From the Mouth of Sauron ======================== Date: 12-15-95 Issue: E-40 Note: all authors retain exclusive rights to their material. Reprinting is allowed for non-commercial game use only. The Mouth is edited by Brian Mason and Tom Walton. All correspondence can be sent to them at: Brian Mason - mason@chara.gsu.edu Tom Walton - damayan@ix.netcom.com, kazandar@rio.com Back issues of "From the Mouth of Sauron" and the general info files are available at chara.gsu.edu via anonymous ftp. First Word ========== Not much new for me. I've gone from a record (for me, at any rate) of playing five games at one time to the much more managable number of two. I don't know how those of you who play six or so at a time can manage it! I find it a bit bewildering and had to start writing turn due dates on my planning calendars to make sure I didn't mess them up. Of course, I'm not sure that my play was up to my usual standard of play, but you do what you can. In looking back over some old games, I see that I got my first turn report in me-pbm way back on January 7, 1993. It's hard to believe I've been doing this for three years, but there it is in black and white. I don't know that any board games with rules which are essentially as simple as those are in this game would have held my attention for this long. I think I can attribute my enjoyment over the past several years to quite a few people. From my earliest ally, Glen Mayfield, and earliest adversary, Tom Walton, I found the pure joy in interacting with other players. Over the past three years I've played with and against some of the finest players in this game, and have always found a challenge. To those who have played with me and against me, to those who have been bested and to those who have kicked me from one end of the map to the other, my sincere thanks. Hope to see you in upcoming games. Brian Mason Encounters ========== From Lawrence Tilley -------------------- With back issues, I also downloaded a file mepbm.165, with all the start up data and encounter lists. This file seems to contain the same data which is available from Predd's WWW site, the Allsorts Home Page, and also seems to have altered little from the original file I had 18 months ago. (Long before I had e-mail, it was a floppy copy of the file e-mailed by you to Hoger Eichmann). Is this file updated, or should I be looking elsewhere? Correspondents to the Mouth often talk of "your database" - is it this file to which they are referring, or a more regularly updated one? The file states for example " Lamthanc will eat the commander of any army he joins if the army doesn't enter into combat for extended periods of time." But you have apparently twice refuted this in the Mouth. [Tom's note: we certainly have. This piece of tripe was spread by a half-dozen or so players who objected to my initial attempts to gather a database and distribute it freely. I must admit in finding a certain pleasure in the knowledge that they failed miserably in their efforts.] There's a specific reason for asking all this of course - I'm looking for a safe DS way to recruit the Dragons Turukulon and Bairanax. Phredd's Web pages aren't showing all the dragons yet. So if you have any information more complete or up to date than the following, please let me know: 5.04 Bairanax Options FP Neutrals DS State your ALLEGIANCE escape State your NAME DEMAND obedience Act HAUGHTY Act MEEK escape escape escape Offer TEN gold combat combat combat Offer HUNDRED gold recruit* Offer ONE artifact Offer TWO artifacts SAY (one word) FLEE injured injured injured 5.21 Turukulon Options FP Neutrals DS State your ALLEGIANCE State your NAME escape DEMAND obedience injured injured Act HAUGHTY combat combat Act MEEK injured injured Offer TEN gold injured injured injured Offer HUNDRED gold injured injured injured Offer ONE artifact injured injured injured Offer TWO artifacts SAY "Turkulon" injured injured injured SAY (one word) FLEE combat combat combat injured = injured/killed on both tables. Turukulon is recruitable, but perhaps only by the Dragon Lord. The