Avoiding Elimination in Multiplayer Wargames

Cheers to you too,
Well basically there should be some kind of a reward that the beaten player gets which would basically help him come back to play.
Once a player has achieved his target for a opressor or overlord
he could basically lookout for other back stabs along the board till he reaches a point where he can come back to play.

Pelpo ur insight on history was really interesting!

I am also working on an epic empire game and have a similar desire to prevent players from being eliminated.

One simple way is to have each player begin with a home territory. This territory can be attacked by other players and can even be controlled by other players. But the player who makes that territory his home can always build troops there, no matter what. This way, he can always initiate battle to regain that territory.

To make this possible, I have a simple mechanic in place that gives players with fewer armies on the board more action points. Action points can then be used to build armies. Here's how it works. Each player has the same limited supply of armies and for every army in a player's supply (i.e., not on the board), that player receives one action point. It is basically a way to simulate troop maintenance without each player having to count his armies on the board and pay for those armies. With this system, a player who has had his armies wiped out will receive a lot more action points because all of his armies are now in his supply. This gives a beaten-down player the ability to come back and also makes it more difficult for players with all of their armies on the board to maintain their dominance.

Another simple way is what is done in Struggle of Empires. In that game, players simply cannot attack another player's home territory. That way, a player always has a territory and cannot be eliminated. Although that game is not really an epic empire game, it does offer a simple solution to player elimination.

Sometimes new blood/fresh opinions and angles from left field are appreciated... so lets try this out for size...

I dont care for the idea of merging or joining for two reasons on both sides... if I lose, I dont wanna work with the person who decimated me, i have better things to do. If I am winning i actually dont want to absorb or have to collaborate with the loser, I mean, I am doing just fine decimating the planet without his help... ahem... (you get the idea)

Now, I noticed lots of references in this thread to wars and empires throughout actual earthen history, but I believe you mentioned your game was Fantasy... if it truly is... then I like this idea...

This doubles as a great thing to keep a losing eliminated player playing, and as a very cool catastrophic strategy busting timed event.

The first player eliminated initiates the RISE OF THE OGRES phase, or THE REVENGE OF THE DARK ELVES phase or the AWAKENING OF THE DRAGON phase...

The losing player is done, kaput, but immediately re-enters the game with an entirely new unrelated role, leading a group of fantasy beings/monsters who have been stirred from their slumber/habbitat by the thunderous war ravaging their once peaceful countryside.

A new race/troop type is introduced at a set (or surprise random) designation(s) - and may freely attack and wreak general havoc on any and all remaining players.

This event could turn the tide for an underdog emporer player or topple a dominate usurper...

This *event race/monster* neednt be all powerful, just enough to shake things up a bit, or perhaps get a foothold on some territory that has been ignored by a greedy tyrant, and pose a dangerous threat that must be dealt with by remaining players.

There may be some over thinking going on, let me reign my concept back in and ground its impact on players a hair here...

You will have this exact dilemma with ANY *loser keeps playing* option you chose that doesnt involve them merging, its what you wanted.

This adds another level of strategy and decision making... you are about to finish off this weakling race, but there are rumors of an advancing Army of Hill Giants, and the sky is blackening... maybe you should back off a bit for now, etc.

Also gives the losing player a little protection buffer... theres a chance he'll stop pounding on me so not to activate the catastrophe phase, and I can get ahead a bit.

Well I may or may not, but that wasnt your initial concern, your goal was *to create a way for eliminated players to keep going and not sit on the sidelines* - so you are making that decision for them before the game begins. ANY option you chose forces the player to *start again* in some form or another.

I personally think its a non issue, if your base game or initial empires are interesting diverse and fun enough, no one will set out with this intention. BUT even if they do its simply another strategy for everyone to consider and the *event monsters* will simply enter the game quicker... I'm not seeing the downside to this. "Bob always loses and comes in as The Lizardmen quite early" should be the same as "Steve always kicks butt at his empire building and wins"

Remember, the winning conditions will be set for the main human(oid) races, the losing player cant win, only wreak some havoc/bring you down.

by multiple empires I am assuming you mean losing and then merging into anothers players forces or rising from the ahses so to speak... Again everyone, if your base game is set up right, is going to try and rock their empire, but, someone will ALWAYS come up lagging behind and losing, no matter how you slice it, even with NO loser keep playing option, someone will have gotten into the game, into their empire and still... lose. You wanted the loser keep playing option. Again, the event monster race will not function like the standard base empire, more of an advancing roving army, etc... maybe units cant be replenished and a few other tidbits...

As far as all the *will it work* and *will players play hard* - I hope I shed some light on that... also bare in mind a tiny german (italian?) game called Gladiator where the first eliminated combatant activated the opening of a gate which released loser controlled wild animals into the arena. Flipping brilliant, and no one ever played any less hard, its just there when someone inevitably loses.

I may have something....

Perhaps the *awakened fantasy monster troops* are all territorial based...

When the first empire comes crashing down:

A band of Hill Giants descends from the mountians in the North
A clan of High Elves emerge from the forests of the East
An army of skeleton warriors crawl from their desert graves in the West
A giant three-headed Dragon screams out of the black sky in the South

The losing player controls all of the Event Monster Troops who all awaken from the battle on their homeland, these troops need to be balanced and not uber powerful, AND... they MUST stay in their own general area (territory or group of territorys.) This of course can easily and comfortably be explained away in a fantasy universe (The ancient beings powers derrive from their homelands)

I think that would solve it, so the first losing player must keep his new role Monster troops in their separate home/birth areas (or whatever) - therefore he is compelled to attack whoever happens to be in whatever area - and if no one is in that territory where he awakened, well, its suddenly gonna be a whole heck of a lot harder for the Empire Human player to take it for himself! ("say hello to my little friend... GROM the Mountian Giant Chieftan!")

You may see player alliances form to take the Monster Troops out of a territory, and then they can stab eachother in the back and claim it for themselves of course.

Again, I would have more fun activating and playing an entirely independant role and phase of the game than trying in some way to regroup or reform based on my previous life/empire/troops (and poor performance)...

Diggin' it...