Ultima Ratio Regnum : A new game begins!

[King of Men]

Ultima Ratio Regnum

The Final Argument of Kings
​

We will be playing a 1066 Grand Campaign, starting out as Duchies in Western Europe, with the option of converting to EU2 when we get to the fifteenth century. Game time is 1930 Pacific Time on Fridays. The current roster is :

• King of Men, Saxony
• Justinian_A, Poitou
• germax, Tuscany
• Revo, Apulia
• wilcoxchar, Flanders
• Ccbasin, Bourgogne
• Sterkarm, Norfolk
• canadiancreed, Bohemia
• Cyrus the Great, Brittany

I will be the GM, except for disputes in which I am myself involved; in such cases, I will ask an uninvolved player to mediate.

The main rule will always be courtesy, consideration for others, and smiling (not gloating!) as you slip the dagger in; but we also have some others.

• Game time will be enforced in two ways : First, we will give out an on-time cookie of one month's income for those who show up on time. (The amount may be adjusted later.) Second, five minutes after game start, by the GM's watch, we will begin no matter who is present. If you are not present at that time, you will have to wait for the first crash to be picked up. If the game turns out to be stable that night... Well, that's the night you should have been on time, yes? This is harsh, but I've had bad experiences with letting the game time slide.
• To prevent pagan bashing, you are permitted one DOW against a pagan or Moslem per ruler lifetime. You can not save up these DOWs. If your ruler has the Crusader trait, you are given one extra DOW. In addition, it is always permissible to declare war on the owner of the current Crusade target. If a Moslem DOWs your ally, or vice-versa, you are permitted to respond; but you are not allowed to go above your DOW limit to help out a human player who is not your formal ally. Let the aggressor beware! This is intended to keep the Moslems as a viable threat for some way into the game. In order to help me enforce these rules, it would be much appreciated if everyone would put "New King" and "Pagan/Moslem DOW" in the chat when these things occur.
• In order to have a smooth start and avoid people killing their way to easy thrones, there will be no assassinations for the first five years.
• There will be an AAR reward of three month's income, or the addition (not removal) of one trait of your choice to your ruler. (And yes, this does mean that an AAR can give you an extra DOW through gaining the Crusader trait.) To qualify, your AAR must be at least 500 words, and posted 24 hours before game time. Also, bear in mind who will probably be doing the editing : To wit, me. If you post late Thursday, I may or may not see it that day, and who knows what I'll have time for between getting home from work, making dinner, and game time? If you post late, getting your edit should be considered a privilege and not a right.
• Obviously, it is forbidden to attack a player who is AI'd, and if the AI attacks you, peace treaties should be maximally lenient. (This can be adjusted a little for the respective power involved; if Germany attacks the county of Slesvig, it's not unreasonable for Slesvig to take a province or two if by some miracle they should win. AI or no AI.) However, this protection fades in proportion as people do not show. If you are gone for three weeks without posting, do not expect to find your realm intact on your return.
• It is as a general rule forbidden to annex another player's vassal, unless he has given you permission - either explicit, by agreeing to it out loud, or implicit, by not DOWing you when you DOW the vassal. However, if you have been at war with someone for three years, and they refuse to make peace, you are permitted to annex vassals. There is no other force-peace rule, apart from occupying someone's demesne entirely.
• Finally, note that we are all going to be fairly close together; this almost certainly means that some Duchies will be in untenable positions after a few years, as they lose out in the jockeying for power. This is deliberate, to avoid the arid stretch of AI bashing (might as well play SP!) that characterises the first part of many MP games. Again : This means that some of us will lose out to start with. Don't take it personally, don't get too attached to your first Duchy, and do plan to start elsewhere in Europe and get some revenge. (Keep in mind that it's easier to write a brief, heroic tragedy than a multi-generational family epic. Don't think of it as defeat, think of it as a good AAR opportunity.) If you have to start over, we'll try to find something of reasonably equivalent power to what the other players have; this means that you are not necessarily forced to start as a Duchy for your second life. The GM's judgment is final on what constitutes 'reasonably equivalent'; you are welcome to make requests and suggestions. In the interests of keeping people together, though, try to start somewhere reasonably close to the other players, even in your second incarnation, so that you'll be right in the game again.

