Scramble help.....

Good evening folks,

I have just taken up one of the few remaining places within the game, and although I have played Glory of Kings for several years, I am a bit unsure of where to start with this new venture. So far I have sorted out some of my characters but nothing beyond that.
Any assistance would be most gratefully received.

sammon

I would say with Scramble it might be best to play it in a Carry On/Flashman/Richard Hannay-style...a bit light hearted...and watch out for Germans with Tubas and evil men from China...

Oh and vampire nuns....watch out for them too...

sammon wrote:Good evening folks,

I have just taken up one of the few remaining places within the game, and although I have played Glory of Kings for several years, I am a bit unsure of where to start with this new venture. So far I have sorted out some of my characters but nothing beyond that.
Any assistance would be most gratefully received.

sammon

I assume you are playing a country rather than a trade company or a church?

For countries the basic form the game is about taking over territory to enlarge your Empire:

Two ways to do this a) Send a general character and an army and order an "attack" followed up by "Army column seize province" or b) Send a diplomatic character to convince people to join your empire.

Before using the Military you may find the following helps

- If sending troops into a arid, mountainous or artic area make sure that the troops you are sending are used to the climate. Some times you have to just suffer the losses and take over such a territory so you can order your troops to "acclimatise" but if you can acclimatise first it helps a lot. Otherwise you can find yourself trying to hunt down people who know the country and are happy to play hide and seek while your troops suffer in the cold, heat etc

- Look at a map and check if "empty" territory has railways or telegrapgh lines and/or send a agent to "spy" and check what you are up against before sending in the military. As a rule of thumb if you find a "empty" territory has railways and telegraph lines its may have allies and/or more modern weapons than you were expecting.

- Actually before attacking anywhere you might like to check with positions in game were is "free" and were you are going to clash with others. By all means feel free to set of a major diplomatic incident with other powers but at the start you probably do not want to do this by accident.

As a rule of thumb Africa & the Orient are as they look on map but various batches of modern rifles have gone walk about.

The West mostly like it looks on map but SW contains Russian allies, some Indians are friendly with Brits.

Indea - "Here be Brits"

China - "Angels rush in"

One basic problem is that China & India and some other places are favoured area's for trade companies like the HEIC, Tea Cartel, Opium Cartel (AKA Albion Corporation) and Global and many of these tend not to leave nice flags. So I would say its always a good move to have a look first...........If you get reports of French Nuns, Opium Dens, Double headed Eagle flags, Pictures of Queen Victoria or Cricket Wickets expect more problems than normal.


Ref "Diplomacy" Some positions like the Germans and the French have had success in going all the way ie Gain ally, Gain client and finally Gain a territory orders. But mostly with territory which feels it could be target of attack by others.

Other people have just used the "gain an ally" order to obtain rights to build railways and telegraph lines etc. This reflects the fact that for many the game is not a simple struggle for territory - Not so much a case of what you do but how you do it:

The French & Austrians - Had a thing about Flying (Think inspired by Jules Verne & those Magnificient men in their flying machines)

Germans - Are just nuts (based on the Carry on films)

Nippon - Even more Nuts with added Samuri and mad science.

The British - lead by Lord Derby but include the Tea Cartel & HEIC are basically trying to establish world wide communications control and are playing a game of "Railway rivals" with added cricket wickets & telegraph lines........touch their railways, cricket wickets or under water telegraph lines and expect trouble. (They are basically playing based on the Flashman books......with all Characters being very pukka and spiffing good chaps......but willing to punch you in the groan with a set of brass knuckle dusters provided they can hide it from Queen Victoria)

Siam - Best Harem in the world, Photography of daring young ladies showing their ankles, not get proved that they are also into Triads and Opium in a big way.

The Russian's - playing a simple basic game close to the basic territory grab - but have been told to do this by higher authority! Hordes of happy hymn singing cossacks are on a "Mission from God" and this has been confirmed by their very own "Man of God"

Other important objectives seem to be control of Opium Trade and general humiliation of your rivals! You can go over all the game maps as much as you want but you will find no trace of the Opium Cartel, Triads, Thuggee, Dr Fu-Manchu, Freemason cults etc but they are out there and they are out to get you!

