dana1971 wrote:The reason I put the killer neutral of 15 in the grass is to stop people from being able to easily take both legs. That way the army that holds one leg will need to decide to I use 15 of my troops to break the neutral or go up into the rest of the body. If it was a low number you wouldn't think twice about going for the other leg and then whoever had them would probably build up fast while everyone else fights over the bigger bonuses in the body. For the game to be balanced I felt the leg bonuses needed to have a barrier that would be hard to cross at the start of the game when troop numbers are low.
I set it up that the front of the cow had the esier bonuses, while the middle had the bigger harder bonuses, with a few auto deploys stuck in there to help balance it.
I would imagine in a fog of war game it would be a tense game, because you wouldn't be sure how much was in the other leg, a bit like the killer neutrals in Das Schloss.
Another key spot would be the tail, however it only gives 1 bonus so although easy to hold with one choke point you wouldn't be getting a lot for it. The main benefit of the tail is that it leads to the 2+ autodeploy Cow Pat which can build up quietly without the hind hoof being able to see it. And if you only had the cow pat you would not know how big an army was waiting to drop on you from the tail.
In a fog of war game I think this could be a lot of fun.
Anyway, right or wrong that's my thinking.
Best Wishes,
Dana
right now the tail and back leg are fine, maybe even too strong, and the front leg is in bad shape.
15 or even 12 neutrals is a lot, especially if they kill as well. i understand what you're trying to do, gameplay-wise. but the numbers are wrong.
15 troops is a big deal, even lategame, even if you hold the 2 biggest continents, you'll waste your entire income for a whole turn, just to kill those neutrals, while it would be potentially enough troops to kill or hurt an enemy. 15 troops is even more then a mixed set and a red set combined!
also, you can still take the tail and the back leg, or just the tail and the pat, and you can endlessly stack the autodeploy while you only need to hold 1 choke, and that only made you fight 6 neutrals. (6 neutrals on a +2, that's about right, it takes 3 turns to pay off, so it's considered an investment, you'll have to take a little risk to gain a high reward, if you can keep it for 3 turns or more, you are reaping the benefits of the risk).
but let's say someone has the tail and the back leg, and another one has the front leg. noone will ever attack each other though those neutrals. because even if one person has 30 armies, and the other has 10 armies, it's hardly worth the investment to break through 15 neutrals to break a +2 bonus. and besides, you can just take the longer route and kill some players. using your troops to kill players is much more worthwhile than killing neutrals.
lord of the flies seems to be quite useless as is. why would anyone kill 3 neutrals to get some territory that does not give a bonus, is not part of any bonus, and doesn't border anything special?
and 4 and especially 5 neutrals for a +1 autodeploy is also too high. 4 neutrals is maybe possible, but 5 is way too high. 3 would be much better.