Granting I haven't so much as looked at the emipire stuff in game, but reading the rules I had a random thought;

Why limit a player to only being in one empire?

Why not?

a) double agent (yes, I'm suggesting in-game dishonorability).

b) allows individuals to pick their own alliances instead of having to pick a single clan. (what if I'm allied with A, B, and C- and you want an alliance with A and B, but neither me nor C...)

c) makes signing up with an empire less limiting (open empires is an easy way to give bribes, aid, or tribute without creating problems with picking an *actual* alliance).

well, let me put out the (just a bit) obvious truth that if your first point goes forward, the most it will accomplish (perhaps others as well, but not as much) is hard feelings between players. as far as alliances go it will be almost as bad as creating a new account just for the sole purpose of spying... and lemme put it this way... someone you trusted in your alliance you just found out has been there the whole time for the sole purpose of tearing down your alliance...

trust me, loads of un-fun.
you may get that feeling of 'spying around' granted... but I doubt many here will find the price worth it.

if anything, I say you should make it a little difficult to get out of an alliance once you sign up... like a leaving fee or something...

yes, I put that one first as the one that would create complaints or, if omitted, be pointed out as the flaw. you've already illustrated the pointlessness of closing that door- those who are truely dishonorable will simply take this course anyway via external methods.

meanwhile, my ability to join empires is limited- what if I wished to join an alliance of Nosferatu-fighting races. do I join the forgotten ancients or the summer empire? sure, if they do end up fighting then I'm in a tough spot and have to figure it out quick- but if Nosferatu is that big a threat I should be able to exist with both long enough to get them united or make a better decision which I want to stay with.



As a note, if people are getting hard feelings from a wargame I'd be a little worried that they're playing at all. (I lived through the 80's and 90's in the US and self-identify as a roleplayer... so my view might be a little skewed.)
Not to say I don't expect people to get into it- but my real name is not Mortis, and my ultimate sense of self-worth isn't tied to any game.
then again, my sense of worth that is tied to this game is also probably tied more to it being fun and successful than anything that happens within it (possibly demonstrated by the fact that forced to choose between running turns and being active on the forums I chose the forums)... but that's me.

~shrugs~
just some thoughts.

lol, trust me, I probably would've brought it up anyway...

reason being I played a game that allowed multi's and that's one of the things that happened because of it, ppl would create multi's to 'spy' on other alliances. and trust me, it was the source of many, many, many harsh feelings, words, and posts.

as for what you brought up... it is a problem if your only 'goal' for the empire is to beat back the undead legions... that's why you look for other factors... namely would you rather be a part of the people in the one empire or the people in another empire? since ultimately that's what it comes down to.

this also brings up another point that there's just something about knowing that you could be part of a 'close circle' of people in an empire, then turn around and be in another empire as well, with who knows who.

Dragonia wrote:

as for what you brought up... it is a problem if your only 'goal' for the empire is to beat back the undead legions... that's why you look for other factors... namely would you rather be a part of the people in the one empire or the people in another empire? since ultimately that's what it comes down to.

sort of, or if your only reason for joining one or more empires is a single, well stated goal- which seems more reasonable than expecting a new player to join one exclusive alliance who become their family or be cut off from resources that other new players might benefit from.

Dragonia wrote:

this also brings up another point that there's just something about knowing that you could be part of a 'close circle' of people in an empire, then turn around and be in another empire as well, with who knows who.

on the other hand, a new player who doesn't have a close circle that's starting with them or already playing is stuck giving their "one and only" to who knows who- possibly getting tarred and unable to find new allies even if they decide to get out of that alliance.

My experience is that alliances and empires tend to pull together until folks leave, or they get their objective. Then it may drift apart or not.

Occasionally someone acts as traitor which creates lots of fun

that discription seems to rather make my point...

Well, actually I don't think so.

I always thought of Empires as step one. The next thing would be a way to share info within another race on a system by system basis.

Think of this as a tactical sharing of information. Obviously not coded, and may never be.

Tactical sharing would not result in any structure at all, simply select a ship and of an enemy race and say share fleetInfo (or something). This would probably only work for 1 turn to avoid accidentally leaving it on.

There would be no required reciprical arrangement.

I can see a need for this.

ah!
seperate idea/method, same goal and effects.

On a parallel note, I would still like to be able to "extort" (or pay off) non-empire members.