Imperium Offtopicum V

First, some essential IOT Etiquettes. We all seem to be civilized people, so let’s act it.

1. Do not flame, troll, or personally insult any other player OOC or IC. At all. You may comment on certain things negatively, but don't take it further than that.
2. Stay on topic. Make sure all comments are relevant to the fictional world of the current IOT and have nothing to do with your personal religious/political beliefs or real life politics. (spammers will be reported)
3. No powergaming. By definition, powergaming is making your country surpass every other country by all terms including armed forces, technology, etc.
4. Keep your actions realistic, and don't declare war on someone for a personal reason.
5. Above all else, RESPECT THY FELLOW FORUMERS.

Anti-Spam Measures:

Theoretically, there are no limits on the number of posts you can post each turn. However, IOT does get brought down by too much unnecessary content. Think quality of posts, not quantity: you're not getting Post Count, so there's no need to spam.

Your posts must follow the Etiquette and actually consist of something RELEVANT to your nation and not just one-liner comments, OT content, or spam. When replying, do not quote the entire post; only quote the relevant parts. It keeps the forum more readable. Also, don't respond to each relevant post individually; use multi-quote to avoid posting like 10 times in a row.

If you are acting inappropriately, you’ll get two warnings from the GMs. On your third infraction, we phone the actual mods. And ban you.


Your GMs:

IOT is a monster even when kept in check. To ensure smooth operations and sanity for all, IOT V is run by a cabinet of GMs with different responsibilities.

- Executive GM Joecoolyo is responsible for diplomacy and also takes all the reports from each of the GMs and write updates and write summaries. He also has the power to give out warnings and bans to people who break the rules posted above.
- Police Officer civplayah will help Joecoolyo patrol the premises and hand out warnings and bans if necessary.
- Cartographer CivGeneral keeps track of all the claims and territorial changes in game.
- Taillesskangaru heads the economy and research (E&R) departments.
- Cull leads the War and Combat department. He calculates battles.

Cartographer: CivGeneral
Economy and Research: Taillesskangaru
War and Combat: Cull

As the game progressed, you may suggest and/or volunteer for a GM position, or we GMs may ask for volunteers to fill in a certain role.

To start the game, claim ten territories. One of these will be your capital. Your starting territories must be connected in some way, either by land or by viable sea routes. Note that in 1453 no one has the technology to cross oceans except for Zheng He and he’s not playing.

IOT is a turn-based game. Initially, a turn will translate to 4 years in real time. As the game progress, this may change. Update occurs roughly every 48 hours.

I don’t care if your country is inhabited by radioactive sultanas. In other words, feel free to inhabit your nation with whoever or whatever you want, provided it fits with the setting (any leader who tries to form the Soviet Union before Communism is invented will be regarded as a witch and appropriate measures will be taken.)

Players Joining Later

You will still have to abide by the rules above, but since you come later (i.e. after the first update) then you will be given the "average" tech level for the time.

Note- If you join later, you only get the 10 starting claims stated above, and not the additional 6 everyone else gets. You also can't spend your income on the turn you join, as technically, you haven't made it yet.

Each turn, you can claim an additional six territories – they too must be connected in some way. If you must cross oceans from your capital to claim a territory, that territory is worth double the cost of a normal territory, ie two points.

Attacking also costs expansion point. The cost for attacking a territory (anywhere on the map you can reach) is a flat fee of one XP point, meaning you can only attack a maximum of six territories a turn.

You can claim a territory already occupied by another country. This costs the full six XP points and grant both countries a Casus Belli (see below) against each other.

For every territory you seize liberate, you get income: 1 gold per turn.

Controlling territory is the main way you earn income. However, income can also be increased by technology - each civilian tech level increases base income by 1.

So, say I control 20 territories with a civilian tech level of 10, my base income is 20+10 = 30.

Not that you’d want to, but income can be reduced if you make yourself hated in the world enough. Each nation that embargoes you decreases your income by 1%, and declaring war without a casus belli gets you 50% reduced income for the duration that you’re at war.

Let's say I declare war on my neighbour just for lulz, and then they plus 3 of their friends embargo my nation. My income from the base 30 would be reduced to 30*0.5*0.99^4 = 14.4. Now, I will round it to the nearest number, so I'd get 14 gold income. If I make peace and everyone stopped embargoing me, I'd lose those modifiers.

Income is generated at the beginning of each turn for each player and can be spent on your army, navy, or technology. You’ll lose it if you haven’t spend them by the end of the turn.

For the purpose of this game, all nations start on equal technological footing. That is, tech level one.

