Hello all,

Based on some ideas thrown out in the "To every NES Player" thread, and things observed in UKNES, SIMPLENES, AMNES, SNES, and other NES's, here is my own NES. I have tried to keep things as simple as possible. In many ways it resembles a board game, but there is plenty of room for the things that make the NES unique.

Feel free to sign up.

Here's the map. Rules to follow in next post.

ARTNES
(Arthurian Never Ending Story)

1. INTRODUCTION
This is an uberNES based on ancient and Dark-Age Britain, when the legendary King Arthur ruled. It’s a story of knights and castles, war and peace, loyalty and betrayal.
Many thanks to the folks who helped develop the AMNES/AGNES ideas and those who took part in SIMPLENES and UKNES for their inspiration!

2. MAP, TIME PERIOD, TECH LEVEL, TIME SCALE
The map shows ancient Southern Britain from Dover and Cornwall to Galloway and Northumberland. It is divided into Realms, land areas bordered by thick dark lines, and Seas, blue ocean areas bordered by thin dark lines. Realms are referred to on the map by their specifc name: the Realm of Wiltshire is called simply Wiltshire.
The time period is the early 900s when Arthur supposedly was king of Britain. Since the NES attempts to replicate a small slice of history - the lifespan of a single man - technology plays no part in this NES. For your victories you will have to rely on clever diplomacy and overbearing strength.
Again, because of the short time period, each “turn” represents a year. The game starts in 900 AD and moves by one year each turn.

3. JOINING THE NES
Before the start of the NES, players may pick their nations by picking a start Realm and naming their nation. For example, one player may decide to call himself King Pellinore and choose Warwick as his starting Realm. Here is a list of names of kings from the period, purloined from Mark Twain’s “Connecticut Yankee”. King Arthur, King Lot, King Marsil, King Labor, King Pellinore, King Bagdemagus, King Logris, King Melodias. Feel free to make up another name if you wish.
When four or more players have joined the NES, the story will begin. Thereafter, new storytellers may join by claiming any unclaimed Realm. When all Realms have been claimed, new players must PM me to join and if I agree they can claim a suddenly rebelling Realm.

4. GOAL OF THE NES
Have fun! If you want your empire to survive, however, it’s a good idea to get lots of Realms under your belt, either by claiming them or by conquering other weak kings too foolish to protect their dominions. Another possible goal is making your people the happiest in Britain, thus earning you an appropriate subtitle like King Logris the Just or King Logris the Kind.

5. MECHANICS OF THE NES
This is a turn based NES making it resemble a board game in some respects. This makes realistic simulation easier and lowers the book-keeping tasks for your hard-working moderator (yours truly).
Basically, on each “turn” including the start of the game I’ll post a map showing the Realms of each King in the game. I’ll also include the Happiness Rating of each King, show how many armies and how much money they have, and post a few headlines showing recent news.
Then players submit their “orders” to me by Private Messaging. These are the basic nitty-gritty running the realm sort of thing. They show troop movements and how much money you, the King, are devoting to keeping your people happy.
That’s it! Remember, in between map postings you can carry on diplomacy, secret deals, and so on with your fellow players. Plotting is encouraged because one nation is usually too weak to conquer another one-on-one.

6. START OF THE GAME
When the game begins I will post the first map for 900 AD. On the first map each player controls one Realm and has no armies. Each player has a bit of money depending on which Realm they started with (it’s a good idea to start in high-paying Realms).

7. MAP POSTING and the NITTY GRITTY parts
On each map, as already stated, your Nation (all your Realms together) are colored your color to indicate your ownership.
Now it’s time to explain the Happiness Rating. It is a simple scale running from one to ten showing how much the peasants like you. Based on your actions last turn, and upon how much of your money you devoted to Jesters (to keep your people happy), your rating may range anywhere from one to ten. At the start of the game your rating is 5. The rating system is arbitrary but devoting more money to Jesters WILL make your rating higher. War will make it lower. Larger Nations with more Realms will have lower ratings generally. If your rating is significantly lower than one of your neighbors (example: your rating is 3, his is 7) then one or more of your Realms may join his Nation by rebellion (at the whim of the moderator). So, keep the populace happy!
The glorious King with the highest rating (no King in the event of a tie) may choose a title to exalt his personage. Example, Logris the Wise/Kind/Just/Fair, or any other title: be creative! This is just for fun. However, for that turn all other nations must adress him by his title! No other King is allowed a title that turn.
In addition to the map and the Happiness Ratings, the moderator post will show each King’s Treasury. The Treasury is an intangible (can’t be conquered) and it shows how much money (Gold) you have (12 Gold, 2 Gold, etc). Each turn, money you didn’t spend stays in your Treasury. In addition, if any other Nation has agreed to pay tribute to you it loses Gold and you gain it.
However, the principle method of gaining Gold is this: each Realm has a number on it from 1 to 5 indicating its productivity. Each turn, the total moeny generated by this is added to your Treasury.
Example: You had 5 Gold left over from last turn. Another nation has agreed to pay 3 Gold in tribute to you. You have one 5 Realm, two 3 Realms, and one 4 Realm. Thus, your total Treasury this turn is (5+3+5+3+3+4) 23 Gold.
Finally, the map shows your troop positions, with a square for each Castle, a triangle for each Knight, and a rectangle for each Galley you own.

8. THE RULES OF DIPLOMACY
Actually, there aren’t any. You can make any sort of deal you like. However, if you agree to a tribute of some sort you MUST BOTH PM it to me in your orders, otherwise I’ll ignore it. (Example, Player 1 says in his orders “I’m giving 2 Gold to Player 2”, Player 2 says “I’m receiving 2 Gold from Player 1”, and then next turn the Gold will be taken away/added to your Treasuries - you can’t use it on this turn yet!).
Aside from that, you may keep deals as secret as you like. If your armies are attacking in unison, it’s a good idea to say you’re co-operating in your PM. Any sort of deal is possible, and you can exchange any sort of information you like.
You may ACCUSE any Nation of doing things like oppressing its people (like the Netherlands in UKNES) or spying, but the FACTS come from me after I “investigate”, and they are final.

9. HOW TO SUBMIT ORDERS
Please submit orders with promptness to keep the game running smoothly.
Your orders should include the following info:
1. Your Treasury and tribute agreements
2. Your purchases this turn
3. Your army movements this turn
4. Your Jesters this turn

9.1 PURCHASES
You may buy a Castle in a Realm you control, costing you 7 Gold (only one Castle per Realm). You may also buy Knights at 4 Gold each (no limit) and Galleys also at 4 Gold each (no limit). Please tell me which Realm each unit is starting in. Knights may only start on land. Galleys may only start on a coastal Realm like Cornwall.
Clarification: Warwick is a coastal Realm. Powys is not.

Example of the first 2 parts of an Order:
I have 27 Gold. I am not paying or receiving tribute this turn.
I buy: 1 Castle in Warwick, 3 Knights in Warwick and 1 Knight in Gwent, 1 Galley in Gwent for a total of 27 Gold and no Gold left over.

9.2 ARMY MOVEMENTS
Castles are immobile, of course!
A Knight may move up to two Realms but must stop if it reaches a neutral or enemy Realm.
A Galley may move one space on Sea, or may also move one on any coastal Realm. However, it can’t move across land. A Galley may move from the North Sea to Northumberland, or from Northumberland to Tyne, but NOT from Northumberland to Galloway or from Tyne to South Cumbria.
A Knight may use its WHOLE move to jump on board a Galley if that Galley stays still (not moving), and then unload on any other coastal Realm. For example, if a Galley rests in the Danish Sea, a Knight may move from Norfolk to Kent. However, only one Galley-jump a turn! Even if there were Galleys resting in the Danish Sea and the East Channel, a Knight could NOT move from Norfolk to Sussex.
There’s no limit to the number of Knights that can jump with one Galley.
Clarification: Humberside, Kent, Sussex, Cornwall, Dyfed, and Lancashire each border 2 Seas each.

