Game 8

Well I thought that it was time to bring a bit of piracy closer back to Europe

Then let us see if the barbarians of Europe are as capable as the Centre of Civilisation when it comes to dealing with such things

But I do worry for such simple folk, I mean, can they even sail?

You do have to admire Burma and its rapid military success though!

Well if you read the carte blanche supplement, it does say that Arrakan(sp?) is pretty weak in this period...

Deacon wrote:
Well if you read the carte blanche supplement, it does say that Arrakan(sp?) is pretty weak in this period...

I think that might be the one supplement I don't have...it's on the list for when I have a few pennies to spare

The Mediterranean pirates seems rather weak, six cruisers struggle to overwhelm one armed spanish merchantmen and two pirate ships suffered serious damage. Not exactly something to brag about.

Agreed, but my position did start out with no ships at all, we all have to start somewhere

Well, as long as you raid the Med and don't head east, good luck!

Hi Jason, I will do my best to stay out of the Far East, I don't want to be fighting you in game 8 as well as game 7, that would be just too much. In fact, as a player( but not the country), I regret that we are at war in game 7. I will write to you in game about thisand send a letter Whereas, the war started because of player conflict rather than game/nation conflict. Which is intersting because you would have thoight that it could make it easier to resolve conflicts if the players change. The trouble is after so many years of fighting we start to build up entrenched positions. Is this the reason real wars are fought to catestrophic conclusions of mutual destruction and exhaustion, such as WW1? As players of a game shouldnt we be able to take a more detatched perspective? That was a general question, not just for Jason re game 7

Ok, you won't raid in the far east, i won't start anti-piracy patrols in the Med

It is an interesting question you raise and responding in a general sense I have found in several positions I have played I have walked into tense relationships with certain other nations that whilst not at war with them, I was perhaps only one wrong word away from bloodshed. To use the first game I played in, G3, as an example, the Denmark I ruled had a very difficult relationship with Sweden as well as England (played by the same person) and frankly for the first 2 years it did seem we were not far from war. Luckily, the England/Sweden player was willing to risk things slightly when I tried to friendly approach, and if anything (despite some setbacks) we ended up amazingly firm friends and allies.

I think it does require a certain degree of willingness to embrace risk on both sides when a new player comes into a situation like this but if both players are reasonable (which lets be honest, Glory players are) it is possible to resolve and overcome previous issues and even get peace. Perhaps the biggest problem can be "NCP inertia" (for lack of a better phrase right now), Louis has commented a lot where he talks of the reactions of his nobles. Two players may with the best will in the world decide that as one of them is new to resolve previous agruments and start with a fresh slate but if their nobles, generals, subjects really object, could they fail? In G6 (I think it was) I played England for a while and started to a good friendship with France. Now in England this was viewed favourably or at least not negatively but I think the French player found internal resistance and might even have lost some honour as a result.

I might a bit later just post a bit of general info in the G7 thread about the character I am playing that might answer your question in a safe but game specific way

Look forward to seeing it Jason. But what if you retired from France and old Louis came back Returned from his temporary ill health It just doesnt bear thinking about

Wow. What about the rules on in-game diplomacy? you two have just blown them right out of the window. Clear in-game diplomacy.Even doing deals now. If that does not warrent a warning from Richard and the Kingmaker, nothing will.

Don't worry JB, I think China promising not to send a fleet into the Med to hunt for pirates can be seen in the light of a comical declaration rather than anything serious

It also seems we have UFOs over China...or is it just another sign of the superiority of the Empire, Centre of Civilisation, over the Barbarian Ghosts of Europe?

No UFOs, we know what they are...

I'm almost certain I know what they are Just another sign of the superiority of the Eternal Empire over the barbarians

I take it no-one has heard from the French. It does make for an unusual game.

the great unwashed wrote:I take it no-one has heard from the French. It does make for an unusual game.

All we know is that they're in play. They've answered no one's correspondence (at least according to the several folks I've spoken to). Not sure why somebody would want to take France and then play isolationist. If you wanted to do that, why not one of the ottoman states, one of the far east smaller states, Japan, a chinese province all could play isolationist without much effort.

They didn't even seem to respond when a couple of the protestant states made off with a bunch of their protestant subjects.

Sometimes i wonder if French inaction is acting as a brake on the game's development. From across the Med, It seems as if many are waiting to see what the French will do before committing themselves to Foreign ventures.
An understanding of the French state's attitude to its protestant subjects at the time might explain the lack of response to the departure of the Camisards. Louis might just be glad to be rid of them.

the great unwashed wrote:Sometimes i wonder if French inaction is acting as a brake on the game's development. From across the Med, It seems as if many are waiting to see what the French will do before committing themselves to Foreign ventures.
An understanding of the French state's attitude to its protestant subjects at the time might explain the lack of response to the departure of the Camisards. Louis might just be glad to be rid of them.

Perhaps, but he was actually offered money for them early on (offer showed up in the paper as I recall), and as far as I know didn't even respond to that.

I guess time will tell how things play out, but I think it would make for a more interesting game if we had an engaged France.

Has anyone ever seen a player play France successfully ? Remaining the strongest power and even growing ? Across the worlds I have encountered and through the threads on this board I have seen quite a few nations (Russia, England, Austria, Prussia) grow and grow in dominance but never France. In fact France ALWAYS seems to be one major headache. Feared and envied in equal measure at the start of games it is a thankless role.

I understand how it seems to be holding up the game dynamics a bit, but as a French player first and foremost it could be an approach that keeps France as the dominance force. If the French ruler believes revenues, tax and trade continue to grow, he is funding infrastructure and military development, getting rid of any internal problems it could be a master stroke

I think in Game 6 France when played by 'Jamesbond' was quite a success. Perhaps not the most powerful but still seemed to achieve a lot.

But generally I'd agree, France does seem a hard position to play successfully.

An interesting turn I thought. No big conflicts or disputes but what with Russia wanting to buy land from Sweden, the Pan Indian League, dynastic marriage offers in the East, and a Scot supporting union with England, there is a lot of opportunity for developments and/or tensions...

If someone wanted to have a bit of fun as France, there is a new mod released of Empire Total War, the platinum Darth mod. Just go to the Total War Center website and the link should be on the front page of news. I have checked out the Spanish and Swedish positions and the troop roll seems quite good. Really strangely the Ottomans have the vanilla troop roll, which I really cannot understand. But the French look really nice and have a colony in India which I haven't seen in any other Empire mods.
Back to the game - Ottoman Empire seems to have gone quiet?

The ottomans have gone quiet. I wonder if Rumelia dropped after the frustration of a couple of failed harvests in a row? Morocco also has gone silent, so wonder if that position is still in play.