ZNES III - The Great War
Background
Archduke Franz Ferdinands assassination by Serbian rebels in Sarajevo was the action that was to eventually bring the entire world spiralling into war. Years of escalating tensions would finally be brought to a head and centuries of European conflict would finally escalate into a war the like of which the world had never seen before. Covering the entire globe the Great War claimed the lives of millions of men and left the European continent in ruin.
Austria-Hungary's demands for vengeance upon Serbia for her loss was to be the spark that set off a tangled fuse of treaties and agreements. By the 4th of August 1914 the entire European continent was ready to begin war. The Allies of Britain, France, Russia, Belgium and Serbia lined up against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
The stage is set, the lines have been drawn and the armies mobilised. Now it is a test of military leadership and ability in the 'war to end all wars'. Only one thing is for certain: No Nation shall ever celebrate the outbreak of war again.
Rules
Welcome to the third ZNES
I have made it my priority to unclutter the rules as much as possible to allow this NES to be a much more 'player's decisions' orientated game. Out goes the common economy system of using points to buy items and in instead is the requirement to write stories and generate new ideas with which to solve problems. The rules are extremely flexible with only a set list of things to keep general order, I deffinately recommend reading through the rules to get a flavour of things.
What I just cannot stress enough is how important player participation will be. The chances of your nation winning the war depend entirely upon your ability to create novel ideas and plans with which to face the obstacles before you. Now this does not necessarily mean that you to be some expert military planner, instead it means you must be able to use intelligent political play to affect the different statistics concerning your nation and to better your war effort.
I also want to make sure that all players are totally committed to the game as the last two ZNES's collapsed through lack of players (and probably too many complex rules
). This ZNES can be a success if the players are dedicated.
Thanks
Nations
Players who wish to play the game must sign-up in this thread. Once at least 5 players sign-up to the game a random draw will be made to decide each persons nation. Obviously the most important nations shall be filled first. New players can sign-up at any time after this draw and select any of the remaining non-player controlled nations.
Certain nations - listed below in the nations section - cannot be player controlled. All these nations can be invaded, except Switzerland, and will give various bonuses or problems should you be successful.
The Economy
The Economy is increased or decreased by your nations performance in the war and the level of confidence in you as a leader. The Economy has several factors involved:
Example:
Germany
Industry - 156 (173)
This means that Germany has a very good industrial development. She can produce more goods such as weapons and war supplies which is a bonus to the war effort and will ensure a high 'Military Quality'. Different factors can be affected in different ways through the war aswell, either causing increase or decrease.
Both numbers can be increased - the capacity is harder to increase. How are they increased though? Well I think that should be left to you to find out After all I want to encourage you to create solutions to problems not have me tell you what to do...
The Military
The military has of course a huge part to play in this NES. The military is broken into the army and navy each with a number of troops or ships. This number cannot be changed by the odl method of saying "increase my army". You have to create a way of increasing your military if you want it increased, like I keep saying it is really upto you to come up with the solutions.
Remember though, too many troops and it might have an adverse effect on the economy and maybe more. Just be warned...
Mobilisation
Your army has two sets of numbers, the number inside the brackets is your total number of troops, the number outside is the number of troops mobilised. Mobilising troops is a necessity before you can use them, unmobilised troops cannot make aggressive moves as quickly as mobilised troops and so therefore allow the target time to mobilise to defend itself. If you order unmobilised troops to attack an enemy they will mobilise automatically but it will mean that the enemy has forewarning and can prepare.
Mobilisation can take any amount of time depending on the numbers of troops being mobilised and the quality of your infrastructure although it will never take longer than one whole turn.
Military Quality
This is a number out of a possible 100, it gives a general idea of the quality of each nations armed forces. Military Quality is determined by a variety of factors and describes the quality of equipment, training and supplies that each army has.
In general a force with a higher Military Quality can defeat a force of greater of numbers with a lower quality rating. Hopefully this will end the whole 'throw as many troops at the enemy as possible scenario'.