Example of the 3rd part of an Order:
3 Knights in Humberside move to Kent by Galley.
Galley in the Danish Sea stays put.
Galley in East Channel moves to Danish Sea.
4 Knights in Norfolk move 2 to Nottingham and 2 to Midlands.

9.3 JESTERS
If there’s money left over you may choose to spend it on Jesters. Every two Jesters is worth about one point on the Happiness Meter. Jesters cost 3 Gold each and last for one turn.

Example of the 4th part of an Order:
Of the 12 Gold left over, I choose to hire 3 Jesters for 9 Gold, leaving 3 for next turn.

10. RESULTS OF ORDERS
On the next map you will be shown results of your orders. If you paid or received tribute the money changes hands now. Your new armies are shown on the board and your moves are shown as well.
Finally, combat is resolved. If any of your troops entered a neutral Realm, that Realm becomes part of your Nation. If two or more Nations entered a neutral Realm at the same time, the Realm goes to the side with more Knights, and the other side’s move fails (they stay in their starting Realm). If there’s a tie, both players “bounce back”. If the two nations are at war, then a battle happens no matter if one side is outnumbered.
If you enter an enemy’s Realm, war is declared and a battle happens. Galleys are useless in land battle, so the odds are Knights to Knights. If you built a Castle in the defending Realm, that significantly alters the odds. Without a Castle, about 5:3 odds are necessary for victory. With a Castle, the odds are altered to about 8:3. Thus allies are crucial to conquer the best Realms! Get people to join your war and you have a greater chance at victory.
All battles are overseen by the moderator and the mod’s decisions are final.
Galleys can coexist in the same Sea unless war is declared, in which case a battle happens. About 2:1 odds are good enough for victory in the open sea.
If a Realm is captured, all Galleys are either destroyed or retreat to sea, and any Castle is destroyed.
If a player attacks by sea (by jumping with a Galley) that gives him the element of surprise and helps his odds slightly (NOT by a lot!). There is also a chance he can salvage his forces if he loses, by retreating into the sea.

11. FINAL NOTES
That’s about all there is! The NES will start as soon as four or more players join. Feel free to ask questions.

I, King Genorad, will command the realm of Yorkshire.

OOC: Troq, has the AMNES slowed down a lot? Nothing is happening there...

I, King Maxadias, will rule the Realm Powys!

I, lord Pendragon of Nottingham, will lead my nation to glory!

Kings Genorad, Maxadias, and Pendragon, your names are down. One or two more people and we can start!

-Yes the AMNES is down, Erik - people stopped submitting orders I guess. :(

I, King Marsil, will ascend to the trone of Devon!

I'll be King Arthur of London!

Nemesis

I'll be King MacHamish of Galloway.
BTW, how many days are a "turn"?
Thanks

If we stay at peace at the beginning and only expand, but spend no money on Jesters, does the Happiness rating go down?

Nemesis

YE DAILY HERALD

All the news fit to illuminate

This morning merrie England saw the ascension of EIGHT new English Kings, and the people rejoiced:

1. King Genorad of Yorkshire

2. King Maxadias of Powys

3. King Pendragon of Nottingham

4. King Marsil of Devon

5. King Arthur of London

6. King MacHamish of Galloway

7. King Maelgwn of Warwick

8. King Cooper of Suffolk

In ye opinion of this reporter, a new age of prosperity lies in wait for fair Albion. This afternoon the Kings were briefed on the standings of their treasury. Each King received 10 Gold, plus a starting salary from his Realm. And the people rejoiced.

Therefore, all Kings except King Marsil and King MacHamish receive 15 Gold this year. King Marsil and King MacHamish receive 14.

No nation has a military as yet, but several Kings have vowed to spread chivalry the length and breadth of England.

Some say the Kings will use their money to buy Castles, while other analysts are sure they will send knight-errants out to civilize the barbarian people and assimilate them.

However, several Nations claim the same land. Will war erupt or will diplomacy prevail? Only time can tell.

As of the moment, polls among the populace seem to give each King a rating of 5/10 for Happiness. The people rejoice!

[OOC] Nemesis, a Nation has a "benchmark" Happiness, and then that is modified by events like Jesters, war, conquest, and so on.

REALMS Happiness
1 5
2 5
3 5
4 5
5 5
6 5
7 4
8 4
9 4
10 3
11 3
12 2

Notice however that your increased salary will help make a larger military to protect your lands and more Jesters to pacify your people.

Finally, a note about expansion. As you know, Knights move two, but must stop when they reach a neutral Realm. However, a Knight can stop in a Realm and then another Knight move past it. So if Arthur sent a Knight to Hampshire, he could then on the same turn send a Knight to Dorset, but not just the Knight to Dorset.

Hope that's clear.

Finally, Galleys can take Realms too! But remembering, moving to sea is one move and then moving to any other Realm on that Sea is another. So Devon can't send a Galley to Dyfed in 1 turn because it takes one move to get to sea, and another to land at Dyfed.

Anyway, given the fast signups it looks like people like this idea! Enjoy the NES everyone, I look forward to seeing how you reign.

Oh, I seem to have missed a question. You can take as long as you want to submit orders - diplomacy is more important sometimes. However, on the first turn I doubt people have anything to talk about, except perhaps Yorkshire, Nottingham, and Powys, since they are closer and have overlapping lands.

I'll expect your orders in a day or two. From then on, 2-3 days is OK.

Also, I think that just about fills up the map! If someone wants to take Suffolk or Norfolk I'll consider it, but we don't want a too crowded map.

I'll jump in as King Maelgwn of Dyfed.

Dyfed is too close to Powys: they're adjacent.

Here are the free spots I will consider if someone else wants to join: Warwick, Wiltshire, Norfolk, or Suffolk. Those are the only remaining spots not adjacent to another kingdom.

However, do to the cramped map, I think we can take only 2 more players at the most: one from Warwick or Wiltshire, and one from Norfolk or Suffolk.

RP, if you want to grab one of these, you've got precedence because you asked first.

Anyway, the salaries would be 12 for Norfolk or Wiltshire, 13 for Warwick, and 14 for Suffolk.

I'd like to join as King Cooper of Suffolk or of Warwick, depending on Random's choice.

Hrm, it's a good thing you explictly listed the requirement of being adjacent in the initial rules, especially with the nice big section devoted exclusively to joining procedures...

Nevermind, I'll take Warwick.

True, I forgot it. My apologies.

Anyway, that puts King Maelgwn in Warwick (13 Gold) and King Cooper in Suffolk (14 Gold).

After visiting UKNES and catching up from a few weeks' absence I'd like to copy his embargo idea if I may? :)

Embargoes are very simple. Each embargoing nation and the embargoed nation loses part of their salary.

If n is the number of nations in the game, x is the number of nations being embargoed, and y is the number of nations conducting the embargo:

Each embargoed nation loses y/n of its salary.

Each embargoing nation loses x/n of its salary.

For example, if all nations have salaries of 24, and the number of nations is eight, and five nations embargo three nations, then the embargoing nations have cuts of 3/8 (or 9/24) which lowers their salary to 15, while each embargoed nation has cuts of 5/8 (or 15/24) which lowers their salary to 9.

How much extra money do you get for having a castle in a province?

None?

Oh, and the embargo I nicked from you Troq, from the AMNES :p

Nemesis

To: King Maelgwn of Warwick
From: King Maxadias in Powys
I suggest I take Worcester and Gwent and you take Midlands and Stafford to stop any "bouncing back" of our nations knights to prevent wasting of precious time.

