Ancient Mediterranean Never Ending Story
(AMNES)

WELCOME
To the very first Ancient Mediterranean NES. This is a moderator-operated NES, a type which allows more combat and diplomatic flexibility. It is also one of the first to concretely implement such ideas as trade, science, and money.

THE PLAYERS
Each player starts with an equal number of armed forces. While this may not be historically accurate, it balances the game. Still, some civilizations get bonuses in different areas of the game (for example, Carthage has better, faster ships). Negotiation is an essential part of the game as no player can easily conquer another.
There are 10 spots available. The game will start after the 5th sign-up and new players can join later.
1. Rome (TAKEN)
2. Carthage
3. Greece (TAKEN)
4. Gaul (TAKEN)
5. Iberia
6. Egypt (TAKEN)
7. Phoenicia (TAKEN)
8. Macedon
9. Anatolia
10. Numidia

Rome is red, Carthage yellow, Greece green, Gaul is blue, Iberia is brown, Egypt is pink, Phoenicia is brown, Macedon is purple, Anatolia is orange, Numidia is grey.

ORDER OF PLAY
The game will start on the first Saturday after the 5th join-up. From there, play will proceed by calendar.

STARTING THE GAME
Each player will receive ten Flag-Bearers. Every military unit must be attached to an FB, so each country may only have 10 separate armies. Each FB can only lead 5 units, so the maximum total army size is 50 military units: this includes ships! Flag Bearers will be numbered 1 to 10, with the nation’s name in front: Carthage 6 is Carthage’s 6th FB.
You will receive twenty talents on the Saturday the game starts. Talents are the currency of the game and good for buying units or giving to other players in deals. With those twenty talents you will buy your first military units, attach them to Flag-Bearers, and send them out to explore.
You will start with one capital city. Your treasury and your government are in this city, so protect it well! While your empire will not entirely collapse and your entire treasury will not be stolen if your capital is captured, your situation will be seriously threatened.

ORDER OF PLAY: SATURDAY and SUNDAY and MONDAY
On every Saturday, not including the first one, the moderator will reveal who won the Science and Luxury bids and explain the consequences.
Also on every Saturday but the first, a new map will be posted and combat will be resolved.
On every Saturday, including the first Saturday of the game, the moderator will email each player a PM with their paycheck. Money each player receives is entirely arbitrary, but will heavily depend on: the total land area your empire occupies, the military you have to support, any discontent in your empire, and how assimilated the land is into your empire. The paycheck is added to your balance from last week and this number is your treasury (at the beginning of the game, each player gets 20 talents).
By Monday, you must submit a PM to the moderator with “Carthage BUILD” as the subject (replacing Carthage with whatever nation you have). This PM will contain:

1. Your total treasury (and be honest, because the moderator will also be keeping track)
2. How many new military units you will buy, how much they’ll cost, and which FB you will attach each to. Remember, military units start life in your capital, so there’s no point in building unless you have an FB in your capital to attach them to.

Note: although FBs can exchange military units in the field if they are close enough, ANY and ALL military units that are not attached to an FB die. Therefore, armies with only 2 or 3 units should start heading back home to replenish.
All military units are named the same and fight the same no matter which nation they belong to: however, some nations receive in-combat bonuses.
GALLEY: 5 Talents
HORSE: 3 Talents
SWORD: 2 Talents

For example, any starting nation could use their 20 talents to buy 5 Swords, one Galley, and one horse, and have money left over.

ORDER OF PLAY: TUESDAY
Tuesday starts the official negotiating period.
During this time players may make public and private agreements, through the board or by PMing me. If any secret deals between nations are made, they MUST be PM’d to me. If any money moves from one treasury to another as a result of a deal, it must be PM’d to me so I can also keep track. If you want to make deals public as well, go ahead. NO deal is binding and anyone can backstab another player - if they want to, but it will sure harm their reputation.
On the negotiating table, the only resources the players have, and the only part of the game made public, is an estimate (sometimes inaccurate on purpose) of each player’s treasury, and an estimate of their military size. Also, a map is posted showing current empires. On these maps FBs are displayed as dots, EXCEPT when the player has PM’d me a message telling me to keep one FB’s position secret (sorry, only 1 FB at a time). The map does NOT show how many or which units are attached to each FB.
If you want to do some spying, send me a PM with the nation you’re going to spy against, the talents you are committing to do this, and the objective you want. Here are some possible objectives, but you’re not limited to them:
Find out the position of a hidden FB.
Find the number a FB is carrying (1-10).
Find the size of the FB (how many units is he carrying?).
Find out which kinds of units an FB is carrying.
Find out a player’s treasury.
Find out a player’s Science and Luxury bids.
And so on. However, realize that the more complex missions will require more money to even have a chance, and the chance of discovery and publication is greater. No whining if you don’t commit what I think is enough money, and nothing happens. Such is espionage. The average espionage mission will cost about 10 talents.
Finally, on Friday diplomacy winds up.

ORDER OF PLAY: FRIDAY
By Friday evening at the latest, you must send me another PM, this one with the title “Carthage ORDERS” or Rome ORDERS, etc.

1. Going down the list of Flag-Bearers, tell me where they are (I’ll keep track too), and where they are going, and what special orders they have (dig in here, build a fort here, don’t cross over this line, attack any of this nation’s troops you see, try and stay hidden, etc).
2. How many talents you are bidding for science this week.
3. How many talents you are bidding for luxuries this week. (Science and Luxuries will be explained later).

NOTES ON MOVEMENT
Note: Ships, of course, are also led by FBs (in case you didn’t realize that). Ships move about 4 times faster than a Sword. Land armies move depending on if they have any Swords, or they are all Horse. All Horse armies move at a rate of 2, any army with Swords moves at a rate of 1.
Note: Colonies will follow your divisions to expand your territory unless you’ve given specific orders NOT to colonize a certain area.
Note: Movement is faster than you’d think. A Sword army can go from the southern tip of Italy, to Rome, in one turn. A Horse army could move all the way to the Alps. A Ship could go from Marseilles to Venice.
Note: FBs leading Galleys can ONLY move on water.
Note: If an FB has a galley and at least 2 empty slots, it can carry another FB (carrying the normal 5 units) to another coast. Each FB with a galley and 2+ slots can carry only ONE FB itself.

EXTRA IMPORTANT: the FB loaded into the second's Galley CANNOT itself be carrying Galleys! It can only be carrying Horses and Swords.

An FB can carry both Galleys and military units at the same time, and these can be loaded onto FBs standing on the coast, which is the 2nd form of transport across sea.

