Diplomacy 4: Tale of Ekonia


Diplomacy 4: Tale of Ekonia is set in a world similar to our own, yet the technology level is broadly equivalent to the Ancient Era in Europe. Of course there are some differences however, for example, in Ekonia it is possible to construct Gas Vents to channel the gas beneath the surface of the land, this has allowed for the construction of large Airships, which are commonly used to transport army regiments into battle. Sanitation levels are also fairly advanced compared to ancient Europe and large cities are not uncommon.


http://img384.imageshack.us/img384/6415/basemaphu7.png (http://imageshack.us)


‘’Once upon a time this world was united. It was a time of great peace and prosperity, there were no wars, and even poverty and disease was rare. Yes, those were the days. The Emperor at Nikea was kind and just, a good ruler, but when he found his wife had cheated on him he flew into fit of rage. He killed her and the other man in the bed that they laid in, they died brutal deaths indeed, and the Emperor began to turn to drink. A year passed, and the Emperor had gotten worse, some say he was being blackmailed. They say men in grey robes came to him and threatened to reveal to the people just what had happened to their much-loved Empress. The Empire’s coffers were bled dry and taxes were raised in every city and town. The nobility were in uproar. They refused to pay, and led rioting in the home towns. The payments had stopped, and the men in grey robes needed payment. That was when the Emperor’s son was kidnapped. His only son. Heir to the Empire. Of course, a ransom would have to be paid, but the Empire was bankrupt. Taxes were raised. A revolution occurred in Meineria, their noble families promised to change things, to return the run-down city to prosperity. The Emperor demanded that the rebellion must be crushed, but the nobles of the Empire refused to draft their regiments. They refused to pay the new taxes, threatening to also revolt. The Emperor had no money, but the blackmailers still demanded money, as well as the ransom for his yet to be returned son. He couldn’t pay, and the men in grey robes threatened him with death if he could not get the money. An assassination attempt was foiled, but the emperor now feared for his life. In response he created several new and highly restrictive laws, no one would go out after dark, lest they be assassins, no trade of food between cities, lest it be poisoned, no autonomy for noble houses, lest they be the men in grey robes. And the Emperor shut the doors of his palace in Nikea, and proclaimed that no one may enter or leave the building. The doors remain closed to this day. Of course, that truly was the end of the empire, and ever since then the nobility have each ruled their city-states.

Yet it is prophesised that the Empire will one day return, and rumoured that descendants of the Emperor’s Son may be living somewhere in the former Empire.

But of course, Time will tell.’’

Public Sign Ups are NOW open!

Rules


Capitals: Your capital city provides a bonus of 10 gold to the normal city’s 15 Gpt for a total of 25Gpt. Capturing an opponent’s capital will revert it to a basic city and one of your opponents remaining cities will become their capital. If they have no other cities they lose their capital until they capture a new one.

Cities: Cities provide 15 Gpt.

Tiles: Tiles without cities on provide 10Gpt.

Sea lanes: When one player has a sea lane, they gain a 15% increase on their base tile income (BTI) (the amount you get from cities, capitals and other tiles)

Trade: When there is a land path between two nations, that only crosses those two nations, they may trade.. In this case each player gains 25% of the amount equal to their partner’s BTI, in addition to their own BTI. Two players may alsotrade if tey both have Sea lanes.

Units have an initial cost, which you pay upon buying them, and an upkeep cost, which you then pay for each subsequent turn you control these units. Please note that in this variant of diplomacy, having a large standing army may not be the best plan long-term and it may be better to mainly draft units in when you need them. This is to increase the reliance on strategy and to give smaller countries a chance. It is recommended that you defend Forts and cities well however.

Infantry: Strength=1 Movement=1 Cost=10G Upkeep=4 May be disbanded for 5 G refund.

Cavalry: Strength=1.5 when attacking, 0.5 when defending, Movement=2, Cost=25, Upkeep=10 May be disbanded for 5G refund.

Trireme: Strength=1, Movement=1, Cost=20, Upkeep=4, May be disbanded but give no refund.

Transport: Strength=0, Movement=1, Cost=15, Upkeep=3, May be disbanded but give no refund. It is possible to load and unload a ship in the same turn or move and load or unload in the same turn. Moving from a Sea base into a neighbouring sea does not count as a ''move''. Can carry a combined strength of 6 (for this purpose cavalry count as 1.5.)

