AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ME-PBM FOURTH AGE

First in a series of articles designed to highlight the pros and cons of the latest offering in the realm of J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece

First and foremost, I must present this disclaimer: I do not work for GSI, nor does GSI confirm or deny any or all parts of this article. All statements contained herein are, at the core, my opinion, and as such are influenced by my playing style. However, I have tried to remain as impartial as possible, and am basing my statements on both repeatable algorithmic analyses that are provided by GSI (to whit, the examples from the rulebook, which, if you haven't read yet, do so immediately) and on correlations drawn both from my play and the play of friends, associates and, at times, adversaries in the 1650 and 2950 scenarios.

Don't worry, the rest of this article is not as dry and boring as the previous paragraph. I just have to write like that to appease the lawyers.

As Fourth Age allows you to design your own nation, I have decided to focus each article on a different aspect of the nation design process. This first section of the design sheet: Special Nation Abilities

This section requires perhaps the most thought for it is the Special Nation Abilities (SNA's), more than anything else (save whatever naming convention you choose to follow, if any) that gives your nation its unique flavor. Before making any selections in this area, you should have a firm concept in mind, whether it;s the Dwarven Infantry Machine or the Invisible Orc Kill Squad (by the way, Do NOT use either of these as nation names - J.R.R. will roll over in his grave and GSI will frown heavily upon you). At the very least, you should know whether you want to be Good, Neutral or Evil, and whether you intend to be human, Dwarf, Elf or Non-Human (am I the only one who thinks that's a bit biased against the DS? Last time I checked, the Elves and Dwarves were quite adamantly not Human!) Towards this end, I have divided the into the following four categories

1) Military;
2) Character/Naming;
3)Order-Affecting; and
4) Misc.

MILITARY

1) No morale loss for force march (SNA #6): At only 2000 GP, this is a cheap yet effective complement to a cavalry-based nation design. As long as you have enough food, this equates to an extra plains/shore hex (or two if on a road) for your cav. Very nice for sneaking up on people from off-map!

2) Minimized morale loss for no food/moving/force marching (SNA #7): Also at 2000 GP, this ability is better regulated to "Well, I have an extra slot and 2000 GP, so I might as well buy it." This is somewhat against my normal stance that morale is important, but is biased on the fact that, if you are playing a military power, you won't have armies just standing around, and you should have food with them, if for no other purpose than to maximize their movement. If you want to reduce morale loss for force marching, buy #6.

3) All new recruits start at training 20 (SNA #13): An improvement over the normal 10 training everyone normally gets, and its 2000 GP price tag is fairly cheap, but there are better options available to Elven and Dwarven nations, so if you are playing one of these two, you should probably opt for the race-specific ability.

4) New recruits start at training 25 - Elves only (SNA #14) : As mentioned above, if you are planning on dwarves, this is the same price as #13 and is only 1000 GP more.

5) All new Heavy Infantry start at training 30 - Dwarves only (SNA #15): As mentioned above, if you are planning on dwarves, this is the same price as #13. The drawbacks are that it only affects Heavy Infantry, and thus, almost forces you to commit to this type as opposed to cavalry. This has the effect of forcing you to either place yourself fairly centrally, or watch your armies march 4-5 turns before coming into striking range.

6) All new Men At Arms start at training 25 (SNA #16): There's a reason this only costs 1000 GP, and in my humble opinion, this is still way too much.

7) New armies start at morale 40 (SNA #20) Morale is very a important, very overlooked aspect of the combat algorithm, and as such as having this 30 point boost over armies hired without this benefit lends extra hitting power when you need it most. If you instead plan on splitting armies, perhaps you should re-think - split armies have a starting morale of the original armies morale or 30, which is lower. I will explain more in the following option.

