To Woo a Neutral

Whichever Middle-earth scenario I play, I ALWAYS do my utmost to woo the neutrals, and here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

GENERAL OR INDIVIDUAL? Make sure that at least one person on your team communicates with each neutral. Logically, aligned nations should talk to the neutral closest to them. The Easterlings are much more likely to listen to the Northmen than to Noldo, and to Cloud Lord rather than Witch-king. Having said that, most teams contain some players who can't or won't engage in diplomacy. In that case, your team must find others to fill the gaps.

Alternatively, your team could decide that one player handles all the diplomacy with neutrals. This is usually the guy who says, 'I'll do a newsletter and send an edited version to the neutrals.' You may think how lucky your team is to have such a player (especially if you are the masochist doing it!) but, my feeling is that neutrals respond more favourably when given individual attention.

Consider the reaction of an experienced neutral player. He receives a circular from one team, copied to all neutrals. From the other team he receives 1-3 personalised messages. If I were that neutral, I would respond more favourably to the personalised messages than to a circular.

Consider also that any neutral player worth his salt will talk to the other neutrals, so he KNOWS if one team is sending out a circular, and the other team individual messages.

HOW CAN I HELP YOU? Your first diplo to any neutral should ask, what do you want out of this game? It is not enough to offer open-ended bribes. An experienced neutral player will look to join a well-organised and well-co-ordinated team where he will be welcomed and valued as a team member, not just as a banker and/or source of armies.

There was a time when diplomatic overtures to neutrals involved little more than bribing with artifacts and/or pops. However it wasn't long before players of the aligned nations woke up to the fact that Corsairs and Harad at least did not need more pops, and were quite powerful enough without giving them artifacts!

When talking to neutrals, you need to put yourself in their shoes. They want to know what your allegiance can give them. They know damn well what they can give to you!

Experienced neutral players value good team play and game balance above bribes. There can be conflict here. In a recent game as DS, our diplomacy quickly won two neutrals to our side. A third neutral was predisposed to the FP and the fourth didn't want to talk to anybody so we thought 'stuff 'im' and pencilled him in as an enemy. We concentrated our diplomatic efforts on the fifth, but despite all our efforts at persuasion, and his own admission that we had communicated better than the FP, he joined the FP in the interests of what he perceived as game balance. Therefore, even superior diplomacy doesn't always win you all the allies you want or deserve!

DOs and DON'Ts Do make sure that at least one person on your team corresponds with each neutral unless/until that neutral is inevitably lost to your cause (or even later if you can thereby feed him false info). Don't make unprovoked attacks on neutrals. Not only do you make an enemy of that neutral, you upset all the others who wonder if they might be next! Don't threaten neutrals. It might sometimes work in real life for big nations/alliances to threaten small ones, but Middle-earth is only a a game. Nothing is more likely to drive a neutral into the arms of the enemy than saying to him, 'join us or we'll beat you up.' Do individualise your diplos. If you are playing the Witch-king, you NEED Rhudaur and can afford to give him half a dozen artifacts if he will join the DS. But offering arts to Harad/Corsairs who are already hugely powerful is just stupid. Don't ignore any neutral. If you do, chances are he will join the opposition even if they send him just one diplo.

WHAT DO NEUTRALS WANT? Neutrals want a good game above all. Convince them that your team will give them that! Neutrals want a well-balanced game, so if they see 3 neutrals go one way, they will go the other way, to preserve balance. Not much you can do about that except try your hardest for the neutrals you need the most. Neutrals want to be left alone for 5-10 turns so they can build up without being attacked, and weigh up their options. How you react to this depends on individual circumstances; eg Witch-king usually NEEDS Rhudaur's help at the earliest possible moment, but few other neutrals should need to be pressurised by either side early on. Neutrals don't want a bundle of artifacts, altho few would say no the odd one or two. Rhudaur is a possible exception, needing all the help he can get whichever side he joins. If a neutral says he wants 10 artifacts because it's a victory condition (as a certain White Wizard did recently) you know he's probably an amateur and not a team player, and deal with him accordingly. If you're desperate, you give him the 10 arts; if not (say you've already won 2-3 other neutrals to your side) you get ready to thump him (sweet-talking him all the time until you are ready to do so!). Neutrals may want a backup capital of the price of joining your allegiance. If it's Rhudaur, Easterlings or Dunlendings, it may be worth your while to pay this price. If it's Harad or Corsairs you know they are taking the mickey!

Of course the above are generalisations and there are exceptions to every rule. If however this article has helped any readers in their dealings with neutrals, or when playing neutrals, it has served its purpose.

This article, by Richard Devereux, first appeared in News from Bree.