[Path-Shaper]

C-C-C-Combo-breaker!

[Ruse]

Tapper, on 03 November 2012 - 06:22 PM, said:

Three months after the election of the Defterdar, Prince Tserish formally informed me of the intentions of Pharaoh to move his entire court to Madeena al-Salaam. Essentially, he told me that my realm was going to be flooded by Nepeth armies, peasants, priests and nobility in search of that one thing that everyone cherishes: life. Their rivers were still drying up, their peasants dying by the thousands. Immigration or invasion, only time would tell, but an outright refusal would lead to war, and if I have learned one thing, it is that no-one fights harder than a desperate man. The Nepeth were happy to be masters of Ishktar (Nepeth = Ishktar Oasis) only a short time ago, still flush with victory, and now viewed Ishktar as nothing more than a staging ground.
The House of Agreements, now governing Ishktar (HoA = Ishktar Oasis) in my name and with their pride restored after gaining control of the Council, saw the oasis-city as the first step towards exacting as high a toll as possible on the Nepeth. The Khanate, pressured by the Nepeth and as opportunistic as ever, saw an opportunity for plunder and for dealing the Nepeth a heavy blow.

Just outside the city, the Nepeth quarter continued to grow explosively. A massive temple to the sun-god was raised, and at the shores of the Mirror, a canal was dug for the floating temple dedicated to their God of Mud, the patron deity of Prince Tserish of the Nepeth. (Nepeth = The Nepeth Barracks (obviously)) The Mirror itself was as serene as ever, but rumors of bandits, murderers and thieves hiding in the sprawling slums and farming villages on the northern shore (GoB = The Mirror) were very persistent, despite the City Guard's best efforts to root them out - and I quietly ordered them to keep their efforts to within the city walls. Let the Nepeth, so keen to police themselves, be slowed down by the efforts of the Guild of Beggars, and let them make enemies of one another. It would only serve me. In the Northern Desert mages and madmen meditated and experimented. (CoV = The Northern Desert) Like them, my own Qadi frequently venture into it, both to escape my iron hold on them for a short while, (Qadi = The Northern Desert) as well as to keep an eye on the monasteries of the Cult of the Vulture.

Only inside the city, life went as it always did. But then, Madeena has always been a hotbed of intrigue, murder and power plays: it seemed that in times of turmoil, The City of Peace's prime export product is strife. Mages and Merchants continued to clash in the streets and in my court, (HoA and CoV = Quarter of Coin / Square of Camels) the cult of the Night Prophet continued to grow bloated on offerings and missions, (NP = Quarter of Coin / Square of Camels / Khalif's Palace) and had so many assignments that they almost had to forget about achieving their own mad goals.

And I watched it all. The place where I predicted that it all would come together was just outside of the city: the Ishktar Road. Cobblestones and trodden down dirt and dust. Sometimes worthy of its name, at others, nothing more than an ever shifting trail through quick sands. But this would be the area contested, and it would be the battleground, both literally and figuratively. Whether it would be settled by violence or by diplomacy, by murder or battle, by coalition or submission, by civilized means or by brutal robbings, it was all unsure, apart from the fact that many would lose everything and only a few could survive.

Location hints from the opening scene. Locations are probably going to be really important and this gives us a vague idea of where some factions will be. Probably most factions will have people scattered around but each hint from the scene probably lines up with at least one player.

[Atrahal]

To that you can add that there is or was a Khanate player on the Road to Ishktar, and that there is or was a HoA player at the Khalif's Palace.

[Ruse]

Path-Shaper, on 12 November 2012 - 10:08 AM, said:

For the history books, the conflict will probably begin with the first fights and deaths of great men and women. For me, it began with a flurry of diplomatic and commercials overtures.
The Khan of Khans paid me a personal visit. He asked me for the right for the White Foal to govern the Sands between Ishktar Oasis and Madeena in my name, putting the Clan between the Nepeth and the city. I agreed. It will result in a minor loss of taxes and a lot of warm, belligerent bodies in the way of the Nepeth. The Merchant Houses were outraged, all the more so when they learned the identity of the new Bey: a well-known raider. The Khan had predicted as much, but I can't fault him for his logic: the person in question has great knowledge of relieving people of their valuables, which will serve him well in his new capacity.

A member of the Khanate has become Bey of the Road to Ishktar.
The Khalif's Justice cannot be used on the Road to Ishktar.


An individual in the city's bureacracy has started a very lucrative business in The Square of the Camels, organising slaver raids to the tribes at the edge of Madeena's sphere of influence. Since he taxes every expedition going out and in, the city's coffers overflow.

