Preliminary work on a reboot of TNESI: The Glorious Mysteries has begun. As you may or may not remember, it was an alternate history NES that a lot of the past couple generations of players enjoyed. The NES ended in an alternate 1535, and will pick up in 1550, after I have eliminated some not-so-historically-accurate elements and developed some new, interesting nations!
I'm developing a new ruleset system that's easy to interact with for players, easy to update for me, and also accurately models the difficulties of focusing on everything at once for 16th century nations. I'm indebted to the DaftNES 2 ruleset.
Conditional Action System [ROUGH DRAFT]
Action Points Major, allows areas of focus to be designated for that turn. Most great nations have 2, minor nations have 1.
Military: Found one army /+3 condition
Colonial: Found/expand one colony (chance of failure modified by distance, stories)
Domestic: +2 condition
Religious: Possible bonuses to domestic condition, military condition, or other intangible benefits
Administrative: +1 Action Point for next turn (reform explanation required, failure chance possible)
???
Military Overview:
Every nation has at least 1 army, which is composed of multiple divisions, battalions, companies, etc. Each army has two attributes, size, and condition. A larger size and a better condition both contribute to an armys chance of winning a battle. Condition is generally harder to improve and more important than size, however. Professional or noble troops have a disproportionately higher condition as compared to levies. An army can be divided into more than one army, though this will lower the size of both forces significantly.
Every nation has an army limit. This is the number of armies which can be safely raised, and it is determined by a variety of factors. The army limit assumes an army of average size, so presumably one could bend the limit if they are using smaller armies.
While professional armies cost action points to raise, levy armies can be raised for free. They are poorer in quality however.
Levy forces can be mixed with professional armies, though the condition of the mixed force will take a hit. I will keep track of how many army points you have used, even if levies are mixed in with other troops.
One action point can produce an army of professional (or mercenary) troops and Unsteady condition. One action point can raise the Condition of an army by 3 points, or you can spread out those points across multiple armies. Levy armies do not require action points to be produced, but they can only be produced up to the levy limit. The size of an army produced by one action point is determined by a nations Population, which ranges from 1 to 7.
Routed Breaking Unsteady Tolerable Steady Strong Impeccable
Tiny Small Medium Small Average Medium Large Large Huge
When considering campaign successes, an advantage in size and an advantage in condition modify ones chance of success upwards.
Domestic Condition:
This modifies your chances of waging (and winning) wars unopposed, getting potential bonus action points, and preventing domestic rebellions. If your domestic condition sinks low, you will have problems, including the aforementioned rebellions, loss of action points, army condition losses, and colonial troubles. Spending an action point on domestic condition may manifest in the form of lowering taxes, building public improvements, patronizing arts and entertainment, etc.
Rebelling Rioting Disdainful Muttering Neutral Content Happy Celebratory Worshipful
Well written stories can grant military or domestic condition bonuses, increased colonial expansion, or possibly even bonus action points! You just have to impress me.
Template Draft:
Nation Name/Capital
Ruler/Player:
Action Points:
Population:
Army Listing: [Army Name/Location/Size/Condition]
Army Limit:
Domestic Condition:
Description:
---
I still need to figure out how colonies work into the mechanics, and probably duplicate the army mechanics for fleets with slight alterations.