TO ALL NATIONS

I claim Bedford, Hampshire and Sussex this turn. Please do not try to take any of them, I am a peaceful man who resents war, but will fight if I have to to protect my subjects who will live in these realms.

TO SUFFOLK

You may have Essex, to prevent bouncing, and any north of that, other than Bedford.

I wish you well, my friend.

Arthur

In answer to Nemesis' question, Castles only provide defense, not extra money. Therefore it's wise only to put them in Realms you think are under threat of attack.

IceEye, Knights are 4 gold each not 3, so you have only enough money this turn for three Knights. Unless you PM me a change, I'll just take 1 Knight away from the group of 2 heading to the same place.

Anyway, great NES Troq. I'm currently reading the first book of Bernard Cornwell's Arthurian trilogy, and this seems to accurately reflect that time.

If you want to read that trilogy(it has maps in the front), the books are Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur, all by Bernard Cornwell.

Nemesis

thats ok, sorry!

Oh yeah, there are a ton of books about the Arthurian age. Two other great stories are Mark Twains "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and Terence White's pentology "The Once and Future King (comprised of The Sword in the Stone, The Witch in the Wood, the Ill-made Knight, A Candle in the Wood, and the Book of Merlyn).

I'll see if I can pick up the book you recommended on my next trip to the library.

Yeah lol, I remember the first book that got me interested in it was a book of Arthurian legends when I was eight where they had Gawain and the Green Knight, Lancelot and Elaine, and all the old fairytales.

The first movie that interested me in it was First Knight. That was a great film! Knights of the Round Table, an old one I saw on TV was okay, but First Knight was great.

Anyway, back to the NES lol!

**************************************************

Arthur laid down Excalibur on the Round Table.

"We are advancing into three realms that will join us without struggle." he spoke with calm he didn't feel.

"What if someone contests our holdings?" Gawain asked.

"Then we will make sure they understand how strong we are." Lancelot touched his sword.

"Force will not be used unless necessary." Arthur grinned at Lancelot's eagerness. "Remember our code, 'to serve and protect', it isn't 'make war!'!"

Lancelot bowed his head in apology, then enquired about a castle.

"The great castle of Camelot will be built here next season." Arthur said.

To: Kings of the Realm
Fr: King Cooper

Greetings, my fellow nobles. I am King Cooper, soveriegn of Suffolk. We wish peace with all, and look forward to amicable relations with all the British peoples.

Our realm claims Norfolk, Marshlands, and South Yorkshire as our rightful lands. We will respect others claims as long as they respect our own.

The Kings of Yorkshire, Warwick, and Devon have till week's end (Friday) to submit orders. I think we can have a map update this weekend. From the current moves it seems all land will be taken by turn 2 at the latest. Also some nations seem to have conflicting interests already, which is good!

TO THE KING OF SUFFOLK

I am glad you have decided to expand north, and hope we can sign an alliance.

Due to Suffolk expanding north, I claim Oxford, Bedford, Hampshire, Essex, Kent and Sussex as my land. I will not take all of them this season, but promise you that anyone claiming those lands will face me in war.

Arthur

Yorkshire and Devon are still left.

This is just a friendly warning as we near our first map update: besides moderating player actions, I have made up a "timeline" of events that happen each turn (both good and bad events). The timeline was made before we even started the game, so don't feel I'm "picking" on you if something bad happens in your region.

The first large event is scheduled for the turn 3 map update (so don't say I didn't warn you!)

PS - don't worry, King Arthur won't have any advantage because of his name. :)

Except he gets the cool guys like Lancelot and Galahad and Gawain :p

Oh damn, he gets traitorous Guinevere as well! :( :p

Nemesis

To: King Arthur
Fr: King Cooper

We will support your claims to Essex if you in turn support our claims to Midlands. We would be happy to sign an alliance with you as well.

The Midlands? But isn't that already going to be taken by Nottingham in the first go?

Anyway, if it is not, then we will support your claim, and hope you will support ours.

I hope our alliance will prosper, preferably as mainly a defence pact.

Arthur

The Midlands IS going to Nottingham in the first round, at least if my designs work out as planned. You're totally right, uk...
I think that maybe the illustrious lord of Suffolk (two provinces away from the Midlands) means the Marshlands.

If not, then I've got news for his lordship. This is first come, first serve, my friend. If you have a problem with someone else taking the Midlands, your grievances will have to be negotiated with that persons army...

Nottingham, I suggest that instead of you and Suffolk fighting, we all sign an alliance, the Trinity Alliance(sorry, got a thing about that name :p )

This will increase our power should the damned Saxons ever invade!

Arthur

All good things are three as they say...
Allright Arthur, I'll fight with you against the Sea Wolves from Saxony!

I agree too, and no harm meant King of Nottingham, it will be easier once the scribes color in the map.

Which they'll do as soon as Erik Mesoy and Toasty catch up... anyone seen them around?

By the way, if you have any special color you'd like your nation to be just post it right here! :)

Oooh! Ooooh! I like green! I loove Green! Can I please have some variety of green or turquoise?

I'd like an olive color, please.

Right, Devon is olive green and Nottingham is turquoise!

Also, thanks Toasty for your orders. Now we just have Yorkshire..

I'll have red.

Arthur

Hrm... if maroon isn't too close to uknemesis' choice of red, I'd take that; otherwise, a nice deep blue color.

I will buy 3 knights and 1 jester. Knights to E. Yorkshire, Lancashire and whatsitsname to the left.

All the news that's fit to illuminate

13 June, Anno Domoni 900

NEWS FROM THE EIGHT KINGS

Powys: King Maxadias (3 Gold left over) sent one Knight in shining armor each to Worcester, Gwent, and Dyfed, annexing these prosperous Realms to his Nation.

London: King Arthur (3 Gold left over) claimed Hampshire, Bedford, and Essex. However, in addition to these claims he also nominally claimed all the lands immediately surrounding London, though these have not yet been integrated into his Nation and may yet belong to someone else...

Nottingham: King Pendragon (3 Gold left over) seized Wakefield, Cheshire, and the Midlands. This established him as the sovereign with the largest income, at least for this turn, as all of Pendragon's lands are of above-average quality for farming.

Galloway: King MacHamish (2 Gold left over) took just Cumbria and Northumberland. This made him the poorest king, tied with Warwick. Still, his pivotal position may yet make MacHamish a key player in future politics.

Suffolk: King Cooper (2 Gold left over) was the only King so far to take advantage of colonising past his first "ring" of Realms. He did this by putting a Knight in Norfolk and then putting another Knight in South Yorkshire (as posted in the rules, you can legally do this, though I didn't notice Galloway or any other nation doing it). Regardless, Suffolk also seized the Marshlands. Nobody wanted them anyway! :) Still they are a key, central position.

IN OTHER NEWS, The Kingdoms of Suffolk, London, and Nottingham joined in a Trinity Alliance to fight off possible Saxon invaders. The Saxons said, quote, "We wouldn't want your miserable little island anyway, you backwards barbarians, and we view your treaty as a piece of pompous arrogance". The 3 Kings of the TA were unavailable for comment.

Warwick: King Maelgwn, (1 Gold left over) the poorest King in Britain (tied with Galloway) nevertheless led his Knights to glory in the lands of Stafford and Wiltshire. One advantage of colonising only two Realms is that Maelgwn had a Knight left over to devote to defense of his homeland. This is probably a crucial policy move especially in the early years of Britain when castles are not very widespread.

Devon: King Marsil (0 Gold left over), though hemmed in on the Cornish coast, nevertheless claimed the lands of Bristol, Dorset, and Cornwall. Devon is the only nation this year with NO further room for expansion, except overseas or through conquest. Still, the nation of Devon while thrifty is not quite as poor as other nations.