EXAMPLE: Rome-1 has 3H, Rome-5 has 4G, Rome-2 has 1G and the rest empty, Rome-3 is empty, and Rome-4 is carrying 1G and 4S. One one turn, Rome-1 can load itself onto Rome-2 and travel to distant lands. HOWEVER Rome-5 cannot be loaded instead, because it's carrying Galleys. At the same time, Rome-4 will carry its Sword payload to Rome-3, where the Swordsmen will join Rome-3, leaving Rome-4 with just a galley.
Note: Military units can switch around between two FBs if these FBs are right next to each other, or very near. However, still the 5-unit limit applies.


FRIDAY EVENING: COMBAT
On Friday Evening, I’ll process the combat and science-luxury bids, and post the new results on Saturday, and the cycle begins again.

COMBAT
Numbers in this game are overwhelming: however, if the defender has prepared defenses or has good terrain, the balance swings in favor of the defender. Surprise is a major consideration and provides a hefty bonus. Galley vs Galley battles tend to swing in favor of whoever has the most Galleys unless one nation has a seafaring bonus, like Carthage or Phoenicia. In land battles, the Swords slug it out while the Horses try to flank around the side. If you have special tactics, tell me in your PM. Again, numbers are a large consideration, but if you have another FB waiting in secret with a counter-attack to the enemy’s rear, or a horse unit that secretly sneaks away to plow into the enemy’s flank, both of those will give you an advantage. Creativity is rewarded!

Once an army is seriously outnumbered because of losses (in other words, 4:1 or higher), it’s likely it’ll run away from battle rather than sustain more casualties unless you tell it to fight to the last man.

Two to one odds are usually enough to defeat an enemy, with some losses. Three to two is risky, and might result in defeat more often than you'd like, or a win which leaves your army nearly empty. Three to one is almost a certain win with very light casualties.

LUXURY and SCIENCE
Luxury bids are to keep your people happy. There is no reward for the highest bid, except that your people are even happier! HOWEVER, luxury is extremely important. If I see the bids are dropping, I may decide to make the lowest bidder’s nation have a bit of a revolt on their hands, where a portion of their territory descends into civil disorder, doesn’t generate taxes, and offers to join the nearest friendly nation. So keep those bids up! I think a good spending on luxury is about 1/6 of your paycheck.
You can submit a zero science bid if you want, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Every week, the player with the highest science bid has a chance (about 2 in 3) of making a scientific discovery, which may give them faster ships, a lower Luxury bid needed to satisfy their people, better Swords, better roads, etc. In the interests of fairness I may make a larger nation discover a new kind of government, forcing the nation to undergo anarchy for a turn while they’re changing, and making them an easy target. Also in the interests of fairness, I may reward 2nd and 3rd place bids when I feel they deserve it.

LAST NOTE: Staying apathetic in this game will not help you survive. I won’t skew combat results just to keep your nation alive. You will get a bonus defending your homeland, but if you are conquered, you are conquered.

NOTE ON MAP: Gibraltar Straits and the Straits of the Black Sea are crossable ONLY by building bridges, or by ship: no jumping across!

Oh, a note on a possible BUG: If an army is destroyed, the FB is merely returned empty to the capital, ready to fight another day. So while your actual army size may change, each player has the possibility of owning up to 50 units.

A map please?

Damn, this is too similar to the one I was thinking of, except I was thinking of upkeep rather than flag bearers to limit the number of units. But I think FBs are a much better way.

Are any of those just based on an island? I much prefer being able to stay out of the land combat! If there is, put me down for that nation.

If not, put me down as Rome!

Nemesis

Oh, and due to the similarities, I think I'll change UKNES to a simple quick NES, so they won't be similar.

Nemesis

The Troquelet: You should post a link in the "open spots in NES games" thread to attract some more attention. :)

Sullla, thanks for reminding me. I'll post there ASAP.

UKnemesis, I've got you down for Rome.

Das, and anyone else that could help, I can't seemt to be able to post pics here recently. Before TF's changes to the uploading rules, I could always use the PrintScreen button, paste it into Paint (the one that comes with Windows), save it as a gif, and load it up. But now that doesn't seem to work.

I've got a Clarisworks 4.0 Paint (PT) file that shows the map very well. My question is, how do I load it up?

PS - Glad you like the FB idea, UK. The other option was to let each nation have a specific army size replenished every turn, like in the UKNES, which didn't give a disadvantage to nations whose empires were tiny as compared to huge empires.

On the other hand, letting army size be strictly ruled by land size let large nations just get bigger and bigger with no way of stopping them.
The FB idea not only puts a limit on army size, it emphasizes strategy and using your armies in task forces, and gives smaller nations at least a chance of gaining some territory, with large nations scrambling to use a mere ten armies to defend their huge borders. Also it puts more of an emphasis on diplomacy, since allies are now needed if you want to have the overall odds in your favor.

Put me up for Pheonicia ;).

The Troquelet: Here's what I'd try for your map problem. Open up the map and take a picture of it with the "Print Screen" key as usual. Open up Paint and copy in the image. Then save it as a .jpg file and either attach the file or upload it to the CivFanatics server. I've always had bad results with .gif files and these forums, so try the .jpg format and see if that solves your problem. :)

Sulla, I tried what you suggested and here's what I got:

"A network error occurred while Netscape was sending data (Network Error: Connection aborted) Please try connecting again."

I'll try with Explorer now..

Neither gif nor jpg

Neither gif nor jpg works. Let me try one more thing... I think it may be just my computer acting up. I'll try emailing the pic to myself. If I can email myself it, I can email one of you too, and maybe your computers are less Bug-prone.

5min later: nothing doing. It can't attach the file, I can't post it here, what the heck is going on with this piece of junk?!

One more try...

YES!!! I cannot believe my own brilliance. (Bows) Had to save it into Imaging (that came with Windows) and THEN as a .jpg!! How do I get the white space at the bottom away though?

OK, I deleted the old one and here's the new.

Looking good so far! :goodjob:

While I'm not declaring for this game at the moment, if you need some people to get the game started I will take a civ.

I wanna be Egypt!

Ok, I have the last bug ironed out. This is to do with building Galleys. Six Civs do NOT have their capital on coastline: these would be Numidia, Iberia, Gaul, Macedonia, Anatolia, and Egypt. These civs can still build Galleys, however instead of attaching to a free FB in their capital like any other unit, they can attach to any free FB on a coastline, and within a reasonable distance (a Horse move or so) away from the capital (notice that this FB now has to put out to sea, carrying any other units, because FBs carrying Galleys can only move in water).

Second, Luxury and Science bids have now been moved to the "Nation ORDERS" PM so as to allow spying oppurtunities and exchanging bid numbers in diplomacy.

And last of all, the gap between the Black Sea and the Med is on purpose: it can only be crossed by spending time to build a bridge, like Xerxes in ancient history.

