OOC Thread and Chatroom 2

[rossahh]

Can someone help me with two particular problems.


Our current feudal chain is something like this.

Comes - Ammonathas Kalameteros (once he is granted Thessaloniki)

Comes - Sophronius Komnenous

Domestikos - Andreas Dermokaitis

Antypatos - Zigavinos Vasilakios

Antypatos (not enough turns for Patrikos) - Magnetios Kalameteros

Antypatos (not enough turns for Dux) - Savvas ek Militou

Patrikios (not enough turns for Megas Dux) - Aleksios ek Ikoniou

Dux (not enough turns for Megas Dux) - Ioannis Kalameteros


The rules state that a Megas Dux

Penalties:
(1) Cannot swear an Oath of Fealty to another Senator.

As Aleksios needs another 15 turns to reach this rank (5 as Patrikios, 10 as Dux) it is unlikely it will happen but what would be the result of Aleksios reaching the Megas Dux rank? He can no longer be a vassel to Ioannis Kalameteros. Does that mean he has to stay as Dux or does Ioannis get the carpet yanked from out underneath him?




My second problem is about this statement for each rank's prioritized buildings/units allocation.

If this rank is held during a Normal Senate Session...unless the [rank] is loyal to another Senator.

Does this mean the rank at the beginning of a normal senate session, as oaths cannot be officially recognised until the senate session closes?

If this is so our feudal chain has a big problem as at the beginning of the session, our ranks were:

Strator - Ammonathas Kalameteros (unaligned)

Comes - Sophronius Komnenous

Comes - Andreas Dermokaitis

Hypatos - Zigavinos Vasilakios (excluded from swearing an oath for 5 turns)


Comes - Magnetios Kalameteros

Comes - Savvas ek Militou

Comes - Aleksios ek Ikoniou

Comes - Ioannis Kalameteros

Which would mean from our 8 strong feudal chain, we are only entitled to a Hypatos's number of PUs and no PBs.

[TinCow]

The rules state that a Megas Dux As Aleksios needs another 15 turns to reach this rank (5 as Patrikios, 10 as Dux) it is unlikely it will happen but what would be the result of Aleksios reaching the Megas Dux rank? He can no longer be a vassel to Ioannis Kalameteros. Does that mean he has to stay as Dux or does Ioannis get the carpet yanked from out underneath him?

If that happened, I would allow someone to simply decline the promotion to Megas Dux and remain at Dux.

My second problem is about this statement for each rank's prioritized buildings/units allocation. Does this mean the rank at the beginning of a normal senate session, as oaths cannot be officially recognised until the senate session closes?

...

Which would mean from our 8 strong feudal chain, we are only entitled to a Hypatos's number of PUs and no PBs.

Correct, you didn't get yourselves organized before the Senate session started, so you only get accesss to the PUs that you warranted at that time.

[TinCow]

Please speak up if you disagree with any of the following.

LotR Death Row:

Nathanail ek Korinthou (BananaBob) - Inactive for 4 months
Makedonios Ksanthopoulos (Privateerkev) - Inactive for 3 months and requested suicide when he left
Nikolaos Aristenos (YLC) - Requested suicide and new avatar
Vissarionas ek Lesvou (Ramses II CP) - Requested suicide, unsure about new avatar
Klimis Dokeianos (GeneralHankerchief) - Requested suicide, will continue to participate as an avatarless Senator for Magaura purposes

Moving from Active to Inactive (and losing their provinces as a result):
Ioannis Kantakouzinos (Kagemusha) - Inactive in the game for the last 2 months and missed the last two Senate votes
Nikiphoros Manouelitis (Warmaster Horus) - Inactive in the game for the last 2 months (and only 1 post for the month preceding that) and missed the last two Senate votes.
Lisas Attaleiatis (00jebus) - Inactive in the game for the last 3 months and missed the last two Senate votes.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

How can we explain all these deaths IC I wonder? I mean, 4 out of 5 requested suicide?

[Ramses II CP]

In my mind I consider Vissa to have abandoned the Empire and struck out on his own following his failure to catch the Summit session at Nicosia.

One last thing I want to mention is that in V's later stories, post siege of Cairo, the 'god' he refers to is meant to symbolize LotR collectively; I tried to put myself in the mindset of a person who often found himself in positions where his life and values were at risk without quite understanding why he was there, or what was going on in the world around him. I think my ideas on the story arc for V were just too static at the start of the game, so as they were increasingly derailed his personality and his justifications for his actions meshed less and less with who he thought of himself as being, resulting in heavy existential questions he wasn't equipped to handle rationally.

