Culture Clash

[ditletang@...]

I can appreciate the difficulties, in regard to the
subject of this mailing, for those who leave the home
nary a wit.

The rest of us will have culture clashes regarding our
nation assignements in Middle Earth PBM. I am myself
currently playing a neutral gone dark, and a neutral
who is undecided.

I would like to ask UK players how they customarily
recruit neutrals? I personally have pretty stong
opinions in this regard, and know which "team" I would
like to join based on my own criteria. None of the
games I have ever been in seem to follow the "common
knowledge" that I have read about on various web sites.

What role do neutrals play in 1650, what with the
predisposition towards "team" play and all...?

Best Regards,

Brad Brunet

(no web site about sadness highlighted...)

[Richard John Devereux]

----- Original Message -----
From: <ditletang@...>
To: <mepbmlist (AT) egroups (DOT) com>
Sent: Saturday, January 06, 2001 7:44 AM
Subject: [mepbmlist] Culture Clash


> I can appreciate the difficulties, in regard to the
> subject of this mailing, for those who leave the home
> nary a wit.
>
> The rest of us will have culture clashes regarding our
> nation assignements in Middle Earth PBM. I am myself
> currently playing a neutral gone dark, and a neutral
> who is undecided.
>
> I would like to ask UK players how they customarily
> recruit neutrals? I personally have pretty stong
> opinions in this regard, and know which "team" I would
> like to join based on my own criteria. None of the
> games I have ever been in seem to follow the "common
> knowledge" that I have read about on various web sites.
>
> What role do neutrals play in 1650, what with the
> predisposition towards "team" play and all...?
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Brad Brunet
>
RD: Hi Brad.

One increasingly common solution in 1650 is to have pre-aligned neutrals,
usually 3 to DS, 2 to FP.

If the game starts with genuine neutrals, I try to win them over by
convincing them that my team is the one from which they will get the most
communication and co-operation. I send them a report of our team news each
turn to back this up. If two neutrals look like joining the opposition, I
suggest the others join my team to maintain game balance.

There was a school of thought (don't know if there still is) which said,
bribe neutrals with artifacts or even pops. This really depends on which
neutral your talking to. I might be happy to give Duns a backup capital but
I can't see any grounds for giving pops to any of the others - they've
probably got more pops than you already!

As for artifacts, I might chuck a few combat or command ones in as a
makeweight, but all the agent/mage arts are better deployed on aligned
characters. Again, I might make an exception for Duns by giving them an
agent or stealth art - after all they can name agents at 40.

I once had a neutral ask for 10 artifacts! He didn't last very long (I
suspect he was a newbie).

The most important thing is to keep 'em talking, so they know you are
genuinely interested. As long as I'm getting feedback from a neutral, I
know I've got a chance of persuading him (or her!) to join my team. But,
there are always neutrals who talk nicely to you but then stab you in the
back, the swine!

Hope that answers your question. Happy gaming!

Richard.

[Colin Forbes]

Hi,

> I would like to ask UK players how they customarily
> recruit neutrals? I personally have pretty stong
> opinions in this regard, and know which "team" I would
> like to join based on my own criteria. None of the
> games I have ever been in seem to follow the "common
> knowledge" that I have read about on various web sites.
>
> What role do neutrals play in 1650, what with the
> predisposition towards "team" play and all...?

As a rule I would tend to say that the best way to recruit
neutrals is to talk to them, and then keep talking to them.
give them as much information as you can - though feel free
to be economical with the truth! (Don't lie though!) Some
time ago, when newsletters were still in vogue, the team I
generally played with used to produce a neutral version of
our team newsletter every turn. I would however advise
against bragging about how well you are doing (even if you
are). A number of people who habitually play neutrals have a
tendancy to join the side they perceive as losing, thus
evening out the game.

Once you have spoken to the neutrals a few times (and
speaking in person at a convention or pubmeet or over the
phone, is much better than email) you will be able to guage
their metal. Hone your diplomacy accordingly. Some players
may need to be bribed, in which case you may wish to do so.
Personally I generally try to get a neutral on side by
whatever means possible. After all, this is a team game and
one way to give your victory prospects a boost is to have a
larger team than the other side!

One warning though, I would argue against ever giving major
artifacts to a neutral before they change sides!

When playing a neutral, I generally have some idea of what I
would like to do in terms of eventual allegiance change.
However so much depends on contact from the two teams. In
most cases I join the team which seems the friendliest
and/or best organised. Anyone sending me a team newsletter
will probably find me helping them pretty quickly.

Colin.