Posted by Proud Blade on September 12, 1999 at 09:49:22:

In Reply to: Re: and has anything changed? posted by Observing Observer on September 12, 1999 at 08:27:11:

> > Empire has once again wrested power from the other cabals and is now dominant. So, with that, it's time to start complaining about Centurions.

> > Yes they're all over Eastern Road. Yes they're all over Balator and Imperial Road. Yes you either have to pay, take the oath, or take another route. yes you have to pay, take the oath, or take another route even if they're sleeping. It's been this way for a long time, and I'm fairly certain it'll continue to be this way.

> Has anything changed with the Empire? If it's that much
> harder to become a citizen why are there so many? Where
> was the change we were supposed to see? If it's there
> maybe it's not evident to me.

The recent numbers are the result of having four very active leaders.
And a fifth who's around less. Trust me, plenty of anathema have
been named to thin out that herd, some of them quite high level.

Also, it's momentum. When Masters is dominant, you can do pretty well
by just not attacking Masters. When Empire is dominant, they expect
you to Oath, and quickly. Once they've gotten that from you, it's
easy to motivate you towards Citizenship, since no other cabal will take
you, and you have all the same enemies as a BloodOath to begin with.
Right now, Empire not only has a solid core group, but there's a
good spread of levels (15-51) and classes (excepting druids and rangers only)
around to put pressure on any enemy. Ugly, nasty five-on-one type pressure.
Summoned with two sets of centurions on each side, and slept/jacked/strangled
before you can move kind of pressure. One Citizen spots you ranking and four
sectmates come to kill and loot your whole group. Scary stuff.

And from what I've seen, they're not hordes of clueless goons either. Sure, there's
a few goons mixed in, but they're not in the majority these days.

I tend to agree about the centurions, though. There's some potential for abuse, with
level 4's running amuck through Imperial Lands, looking for dropped stuff during a raid.
On the other hand, Centurions are really rough on newbies, who are often quite proud to be
able to pay their way through a set, then get stuck between pair #4 and #5 of 10, and forced
to recall. Since they can't hope to fight their way through (very weak centurions are level
20-25 or so), it would be nice to let newbies walk past.

But not ghosts. I'm glad the centurions stop those. Keeps a sense of control for the Empire
when their enemies can't even get to the Palace if they wanted to. Also solves the problem of
five ghosts hanging around waiting for the sixth body to fall, leaving little for the actual
survivors who deserve it.

> Is the orb of magic once again excluded from imperial
> tyranny.

> Last whine I have is why can't newbies pass through the
> damn centurions. If you aren't in pk, you shouldn't have
> to pay (newbies that is).

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