So my advise about this game is set own objectives and get your in your retalation first!

Hi and many thanks for your informative reply... much to think about.
I have taken Peruvia as it was all that was left.
Me thinks I need to have a read up on the subject matter and then decide what to do and how to actually go about it.
Thank you again. I expect I will find many more questions to ask before long lol.
Much appreciated.
Dan.

Certainly reach out on the forum and we will do our best to give you an answer. I believe that Stuart has provided a excellent synopsis of the lay of the land as it currently stands. Feel free to reach out to Lord Derby in the game as well.

Likewise... I am rather unfamiliar with Peruvia in the game as it looks as though another map might have been opened up. Interesting.

Good luck, and don't trust anyone in game but forum advice from Stuart and others should be fine. Scramble seems to allow for players to develop the game in which they want. Steampunk, H P Lovecraft and Carry On films are influences on Germania. The outcome of which is Germania has sunk its own battlefleet three times, the Kaiser is stark staring mad (you cant dabble with the cult of Cthulhu without there being some repercussions) and Chancellor Bismarck is really Frankie Howard. Germanian honour score has never been high!

revvaughan wrote:Likewise...  I am rather unfamiliar with Peruvia in the game as it looks as though another map might have been opened up.  Interesting.  

I assume Peruvia is in the "Amerika" home area meaning it has easy access to Afrika & The West but is a long way from China which may say something about what Richard considers being nice to a new player.

If Sammon is still looking for ideal's about how his new position can fit into the game - my theory would be to make the Government of Peruvia the heir to Simon Bolivar and the revolution which kicked Spain out South America (with a fair bit of help from British adventurers like Bernardo O'Higgins and Cochrane) and move north to carry the revolution into the former Spanish Colonies of central America.  This will probably mean fighting bandits, Spanish holdouts in Mexico city, Indians and other forces of factionalism in order to achievw peace and unity (Historically the Bolivar wanted the Spanish Colonies to remain united or at least federated but it did not happen.....but it might have done??)

Question then is what type of Revolution do you want?

- A Radical one?  Go full Pacho Villa and fight for land reform and Indian rights.  May make Rebels effective and even win support from the parts of the French Republic but runs risk of winding up "Anti Red" forces.

- A nice liberal one.......stress free press and domocratic rights, but also respect for free trade, economic development and property rights.  Type of cause beloved by Gladstone etc (mind you in this game Gladstone is not flavour of month).  Ask nicely and I am sure Lord Derby will probably be willing to supply rifles, artillery and arrange for you to take tea with the Queen.

- A rather more conservative one with respect for the Army, law & order, land rights and the Catholic Church.  You could even find a spare Hapsburg, Russian arch duke, or German Prince related to Prince Albert and the Czar and Crown him Emperor of Peruvia and Mexico.  Think Lord Derby may even have a spare Prince Imperial Louis Napoleon knocking about following the over thrown of Napoleon III.

Historically the installation of Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Hapsburg as Emperor of Mexico failed rather badly with Maximilian shot by a Juarista firing Squad in 1867 but its got some great names like Colonel van der Smisien and Colonel Count Karl Kevenhiller plus a full mention in the Flashman papers inc a mention that Maximilian liked cricket so it fits in really well with game

Historically one of the major reasons for Maximilian's failure was the Monroe doctrine and the hostility of the USA after the end of the civil war to European influence in America.  Currently in game the US (North) has a few problems, the South is still not re-united, New York seems full of weird free masons, the Brits have taken Ohio and the Indian Tribes esp the Mohox seem to have fought General Grant to a stand still.  So if you want to inform the damn Yankee's what they can do with the Monroe Doctrine and crown who you want it may be a fairly safe move........give or take Pacho Villa, Juarista's, Apache etc.

Just remember in this game getting characters shot by firing Squad, blown up by revolutionaries, drowned at sea etc is all fairly standard.  The important thing is to say no to any blind folds, deny everything and ask yourself what would Flashman do?