The Roster so far reads:

ROME (Uknemesis)
PHOENICIA (Toasty)
EGYPT (Eric Mesoy)
OTHERS (open)

2 more to go. We don't need to start the game tomorrow, as the first turn is mostly exploration anyway: we can start as late as Tuesday or Wednesday if people don't join till then (and besides, six would always be better than five!). So no pressure, Sullla, although you'd be welcome in my game if you want! :)

My name is eriK, not eriC. AM I allowed to give my spending orders already, or must I wait until the 5 have signed up?

I'll play as Vercingetorix of Gaul.
If I mess up at any point (like, by mixing an order up, or something) please tell me, and I'll try to fix it...

IGNORE ME I'M DUMB!!

Nemesis

1st Pheonician Fleet
1 Galley
Orders: Colonize Southern Anatolia

2nd Pheonician Fleet
1 Galley
Orders: Colonize the Gulf of Sidra and Cyrenicia

3rd Pheonician Army
2 Swords
Orders: Patrol Homelands

4th Pheonician Army
2 Horses
Orders: Colonize Sinai

Hey, you guys are spending NOTHING on science and luxury! Sounds like a good idea!

I bought 4 horses.
FB Egypt-1, 1 horse. Colonize southwest..
FB Egypt-2, 1 horse. Colonize westwards.
FB Egypt-3, 1 horse. Colonize southwards.
FB Egypt-4, 1 horse. Colonize southeast.

Im assuming no raging barbs, and no one can invade my capital right now, right?

I left one talent over for luxury, but I forgot to mention it!

Anyway, 14 talents for 7 sword, 5 talents for 1 galley and 1 talent for luxuries.

I will spend nothing on science this week, preferring to strengthen my nation.

Plus if any of my nation should rebel due to low luxury levels, my troops will go and tell them why I have to spend low at the beginning, then massacre them!

Julius

I really hope there is a scientific advance this week, otherwise I have wasted a lot of possible land.

Are we supposed to use troops for colonization, or was there something else, like buying unclaimed land?

Three things!, Okay more than 3 things.

1: Everybody: We haven't started yet. So when we do, I WILL pm you so that you know to send me the spending orders.

2: Everybody: Unlike ANY other NES, Spending and Moving orders are totally secret. You PM to me, not post them here. When I release a map, I'll show the positions of each FB but not what they are carrying. So you can only find out somebody else's army by diplomacy or by espionage.

3: Everybody: SPENDING and MOVING orders are separate. One PM (which you'll send to me at game start) is the
BUILD PM which contains
1)Which troops you are buying, and which FBs in your capital they are being attached to (note, they arrive in your capital, so there must be an FB there with a free slot to receive them).
THEN, on Friday you will send me the Orders PM, which contains
1) Your luxury and science bids
2) What each FB is doing (and tell me that the empty ones at home stay at home, please! Go through all ten...)
Anyway, if you didn't realize this, please go back through the Order of Play again... except that we'll start the game when we get a fifth player. We have four so far, so I'm thinking of asking for BUILD PMs on Monday or Tuesday, and ask for ORDER PMs on Friday as usual. You don't need a longer negotiation period in the beginning of the game.

4: Erik: Sorry about the name slip! Won't happen again. Also, there are absolutely no barbs of any kind. Your only neighbors are the players.

Also, your colonists expand in all directions from your capital. They move faster and expand more when armies are moving with them, and they won't colonize across sea (onto islands or the other coast) if an army doesn't accompany them. So your current expansion plan is going to make a sort of lopsided circle. I'll post an image to show you what I mean, a demo map that also shows how much you can expand in one turn.

The red lines are a Sword move and a Horse move, just for comparison in scale. A Galley can move about 3 Sword Moves.

5: Everyone: I don't have an ancient atlas, so could you use modern place names? If you prefer ancient, that's still okay, but I'll have to look them up on the net if I don't recognize them...

LAST OF ALL!! :) Wilboman, got your request for Gaul, and accepted. Great, that's 4 players. Egypt, Phoenicia, Egypt, Rome. One more player (preferably a central position like Greece, Carthage, Anatolia, Macedonia) and we'll be ready to start!

PS - UK, you have one galley transporting 2 FBs. Not possible. On my demo map, I chose to use one FB to expand north and the other to claim Sicily.

PS - Toasty, you can't colonize with just a fleet, you have to land an FB there leading troops.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Neutral nations expand as well, so beware.

Finally, I hope you all read the intro post once more so there aren't any more misunderstandings. Thanks again for joining everyone, and I hope to satisfy your needs as a fun and impartial moderator. :goodjob:

Now I hope all the misunderstandings are worked out, I'll send you all PMs to start when we get a fifth player. Here's a demo map in the meantime to show how much you can expand in one turn:

Two questions:
You mean that we send no movement (i.e colonization) orders before Friday after a fifth person joins?
And: can we post ancient place names, but make it a requirement that we stick the modern one in paranthesises behind, for example like this:
"Gaulish settlers expand to found Lutetia (Paris)."

Demetrias would love to play as the greeks. Am i the fifth player or is the Torq. not playing? I hope soo i would love to start.

OK, then forget all my orders. I wanted to change them anyway.

:nitpick: :nag: You got my name wright, but you rote: Great, we have 4 players. Egypt, Phoenicia, Egypt, Rome.

So I still have my 20 talents, right?

Short rules: Payment on every Sat/Sun after this one, Build PMs on Mon/Tue, orders on Fri, Science and Luxury come under Orders. Did I get it right?

Oh and your galley example in the beginning seems to have been wrong. You were putting 3horse on an FB with 4Galley, but you stated that a FB must have only galley and *2* empty slots to load another FB.

Wilboman, I like your idea, preserving both the ancient feel and modern accuracy. Everyone, if you can, do as he suggests.


Erik, you are absolutely right both about rules and about my example.

We can sum up the naval rules like this:

Galleys can be built in the capital if it's on water, or at an FB up to a horse move away on the coast in the case of the 6 landlocked nations (Iberia, Gaul, Numidia, Macedonia, Egypt, Anatolia).

An FB carrying a Galley may ONLY move on water. It can however also carry up to 4 other military units, including more Galleys.

A Fleet (FB carrying 1+ Galleys) can unload some of its units onto another FB standing on the shore, if there is room. If it unloads Galleys, the shore-standing FB must also move onto water. If the Fleet unloads all its Galleys, it becomes an earth-bound army and must stay on land.

A Fleet, if it has 2 blank slots, may also carry another FB, as long as the carried FB does not contain Galleys... this method of transport is most efficient: consider the following example.

A simple Fleet, besides its one Galley, can carry 4 Swords or Horses.