King Marsil proved this by being the first King to hire "Jesters". One Jester hired raised his National Approval Rating from a 5 to a 6! Thus he rules what might be the happiest nation on earth (for the time being at least).

LAST BUT NOT LEAST,

Yorkshire: King Genorad (1 Gold left over) led his people to the fruitful lands of E. Yorkshire, S. Cumbria, and Lancashire. Also, the King devoted 2 Gold to that new idea, Jesters, thus also earning him a "6" rating. Marsil and Genorad are tied for "King of the Year"! Just this once, I think I'll let them both choose a title.

(OOC) Erik, please PM me your orders, not post them. Of course, since you were the last person it doesn't matter this time since nobody could change their orders! ;) But in the future please PM them unless you want everyone else to know what you're doing...

WHEREFORE, having taken your Gold left over and adding your current Salaries, here are the new Treasuries (the "poorest" and "wealthiest" nations in the news are the ones with lowest and highest SALARIES, not TREASURIES):

POWYS has 3+16 = 19 GOLD

LONDON has 3+15 = 18 GOLD

NOTTINGHAM has 3+17 = 20 GOLD

GALLOWAY has 2+8 = 10 GOLD

SUFFOLK has 2+10= 12 GOLD

WARWICK has 1+8 = 9 GOLD

DEVON has 0+10 = 10 GOLD

YORKSHIRE has 1+13 = 14 GOLD

In the latest "Hedge Street Journal", the Editor noted that given the combined wealth of all England, occupied and unoccupied (114 Gold), the salaries of the nations of Powys (16), London (15), and Nottingham (17) exceeded the supposed "fair" share for a nation (1/8 of the total) which was 14.25.

In addition the Editor noted that one-eight of the total of land OCCUPIED (89) was 11.125, which also meant that Yorkshire (with a salary of 13) was getting more as well.

In response, the Ministers of the Treasury from Powys, London, Nottingham, and Yorkshire told the Editor to quote "*** his *** *** and *** the *** up ***". One Minister, on condition of anonymity, gave his opinion that the Editor of the Hedge Street Journal is a communist and should be hanged immediately. Yet another was heard to remark, "Life ain't fair".

Regardless of the economic situation, the people seem happy, giving each leader a 5 rating, except the two Jester-hiring Kings Marsil and Genorad of Devon and Yorkshire who have 6s and get to choose a title for themselves for the week!

---------

Well, that's all from this week. So far, no bumps have happened, which I suppose means you're keeping up in diplomacy! (remember, secret deals and alliances should be PMed to me so I can tell you're actually working together and it's not a coincidence).

Also, the "Editor" isn't a pick on any of you, he's just the game mechanic who notes how everyone is getting along compared to statistics.

Next turn should be exciting as all the available land should be taken up and maybe some people will put to sea or go to war. We'll see.

Map to follow. I took your color requests into account.

Here's the map. As you can see, each little triangle represents one Knight.

So far no Castles have been built but I expect that to change as tensions mount between Nations... ;)

Also no Nation has put to sea yet with Galleys. I urge coastal nations to protect their coasts if they have any spare money (yes this does have something to do with an event in the near future! :) )

This NES is already well underway, and it's COMPLICATED, but what the hell I'll take Gwynedd.

I'm King Matthiso of Gwynedd. Do I get to buy any neighboring realms or make purchases on my first turn. Or do you not want me to join because I am annyoing? ;)

To: Nottingham and Warwick
From: King Maxadias
I am sending you this message to let you know I am taking Gwynned and Clwyd. You may fight over Oxford and Shropshire as I am not interested in those regions.
[edit: didn´t see matts post, I thought this nes was full!]

Oh yeah, sorry Icy. I guess I won't join, it's too full.

perhaps you could be the irish or something

Yes, Irish! I want to have lotsa beer festivals.........

I wish to choose the title:
Genorad the Kind.

For the time being, Nottingham claims Shropshire.

Yeah, sorry Matt, I shouldn't have made this NES so small but I didn't think so many people would join! :D

TO ALL

Arthur needs a loan of 1 gold so he can build the great castle of Camelot.

He offers in return 2 gold next turn, and a mutual protection pact.

Also, he still claims Oxford, Sussex and Kent.

Should a nation try, even if they don't succeed, to take those, they will find themselves at war with Arthur.

And his knights are ready to march, and we have allies in our Trinity Alliance, so be warned that is not a good idea.

In return to our allies, Arthur will support any of your claims.

To: King Arthur
From: King Maxadias of Powys
We will loan you 1 gold this turn and receive 2 gold next turn from you!

Thank you, my dear friend. I promise to send you two gold next turn, and possibly slightly more to become my ally should Warwick be silly enough to try and take Oxford, which I must take to guarantee the security of London.

I hope it doesn't come to that.

I am glad to call you my friend, Maxadias, and wish you well.

Arthur

[OOC- Troq, are provinces without any units in them easy prey? Or do they have militias? And most of all, do they get militia or does it increase in size when they have a castle? Cause I don't want to buy a castle only to find that I left it unguarded one turn and now someone else has it to use against me!]

Unoccupied Realms develop militias whose size depends on how long the Realm has been part of the Nation, and on whether a Castle is there. However, militias are usually no match for knights.

In other news, the Saxons asked the Trinity Alliance to unconditionally apologize for their remarks last week, or ELSE!

(I see some nations are planning to attack weaker nations, I'll have to think of something to help balance the game more. The problem is a sort of 'snowball effect' once a Nation has a little more money they can buy many more Knights and thus conquer even more territory for more money, and so on.)

Arthur is attacking no one, unless they invade one of the provinces he claims.

Don't worry, Merlin(I think that would be an appropriate title for the game's moderator, Troquelet), the kingdom of London, or Dumnonia as it is officially known, doesn't like bullies, and will do everything in it's power to stop them.

People of Britain, don't you see? The Saxon hordes are coming! We must not pick on the weak, but join forces to repel these invaders when they come!

And to the Saxons, Arthur will not apoligise to any barbarians.

If they want him, they know where to find him, and he will be ready.

Anyway Merlin, I mean if there is a castle there, and it is your capital, then surely your militia would be well equipped enough to defeat one knight?

I am just concerned about this as most of us have left our capitals undefended in this first go.

Arthur

One final thought, Merlin.

Possibly a small empire defence bonus could help(a smaller nation would have a better trained army after all).

Possibly like so:

Provinces of attacker- Provinces of defender*100=defence bonus

How's that? Cause then it means that larger nations can get a minus defence bonus when facing smaller nations, which would be realistic as a large nation has much longer borders to defend.

Arthur

DISPATCH FROM MERLIN (thanks for the idea!)

Some people have been thinking of attacking territories unoccupied by Knights! Tsk, tsk! Bad! I'm not naming names (and it's not uknemesis, at least not yet!) But the answer to their questions are, IF a Knight is trained in the Realm, or a Knight moves to the Realm, those Knights WILL fight - IE, they WON'T be too late to stop invaders! So if someone wanted to attack for example Nottingham, they WOULD fight any Knights starting in Nottingham and any Knights MOVING to Nottingham.

Regarding militia, these are generally untrained swordsmen who are no match for swordsmen on horse, or "Knights". Also, IF there are also Knights in a Realm, the militia see no need to act to defend it, so it's either Knights OR militia.

Now then, a militia in an empty Realm is probably no good even against one Knight. But it MIGHT not be such a risk to leave a militia alone in a Castle where they might defeat one Knight. In your Capital they might do the same, and a militia guarding your Capital's Castle might defeat AT MOST 2 Knights.

Now a Knight alone is defeatable by 2-4 Knights depending on the roll of the dice. A Knight defending a Castle needs from 3-6 though!