correct response is thought to be 10,000 gold or 1/2 artifact(s). And secondly.... How do I contribute? - I ought not just receive the Mouth and give nothing in return. Do you want me just to e-mail you snippets like these which follow?: The mepbm.165 file, on the subject of the Ancient Barrow encounter states "The list suggest you can beat the Wight by REMOVE'ing the runes on the Barrow. However, I can tell you that it doesn't work allways (my 54 Emis can - well, could have - witnessed that! So a challenge rank of 27 isn't enough. The encounter stated, that: "Try as he might (though the Emis was a She!), the enchantments on the door seemed beyond her skill to break." This could suggest that a stronger character could have done it, or maybe just a character with Mage skill..." I have just succeeded with an emissary rank 69. The statement was "Try as he might, the enchantments on the door seemed beyond his skill to break. He had almost given up when....(lots of lavish description about fight with wight). He got no wounds and 7000 gold. The file has little data on the Ghostly Army Encounter. I recently met the ghostly armies at Pelargir and had my FP agent attack the men with the fist banner. He lost most of his health in the fight, and then they went away. In a 2950 game, no-one picked up the Ring of Wind until turn 8, despite knowing its location, and at least 6 different characters visiting the hex. I eventually picked it up with the DrLo Mage Maben, by FindArt - there was no encounter attached. Players in the game are wondering if this is a special characteristic of the 2950 scenario. Incidently, Elrond was stealthily lurking there also and killed Maben by surprise challenge on turn 9 - I'm as sick as a parrot. More from Lawrence Tilley ------------------------- I have been discussing dragon recruitment with my good friend Mark Seward. It is often useful to know which army a recruited dragon will join. Conventional wisdom says it's the army of the commander with the highest challenge rank - we are now questioning this. My own data is as follows: Dragons recruited into armies Source #Armies Chal Comm Size First Far Near ME3T6DrLo 3 Yes Yes No Yes Yes No ME51T31DrLo 2 Yes Yes Yes No No Yes ME51T21DrLo 2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No ME51T16DrLo 2 Yes No Yes Yes Yes No ME51T16DrLo 2 Yes No = Yes No Yes #Armies: Number of armies from which the recruited dragon could choose Chal: Where the dragon chose the army commander with the highest challenge rank Comm: Where the dragon chose the army commander with the highest command rank Size: Where the dragon chose the largest army First: Where the dragon chose the first listed (alphabetically) army Far: Where the dragon chose the most distant army Near: Where the dragon chose the least distant army This would suggest the highest challenge rank. Mark however has found: Back in October in Game #11 I recruited two Dragons to the same army. The commander had a natural challenge rank of 34 (Com 28, Emis 53). I had six other army commanders three of which had higher challenge ranks. The character was not first listed, closest, biggest army or best anything with the single exception of a 53 emissary rank, no other commanders were emissaries but did have higher command ranks eg 59. No rule seems to predict this one, I still can not work out the logic of a Dragon joining which army. Also another couple of titbits from Phil Quirk (can other players verify the first one?): If a dragon joins a navy (in a shore hex/harbour), it immediately leaves when the commander does a MovNavy. By the way: you can practise cursing on a char. of your own nation - you are told that you were unable to complete the casting of the spell, but the casting % goes up anyway. The char. is unharmed. Spreadsheets for me-pbm ======================= by Brian Mason Spreadsheets are useful tools for making many simple calculations and making future plans in me-pbm. I enclose below the ascii text of two of the spreadsheets I use most often. The first, army_strength, is a algoritm which calculates both army vs. army and army vs. pop center strength and constitution. The other, economy, is a five turn planner for calculating your economy. The samples I enclose below were my startup army strength and first "five turn plan" for Rhudaur in game 97. The spreadsheets were written using the unix program sc (spreadsheet calculator) and are available via anonymous ftp at chara.gsu.edu. If you find these useful, let me know and I can make other spreadsheets available. