Maelstrom Test Game

[Wookie Panz]

Everything is running smooth in region 3 with IL so far.

[Ry Vor]

Seems like we will be hoping a secondary town starts in our region just for some extra production.  Also with this limited PC count region 3 is looking really good

Did you and VBM gain the region without locating / controlling the hidden minor city?  With lower overall pc's in the non capital regions, gaining the city should be more important as it would be a higher percentage of overall region population.  What was the population of the minor city?

[Ry Vor]

My coastal added the right gold, my bazaar added the right gold and census, my forum added the right census and influence, and my granary added the right food.

That's good, but Mike has set a very high bar so its not surprising.  

Any general impression about starting resources, and then controlled region production vs. needs?  We should see 15k more starting gold in treasury independent of chivalry bonuses.  With the cost of PC improvements and just to open things up a bit, and to hopefully help new players not get too hamstrung with overspending on turn 1, I wanted to give players more flexibility in their early development.

Are starting villages showing higher defense values - by 500 to 1000 or so over The Choosing?

When commenting on a kingdom or region folks, please always say what kingdom and what region.  Thanks, and keep the reports coming in. 

With it looking like Mike has done so well, I'm thinking we may open Maelstrom up after T6 status points in this test game, unless reservations are expressed.

[Wookie Panz]

We have quite a few new brigade types.  We can see their ratings on the new setups.  Do any of them have special abilities like many of the existing brigades?  I don't see this mentioned anywhere.

[Ry Vor]

We have quite a few new brigade types.  We can see their ratings on the new setups.  Do any of them have special abilities like many of the existing brigades?  I don't see this mentioned anywhere.

No, kind of a rush to finish and I didn't add those as of this time.

[Calidor]

Biggest concern about going live after T6 is play balance. It looks like some very significant changes were made to balance and I don’t know if they will really show before conflict gets going.

[Ry Vor]

Biggest concern about going live after T6 is play balance.  It looks like some very significant changes were made to balance and I don’t know if they will really show before conflict gets going.

The biggest concern would be if there is a consensus that Kingdom A starting in Region Z would always be a favorite regardless of other selections. 

Another concern would be Kingdom B would never be selected, or only selected if region X or Y.

Most less definite subjective conclusions may be due to style or how the run of play in a particular game went.

[Calidor]

I don’t think we know that yet because the real advantages and disadvantages may not have been realized yet. I know that at least in R1 the low amount of PCs is going to make things interesting.

My original thinking as DU was to grab the region since it said PCs got 20% gold bonus and then pump a wizard up to cast Bounty... but that looks like a much less effective strategy now.

[Wookie Panz]

Ry Vor or Uncle Mike, , is there any seasonal adjustment to resources in Malestrom?

[Dominion]

Okay, so the Ty in the Untamed Lands. So far sparse pop centers. I took the city but sent a extra governor to make sure that would happen. I think I could get control this turn. I have 6 groups and will finish searching the region this turn. Hope something else pops up. I want to get some troops on turn four and see what they can do. Hoping someone else will get some troops and perhaps we can sent a location to bloody the map. I found a lizard man village that I will leave alone in hopes of fostering friendship.