So leaving your Militia alone in your Capital's castle is ABOUT the equivalent of 1 Knight, everywhere else it's much (1/2) less.

Merlin applauds the idea of smaller nations being tougher. We know that the smallest nations (like the Orkneys from which Gawaine comes) are the toughest customers!

Also, don't forget that your people hate bullies and will reward you accordingly on the Happiness Meter.

BUT! The game will reward strategy, and it will reward force. So small nations, don't think you're getting a free ride. You might protect yourself with alliances.

Also, IF a smaller nation is entirely defeated, YES it DOES disappear from the board and the player is out (though I may let him return as a rebel leader someplace). So again, protect yourselves however you can!

I think I made a few mess-ups with the map giving some nations too much power and if I see things getting REALLY out of hand, a few timely droughts may hit!

But again, I'm not taking the weaker nations' side, and if you win a fair fight I won't skew the results. The dice decide all! :D

I've been thinking a lot about this NES lately, and I think I've discovered a problem (still in search of the "perfect" Nes - ha! :D this is already my 3rd Nes!)

The NES is based on the idea of land of course (one of the goals of the game is to establish as large and grand an empire as possible!) So the problem is: how do you keep the NES fair (so nobody grows too large) but still exciting (so that people don't think the moderator is squashing the leader). I thought that making land of different value could solve that, because other methods don't seem to work too well. (Even in UKNES, probably the largest NES to date, after 20 pages of story the only event that has really changed the map is the conquest of a neutral nation, South Africa.)

The problem is, the land-value system doesn't seemt to work either! Take this example: we have two nations, Nation A and Nation B, in which Nation A has a salary of 20 Gold per turn and Nation B has a salary of 19 Gold. Now if these 2 nations are fighting, eventually chance will favor Nation A since he can hire slightly more Knights. This will enable him to have more Knights who survive battle and thus he conquers more territory. The situation escalates because each turn Nation A has a larger and larger chance of conquering MORE territory and thus getting a larger salary. Eventually, Nation A conquers all of Nation B even though they SEEMED equal.

I thought a solution to this problem could be the Happiness Meter which would make larger nations more unhappy. But of course, a larger nation has a larger salary to spend on Jesters, so happiness is no obstacle.

HOW can I solve this problem? Making some land more valuable than other land is a good idea (and hasn't really been done before I think) but in the end it works pretty badly.

I really don't want to abandon this NES because the Arthurian age is such a good RP device!

Hmmm..

I think this one is pretty fair. With the smaller nation having the advantage in attack and defence(if you're using my rule for it) then as the other nation grows larger, the more susceptible to counter attacks it will be.

Also, how about lowering land values to just 1 2 or 3? This makes them less than the knights which can defend them, making a nation which has just conquered a territory have to think twice about how he can defend it now.

Nemesis

I don´t think you should make smaller nations knights tougher. That is so unfair. And the reason I am taking 6 territorys instead of 7 is just cuss of happiness. If I take 1 extra territory my happines goes down but I only get 2 extra gold, not enough for a jester. Let´s leave it as it is and see how it works out!

TO THE KINGS OF BRITAIN

Do you not see the enemy on the horizon? I have had contact with the kingdoms of Brittany, and they tell me the Saxons have released the pressure upon the Franks, which allows the Franks to overrun our Britanny friends.

So why have the Saxons halted the pressure upon the Franks? Isn't it obvious? They wish to have an island of their own.

That island is Britain!

So Kings of Britain, please join me in signing a treaty in which all wars will be forgotten should an outside invader come, and that we shall only resume our petty conflicts once they have been driven back into the sea.

I do not wish to fight the Saxons alone, but if that is what it takes, then I shall.

And King Arthur of Camelot has never been beaten in battle!

Arthur

A treaty in which all wars will be forgotten should an outside invader come, and that we shall only resume our petty conflicts once they have been driven back into the sea.

I, King Genorad the Kind, do express my desire to sign this treaty. However, I will not sign unless other kings also express their wishes, as I fear being being attacked by those who refuse to sign this pact.

Well, I've already signed the treaty, so...

I add to the pact the clause that any nation who doesn't sign it will be considered an ally of the outside invader, and extra alliance troops will defend the borders with these and with the invading enemy(we'll send troops to help each other during the invasion).

If that nation should attack one in the pact, then they will be invaded by the alliance, even if the outside invader is dead.

Once the invader has been defeated, all troops are to return to their own nations before our wars can begin once more, so that no nation uses it as an advantage to attack another. If another nation uses troops that he sent to defend against the invader to take a province from the person he sent them to, then he will be declared an honourless enemy, an enemy of all.

Arthur

The Saxons DENY all allegations of the barbarian King Arthur, citing again their unwillingness to cross the mud puddle that is the English Channel merely to catch pneumonia in your little, miserable rock.

However, they warn that further insults will NOT be tolerated. Peace can exist between the insular barbarians and the glorious Saxons, but right now that peace is in the hands of the King Arthur. If you continue to listen to his libel, Saxony will have no choice but to exradite him for trial.

Peace go with you.

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

DISPATCH FROM MERLIN
Sure, let's see how it goes like IceEye suggested! :D

Anyway, I have orders from Erik, IceEye, Uknemesis, and Dexter, so you know who you are! ;)

Troq, but I suggest that if you make one like this ever again that you make the provinces worth less that the knights that defend them, forcing a nation to think twice before attacking a rich province, cause how will he defend it?

Also perhaps another value, food, could reduce the number of knights etc. Perhaps if each knight eats one food per turn, and so does one galley and one jester, you will have to make sure you also take food rich provinces(whereas cash rich ones will be food scarce).

Just some ideas.

Nemesis

Yes, I have been tossing around a few ideas, UK. Among them:

How foolish to have Galleys when we're playing an island civ! Now if we included Ireland and Brittany that would include the players who wanted to join but couldn't, and would also make naval diplomacy more important.

I don't really follow your logic about the province values (probably because I haven't had my coffee yet!) could you explain please?

Right now I am torn between two different ways of making income:

1. The one you see right now. Each Realm generates coins, coins pay Knights or Jesters, and the balance is stored in your Treasury.

2. Each Realm generates FOOD. The limit on how many Knights you can have is how many food you have: for example a 3 Food Realm can support 3 Knights. There isn't any money, and you can also use spare food to hire Jesters. Of course surplus food isn't stored in a Treasury anywhere (you wouldn't have surplus food anyway unless you agreed to disarm or something). And if you lose food through cnquest of a realm some of your Knights starve.

Also, I'm wondering about the role of castles. They seemed a good idea, but they are SO expensive that only the rich can buy them, and besides it seems more cost-effective to just hire 2 Knights.

It´s not too late too include Ireland. Make about 10 areas and another 2 peeps can join.

For the province values, I'll give you an example:

Nation A has three knights in Realm 1. He invades Realm 2, which is held by Nation B, with all 3. He loses 2 taking the realm.

Nation B has two knights ready to counter-attack, but with Realm 2 worth less than the cost of a knight, Nation A can't buy a knight to defend Realm 2 with just that realm's worth; they also have to divert funds from elsewhere.

It's a minor adjustment, but it makes players think twice about how they will hold land they have taken.

Also, I think a mix of gold and food is better. It means that a nation must hold food rich provinces and gold rich ones.

ie; say that Realm 1 was worth 3 gold and 1 food, and Realm 2 was worth 1 gold and 3 food.

The 4 gold combined would allow the nation to buy one knight. It would be able to build 1 per turn, until it has a maximum of 4 knights.

Also, galleys are a good idea, as it forces people to defend their coasts, and also provides a way to fight invaders. Dumnonia will buy a fleet of three in a few turns.

Castles should come with a unit of spearmen in them, explained below.