Basileus wrote:Good luck, and don't trust anyone in game but forum advice from Stuart and others should be fine. Scramble seems to allow for players to develop the game in which they want. Steampunk, H P Lovecraft and Carry On films are influences on Germania. The outcome of which is Germania has sunk its own battlefleet three times, the Kaiser is stark staring mad (you cant dabble with the cult of Cthulhu without there being some repercussions) and Chancellor Bismarck is really Frankie Howard. Germanian honour score has never been high!

Never placed much faith in the Prestige list in scrabble - its top three spots are currently held by two opium dealers with links to Triads, Thugee and white slavers. Plus a Xenophobic Russian on a mission from God, while the fine upstanding chaps and huge dividend payments of the HEIC do not get a mention!

I agree... How do you find a more spiffy set of chaps than the Brits and we get caught behind others. Well... The pole might be as greasy as the guys atop it!

Gents,

Thank you all very much for your kind assistance and advice. I now have a bit more of an idea of how things work.

Just a couple of other questions please if I may...

With the Agitator and Rebel characters, I take it these would Not be raised in your own home country? for obvious reasons. How then would they work? Do you raise them in someone else's provinces to cause mayhem?

When you move army units by ship, do you have to form them into a army column first?

Much appreciated,

Sammon

sammon wrote:Gents,

Thank you all very much for your kind assistance and advice. I now have a bit more of an idea of how things work.

Just a couple of other questions please if I may...

With the Agitator and Rebel characters, I take it these would Not be raised in your own home country? for obvious reasons. How then would they work? Do you raise them in someone else's provinces to cause mayhem?

When you move army units by ship, do you have to form them into a army column first?

Much appreciated,

Sammon

Hi,

Think you will find agents to be more flexible than rebels or agitators. But if you want to make use of the latter types of Gentlemen or ladies ......according to the rules a rebel or an agitator character is a native of the country other than yours.

Provided you come up with something reasonable Richard will probably allow you to start such a character anywhere you want:

In theory he could be an exile in your country - such as a Karl Marx editor/politician type character bombarding the target government(s) with Propaganda. Or if you are really cunning you set your Karl Marx, John Brown, Hungarian revoltionary character in someone else country........probably somewhere with a free press & the rule of law.

Or he could already be active in his home country/area. As a rule of thumb I think you can write and print your Communist Manfesto or Taiping bibles outside of your target area and set up a smuggling ring to help them spread discontentment. But if you want to plague you foes with actual strikes and turn all the discontentment you have caused into a full scale revolt your need to get up close and personal and risk getting shot!

So far the game has seen strikes in Liverpool and a couple of nasty revolts by "Reds" in Bavaria. But you should probably note that the game does include certain hard core reactionary types who think the only good revolutionary is a dead one! Basileus (Germany in game) is the expert on revolts in scabble.

If you are going to invade somewhere you:

1) Need a General to form a column for example - a "First Army of the Revolution" - X6 foot, x3 Artillery and x4 Cavalry

Then order

2) General O'Higgins and First Army of the Revolution" move for A to B

3) General O'Higgins orders First Army of the Revolution to attack/probe/surprise attack (I normally just give simple attack order and would recommend trying to find out what you are up against first).

If your invasion is by Sea you will need a Admiral to convoy you on a fleet - which can be anything from full war fleet with naval transports or chartered merchant ships on their own.

IMPORTANT NOTE you must have one Naval Transport or chartered merchant ship for each unit you will wish to move. Merchant ships can he chartered either for a specific voyage or a period of time. Find it is important to make sure you have all your shipping in place before ordering the Army to move or you could end up with half an army landing on a foreign shore and your artillery left at home!

In game most people now favour hired merchant ships rather than using a chunk of their valuable unit allowance on Naval Transports. But if fired on such hired help is more than likely to turn tail and scatter.

On subject of Naval landings it also helps if an agent (or a local friendly rebel who knows the country) provides you with information on a good spot to land. Using ships boats to land cavalry and artillery on a rocky shore is a really good way to damage unit morale, condition or even Cohesion before a shot is fired and you really do not want to be attacked mid landing.

Recent Nippon landing on coast of Shansi worked well but they carefully landed Infantry to secure a beach head and defeat locals before trying to land Cavalry and Artillery. In this case the invaders won after a hard fight but they did have advantage of numbers and modern rifles against Spears, not all such locals are quite so sporting.