I hope it formed an entertaining contrast.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Just do be clear, I confirm the requested suicide/continued participation as an avatarless Senator.

[TinCow]

Just do be clear, I confirm the requested suicide/continued participation as an avatarless Senator.

So, I'm guessing that your lack of an avatar will free up enough time to get Pirate Mafia started?

[ULC]

Does this mean I can get Bucharest ?

[GeneralHankerchief]

So, I'm guessing that your lack of an avatar will free up enough time to get Pirate Mafia started?

I'm off from school for a month. That might also help.

[ULC]

Just a general announcement, my "Veteran Warrior" ancillary is up for grabs as "Demetrios & Chara", if anyone is interested. If not, then they will come to me, but I just wanted to throw the opportunity out there.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Now, I took the fog of war off because I haven't taken the save for awhile and just wanted to see what others were doing. I must say that I'm happy that we are not some Catholic Kingdom!!
You can see why!
(It's in the spoilers because perhaps some people don't want to see the world FoW off.)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I haven't seen so many Inquisitors in one place since M2TW v1.0!!

[Zim]

So....everyone having a good holiday season?

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Not yet.. Mine will start in Friday!

[Zim]

Heh, I guess I got lucky/unlucky. The seasonal work I was doing ended last week. I could apply for a transfer to a different department that works straight through Christmas Eve, but the roads are too bad right now to make it to the city I'd have to drive through.

So I suddenly find myself in possession of a lot of free time.

[ULC]

I checked the save - both defensive battles end in very messy defeats. I do hope both can get on in time

[Zim]

I hope so as well. Overknight's been online as recently as this morning, but I guess something is keeping him from playing the save. No access to his gaming computer maybe?

Things always seem to slow down during the holidays for games like these and hotseats. So many different things to do that are higher priorities than a game, unless you have no life like me.

[TinCow]

I checked the save - both defensive battles end in very messy defeats. I do hope both can get on in time

With or without avatar death?

[Zim]

OK's battle is a siege defense so it would lead to avatar death.

I know it's likely been said many times before, but the way the AI calculates odds is funny, the battle itself would be pretty easy if fought.

[TinCow]

Yeesh. Well, he was online this morning, though he didn't read the PM I sent him a while ago informing him of the battle. Let's hope that he gets back before Friday, because I can't justify holding up the game for longer than 4 days for someone without at least some explanation.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Particularly for Andres - life imitating art.

http://www.kansascity.com/450/story/941496.html

[Ituralde]

Too bad he isn't named Blacky. But then Scuba really wouldn't have fit for our time period.

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season too. Although I'll be staying with my gf's family and my own I will have plenty of internet access at both places. So either way I'm covered.

[flyd]

That's completely ridiculous and unrealistic. That dog is obviously a resident of California. I'm pretty sure the Illinois governor has to be a resident of the state.

[Andres]

So....everyone having a good holiday season?

Not yet. But it'll get better. The next two weeks I only have to work for 4 days

Particularly for Andres - life imitating art.

http://www.kansascity.com/450/story/941496.html

Seems like somebody has stolen my idea.

Ok, which one of you is Michael Sunday?

[_Tristan_]

Sorry if I have been rather un-participative recently but things have come up in RL that have left me with a lot less time on my hands.

Plus, I have recently grabbed a copy of FallOut 3 and my computer game-time has been mostly devoted to scouring the wastes of DC post-nuclear armageddon.

Lastly, I might have managed to put spare some time to be more active in these boards if I had not been rather distraught by the way the whole Civil War matter was resolved. Ramses and I worked towards seeing a true PvP resolution of that conflict (even if it would have been a losing one) by attacking the summit, only to have our contenders back down from the challenge... I thought that this kind of thing was the crux of the game and I worked hard (or rather played hard) with Methodios to put him in a position where he would be in a position to challenge the powers that be, only to see that the state of things is in fact immovable. Once a Basileus, always a Basileus... Which does not reflect truly how historically Byzantine politics were at the times, with power struggles and short-lived reigns.

I am now struggling to find motivation to keep on playing, knowing that Methodios will die in a few turns and will not get a second shot. Playing his son will perhaps be even harder.

[Ituralde]

Since a large part of the conflict played out during my term as Megas I think there were enough opportunities to see real battle. Both sides had armies and fleets available to them to take a quick route to the other persons location. The land route was also an option. I don't think the Order of St. John would have stopped you and either way there could have been a battle.