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Army Commander Name Arfanhil Marendil Seammu Command Rank 50.00 30.00 30.00 Nation Climate 100.00 100.00 100.00 Nation Terrain 100.00 100.00 97.00 Army Morale 30.00 40.00 30.00 Average Army Modifier 0.70 0.68 0.64 Heavy Cavalry Troop 600.00 Training Rank 30.00 Weapon Rank 30.00 Troop Terrain Modifier 60.00 Troop Tactic Modifier 100.00 vs. Army Avg Troop Modifier 0.00 0.55 0.00 vs. Pop Center Avg Troop Modifier 0.00 0.40 0.00 Armor Rank Modifier 0.00 vs. Army Strength 0.00 5280.00 0.00 vs. Pop Center Strength 0.00 3840.00 0.00 Troop Constitution 0.00 9600.00 0.00 Light Cavalry Troop 600.00 Training Rank 30.00 Weapon Rank 30.00 Troop Terrain Modifier 60.00 Troop Tactic Modifier 100.00 vs. Army Avg Troop Modifier 0.00 0.55 0.00 vs. Pop Center Avg Troop Modifier 0.00 0.40 0.00 Armor Rank Modifier 0.00 vs. Army Strength 0.00 2640.00 0.00 vs. Pop Center Strength 0.00 1920.00 0.00 Troop Constitution 0.00 4800.00 0.00 Heavy Infantry Troop 600.00 600.00 300.00 Training Rank 30.00 30.00 30.00 Weapon Rank 30.00 30.00 30.00 Troop Terrain Modifier 80.00 80.00 100.00 Troop Tactic Modifier 100.00 100.00 100.00 vs. Army Avg Troop Modifier 0.60 0.60 0.65 vs. Pop Center Avg Troop Modifier 0.47 0.47 0.53 Armor Rank Modifier 0.00 0.00 0.00 vs. Army Strength 3600.00 3600.00 1950.00 vs. Pop Center Strength 2800.00 2800.00 1600.00 Troop Constitution 6000.00 6000.00 3000.00 Light Infantry Troop 600.00 600.00 600.00 Training Rank 30.00 30.00 30.00 Weapon Rank 30.00 30.00 30.00 Troop Terrain Modifier 80.00 80.00 80.00 Troop Tactic Modifier 100.00 100.00 100.00 vs. Army Avg Troop Modifier 0.60 0.60 0.60 vs. Pop Center Avg Troop Modifier 0.47 0.47 0.47 Armor Rank Modifier 0.00 0.00 0.00 vs. Army Strength 1800.00 1800.00 1800.00 vs. Pop Center Strength 1400.00 1400.00 1400.00 Troop Constitution 3000.00 3000.00 3000.00 Archers 300.00 600.00 600.00 Training Rank 30.00 30.00 30.00 Weapon Rank 60.00 60.00 60.00 Troop Terrain Modifier 80.00 80.00 100.00 Troop Tactic Modifier 100.00 100.00 100.00 vs. Army Avg Troop Modifier 0.68 0.68 0.72 vs. Pop Center Avg Troop Modifier 0.57 0.57 0.63 Armor Rank Modifier 0.00 0.00 0.00 vs. Army Strength 1215.00 2430.00 2610.00 vs. Pop Center Strength 1020.00 2040.00 2280.00 Troop Constitution 600.00 1200.00 1200.00 Men-at-Arms 600.00 1200.00 600.00 Training Rank 30.00 30.00 30.00 Weapon Rank 30.00 30.00 30.00 Troop Terrain Modifier 80.00 80.00 100.00 Troop Tactic Modifier 100.00 100.00 100.00 vs. Army Avg Troop Modifier 0.60 0.60 0.65 vs. Pop Center Avg Troop Modifier 0.47 0.47 0.53 Armor Rank Modifier 10.00 10.00 10.00 vs. Army Strength 720.00 1440.00 780.00 vs. Pop Center Strength 560.00 1120.00 640.00 Troop Constitution 1320.00 2640.00 1320.00 BASE ARMY VS. ARMY STRENGTH 5134.50 11603.25 4587.45 BASE ARMY VS. POP CENTER STRENGTH 4046.00 8856.00 3803.60 BASE ARMY CONSTITUTION 10920.00 27240.00 8520.00 Realtions Modifier 100.00 100.00 100.00 Army vs. Army w/ relations 5134.50 11603.25 4587.45 Army vs. Pop. Center w/ relations 4046.00 8856.00 3803.60 Offensive Combat Spells Defensive Combat Spells Artifacts and Nukes Warmachines ARMY VS. ARMY STRENGTH 5134.50 11603.25 4587.45 ARMY VS. POP CENTER STRENGTH 4046.00 8856.00 3803.60 ARMY CONSTITUTION 10920.00 27240.00 8520.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------- # This data file was generated by the Spreadsheet Calculator. # You almost certainly shouldn't edit it. