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"If you wish for peace, prepare for war"
This message is sent to all battlefield commanders from GM Headquarters.
The following is a briefing on current rules of engagement, with guidance on the utilisation of the military and economic resources at your disposal. Please read and absorb thoroughly.
Time
Iron and Blood 4: Powerplay is turn-based, with a turn representing three months. At the end of each turn, Headquarters will update the thread with battle results, new events, recalculated income and research progress, etc.
Orders and Communication
Orders to GM Headquarters may be provided in thread or through private channels. Please include all spending, military movements, response to events, etc in your order. The latest order will always override any previous order.
Notify Headquarters of all correspondences, secret or otherwise, within and between countries.
Events
Each turn, there will be events with various effects on a country, depending on the country’s fortunes and roleplaying. Effects include but not limited to IC or research or combat bonuses, or penalties, or revolts.
Provinces
The map is divided into 90 land provinces and 30 sea zones. Land provinces are identified by name, and sea zones by numbers.
There are four types of special provinces:
Capital province – the province that the capital city is located in. Defenders here receive an automatic 100% strength bonus (see below for description of War and Combat)
Core province – a province considered integral parts of a country, indicated by a small icon representing the country’s flag. Defenders here receive an automatic 25% strength bonus. Core provinces are less likely to revolt.
Occupied provinces – provinces owned by a foreign country but under the military occupation by another, typically due to conquest. Defenders here receive an automatic 25% strength penalty, due to partisan activity. If the province is also a core of a hostile country, defenders receive an automatic 50% strength penalty. The occupied province status will end once the province is retaken by its rightful owner, or legally transferred to a new owner by treaty or surrender.
Rebel provinces – indicated by a black-red rebel flag, these provinces are in revolt; their resources are at disposal of the rebel forces and denied to the legal owner of the province. No automatic combat bonuses or penalties apply when fighting in these provinces regardless of their status as core or capital provinces.
Industrial Capacity (IC)
Industrial capacity is the sum total of economic output of a country in a turn. It can be thought of as a currency. It is primarily earned from controlling territories, each of which has a factory icon showing how many IC it provides. This is known as “Base IC”. IC earned from transfers, bonuses or modifiers is “Bonus IC”.
IC can be transferred between countries as aid; which will arrive the turn after it is sent, assuming there’s a viable, non-blockaded route to their capital. IC cannot be banked; IC must be allocated in the turn it is produced, or it is wasted.
Research
Each turn, IC can be allocated towards researching new technologies. There are discrete levels of technology, each of which will cost slightly more than the last. Each level will increase the strength of each of your military unit by one. Research investment is cumulative: it is possible to spend a small amount of IC each turn until the goal is reached.
Additionally, you may choose one bonus effect for each new level researched, the details of which can be expanded through roleplay. The effect is subject to Headquarters approval, and may include, but not limited to, administrative innovation to enhance central control and reduce revolt risk, increase in industrial production, enhancing unit capability on the battlefield, and new fortifications to improve defence.
Espionage
Each country can conduct only ONE mission per turn, and each will cost a certain amount IC (recalculated at the beginning of each turn). You can also spend an amount of IC per turn for counter-espionage. The success of a mission will depend on the amount of IC you spend on the mission versus the amount your target spends on counter-espionage.
A list of currently available espionage options, in order of least costly to most costly. Espionage and counter-espionage spending is NOT cumulative and will be reset to zero each turn.
Investigate province (gives a bonus to combat in the province)
Sabotage production (disrupt production of a military unit or damage IC)
Steal war plans (reveal secret communications)
Smear reputation (smear campaign against a country’s stability or legitimacy)
Steal technology (obtain another country’s existing bonus or research progress)
Encourage rebellion (encourage revolt or fund an existing revolt)
Launch coup d’etat (overthrow government of a country)
Stability and legitimacy
Stability represents how secure a government is in power. There are five levels of stability: secure, protected, vulnerable, precarious, and collapsing. Stability cost is the IC cost necessary to raise stability by one level, recalculated at the beginning of each turn. Stability spending is NOT cumulative and will be reset to zero each turn. A low stability lower production and raise revolt risk considerably. Events may reduce or increase stability.