Airship: Airships can drop 3 infantry anywhere within a 3 tile radius, sea tiles count as 2 tiles. They must always be based at a fort or a capital and each fort may only hold 2 at any one time. When not dropping units they may rebase to other forts or the capital. You may not control more airships at any time then the number of AB’s you have, doubled. Airships may be disbanded but give no refund. Cost=20, upkeep=4


Fort: Forts are a very versatile improvement but a single player may not control forts in adjacent tiles so choose their position wisely. They provide a 15% penalty to enemy units attacking tiles adjacent to the fort controlled by the same player as the fort and a 30% penalty to enemy units attacking the fort’s tile (while the fort is manned). They can produce Cavalry and Infantry, and with upgrades, Ships and Airships. Forts have a hidden strength value (HSV) of 8. They cost 40G to build.

Ship yard (SY): This in an upgrade that may be bought for forts and the capital. It allows the construction of ships. It also allows for up to 4 triremes and 2 transports to be stored in the fort which will not be shown on the map. Ship yards cost 20G.
SY’s may also be built in non-improved tiles, however these cannot store ships and cost 30G.

Gas Vent (GV): This upgrade may be bought for the capital or a fort. It allows the construction of Airships, and the storage of 2 Airships in the fort. Gas Vents cost 20G.

Note:
SY’s and GV’s are not shown on the map and are automatically razed when the fort or capital is captured.
Forts may be razed or kept when conquered. A player may not raze a fort under their control.




Hidden strength value is the combined (living) strength limit a fort or city may hold before the units are shown on the map. For example, if a fort contains 5 Infantry, the combined strength is 5 and none of the units are shown on the map. If a fort contained 5 Infantry and 3 Cavalry, the combined strength would be 9.5, so all the units would be shown on the map.

The HSV’s are as follows:

Forts: 8
Cities: 3
Capitals: 5

Temporary increases to a player’s HSV’s may be bought using espionage.

Espionage

Espionage is key in this Diplomacy Variant because the public map is far less informative then in normal forum diplomacy games. There are many different espionage missions and without using them a player may find themselves falling behind. Listed are all the costs of the different missions along with their chance of success.

Investigation:

Investigation missions reveal what living units are contained in the target tile. It costs an additional 10G to investigate a capital or fort’s fleet and the success chance is reduced by 15%. The cost varies depending on the improvement.

Cities cost 15G to investigate. 70%
Capitals cost 20 G to investigate. 70%
Forts cost 30G to investigate. 70%


Steal Map:

Stealing a map will reveal the location of the target player’s SY’s and GV’s. It costs 40G and has a success rate of 55%.

Steal Records

This mission can be used to reveal the amount a player spent in each city or fort, giving you an idea of what hidden units these tiles may contain. It costs 25G and has a success rate of 70%.

Counter-Espionage

This mission can be used to tell you what espionage missions have been used on you this turn. There are two levels of counter inteligence.

Level 1: Reveals which espionage missions were used on you by one target player. Cost 25G / 75%
Level 2: Reveals which missions have been used on you by all players. Cost 70G / 505

Hide Units

This espionage mission can be used to increase the HSV of improvements and hide units in the field. Very useful for attacking players when they least suspect.

20G to increase the Hidden strength limit of all cities and forts under your control by 3 for that turn.
40G to increase the Hidden strength limit of all cities and forts under your control by 5 for that turn.
10G per unit to hide the position of units in non-improved tiles. (Can only be used on Infantry.)

Privateers:

For a one-time payment of 10G (per ship) you may hide the nationality of a Trireme, these will then appear on the map as Privateers. You may use this on ships stored in forts. It may be best to ''build'' Privateers in SY's bordering the same sea as an opponent’s SY. Remember that SY's built on non-improved tiles are not shown on the map so in theory any coastal territory could have a SY in. You can use privateers to sabotage opponents' sea lanes and other ships without declaring war but be wary of them finding out who controls the ships. Privateers can control sea lanes themselves, this will mean that your opponents won't know you have a sea lane etc. For every ship you destroy with your Privateers you gain 15 G. Privateers may share the same tile with other players' ships if that's what you want but if they land in the same territory as another player's ships by chance then they will attack them, you may tell me players that you do not want to attack with your privateers, in which case if this happens they won’t attack them. Bear in mind that any player may attack your privateers without declaring war. Privateer controlled Sea lanes may not be used for international trade.



Combat is resolved territory by territory.
Forces are matched by Strength, bonuses are added, and random factor is added.
Highest total wins. Difference between winner and loser equals winning survivors.

Defence: 30% only works if the unit is entrenched, meaning it hasn't moved this turn.

Flanking: 20% each direction from which an invasion attacks a territory adds 20% to the total attacking force

Blitz: 20% When a Cavalry unit (or group of Cavalry units) and an Infantry army attack the same territory from the same direction the infantry are given the 20% bonus.

Naval Bombardment: Triremes attacking with other forces grant their strength to the attacking force, with a strength cap set at 4, as well as adding Flanking if applicable. This strength is added after other bonuses have been applied.

