Arkham City Mafia is drawing to a close. I ran the game theory and if the players have figured things out and are perfectly rational
Spoiler (Click to Show)
The previous round of Empire is here if you want to take a look, but that game was broken. This game will be different. I have simplified combat, made everything a bit more intuitive, and introduced some more interesting terrain features.
Set Up
You will be randomly split into two teams. This game there will be no team leaders. At least, not officially.
Each player will be randomly given one of the ten starting territories on the map and each will start with 900 gold (i.e. one day's earnings).
You can spend your initial 900 on troops any time after signing up and you can place them anywhere within your territory facing any direction in any stance, but you cannot move or buy buildings until the game has begun.
The map looks like this:
"map" (Click to Show)
The shaded areas are high ground, which will be relevant for combat. The squares outlined in gold are the victory points.
Objective
Scattered around the map there are eight victory points, marked out with gold boundaries. The goal of each team is to capture six of the eight victory points and hold them at the end of the day.
Movement
Each unit has a speed stat which tells you how far it can move each day. A day is roughly 48 hours, depending on whether or not I'm sober enough to reset the clock. You can move diagonally.
When your soldiers move into unclaimed territory, they claim it for you. If they move into unprotected enemy territory, they claim it for you. If they move into territory owned by a teammate then you have the choice of whether or not you want to claim it as your own.
You cannot move into territory which is currently occupied by another team's army. You have to kill them first. You can move through territory which is occupied by a friendly army, but you cannot capture it while they are still there.
You can split your forces as many times as you like each day. No restrictions on that this time.
To move, post in this thread saying clearly which units you want to move and where you are moving them to. I'll assume that they're moving in a straight line unless you tell me otherwise.
You should also tell me which direction you want your army to face and which stance they should take. If you don't tell me then I'll assume they stay in their original stance and face the direction in which they last travelled. Stances will be explained below. You may face any of the eight possible directions of movement, i.e. up, down, left, right, up-left, up-right, down-left, down-right. Whichever direction you choose to face, you will also cover the direction on either side, e.g. if you are facing up then any attack from up, up-left, or up-right will be considered to have come from the front.
Movements will be taken in the order that they are posted. There are no turns in this game - anyone can move at any time if their units still have move points left. This does mean that more active players will have an advantage, but I don't think it will be game-breaking.
You can change which direction you face at any time and it does not count as a movement. But bear in mind that movement is calculated in the order posted, so if you're attacked from behind it is too late to turn and face them, even if I haven't updated the map yet.
Units which have just been recruited will spawn without any move points left. You'll have to wait until the next day to move them. They can still face whichever direction you like.
Combat
Unlike previous rounds of Empire, combat is no longer an all-or-nothing affair. The loser will, in all likelihood, have some men left at the end.
When your army is in range of the enemy army you may choose to attack. Melee units have a range of one, which means that they can attack any enemy on an adjacent square. Archers can attack from further away.
When you attack, the entire attacking power of your army will be added up and taken away from the enemy's hitpoints. At the same time, the enemy's defence power will be added up and taken away from your own hitpoints (assuming that they are within range). Then we'll work out how many men you lost and update the map accordingly. If the enemy was annihilated and you have move points left then you can move onto their square.
If more than one unit type is on a square then you can choose to concentrate on one of them, or, by default, damage will be dealt proportional to the number of hitpoints each unit has.
A unit can only use its attack once per day*. But units will always defend themselves if they are attacked.
*This does not mean that you can slow down an enemy advance by leaving a single man guarding every square. If an army has more attack power than it needs to finish the job then it will be able to continue attacking with its surplus later in the day. For example, suppose the attacking army has 10,000 attack power and the defender only has 1000 hitpoints. The attackers will be able to wipe out the defenders and then will still be able to attack with power of 9000 if any other enemy comes into range (or possibly a bit less, depending on how many casualties were suffered in the attack).