I will update this post as and when I remember, which may mean that it gets weeks or months out of date. C'est la vie.

 

[King of Men]

So, there has been some interest expressed in a new CK game. At the moment everything is quite fluid. Players who have said they're interested (subject of course to time constraints) :

• King of Men (Norwegian or English duchy) (Current CQS or an hour later)
• Justinian_A (An hour later than current CQS, can do current CQS at a pinch) (Aquitaine, Flanders, Bohemia)
• germax (Italian duchy)
• Revo (Apulia)
• wilcoxchar (Flanders?) (Current CQS or an hour later)
• Ccbasin (Saxony, Bourgogne, Bavaria) (Current CQS or (not good) an hour later)
• Sterkarm (CQS timeslot kinda works) (English or French duchy)

Now, the timeslot. At the moment two possibilities are being contemplated, both on Friday evenings; either 1900 or 2000 Pacific time.

Scenario and rules : It will be the 1066 scenario, with a strong option of converting to EU2 and continuing the game. Starting characters may be limited to Dukes, in order to make things more interesting. There will be limits on pagan and Moslem expansion. There may be an AAR and on-time reward; if so, they will be small - cookies, not cakes. The main rule will always remain courtesy and consideration for others.




Ok, that's the options as I see them. We should have a GM, rather than the democratic approach that was tried in the first Great Game; I can do the job if nobody else wants to. For the timeslot, my own preference is the Friday evening that CQS has now; an hour later would also work for me. Even two could be managed. I am not quite sure what I'd like to play; on the one hand, I do feel patriotic and want to play a Norwegian Jarl, on the other hand I'm a bit Ynglinged out at the moment. I'm certainly not going to do another giant saga. Maybe a Scottish or English duke? There'll always be an England, after all.

Please post your interest, preferred timeslots, and preferred countries!

 

[wilcoxchar]

I'm still interested KoM, and my preferred timeslot is the current CQS or one hour later. Probably won't be able to do weekday evenings once school starts up, although the KES timeslot would probably work for me. Not sure about the country yet, probably Flanders but I'll have to think about it.

 

[Ccbasin]

KoM,
After checking a few things, the current CQS slot is the best for me. I can probably push it to one hour later but that means I will be quitting at 3:00 am EST. Any other day and I will have to bow out and wish you guys luck on a new game.

Duchies:
Saxony
Bourgogne
Bavaria

 

[Sid Meier]

i undoubtably would not be able to make it on time even if we pushed 1 hour later the restaurant closes at 10 but i finish cleaning at 11 generally. an hour and a half and I for certain could make it. The KES timeslot would be best though.

 

[Sid Meier]

Actually on closer inspection I probly should not join the game after all, between sleep deprevation 2-3 planned games alrdy it would not be prudent to play this often I am sorry.

 

[Kujy]

Sorry KoM, but take me off the list. It's been a really trying time for me lately (and it will only get worse) and I need as few distractions as possible.

 

[Justinian_A]

Well, as I said in the other thread, I can do the current CQS time if absolutely necessary, but later would be nice. Weekdays are preferable, but I don't see that happening.

Sundays are completely out of the question for me (as are also Saturdays.)

As far as who to play...after the last game, I'm a little burnt out on the Byzantine Empire and the east in general. I'm thinking maybe...

Duchy of Poitou/Aquitaine
Duchy of Flanders
Duchy of Bohemia
Duchy of Holland
Duchy of Provence

in that order, as of right now.

 

[Sid Meier]

like i dont know i can definately do mondya at any time weekends are cramped as it is and i relaized i had a new sunday eu2 game comin up.

 

[EarendilHE]

Im not sure whether i should join this one or a new eu2 game.
The time has to suits me as european of course!

edit: i joined a eu2 game...ck lost!

 

[Ccbasin]

Sorry KoM, but take me off the list. It's been a really trying time for me lately (and it will only get worse) and I need as few distractions as possible.

Hopefully things will get better for you Kujy. I was sorry to see you go.

 

[Sterkarm]

Well KOM... I'm interested. The timeslot probably isn't the best for me. It would be 10 or 11 (depending if you push it back an hour, which I'd prefer) my time, on a Friday night, which might mean sometimes I'd be absent and I might not be able to notify people of that (hanging out with people, going places, etc.). However, I'd like to join and I like the duchies only thing.

