The New Set-Up Review Thread

[Who]

I've got an idea for a game and would like advice on it.

The setup as I think it will be right now:
1 Polygamist Cult Leader with Daytalk (If they or anyone they recruit dies, the town wins, they are free to recruit one person at night but can always not recruit if they want. I'm trying to make it so that not recruiting is an option they should seriously consider)
8 VTs
Open
Daystart

I need advice on:
The size (Went with 9 because Micro, not sure if it would be better with less/more)
Whether or not I should add a few PRs (And, if I do, should I make the setup closed or leave it open?)

[Who]

Thanks for the advice.

My problem with Alarmist is that I don't think it will do much, especially if it's the only PR. It's a named townie so no matter what it has that, but given the cult and the polygamist, I think who is recruited will depend more on who the cult leader is than on any information the Alarmist has access to. It might deter the cult from any obvious town leader, but even if it does it's job perfectly callforjudgement is right in that all that does is force a slightly worse but not bad strategy.

What if I put in a mason group of 2? (Know that the other is not the cult leader, can talk to each other, can be recruited)
Then if the cult leader went without recruiting/waited too long, the masons would control the town and the leader would be in a bad position.

[Who]

Make a anti-cult doctor would be my suggestion (can block the recruit essentially) this gets rid of most of the problems with the setup in my opinion (can't bring LYLO a day ahead as easily, can't just recruit the towniest of the town.)

That role's called Alarmist, and I guess it would help (scum would be more inclined to recruit earlier than later if they knew their recruitment wouldn't be guaranteed, meaning choices would become more meaningful). However, the problem still remains that scum's best strategy is to recruit on N2 or not at all (with both having the same EV). If scum attempts to recruit on N2, then if it works, fine, if it doesn't work (say you hit an alarmed player), still fine, you just don't recruit and go for the solo win. And you still don't have a groupscum team until D3. The only real change adding an Alarmist does, then, is to increase town win rate slightly due to the chance that scum miss with their recruit when it's 1:3 or 2:4 overnight, a 33% or 25% chance respectively (recruiting successfully wins scum the game in those settings, so they have no reason to do anything but randomize their target, or aim for a claimed Alarmist if there is one).

I think it changes the optimal strategy more then what your giving it credit for, though it does seem to be very powerful at stopping the win from being a day early (is that even all that bad?)

I would say it is bad if it turns endgame into a game of chance.

Thanks for the advice.

My problem with Alarmist is that I don't think it will do much, especially if it's the only PR. It's a named townie so no matter what it has that, but given the cult and the polygamist, I think who is recruited will depend more on who the cult leader is than on any information the Alarmist has access to. It might deter the cult from any obvious town leader, but even if it does it's job perfectly callforjudgement is right in that all that does is force a slightly worse but not bad strategy.

What if I put in a mason group of 2? (Know that the other is not the cult leader, can talk to each other, can be recruited)
Then if the cult leader went without recruiting/waited too long, the masons would control the town and the leader would be in a bad position.

Alarmist also means more trust in the townies at all times (your not about to start distrusting the towniest guy because night just went by.)

The problem i see occuring with a masonry is basically, if you recruit one, the other is essentially recruited for you (because they would generally trust each other.)

If they knew the other could be recruited, why would they? I thought it would be more of a liability than an asset to recruit one because the neighbors aspect makes them more able to determine the other's alignment than that of a regular townie.