If you attack an enemy from the flank or rear then you will get a +50% attack bonus. If you attack from two directions at once then you will get a 50% attack bonus. If you are on high ground and your enemy is on low ground then you will get a +50% attack/defence bonus. These bonuses do not apply to archers. Other bonuses can be conferred by buildings or stances, as will be explained below.
example (Click to Show)
Money
Income will be calculated and given to you at the end of each day. You will earn 100 gold for every square of territory you hold. On top of that you can earn money from mines, as will be explained below.
Money can be spent on building or recruitment. Recruited units and buildings appear at the end of the day. If the square on which you were recruiting/building gets captured before the end of the day then you will get your money back.
You can transfer money to any other player you wish, including players on the other team. To do so you must post in the thread to say that you're doing it.
Stances
As well as choosing the direction your army faces, you may choose a stance which they can adopt.
None - Default. Doesn't do anything.
Aggressive - In this stance, an army will automatically attack any enemy army which comes within range. This prevents enemy cavalry from just charging past your front lines and encircling you or capturing your territory while you're asleep. Automatic attacks work in exactly the same way as normal attacks, meaning that an army which has used up all of its attack in this stance will not be able to attack anyone else until the end of the day. Once an army is out of attack power this stance becomes essentially the same as None, but when the day rolls over they'll be back to attacking anything within range. Aggressive stance armies are considered to be in no stance whilst they're moving - if you want them to attack something on the way then you should specify it.
Defensive - In this stance your defence power gets a +50% bonus. You cannot move in Defensive stance, i.e. you can't get into a Defensive stance and then wander into the path of an Aggressive stance army which will automatically attack you. The army will only enter Defensive stance after it has safely arrived at its destination. Entering this stance costs one move point.
Double Time - In this stance an army can move twice as far. However, the army will suffer a -50% attack penalty and any enemy which attacks will get a +100% attack bonus. You cannot enter this stance after you have attacked someone, and if you have used the extra move points you cannot change out of this stance until the next day.
Circle - In this stance enemy armies will not gain any benefits from flank/rear attacks or from attacking from more than one direction. However, entering this stance costs two move points and you cannot move whilst in this stance.
Skirmishing - in this stance your army will run away if attacked. Ranged units will shoot anything which comes into range, unless staying put will leave them in range of an archery attack themselves, but at a -50% attack penalty. When the army runs it will go in precisely the opposite direction to which it was attacked, and it will run precisely as far as is necessary to get out of range of the enemy. If this path would lead them into another enemy army then they will stand their ground as though they were not in any stance.
Buildings
You may choose to spend your money on buildings which will become permanent fixtures of the map, owned by whoever controls the territory on which the building is built. To build, simply post in the thread to say what you want to build and where you want to build it. Buildings will appear at the end of the day. If the square you're building on is captured before the end of the day, you will get your money back.
You can only have one building on each square. The exception is walls, of which you can have as many as 8 on a single square, and which can go on a square even if it has another building on it already.
Buildings will be drawn in white on the map, since it's impossible for a building to exist on unclaimed land.
Mines
Mines are an investment which will bring you more money in the future. Money which you can spend on things. Things which do stuff! Mines produce gold on top of the 100 per day that you get from the square anyway, so a square with a level one mine on it will actually be producing a total of 300 gold per day.
Mines come in three levels. To build a level two mine you have to first have built a level one mine. That means it will take you at least two turns to build a level two mine.
- Level One - 500 gold - Produces +200 gold per day.
- Level Two - 1000 gold - Produces +500 gold per day.
- Level Three - 2000 gold - Produces +1000 gold per day.
Walls - 200 gold - Walls provide +50% defence power for you and -50% attack for the invading enemy, but only against attacks from one direction. However, you can build up to eight walls on a single square, one for each direction. For example:
Square A has a wall defending it against anyone attacking from B, but not anyone attacking from C or D (or the other surrounding squares). Square E is protected from attacks from F, G, or H, because it has three walls. And square I, having 8 walls, is protected from attacks coming from any direction.
