Friday, August 13, 2021

Proposal: The Great Work

Fewer than a quorum not voting against. Failed 1-7 by Kevan.

Adminned at 15 Aug 2021 13:30:39 UTC

Add the following Machine into Machines:

Magnum Opus
- Cost: 1 or more Prototypes
- Effect: At the end of the next Cycle, if the Contents of this Magnum Opus are more than the Contents of any other Magnum Opus, achieve victory.

In “Machines”, prepend

A Machine may have Contents, which is a value equal to the amount last paid to purchase or activate the Machine (updated after the activation resolves), tracked in parentheses after the machine’s name. Contents are only tracked for Machines that reference Contents in their text.

before

The list of available types of Machine are as follows:

In “Storage”. replace

Gain whatever box was most recently spent to purchase or activate this machine, prior to the current activation. (The value of that box is tracked in parenthesis after the machines name)

with

Gain this Machine’s Contents.

If “Fairer Farming” passed, replace

for each Hot Greenhouse you own, gain a Crop corresponding to the Seed last used to activate it, plus a Seed of the type last used to activate it.

with

Effect: for each Hot Greenhouse you own, gain its Seed Contents, plus a Crop corresponding to its Seed Contents.

in “Harvester”, and replace

The type of Seed used to activate this Greenhouse is recorded in parentheses next to this Greenhouse in the list of Machines.

with

None

in “Greenhouse”.

Taking a first stab at a victory mechanic, an arms race to spend the most Prototypes on building a great… something.  Also keywording “amount last used to purchase or activate this Machine” and parenthetical tracking, since this is likely to be the third machine with this mechanic, and probably won’t be the last.

Comments

Clucky: he/him

13-08-2021 17:19:37 UTC

As explained on the other post I’m against this for two reasons

one, it turns a mechanic that only a couple of players are invested in into a victory mechanic. I see no reason to give those players a leg up in terms of victory. you don’t see me proposing “have a lot of big boxes in storage” as a victory mechanic.

secondly, it puts an unfun timer in the game where you basically have to horde prototypes in order to ensure other people don’t win. moreover, its fairly easy to get to the point where you can just do “I won’t block you, split the win 50/50” mechanic.

ais523:

13-08-2021 17:23:33 UTC

Isn’t this likely to end the dynasty immediately? You can get a confederate to make a very small Magnum Opus in order to ensure that someone wins at the end of the cycle, and then if you have even a marginal lead, it’d be you.

A victory mechanic should at least have a lower bound on the number of Prototypes required to win.

ais523:

13-08-2021 17:24:23 UTC

So against because this is vote-locked.

(I think that this could be made into a good victory mechanic with some work. However, I also think that a victory mechanic would be unlikely to pass right now, unless the numbers in it were unattainably high.)

Vovix: he/him

13-08-2021 17:34:55 UTC

“You can get a confederate to make a very small Magnum Opus in order to ensure that someone wins at the end of the cycle, and then if you have even a marginal lead, it’d be you.”

Not sure what you mean. If you’re tied, then nobody wins, and if someone beats you, they need to hold that lead for a turn in order to win.

ais523:

13-08-2021 17:46:41 UTC

Ah right, there’s no reason to get a confederate to make a Magnum Opus, you could just do it yourself.

It does mean that as soon as someone tries to activate the victory condition, though – which could be as soon as this proposal passes – that’s it, and even a marginal lead will be enough to win, with a tie being the only thing that can keep the dynasty running another cycle. Stopping the victory, under these rules, is just as expensive as attaining one.

Trapdoorspyder: he/him

14-08-2021 00:12:59 UTC

against I don’t want the dynasty to end this soon.

lemon: she/her

14-08-2021 01:17:16 UTC

against i like the Contents rules but the victory mechanic feels too achievable too soon

Kevan: he/him

14-08-2021 09:05:21 UTC

against

Bucky:

14-08-2021 20:21:07 UTC

against

Janet: she/her

15-08-2021 04:20:04 UTC

against