Introduction
For the upcoming election, I am hoping to see the Mayoral candidates present a platform that will allow us, the KB citizens to not simply vote for a Mayor, but to vote on the way they would like to see KB run this period. In the past, we often have a common goal, but were not certain about the path we should take to get there. My goal for the City continues a three season plan to be the first English speaking city to win the race for Capital. As part of that plan, I feel that it is very important that whomever the mayor is this period, he or she have a clear mandate from the citizens so that decisions can be made with little delay. We will need every edge we can get to win. Removing as much uncertainty and delay as possible, I believe, will get us over the final hump to a metagame victory.
As to why I would like to see KB win the metagame, I will paraphrase comments I made in the Council Skype chat a little while back. "As a player, we can each have a goal to achieve a level 15 house or clothing, have the best garden or pet or earn a ourselves a title for the next period. While some of these goals are not easy, they nonetheless are available to you each and every period and you can strive for them at any time. Winning the metagame is a goal one person cannot simply decide to do. It can only be done when a large enough portion of a city pulls together to pursue the achievement. KB is absolutely awesome at rallying to a cause - and our rallying around winning the race to Capital would make us a very formidable force."
I went on to state why I feel that now is the time to make the run: "Since no English speaking city has ever won the metagame, being the first would be a historic achievement. It will never be done again, nor can anyone ever take away the personal accomplishment of being a member (and ideally, a contributor!) to the city that took it down first. To do this, it likely means that individual goals will need to be put aside. However, those accomplishments will still be there for everyone next season. On the other hand, the opportunity to be the first English winners may never be here again."
This brings me to my platform as Mayor - and more importantly, what YOU need to know about how I plan to steer KB towards this victory. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I feel it is our best shot at eeking out every possible advantage that we will need to win the race against the revolving door of German cities that have had many years of experience over us. A vote for me is more a vote for a plan that involves more focus on the "group" rather than the "self". It lets me know that KB is willing to forego some personal short-term goals for the ultimate long term goal. I do not want to "convince" you to vote for this plan. Rather, I want you to understand it and if you are willing to take part, that you will vote for it as (in my opinion) the surest way to achieve a metagame victory. If the majority does not agree, I will happily support another plan under a different Mayor. So please vote and let us, the Candidates, know what KB is willing to support so that we can get of the a fantastic start!
Here are the highlights to my platform:
1. The Mayor in Catan is simply a custodian of some game functions and have no true "power". It is only through the willingness of the in-game council to perform the build orders decided upon by our unique "Skype Council" that our planning and deliberation comes to bare fruit. Thus, it is important that everyone understand how I plan to hold council and support it. As many of you know, I am a self-employed businessman and as such, I plan to run council more like a business than a political body. What this means is that I will still encourage any and all KBers to join in the Council chat and weigh in - in fact I am absolutely counting on it. However, I will value more heavily the arguments that are supported with data that indicate why a direction meets the current objective over opinions that cannot be supported. It should be noted that I will be starting with a fairly flushed out growth plan based on the last two seasons of experimentation and observation (some of which is outlined below), so I foresee council to be less about getting side-tracked and more about fine-tuning.
2. By "Supporting data", I mean data that is primarily math based. This comes with the understanding that the KB has indicated (via the election) their willingness to support a long term objective. As a software developer myself, I understand the fundamentals that math play in computer games - which boils down to "everything in this game is an equation that can be solved for by eliminating variables". In the past, council has been concerned that players will balk if they cannot see short term returns. It is this "balking" that are the variables. I will assume that if elected, enough of us are willing to go through some periods of dreariness, knowing that they are contributing to the making of COW history. In short, I will assume that KB will "trust the math".
3. It isn't all just spreadsheets and equations, however. I have a plan that will finally get the "community tournament" that so many ask about going this season. This should help fill the void some may feel while pursuing our main goal. I am still working on the plan, but it involves a structure that gives participants many days to come together to play their Tourney (i.e., it is a longer term tournament, not simply a "one nighter"). I also plan to use the games on the Gold lists to kill two birds with one stone.
4. I will not be using gold to reward things like dice play and tournaments. I feel that we are very strong in these areas and that the knowledge of how important these areas are in help us to win the metagame will be encouragement enough. I do, however, plan to keep a list of top achievers and see what can be done towards the end of the season (and I am thinking real-world rewards, not just Catan gold). Town gold will be used for the KB Tournament, but mainly it will be used to support, in whatever way required, the immediate or future needs of the main goal (e.g. power-building the city, assisting with guard donations, etc.).
5. The season will start part way through October. I will want to get the Assembly Hall started right away - possibly to level 3 by month end. The arsenal will also be important. These are income-based decisions and remaining buildings will be determined by their income impact or ability to give us stronger CP's in the late stages of the game. Expect to see the bank and Bathhouse as well as a level 4 wall. I also hope to gauge the value of the Park by the end of November after we have all had a chance to practice the new game replacing the riddle. The market may not be income generating, but it keeps us nimble in the mid-game, so expect it. Housing is up in the air. There is a strong case for halting at level 8 instead of level 12 as we did this season. I will be running projections and observing how well the cities that employed this plan fared this season before deciding the best route here.
6. As Mayor, I will not be taking on some of the roles that the Mayor has traditionally done. For this, I will rely on the delegates who already do a fantastic job in these areas while I focus on the areas that I excel at (I think that may have been a pun?). As many of you know, I devote the majority of my COW time offline, running spreadsheets and projections that help us gain any advantage we can. I will not only continue to do this as Mayor, but will likely double my efforts so, again, we get every little advantage we can by understanding the paths we chose before we embark on them. I will not be spending very much time welcoming new players, teaching games (beyond what I can add to the wiki) and other "community service" type activities. I read every post in the Skype chats (exception: excessive discussions about Rivals) and I expect these chats to remain vibrant with discussion and thoughts as this greatly helps me with my decisions. By no means do I want to come up with everything myself… I would rather take credit for all your good ideas!!
7. Finally, while I intend to run a tight ship, I do not expect people to put in any more effort into COW than they normally would. Once you are logged in, I hope that you will give council's plan 110% of your effort and always feel free to voice your thoughts and concerns. While we will certainly be reminding everyone about the importance of dice, tourneys, etc., I will not be encouraging people to give up any more time than they otherwise would to make this happen. If the excitement of making a run brings us online a bit more, that's a bonus - but I feel we already have a very strong core group of players and a population that time and again has shown that KB stands for "Kick Butt". I see no reason why we cannot take what we already have and run it all the way to 1st place.
If you have any questions, email me in the COW - My Catan name is "Fleet" - and I will append them in below along with answers. Thanks for reading!
