Cuivienen
Deity
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2003
- Messages
- 8,011
fCNES I – Out of the Darkness and into the Light
Okay, so the title is a joke on Lord Iggy’s NES. You’ll live with it, he’ll live with it and eventually you’ll grow to love it. You may also be wondering, “Did she make a typo in the title? fCNES? “f” is a new NES prefix that I’m trying to establish, much like the old “st” prefix that is now taken for granted. An “f” NES is one that takes place in a fantasy world, whether one with actual magic and fantasy elements or not. This NES falls into the “not” category. It has different geography, but essentially just human history with only Earth creatures. It requires too much time to create entirely new flora and fauna.
So, anyway. This is a “fantasy” NES. It takes place, like Lord Iggy’s NES and Harleqin’s NES, in a world not our own, though civilization will progress more or less as it did in real history. History and civilization will begin in a cradlein a specific location on the planet. There is no backstory to this NES save for a generic history of nomadic humans. Humanity has wandered the plains for millennia, and with the retreat of the glaciers and the ending of the most recent Ice Age, has been forced to abandon hunting for more substantial endeavors. Thus, the earliest human civilizations have been born, huddled around a fertile network of rivers. There are nomadic peoples still wandering the plains and forests around the cradle, but they are few and far between and will not, for the time being, be any sort of impediment to civilization. After all, even the earliest farming cultures outnumber them immensely.
So, choose a location, design a nation and get started. But first, read the rules. They are similar to Lord Iggy’s rules (which in turn are similar to North King’s rules and das’s rules and Jason’s rules and back into obscurity), but it would be a good idea to know what’s going on. Because, you know, that might be important.
I will be more inclined to update and generally look after this NES because
a) It is summer.
and
b) It is not real history.
Looking up real history is a lot of what bogs me down. That, and schoolwork. Neither of which will impede this NES. So never fear.
Economy
In the beginning, a nomadic tribe has modest production capabilities. As they settle down, the farms and then the cities rather than the nomads themselves become the centers of production. In game terms, this means that at the start, you will have 2 economy points per turn. These are your nomadic economy points, and they can never increase above 2. As your nation becomes settled and gains other sources of income, these economy points will decrease and eventually disappear. As your nation settles down, it will gain production economy points, which are awarded based on your lands’ fertility and/or wealth in resources. This number begins at 0 and rises after a nation has become settled. It can be increased by investing (usually) two economy points in a single turn, or you can wait for it to increase naturally. Finally, as your nation becomes more metropolitan, it will gain city-based economy points. Economic centers, cultural centers and religious centers as described below will each provide city-based economy points.
In your stats, economy will be listed thusly: Total: (Nomadic/Production/City)
Military
Your military is divided in twain, Army and Navy. (If we get that far, Air Force will be included.) As ages advance and more powerful units emerge, units become more powerful. In order to ease the comparison of different nations’ armies, I will use a numerical system of comparison, though it is not a hard-and-fast rule—armies that rank lower but are better led will often win battles and inflict heavy casualties. UUs are allowed, one per nation per age (old UUs will be merged back into the existing army). Just describe them and I will assign them a strength.
1 economy point will train 1000 soldiers or 10 ships.
There are limits to how large a military a nation can support. When your military starts getting too large, I will let you know, and your rate of training will decrease.
Units
Stone Age: Spearman, Archer, Warrior (NPCs only)
Copper Age: Axeman, Spearman, Archer
Bronze Age: Swordsman, Axeman, Spearman, Archer
Education
This statistic is fairly useless in the early ages, as it is very expensive to maintain and a few smart people are all you need. But, as the game progresses, having an intelligent population can give you many advantages. Education cannot progress beyond “Average” until the Bronze Age. Until the Classical Age, Education will be very expensive to maintain.
