War in the Palace

[Trojan Horse]

Why give the two factions names at all? Why give the guards a chance to massclaim "Team Alpha" or "Team Beta"? How about this instead:

You are a

Guard

. XXXX is your King. You win the game if your King is alive, the enemy King is dead, and the Anarchist is dead. If your King dies you will immediately commit suicide out of shame. Use your vote to figure out who is on your side and weed out the rest.

And change the other PMs similarly.

[Trojan Horse]

Question: what do you guys want to happen if the anarchist is lynched, and he misses both kings?

With the anarchist gone, everyone could then massclaim who their king is, and then the side in the majority would automatically win. I'm sure everyone would think that a massclaim would be the best move, since by definition, everyone would have better than a 50-50 chance of being in the majority at that point.

Perhaps, if the anarchist is killed, the kings should then both be given a bomb. Each can use their bomb at any time to try to kill the enemy king. That'll stop the massclaim. (Not sure if the king should be allowed to use it while he is being lynched, like the anarchist can with his bombs.)

[Trojan Horse]

Correct me if I'm wrong:

The only difference between the two scenarios is that, in the second, the assassin may play on if he has used up both kills and at least one king is still alive. And if the assassin reaches endgame with no guards alive, then the assassin wins, despite having no kills left.

If I'm understanding correctly, then the first scenario (where the assassin loses if he has no kills left) is the way to go. Otherwise, this may happen:

Three player endgame. King, guard, and assassin left. If the assassin still has a kill, then he has the game won; he just needs to use that kill on whoever he wants. If he kills the king, great. If he kills the guard, then he's left alive with the king, and he still wins. The assassin can't go wrong in that situation.

No. If the assassin has used both kills, and at least one king is still alive, the assassin should die.

[Trojan Horse]

Yeah, I think shaft.ed has it right here. I can't think of any situation where it's advantageous for the assassin to make a kill early. So we might as well forbid him to kill until he is lynched.

Unless the assassin is alive with one or both kings, and no guards are left. Then the assassin shoots the kings automatically, of course.