A Slaver Camp is established on the Square of the Camels.
Until the end of the game, once per day, each player at this tile can produce 2 Slaves for free, or 1 good from the following list: Wood, Sandstone, Mud, Metal or Livestock, their choice.

Path-Shaper, on 12 November 2012 - 11:06 AM, said:

A small band of citizens of Ishktar is regularly raiding the tribes of Suhhan, bringing back tall, strong slaves that are either used as labour power, or sold on the auction block.

A Slavers Camp is established in Ishktar Oasis.

So from my above post and these tile upgrades I'm guessing these locations as starting spots:

CoV - The Northern Desert / Square of Camels
Nepeth - The Nepeth Empire / Ishktar Oasis / The Nepeth Barracks
HoA - Qaurter of Coin / Ishktar Oasis
GoB - The Mirror
NP - Square of Camels / Khalif's Palace / Quarter of Coin
Qadi - The Northern Desert
Khans - Road to Ishktar Oasis / The Horse Plains

[Ruse]

Atrahal, on 12 November 2012 - 03:22 PM, said:

To that you can add that there is or was a Khanate player on the Road to Ishktar, and that there is or was a HoA player at the Khalif's Palace.

Got the Khan on the road. Where's the HoA in the palace come from?

[Path-Shaper]

Ruse, on 12 November 2012 - 03:25 PM, said:

Atrahal, on 12 November 2012 - 03:22 PM, said:

To that you can add that there is or was a Khanate player on the Road to Ishktar, and that there is or was a HoA player at the Khalif's Palace.

Got the Khan on the road. Where's the HoA in the palace come from?

An alliance was offered to the Nepeth by the HoA.

[Atrahal]

Path-Shaper, on 12 November 2012 - 03:27 PM, said:

Ruse, on 12 November 2012 - 03:25 PM, said:

Atrahal, on 12 November 2012 - 03:22 PM, said:

To that you can add that there is or was a Khanate player on the Road to Ishktar, and that there is or was a HoA player at the Khalif's Palace.

Got the Khan on the road. Where's the HoA in the palace come from?

An alliance was offered to the Nepeth by the HoA.

Wot he said.

[Ruse]

oh okay I must have missed that

[Path-Shaper]

Ruse, on 12 November 2012 - 03:33 PM, said:

oh okay I must have missed that

It's in H&M (can't hurt to point that out) and therefore publicly accessible for everyone.

[Ruse]

Path-Shaper, on 12 November 2012 - 03:34 PM, said:

Ruse, on 12 November 2012 - 03:33 PM, said:

oh okay I must have missed that

It's in H&M (can't hurt to point that out) and therefore publicly accessible for everyone.

ohrightokthen

[Sorrit]

I've arrived. So I took a look at the bazaar. Not a whole lot going on over there. A few kick ass items for sale but not much else. Quite a bit different from the last game where the bazaar WAS the game.

Ampelas, on 12 November 2012 - 01:59 PM, said:

A lot of people wanting slaves it looks like at the moment

The slave market provides more than just slaves. Someone could need a lot of different goods but are short on making a few so they can choose between a list of items each day. It looks very versitile. And if someone is there and doesn't need any of the listed items they can always sell them on the bazaar. I've toyed around with the idea of building one too but I'm not sure if it's in the cards.

edit:
choice to choose

This post has been edited by Sorrit: 12 November 2012 - 03:47 PM

[Atrahal]

Sorrit, on 12 November 2012 - 03:46 PM, said:

I've arrived. So I took a look at the bazaar. Not a whole lot going on over there. A few kick ass items for sale but not much else. Quite a bit different from the last game where the bazaar WAS the game.

Ampelas, on 12 November 2012 - 01:59 PM, said:

A lot of people wanting slaves it looks like at the moment

The slave market provides more than just slaves. Someone could need a lot of different goods but are short on making a few so they can choose between a list of items each day. It looks very versitile. And if someone is there and doesn't need any of the listed items they can always sell them on the bazaar. I've toyed around with the idea of building one too but I'm not sure if it's in the cards.

edit:
choice to choose

From what I saw people are being a bit overgreedy with their pricing at the moment (like last game), especially considering we've just started and it may take many people a while to get money accumulating. Also it's probable that most people don't even have access to the Bazaar at the moment because of the tiles they're on.

[Sorrit]

Path-Shaper, on 12 November 2012 - 03:34 PM, said:

Ruse, on 12 November 2012 - 03:33 PM, said:

oh okay I must have missed that

It's in H&M (can't hurt to point that out) and therefore publicly accessible for everyone.

I was just in H&M and I didn't see the offer. Must have been a cross post while I headed back to the game thread. Can we say this game is very complicated? My head is spinning with all the information that I know let alone all the information that is hidden from me.