Brilliant thank you very much!!

Just returned to the game after a few year absence and looking forward to getting stuck back in. Just wanted to thank Stuart for the advice in this thread which has proved helpful to myself also.
Well back back to photographing the best Harem in the world.

Wildee

Many thanks again guys for all your help and advice.

So, turn one has gone safely by without me doing anything untoward! (Plenty of time for that later!)

I was just wondering how you guys compose your turns? Do you just bullet point things or present them in more of a dramatic story line? I just thought that maybe with the nature of this game it would be more fitting... but of course i'm aware that Richard would probably prefer a shorter version to facilitate the outcome within time constraints. I play TGoKs in game 10, and tend to use bullet points as my turns tend to be quite long.

Once again I thank you very much.

Sammon

sammon wrote:Many thanks again guys for all your help and advice.

So, turn one has gone safely by without me doing anything untoward! (Plenty of time for that later!)

I was just wondering how you guys compose your turns? Do you just bullet point things or present them in more of a dramatic story line? I just thought that maybe with the nature of this game it would be more fitting... but of course i'm aware that Richard would probably prefer a shorter version to facilitate the outcome within time constraints. I play TGoKs in game 10, and tend to use bullet points as my turns tend to be quite long.

Once again I thank you very much.

Sammon

Originally you could only send as may orders as you had Prestige points so I still number orders. Also try and stick to the orders in the rule book for character actions ie

1) Engineer A builds railways in province y

Cost £10,000

Sometimes this is all I write but other times I will leave a space and then add a little detail. Then I normally allow myself to go bit wild with one or two orders very turn so the Papers have something to write up. Here are examples of the three types from a recent HEIC turn


3) Thomas Napier builds network of schools with cricket pitches Thar Desert

Cost £150,000

4) Sir Hugh Gough orders the Army of Bengal to seize control of Gerze

5) Sir Harry Lawrence governs Gerze in name of Queen Yehonala

- Former Khan of Gerze given honourable grave.

- Over tea and McVites Digestives and Jaffa Cakes village leaders and merchants of Gerze given final demand to take oath of loyalty to the Kingdom of Transoxania and accept Queen Yehonala as their Queen with its many great benefits for Gerze and its people.

6) Propaganda - Along the silk road and along the trunk even to the gates of the Khyber and every where ever merchants gather it is being said that:

- With Flashmans “Spiritual daughter” established in her Fortress-Palace overlooking the greatest port on the Arial Sea and her opponents bullet filled bodies lying in the dust. That those like Drost Mohammed who mocked the claims of Yehonala are not laughing any more.

- It is further claimed that mighty Yogi’s have said that the John Company Army marches under the protection of Grandmaster Flash a mighty 5th level Guardian Spirit which will strike down its foes like Pashwa Bajirao and Qing Khan Xin with deadly aim.

- Apparently to attract the blessing of the spirit on your caravan or business a good looking female should make a small offering of gin and angel cake.

Cost £25,000


Note India is the home area of the HEIC, it has a massive trade in India with convoys, factors, local newspapers and the like, plus its an estblished fact in game that Indian tea houses, markets, etc are some of the top gossip clearing houses in the world almost on a par with London and New York clubs. So the locals and even foreign powers can spread "Propaganda" for various purposes easily. So it a agent or a diplomat was to spread account in London that the President of Puru is a spiffing chap, 6' 2", great horseman, liberal progressive and due to have tea with the Queen in London its fairly easy (well they have to put something in the Papers and clubs need something to talk about and they will allow any rif raff into Whites these days). In area's minus Papers, clubs, bars and were people do not read its rather harder to spread such propaganda.

Perhaps your character may need to take a leaf out of the Lord Farnworth Guide to spreading social disorder and down right lies and spend cash on employing readers to read out a his scandle rag. So under the heading of "Discontentment" your rebel or agitator could be a Priest or Teacher setting up a literacy campaign. Visiting villages in the America's to teach the people how to read and write and then sending further material to a net work of pupils who are teaching further people to read.

With any luck when the forces of the Federated States of America march nouth to liberate Mexico City from the remains of Colonial Imperialist the locals meet your troops with flowers and waving your little red book rather then machetes.