Retire Character: Order No. 740
"I feel I need a holiday, a very long holiday, as I have told you before. Probably a permanent holiday: I don't expect that I shall return." (I)
MEPBM is a character driven game. That is to say, a player can ONLY interact with the game environment through a nation's characters. Players don't order armies to march, they order a character to order the army to march. The more characters a player has, the more orders the nation gets to issue. The more orders a nation can issue, the more the nation can accomplish. So why on Middle Earth would a player ever want to Retire a character?
If a character is retired, the character releases any hostages, and leaves any artifacts behind in the character's last hex. The character is permanently removed from the game. This order cannot be issued if the character is being held hostage. But, that is NOT all that happens...
First, the character will no longer cost maintenance (Although the character's maintenance for the current turn is paid). This can mean substantial savings to a nation. Take Saruman: Emissary 70, Mage 90. He alone costs his nation 3200 gold per turn! If a player isn't really using Saruman for BOTH of his skills, the player MIGHT get more milage from having a straight Emissary character and a straight Mage character instead. The cost is the same, but the nation gets two characters to act instead of one.
Second, the character doesn't show up in any character reports any more. This can cause other players to waste valuble turn orders trying to figure out where the character went (and any order the enemy wastes locating a character no longer around is definately a good thing!). This can result in a very sneaky trick: since Retire Character comes after MOST other skill orders, a crafty player could send a character into an enemy population center and (insert one) steal, influence, assassinate, personally challenge, etc., then retire the character. This has GOT to provide confusion for the opponents trying to figure out exactly what happened. (One player I know succeeded in an amazing personal combat victory, followed by a more amazing army combat victory the next turn. He seriously contemplated retiring the character a hero rather than allow the enemy a chance to kill the guy through some cheap shot.)
Third, as mentioned, retirement of characters takes place late in the turn, after most of the other good orders have been completed. This allows a nation to use the character "one last time" before they go. For example, all of the NAME character orders take place just before retirement, allowing a character to create an heir before they leave for greener pastures.
Finally, retiring a character might be a good idea to free up a needed character slot. For example, a nation might be needing commanders late in the game, but all those early game emissaries just don't seem as useful anymore. Getting rid of a few 'drains on the ol' tax role' be all that stands between success and failure.
As initially mentioned, it is a tough decision to retire a character. It often seem pointless to retire a character that has developed skills and abilities in favor of a new character with low skill statistics. Further, if a player REALLY wants to get rid of a character, a player could start sending the character on suicidal missions into enemy territory (personal challenges, absurd steal attempts, etc.). Nonetheless, it is hard to complain this order exists. It does something no other order does, and allows a player a bit more flexability in running their nation.
Return to Firebrand's Order Analysis
Text Copyright 1998 by Jeffery A. Dobberpuhl. All game mechanics and terms are Copyright 1993 by Tolkien Enterprises, as produced, designed and distributed by Game Systems, Inc.