Capitals shouldn't have any advantage - you want a strong capital, build a castle.

Also, having knights with can only attack, and spearmen which can only defend, would make it slightly more defensive, as you can make spearmen 3 gold, and knights 5. This means a nation would have to have knights to attack, and spearmen to defend.

If you are building up to attack, you need spearmen to defend your knights, otherwise an attack by enemy knights, however small, if you don't have spearmen would kill all of your knights.

Also leave castles at 7 gold, and their garrison can't move from them, but takes up no food.

Spearmen and knights both take 1 food, which puts a limit on the number you can have. Galleys would also take up food if you have them.

How's that?

Nemesis

*anyone who does not sign the pact will be considered an enemy of the outside invaders*
EEP!

I am signing that treaty. Ok, 3 nations in the pact...

Oh and Troq, when's the next map update?

I will sign the pact.

The next map update is when everyone has submitted their orders. SO- submit your orders!

Then Troq will update the map.

I've submitted mine already.

I'm just wondering who hasn't, so we can all badger and nag them into doing so :p

Nemesis

Well, that's my orders submitted.

Yes, just three more :)

I think I will keep this NES running (hurrah) since the big powers seem to be restraining themselves from running amok but it's only a matter of time before greed sets in! ;) (and as you know running an Nes is a lot of work even if enjoyable!)

I'm thinking (this is in the hypothetical "solution NES") that we could give each Realm 3 stats - one is a number from 1-3 which gives a bonus to defense (0, 10, or 20 %) because of Terrain. Then comes Population, a number from 1-5 which determines the limit of armies possible (a Spearman takes 1 Population Point, a Knight takes 2, a Galley takes 2, a Jester takes 1) and this would determine the limit of your armed forces - for example a country with 7 Population could have 3 Knights and 1 Jester. Finally comes Gold ranging from 1-3 which is used to hire new armed forces (Spearman takes 3, Knight takes 4, Galley takes 4, Jesters are free).

Finally Castles can be built which increase Defense, Population and Gold each by one point, without going over the limit of course, but they cost 10 Gold.

So, running your realm is a constant question of how you should allocate your population and your gold to make your defense and offense most effective.

It also means that gold won't let you run away with the game, although it'll mean faster hiring when you DO conquer territory.

Likewise, just having population is not enough if you don't have money to buy troops, and of course terrain is useless without troops.

I think that's a good system and might help balance the game better.

Also, I think that including Ireland, the rest of Scotland, Brittany, and Calais would be a must and would let LOTS of people play (maybe as many as 10 or 12!) since people seem to like the Realms idea so much. (shameless self-flattery! :lol: )


--------------------
DISPATCH FROM MERLIN
That's right, there's just 3 players left! And then I get to reveal a teensy surprise (because of course I can see into the future, so I know what's going to happen).

So get those orders in, please. The suspense mounts...

Come on guys, everyone get their orders in! I want to see if anyone challenged my claim to Oxford, since Excalibur needs a bit of sharpening on enemy's bones :p

Also, Troquelet, I think rather than a number for terrain, this would be better:

no symbol - flat land - no bonus
hill symbols - hills - 50% defence bonus(or whatever)
mountain symbols(AAA etc) - mountains - 100% defence bonus(or whatever)

This would be much easier, and more visual.

Nemesis

I can see that my wants to keep out of the business of my Southern neighbours have disappeared.
Aye, one can not trust the Kingdoms of the South! But a pressing matter has urged me to speak out... The matter of the Saxons.
Aye, this is a matter of deep importance! I want to announce that I for one shall keep my thoughts out of this here conflict. I don't want to be fighting a war against some foreign scum from the South!
Aye, the South be full of scum! That shall be all.


Is it too late to add Ireland to the map and Scotland?
It would give more people the chance to play and increase the effectiveness of galley's. Further more it would give smaller nations more room to move into. Just a thought.
Dexter

TO THE KING OF THE COWARDS(MACHAMISH)

I hear you have no intention to fight any enemy invader.

Well I have received word that the Saxons don't yet march, they have the kingdoms in Brittany still to deal with, so I care not for your cowardice. Dumnonia will be easily strong enough, and the Saxons will be broken on Camelot's walls in London.

But we hear that possibly another enemy marches. I fear it may be the Irish Kings, the Scots to the north, or the Vikings to the east.

The Scots will likely hit your kingdom, as would the Irish, and possibly even the Vikings, and I am afraid none of the "Southern scum" will help you.

I hope your death is quick so you don't have to hear the screams of your wife being raped by the Irish or Scots.

After all, that's what you wished upon us Southern Kingdoms!

King Arthur of Dumnonia
Lord of Camelot and Protector of London

OOC- btw Troq, who hasn't submitted their orders yet?

Tell us so we can nag them :p

Nemesis

Looks like there's a little feud brewing!

Still need orders from 3 Kings! Suspense suspense!

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

-I've got good progress on ARTNES II. I have the map and Realms all laid out and named - it shows all of England and Scotland, the Orkneys, Skye, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, all of Ireland, and 6 Realms in Normandy.

I calculate that there is room for 10 players if they split the Realms about 5 to 7 each.

Now of course comes the hard part - putting the numbers in. I do have a pretty good map to go by : http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/shepherd/british_physical_shepherd.jpg and for terrain I'm thinking a 0 for flat land and small forests, 1 for small hills, swamps, or large forests, and 2 for mountains (with, remember, Castles giving a +1 Bonus!). So for example most of Southern England would be 0 or 1, except Devon which would be 2, and a Castle built in Devon would make it 3.

The combat system would go like this: there would be a Combat Chart, with 1 thru 10 down the side, and a series of odds across the top (3:2, 2:1, 3:1 and so on). The total armies on both sides would be added up in Points. On defense a Spearman is worth 2 points and a Knight is worth 1. On offense a Spearman is worth 1 point and a Knight is worth 3. When you add up the point tallies, figure out the odds, go to the column in the chart, move over a few columns to the defense side of the chart based on the defence number (0, 1, or 2 columns to the left) and then roll a 10-sided dice and look up the result. Simple as that!

It would make combat resolution a breeze, anyway.

After that, of course, I have to put in Population and Gold numbers. Anyone have any idea of sources to go to for that?

Um - orders. Let's see. I know I have orders from IceEye, Erik Mesoy, Uknemesis, Dexter, and Wilboman.... go nag the others!

I say you make a rule(I made them all the time in UKNES, that's how I managed to keep the orders flowing in) that they have to be in by a certain day(ie; tomorrow or the next day).

Then just PM them warning that they must be in by then or their money will be forgotten for that turn(they won't get it). That should speed up responses!

Anyway, it seems that Toasty, Random Passerby and EmperorCoopinus are the people you want.

Emperor I haven't seen in the UKNES for a while, so he may be away, while Random Passerby and Toasty I'm sure I've seen around lately.

If they don't get them in by that date, instead of forgetting the money, just spend it yourself Merlin, so they have their money's worth, but know they have lost their turn really.

Nemesis

And Troq, I still say you should put little /\ s on for mountains and upside down U s for hills.

It's much easier to see then.

Nemesis

One last post.

Troq, I think knights should be the same offensively as the spearmen are defensively. As spearmen are cheaper, it will therefore favour defence slightly.

Also, I like the idea of combat odds, but how do you work it out using a 10 sided die? It's too complicated for my feeble mind :p

Finally, I suggest that you put more population in the lowlands, as this is where most of the people lived. Fewer people lived in the mountains, and not many more on hills.

I'd say 3, 4 or 5 pop for lowlands, 2 or 3 pop for hills, and 1 or 2 pop for mountains.

Then I'd say that mountains would get more gold due to their mines etc, hills slightly less, and lowlands the least. I know this probably isn't historically accurate, but it makes the game better.

