Birthright:

In Fuedal Japan, their weapons systems were optimized for killing peasants, not other members of the warrior class. In medieval Europe, this was less true, but the importance of heavy cavalry still gives the lie to the idea that personal combat skill was a higher virtue than money and formation fighting.

Keep in mind that it helped these people and their descendants to perpetuate the myth that their superior skill and ability was what gave them victory, and that they were in a position to decide which stories got told and which didn't. I think the peasants deserve more credit for their patented 'fall down after one blow that didn't even injure them, and then play dead until the battle is over' technique.

EF - Ethak Farsight wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:33 pm

AF - Areida Faderan wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 14, 2019 2:46 pm

Simple. If a realm doesn't go to war, it profits off of everyone else's wars. That's what neutrality is all about!

I tried Neutrality before. It gets you burned.

Just depends on how you do it. Rhyell was neutral for pretty much the whole game last time -- switching sides (or sometimes fighting on both sides at the same time) often enough to not be taken for granted, making sure that they maintained a balance between the two other factions in order to make sure they were a necessary evil at all times, and building up enough strength to take care of themselves. Neutral doesn't necessarily mean disengaged.

TBH, if you want duels, just arrange them before the battle. As I recall correctly, dueling was an important part of the politics of the old colonies.

Yeah, I was reading about the history of Ilien. Seems like 'this regent's a nut, let's have another member of their dynasty beat them up and take the crown' was a regular thing. Duels between Anuirean emperors and their enemies were very hit and miss, though. The empire rose and fell based on those.

See the risk of possibly having to fight someone of equal or greater skill pc to pc would bring a sense of danger that would translate into a lot more thought about declaring war.

That doesn't really bear out. The players of the brashest warhawks in past games have had a tendency to have characters who are powerful in personal combat, and to declare war on those they see as weak. If this continues to hold true, the potential for dueling would only make this worse.

In an actual fight anything can happen in this game with higher level cap and magic items from dmg though. High stats is not that much if an advantage against some guy breaking his staff of power to take you out with him.

Duran looks at his Staff and then hides it behind his back. What Staff of Power?

And losing their regent isn't much of a deterrent for someone who'd consider getting another PC to blow themselves up along with him a 'win'.

The Staff I feel powerful enough to smack over peoples' heads.