Neutrality

Fall of Rome is a dynamic game, where allies easily become enemies, and enemies often become allies. The Team Game playtest has revealed that it must be possible to change a declaration after it has been made. This includes issueing a declaration of neutrality with another player, representing a halt to hostilities, or compatriots that have drifted apart.

Fortunately, the programming logic for declarations was well encapsulated. Changing the declaration type representation from a java boolean (ally / enemy) to a tri-state (adding neutrality) was quick and painless, thanks due to the suite of junit tests that verified everything still worked after the refactoring.

Team Game Feedback

There has been some excellent feedback so far from the team game competitors. Lord Diamond was the first to recognize that after declaring two allies, there was no reason not to declare the rest of the players your enemy. This would hide who your intended target might be, and at the same time protect your kingdom from being attacked by another. We have implemented a two enemies per player limit, and shall see how that new rule effects the game.

Gifts

It is now possible to give gifts to your allies without receiving anything in return. This enhancement also provided the opportunity to refactor some of the trade code, encapsulating it within the Order object, and get it out of the GameServer (where it really did not belong).

We also had our first simulation stopper - neutral pop centers are not controlled by players, thus they cannot be checked to see if the noble usurping it is an enemy. A very obvious oversight - this is why we have a testing phase.