Post by Joe the Revelator on Apr 18, 2015 10:59:33 GMT
Full Title: The Negotiator - How A Professional Dominated Twilight Imperium
Looking for help with peer editing for the introduction, and ideas for future interview-style articles.
A friend mine recently won his first-ever game of Twilight Imperium, against hardcore gaming PAX-rats who get into game betas before the code is even finished.
Well, to be fair it was his second game, but the first didn't involve politics or anything not related to blowing the shit out of starships. Which is to say, his real-life skills never had their time to shine. You see, my friend is a professional manager/negotiator for contractors under major outlet stores. When a burly suspender-snapping, beer-guzzling, cement-hauling craftsman has to be called to fix a crater where the family Humvee mistook a store's wall for a drive-through, my friend is the one making that call.
For the sake of anonymity, and because it's really damn easy to find him on Google or Linkedn, we're going to call him Brian. Also because his job is basically to convince hard working contractors to do the job for cheap while his company rakes in the difference. So his other title could be lovingly called Right Hand of Satan. So feel free to direct all of your hate-mail at the pseudonym Brian. Because fuck that guy.
Joe the Revelator: How would you say you use negotiation at your job?
Brian (Last Name Omitted Out Of Laziness): I convince people it's in their best interest to do things for me-- free of charge.
Joe: Sending contractors out to make estimates, that sort of thing?
Brian: Yah.
Joe: What's the biggest client you've negotiated on behalf of?
Brian: Family Dollar. Which is also Dollar Tree. They merged.
Joe: How many times have you played Twilight Imperium?
Brian: Twice.
Joe: Which did you win?
Brian: The second one. It involved real negotiation, and a diplomatic council.
Joe: And your skills came into play?
Brian: Yah. There wasn't really any negotiation in the first. More like Starcraft. You're familiar with Starcraft? No BS, HF etc. The second [Twilight Imperium] game was more interesting.
Joe: And you won? How experienced are you with the game?
Brian: I couldn't tell you the rules if I tried. I didn't study the book. I didn't know the lore. Which would have helped to know what my enemies were capable of, I'm sure.
Joe: What real-life skill would you attribute to your success?
Brian: Deceit. I would say what won me the game was convincing everyone I wasn't a threat-- that I didn't have a chance at winning.
Joe: How many players were you able to fool?
Brian: 6 of 8 at the table. The ones I didn't fool, I formed non-aggression pacts with. It wasn't until 10 minutes before I won that anyone asked how many victory points I had. They never even looked.
Joe: What race did you play?
Brian: The turtle people.
(Editor's note: according to BoardGameGeek, the Xxcha are the most diplomatically inclined race, and are often under-estimated)
Joe: What was the best un-truth you used?
Brian: I would have to say convincing the group my secret objective was to take Mecatol Rex (a capitol). I made a B-Line for Mecatol, kept my army small, and voted for all the popular laws that came into play. Basically I sided with whatever popular votes or trends hit the table.
Joe: What was your real objective?
Brian: Hold 6 planets with a technology specialty.
Joe: You mentioned earlier you had to deflect attention in a... social way. Explain.
Brian: We had a diplomatic council, where we had to flip over assassins first. Two of the players made a pact to kill the front-runner's ambassador. Despite two or three of us being involved, only one of the guilty players [not myself] took the blame and later hostility.
Joe: What was the response to your victory?
Brian: [Laughing] They were shocked.
Joe: How many players seemed blind-sided?
Brian: I'd say five of them.
Joe: For anyone entering a diplomatic game as a first-time player, what winning advice would you offer?
Brian: If you wanna keep your head, keep it down. The reason everyone else lost is because they were busy building armies and outplaying each other. I was the only one who completed their preliminary objective. I was not a threat until I beat them. Of course, this won't work with the same group again.
Joe: Excellent. Thanks for answering a few questions.
Brian: No problem.
Looking for help with peer editing for the introduction, and ideas for future interview-style articles.
A friend mine recently won his first-ever game of Twilight Imperium, against hardcore gaming PAX-rats who get into game betas before the code is even finished.
Well, to be fair it was his second game, but the first didn't involve politics or anything not related to blowing the shit out of starships. Which is to say, his real-life skills never had their time to shine. You see, my friend is a professional manager/negotiator for contractors under major outlet stores. When a burly suspender-snapping, beer-guzzling, cement-hauling craftsman has to be called to fix a crater where the family Humvee mistook a store's wall for a drive-through, my friend is the one making that call.
For the sake of anonymity, and because it's really damn easy to find him on Google or Linkedn, we're going to call him Brian. Also because his job is basically to convince hard working contractors to do the job for cheap while his company rakes in the difference. So his other title could be lovingly called Right Hand of Satan. So feel free to direct all of your hate-mail at the pseudonym Brian. Because fuck that guy.
Joe the Revelator: How would you say you use negotiation at your job?
Brian (Last Name Omitted Out Of Laziness): I convince people it's in their best interest to do things for me-- free of charge.
Joe: Sending contractors out to make estimates, that sort of thing?
Brian: Yah.
Joe: What's the biggest client you've negotiated on behalf of?
Brian: Family Dollar. Which is also Dollar Tree. They merged.
Joe: How many times have you played Twilight Imperium?
Brian: Twice.
Joe: Which did you win?
Brian: The second one. It involved real negotiation, and a diplomatic council.
Joe: And your skills came into play?
Brian: Yah. There wasn't really any negotiation in the first. More like Starcraft. You're familiar with Starcraft? No BS, HF etc. The second [Twilight Imperium] game was more interesting.
Joe: And you won? How experienced are you with the game?
Brian: I couldn't tell you the rules if I tried. I didn't study the book. I didn't know the lore. Which would have helped to know what my enemies were capable of, I'm sure.
Joe: What real-life skill would you attribute to your success?
Brian: Deceit. I would say what won me the game was convincing everyone I wasn't a threat-- that I didn't have a chance at winning.
Joe: How many players were you able to fool?
Brian: 6 of 8 at the table. The ones I didn't fool, I formed non-aggression pacts with. It wasn't until 10 minutes before I won that anyone asked how many victory points I had. They never even looked.
Joe: What race did you play?
Brian: The turtle people.
(Editor's note: according to BoardGameGeek, the Xxcha are the most diplomatically inclined race, and are often under-estimated)
Joe: What was the best un-truth you used?
Brian: I would have to say convincing the group my secret objective was to take Mecatol Rex (a capitol). I made a B-Line for Mecatol, kept my army small, and voted for all the popular laws that came into play. Basically I sided with whatever popular votes or trends hit the table.
Joe: What was your real objective?
Brian: Hold 6 planets with a technology specialty.
Joe: You mentioned earlier you had to deflect attention in a... social way. Explain.
Brian: We had a diplomatic council, where we had to flip over assassins first. Two of the players made a pact to kill the front-runner's ambassador. Despite two or three of us being involved, only one of the guilty players [not myself] took the blame and later hostility.
Joe: What was the response to your victory?
Brian: [Laughing] They were shocked.
Joe: How many players seemed blind-sided?
Brian: I'd say five of them.
Joe: For anyone entering a diplomatic game as a first-time player, what winning advice would you offer?
Brian: If you wanna keep your head, keep it down. The reason everyone else lost is because they were busy building armies and outplaying each other. I was the only one who completed their preliminary objective. I was not a threat until I beat them. Of course, this won't work with the same group again.
Joe: Excellent. Thanks for answering a few questions.
Brian: No problem.
