Zack Mafia IV: Birthday Bash [GAME THREAD]

[Takhisis]

We found that out to our chagrin.

 

[JohannaK]

So only Zacks and lynches could end with Horsemen.

 

[choxorn]

I find spaceman's scan immunity and topsecret's roleblock immunity amusing, seeing as how there were no scanners or roleblockers.

 

[Takhisis]

Yeah Ja, we were screwed big time by the GM, that schweinhund.

 

[Zack]

I find spaceman's scan immunity and topsecret's roleblock immunity amusing, seeing as how there were no scanners or roleblockers.

You don't find Xenoneb's communist scanning ability amusing, even though the communists posed exactly the same amount of threat to the Nazis as any random three vanilla townies?

But yeah, the Zack Mafia series is based around the concept of paranoia, and I played on that a lot in this one.

 

[topsecret]

You don't find Xenoneb's communist scanning ability amusing, even though the communists posed exactly the same amount of threat to the Nazis as any random three vanilla townies?

But yeah, the Zack Mafia series is based around the concept of paranoia, and I played on that a lot in this one.

So... Takhisis was the only one with a real ability.

 

[Zack]

Yep, and he used it to protect me every night.

 

[Autolycus]

It seems like this one was really difficult for scum to win, at least if you counted against scum victory. The town always had a vig, and you were basically untouchable, if I understand correctly.

 

[JohannaK]

Well, Death just resurrected the 5 random people preselected. It could have won with anybody. Maybe Nazis not, who knows, but the thing is Zack/Death would survive this one. Also, Choxxy/Sam/JHT/Zack could miss and nullify its action by hitting a townie, and the truth is that since dead people can talk, the effect would have been just 1 vote less for the town.

 

[Takhisis]

Yep, and he used it to protect me every night.

I suspected you of being the killer (like in other games) and wanted you to kill as many of our enemies as possible. I just didn't realise the Zacks would be around.

 

[Zack]

Closing Thoughts:


(Note: Sorry if it's a little messy and/or I ramble!)

Spoiler :

Wow, it's been a ride, huh?

Like Stairway to Heaven, the game started with a long string of dead vanilla townies, then a sudden burst of non-vanilla townie deaths. Unlike Stairway to Heaven, the town overcome their early missteps to seize control of their game with strong play, whereas in Stairway to Heaven it was simply because the competing non-town factions waged a devastating war of attrition against each other.

Like all games in the Zack Mafia series, this game focused on ramping the paranoia up to eleven. The Nazis feared Communists, scanners, and roleblockers because their Role PMs mislead them into doing so. The town feared they were hopelessly outgunned when only one mafioso was left because they assumed the Horsemen had the typical four members, not three, and also because I gave no message indicating the Nazis were eliminated when they had, in fact, been eliminated. They also feared that, as in all previous games, I was opposed to the town. Hell, they feared that there was an important distinction between "vanilla townie" and "vanilla innocent," when it was truthfully an honest mistake on my part - and when I said that, no one believed me because of the game's nature.

So, I'd say the game worked pretty damn well in that regard.

The game was probably weighted in the town's favor, but that was mitigated by power roles going inactive for long stretches of time, as well as the town's extreme paranoia.

The horsemen could only be killed by lynch or by Zack, and they got stronger as their numbers grew smaller - after NinjaCow (Pestilence) died, the people infected with sores immediately died and MartinLuther (Famine) gained a roleblocking ability; after Martin died, Buddhafish gained the ability to outright kill someone while making it look like a duel. In duels, a non-vanilla townie always defeated a vanilla townie, and if that was not the case it was random.

The town had an eternal vigilante (either inactive or ineffective for much of the game) who would fail to kill any Nazis until one had been killed/lynched and revealed, but who also could determine the alignment of targets reasonably well if the kill failed. The town also had the masonic Communists, which amounted to absolutely nothing. The Magician never showed up, either. Finally, Death would raise five random townies from the dead, determined at the start of the game. As predicted, this actually hurt the town, as they wasted their lynches and energy on these "zombies."

Death did not count as a member of any faction (and thus did not factor for any endgame purposes), and I started abstaining so as to not affect the lynch results.