So I'd say 3, 4 or 5 gold for mountains, 2 or 3 gold for hills, and 1 or 2 gold for lowlands.

Nemesis

A 10-sided die works just like a regular 6-er, except with more possibilities, so I can have 10 possible outcomes instead of just 6.

Also, I am going to change the Knight to 4-1! Hold on and listen to the reason:

Well, the idea for a Knight being 4 offensively comes from a little math. We know that a Spearman costs 2 Gold (yes, I lowered it from 3) and 1 Pop, a Knight costs 4 Gold and 2 Pop. So, a Spearman is half as cheap as a Knight. Or, 2 Spearmen = 1 Knight for upkeep purposes.

Now, if a Spearmen is 1-2 and a Knight is 2-1, It's BETTER to buy 2 Spearmen than 1 Knight, even though they cost exactly the same. Why? Because 2 Spearmen gives you 2 Offense and 4 Defense, while 1 Knight gives you 2 Offense and 1 Defense, all for the same cost!

So, with those statistics, sensible players would never recruit Knights and the game would turn into an all Spearman battle. This does not take into account the fact that Knights move 2 instead of 1, but this is not a huge factor.

By comparison, if a Spearman is 1-2 and a Knight is 4-1, 2 Spearmen gives me 2 Offense and 4 Defense, while 1 Knight gives me 4 Offense and 1 Defense. So, when you want Offense there's no sub for a Knight, and Defense is something only Spearmen can handle.

Note also that the factors are balanced: for the same cost you can buy 4 Offense or 4 Defense points. This would make the battle more even, whereas before sucky Knights would mean that attacking a player equal in money to you was a lost cause since he could buy way more Defense.

Also, it widens the gap between the two units and it means you have to buy Knights AND Spearmen and try to balance them, because one unit can't do another's job.

In addition remember that defense is already favored most of the time by terrain, and if you go for their most valuable Realms, probably Castles as well.

Sounds good to me.

Sorry guys, but I must resign as King of Suffolk

Classes starting soon, plus I need to be working, so no time for too many NES's.

Hmmm...

How about WarlordMatt or someone else be allowed to join as King of Suffolk?

Nemesis

Ok nem I will join, but what nation am I controlling? Where is it?

Well first you have to get Troq's permission, but I can't see that he'll mind.

Anyway, go to page 3 and there is the latest map on it(btw Troq, how about adding it to the first page with [img] tags?). You're Suffolk, which is a green country north of the red one(mine :) ).

You have to decide whether to continue in the Trinity Alliance with me and Nottingham also.

And one more thing, your southern neighbour is dedicated to peace, so please try and keep the peace with Dumnonia(the Kingdom of London).

Nemesis

One last thing, you need to get your orders in to Troq(as soon as possible), and you currently have 12 gold to spend.

Nemesis

Matt, you can join if you like (the map is on 3, the rules on 1) but please read thru the story so far so any mistakes can be cleared up!

I REALLY need orders from yall today or tomorrow. It's been a week! We don't want the NES to fall apart.

RE: the FixemupNES, everything going well. It's just the (*%*&#$ summer assignments for AP classes slowing me down :(

OK, a tiny preview! Here is a zoomed-out pic of the map... There will be room for 11 players (!) 1 in Normandy, 2 in Ireland, and the rest scattered across England.

All I can say is bags I the one in France! :p

Nemesis

If I wasn't soon going for an extremely hectic summer holiday, that would have been great fun... :(

I know what I want to buy, but do I PM you, Troq? The rules said nothing on whether I PM you or post it publicly.

You PM it, WarlordMatt.

Nemesis

I bags the one in sotuh ireland. Ireland is so mighty!

Question?
Does the new map mean you are starting a new game here? Or are you just giving a preveiw of what your going to do? Because if your starting a new one i want to Grabe a The northern most Scottish land before you get to many players.

If not just say so. I just looks like the guys are grabing new stuff.

Erik: You darn right, dawg!
Troq: In retrospect, I was just wondering if you invented the names based on modern-day habitation, since they seem a little out-of-touch with the good old-fashioned titles... (Amateur historian and Irishman light in action here :D )

Yes, I am starting a new game. Just hope we get enough players!

Wilboman: If you have any suggestions to make they're very welcome! Yes, I used a modern map... and for Ireland I had to use city names, not province or district names... so if you know better names go ahead and tell me them so I can put 'em in! :D

Is this one continuing? Cause I'd really like to see if anyone challenges Oxford lol!

Nemesis

If you're starting a new game, Troq, can you post the new map with the gold amount in each territory?

I'm not quite sure what period this is in, but I found this site with a whole load of maps from historic Ireland to chose from.

A very useful set of maps indeed... (http://www.fortunecity.com/bally/kilkenny/2/ire1300a.htm)

But, you have to find the correct map for yerself. At the moment it's on 1300AD (Medieval Ireland) and has sixteen suitable province names that I suggest you use, since they're fairly easy to recognise even today. You needn't worry about changing the looks of the provinces for my sake (that's far too much work), just use the various names in places that roughly correspond to the existing ones...

There should definitely be a Meath (that's the place where Tara was, and Tara was the capital city of the High Kings of Ireland). The place North of Dublin, the one you've called Dundalk, more or less fits the bill.

Yahoo! Thanks Wilboman :D , I'll change it immediately. (and changing the provinces isn't much work... with ClarisWorks I can do it in 15 mins..)

WarlordMatt, I'm working on the numbers for each Realm but it's slow going. I hope to at least have terrain up in a few days.

EVERYONE: This Sunday I'm going to the University of the Pacific for a week, and they don't have net access. So I'll be gone for a week....

You're welcome. Always glad to be of service...:D

I'll also be gone for five days from Monday morning, so that suits me fine...

Ruleset!

ARTNES 2

WELCOME MAT
This is the 2nd ARTNES, revised for realism, a larger map, and more players. Thanks to all who played ARTNES 1, and to the other NESes which continue to provide this fun game to CivFanatics and Apolyton visitors, and hopefully to make the game more and more fun, without adding needless complication and difficulty. For that reason the rules are quite concise and take only a few minutes to read through.

JOINING
Up to eleven players can play in ARTNES 2. The game will start once 8 or more have joined up. Thereafter anyone can join the remaining open spots. Once all 11 spots are filled the game is closed unless a player leaves.

EXPLANATION OF THE MAP, TIME SCALE, and CURRENCY
Unlike other NESes, this one has a map split into regions. The ocean regions are called Seas and the land regions are called Realms. In addition, a Realm which borders a Sea is also known as a Coastal Realm. Each Sea or Realm is named historically.
Each Realm has 3 numbers besides a name. These numbers are Terrain, Population, and Gold. Terrain is a measure (0, 1, or 2) of the difficulty of moving and fighting in the Realm. Population (1, 2, 3, or 4) states how many subjects live in the Realm (conscription depends on Population - a larger Population can support a larger army). Finally, Gold (1, 2, 3, or 4) is your income from that Realm, and can be used to buy new armies, or saved until next year.
The game starts in 1300 AD and moves forward a year each turn (so the next turn would be 1301 AD).
At the beginning of the game each player will receive 5 Gold. Gold is the currency of the game, extracted from Realms, and used to buy armies.

ARMIES
There are 4 units - Castles, Knights, Spearmen, and Galleys. All of these can be bought using Gold. All except Castles use up Population points each turn. A Castle boosts each status of a Realm by 1, without exceeding the limit. So, if a Realm had stats of 1-4-2, it would have 2-4-3 with a Castle.
There is no limit to the number of armies in a Realm, but only 1 Castle may be bought in each Realm.

