[JimMorrison]

Hah Max, I wasn't intending to claim that there are no random factors in the game (Luck scale, anyone? Would you like barbarians with that?), but simply that these random factors become inherently inconsequential in the face of a "final cataclysmic battle". Yes, obviously DRN is capable of doing anything it wants to, I still remember one of the first threads I read on this forum (long before I registered) about someone losing their Cyclops or other SC pretender, to a single flagellant scoring two critical hits. But that is a REMOTE possibility, nowhere near the order of a 50% chance of things happening one way or another. Even taking into account all of the many DRN rolls in an enormous battle, statistical probabilities will bring them closer to a predetermined outcome the larger the battle becomes - the difference being the spin that the players place on the factors that CAN be directly controlled. All other meaningful random factors in the game are, through recruitment, equipment, or scripting choices, mutable by the player. Adding in a straight 50% variable that can in no way be influenced, only serves to break stalemates that I have already postulated to be caused by human error in game setup - at the expense of reducing the level of strategy demanded in the other 99% of confrontations that will happen during the game.


And Iron, as I said, I think the mundane troops (all non-casting movement) should be done with defender first as it is now, and alternating as a whole, as is currently done. I was just suggesting that rather than randomizing the entire initiative (and crippling strategic choice, as well as removing defender advantage), that perhaps the spellcasting could be interleaved, which would serve to actually add a strategic element based on what is known about caster ID and such, where the player who is relying on the larger communion will take longer to get the spell off, etc.

But at the same time, to make that work the best, you would need to be able to set your casting order, so you don't get some fruitcake popping up with an Air Shield or a Flying Shards, costing you the loss of the game-deciding battle.