Middle Provincial Era GROGPUBLIC game thread

Started by JasonPratt, September 17, 2018, 05:04:17 PM

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JasonPratt

Needs a roll of 3, 4, 5, or 6 then. 1 or 2 fails. 66% chance of success.

[blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 1, total 1[/blockquote]
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JasonPratt

 :wow: Harsh! A reasonable try, though!

Tripoli's Militarists last.

(Again, I'll do both your card/event rolls this afternoon after work.)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

Okay, I.I. rolled a 7, generating our first random event of the game; and then on a 3d6 he rolled a 10, for...



Rome loses 10 Talents, down to 36 cash now. Until the event disappears from the Forum (next turn), Persuasion rolls add +1 (which makes persuasion to join a faction a little easier!) but all other rolls subtract 1. (I'm unsure "initiative" rolls are even a thing anymore in this edition of Republic of Rome, but the prequel expansion was made back during the original edition. I'll keep it in mind if we get to an initiative roll, but my massive rule flowsheet doesn't mention initiative at all.)

I.I.'s persuasion roll would still fail at 1+1=2, unfortunately: he needed 4.

Tripoli could keep this in mind for his persuasion rolls however!


Tripoli rolls a scenario card, and draws a Faction card which he puts face down on his sideboard:



I'll be sending him a p-mail soon to explain what he drew and when he can use it.

Tripoli's Militarists are up for trying to persuade Acilius (I strongly advise against it); trying to persuade a knight for one of his senators (I always advise for this, but spend cash carefully); and/or assigning a new Faction Leader.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Tripoli

Julius will roll to get a knight, and spend 2 talents to increase the odds
"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" -Abraham Lincoln

JasonPratt

While we're waiting for Tripoli's Militarists, the rest of you can be pondering whether you intend to bid any Faction cash (not from senators personal treasuries) on the 5th and/or 6th round.

Tripoli won't be able to because he has no cash.

The Frog (who will start the bid) has 4, AzTank has 2, and I.I. (who will end the bid on each extra round) has 3 cash.

However, Ethel, who has the HRAO senator, must bid at least 1 Talent for each extra round if he has any cash remaining. And if no one bids at all, the HRAO's player automatically wins. So if y'all do nothing, he'll get two extra rounds and go down 2 Faction cash to 2 remaining.

That doesn't mean he'll necessarily get two more Faction cards for his hand, of course. He might draw black-text cards, played publicly to the Forum (moving the history of the Republic along), or he might roll random Events; and either of those will usually give everyone the same crisis or opportunities. But whoever wins those extra rounds DOES get extra shots at persuading a knight to join one of your senators! (And extra shots at persuading Acilius if you want to take them this early, which I don't recommend.)

You can make your bids on Round 5 while we're waiting on Tripoli, if you want -- it won't affect his choices. The Frog must declare his bid first (minimum 1 talent).
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

Quote from: Tripoli on September 24, 2018, 05:36:36 PM
Julius will roll to get a knight, and spend 2 talents to increase the odds

The Bad Omen event will add another 1 to your roll, so in effect 3 or better will win.

[blockquote]Rolled 1d6 : 5, total 5[/blockquote]
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

#51
Clear win! -- I deducted Julius' 2 Talents, and added 1 knight. The Militarists normal votes go up to 6. Julius' Mil stat goes up to 5, thanks to one of the Militarist's special abilities.

This ends Tripoli's play for the Phase, since he doesn't have any Faction cash to bid on rounds 5 or 6.

Here's the table and sideboards.

ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

IncompetentIdiot

One question, would the event have made it possible for Cornelius to persuade Acilius on a 2 if I had tried?

JasonPratt

#53
Quote from: IncompetentIdiot on September 24, 2018, 06:05:33 PM
One question, would the event have made it possible for Cornelius to persuade Acilius on a 2 if I had tried?

Ah, good question! {checking}

Cornelius has a combined Ora+Inf of 8, and Acilius a Loyalty of 7, so with no other factors that would need a total of 1, which is impossible, but the Omen random event would add +1 to your 2d6... ah, right, no, your minimum roll would have been 3. (Snake eyes + 1.)

On the other hand, knight persuasions need >=6, so adding +1 to the roll helps that persuasion. But it doesn't help senator Persuasions, it hurts those chances: you've got to roll equal to or under <= the target number. (If you add a bribe, you're increasing your target number, not increasing your roll total -- increasing target number gives you more room for success under your target.) And if you roll too high a total you fail anyway, which the +1 makes a little more likely. (This prevents late game players with high cash and influence from instantly succeeding on any senator persuasion attempt against the senators of other players, which would badly unbalance the late game.)

