BIDDING FOR WORLD DOMINATION
BUYING YOUR EMPIRE IN HISTORY OF THE WORLD
By Paul Rice
from THE GENERAL, 29, #1, pp 26-27.
The concept of bidding for Empires is not a new notion. A similar system was considered early during the Avalon Hill development of HOTW. Our motivation, like the author's, was to increase the skill element of the game. We decided against it, however, because it added complexity and increased playing time at the expense of the game 's strong suit: its remarkable simplicity. However, for those who want to add more skill to the outcome, the addition of`a bidding system is a solid variation. I'm not surprised that the first "tweaking" of the game to appear in The GENERAL embraces it.
One of the most often heard complaints about History of the World is that it has too much luck. A good portion of this luck involves the distribution of empires in the beginning of each epoch. However, by opening up each empire to each player through competitive bids, we give the players significantly more control over selection of their empires, and eliminate the previous inequities one sees in the distribution of empire cards.
The basic concept is that before each Epoch the players bid for the empire they want. The mechanism is sealed bids, using Victory Points (VPs) as the currency. The rules are structured so as to encourage competitive bidding and reward reasonable risk taking. Bidding takes place in rounds until each player has an empire for the upcoming epoch.
The more players you have, the higher the bidding will be (supply and demand), and of course the lower the resulting Victory Points will be. Before each epoch, each player bids on each of the seven (or six) empires available in that epoch. He may bid as many points as he wishes. The minimum bid is an empire's Strength Points (SPs), although a bid of zero is permissible, and means the player has no interest in that empire (at least for this bidding round--there is the remote chance he may end up with it after all). Fractions are not allowed. On a piece of paper with each empire listed, each player writes down a number next to each empire, which is his bid, folds the paper and submits it to one player who is designated as Game Master (GM) for this procedure. After all players have submitted bids (and don't allow more than three minutes for this), the GM opens the papers and announces the bids. Each player will claim one, and only one, empire.
Selection Process---
Determining who claims which empire:
In practice most epochs can be resolved using the following simple matrix procedure. After collecting the bids, the GM makes a matrix of all the bids (it is convenient to use rows for the empires and columns for the players). Look for the highest number in the matrix. That player gets that empire. Cross out that player's column and that empire's row. Look again for the highest bid, and continue repeating the procedure until all players have empires. Take a look at chart #1 below for a typical example. We see the matrix after Thor has claimed the Arabs, and Odin the Huns. Their columns and rows are shaded out. Freya will get Tang Dynasty, Hoth the Goths, and Brynhilda the Byzantines. Not surprisingly, every one gets pretty much what they wanted. The detailed rules to cover all possible cases follow.
Detailed Rules:
1. For any given empire, if one player has the highest bid, and does not have the highest bid for any other empire, he claims that empire. He subtracts the number of VPs he bid, and is finished with bidding for this epoch.
2. If one player has the top (untied) bid for more than one empire, he gets the empire for which he bid the higher amount.
a. If he has the highest (untied) bid for more than one empire, and they are the same bid, he gets his choice.
The lower empire is now open to go to the next higher bidder(s). If only one person has the next highest bid, he is the "new highest bidder", and gets that empire as if he was the highest bidder. As each player claims an empire, he is finished with the selection process, and a new player may become the "new highest bidder'. Almost all the empires can be claimed using just rules 1 and 2.
For example, in Epoch II Thor had the highest bids for Persia at 27, and Chou Dynasty at 14. He claims Persia (the higher amount) at a cost of 27 VPs. Odin, who was the second highest bidder for Chou Dynasty at 13 is the "new highest bidder" and claims Chou Dynasty for the price of 13 VPs.
3. For a given empire, if two or more players tie for the top bid, the empire in question goes to the player who has the highest bid for any other empire in the epoch, regardless of whether or not it has been claimed. These secondary empires merely serve as "reference empires". It is possible the other player who was in the tie may now find himself the "new highest bidder" on the reference empire, and claims that respective empire. For example, in Epoch III Freya and Thor are tied for the highest bid for Macedonia at 22 points. But Freya's next highest bid was 35 for Rome, while Thor bid 37 for Rome. (Rome went to Odin for 42.) Thor claims Macedonia, because he took the higher risk.
In another example, in Epoch IV, Odin and Loki are tied for the Arabs at 29. Their second highest bids are also tied with 20 for the Huns. Their third highest bids are still tied: Odin bid 14 for the Tang Dynasty, and Loki bid 14 for the Byzantines. Fortunately, the tie eventually breaks as Odin's next highest bid was 13 for the Byzantines, while Loki's next highest bid was 10 for the Goths (Loki bid zero for the Byzantines.)
Using these simple procedures, in most cases virtually all the bidding can be completed in the first round.
4. In the unlikely event two or more players tie for the top bid for a given empire and tie for all other bids in that epoch (no viable reference' empires), treat this as a "bidding war". In a bidding war, only those players who tied for the top bid for a particular empire may continue to bid for that empire in the next round, and their minimum bid is the previously tied amount. (This does not prevent those players from bidding on other empires in the next round.)
Ties of zero VPs are not considered ties, and the empire remains open for all.
Ties below the top amount are not considered in the bidding war, nor are players whose reference bids are lower than those of the tied players, and these players may no longer bid on this empire.
