> > This is after all a very serious bug, you can destroy an entire faction
> > just by holding
> > nobles with contract or fear-contracts prisoner for a few turns.
> >
>
> I vote it stays the way it is. Its a built-in risk factor for not oathing
> your nobles. But you still lose all the invested noble points minus one if
> the noble dies, oathed or not you say? Another built-in risk factor. Give
> all your nobles Fight to the Death and Survive Fatal Wound, then take care
> of them. Getting a noble killed off is supposed to hurt. I know this
> opinion is probably in the minority, but I like it the way it is.
Thankfully, this isn't a vote.
The problem with your thinking is that the players that made the decision to
oath, not oath, contract, not contract, terrorize or not terrorize did so
knowing the rules as they were spelled out. To change them now (by ignoring
the bug) changes the facts the players had at their disposal at the time the
decision was made.
In other words,
On turn 10 I formed a noble, and as his contract ran low I had to make a
decision. After reading the rules I decided to keep him contract.
But, if the rules actually reflected the bug, then I may not have (probably
wouldn't have) made the same decision.
If you want to advocate changing the rule for FUTURE nobles, then you may have
a leg to stand on. But changing the rule and punishing factions with nobles
formed and contracted under the assumption that the written rules were
actually true should not even be considered.
You also refer to teaching the noble SFW or Fight to the Death. I don't think
you understand the problem. The problem isn't that the nobles are dieing in
combat, the problem is that their contract is running out and the noble
deserts the faction. SFW or FttD would do nothing to help you out.
This is not about "getting a noble killed off". I've had contract nobles die
in combat and I get the NP back. But I've also had a contract noble desert,
then die, and I don't get the NP back. Where's the balance there? When a
noble dies, no matter what the circumstances, you should get the NP back.
That is the rule.
Eric the Seehawk