There are two areas of research: Military (army and navy related stuff) and Civilian (everything else). Each next level costs x25 times the level you are at (so if you’re at level 4 the next tech will cost 4x25 = 100 gold). You can research more than 1 level of tech per turn if you’re up to it. Tech investment is cumulative, and the amount you already invested will be shown like this: invested/total cost (300/400)

Each level in civilian tech increases your base income by one, and each level in military tech increases the base strength of your navy and army by one.

Additionally, the first one who reaches a level will decide exactly what this new technology/invention/idea is. You can go wild with this, since it won't really effect the game, although note that if you choose a tech >100 years before their actual historical date you will be penalized in weird and interesting ways.

Would be colonists take note: military level 5 activates ocean travel. Until then, you cannot claim land on the other side of an ocean, and navies cannot be based in or traverse oceans.

Diplomacy can be conducted in the open in the thread or in private by VM, PM or social groups.

Most diplomatic actions don’t effect the game and are really just for RP but the following do. You are limited to signing one of these per turn, and they have to be publicly stated in the game thread:
- Defensive Pact
- Guarantee of Independence
- Joining Alliance
- Declaration of War

There are also embargoes, which as previously described reduce the target's income by 1%. These must be publicly posted in the game thread and you can sign one embargo per turn. This will also grant the target a casus belli (see below) against you.

These treaties can be cancelled at any time.

Casus Belli

To go to war without your population going OMGWTFBBQ, you need a good excuse. That is, a Casus Belli.

You get a casus belli if another nation has:
- a border dispute with you (the two nations must claim the same piece of territory, see Expansion, above)
- declared war on your allies
- embargo you
- blockade you
- deny you access to a sea or ocean tile.
- a large difference in religion or form of government. This is a special CB in that you have to ask the GM to grant it to you.

If you attack without a casus belli, you suffer a -50% income loss for every turn you’re at war.

Units

Your main units are armies and fleets. These are physical entities on the map.
- Armies will be represented by a golden dot.
- Navies will be represented by a dot in the sea which the same color as their nationality.

Each one costs x20 times the number which you already own (so if you own 6 armies the next one costs 6*20 = 120 gold – the first army and fleet you build is free). Additionally, each army and each fleet also costs 2 gold/turn of upkeep. This will be subtracted from your income at the beginning of each turn. If upkeep > income, then the economy GM will helpfully randomly disband your armies and fleets until your income is back in the positive.

When you recruit an army or fleet, you choose where they start. Every turn, you may reposition all your units.
- Armies may move through up to 10 land territories in friendly territory (all sea crossings together costs a flat fee of 1 movement point, ocean crossings cost 2 points - it doesn't matter how many seas or oceans you travel through), and only one army may exist in a province
- Fleets may be reposition anywhere you have ports or can access allied ports, and the number of fleets in a sea/ocean tile is unlimited.

The strength of your unit is equal to your military tech level. At level 5, the strength of each of your armies and navies is five, at level 8, it’s eight, and so on.

Land Battles

An attack will cost a flat fee of one expansion point. Any army may be used to attack a province as long as they can reach that province by land or sea. An attack count as a move by an army.

You may have several armies attacking a single province from many directions, but only one may occupy the territory afterwards.

The defenders has a number of advantages.
- First, a province, when attacked, is considered its own army (that is, it has a fort, with the strength of one army), which the attacker must overcome.
- Secondly, any armies bordering the province being attacked, if not being attacked themselves, will also contribute to the total number of defending armies in the battle.

In battle:
- the total strength of all units on both sides are added up.
- An Random Number Generator (like this one) will generate a number between 0 and 50. This will add anywhere between 0-50% to the strength.
- The side with the highest RNG-modified strength wins.
- The losing side loses any armies they have in or attacking that province (for defenders, armies in adjacent provinces will survive).
- If both sides end up with the same strength, the RNG is run again until one sides emerges victorious.

Navies

An army may move across seas and oceans to attack a province. While at sea/oceans, armies will be treated as unarmed transports. If the route to the target is blocked by enemy fleets, they can simply sink your transports and you'll lose the army.

A naval battle ensues if two opposing naval forces are moved into the same ocean/sea tile. Naval battles are calculated the same way as land battles.

Upon resigning from the game, you can distribute your territories to other players or just flat out make them unclaimed.

If you are just going to be taking a holiday, give us your orders, or ask someone else to do them for you. To avoid migraines, we cannot calculate it all, and will only go on what you give us. Otherwise, your country will be treated as an NPC until you return.

If you are not active for 5 days, or don't have anybody to give your orders, we will PM you that you need to post something - or tell someone else to - to stay in the game. If you don't respond, we will PM you again after 24 hours or so have passed, asking how you want your lands distributed, as you have become inactive and thus cannot continue to play. If we don't receive a reply within 24 hours, we will distribute your lands in a manner as fair as possible.