Halt!

[ernieschwitz]

I am still thinking, haven´t decided completely what to do with the GD 1938 mod yet, as for developement. However, I have posted the latest version, the one with intimidation and bigger minors in the scenario bank. It is version 221r.

[Bombur]

I also asked ernie if I could make minor developments in GD1938 (comabt system, new SFT´s and other stuff) and he allowed me to do it.

Some extra comments
Jeffrey: Put a penalty on making peace would no doubt kill the "bug" (which is not a bug from my POV), but would also need to put a diplomatic block in all regimew thus needing a complete overhaul of the diplomatic system
IronDuke: House rules are optional, they can or cannot ve followed by the players, depending on the agreement they have. I strongly suggest we should not allow a player to DOW himself. From my POV, this is the only house rule we need. It doesn´t completely avoid the risks of phony wars, but reduce them, by, say, 75%. And a gentlemen agreement is all you need to have it implemented. You don´t need even one line of code. I fail to understand why this rule is not being followed. Of course, the game is still playable without it, but it´s less funny.

[Twotribes]

No one declared war on themselves, the argument is that an ally attacks your most favored country and you make peace with him after the conquest.

[Bombur]

This seems fair to me, I thought some players had wars with themselves....

[Twotribes]

If you attack a country that favors you I am pretty sure it goes to the next senior person that it likes.

[GrumpyMel]

Never played GD but as someone that has done a bit of scenario design I can say with a fair bit of confidence that there is no way any game or any scenario can prevent, what might be envisioned by the designer or players, as "gamey/exploitative" behavior. That can be frustrating for the designer and many players but someone will always find a way to do something that is outside of the design intent. That doesn't mean the scenario/game is broken, nor should it reflect unfavorably upon it or the designer. Especially someone as talented and devoted as Ernie and a scenario that has gotten the vast majority of play here...as GD has. Ernie really deserves a prize for developing a scenario that is so popular and extensively played.

IMO, the only thing you can ultimately do about "gamey/exploitative" behavior is to let the players set "House Rules" for a particular game and then decide what to do about another player breaking them. If there is an easy fix, sure make it....but it's not worth your time trying to bang your head against the wall to chase after fixes to all such behavior. Your very considerable development talents, Ernie, I'm sure could be put to better use.

I know the scenario's I developed really needed House Rules to play the way I really intended them. There were even things that I knew how to fix in that regard...but it really wasn't worth the devotion of time when compared to improving other aspects of the scenario. If players choose to play a particular game using the suggested "House Rules" awesome... if they don't that is fine too. As long as all players are on the same page as far as the rules to be used in a given game and everyone knows what the consequences of that will be. As a designer, all you can do is suggest what will make for the best play experience for players to play the scenario in accordance with it's design intent. If you've done that, then you've done your job. YMMV.

[ernieschwitz]

Thanks for that GrumpyMel. I have had some of the same thoughts, recently, but you nailed it. So I have decided to just take a break from developing GD for a while. I want to that I am sorry if this has scared anyone from playing the mod, and caused a bad feeling in the community. That was not my intention.

I was trying to protect my work, and I guess I went a little over board. Or in other words I overreacted. Of course people can play any way that they want to, and while it was my intention to try and call to attention a problem, that made me feel bad, I shouldn´t try to influence games in progress.

So, I am sorry, and I forgive people, if they need it, for playing the game the way they want, even if it is in a way i do not condone, or intend.