Messages

106

Far East Island / Re: The northern war

« on: July 31, 2011, 06:43:39 PM »

Doesn't have to worry about the North?

I still don't like Arcachon's chances, but Ohnar West is getting pounded and there is probably little Cathay can do except defend a city.  I don't know if every other leader has spies and sympathizers pretty much everywhere 'cause in my mind that's a key Arcachonian advantage.  It's less of an advantage on a defensive campaign, but offensively it's a spectacular advantage.

107

BM General Discussion / Re: funniest moments in battlemaster

« on: July 30, 2011, 05:01:50 AM »

For those who have played Fallout:  New Vegas, there's actually a paradigm which would be easy enough to straight up steal.

108

Feature Requests / Re: Religion type

« on: July 27, 2011, 01:47:32 AM »

I think he mean monastic.  While catholicism was quite capable of war and purging, and some forms of Buddhism also were, individual monastic sects rarely were.

Monastic religions have the problem of being non-interactive though, I'd rather see religion get buffed by either being militaristic or passivistic and have one make control easier when it is the dominant faith, and one increase troop recruitment.  The other option would be a centralized/decentralized set, which is closer to the division in europe between the decentralized and dogmatically diverse protestants and the centralized and organized catholics.

109

Development / Re: Retention Revisited

« on: July 24, 2011, 06:45:39 AM »

It actually isn't that wierd.  While French is a valuable skill (and is over-represented in government jobs), it is actually much less useful then many of the other skillsets which are taught in its place.  A simple study of hours of mathematical or scientific training in schools highlights that descrepency, as does the fact that many bilinguals come from Eastern Canada, which is significantly poorer then the rest of Canada.

French Canadians often also suffer from a bunker mentality which causes them to have smaller, more homogeneous, reference circles.  Networking is actually the single most important cash-earning skill a person can have, so a Torontian English speaker from the right part of town has significant advantages as compared to a Quebec City English/French speaker.

I, being a douchebag, tend to blame the Catholic Church which fought tooth and nail to keep Quebec and Northern NB from modernizing.  At this point French is a dying language but no-one admits it and the upper class French Canadians want their kids speaking English without and accent.

110

Development / Re: Retention Revisited

« on: July 23, 2011, 04:29:17 AM »

Ohhhh, other economists!

I admit to being lazy with a lot of this stuff, and just sheer off the top and bottom 10% when it comes to real world stuff.  For BM you could just sheer off Lords, then sheer off those who have no estates and those with a family member in the Lords (so cliques can't counterweight it), then get an average.

Averages tell you less, but they are easier for people to understand and with proper sheering, tell you the gist of what you need.

I'm used to working with crap datasets, so apologies for the lack of finesse generally used by my compatriots.

111

Development / Re: Retention Revisited

« on: July 22, 2011, 07:10:30 AM »

I literally spend the first three months with a unit of 15 men.  When I finally scraped together some allies I got it up to 20.

It sucked hard, 300 CS was like my dream unit.  Eventually I shanked the king in a coup, but still, 10% of a poor rural region is a raw deal, clearing 22-25 gold a tax day and actually worried my men might go up in training because then I couldn't afford to fix damage.

There really should be a code of "don't be a douchebag" for all lords.

112

Far East Island / Re: What ever happened to Sartania?

« on: July 22, 2011, 07:03:21 AM »

I thought Southern Ohnar West was NeoNeoSartania.

Three of the Four Dutchies in Ohnar West are Sartanian now.

113

Magistrates Case Archive / Re: Call for Volunteers

« on: July 20, 2011, 10:18:10 PM »

I'm up for doing it, maybe not the best choice around as I haven't been involved in any IC cases and have been aorund for only about a year and a half.  I have extensive knowledge of the RW Commonwealth justice system and an above average knowledge of American legal proceedings.  I have a working background in ethics (learning towards the deontological side, really not a fan of utilitarianism), I have a few trust medals http://battlemaster.org/UserDetails.php?ID=30497

Ummmm...yep.  I tend to be cold and impersonal and don't really get worked up over stuff (well, not this stuff), so I'm not really so good at the touchy-feely "I feel your pain" part of the job, but I'm very flexible in regards to arguments and evidence presented.