The Nazis could protect one of their players each night, but Takhisis instead chose to protect me every night, which was utterly pointless and baffling. They also failed to get a kill in every night. In earlier design stages, I had considered the possibility of dead Nazis becoming Nazi Zombies, but decided against it because it was too cliche and potentially overpowering. Four players was a generous amount for a fairly vanilla game with 34 players. The winning mafia team in Stairway to Heaven had only three members, and they had to fight off a cult.

All sides played well, and I can honestly say I believe the order of victory (town, Horsemen, Nazis) corresponded to the level of play. The Nazis' late game collapse reminded me of the Rogue faction's collapse in Impending Retribution - a four man mafia team, skating under the radar without a casualty up until that point is completely wiped out in a short span of time. After topsecret died, the game was starting to look like a two horse (no pun intended) race between the Horsemen and the town, and this was all but confirmed after the death of Takhisis, at which point it was a toss-up between the town and Horsemen.

The resurgence in activity and fortunes for the town combined to result in a supremely exciting and tense endgame. Until johnhughthom sent in the order to kill Buddhafish, it was still anyone's game.

Speaking of which, I would like to congratulate Buddhafish on a textbook performance for how to play as a scumbag. You were active. You bussed often and early. You faked being silenced by Martin, then faked the duel against The Black Knigh. Unfortunately for you, the town ignored all of these carefully calculated distancing moves.

That brings me to another point: bussing is a lot more common nowadays. It's an expectation, rather than the exception. Just another example of the adaptive nature of mafia, and why "scumtells" like OMGUS and third-on-the-bandwagon haven't worked on anyone except brand-new players for years. This also might be a sign that voting analysis is now unofficially outdated.

I'd like to thank all of you for playing, and playing damn well and trying damn hard at that. I'd love to see all of you play in the upcoming conclusion, which will likely feature...

- Group actions (like Pirate Ship Mafia)

- Heaven, Hell... and for the first time, Purgatory

- Good-old fashioned necromancy

- The conclusion to the story introduced in Zack Mafia and Stairway to Heaven in one final battle

If you have any thoughts, feedback, suggestions, and/or anything else you'd like to say either about this game or its sequel, say it!

~ Zack

 

[Zack]

I just didn't realise the Zacks would be around.

No one did, which I'm happy about. Even after three games, I can still pull one over on you guys.

 

[topsecret]

If you have any thoughts, feedback, suggestions, and/or anything else you'd like to say either about this game or its sequel, say it![/B]

Can we include food in this next game again?

 

[Zack]

Can we include food in this next game again?

In what sense?

 

[topsecret]

In what sense?

I don't know, perhaps as items? I just wanted food.

 

[Takhisis]

No one did, which I'm happy about. Even after three games, I can still pull one over on you guys.

The problem is that playing against the GM means you've always got the element of surprise on your side. So sometimes the best role is the Vanilla townie, instead of receiving fake roles and/or abilities.

 

[Zack]

The problem is that playing against the GM means you've always got the element of surprise on your side. So sometimes the best role is the Vanilla townie, instead of receiving fake roles and/or abilities.

You weren't playing against me. I was neutral this game, which threw everyone off, because you were all expecting me to be mafia like I am every game.

I'm not sure what exactly you're referring to in the last bit. You'd rather be a vanilla townie than the mafia doctor?

 

[topsecret]

The problem is that playing against the GM means you've always got the element of surprise on your side. So sometimes the best role is the Vanilla townie, instead of receiving fake roles and/or abilities.

Technically, my role wasn't fake; There were just no role-blockers.

I think we could've won if we had remembered to kill every night. All-in-all we played a great game until we started getting killed. This has to be the most fun I've had at Mafia since I've started.

Great game, Zack!

 

[JohannaK]

AWARDS WHEN!?

 

[Takhisis]

You weren't playing against me. I was neutral this game, which threw everyone off, because you were all expecting me to be mafia like I am every game.

Yes, you cheated us again.

Spoiler :

I'm not sure what exactly you're referring to in the last bit. You'd rather be a vanilla townie than the mafia doctor?

Better have the non-information of one than the info the other one did have.

Technically, my role wasn't fake; There were just no role-blockers.

And as such you were the same as a 'vanilla' mafia.

I think we could've won if we had remembered to kill every night. All-in-all we played a great game until we started getting killed. This has to be the most fun I've had at Mafia since I've started.

Hmm, duh! This was the same as the Triumvirate in KotOR. I had a special ability -which I used, regardless of the advisability of targetting Zack- and the rest of you were… somewhere.