The Civil War ended as it did, because both participants just sat in their respective towns for one whole Megas term.

[Ignoramus]

The problem I had was that it would have taken me a whole 10 turns to reach Egypt, and I was anxious to invade Italy. I didn't want to go after Methodios - I wanted others to do it for me.

[Rowan]

Sorry if I have been rather un-participative recently but things have come up in RL that have left me with a lot less time on my hands.

Plus, I have recently grabbed a copy of FallOut 3 and my computer game-time has been mostly devoted to scouring the wastes of DC post-nuclear armageddon.

That pretty much sums up my situation as well. I'm hoping to participate more now that I have a glorious 9 days off from work!

[_Tristan_]

The problem I had was that it would have taken me a whole 10 turns to reach Egypt, and I was anxious to invade Italy. I didn't want to go after Methodios - I wanted others to do it for me.

And I had approximately the same problem, plus the fact that I would have been ganged up against if I had left the "relative" safety of Egypt.

"Fight on your homeground" was my motto and I hoped that heaping insult upon insult to Ioannis' honor would force him to make a move, alas, it was not enough.

And @Ituralde, while people (Order or others) may not have hindered my northwards moves, having a Hostile Megas in command was not exactly the perfect situation in fighting a war far from home (See the Vietnam War for example... No home support = no victory = debacle).

I'm just disppointed that the only thing devious Methodios ever considered doing in his whole life (bringing Ioannis alone or almost on an island under a flag of truce under pretense of peace parleys to wrest the crown off his head), that single challenge was not taken up.

I wouldn't have minded Methodios dying in that (almost) hopeless fight... It would have made much better sense than having the two heads of state forced into a white peace through some vote of the Senate, waiting for one of the two to die of old age.

I cannot believe how a ruler would allow his "heir" to defy him thus without lifting the little finger to bring him to heel forcibly. It is almost an invitation to more of the same.

But right now, seeing how things developed, even if I had the opportunity to throw the gauntlet in Ioannis' face once again, I'm not sure I would do it. It is not worth the effort...

And I'm not sure we'll have the required conditions anytime soon in game. We had almost the perfect set-up with the Ruler and Heir practically at each other's throats from the beginning.

I didn't expect to have others rally to me (Methodios has been too controversial for this) but not many answered Ioannis call to arms with any enthusiasm. So a 1v1 fight might have solved the situation, considering Ioannis had the Megas in his pocket : unlimited access to recruitment (both regular and merc) while Methodios would have had to struggle with his much depleted Crusader forces...

To sum things up, I think Ramses and I created a good confrontational situation (even if it was a losing one, as I stated earlier) in taking the Summit "hostage" and I felt let down that it didn't quite lead to a PvP fight.

I may be wrong but I think the slowdown of the game may come from this "Cold War" which has left everybody preparing for Armageddon and finally being left to witness a Charles Ingalls' happy ending (or almost).

Speak of an anti-climax...

[KnightnDay]

Well with the death of OK, the Basileus now has Constantinople under his control. And with several avatars about to disappear through "suicide", maybe there is a something to be had there. Was it really suicide? If so, were they forced into the act and is there more to this than meets the eye?

As the new kid in town with a bodyguard of 22, it's rather difficult for me to stir the pot without going way OOC. Seems to me one of the central characters has to drive our storyline. My $.02

[Ituralde]

I realize that the situation wasn't good for Methodios, but it was clear from the beginning that forcing a PVP battle out of a story, was not the best solution. The fact remains that both sides didn't invest enough into this Civil War, while the rest of the Empire was content to watch from the sidelines.

I just don't want you to feel unhappy with the game, or somehow blame the things that happened on the playerbase. The conditions might have been good, but looking at the outcome they apparently weren't good enough. That doesn't mean we have wasted our last chance to have a Civil War in this game or that the position of Basileus has not been weakened by it. It was a stalemate and nobody was willing to resolve it, and that's why nothing happened and the Senate decided to end the farce. If the participants disagree they are free to start their war again.

Once the holiday lull is over I am confident that we will see more action. I have plans for my next avatar, so I would not count the whole game lost or anything. I think the whole Ioannis-Methodios incident was a nice first step, from the period under Aleksios where peace between all nobles was unquestionable, because we had outside enemies to turn on. This will slowly shift to enemies within the Empire and the recent conflict has been an important step in this.

Cheers!

Ituralde