I'm not sure what my choice would be, but I do like English and French duchies. Maybe I'll pick one of them, inherit the Polish crown, then marry only Polish women until my heir turns Polish. It's a plan.

 

[admiral drake]

i'd be intrested to gve ck another try but can't play friday

 

[King of Men]

Hmm... Ear, if I join your EU2 game and make a point of completely crushing you so you can't play, will you join us?

Sterk, glad to have you. I'm not sure whether I should hope to have you as a neighbour, and get revenge, or on the other side of the map, and let you be Somebody Else's Problem.

Drake, sorry to hear that. Unfortunately it does seem that we would lose two or three players (cc, Just, probably me) if we moved it away from the Fridays.


So five players so far, plus possibly Varyar, germax, and Revo. That's eight, and we'd likely lose some. I hope we can get some more. If we can't, I suggest that we put all the player Duchies fairly close together, so that we get some aggression in the early parts of the game; then, as people lose, we can give them new duchies further away. How's that? I hope that will keep interest high, since tehre will be action from the start.

Now, about rules : First, politeness and courtesy. Second, if you drop, we will rehost in January unless you are at war. Third, we will all recall that CK is a competitive game, and if someone does something to you that makes it impossible to play on as that nation, that shows that he is superior in skill, not that he is an evil bastard. Grit your teeth and plot revenge as a different nation, do not threaten to drop.

Fourth, about force-peacing. We'll have new rules in EU2 (should we get so far!) but for CK, I suggest this : There is no force-peace except for getting 100% of the demesne. However, after three years of war, the side which has positive warscore is allowed to annex vassals, which is otherwise forbidden. That should put a bit of pressure on.

Fifth, pagans and Moslems : Each ruler may attack one infidel nation, in his lifetime. If he has the Crusader trait, he is given an extra attack; it is also permitted to attack the owner of the current Crusade target at any time. The GM will check after each session that these rules have been followed - CK does save the history log, right? (It would be useful if everybody made a note of when they got a new King, and when they DOWed an infidel, to make this job easier.) If you break the rules, any land gained will be edited back. If you break them several times, there may be additional punishments. But I don't think that will be necessary.

If a pagan or Moslem DOWs you, you are allowed to kill them, and allies may respond even if they have used up their attacks. That only applies to formal alliances, though. So if the Seljuks attack you when everybody has used up their crusades, and you don't have any allies - you're in trouble! This should make the Moslems an actual threat, instead of a punching bag.

Finally, AAR and on-time rewards : They should be small, but not completely irrelevant. I suggest the following :

On-time : One month's income.
AAR of at least 500 words, posted at least 24 hours before game time : Three month's income, or gain (not lose!) one trait of your choice for your ruler.


Suggestions, objections?

 

[Varyar]

Well, it would seem difficult for me to join after all. 19:00 Pacific Time, or even 20:00, is in the middle of the night for me with Central European Time. Seeing that so many other players will drop if the timeslot is changed, I guess I'll have to find an EU2 MP game instead. Too bad, I'm sure it would've been fun.

 

[unmerged(31960)]

i can play with both times, so you guys pick, i would like to play an italian duchy.

 

[King of Men]

Ok, so that's six players confirmed, one uncertain. Hmm - let me send out some PMs.

 

[Justinian_A]

I like the rules, KoM. It ought to help the world from getting gobbled up so quickly.

I've decided that I'll play the Aquitaine. If Wilcox doesn't take Flanders, I may change my mind, but for now, it's the Aquitaine.

 

[Revo]

Hey guys, I finally got around to figuring out where you had this game posted after Cc pmed me on B&I and Wil told me about this game in numeral times.

I would be most interested in the Duchy of Apulia if that is pickable since I am largely inexperienced in CK mp on a bigger scale, if I cannot play Apulia for whatever reason I would be interested in a German or Hungarian duchy.

I'm suited with the current time slot, since in the TGS game we start at the same time but on Saturdays.

 

[King of Men]

Glad to have you, Revo. I don't see where Apulia is a problem.

Hmm, I wonder if we could manage to start this thing tomorrow? Only seven players, true, but we won't get that much time in, and we can recruit more for an ongoing game, I should think.