Cap all cabals at 20 members. This might help to even out cabal wars a bit since someone might consider rolling something like a tribunal or nexan if they know they going to be waiting a month to get in Fort or Outlander.

To implement Give leaders offline uninduct. Get rid or Empire auto induct, and maybe up the perks on pledging a bit (I.e. Give outlander apps harvest or things like that).

If your the type of person who just really enjoys having 10 allies in your PK, roll an orc, which would remain uncapped. They are supposed to have a hoarde mentality anyway.

Agree on offline induct. People should NOT be auto-deleting caballed characters, especially when cabal numbers are already restricted.

Disagree completely on limiting cabal numbers from where they are.
It's not about total numbers anyway, it's about 2-3 hero chars who know what they are doing active regularly at overlapping times, which (judging from a number of posted dios logs) is happening with some frequency.

More importantly, if you increase competition for more limited cabal spots, newbs would not be able to get in at all -- every cabal would be like Scion is now. Although not a newb, I'm enough of a gradually improving scrub that I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get in and I'd probably stop playing myself.

Edit. At the time of this writing this post, the game looked like this. And this time is during "Baer/Fort o'clock." Are you really complaining there isn't enough Empire?

<28 Human Shf> (PK) Dumbaleceql the Student of Form
< 2 H-Drw War> Xyrakei the Conscript
<18 Duerg War> Regvar the Overseer, Sheathed Blade
<27 Gnome Shf> (PK) Jojain the Elder Shapeshifter
<11 Min War> Zeshtarek the Bodyguard
<10 Human Bar> Nalavi the Troubadour
<50 Mummy Nec> Vhateel the Mummy
<42 Human A-P> Madoc the Evil King, Elite Imperial Warlock
<25 D-Elf Nec> (PK) Wiloynr the Apprentice Animator
<28 Ctaur Bar> (PK) Agrius the Hymnist
<31 Gnome Shf> (PK) Jumentis the Master of Levitation
<23 Min War> (PK) Drogaia the Sentinel, Sheathed Blade
<47 Felar War> Howell the Champion of Warfare, Imperial War Master
< 1 Gnome Shf> Soagleh the Apprentice of Magic
<31 D-Elf Ran> (PK) Sezze the Spelunker
< 4 Human Asn> Aliciya the Yellow Belt
<14 Min War> Milon the Mercenary
<27 H-Drw War> (PK) Fessara the Dragoon, Village Applicant
< 1 Fire Sha> Bahromak the Believer
<23 Human Ran> Chulgromlei the Feral
<29 Arial War> (PK) Onoremos the Combatant, Sheathed Blade
<51 Arial Shf> Granje the Grand Master of Changelings

I think its very balanced right now, the sway of power pretty much goes from side to side like it should. The nexuns and villagers are there to mix it up and scions for the occasional butchering, the tree is strong but Ive went up against 3 or 4 imperials with only one or two outlanders on several occasions. If this is aimed at the outlander cabal its highly unjustified.

Not reaLly directed at outlander, although they have been the big boys on the block lately (I would say fort is the little sister at the moment).

In a week or two, we will likely be bitching about the EMPIRE/TRIBUNAL gangs. It seems when power swings, it tends to happen very quickly and dramatically. It will still be a case of haves and have nots, just on the other side.

I would say the sheer number of Empire/Trib/Outie deletes the last week would indicate a lot of people are not having fun. I also think Nexas went from about 25 members to 14 pretty fast.

For me the sweet spot is around 3-5 vs 3-5 when no one is really strong enough to take the other items, but know it varies for everyone.

However, the newbie argument has swayed me to think caps are a bad idea.

Thats the way of things, ones strong the others strong, people burn out those true to their roots as a character flourish and those who don't want to play the cabal don't. If they don't like one they play another, if they hold a vengeance against someone and choose to role a char to strike said vengeance... well then by gods let them do it. Its a show to the natural balance things seem to keep on their own. Regardless of how many spirempirefugees there are.

I disagree with the notion that balance should be the end-all, be-all, goal. Imbalances and periods of feast and famine in power means things are dynamic. Cycles of power inspire players to strut and fret their hour on the stage before they are heard no more, yadda yadda, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

In short, it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but it sure makes good drama. So do great leaders, abysmal leaders, powerhouse characters, and characters that are flubs.

That said, CF's small playerbase can make periods of power famine extremely discouraging, but I've been impressed at how well Nexus serves to provide a counterpoint to those situations. Not that there still aren't "Wow, this is really, really futile" situations, but that's how it rolls.

I think trying to bulldoze an even playing field overall would at best, fail (because of the microtrends mentioned by incognito), and at worst, succeed at making a substantially less interesting game.

But less ok when you consider membership at different times of day, the fact that some people play multiple chars, that some play only a few hours a week etc.

I'd rather see political changes to restore balance, like making the dominant canals war with each other. Then when things are more balanced, have them make peace.

nt