Morale
The morale of your troops and population is absolutely vital. A good morale can make a huge difference to the ability of your military. A military with a high morale is likely to fight much harder, low morale and dissertion is always a possibility.
Be sure to keep your morale high by ensuring military victories and giving those rallying speeches!
Warfare
Trench warfare will be implemented into the game assuming it is required, chances are high though that it will. Trenches will be represented on the map when they are formed.
The use of the Navy for naval blockades is possible and can seriously affect an enemy nation if successful. Any other naval tactics used throughout WWI are also worth using.
Troop positions for a players nation shall be released to only the player at the end of every turn by PM. It is then upto the player to decide whether to allow this information to be seen by allies or not. Troops shall not be represented on the map. It is possible to use espionage and aircraft - later in the game - to scout enemy troop positions in certain areas. This information shall be included in the PM.
Apart from these additions warfare is pretty much similar to all the other NES's. I recieve your plans and decide based upon the stats whether the mission was a success or not.
Basically it's the same as before, it's upto you to be as clever as possible in your plans and to use any measure you deem necessary to achieve victory...
Updates
Each turn covers two months; for example Turn 1 is from the 4th of August to the 30th of September. The weather during the seasons can and will have an effect in this game so use it to your advantage.
I will try to update twice a week, probably on Tuesdays and Fridays. Updates shall not happen until all the members of the Allies and Central Powers alliances have given their orders. I promise to do my best with updates and make them as often as possible.
Major Events
There were many important events that occurred throughout the First World War; the Russian Revolution, the USA joining the war, the invention of the tank etc... These events may occur in this game, it all depends on the how the war is going for each nation. If Russia is suffering heavy defeats on the front, maybe the revolution will occur, although if they are winning it might increase the Tsar's support.
Major Events will be based upon a variety of factors and can change the whole complexion of the war so be prepared...
Summary
All I can say is to be creative and clever in your approach, I will always reward players who show a good approach to their problems. For info. on the war you might find this website very useful: http://www.firstworldwar.com
Good-luck and enjoy
Background
Archduke Franz Ferdinands assassination by Serbian rebels in Sarajevo was the action that was to eventually bring the entire world spiralling into war. Years of escalating tensions would finally be brought to a head and centuries of European conflict would finally escalate into a war the like of which the world had never seen before. Covering the entire globe the Great War claimed the lives of millions of men and left the European continent in ruin.
Austria-Hungary's demands for vengeance upon Serbia for her loss was to be the spark that set off a tangled fuse of treaties and agreements. By the 4th of August 1914 the entire European continent was ready to begin war. The Allies of Britain, France, Russia, Belgium and Serbia lined up against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
The stage is set, the lines have been drawn and the armies mobilised. Now it is a test of military leadership and ability in the 'war to end all wars'. Only one thing is for certain: No Nation shall ever celebrate the outbreak of war again.
Rules
Welcome to the third ZNES
I have made it my priority to unclutter the rules as much as possible to allow this NES to be a much more 'player's decisions' orientated game. Out goes the common economy system of using points to buy items and in instead is the requirement to write stories and generate new ideas with which to solve problems. The rules are extremely flexible with only a set list of things to keep general order, I deffinately recommend reading through the rules to get a flavour of things.
What I just cannot stress enough is how important player participation will be. The chances of your nation winning the war depend entirely upon your ability to create novel ideas and plans with which to face the obstacles before you. Now this does not necessarily mean that you to be some expert military planner, instead it means you must be able to use intelligent political play to affect the different statistics concerning your nation and to better your war effort.
I also want to make sure that all players are totally committed to the game as the last two ZNES's collapsed through lack of players (and probably too many complex rules
). This ZNES can be a success if the players are dedicated.Thanks
Nations
Players who wish to play the game must sign-up in this thread. Once at least 5 players sign-up to the game a random draw will be made to decide each persons nation. Obviously the most important nations shall be filled first. New players can sign-up at any time after this draw and select any of the remaining non-player controlled nations.