Amphibious: -10% to the attacking force if it has just landed during the turn it is involved in combat; this applies to Airship drops as well.

Unprepared: -10% to all defending troops if the attack is totally unexpected.

Surprise! : If the attacking units were hidden from the enemy using espionage, (not including hidden unit strength from forts + cities) the attacking units get a bonus of 50%.

Inexperienced: -20% to units built in a city that was attacked the turn before will be less effective and won't receive defensive bonus either. Transports and airships may not transport units on the turn they are made.

Ambush: If a player moves an army onto an enemy, non-improved tile that had enemy troops that are hidden using espionage on, the hidden player gets a 60% bonus.

Fort: Provide a 20% penalty to enemies attacking or defending in neighbouring tiles and a 50% penalty to enemies attacking the fortified tile.

Last Stand: If the outcome of the fight would destroy a player. That player’s troops gain a 150% bonus.

Morale Level 1: Purchasable bonus. Costs 5G per unit under the player’s control, and gives a 25% bonus to all battles they take part in that turn. Duration = 1 turn

Morale Level 2: Purchasable bonus. Costs 10G per unit under the player’s control, and gives a 50% bonus to all battles they take part in that turn. Duration = 1 turn

Morale Level 3: Purchasable bonus. Costs 15G per unit under the player’s control, and gives a 100% bonus to all battles they take part in that turn. Duration = 1 turn

Randomness
There will be a dice roll for each side. Winner gets +1.5 strength. A roll of 6-1 will give +2.5 to the side that gets the 6.

Rounding
Defenders have a high rounding: 1,5 and higher = 2
Attackers have a low rounding : 1,5 and lower = 1


In updates, it will be given how much each player has spent during that turn but it will not mention what things that player spent the gold on.

The person who plays each state will be chosen randomly.

Neutral Tiles require a strength of 2.5 to be captured, which takes 1 turn.

Enemy tiles take one turn to be changed to neutral and then another to be changed to that player.

You do not pay upkeep on units the turn they are created.

When forts are captured, all fleets stored in them are destroyed, as well as the SY and GV if they are present.

Start gold is 50G



Map Key

Gold Circles = capitals
White circles= cities
Gold squares = sea lanes

Current Players

Niklas
Stuck in Pi
Izipo
Backwards Logic
Pinman
Tasslehoff
Methos
Frozen in Ice
Lightfang

Reserves

sirtommygunn
The 13th Ronin
Merciary
Neverwonagame3
Charles Li

Please read the rules, there are numerous changes to normal Diplomacy in this variant.

IN!! Yey for a new one.

Yep, I'm here.
Any random nation will do.... :mischief:

{and now, to read the rules ;)}


EDIT : Me, editing ? What are you talking about...

Yeah, uh, nations are assigned randomly.

Confirming Sign-up

Confirming Sign up. Thanks for inviting me Kol.

Very nice rules :goodjob:

This should be good. Like the variety.

Hiya, thanks for signing up. Just wanted to say that the starting positions of red and purple are being rebalanced, a new map will be up soon(ish). As with any, non-traditional Diplomacy ''board'' the map will never be perfectly balanced, but if there is anything really unbalanced please tell me. Remember though, that with airships and the fact that ships can load/unload in one turn, all players will have adequate expansion opportunities.

What, no invitation for me? ;_;

Can I at least claim first priority when the public sign ups open? I'd hate to miss this because of time-zones or some such nonsense.

Sorry I seem to have missed a few people who were on my list, I think one of my PM's didn't go through for some reason. Both you and BL were supposed to get a PM but neither of you did.

Signing up!

Ill signup

I'll sign up as well.

Confirming the sign-up I already did via IM. I like the variant, as well as the rules.

I'm up, darlin'. Thanks very much for the PM; 'twas appreciated.

No invitation eh :(?

All places have been filled, thanks for signing up everyone!

@StG: Unfortunately, despite the fact that you signed up before Lightfang and Frozen, public sign-ups had not yet opened, and people who got a PM had priority. Sorry. I put you down for reserve, is that ok?

@Ronin: I've sent you a PM about it, if you want to be a reserve then that's fine. Hopefully you'll get a chance to play while someone is on holiday or something. XD

@All: Assuming Ronin is fine with being a reserve, I need 1 more reserve. After I have 3 reserve players the game will begin.

One last reminder: Read the Rules!!!

Also, sorry that the map is quite small, for some reason imageshack seems determined to shrink it.

Put me on reserve, hopefully I won't get screwed like last time.

I'll be on reserve, if that's okay.

Players, please see the new ''Privateers'' sub-section in the Espionage section of the rules.

Fine :sad:

RESERVE ME!!! Interested!