ON EACH TURN
On each turn, the map update will be posted by the moderator. In addition the post will include the status of each nation. This will tell: the total Population of the nation, the total Gold received this turn (aka the Salary), and the Treasury (the Salary plus the balance from last turn).
After this you have exactly 48 hours to conduct diplomacy and talk with your fellow Kings. By the end of the 48 hours you must submit your orders.

POPULATION
The size army you can have at ANY moment in time depends on your Population size. Population points can NOT be stored and saved.
A Knight or Galley takes 2 PP (Population Points), while a Spearman takes 1.
So, if I had a Population of 14, I could have 7 Knights, or 4 Knights, 1 Galley, and 2 Spearmen, etc.
Remember that a Castle boosts your PP in that Realm by 1.
You may NOT buy units if they would make you exceed your PPs.
If, by losing a Realm, you go over your PP total, units will starve (which unit is randomly determined) until you have enough PPs.

ORDERS
At the start of your PM to me, include how much Gold you have, your PPs, and your PPs left over after subtracting your current army.
Next, you may buy units. A Spearman takes 2 Gold, a Knight or a Galley 4, and a Castle takes 6. Please specify for each unit which Realm it is starting in. A Galley may only be built in a Coastal Realm. Only 1 Castle per Realm. Remember not to go over your PP total!
Next you may state moves. Each unit may move OR stay still.
A Galley may move from a Sea to a Sea, or from a Sea to a Coastal Realm of that Sea, or from a Coastal Realm to another, adjacent, Coastal Realm which borders the same Sea (so it may NOT cross land, but it can crawl along the coast). In each case a Galley may move 1 Space.
A Spearman may move from any Realm to another which is adjacent. It may also Convoy. A Spearman can move just 1 Space.
A Knight may move from any Realm to another which is adjacent. It can move UP TO 2 Spaces, but MUST stop once in an enemy Realm. A Knight may also Convoy.
Castles are immobile.

CONVOYING
A Spearman or a Knight on a Coastal Province can jump to another Coastal Province bordering the same Sea, IF there is a Galley in the Sea. This counts as the entire move (Knights can’t move one more space).

CLAIMING LAND
If one of your units moves to a neutral Realm that Realm becomes your own. If two nations both move into the same Realm the one with more Knights wins and the other nation’s move never happens. If equal amounts of Knights are on both sides the winner is randomly determined.
If two nations have units in the same space combat may or may not happen.
Galleys of multiple nations can coexist in the same space except Galleys of nations at war WILL fight.
Regardless, units on land always fight.

LAND COMBAT
Combat points are added up first. When attacking a Knight is worth 4 points and a Spearman 1. On defense a Knight is worth 1 and a Spearman 2. Galleys don’t count. So for example, if 2 Knights and a Spearman attacked 2 Spearmen, the count would be 9 for the attackers and 4 for the defenders.
This number is turned into an odds with attacker:defender, and the odds are always rounded down. The possible odds are: 1:2, 2:3, 1:1, 3:2, 2:1, 5:3, and 3:1. In our example, the odds would be 9:4 which is rounded down to 2:1 (in reality 8:4).
After determining the odds, the odds for the REAL combat are 0, 1, or 2 odds to the left, depending on the Terrain number of the defending Realm. Also remember that a Castle boosts this number 1. So if the Realm was 0 but had a Castle the odds would be 3:2, NOT 2:1, because of a 1-odds shift left.
Finally, a six-sided die is rolled and the appropriate result happens, according to the following chart. The letters A B C D and E stand for results, where C is a standoff with equal losses, A and B are severe and middling attacker losses, and D and E are middling and severe defender losses.

1:2 2:3 1:1 3:2 2:1 5:3 3:1
1 A A A B B C C
2 A A B B C C D
3 A B B C C D D
4 B B C C D D E
5 B C C D D E E
6 C C D D E E E

So, if a 4 was rolled in our example, the result would be a standoff, with equal losses, and the attacker would not seize the Realm.
Casualties are always up to the moderator and decisions are final. However, A,B, and C decisions ALWAYS mean the attacker must retreat and leave the Realm in the defender’s hands (even if the Defender loses all his units!), while D and E mean the defender loses the Realm to the attacker and must retreat (even if the attacker is destroyed).
If an attacker attacked by Convoy he may retreat to the original Realm.
Any Galleys a defender has in his Realm are destroyed if the defender loses.

SEA COMBAT
Sea combat is quite simple: Galleys are randomly removed from one side or the other until one side loses all its Galleys.

MAP UPDATES
Map updates will happen every 48 hours upon submission of orders.

As you can see, "even" odds are 3:2, but this is really 2:1 because of the average of 1 shift left. Therefore if you want good odds as an attacker, you need more Knights than defending Spearmen (more than twice as much Gold and Pop!). If you're attacking someplace like Grampian with a 2 shift left, to get 2:1 or "good" oddds you need 3 Knights for every 2 Spearmen (which sounds easy, but it's 12 Gold and 6 Pop spent, against 4 Gold and 2 Pop).

That's why catching the enemy unawares is important, allies even more so. And if you have money for a Castle, do it! :D

By the way (part of the rules I forgot) in your Orders you MAY decide to disband a unit (free, but you don't get anything back) in order to make space in your Population Points for more units. So if you had 4 Knights in an 8-Pop Nation, and wanted to build Spearmen, you have to disband some Knights first. (Please say which Knight in which Realm is going away, of course!)

Are you going to post it in a separate thread or in this one? Can we see the map yet(with gold etc on)? (I still want the one in France though!)

Finally, when you say "taken away randomly" on the galley fighting, do you mean just one goes from each side until one wins? Ie; 3 galleys attack 2, so 2 must die from each so the attacker wins with 1 galley left?

Last of all, how do you get the damned names to fit on the map? I'm desiging a sequel to UKNES, but it's a lot of work to put the names on(I have to find them out, plus there's over 100 provinces I think!) and I can't get them to fit!

Thanks

Nemesis

I just put that in to shorten it a little so it wouldn't be such a pain to read. What happens is, the percentage of galleys owned out of galleys fighting is the percentage needed to destroy another galley. Example: 3 Galleys attack 2. Therefore, the attackers have 3/5 or 60 percent, and the defenders have 2/5, 40 percent. I roll a 10-sided dice: 1-6 means the defenders lose a galley, 7-10 the attackers lose one. Then recalculate the odds and do it again until one side is victorious.

Basically, the bigger side usually wins.

To make a map, find a good real map on the Net, and use the "Prt Scr Sys Rq" button to take a "screenshot". Then go into ClarisWorks (4.0 is what I have) start a Drawing and Paste in the screenshot. Now zoom in to about 200% and use the Polygon Tool to trace around the outline of the map. Finally, use the Freehand Tool to draw province lines in the interior. And just input text (you can change the size as well). When you're finished, take another screenshot and paste it into a Paint (here you can edit each map with color and so on each turn). Select and copy the picture, open Imaging, open a .jpg document, paste in the picture, save, and load it onto the site. Voila!

lol I had a map with provinces in it(now you know it's a diplo one), but I couldn't fit the names on it and still make them visible!

Anyway, thanks for your help, it's sorted now, I've used letters for the seas and numbers for the provinces, like in an example you once made.

Nemesis

Hello Troq.

i want to join as the Northern most scottish kingdom.

Sure, Demetrias, no problem... I'm working hard on the map now that I'm back from Stockton and I hope to finish it up in the near future!

Glad to see you back Troquelet.

France has prospered in the UKNES2 despite your absence, and I left plenty of credits from the last turn for you to use this turn.

Also, sorry for stealing your province idea!

Nemesis

Well, I'm off to check on that next! Hopefully there haven't been any wars yet... I had some nice sneaky ideas ;)

Is anything happening here?

I still want to play as that south ireland kingdom.

I will be starting my own NES soon, good and yet simple rules. (i hope)