However, A Fleet with a Galley and 2 Swords or Horses has 2 blank spaces and can also carry an FB with up to 5 Swords or Horses for a total of 7 transported units, as opposed to 4.

Finally, on land units can switch between FBs if they are adjacent and there is room.

So if everything about this (too) complicated move system is all cleared up, we just have to wait for player number five...

Oh, and yes you will receive your twenty talents and 10 FBs in my PM to you informing you the game has started.

-----------

Demetrias, you're welcome to play as the Greeks. That makes you the fifth player- I'm just moderator. Anyway, like everyone else I hope you've read everything up to here (there have been some minor rule changes, so read everything!).

I am currently sending everyone their ten FBs and their 20 Talents to spend. I am also going to PM sullla to ask if he wants to join. Your BUILD orders are due by Tuesday morning. They should contain
1- how much money you are spending on units, and which FB's they are being attached to (note that luxury/science, and moves, are in the ORDER pm now, for people still catching up on posts...)

You have until Friday evening to chat with your fellow world leaders. Remember, all secret pacts, deals, treaties, and agreements should be sent to me so I can keep track of them! Finally, I'll post a little something on Thursday eve to remind you that your ORDER pm is due Friday at sunset! Enjoy. I hope this NES will get off to a good start.

PS- the first turn is 300 BC, and the next will be 290 BC, and so on...

Can you update post 1 with:
All the taken civs
The civs special advantages
The civ colors (Whos that grey to the south?)

Much obliged.

As per a request from The Troquelet, I will be playing and take over control of the Anatolians in this game. :)

I will be taking on the persona of Mithridates VI of Pontus, who lived a bit later but still well within our time period. This game should be fun for all of us.

And clean out your PM box, Troquelet, so I can send you my build orders for this week! :hammer:

Yeah, Troq, don't forget to clear out the sent items as well, and go right back through the dates, I found out that was how mine kept getting full up!

Nemesis

Sorry about that. You should be fine now.

Roger, sullla, you are now Anatolia.

Erik:

The Civs are as follows:

Egypt is pink.
Rome is red.
Anatolia is orange.
Carthage is yellow.
Greece is green.
Gaul is blue.
Macedon is violet.
Iberia and Phoenicia are both brown.
Numidia is gray.

There are several different bonuses.

These nations have less upkeep for their military, making their paychecks larger: Rome, Macedon.

These nations receive bonuses making their galleys faster and deadlier: Phoenicia, Carthage.

These nations have bonuses giving them faster, deadlier Horses: Anatolia, Iberia.

These nations have the same bonus but for Swords:
Greece, Gaul.

These nations get more money from desert: Egypt, Numidia.

Just a note:
I have received orders from Egypt and Rome.


Nations I still have to get orders from:

Anatolia (but you should be able to now!)

Greece (Demetrias, please let me know which FBs each unit is attaching to!)

Gaul (wilboman, deadline is Tuesday!)

Phoenicia (Toasty, deadline is Tuesday!)

One more note: Neutral nations receive an army slightly lower than that of a player nation (units are my choice) but will only use them in defense and to expand... this is to encourage other players to join midway.

I have a question: if a nation wins the science bidding for a week, do they get to decide where the advance is? I would imagine that Carthage would probably be more interested in improving their galleys and keeping them the strongest in the sea as opposed to upgrading their swords or something like that. Or would that by up to the player to decide at all? (Obviously not all techs would have to deal with the military either; some can involve cheaper unit costs, faster expansion, more income, etc.)

Just curious on how you're going to work this out. :)

Sullla, I'll pick the advance myself, unless the high bidder is substantially above everyone else, in which case I'll let him pick from a group of 2-5 choices.

Everyone, this PM-ing system is obviously too complicated. For which reason I have decided that for this week only, I'll keep the system as it is (BUILD due Tues, ORDER due Friday). From then on, I'll keep a 4-day system running:

Day 1 - Submit all orders (buying units, attaching them, moving them, battle orders)

Day 2 - I'll post the results and PM the players their latest stats.

Days 3-4 - Negotiating and spying.

Rinse and repeat. That seems much simpler. I may have the first Day1 be on next Monday, so the schedule would run:

TOMORROW: Submit your BUILD orders! Still don't have them from Greece, Gaul, Phoenicia!

FRIDAY: Submit move orders.

MONDAY: Day 1 of the new system. Submit all orders. and so on, so the second Day1 will be Friday, then Tuesday, then Saturday, then Wednesday...

Egypt is PINK? I wanted the yellow civ! Put me up for them instead, ok? Is that allowed?

Someone obviously needs to look at some ancient maps! :lol:

Erik, that's Carthage in yellow. But I'm sure that The Troquelet will allow you to switch with no problem. :)

Erik, you can be Carthage.

I now have orders from Gaul and Anatolia. Unless I receive further notification I'm assuming UK's orders for Rome stand. Toasty in Phoenicia sent me the wrong kind again (both units and orders) but that's OK because I'm going to scrap this method of orders anyway (see above). Finally, Erik Mesoy has sent me his orders, and I am assuming the same orders stand for Carthage.

Please, at the next oppurtunity send me your move, science, and luxury orders if I haven't got them already. Then we can get this first turn over and I can develop a better less complicated move system that Toasty and UK can figure out.... :)

Till then. your Moderator signing out.

For those unfamiliar with ancient Mediterranean place names, I decided to provide this map:

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads/romanempiremap.gif

I will always try to provide a modern place name with my orders, but if I want my horses to be invading Cappadocia, well, everyone needs to know where that is! Also, this map is focused on Anatolia, so The Troquelet might want to look at this when processing some of my orders. :D

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads/ancient_anatolia.gif

AP Press

May 21, 300 BC

Late breaking news this week: six new rulers have come to power in city-states across the Mediterranean, claiming power in a move designed to expand their empires beyond the city walls, perhaps stretching thousands of miles in each direction. To this end they spent much of their treasury on training new military units.

When we questioned self-proclaimed King Mithridates on his recent refurbishments of the armed forces, he refused to elaborate. Likewise, the new monarchs worldwide joined in a resounding "No Comment", claiming the need for national security as the cause of their secretiveness. While each military minister claimed that his troops were for internal use only, several expressed alarm at the skyrocketing armies in other nations, fearing a possible assault... ?

Nevertheless, the world continued in peace up to this Tuesday. By bribing some chief officials, we were able to discover that no army reached a greater size than seven "units". However, the Associated Press would like to mention the possibility that this estimate is off slightly, or even totally inaccurate. By like means, we were able to discover that the largest treasury numbers 10 gold talents.

The world leaders will meet with Reuters on Friday to unveil their latest expansion plans.


