Feelings ~ TVK 71

[StratOcastle]

The Price Gun

Somewhat off topic but relevant to my personal playing style is the challenge idiom.

To understand a moral code when you have no moral compass can be difficult. The Bible devotes a couple chapters to the matter and it seemingly doesn't work to define good. Thus, The New Testament is about love and forgiveness.

So how does one project strength if they don't attack unprovoked by their own volition?

It's the price.

The price is such: for every 1 attack sustained, 3 should be administered for correction.

1- to compensate for what was lost.
2- for the time it takes to recover in a game that sees the unfettered progress perpetually.
3- for the crime of attacking unprovoked.

Now I don't follow these mindlessly. I'm fairly happy letting things go in many cases. For instance, this late in the age some characters are just looking for sparring partners.

But if it's a competitive environment or the criminal in question proves inhospitable then the price is invoked. The important thing here is fearlessness. The tally of attacks sustained and countered have little to do with progress. My roleplaying aspect in this is that my people expect to be avenged and there is no honor in a life spent kneeling to your enemies. Simply put, I'm not put off by being razekilled at all.

Short but to the point.

Other challenge idioms I abide is to retaliate against the strongest enemy if there are more than one. Exception to the rule is a baiting attempt which earns equal treatment to a larger opponent. Suffice to say, my motive is to then make most of my acres in war.

I shun bots to increase the level of challenge. This means I use more stealth and operate with less strategic information than bot equipped opponents.

I shun advanced com systems to also increase the level of challenge. Relying on alarms and activity to compete against kingdoms that do use advanced com is indeed challenging.

I don't offer CF before any action unless the kingdom in question asks for a CF and is deemed friendly. There are exceptions. One is to not offer CF to the previous age crown winners, as this is tantamount to giving the age away. As unrealistic as this may be, to submit to a champion without a fight is not my way. They may offer me a CF which I will ideally consider a sign of submission. This may seem like veiled pragmatism but it's not in the conventional sense. The ideal trumps pragmatism in matters of game competition. In other words, to fight a great champion is preferred. The caveat here is that my intentions are not to ruin a kingdoms age as a spoiler. If we are honestly capable of war then we don't accept the CF. If we aren't competing we can accept the CF as a token of honorable submission, as both our kingdoms are headed in our own direction. Mutual respect thing.

All in all it equates to playing the game in a stripped down state. Intuition comes to the fore and attention is payed to the remaining clues.