8) Hire for Free (SNA #21): This is the closest to "You MUST take this" as any of the SNA's get. This was the foundation of the Fire King, Haradwaith, Rhudauran & Cardolan military muscle. The obvious benefit is that you don't have to spend 5000 GP each time you want to create a new army. Less obvious benefits include time and orders saved, by not having to split armies (see above) or move characters back to the army and then march tediously to a new hex (this, in particular, gets worse as your holdings expand or if you move across mountains) Think about it- if you want to put an army at your new perimeter city that your emissaries have just finished, which would you rather do- spend the order to move the commander there one turn and hire the next or move the commander back to your home army one turn and start moving the next? By the time you get there, you could have had an extra thousand or two troops, which would have been nice when your neighbor, who was just waiting for you to spend the money, came over and captured your new city. Another benefit ties in with morale - as stated above, split armies come in at a maximum of 30 morale (see order #765), whereas hired armies have a fixed morale - 10 normally, but a very nice 40 if you wisely invested the 3000 GP for SNA #20 (hint, hint).

CHARACTER/NAMING

1) Challenge rank Bonus more likely (SNA #4): Often relegated to "why not?" status, this can be a valuable ability for any concept. The main drawback, however, is that it is not guaranteed. I took this in one game, and had about I out of every 3 characters I named get the bonus. A friend had it in another game and never got it. If you have the SNA slot and the gold, I recommend it - unless you also took SNA #5 (stealth). In the aforementioned game, I only got challenge bonuses, and in another game where I opted for stealth, I've received stealth with one extra-rank bonus. It would be a shame to have spent 7000 GP on stealth and have every special ability be challenge instead.

2) Stealth Rank Bonus more likely (SNA #5): Tied for second in highest price , and deservedly so. Skill ranks max at 100, but a 100 rank agent with stealth is better than one without. Apart from the boost it "allegedly" give to certain agent orders, there is the unquestionable benefit of reducing your characters' visibility in pop center reports and scouts. It's mighty hard to challenge, double, assassinate or kidnap someone when you don't know where he's there!

3) Emissaries start up at 40 (SNA #9) : These underrated characters are finally getting the respect they deserve, by pricing them equal to agents and above mages and commanders. I've lost count of the number of players who have told me in all honesty, "I don't bother with emissaries except to do an occasional influence if my tax rate is to high. When I need new pop centers I capture them." Bear in mind, though, that unless you plan on building a large number of emissaries, this would not be the SNA to take.

4) Mages start at up to 40 (SNA #10) : If you plan on playing the artifact game, this can be good, but bear in mind - there do not appear to be any Spirit Mastery artifacts available anymore!

5) Agents start at up to 40 (SNA #11) : At first glance, this is a steal at only 6000 GP, but through play, I've discovered that I would rather spent the extra GP for Stealth or Double Scout/Recon. These give you more benefit than the extra 10 agent ranks, which are easily enough obtained at the early stage.

6) Commanders start at up to 40 (SNA #12) : Given all the options available for command rank growth (and the fact that, barring a disastrous turn of events, I argue against naming straight commanders). I find this to be an SNA eas ily passed-by. Even for the military-minded, you would be better served to name command multi-classed characters to be backups and guards, or backups and emissaries to build up the outlying towns.

ORDER AFFECTING

1) Scout/Recon at double normal skill level (SNA #1) : Easily the best of the three scout options available (and worth every penny of the 7000 GP price tag) this is one of my favorite SNA's. While this was quite valuable in Third Age (how many DS agent squads had a Dragon Lord or Quiet Avenger scout along?), the very nature of Fourth Age makes this very priceless. You no longer have lists of characters and pop centers to rely upon, and so the speed with which you can compile accurate information such as names, ranks and nation affiliation becomes a matter of survival.

2) Scout/Recon at +20 to normal skill ranks (SNA #2) : Definitely something to consider if you cant afford the 7000 GP for #1, but I would strongly recommend that you try to find the extra 4000 GP.

3) Scout/Recon at minimum 50 (all characters) - Dwarves only (SNA #3) : Obviously not something to consider unless you are playing Dwarves, this can be a bargain at 4000 GP. While it doesn't help your higher level commanders or agents, it does have the advantage of giving these characters a boost starting out. The main advantage, however, lies in the all characters - it lets non-agents some agent orders like a 50 rank agent.