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Turn 1 Turn 2 Turn 3 Turn 4 Turn 5 At Start Gold 43650.00 39846.00 69186.00 59386.00 48086.00 Tax Units 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 15.00 Tax Rate 0.40 0.60 0.60 0.60 0.60 Tax Production 15000.00 22500.00 22500.00 22500.00 22500.00 Gold Production 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 AFTER PRODUCTION GOLD 63650.00 67346.00 96686.00 86886.00 75586.00 BUY/SELLS product sold food income 15896.00 product sold timber income 35640.00 product sold income product sold income product purchased cost product purchased cost product purchased cost product purchased cost AFTER BUY/SELL GOLD 79546.00102986.00 96686.00 86886.00 75586.00 MAINTENANCE COSTS Heavy Cavalry 600.00 600.00 600.00 600.00 600.00 cost 3600.00 3600.00 3600.00 3600.00 3600.00 Light Cavalry 600.00 600.00 600.00 600.00 600.00 cost 1800.00 1800.00 1800.00 1800.00 1800.00 Heavy Infantry 1500.00 1500.00 1500.00 1500.00 1500.00 cost 6000.00 6000.00 6000.00 6000.00 6000.00 Light Infantry 1800.00 1800.00 1800.00 1800.00 1800.00 cost 3600.00 3600.00 3600.00 3600.00 3600.00 Archers 1500.00 1500.00 1500.00 1500.00 1500.00 cost 3000.00 3000.00 3000.00 3000.00 3000.00 Men-at-Arms 2400.00 cost 2400.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Ships cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL ARMY COST 20400.00 18000.00 18000.00 18000.00 18000.00 Fortification Levels 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 7.00 Fortification Cost3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 Harbor/Port Levels Harbor/Port Cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 TOTAL POP CENTER COST 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 3500.00 TOTAL CHARACTER COST 5800.00 7300.00 8800.00 10300.00 11800.00 AFTER MAINTENANCE GOLD 49846.00 74186.00 66386.00 55086.00 42286.00 CURRENT SURPLUS -9700.00 -1300.00 -2800.00 -4300.00 -5800.00 PRODUCTION COSTS Ships Constructed cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Minor River Bridges cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Major River Bridges cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Towers Built cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Forts Built cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Castles Built cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Keeps Built cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Citadels Built cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Ports Built cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Harbors Built cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Camps Improved cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Villages Improved cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Towns Improved cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Major Towns Improved cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Camps Posted cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Camps Created 1.00 1.00 2.00 cost 0.00 0.00 2000.00 2000.00 4000.00 Spells Researched cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Characters Named 1.00 cost 10000.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Commanders Named cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Agents Named cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Emissaries Named 1.00 1.00 1.00 cost 0.00 5000.00 5000.00 5000.00 0.00 Mages Named cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Armies Hired cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Capital Relocation cost 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Miscellaneous Costs AFTER PRODUCTION GOLD 39846.00 69186.00 59386.00 48086.00 38286.00 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Last Word ========= The holidays are coming up fast, I turn 30 tomorrow as I write this, and ME-PBM isn't much on my mind at the moment. So I spare you both my musings and my fiction, and say only that my email address has changed to: damayan@ix.netcom.com. Like "kazandar", "damayan" is a joke but one so bizarre you'd have to be me to get it. I can also be reached at: kazandar@rio.com, and don't plan on changing my username on this account. Happy holidays folks! See you after Christmas! Tom