OOC (Yes, even I get a character, the press!): Hi everyone. As you can see, I have received monetary orders and am ready to process moves by Friday, or even before if you all send them before Thursday. Here's your status ("go" means you don't need to send me anything):

Toasty: You're go for Friday.

Sullla: You're go for Friday.

UKnemesis: You're go for Friday.

Erik Mesoy: Please send me a PM with your moves, your luxury bid, and your science bid. In case you don't remember, I'll send you a PM showing you which FBs carry which units, and how many talents you have.

Wilboman: Please send me a PM with your moves, your luxury bid, and your science bid. In case you don't remember, I'll send you a PM showing you which FBs carry which units, and how many talents you have.

Demetrias: Please send me a PM with which units are being attached to which FBs, your moves, your luxury bid, and your science bid. In case you don't remember, I'll send you a PM showing you which FBs carry which units, and how many talents you have.

When I receive all orders from Erik, Wilboman, and Demetrias, I'll post a new map and press update. And then we can finally move to the new easier system.

which brown is which?

Iberia is in Spain. Phoenicia is in Israel.

Demetrias, you are go for Friday.

Erik, you are go for Friday.

Map update on Friday, pending Wilboman's orders. Expansion will be swift, at least at first, so you can start conquering! (or not, as you choose)...

Just a double-check of the map to make sure the details can show up (deleted later so you don't get a sneak preview of Friday!)

Edit: wow, it works pretty well. I'm almost done with the updates, just awaiting Gaul's orders..

AP Press

May 23, 300 BC

Today rulers of the six burgeoning countries met with the press to discuss their expansion plans for the next five years. Specifically, each country has made several new conquests, pacifying native tribes and seizing land to use as their own. Within the next few years we can even expect these new empires to border each other!

Vercingetorix, Gaulish Chief, unveiled his latest plans today. Flag Bearers expanded in every direction, as can be seen with the enclosed map. The Iberians, Gaul's friendly neighbors, also expanded rapidly, but were stopped at the Pyrenees. At the latest press conference at Numantia, the King of the Iberians said he hoped a fair border line could be agreed upon. The obscure Numidians gobbled up a large amount of nearly worthless desert. Meanwhile, the Egyptians conquered the entire Nile delta. Meanwhile, a Carthaginian fleet carried an army to Sardinia to begin colonization. The Romans also landed at this vital island, but thanks to the Carthaginian's faster fleets, the Carthaginian convoy got there first and seized a larger portion of land. Carthage also seized a strip of land along the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, expanding towards Egypt. However, only the coast is worth anything to farmers: inner Africa is mostly desert. The nearest fertile land to Carthage is the offshore islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Phoenicia also sent out troops and settlers, loading them onto Galleys and ferrying them to distant lands, among them the Sinai Peninsula and Southern Anatolia. Anatolia itself expanded as well, sending envoys in every direction to find new lands and make new friends. When questioned about its pending border with Greece, Anatolia's Foreign Minister reported he had come to an agreement with Greece about it; however, this may or may not be false information. Greece itself was unavailable for comment, but King Demetrias assured us that his empire has only peaceful expansion in mind. To this end, he has sent troops to the island of Crete to build a palace and fortress at Knossos. He has also expanded both south and north of Athens, and left a Royal Garrison to protect the city. Macedonia chose to expand south and east. Finally, Rome sent settlers all across the Italian peninsula, took the smaller half of Sardinia, and colonised most of Sicily.

Meanwhile in the Luxury and Science Annual Bids, Gaul bid 1-2, Carthage bid 1-3, Phoenicia bid 1-1, Anatolia bid 1-8, Greece bid 1-1, and Rome bid 2-2.

Thus, Anatolia wins the science bid, and since King Mithridates bid so high, he may post a reasonable proposal on the thread within a few days for my approval.

Salaries for this week:
ROME, CARTHAGE, GREECE, and PHOENICIA receive 30 talents. GAUL and ANATOLIA receive 32.

Clarification: money not spent vanishes from your treasury, so use as much as you can!

I'll talk about the new order system in my next post.

1. From now on, please use Sullla's wonderful map for place-names, as it makes moderating SO much easier! :) Thanx again Sullla.

2. The new order system will work like this: you may conduct diplomacy as long as you like and submit your orders whenever you want (one large PM please, with moves, orders, luxury and science). HOWEVER, when everyone but one player has submitted his orders, I will post a one-day warning, and the last player has 24 hours to submit his orders, then a new map update happens. This should keep play lively but not too fast. I think orders every third day should be fine.

3. Some clarifications about Flag Bearers: you may NOT load units into FBs away from the capital. Only FBs in the capital can receive units: thus, if one of your FBs has few units from fighting too much, a good idea is to return him to the capital to load more units. Also, an FB whose units all die in battle is automatically returned to the Capital (you can't capture FBs).

4. From now on, I expect to see higher luxury bids! Another bid of 5 or under will almost certainly plunge your realm into rebellion. On the other hand, as you expand some nations will gain control of luxuries which can be traded, and which count as a luxury bid of 1-5 talents, which will certainly add more depth to the game.

5. If you haven't kept track of which FBs are where and what units they hold, PM me and I can tell you, as I'm always keeping track.

Till next time,

The Moderator.

Note: I finally organized the FBs into handy charts, so I'll send you your chart with this format:

FB1
Contents
Position
FB2
Contents
Position

and so on.. hopefully this should help you!

Okay Troq, the Gulf of Sadris that you couldn't find is the gulf between Cyrenaica and Africa Proconsularis on Sulla's map. I'd much rather have that colonized than Sinai, and if you would be so kind to fix it because you couldn't find it it would be much appreciated.

(Note: I realize this sounds hostile, it isn't meant to be, I'm just too lazy to retype it :D.)

No problem, Toasty. Well, actually there is a problem - a Galley can't take you that far in one turn, even a Phoenician galley. You could reach as far as Cyrene: would you like to colonise there instead? (If so, I'll fix it on the next map! :)

Cyrenaica, you mean? Yes, that's good. That was my original plan but I'm practically obsessive compulsive with spelling so I just said the Gulf of Sadris :).

Thanks.

Bulletin: I have orders from everyone but Anatolia. Take your time, no rush! :) But we may have a map update by Monday (and let me tell you, this is going to be one exciting map update!).

I sent in my orders, so the game should be proceeding shortly.

Also, all players make sure you clean out your PM boxes. I tried to send some of you messages, only to find that your boxes were full! :)

Toasty, your box is full.

Yes, the map update will proceed shortly! I have a haircut to go to :( but when I come back I'll give you all the news, before 4:00 when I have a cello lesson.

Just to pique your curiosity: Greece attacked Macedonia, Rome attacked Carthage, and the island of Crete is in rebellion (more info soon, including a story, casualties, and border changes).

