the only ones I'd fear from the start.

But I believe I might have something to thwart them. Well... maybe. Last time I tried that trick it didn't work out too well.

Also: are we getting a new diplo thread? story thread? OOC thread? I don't believe this "part II" will be so short. It could be made into its own, "unique" game, if you will.