Certain nations - listed below in the nations section - cannot be player controlled. All these nations can be invaded, except Switzerland, and will give various bonuses or problems should you be successful.
The Economy
The Economy is increased or decreased by your nations performance in the war and the level of confidence in you as a leader. The Economy has several factors involved:
- Industry
- Infrastructure
- Trade
- Resources
Example:
Germany
Industry - 156 (173)
This means that Germany has a very good industrial development. She can produce more goods such as weapons and war supplies which is a bonus to the war effort and will ensure a high 'Military Quality'. Different factors can be affected in different ways through the war aswell, either causing increase or decrease.
Both numbers can be increased - the capacity is harder to increase. How are they increased though? Well I think that should be left to you to find out
After all I want to encourage you to create solutions to problems not have me tell you what to do...The Military
The military has of course a huge part to play in this NES. The military is broken into the army and navy each with a number of troops or ships. This number cannot be changed by the odl method of saying "increase my army". You have to create a way of increasing your military if you want it increased, like I keep saying it is really upto you to come up with the solutions.
Remember though, too many troops and it might have an adverse effect on the economy and maybe more. Just be warned...
Mobilisation
Your army has two sets of numbers, the number inside the brackets is your total number of troops, the number outside is the number of troops mobilised. Mobilising troops is a necessity before you can use them, unmobilised troops cannot make aggressive moves as quickly as mobilised troops and so therefore allow the target time to mobilise to defend itself. If you order unmobilised troops to attack an enemy they will mobilise automatically but it will mean that the enemy has forewarning and can prepare.
Mobilisation can take any amount of time depending on the numbers of troops being mobilised and the quality of your infrastructure although it will never take longer than one whole turn.
Military Quality
This is a number out of a possible 100, it gives a general idea of the quality of each nations armed forces. Military Quality is determined by a variety of factors and describes the quality of equipment, training and supplies that each army has.
In general a force with a higher Military Quality can defeat a force of greater of numbers with a lower quality rating. Hopefully this will end the whole 'throw as many troops at the enemy as possible scenario'.
Morale
The morale of your troops and population is absolutely vital. A good morale can make a huge difference to the ability of your military. A military with a high morale is likely to fight much harder, low morale and dissertion is always a possibility.
Be sure to keep your morale high by ensuring military victories and giving those rallying speeches!
Warfare
Trench warfare will be implemented into the game assuming it is required, chances are high though that it will. Trenches will be represented on the map when they are formed.
The use of the Navy for naval blockades is possible and can seriously affect an enemy nation if successful. Any other naval tactics used throughout WWI are also worth using.
Troop positions for a players nation shall be released to only the player at the end of every turn by PM. It is then upto the player to decide whether to allow this information to be seen by allies or not. Troops shall not be represented on the map. It is possible to use espionage and aircraft - later in the game - to scout enemy troop positions in certain areas. This information shall be included in the PM.
Apart from these additions warfare is pretty much similar to all the other NES's. I recieve your plans and decide based upon the stats whether the mission was a success or not.
Basically it's the same as before, it's upto you to be as clever as possible in your plans and to use any measure you deem necessary to achieve victory...
Updates
Each turn covers two months; for example Turn 1 is from the 4th of August to the 30th of September. The weather during the seasons can and will have an effect in this game so use it to your advantage.
I will try to update twice a week, probably on Tuesdays and Fridays. Updates shall not happen until all the members of the Allies and Central Powers alliances have given their orders. I promise to do my best with updates and make them as often as possible.
Major Events
There were many important events that occurred throughout the First World War; the Russian Revolution, the USA joining the war, the invention of the tank etc... These events may occur in this game, it all depends on the how the war is going for each nation. If Russia is suffering heavy defeats on the front, maybe the revolution will occur, although if they are winning it might increase the Tsar's support.
Major Events will be based upon a variety of factors and can change the whole complexion of the war so be prepared...
Summary
All I can say is to be creative and clever in your approach, I will always reward players who show a good approach to their problems. For info. on the war you might find this website very useful: http://www.firstworldwar.com
Good-luck and enjoy