Also, Sullla has announced his tech update: a new kind of longer spear which will give his horsemen more reach in combat, thus making them even deadlier!

To Toasty: I've noticed it spelled both PhOEnicia and PhEOnicia, but Webster spells it Phoenicia so that's what I'm going with (but go ahead and use Pheonicia yourself in your orders, diplomacy, if you want to!)

To Sullla and everyone else: a bridge can be built across the Bosporus simply by directing one FB carrying 1 or more units to use its move to make a bridge that turn. The same turn, the bridge is complete, and other FBs can cross. But unless the FB continues making the bridge on succeeding turns, it is destroyed.

Example: FB1 with 1H builds a bridge and uses its move, and FB2, 3, and 4 cross it on the same turn. The bridge remains in place until the end of combat (so you can retreat across it unless you burn it!) but at the end of the turn it is destroyed and the FB has to build it again.

Note, a bridge can NOT be built between Sardinia and Corsica, or across Gibraltar, or any other strait, with the exception of the strait near Corinthus.

Also to all: Since I now have a handy chart to record troop positions, the little squares for FBs will no longer appear on the map. If you want to know what troops are in an area, PM me with some talents for spying and I'll give you an estimate (accurate, or not.) Again, ordering your troops to be stealthy will make it harder to detect them!

Finally: the winner of this turn's science bid was... WILBOMAN the Gaul with 11 Talents! Closely followed by Erik Mesoy the Carthaginian with 10 Talents (!)... Talk about a close bid. Wilboman, you have till next turn to think up a reasonable science discovery.

Oh...
Oh my gawd. I feel so honored.
I'm so happy! I want to thank God, and my parents, and my producer, he's been so wonderful to me, and all of you darling people out there and...
Oh, wait. This isn't the Oscars? Ah well. This is probably the closest I'll ever get, anyway.
I shall withdraw to my chambers and think it over...

Here is the map. Explanations of military actions to follow shortly. War has erupted on Crete and Sardinia and in the Macedonian foothills.

ASSOCIATED PRESS - War News
“This week the Mediterranean was transformed into a war zone. No less than three wars have broken out as world leaders vied for power, land, and glory. Fred Bellicose has the story on the First Punic War. Fred?”
“Thanks, Dan. Well, Monday morning before dawn the Romans launched a sneak attack against the Carthaginian colony in Sardinia. The sole horse army at the fort of Nuoro defended itself valiantly until about noon, causing substantial losses against the attacking swordsman army. At eleven, the fort’s commander decided to finish the battle quickly by conducting a sortie. The brave Carthaginians launched themselves against the wavering Romans, and were in pursuit of the routed enemy when a Roman convoy carrying a horseman army and three swordsmen armies landed on the northern tip of Sardinia. These fresh troops quickly turned the tide of battle once more, and the Carthaginian armies were quickly routed. At this moment, the Roman flag flies over all of Sardinia.”
“Didn’t the famous Carthaginian fleet come to the aid of the colony?”
“It tried to, Dan. As soon as Emperor Mesoy heard the news of the sneak attack, he personally led a fleet of warships out of the harbor. But encircling Sardinia was a Roman blockade fleet nearly four times as large as Carthage’s. The Romans led an attack, but the skilful Carthaginian fleet managed to escape nearly unscathed back to the safety of Carthage. Luckily, this distraction helped the convoy of settlers to Southern Spain proceed stealthily on their course without being attacked.”
“Fred, can you give us an idea of the casualties at this battle?”
“The Carthaginian FB2 defending Sardinia has lost all its troops (1H), and is automatically returned to Carthage. Rome’s FB3 loses all its troops (1S) and is automatically returned to Rome, while 1H and 3S remain on Sardinia, led by the other Roman general (FB7). So both sides have sustained relatively light casualties.”
“And how will these new border changes affect Rome and Carthage?”
“Both of these countries will have lowered income until peace is resumed because trade cannot occur between them, and if other nations officially stop relations with Rome or Carthage their income may drop even lower. But we can expect Rome to assimilate Sardinia quite easily as soon as peace returns, because it was only Carthaginian for five years. That is, if Rome can hold on to it.”
“For news of the Macedonian War, we turn to Daniel Pilum. Dan?”
“On Monday evening, and under cover of a dense fog, a secret Greek army tramped up the Thessalonica road towards the Macedonian capital of Oescus. A swordsman army doing guard duty at the border was awakened by a cry of battle as a horseman army three times their size launched a charge. Before the swordsmen could put on their armor, the Greeks were among them swinging their swords and burning down the fort, and the swordsmen were quickly routed with minimal Greek casualties. The smoke from the burning fort alerted one of the main Macedonian armies (whether this was the only Macedonian army is still unknown), which marched on the double to intercept the Greeks. Halfway to Oescus the two armies halted on opposite sides of a valley, to do battle in the morning.
“However, the Greek army (composed of one swordsman and three horseman armies, according to latest reports) did not have a chance to rest from its long march, as almost immediately the Macedonians charged down into the valley. Luckily, the Greek general had some very ingenious plans, and so did his subordinates.
“Tired as they were, the Greeks had still collected all the large boulders they could find, and now they rolled them down the hillside straight into the Macedonian ranks, scattering them. Immediately, the strong Greek horse contingent charged down as well, sowing more discord. However, it soon became obvious that the Greeks were outnumbered. Cautious eyewitness estimates have put the Macedonian army at three or four swordsman armies and at least two horseman armies. Thus, while the Greeks inflicted heavy casualties, they received them as well, and were unable to stop the Macedonian advance up the hill. The sole swordsman army shivered as the early morning fog swept across the hilltop, and below the enemy continued to advance.
“Finally, the Macedonians reached the hilltop and engaged the Greek defenders. Tired and outnumbered, the Greeks gave way quickly. The Macedonian wedge pushed deep into the Greek line, turning it into a crescent as the armies clashed sword against sword.
“At last, the Greek general decided to commit his last reserves. His plan had been to let the Macedonians push deeper and thus surround themselves, and then attack them from all sides. However, he barely had enough troops left now to do the job. Reluctantly he called up his horse armies and told them his plans.
“The Greek horsemen snuck stealthily away from battle, and just as the the swordsmen were beginning to rout, the last fresh troops the Greeks had launched themselves against the Macedonian rear. Again the Macedonians sustained heavy casualties, but they merely turned to face this new threat, ignoring the Greek swordsmen who were nearly exhausted to death by the battle. The Greek army was nearly routed, when a Greek leaning on his sword suddenly pointed to the East!
“A moment later everyone saw it: a marching regiment of swordsmen appeared on the eastern horizon, outlined from behind by the sun which was just beginning to disperse the mist. All fighting stopped as everyone turned to look at this new force (numbering about five swordsmen armies). Suddenly, the strangers raised the Greek flag!
“Instantly the Macedonians fled in every direction, scattered by a deadly fear. The eastern Greek force (which had landed in Thracia and moved steadily westward with little or no resistance) launched itself into the Macedonian flank while the main Greek force, now pitifully decimated, suddenly got its second wind and also charged. Within an hour, the battle was over. The few Macedon remnants fled towards Oescus, and the re-united Greek army is currently marching steadily in pursuit.”
“Dan, what can you tell us about the casualties at this battle?”
“Well, the original Greek army numbered 3H (FB7) and 1S (FB6), while the eastern contingent numbered 5S (FB4). The few troops that remain in FB6’s Sword army have filled the gaps in FB4’s ranks, while two horse armies lie dead on the field. Thus FB6 automatically returns to Athens empty, and the reunited Greek army is led by FB7 with 1H, and FB4 with 5S.”
“What about Macedonian casualties?”
“Well, we didn’t have a reporter with the Macedonians so we have no idea how they fared. But it’s clear that in addition to the swordsman army defeated at the border, and various skirmishings along the eastern flank, at least half of the total Macedonian army died on the Oescan road, with the numbers about 3 or 4 swords and 2 or 3 horses: certainly the Macedonians sustained much greater casualties than the Greeks. The remnants of the Oescan Battle, and the rest of Macedon’s army, are now pulling back quickly to hastily prepared defenses in the capital, according to the latest intelligence reports.”
“How will this new conquest affect Greece’s economic position?”
“Well, until peace returns I’m afraid the new lands can’t be totally assimilated into Greece. These things take time, Dan. And of course the loss of trade with Macedonia will certainly lower Greek income until peace is re-established: it may drop even more if other nations also officially cease trade with Greece. However, if Greece can hold onto these lands it will certainly become a power to be reckoned with as its income will be substantial.”
“Thank you, Daniel. Now for our third and last war of the week, we turn to Phil Lanx. Phil?”
“Fighting boiled into the streets in Crete this week as protesters rebelled against Greek rule. The protesters carried signs reviling the “imperialistic” Greek actions against Macedonia and the “pitiful” amount of money that King Demetrias spent on luxury this year (five talents, according to inside sources). While the western half of Crete remained loyal to Greece, the eastern half has declared itself independent and offered to join the state of Phoenicia.”
“How has the Phoenician Emperor responded to this?”
“He hasn’t made a public statement yet, Dan. The protestors have armed themselves and threaten to “liberate” all of Crete unless their demands are met.”
“What might those demands be, Phil?”
“They want an immediate troop withdrawal from Macedonia and a pledge of at least 10 talents on luxury each year. King Demetrias hasn’t commented on this yet, but these exorbitant demands will probably meet a refusal. He may even decide to put down the rebellion with armed troops.”
“Will that be difficult?”
“Not really, as the Cretans are mostly peasants armed with primitive weapons. Still, it cause a scandal throughout the Mediterranean if he’s not careful.”
“A delicate situation, especially considering Phoenicia’s involvement.”
“Delicate indeed, Dan.”
“Until next week, this is Dan Augustus wishing you good night.”