Ruse that was some good analysis regarding some possible starting locations at least for a few members of each faction. I'll have to pay closer attention to what Tapper puts into his stories to see if I can't gleam more info out of what is going on than what is presented on thread.

[Path-Shaper]

Sorrit, on 12 November 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

Path-Shaper, on 12 November 2012 - 03:34 PM, said:

Ruse, on 12 November 2012 - 03:33 PM, said:

oh okay I must have missed that

It's in H&M (can't hurt to point that out) and therefore publicly accessible for everyone.

I was just in H&M and I didn't see the offer. Must have been a cross post while I headed back to the game thread. Can we say this game is very complicated? My head is spinning with all the information that I know let alone all the information that is hidden from me.

Ruse that was some good analysis regarding some possible starting locations at least for a few members of each faction. I'll have to pay closer attention to what Tapper puts into his stories to see if I can't gleam more info out of what is going on than what is presented on thread.

The alliance offer is in a seperate thread in H&M, not in the bazaar thread.

[Sorrit]

Atrahal, on 12 November 2012 - 03:50 PM, said:

Sorrit, on 12 November 2012 - 03:46 PM, said:

I've arrived. So I took a look at the bazaar. Not a whole lot going on over there. A few kick ass items for sale but not much else. Quite a bit different from the last game where the bazaar WAS the game.

Ampelas, on 12 November 2012 - 01:59 PM, said:

A lot of people wanting slaves it looks like at the moment

The slave market provides more than just slaves. Someone could need a lot of different goods but are short on making a few so they can choose between a list of items each day. It looks very versitile. And if someone is there and doesn't need any of the listed items they can always sell them on the bazaar. I've toyed around with the idea of building one too but I'm not sure if it's in the cards.

edit:
choice to choose

From what I saw people are being a bit overgreedy with their pricing at the moment (like last game), especially considering we've just started and it may take many people a while to get money accumulating. Also it's probable that most people don't even have access to the Bazaar at the moment because of the tiles they're on.

I agree that the costs are pretty high, though 10K for some of those items might not be that outrageous. Some of them are very kickass.

[Sorrit]

Okay I see the alliance offer now. I don't know how I missed it before as I looked into that thread earlier. So we can add the HoA member location to the list but I'm not sure how useful creating these lists will be as people can move around more than just at the end of the day ala D'rek's Ro3K game. But at least they will give us an idea of where some people are located at least part of the day.

[Ruse]

Sorrit, on 12 November 2012 - 04:05 PM, said:

Okay I see the alliance offer now. I don't know how I missed it before as I looked into that thread earlier. So we can add the HoA member location to the list but I'm not sure how useful creating these lists will be as people can move around more than just at the end of the day ala D'rek's Ro3K game. But at least they will give us an idea of where some people are located at least part of the day.

Gives an idea of who might be around you and who might be where you want to go. ie if you are afraid of assassins you might want to avoid the Madeena locations.

[Ruse]

I'm actually really surprised by the early alliance offer. It doesnt seem like alliances do anything other than victory conditions so why waste resources on it so early? It just gives everyone not in the alliance an obvious target faction for culture hunting

[Atrahal]

Ruse, on 12 November 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

I'm actually really surprised by the early alliance offer. It doesnt seem like alliances do anything other than victory conditions so why waste resources on it so early? It just gives everyone not in the alliance an obvious target faction for culture hunting

I had similar thoughts. But as an alliance in itself it's not bad - as your list showed, the HoA and Nepeth are probably unlikely to inadvertently kill each other much if they do ally, at least in the early stages. In any case, an alliance is less likely to lead to culture hunting than the affiliation of whoever is lynched first

[Ruse]

Atrahal, on 12 November 2012 - 04:24 PM, said:

Ruse, on 12 November 2012 - 04:14 PM, said:

I'm actually really surprised by the early alliance offer. It doesnt seem like alliances do anything other than victory conditions so why waste resources on it so early? It just gives everyone not in the alliance an obvious target faction for culture hunting

I had similar thoughts. But as an alliance in itself it's not bad - as your list showed, the HoA and Nepeth are probably unlikely to inadvertently kill each other much if they do ally, at least in the early stages. In any case, an alliance is less likely to lead to culture hunting than the affiliation of whoever is lynched first

Only if we actually have any way of connecting people of the same faction. Some groups might have no knowledge of who each other are at all while others might have knowledge or even off-thread comm. If we don't have much to go on someone with a find ability could easily toss out a "Korlat's a witch Nepeth!" and everyone would likely jump on Korlat (just as an example - I didnt even check if Korlat is an alt in this game).