On Lazarus neutrality
Game 9/10 (don't ask, it's a complicated situation - what started as game 9 is continuing as game 10) is in round 17 now. Two rule tests were to be in place for this game:
1) Taizu starting with a transport but going a mainland-first strategy. Taizu still end up receiving first elimination (Taizu can't catch any breaks!), but it appears some other ideas are in place for Taizu in future games, so I won't comment further on this.
2) Lazarus was tested under Imp's rule for neutrality. All previous games simply required that Laz make and use all domination rolls. When Laz used a roll against any foreign power he lost neutrality. In this game Lazarus was not required to make all domination rolls, but any successful rolls he did make had to be used. Also, Lazarus was allowed to control a maximum of 12 territories without breaking neutrality. Since I am playing Lazarus in this game and have played against it under the other rule sets I thought I'd comment on it a bit.
Put simply, I do like Imp's rule better. I think the domination ability is similar to Wake's trade ability or to some of the special weapons like nukes, chem attacks, or space flight. In all of these cases the ability or weapon is not neccesarily required to be used every round. If nukes had to be used every round, one might find them somewhat less useful. If you're trying to be friendly with your only neighbors for a time, there is reason to not use your ability or weapon offensively on them. It seems a bit silly that Lazarus should be forced to use his ability all the time. On the other hand, if Lazarus decides to make his rolls, he should certainly be required to use all of the successful ones. One cannot indicate an attack that includes gas and then withdraw the bulk of the attacking forces without following through if the gas roll doesn't quite go the way you want. So I think there is justification for Lazarus to not be required to always make every possible roll.
Further, I think allowing Lazarus to choose when he drops neutrality is also a good thing. It may give Lazarus a touch more power, but so far that hasn't been an issue. Lazarus has yet to win a game I believe, and only in game 3 was he anywhere close to winning. But the ability to choose the time neutrality is lost allows Laz to pursue a couple different strategies. A few that I can think of are:
1) Rush to the 3-away iron mine and attempt to cut off Hydra's ability.
2) Rush to the eye and try to do a fast resource grab.
3) Perform naval blockades of nearby powers.
With the limitations on neutrality, any early-game strategy has an effective time limit on it, and further, the time limit is broken explicitly by a forced attack on another power. All other powers can remain explicitly neutral towards their neighbors as long as they wish. Lazarus should not be forced to attack them either.
Neighboring powers still have the ability to contain Lazarus reasonably effectively. A rush towards Laz's borders will pretty well ensure he does not grow extremely powerful, and both neighbors have the armored unit abilities to ensure their rapid expansion. That said, I think the 12 territory limit is a good idea as well. In general, every power can get to arround 16 territories before running into his neighbors. The 12 territory limit means that Lazarus must be willing to forgoe economic power if he wishes to remain peaceful for too long. This prevents him from grabbing large quantities of resource-rich land and sitting under a blanket of neutrality while purchasing techs and building an unstoppable army. When everyone else on the map has an average of 21 territories, Lazarus is effectively giving up 6+ MP per turn to retain neutrality. This becomes much worse if military cloning can be purchased, as Laz's oil supply is rarely very large (other powers can easily cut off the derrick-based oil supply by stationing a ship there - Laz is forced to either attack the ship to gain control, or simply forgoe the oil) and even with half-priced techs, cloning is not easy to get. Arguably the limit could be increased to 16 territories, but generally every nation plateus at about 16 territories (there are 108 mainland territories, which gives just over 16 per power), hence limiting Laz to 12 forces him to give something up to retain neutrality.
The ability to choose the time of war gives Laz breathing room to prepare forces to fend off his two powerful neighbors and time to negotiate with other foreign powers for aid before neutrality has to be broken.
Hence, I think Laz should remain neutral until he controls more than 12 territories or uses a domination roll against a foreign power. He can make up to one domination roll for every four territories he controls, but all successful rolls must be used. This allows Lazarus a greater range of options and more control over his destiny without increasing his overall power.
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