In short: the Evil Omen helps you a little picking up minions, but hurts you a little picking up senators. Proportionately however, it helps you more on knight persuasions (improving your chances by 1/6th) than it hurts you in senator persuasions (reducing your chances by 1:36.)
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

IncompetentIdiot

Quote from: JasonPratt on September 24, 2018, 06:23:29 PM
Quote from: IncompetentIdiot on September 24, 2018, 06:05:33 PM
One question, would the event have made it possible for Cornelius to persuade Acilius on a 2 if I had tried?

Ah, good question! {checking}

Cornelius has a combined Ora+Inf of 8, and Acilius a Loyalty of 7, so with no other factors that would need a total of 1, which is impossible, but the Omen random event would add +1 to your 2d6... ah, right, no, your minimum roll would have been 3. (Snake eyes + 1.)

On the other hand, knight persuasions need >=6, so adding +1 to the roll helps that persuasion. But it doesn't help senator Persuasions, it hurts those chances: you've got to roll equal to or under <= the target number. (If you add a bribe, you're increasing your target number, not increasing your roll total -- increasing target number gives you more room for success under your target.) And if you roll too high a total you fail anyway, which the +1 makes a little more likely. (This prevents late game players with high cash and influence from instantly succeeding on any senator persuasion attempt against the senators of other players, which would badly unbalance the late game.)

In short: the Evil Omen helps you a little picking up minions, but hurts you a little picking up senators. Proportionately however, it helps you more on knight persuasions (improving your chances by 1/6th) than it hurts you in senator persuasions (reducing your chances by 1:36.)

That distinction slipped my mind, thanks.

JasonPratt

I'm going to double-check the rulebook, since it seems odd that an Evil Omen would make major senators less likely to join you, but make minor senators more likely to join you. Then again... maybe that makes sense psychologically? More powerful senators become more wary, but less powerful senators look for security in a group? I know that during the final Crisis Era, major senators are a little more likely to auto-fail their persuasions regardless of bribery, and that fits the same idea. Or am I rationalizing a mistake I'm accidentally making...?

{checking} The most recent edition of the living rules doesn't talk about specific Evil Omen effects, except for their effect on high priests (can't have any of those yet), and otherwise "it reduces the total of most rolls", which is true on the card.

The main Evil Omen card mentions further specifications for provincial income factors which don't apply yet (subtracting 1 or 2 from the total cash acquired, not from the roll per se).

I guess the interpretation stands for now: the Omen helps you a little picking up knights, but hurts a little in picking up senators (among other effects).


(See, this is why the rules for the game are infamous.  >:D )
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

The Frog is having some trouble seeing thread updates for some reason, but he says (by another route) he bids the minimum 1 Talent.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Ethel the Frog

I figured it out!  I was clicking "next" at the bottom right instead of the various numbers at the bottom left.  I have a lot of reading to do, but I now know where the posts I have been missing went.  :)


JasonPratt

I think it's possible to go to your account settings and set the forum to put the newest posts at the top instead of the bottom.

Most of us come to the thread by clicking on links which either take us to the most recent post (requiring us to backtrack to see missed posts), or which take us to the first new post since we last visited the thread. But if you've just got a thread link saved somewhere, it may be going to the same exact place in the thread each time.


Anyway, Aztank up for the Round 5 bid.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

Okay, I've gone back and researched what "initiative" was, and originally players were assigned any extra rounds by dice rolls. Thus, during Evil Omen periods there wasn't any reason to add or subtract 1 (or 2) from the initiative roll.

As the umpire, I think I'll call an audible here and punt back to the older ruleset for this point of the game. Much of the point to a forum game is that players should be able to leisurely check in to contribute -- but when they do, there ought to be meaningful choices worth their time to check in to see if they should (or even can) play. Bidding on the extra round slows things down too much, I think.

So while I prefer the bidding in principal, and I understand and approve why it was introduced in later game editions, I'm going to just roll dice to assign the extra two rounds henceforth (or unless we pick up more players for the 5th and 6th slot).

The Players can always vote to going back to bidding on extra rounds if you want. Maybe later in the game when you've got more disposable cash and it's a meaningful struggle not to just let the HRAO's Player have them!

Obviously this means AzTank doesn't have to bid next, and the Frog doesn't have to pay 1 Talent.

I'll report results soon.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!