Post by Joe the Revelator on Apr 26, 2015 7:46:43 GMT
Author: Joe the Revelator
Category: Tabletop Gaming
Sub Category: Tales of Adventure
Word Count: 746
Preferred Post: Monday or Thursday main article
Title: The Negotiator - How A Professional Dominated Twilight Imperium
A friend of mine with zero tabletop experience recently won his first game of Twilight Imperium. He was playing against hardcore gamers-- PAX-rats who get into betas before the code is even finished. And he didn’t just hold his own. He dominated.
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. This zero-politics game style is a great disservice to my friend.
You see, my friend is a professional manager/negotiator for contractors under major outlet stores. When a surly suspender-snapping, beer-guzzling, cement-hauling bricklayer has to be hired to fix the crater where a family Humvee mistook the 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, we're going to call him Brian. We’re also using a pseudonym because his job is to basically convince hard working contractors to do repairs 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 toward this mythical “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, H-F 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.
Category: Tabletop Gaming
Sub Category: Tales of Adventure
Word Count: 746
Preferred Post: Monday or Thursday main article
Title: The Negotiator - How A Professional Dominated Twilight Imperium
A friend of mine with zero tabletop experience recently won his first game of Twilight Imperium. He was playing against hardcore gamers-- PAX-rats who get into betas before the code is even finished. And he didn’t just hold his own. He dominated.
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. This zero-politics game style is a great disservice to my friend.
You see, my friend is a professional manager/negotiator for contractors under major outlet stores. When a surly suspender-snapping, beer-guzzling, cement-hauling bricklayer has to be hired to fix the crater where a family Humvee mistook the 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, we're going to call him Brian. We’re also using a pseudonym because his job is to basically convince hard working contractors to do repairs 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 toward this mythical “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, H-F 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.