The Arrogant King Demetrias

How dare you attack our nation, which never did anything to you? I demand that you withdraw your troops immediately and pay indemnities of 10 Talents, or we will burn Athens to the ground.

Furiously,

King Phillip II


-------------


Civilized Nations of the World

I hope you will consider joining me in my reluctant battle against the Athenian monster. If my nation falls, one of yours may be next.

Yours in war,

King Phillip II

Salaries for the week:

Greece, Rome, and Carthage are all warfaring countries, and therefore receive 25 talents.

Phoenicia and Gaul receive 27 talents (the untamed north part of France won't appreciate in value for a few years until settlers clear the woods).

Finally, Anatolia receives 29 talents.

To date, the largest nations are Anatolia and Gaul. The smallest is Greece.

A Final note, now that there's a war on: You can formally cut trade ties with a country without automatically starting a war. For as long as the ties are cut, both of your salaries drop. The effects are cumulative: if many nations cut with one nation, the one nation will have a drastically lowered salary, and the other nations will only have a slight decrease.

For example, this is why the salaries of Greece, Rome, and Carthage are cut: because Greece automatically cut ties with Macedonia when war started, and won't resume until peace comes. Likewise, Rome and Carthage don't have the benefit of each others' trade.

Hopefully this will make warfare much more diplomatically complex!

(BTW, the nn-player nations DO have a military and they can invade you if you piss 'em off, so be careful! They may even invade for territorial conquest if they feel like it.)

By imperial decree the Phoenician empire does support the Cretan rebels but we will not be aiding them militarily at this point in time. The Greeks are already tied up in Macedon, and we feel the Cretans can sufficiently work on their own. Again at this point in time we are not and have no plans to support the Cretan rebels.

The Phoenician government advocates its denouncement of the aggressive military campaign being executed by the Greek emperor in Macedon. Again, we will not be acting and at this point in time do not intend to, but advice Greece that the reprecussions of her actions may end up being severe.

We hope that war shall be saved for better times.

Itobaal of Jbail, Emperor of Phoenicia.

Rome offers immediate peace with Carthage, our attack was uncalled for we know, but we had to break the deadlock in the talks over the future of those islands.

The emperor Julius Caesar decreed that for the safety of Rome, those islands had to be Roman. We know we committed a cowardly act, and are willing to pay 5 talent reparations, but will not hand back Sardinia.

We hope you will consider immediate peace.

Julius Caesar

Sorry about my inbox being full. Should work now.

Hail my fellow Rulers.
I am currently going to have to put down the rebellion in crete with force. I hope you will not look badly upon this. I can not meet the demands of the Rebels, the Macedonians put to high a price on peace. If they would take peace with out tribute i would be willing for that but other wise this war most go on.

King Demetrias I

To Phillip

I will except peace and give you three talens if you will lay no more claim to lands in Tharcia and Moesia Inferior.Greece will not pay your more then five gold period. Other wise this war will go on.

King Demetrias I

(ooc) You don't have their capital any where near Oesca it is in the lower portions of Dalmatia or Thracia acording to your map.

OOC (yes, I'll have to move the capital north. Sorry bout that! :) )

The Macedonian people will accept peace if you pay us 4 talents for indemnities and GUARANTEE us these lands for all time; otherwise, war will continue. The neutral lands may be split between you and Anatolia as you please.

Troq, would you like me to get rid of the white stuff on the maps?

Yes, thanks, if you can! :) I'm using Imaging, and it seems to post the whole page, blank or not. It is distracting, I agree.

Troq, feel free to update these in your posts.

