The Old World

[HolisticGod]

All,

This is the main thread for an experimental game we've started, originally a continuation of the ancient Little Game of Horrors franchise. The scenario is a modified Age of Randomization, set in 1419. Among the special rules are a ban on colonization and warships and the five-province starting frontiers, presupposing that Portuguese and Spanish explorers never sailed beyond the Atlantic, Mohammed never made his way to Mecca and the fortunes of the historical dynasties failed to coalesce into early centralized power-states. The Middle Age political dynamic, therefore, is still extant and the focus is firmly on Europe.

Eight nations-the County of Geldre, the Duchy of York, the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Granada, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Finland, the Principality of Kazan and the Roman Empire-stand poised above all others, graced by sudden changes in leadership. As they triumph and conquer their lesser neighbors, however, they shall draw closer and closer to one another, each victory placing them more firmly in each other's sights. Their futures are clouded. Moreso than they realize...

The game plays at 7:30 PM EST for four hours, unless all players wish to continue. The scenario-absent randomization-can be found here: http://www.europa2.ru/cgi-bin/leagu...ason=IP-Poland&game=XI&yearsave=1419&lang=eng

Subs are always welcome.

Roster
Byzantium: HG (GM)
Milan: Drake
Finland: Dave
Kazan: Cannonfodder
Geldre: Dago
York/Royalists: DSY
Granada: Shigure
Poland: Hal

Rules
1. Colonization in any form, including TPs, is strictly prohibited
2. Alliances are prohibited
3. Warships are prohibited
4. The land slider is locked at 5 and may not be moved at any time
6. Exploits are banned (including farming the AI for cash)

Clout
Represents the government's political, military and diplomatic might, and its ability to pursue special projects. It may be earned in the following ways:

Existing: 5 points plus 3 points per provincial capital, unless in a state of Civil War
War: 5 points
Victory: 5 points (including forcing a white peace as the defender; GM's discretion)
Conquests: 1 point/province; 2 points/provincial capital
AARs: 3 points (GM's discretion)

Triumphs
Represents a monarch's personal achievements, lending him or her the moniker "the Great" and conferring the following bonuses:

1. 10 Clout
2. +1-3 to a monarch leader's stats (die roll, equally distributed)
3. +3 to all stats and 10 extra years to the reigning monarch

The Triumph is awarded to the player with the highest Clout each session.

Provincial Capitals and Leaders
Provincial capitals are those provinces containing a fine arts academy. They are the administrative and military hubs of the Empires. Each one produces 3 points of Clout per session as well as a leader, two admirals and two generals.

1. Leaders will be generated each session with an average of 3, a minimum of 2.5 and a maximum of 5. They will spawn at the start of a session and they will be replaced before the next.
2. Leaders belong to provincial capitals, not to countries. If a provincial capital is captured, its leader will be generated for its new owner at the start of the next session.
3. Names may be selected/reused for generated leaders at the discretion of the player. These selections must be made with Acts of Government the Monday prior to a session

Monarchs
A monarch is the supreme commander of a country's army. He is not necessary the monarch himself, but may be a Marshal, Strategos, etc.

1. All Monarchs will have a base 4-4-4 stats and an 1820 death date
2. A Monarch's stats may be modified by Triumphs and Clout
3. A Monarch, if captured, must be ransomed prior to the next session or there is a 50% chance of Civil War

Ransom
If an Elector/Prince/Duke/Etc. is captured in battle (i.e. killed), he must be ransomed from the capturing country before another leader from the same provincial capital will arise. Similarly, a captured Monarch must be ransomed, else there may be dire consequences for his realm.

1. A leader may be ransomed for 1000 ducats
2. A Monarch may be ransomed for 2000 ducats
3. The cost of ransoming a leader or monarch shall double each century beginning from 1550 (from the base, so that a Monarch costs 2000 ducats to ransom in 1550, 4000 in 1650 and 6000 in 1750)

Acts of Government
Acts of Government are the fruits of a ruler's Clout. They allow him to construct public works, fortifications and infrastructure improvements, conduct aggressive diplomacy and alter the policies of his country. All of them have a certain probability of success or failure, determined by the turn of a ten-sided die. They are divided into three kinds, given below.

