I want this post to be one of the first because it will recap a lot of the day1 discussion we had in Malloreon I, and will thus remove a lot of the strategy discussion which some hate so much. In Malloreon I, we discussed strategy a lot day1 - and came to nearly no conclusions. Basically, there's nothing particularly abusive strategy we can do, nor can we draw any conclusions about what neutral / convertible people will do.
OPTIMAL GAMEPLAY STRATEGY AND FACTS
Detailed so that we don't have to discuss. I've been careful to not to include any controversial topics here, everything here is optimal strategy purely because not doing the following would be bad strategy.
<ul type="square">[*]27 Players. Not counting convertibles or Geran as anything special, there are: 7 Evils, 2 Neutrals, 11 Confirmed Villagers (Power Roles), 7 Vanillagers.[*]Dark has control of 8 total votes, and has control of 4 total votes in just 2 people. We should make sure to get a solid majority on whatever target we wish to lynch. Make compromises. Go with your second-best-choice if your first choice can't be lynched. Having the top lynch target not get lynched can't be good for the village. Give it a solid majority. And, make sure there is a SOLID second target with a good number of votes up there - in case of Cyradis, as well as other possibilities.[*]Cyradis will never make an appearance to either team until at least day6, because giving up that peek is huge. Besides, Toth could always come out and give the information publicly.[*]Kal Zakath should not use Imperial Privilege at any time before day5, because this increases his chances of winning on either side he's on past that day.[*]Mengha should use his demon as many times as possible before he dies if he's up soon for lynch. On average, he will kill 3 good players before he dies. Nothing we can do here...lynch evils, hope to hit Mengha. Mengha, unlike the first Malloreon, should not be using his demons at a completely random time...unless he thinks he's the target of Sadi or something.[*]At a reasonable time before nightfall, (let's say,
6 PM - 7 PM EST) if you are a power role which looks to be lynched and you have already defended yourself, you should claim. (Durnik, Sadi, Liselle, Silk, Belgarion) If you are Belgarath, Beldin, or Polgara, do NOT claim -- Poledra will out himself and say "I AM POLEDRA, I know X is pro-village" -- the benefit of this play is that the wolves could end up killing Beldin, the Obfuscationator, which is a rather weak role compared to the other two. If Poledra fails to come out by, let's say, 7 PM EST, and Beldin/Belgarath/Polgara have defended themselves as much as they can, then they must fall to plan B and claim themselves, which is bad because they are prime wolf targets. So Poledra, you must watch carefully and stop village lynches on these 3 by coming out if they are on the lynch.[*]Silk should NOT come out day1, as happened in Malloreon 1 (unless he's on the lynch, which is what happened on Malloreon 1, of course). A day masonry is not that strong and not worth giving up the peek. However, we can talk strategy about if Silk should come out on...say, day3, for Liselle to mason with, because Liselle may have found some useful information by then to share through Silk for Silk to out in the thread without outing Liselle.[*]Neutral has a very real and good chance to win in this game, being invincible and able to help either side. They can also swing the game -1 evil +1 good, or +1 evil -1 good at any time before day5. However, this is really not worth talking about, there is nothing we can do to stop this. [/list]
TL;DR Version
Just play normally: lynch the followers of dark. There's no strategy to be had here to gain an advantage, other than basically making sure you don't get lynched if you're a confirmed villager (a power role).
Additional Thoughts
Cyradis should out Mengha the moment Cyradis peeks him. (Or, get Toth to out Mengha). Why? Because variance sucks for the neutral team.