On with the pictures...

http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads/AMNES_1.gif
http://www.civfanatics.net/uploads/AMNES_2.gif

(ooc)
You can use this map to rename it and still keep it as a Macedonian Civ. Cause if you moved it you would have to change the civ.

You are still claiming to much territory to the east recend your claims to these lands and we will grant you peace and Garuntee your current borders only until the next time war is called for. Nothing is eternal but god and death so no peace can be eternal unless it is the peace of the dead. If that is the peace you want I will be happy to grant it to you.

Demetrias I

All right, the new Macedon capital is Pella. (but as you can see Phillip is planning on moving if the Greeks will agree to this peace proposal)

Anyway, back in character-

Dispatch from PHILLIP II
Because our grand nation regrets not only our own spilled blood but yours, we will make you one more offer. In return for three talents, we will move our capital to Sardaca. From this time forth, Macedonia will cede any and all claims to:

-the Black Sea Coast

-Thracia

-Moesia INFERIOR (thanks for catching that :)

We hope you will accept this proposal, and reluctantly inform you that it is the best you can hope for, unless you wish to recommence the war and see whom the gods favor this time.

Alea jacta est.

Its a deal and since you said Superior I get it all. All of Moesia it is all mine now thank. I shall never forget your generousity.

Demetrias I

OOC - Check his map man you just gave me a lot of territory. God bless typo's on legally binding documents.

What typo? :) I meant Inferior. If you agree to the map, then I'll use those borders next turn during expansion.

(ooc) You wrote Superior in your document as Phillip. I will take either one. I wish you would give me superior since you did write it in the letter.

Carthage is willing to accept peace terms with wise Rome.
1. The two islands under dispute shall be Roman.
2. The islands shall have Carthese protection for the next 12 years.
3. Rome shall not make any claim upon the 2 mini islands to the west.
4. Rome shall pay Carthage 2 talents to make up for losses in war.

If by the 2 mini islands, you mean Majorca, Minorca and Ibiza(too small to be shown), which I can't for the life of me remember the name for the group of, then I make no claim to them, ever, as they are not a threat to Rome's security. They do however belong to another nation anyway, but if you want them, go ahead.

What do you mean by the term protection? Do you mean that they will be occupied by Carthage troops, or just protected from my wrath should they rebel? If it is the latter, I can accept that. If it is the former, I would rather pay the full 5 talents for peace and forget that.

I am happy to pay up to 5 talents for peace, and welcome Carthage's wise decision.

Caesar

The two minor isles which Iberia has claimed are the Balearic Isles, I believe.

Demetrias: Phillip is willing to withdraw from the brown lands on the map and I think it's a very generous offer considering that he's not only willing to forgive your aggression, but also to guarantee you lands which you have absolutely no claim over, such as any part of Moesia at all! Moesia Superior contains the capital, asking for it is like asking him to step down from the throne. It's impossible. Moesia Inferior he is generously willing to grant to you, considering that you have very few lands besides Greece and Crete. Notice that he's allowing you to keep the Tomi colony, which is very obviously in Macedonian territory (or Anatolian), and that he's willing to guarantee you a strip of land around the Black Sea so your lands can all be connected. I ask you to consider Phillip's offer of 3 talents and the arrangement shown on his map. Also, it's his final offer. Otherwise war will continue.

[OOC] Phillip was historically pretty arrogant, so that's his character in the game...

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention a little common-sense thing about luxuries. I said 5 tokens was an okay minimum bid. Well, if your nation is at war obviously there's going to be unrest and you need more luxuries. Second, as your nation grows larger you need more and more regardless, about 1/5 of your salary is a good number. So the Cretans rebelled to the nearest nation with a higher luxury - Phoenicia.

Uknemesis asked me two good questions today, and I'd be glad to answer them!

1. How much effect does science have? Will one of Sullla's horses, for example, be able to kill two?

The answer is, it depends. The technology has no effect unless it's being used right. For example, Sullla's horses are no better at defense than anyone else's, as the longer spear is an offensive bonus. Second, the answer is, since I work out battles with probability out of a 100, and dice, the chances that one horse can survive two battles is greatly increased. Generally, if one horse attacks two in the game, the chance of it killing both is about 15%. Sullla's horses have about a 45% chance. So it's not a huge bonus, but it DOES make a difference, and you can expect battles to eventually favor Sullla if he keep on using horses (but it probably doesn't work too well on rocky terrain, now does it? ;) ).

2. What effect does luxury have besides keeping my people from rebelling?

Another good question. A "too high" luxury bid will make your people work harder at expanding, if they still are. Or it may make them work harding at getting talents for your salary (kind of a negative effect though: you spend 5 talents too much on luxury to get only 3-4 more talents of salary). Lastly, once in a while a very happy people may inspire soldiers defending your homeland, making them tougher, but still not invincible to 3:1 or 4:1 odds.

Phillip we accept with no claims to Superior we were just gloating over the stupidity of your Scribes. You might want to fire them. Though your claim that we have no right to Tomi is false we have the same right as every nation we could get there.

Demetrias I.

Hello everyone. Wilboman the Gaul has announced his new tech update: he's taught his Swordsmen some wild new tactics, giving them some small bonuses on attack, defense, and speed.

Erik Mesoy's build leaves 3 talents left over, so I suppose he wants the first deal. Talk it over so we can straighten tribute out. Don't submit your orders until you know how many talents you're getting, because you can use them of course!

I am posting this illegally. I will have to be away for a while, mind my empire please!

(OOC) Where is everyone? Its been a couple of days and no one has said anything. Yall still playin right?

Methinks the NES died of overexposure. Anyway, I only have orders from one person so far.

No, sorry, I'm just still contemplating my moves.

I promise I'll make this turn interesting so long as this NES doesn't die!

Edit: Never mind. I dont seem to have received a pm lately, whats the status?
Is nothing happening?

I have to fix the Dvd drive at home, my comp is limited until then. I can participate though.

(ooc)
Sulla and Wilboman if yall are still playing could yall please send in your orders its been nine days since we had a round. If yall aren't please post here that you aren't.
P.S.
If this next turn is not over by friday i won't be able to play for a week. I am going on Mission trip. Starting June 8th at about 2 pm GMT - 6.

I'm sorry I haven't been taking very much part so far, I was just witing for Troq to post "hurry up and PM such-and-such" nag to me and the others. I'm lazy. I know.
Would the Troq just post what info he wants me to send him, and I'll do it ASAP...

This NES is dead, I guess, since I haven't had PMs even telling where Sullla and a few others have gone (haven't seen Sullla lately round here)...

But feel free to join my new one which hopefully won't suffer from the complications this one had (I know the order bit was too confusing. That's why the new one has orders narrowed down to a tiny once-per-turn PM which should help)