Recruitment - A New Proposal

[Frank]

So I have a very long drive to work every day, and today I spent the whole trip thinking about recruitment and how to balance it more appropriately. I have come up with a proposal that I think works really well, and helps solve a few other balance issues that are starting to crop up, as well.

The proposal follows in the next post (written as if it's a message to the Scum to be posted on their boards).

[Frank]

Although the forces supporting registration put up the appearance of a solid front, you are aware that there are considerable cracks that you may be able to exploit. Many nominal supporters of registration are skeptical or concerned about the Act and its effects; some have even been coerced or bribed into joining the Pro-Registration side somewhat or entirely against their will. You may have a chance to convince someone among them to join your cause, but it will not be easy.

Recruitment will require the combined effort of all living members of the anti-Registration cause, and can only be carried out while Captain America is alive. Recruitment will take place at Night. For the Night in question, all members of your team must forgo their Night action (including the Scum kill, but see below). You will anonymously offer the player of your choice the chance to join you. If (s)he agrees, (s)he will be given immediate access to your boards and, in most cases, will join with full access to all of his/her powers.

If the player does not agree to join you, you will kill him or her. This kill will be a special kill, and can not be protected against or role-blocked. Once recruitment has succeeded or failed, you will not be able to make another attempt.

Please note: a very limited number of players, including Iron Man, are not recruitable. If you attempt to recruit one of these players, you will simply kill them.

[Frank]

So there it is. In addition to what's outlined above, if recruitment succeeds, Psylocke will gain a one-shot kill.

I think this is a pretty good solution. If recruitment succeeds, it is at the cost of a Night kill AND a role-block/investigation/chance to place or watch dynamite, AND it results in Town getting an extra Night kill. If recruitment fails, the Scum still get a single unblockable kill out of it, and Psylocke and Deadpool are rendered basically vanilla from the standpoint of the Scum.

In order to handle the issue of Bullseye, I will create an order of events that places recruitment first, before even Bullseye's kill. However, the Scum kill (if recruitment fails) will take place AFTER Bullseye's kill. So, if the Scum target a player for recruitment who is also targeted by Bullseye and recruitment SUCCEEDS, the player will change aligments, then Bullseye will kill them and join the Scum. If recruitment FAILS, Bullseye (not the Scum) will kill the player and join the Town.

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One final question, which really can be answered whichever way manages the balance: should a recruited Scum have the power to Night kill? Part of me says "no:" a recruited player retains his/her abilities, period, which do not include a Night kill power. If the recruit is the last Scum standing, well, that's too bad for the Scum. Thoughts?

[sachertorte]

I like it. It seems much cleaner to me.

[Pleonast]

Dec 10, 2009 8:16:20 GMT -5 Frank said:

One final question, which really can be answered whichever way manages the balance: should a recruited Scum have the power to Night kill? Part of me says "no:" a recruited player retains his/her abilities, period, which do not include a Night kill power. If the recruit is the last Scum standing, well, that's too bad for the Scum. Thoughts?

If the recruited scum cannot kill, it greatly reduces the effectiveness of recruitment. The recruited would not increase the lynch burden of the town. The only reason to attempt recruitment would be to get a particular role out of the town's hands.

If I were scum, I wouldn't bother with it in that case. The opportunity cost is too high. Instead, I would choose not to recruit, but try to set up a townie or two as a fake recruited. The possibility of recruitment is enough to disrupt the town and may lead to a mislynch. (Of course, the town even has roles to know when a recruit happens, so that tactic wouldn't work.)

I'm not against the mechanism, I just want to be sure you don't count it as more help to the scum than it actually is.

[sachertorte]

If the recruited scum can't kill, then Town still need to lynch him. Suppose we have 3 Town and 2 scum (ignoring the M-1 lynch issue). Then Town is at lynch or lose. They lynch scum leaving the non-killing scum. Then we have 3 Town 1 scum left. Game continues, no night death. Lynch Town and we have 2 town 1 scum. Lynch or Lose again.
It's Harder, but not impossible.
I think we've had non-killing scum before.

[Frank]

Hey, do you guys think the M-1 thing is more trouble than it's worth. We could easily just change it to greater than or equal to 50% and avoid a certain amount of stress.

[sachertorte]

time=1260460517]Hey, do you guys think the M-1 thing is more trouble than it's worth.

Uh, I think I mentioned that a while ago.
I have issues with M-1. I don't really know how it will play out, but this sort of thing is unexpected and strongly helps scum.

Removing it, sort of makes Iron Man obsolete.... Bronze Man!

[Hoopy Frood]

Sorry, busy long weekend, but FTR, I really like the updated recruitment mechanism.