Subject: MN: Re: Sv: Token quantity discussions

From: "Wayper, Paul" <WayperP@p...>
Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 08:02:58 +1000

On Wednesday, June 02, 1999 8:30 PM, kevan@d...
[SMTP:kevan@d...] wrote:
> Not quite the same thing; Ole was proposing an alternative (and needlessly
> fiddly, unless I miss something) way of phrasing the "twice the Token
> bonus for the number of Lines at the End Station" suggestion from
> Jonathan, whereas the original Collection table merely gave ridiculous
> bonuses for passing through more than five Interchanges.

Not necessarily. Special moves would change where you claim the first token
bonus from.

> Because people were getting ridiculous amounts of Tokens when travelling
> at high speeds; on top of the fact that a high LV is preferable anyway
> (more Stations available to Move to, greater number of routes to any
> given Station, more power when Shunting, etc.), this seemed too unfair.
> Focus should really be on the Station you manage to end up at, since
> ultimately it's that which matters more to the rest of the Game.

As I said at the time, why not then limit the LV to six say? Reducing the
reasons people need for a high LV doesn't stop it being attractive. For
instance, you're never going to stop high LV giving more powerful shunts
unless you make another (constant shunt distance, say) system for Shunts -
which is going to be abused in its turn.

A high LV is always going to be an advantage. I think Jonathan's point of
view here is more useful - learn to deal with it in a game context rather
than getting out the Nomic Scalpel and changing it. There are always going
to be methods that are more useful; you just have to take that on board. I
agree with Kevan that you sometimes have to change the rules if something's
too powerful or too useless, but I think you may have a hair trigger on the
shotgun there Kevan :-)

Have fun as always,

Paul Wayper -- DPI ITS Computer Systems Officer
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From: kevan@d...
Date: Thu, 03 Jun 1999 09:09:29 -0000

> Not necessarily. Special moves would change where you claim the first token

Well, Straddling and Compass Tricks. You'd still "end your Move" at
whichever Station, with a normal Special Move.

> reasons people need for a high LV doesn't stop it being attractive.

Reducing its benefits doesn't affect its attractiveness? Um?

I just don't want high LV to become a necessary thing for victory, is
all; if the Players who rush around Zone 1 with high LVs always end up
in a *far* better position than those who try other tactics, then the
Game's going to get rather stale and tedious.

> than getting out the Nomic Scalpel and changing it.

Jonathan's suggestion (which used, unless I miss your gist, a perfectly
sharp Nomic Scalpel) was to make a high LV less powerful by giving greater
reward for final destinations; this is one way to take the emphasis off of
speed, but I suspect it may result in too many Tokens being thrown around.

> I agree with Kevan that you sometimes have to change the rules if
> something's too powerful or too useless, but I think you may have a hair
> trigger on the shotgun there Kevan :-)

[shrugs] I normally only take aim and mention that I'm targetting something,
to see if people leap in front of it or blast the thing to oblivion by
themselves; I've not proposed any changes to anything yet. A single shotgun
can rarely achieve much in a Nomic, in any case.

Kevan

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