It's possible two or more players may be tied in a gordian knot bidding war for more than one empire at a time. Just remember that bidding on an empire in a future round is limited to only those players who tied for the highest bid last round, the minimum bid for an empire is its tying bid last round, and no one is excluded from bidding on empire which did not result in a bidding war.
Before going to the second round of bidding, resolve as many empires and players as possible.
Bidding moves to the second round for the epoch, and players without an empire submit their written bids in the same manner for the unclaimed empires. As long as there are two or more players who do not have empires, the bidding continues to a future round. (If two or more players continue to bid the same amount each time and result in a standoff, after three rounds roll dice to see who gets which empire. For being uncooperative, charge these players twice the previous amount bid.)
5. In the unlikely event you finish a bidding round with one remaining player who still does not have an empire, he gets his pick of any remaining empires, and pays the face SP value. No player can take an empire for zero VPs. The lowest amount to claim an empire is the SP values.
This all sounds complicated, but in practice is rather simple. The vast majority of games will not require a second bidding round. Let's take a look I at chart #2 below for an admittedly unrealistic example which covers almost all of the rules. Although Odin and Thor are tied for the Mongols, Odin takes the Mongols because his reference bid of 32 for the Seljuk Turks is higher than any of Thor's. Thor is now tied with Freya and Hoth for the Seljuk Turks at 30. But his reference bid of 60 for the Mongols is higher than either of theirs, and therefore he claims the Seljuk Turks. With identical bids across the board, Freya and Hoth will go to a second round. Because Brynhilda doesn't have the "30, 20, 20" reference bids of Freya and Hoth, she is not in the tie for Holy Roman Empire, and therefore she claims Chola Loki joins in the second round, although he is limited in his bidding to just the Franks and Sung Dynasty.
In the second round Freya takes the Vikings, Hoth the Holy Romans, and Loki the basement bargain hunter gets his choice of the remaining two for cost, and takes the Franks.
Starting Play:
The players subtract their respective VPs (hopefully to be recouped in future epochs) and the epoch begins in the usual fashion. For some players the bids will push them into negative VPs. A simple mechanism for tracking this is to use an army counter as their negative VPs marker. As there is no longer a need to track SPs, they need not be counted.
Considerations:
Bidding brings a whole new level of complexity and subtlety to the simple realm of HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Even as players prepare their first bid they will recognize that now they really can plan their event cards -- the beginning of a strategic campaign. Geographic considerations are of prime concern, and open a new window on tactics. Do you really want another empire in China so soon? Will you have to go through your old empire? Players who conquered well in the previous epoch will probably bid high for the early empires so as to consolidate their points. And no player "gets stuck" with an empire, except perhaps the lowest bidder, who took no risk and gets a just reward. With each empire open to all players, equity is introduced.
An abstract form of economics is introduced. Each player knows he can kick butt with the Romans, but at what cost to get the Romans? Can he do it more profitably than his competition? Bidding low the whole game guarantees you the weakest empires, but if you can rule them more efficiently than your neighbors, perhaps victory awaits.
Gone is the old way where each player only got to look at one card in seven hundred years -- take it or leave it -- and most empires weren't available to the player. Now all the empires of Earth's grand history are open for you to explore, provided of course you are willing to pay the price.
The scores are much lower of course because the minimum bid equals the Strength of the Empire. If competition for the heavy hitters gets out of hand, a negative score can even win the game. With experience though, the optimum score should hover around zero for the majority with the winners in the black.
If you have an extra person to act as fulltime GM, the bids do not have to be announced out loud. The GM need only announce who gets which empire. He can even keep track of the score secretly, displaying it only at the end of each epoch. Keeping the bids secret keeps the game moving by discouraging could-have-been banter, while saving plenty of post-game dissection opportunities.
The greatest thing about bidding for empires though; is eliiminating the ability to blame your failure on the luck of a single card draw. Now you have no one to blame but yourself.
Game Master's Template.
Needs 1 per Epoch. PLAYERS
| Chart #1 | Odin | Thor | Freya | Hoth | Brynhilda | |
| EPOCH IV | RED | ORANGE | GREEN | BLUE | PURPLE | BLACK |
| GUPTAS-8 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |
| GOTHS-10 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 10 | |
| HUNS-14 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 17 | 14 | |
| BYZANTINES-12 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | |
| TANG DYNASTY-11 | 18 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 11 | |
| ARABS-18 | 34 | 37 | 18 | 20 | 18 | |
| KHMERS-5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chart #2 | Odin | Thor | Freya | Hoth | Brynhilda | Loki |
| EPOCH V | RED | ORANGE | GREEN | BLUE | PURPLE | BLACK |
| FRANKS-10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| VIKINGS-9 | 18 | 20 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| HOLY ROMAN-10 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 0 |
| CHOLA-8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| SUNG DYNASTY-9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SELJUK TURKS-12 | 32 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| MONGOLS-20 | 60 | 60 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Round 2 | Odin | Thor | Freya | Hoth | Brynhilda | Loki |
| EPOCH V | RED | ORANGE | GREEN | BLUE | PURPLE | BLACK |
| FRANKS-10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | |||
| VIKINGS-9 | 22 | 20 | 0 | |||
| HOLY ROMAN-10 | 12 | 14 | 0 | |||
| SUNG DYNASTY-9 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
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