Walls are the only building which can go on squares which already have a building on them. For example, if you wanted you could have a square consisting of a mine completely surrounded by walls.
Note that since percentage bonuses add up rather than being calculated one at a time an army in Double Time stance will not be able to attack an army which is protected by a wall.
Watchtower - 1000 gold
A watchtower will shoot at any enemy which comes into range with an attack power of 1000 and a range of 2 (or 3 if it is placed on high ground and the third square away is low ground).
Garrison - 1000 gold
A garrison provides a square with defence power of +3000, and unlike other buildings it will fight back against an invading army even if there is no friendly army on the square. (The defence provided by the garrison does benefit from terrain and wall bonuses.)
Units
You buy units in the same way as you buy buildings - post in the thread and the units will appear at the end of the day. You should say which direction you want them to face when they appear (otherwise they will just face the nearest enemy, or, failing that, they'll face right/left depending on which team you're on). If you want to set a stance for them to appear in it will be treated as though you ordered them to enter that stance at the beginning of the turn.
Archer - 50 gold
Attack - 20
Defence - 5
Range - 3, or 4 if positioned on high ground and the enemy is on low ground.
Hitpoints - 100
Speed - 3
Swordsman - 40 gold
Attack - 80
Defence - 60
Hitpoints - 150
Speed - 3
Pikeman - 60 gold
Attack - 60
Defence - 100
Hitpoints - 400
Speed - 2
Light Cavalry - 60 gold
Attack - 150
Defence - 20
Hitpoints - 200
Speed - 5
Heavy Cavalry - 100 gold
Attack - 200
Defence - 40
Hitpoints - 500
Speed - 4
General Rules
1. All commands are to be posted in this thread. You can PM me for advice or each other to organise yourselves or bribe the other team, but actual moves have to be here.
2. Do not edit your post after someone else has posted. Moves need to be calculated in order and you changing your move could have had an effect on what the other guy did. There might be some wiggle room on this if it's a really small change, but do your best to avoid it.
3. I reserve the right to change any of these rules at any time. But I'll try not to.
4. It's ok to leave orders like "if x does y then I will z". I understand that it's not possible to be online 24/7. Of course, you'll be giving away your plans to the other team by doing so.
5. If you're inactive for 72 hours you will be replaced. Otherwise it wouldn't be fair to your team.
6. Don't be a dick.
I think that just about covers it. I'll be taking questions and suggestions for a while. Comments on balancing are especially welcome. In future rounds I might introduce the traitor mechanic which I was speaking about earlier, but I'd rather not do that until we've seen the simpler version in action and I've fiddled with the stats - if there's anything as devastating as the Light Archers were last game then we might finish early, fix it, and restart.
Do I need to provide more examples or is it generally clear enough?
Sign-up list:
1. Ai
2. Jutsu
3. Veir
4. Ares
5. Aquila
6. Xave14
7. Fronox
8. BBKing5
Reserves:
- Frost10114
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GAME ONE
[spoiler=Current Map]
Team Thundersmash - 3 Victory Points
Fronox - 3120 gold
G = 1 pikeman (60/60 atk, 100 def, 268/400 hp, 2/2 mv, Defensive: +50% defence)
W = 1 pikeman (60/60 atk, 236/400 hp, 2/2 mv)
AD = 8 pikemen (480/480 atk, 800 def, 3200/3200 hp, 2/2 mv)
AE = 2 pikemen (120/120 atk, 200 def, 800/800 hp, 2/2 mv)
AF = 1 pikemen (60/60 atk, 100 def, 282/1200 hp, 2/2 mv, Defensive: +50% defence)
AJ = 7 archers (0/140 atk, 35 def, 672/700 hp, 3/3 mv, Aggressive), 30 pikemen (1800/1800 atk, 3000 def, 12,000/12,000 hp, 0/2 mv, Circle)
AP = 1 light cavalry, (150/150 atk, 20 def, 200/200 hp, 5/5 mv), 1 heavy cavalry (200/200 atk, 4