4) Buy/Sell orders receive 20% market adjustment (SNA #8) : This one you will want to consider thoroughly before making a decision. The plus side is that, with the camp limit usually reached earlier (due to more nations starting with 50 or 60 rank emissaries), this does not allow you to squeeze more income out of your production. For the military design, this allows you to equip and supply your forces for less. the down side is, 6000 GP is a lot to spend for something that may be of dubious use. Depending upon where you are located, you may have ample production, and/or may trade with allies rather than buy/sell to the market. Also how often have you tried to Natsell, only to have the market glutted before your order was processed, and either you failed entirely or only sold 5 or 10 units?

5) Uncover Secrets at 40 - all characters (SNA #22) : If you have the slot and the 2000 GP available, TAKE THIS! Knowledge is power, and Fourth Age proves this more than either of the first two scenarios. While GSI does not guarantee the accuracy of any information gleaned in this manner, it can be an excellent guide.

6) Kidnappings/Assassinations at +20 (SNA #31) : The heart of the Cloud Lord's power and justifiably the single most expensive SNA (at 12,000 GP), this SNA is one of the few that you would actually build your nation concept around, rather than choosing SNA's to go with your nation/concept. The benefit is obvious, and if you can't understand it, you shouldn't have it.

MISCELLANEOUS

1) Build ships at 1/2 Timber cost (SNA #17) : Given the lack of opposing navies, and the fact that most nations aren't going to invest in harbors/ports, this really is not worth the investment.

2) Build ships at 1/3 Timber cost - Elves only (SNA #18) : See above.

3) Build fortifications at 1/2 Timber cost (SNA #19) : In a protracted campaign, this can be of tremendous benefit, especially if you are the type who digs in to outlast you opposition. Also, given the small armies most nations start with, a Fort can prove an insurmountable defense until late enough in the game for you to build a Castle or even a Keep. This will also have the benefit of (theoretically) making it tougher for agents and emissaries to affect your pop centers.

4) Can learn lost weakness spell (SNA #23) : Given the prevailing theory that Spirit Mastery has been removed from the artifacts, this is not the killer ability it seemed initially. If you choose a mage-dedicated design, this can be of benefit, although you are stuck with the fact that it will take 5 60-rank mages to kill a single person.

5) Can learn lost Conjure mounts spell (SNA #24) : This spell can be of tremendous benefit, both militarily and economically, provided that you keep a high enough mage to make the spell worth while.

6) Can learn lost Conjure Food spell (SNA #26) : This can be a boost economically, and it can help your armies in the field move at their maximum.

7) Can learn lost Conjure Hordes spell - Dark Servants only (SNA #26) : This ability, along with #'s 27, 28 and 29, is useful only to Dark Servants who plan on going military. Of all of them, Summon Storms is only worthwhile if you plan engaging other forces, while Conjure Hordes is useful for threatening. All things considered, however, I think your money would be better invested in on of the other Military abilities.

8) Can learn lost Teleport spell (SNA #30) : Good for setting up agent/mages at the beginning, so that you can develop teleporting assassins, or so that your mages can quickly move on artifacts.

9) Navies can travel Open Seas without fear of storms or becoming lost (SNA #32) : This one, along with the #'s 33 and 34, hearken back to #'s 17 and 18 - there is no real call for navies in Fourth Age, unless you plan on building large armies off in a corner and shipping them to your enemies (which, incidentally, is not a bad strategy). If this is your plan, then #17 and #32 may be for you, but the two Warship Strength abilities aren't really worth it, as you will seldom ever encounter opposing navies put to wage naval battles.

In conclusion, I must repeat- these are my opinions. If you have a dissenting point of view, please set it down on paper and submit it to whispers. Remember, however, a well-reasoned and well-organized civil argument will win you more admirers than ranting about my lack of intelligence. Please stay tuned next month, when I will try and submit an article on character set-up.