None (0) – Dumb (1) – Illiterate (2) – Uncouth (3) – Tolerable (4) – Literate (5) –Educated (6) – Well-Educated (7) – Academic (8) – Erudite (9) – Enlightened (10)
Bronze Age and earlier maintenance costs:
Level 0: 0 EP
Levels 1-3: 1 EP
Levels 4-6: 2 EP
Levels 7-8: 4 EP
Levels 9-10: 8 EP
Iron Age maintenance costs:
Levels 0-3: 0 EP
Levels 4-6: 1 EP
Levels 7-8: 2 EP
Levels 9-10: 4 EP
Classical Age maintenance costs:
Levels 0-6: 0 EP
Levels 7-8: 1 EP
Levels 9-10: 2 EP
Confidence
This statistic summarizes your people's confidence in nation and leadership. Confidence should be fairly straightforward—low confidence can undermine your ability to govern and, if extreme, may result in rebellions or a coup. High confidence will increase sign-ups to the army and cause militias to form to defend your lands. Additionally, rulers whose subjects have high confidence in them will be given more leeway with their subjects regarding their actions.
Rebellious – Hateful – Resentful – Tolerant – Ambivalent - Respectful – Admiring – Devoted – Loving - Worshipful
Culture
This statistic summarizes the strength of your nation’s culture. Culture should be fairly straightforward, though its impact is very subtle. The more cultural and religious development and cohesion in your nation, the more cultured your nation becomes. Culture may cause both tensions and friendships to build with NPC nations, and nations with lower levels of culture will nearly always be somewhat respectful in discussions. Additionally, nations with high culture levels will more easily spread their religion and resist foreign religions.
None – Pathetic – Dull – Below Average - Average – Strong – Influential – Outstanding
An additional rating (Divided or United) will also be added. Divided nations contain two or more cultures while United nations have a monolithic culture. Divided cultures are a problem in the early game but can become an advantage later.
City System
Once the Bronze Age begins, any city can develop into a specific type of city, as listed below.
Economic center: Economic centers are the centers or trade and commerce in a nation. They provide two economy points per turn. Economic centers will compete with one another, so have too many economic centers and some will retreat into obscurity.
Cultural center: Cultural centers are the centers of learning and culture in a nation. They provide one economy point per turn and help to maintain and promote Cultural and Educational prestige. Losing control of a cultural center may result in a steep decline in both, however.
Religious center: Religious centers are few and far between and are generally centered around either large temple complexes or locations where religions were founded. They provide a variable number of economy points per turn (from 1 to 3, depending on the size of the religion, 1 max until the Iron Age) and promote Confidence and spread their religion. One religion can only support a very small number of religious centers, however, and centers of religions other than your own are useless.
Wonders
At great expenditure, you may create mighty monuments to your nation’s power. You must pay economy points to build them, and they can't be rushed. They have great cultural and confidence bonuses, but won't produce troops or give you spending points for no reason. Wonders often result in economic, cultural or even the rare religious centers.
Government
This is simply your nation’s form of government. In general, it won’t influence the game a great deal, though decentralized or mildly republican governments will tend to have higher levels of confidence in them while being less effective. Additionally, any sort of theocratic government will result in decreased spread of foreign religions in your nation, and, if a foreign religion gains too large of a presence in your nation, a theocratic government may be overthrown.
Religion
You start off with some form of primitive animism, belief in spirits of nature and things like that. You can create a more advanced religion through a story and the construction of temples. Religions are every bit as powerful here as they are in our world. They give your leader credibility, mold alliances, and break empires.
Stories
I don't give direct bonuses, but stories will have general positive effects on your nation during the update, maybe giving you a new economic center or strengthening your units, culture, confidence, etc.
Orders
PMed ONLY, no in-thread orders unless out of some bizarre emergency. I don't punish people for being vague in their orders. In fact. I often enjoy it, as it gives me more leeway (and I hate wading through long orders, particularly if they have poor grammar or are littered with typos).
And please include your nation's name in the title. It's not fun searching around the little names under the PMs to find which orders are from whom. I also like your nation's stats to be put into the orders. It saves me the time of checking the front page.
Nation Template
[Nation]
Capital: [Capital]
Special Cities:
Leader: [Nation's Leader]/[Username]
Religion: [Religion]
Government: [Government]
Economy: 2: (2/0/0)
Army: TBD
Navy: None
Education: None
Technology: Copper Age
Confidence: Tolerating
Culture: None
Wonders:
Description: [Brief description of your nation]
No Posty!