Domestic
DPs: 1 click/5 points of Clout (probability: very high)
Tax Base: 1 point/2 points of Clout (probability: very high)
Manpower: 1/4 points of Clout (probability: high)
Gold Prospecting: 10 points of Clout (probability: low)
Gold Exploration: 8 points of Clout (probability: low)
Urbanization: 5,000 population/2 points of Clout (probability: extremely high)
Fortification: 1 level/4 points of Clout per level (probability: medium)
Military Academy: +1 average stat/15 points of Clout (probability: low)
Tutor (Philosophy: diplo, mathematics: admin, art of war: military): +1 monarch rating/6 points of Clout (probability: high)
Campaign Training: +1 random Monarch stat/10 points of Clout (probability: low)
Propaganda: -1 BB/2 points of Clout (probability: medium)

Espionage
All acts of Espionage carry a risk of discovery. Not only will the target player be informed of his assailant in this case, 1 BB shall be added to the assailant (10 in the case of Regicide). BB shall affect the probability of an Espionage act succeeding.

Sabotage: 1 fortification/5 points of Clout (probability: medium)
Piracy: 1 tax base/3 points of Clout (probability: medium)
Border War: 1 manpower/5 points of Clout (probability: low)
Rumors: 1 BB/2 points of Clout (probability: high)
Raid: 1 factory/5 points of Clout (probability: low)
Bribe: 12 points of Clout for forced military access for at least five years (probability: low)
Trade War: 10 points of Clout/1 point of inflation (probability: very low)
Destabilize: -1 stab/6 points of Clout (probability: medium)
Assassination: 8 points of Clout/1 leader out of commission for a session (probability: low)
Regicide: 20 points of Clout to assassinate a Monarch (probability: extremely low)

Secret Police
A player may add protection against Espionage by spending Clout on the Secret Police. If there is an Espionage attempt, this Clout shall decrease each act's chances of occurring. If there isn't, the Clout goes unused and is not refunded. It's a gamble.

Civil War
A country that falls victim to a successful assassination or fails to ransom a captive monarch may plunge into Civil War. It has the following effects:

1. All Acts of Government for the upcoming session are cancelled (the Clout carries over to the next)
2. The sitting Monarch is changed to Civil War for the duration of his/her reign, at 1-1-1 stats
3. The Monarch leader is slept for the session
4. -6 Stab
5. 5-15 WE
6. There is a medium probability chance of a Civil War event

All orders are PMed in secret to me no later than midnight of the Monday prior to the session. I'm working out a way to process Espionage orders anonymously, perhaps by having Drake process mine, but if somebody has any ideas or a volunteer outside party, that'd be great.

Espionage orders are not revealed unless uncovered, so it is perfectly possible to assassinate an "ally" monarch without being found out.

 

[Dago]

i ll join here coz i like randomized,WAR4 is ending (and probably the entire series) and Drake is CO-GM

just some questions :
do i need to choose 10 cores?

 

[DSYoungEsq]

I say no to gold. Let's play a game without the stupid stuff.

Iron is a precious metal, right? :rofl:

 

[Dago]

i say gold : without colonization,i think would be nice create some gold prov in europe

edit : what about randomevent?we use vanilla's one?or i need dl them from somewhere^?

 

[Dago]

these are mine 27 cores :

380 385 305 416 417 375 411 378 379 312 311 377 344 306 409 386 376 412 349 332 331 304 345 346 383 382 410

 

[DSYoungEsq]

Things which must be fixed:

1. As of the version I got this morning, Royalists/Yorkists aren't a selectable country; there are others that aren't selectable, too. By which, of course, I mean that they don't have a shield up in the selectable countries.

2. Granada has the wrong infrastructure and trade. They are set as if not human.

Things about which I have questions:

A. Wouldn't 15 cores make more sense? Or ten? So that you can swallow two or three of your neighbors whole and gain all as cores? And do I gather that we aren't getting cores upon the CoTs or the capitals of humans?

B. Are the leader files of the AI countries going to be stripped? Or do I have to face English leaders and Scots leaders?

 

[Dago]

what about start with some diplos?

 

[DSYoungEsq]

Cores Claimed: 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250

If 15 allowed, add: 232 237 238

If only 10 allowed, subtract 239 240

 

[DSYoungEsq]

what about start with some diplos?

Preferably at least 3.

 

[HolisticGod]

DSY,

The selectable countries aren't a problem because the host can simply pick them, but they will be a pain in the ass so I'll change them. Granada, on the other hand, would've forced a rehost and mid-game edit. Nice catch.

As for cores, all countries already have a bunch-i.e. on all their neighbors-so the twelve are a bonus.

Dago,

Every country should already have three of everything (diplomats, missionaries, merchants), but I'll check to make sure.

As far as events, we're using the regular file.

 

[DSYoungEsq]

Yorkists start at 0 of all things, diplos, traders, missionaries, etc.