Legitimacy represents how a government is viewed by the populace and by the international community. If the country engages in morally questionable pursuits, such as suppression of dissidents, war crimes, betraying allies, or declaring war against peaceful regimes, legitimacy will decrease. There are five levels of legitimacy: celebrated, respectable, tarnished, criminal, evil. Low legitimacy raises revolt risk and makes it easier for other countries to attack.
Land Combat
Each country builds a generic army unit; each of this generic unit has a strength value and an integrity value, though they also have different bonuses depending on technology, events, roleplaying, etc.
Strength represents the firepower of a unit, and determines whether a force will win a battle. In a battle, the strengths of the two sides are calculated and compared; the side with the higher strength wins the battle and controls the province the battle is being fought for.
Integrity represents the organisation of a unit, and determines if a unit will survive the battle. It is represented as a percentage chance that a unit will retreat from a given battle in the event of a defeat.
Each country can build a maximum of twenty ground units if they control their capital, plus ten for every core province, plus five for every other province under their control (except occupied or rebel provinces). Units over this limit will be disbanded.
Units are NOT in a national pool; they are stationed on the map. Each unit can move one province each turn.
When going to battle, each participant should submit a war plan. Bonuses will be given according to how effective the war plan is; whether enemy action was anticipated, whether contingencies are accounted for, whether supply lines are protected, whether terrain is favourable, and so on. For instance, if in a war plan enemy forces were to be encircled, and the enemy forces in their war plans were in a position to be encircled, the encircled forces are penalised in strength, and if they lose the battle, the encircled forces cannot retreat regardless of their integrity ratings.
Naval Combat
Naval combat is similar to land combat but with important differences. There are three types of naval units: in order of cost, submarines, battleships, and aircraft carriers. Submarines have high integrity, battleships have high strength but low integrity, and carriers lower the integrity of other ships in the battle, though they are defenceless on their own if air units are not assigned to them (see Airpower section below for more details). Each unit represents one ship, to which commanders may choose to assign names (assume battleships come attached with destroyer and cruiser escorts).
Naval warfare works similar to land combat, including aspects such as strength, integrity, and war plans. Naval units are stationed in a sea zone, and can move one sea zone per a turn. However, they cannot move into a sea zone that lacks an adjacent province controlled by a friendly country.
Naval units can blockade, preventing enemy transports from crossing, and potentially lowering IC income by obstructing trade. If the capital is blockaded they also prevent IC aid from reaching a country.
Each country can build a maximum of twenty naval units if the capital is coastal, plus ten naval units for every core coastal province, plus five for every other coastal province under their control (except occupied or rebel provinces). Units over this limit will be deactivated (ie cannot move or defend) and may be captured by a hostile force. Units may be transferred to another country’s control or disbanded at any time.
Airpower
Aircrafts are divided into two types: fighters and bombers.
Air units are based in a province and can operate in that province or surrounding provinces or sea zones (islands close enough to nearby provinces are considered "surrounding provinces", eg British Isles and France/Netherlands. These will be indicated on the map as a thin line around islands). Air units may also be based on carriers (one air unit to one carrier).
Bombers can be used to bomb ground troops or ships or used to bomb IC. They are defenceless and needed to be escorted by fighters. Air battles will be calculated before land or naval battles; only the bombers that survives the air battles, and only in the event that their fighter escorts win the dogfight, will participate in the land or naval battles. In naval or land battles, bombers count as a land or naval unit, but will return to their base province/carrier once the battle is over (unlike normal units which move into the province in the event of victory)
Each country can build a maximum of twenty air units, plus ten for every core province, plus five for every other province under their control. Units over this limit will be deactivated (ie cannot move or defend) and may be captured by a hostile force. Units may be transferred to another country’s control or disbanded at any time.
Nuclear weapons
Some scientists believe it is possible to harness the power of the atom for immense destructive capabilities. If this is true, it is not practical at present time or possibly any time in the near future and thus this matter will not be discussed at this stage.
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