114

Background / Re: Religious freedom?

« on: July 19, 2011, 10:51:33 PM »

If I can arrange a "Japanese shotgun faith wedding" (Like Buddhism and Shintoism, where Shnito was offically declared a subsection of Buddhism), Aenelianiam may become a faith hegemony in the FEI again.  Ideally, everyone would nominally be Aenelian (it's an excellent "top" for theology), with all the other religions as sub-sectional denominations.  So Adgharians and Cra'aithil could be recognized as the same theological structures, but with radically different goals and leanings.

Much as theoretically Sartanianism and Adgharianism are theologically overlapping faiths.  Or Protestantism, Catholicism, and Greek Orthodox all share a theological core.

Probably won't happen though, Ciann has too much on her plate at present.

115

Development / Re: Retention Revisited

« on: July 19, 2011, 10:40:41 PM »

Yeah, it's the whole "New players are good rubes" game.  They don't know what a good offer is, or what's really going on, so they get drafted by one guy or other and never really have a full picture of what's going on or why.  Then they're just left to sort of lollygag around without any direction.

116

Development / Re: Retention Revisited

« on: July 19, 2011, 04:07:12 AM »

As someone on both sides of the equation, I feel justified in saying that it's not continents but nations.

Caerwyn hemmorages new nobles, because sure you get some greetings but it seems like new players are being used in a faction or schemed for or manipulated.  Arcachon doesn't seem to have that problem at all.  I think it's a very small sample size but people dislike feeling used.  One of the selling points of the game is that you're part of a team from the start and I think it makes a big difference to new players as to if they are pawns in someone's scheme or if they are being brought into a club that has your back if something goes wrong.

Again small sample size, but that's just what I've noticed.

117

Far East Island / Re: the war situation

« on: July 19, 2011, 04:00:17 AM »

Wait?  What?  I don't even know where that propaganda came from (was it me?).

Ciann's issue is with the new Aenelian religion that likes infiltrators, but that's just a personal bias from being stabbed a half a dozen times.  Hailey was the one who burned down the church, and she got killed, but of course she was against the Way, because she was an infiltrator and thus a coward who hates all things good and lawful.  Ciann doesn't really grasp the concept of a nation though, so it would be really hard for her to declare a religious war against anything other then an individual.

I think Ciann burned down two Sartanian temples herself, but that doesn't count, as Sartanianism is just a heresy and not a real religion like Aenelianism or the Way.

118

Feature Requests / Re: Change the government without a revolution

« on: July 18, 2011, 09:01:26 PM »

No-one brought up the point in OW, but in OW if you complain about their governance for some reason you do so to foreign leaders.

I don't get it either.

119

Far East Island / Re: FEI Newb seeks counsel

« on: July 18, 2011, 07:59:53 PM »

If you've got religion on your side they don't even have to be old enemies.  "I'm sorry I had to butcher your household staff, but we were afraid they would risk thier immortal souls by rejecting the baptism we gave them this morning when we were sacking your wine cellar.  They're in heaven now, hoping for you to see the light."

120

Far East Island / Re: the war situation

« on: July 18, 2011, 07:56:29 PM »

Yeah, Arcachon has the exact opposite issue as OW, they have two courtiers and one priest and everyone else is an active combatant.  With two warriors recently locked this allows them to get around 31 people into the field, which makes the force a looting machine.

It's also oddly unified, I'm actually suprised Edara didn't move to make Arcachon a vassal state at the start.  Right now Arcachon and the Southern Cross look to be winning the war, and I don't see much hope for OW to mount a decent offence, or even a really passable defence.