 

[HolisticGod]

All,

An update on cores. Evidently, intended AI countries have fewer than intended human countries. The ultimate goal was for everybody to have 37 cores, yet this way only Finland, Byzantium and Milan will. So:

Granada gets 26 cores
Kazan and Geldre get 27 cores
The Royalists get 28 cores
Poland gets 31 cores

These are in addition to those already present. Finland, Byzantium and Milan still get 12.

If this isn't done, for those countries with too few cores, before the session, additional BB cuts and compensation for lost stab will be given.

Sorry for the mix-up.

 

[Dago]

Yorkists start at 0 of all things, diplos, traders, missionaries, etc.

same geldre

 

[DSYoungEsq]

Revised Core request:

231 232 234 235 236 237 238 239 248 249 250 382 383 384 385 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 423 424 425

These are in addition to the already granted cores on 233, 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 and 247

 

[HolisticGod]

All,

Here's the revised file:
http://www.europa2.ru/cgi-bin/leagu...ason=IP-Poland&game=XI&yearsave=1419&lang=eng

Unless other problems crop up, it's final except for randomization and cores. Missionaries/merchants/diplomats have been fixed, Granada's econ techs are now on par with everybody's and all NT is set to 9. LT has been left at 1 for those who enjoy siege warfare and never get to use it, and because Anton has conclusively proven that land battles are not random, just much different from 9+.

Make sure to get your core requests in ASAP.

One last change before we start. I've come up with a system to encourage short, relatively cheap fights. DSY and Drake both like the idea, and I know Shig wanted something like this, so I'm assuming there's support. If anyone objects, speak here. Also, all modifications and other suggestions for merit-based rewards are welcome, although they probably won't be implemented for the first session.

Border Wars

I. Any nation may declare a border war. Only the attacker need consent, but using the option to forestall a major war is strictly prohibited and will be dealt with harshly.
II. Border wars last six months. No third party can enter the war unless one of the participants DoWs himself. (i.e. if Geldre and Milan are fighting a border war, the Royalists may not enter; however, if Geldre decides to fight two + border wars at once, it is welcome to do so-they are dated seperately)
III. The winner at the end of six months is he who has acquired the most warscore, provided it is greater than +5. If there is a tie or warscore is less than +5, the war is a draw. Both sides gain .5 Military Tradition, but nothing else.
IV. If one side has superior warscore and it is greater than +5 it gains one full point of MT (the loser gains .5). In addition, the winner gains 1 power point.
V. Each power point is exchanged for 500 ducats for the next session (the purse will increase at the GM's discretion as we progress, always with notice beforehand)
VI. The player with the most power points at the end of the session is declared the Prince of War and is given a Triumph through the streets of Constantinople (even if it is the Roman Empire that he defeated ). A Triumph brings a swell of patriotic support from one's people, giving the player a choice of -2 inflation, two DP clicks, two conversions or a factory. (to be tweaked as we progress)
VII. The total number of Triumphs will be tracked throughout the game. The overall Triumph leader will gain one extra point of MT each week. The player with the most Triumphs at the end of the game is the winner.

As a seperate rule, the GM may, from time to time, grant Triumphs to players who perform extraordinarily well in the course of a session (i.e. fending off a major coalition, performing a great diplomatic feat, expanding extraordinarily well against odds).

 

[DSYoungEsq]

Da Dah, da da da Dum Dum Dum da da da dum, da dum!

<Elephants and trumpeteers marching through the streets, young girls strewing petals on the ground, slave whispering in my ear about mortality...>

 

[HolisticGod]

All,

I'd like to expand the Triumph system to allow for two things.

1. Wars being declared strictly for power points. They'd be timed to last 2-3 years and be worth more than border wars.

and/or

2. Regular wars being used for power points by the victor, after the fact, in lieu of provinces.

Any ideas are very welcome. This aspect of the rule will not be included in the first session, however.

 

[HALNY (HAL)]

The game plays at 7:30 PM EST for four hours, unless all players wish to continue.

Uhhhh... 7:30... why not 6:30

 

[Dago]

these are mine 27 cores :

380 385 305 416 417 375 411 378 379 312 311 377 344 306 409 386 376 412 349 332 331 304 345 346 383 382 410

here

 

[HALNY (HAL)]

I chose some 31 cores:

306 305 304 302 301 290 284 288 296 291 303 313 312 314 329 330 328 315 327 326 325 316 317 323 324 295 461 460 462 283 309

No idea how good they are, but I will like Poland in this shape