Stormbringer
The Brick and The Rose
Concept
My last NES failed because only a few people were willing to go along with the complex rules that it required. On the other hand quite a few people did want complicated rules that make the NES more realistic. After pondering this for a while I decided to come up with the rule concept that I will use in this NES which allows the players to decide how complicated and deep they want to make the game.
Nation
This is a fresh start NES so go ahead and pick a historical nation or tribe that you like and jump right in. I do not want to see Russia or Germany in 3000 BC, please do keep this as realistic as possible.
Government
Here is where my concept comes in. Do you like domestic politics, political intrigue, and subtle changes in your government? (I like that stuff a lot) Great, you can spend a lot of time describing your government, how centralized it is, how it works, etc. and I will take all of that into account and note it down here, and it will have an effect on your nation. Are you one of the types who just want to fight or would rather do diplomacy, not particularly caring about domestic politics? Just pick a one-word description for the government and you will be just fine.
Tech Level
The tech level is an approximate description of the technology available to you. It works exactly the same way as tech levels or ages work in some of the other NESes. When we are close to the end of the age the nations with high education and civilian leadership will advance to the next one, while other nations will take longer to do so. You can research specific technologies and designs which are improvements of the generic designs for the age, but I will not note them down in the stats, and you will have to keep track of them yourselves.
Bronze Age 2000BC 1200BC
Iron Age 1200BC 600BC
Classical Age 600BC 500AD
Medieval Age 500AD 1000AD
High Middle Age 1000AD 1300AD
Renaissance 1300AD 1500AD
High Renaissance 1500AD 1600AD
Age of Exploration 1600AD 1700AD
Enlightenment 1700AD 1800AD
Industrial Revolution 1800AD 1850AD
Industrial Age 1850AD 1900AD
Early Modern Age 1900AD 1930AD
Modern Age 1930AD 1960AD
Space Age 1960AD 2000AD
Army/Navy
The army and navy, and later air force, are made up of units divisions, squadrons, wings. You can of course ask for specific units, like a division of cavalry, or a squadron of submarines, and I will note it down in the orders. If you do not do that, I will assume that a division is a mix of cavalry, infantry, artillery that adds up to about the size of a regular division, and fights as a combined force. Same with squadrons and air wings. If you want to micromanage your armed forces, feel free to do so, if you want to leave it to me, you can also do that.
Increasing your armed forces is easy you recruit people and give them weapons. You can of course recruit people and not pay them, that is totally fine, so you can increase your armed forces for very cheap, only the price of the weapons, but that comes with some drawbacks, obviously. That is reflected in training, with higher training troops being a lot better than lower trained troops. Training levels are:
None-Rabble-Semi-Rabble-Tolerable-Normal-Better-Good-Very Good-Professional-Elite
Both the army size and its training are increased by spending economic points on the specific things.
Economy
Economy is the measure of the overall health of the economy. This is a very broad definition, but it is the one we are going to use. This includes trade, production, taxation, and everything else that an economy needs. Economic levels are:
Depression (-2)-Bankrupt (-1)-Recession (-1)-Very Poor (0)-Poor (0)-Not Bad (+1)-Normal (+1)-Good Enough (+2)-Growing (+2)-Rich (+3)-Very Rich (+3)-Richer (+4)-Richest (+4)-Economic Powerhouse (+5)-Monopoly (+6)
The word description is a quick overview of how well the economy is doing. The number is the number of eco points that you have every turn and can spend. They are spent on military and anything else that you want to increase. Think of it as your governments income that it has to spend. Eco points cannot be banked.
How do you increase the economy? Well, a sure way is to invest some money into it and give me a reason why it should work. There is no rule set in stone for how to increase economy, you just have to improvise. If you like economics, making your nation richer, and all of that you can write extensive orders and explain exactly what you want your investments to do. On the other hand you can write use 3 eco to increase economy and that will be just fine. The success of the increase depends on your civilian leadership, how much money you invested, and other basic things.
Leadership
Whether military or civilian, leadership is an important factor. Competent military leaders will successfully carry out plans or will even attain some successes on their own without orders; competent bureaucrats will greatly help all government programs and assist the development of the land. But incompetent generals will even with the best plan stagger and blunder, while incompetent civilian administrators will embezzle funds and otherwise will be corrupt. So, this is quite crucial, and cadre preparation thus should be an important priority. Note that sometimes it is best to give specifics when growing this stat (meaning, how EXACTLY are you training your new leaders - what military doctrines should be emphasized, for instance, what stance should your bureaucrats take on the various rebels, et cetera). But again, if you prefer, you can simply write increase civilian leadership and I will figure it out from there. When you expand your army radically, your military leadership will suffer; when you expand your territory, the civilian one will. The levels are:
None-Imbecile-Moronic-Stupid-Incompetent-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Competent-Better-Good-Brilliant
Infrastructure
Roads, bridges, boats - all things used for transportation of goods and men - are listed under infrastructure. The higher is your infrastructure, the easier it is to move your (or enemy) troops across your territory; also, infrastructure contributes to the economy and it is a must for maintenance of a high culture level in large empires, as well as actually maintaining your grip on faraway provinces. Levels are:
None-Dirt Paths-Pathetic-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Improving-Good-Efficient-Very Efficient-Great-Excellent
Education
This is just how your people are... educated, I guess. Obvious enough. With a good education, you have better chances of receiving a miraculous invention. You could design better walls and siege engines, and ships for that matter, with higher education. The higher education, the more chances you have to develop some technology.
Once someone reaches Enlightenment education, he becomes much more likely to reach the next age as soon as it becomes possible at all. When he does, he loses two education levels. Levels:
None-Dumb-Illiterate-Tolerable-Literate-Educated-Well Educated-Perfect-Academic-Enlightenment
Living Standards
This is pretty simple. The higher your living standards are, the happier your population is; the lower, the tougher it is, because of the tougher life. Living standards drop easily, due to economic weakness and war; they are raised as any other economic stats are raised, but the more they are raised the more greedy your people get for more. To create a classic revolutionary situation, raise the living standards somewhat and then neglect them and let them drop. Here are the levels:
None-Slums-Very Low-Low-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Normal-Higher-Very High-Splendid
Culture
This is how culturally strong, patriotic and unified your nation is. Unlike some other NESes, where this is a measure of patriotism, here it is a measure of how much influence your country has on others. It is very hard to grow by simply investing economy into it, but again, it is possible just like with all other things.
None-Minimal-Small-Average-Strong-Influential-Sprawling-Overpowering-Dominating-World-Wide
Confidence
People can be fiercely unified and patriotic, but they will not necessarily like their ruler - in fact, a strongly cultured nation with little confidence in its leaders can, in its cultural unity, lynch the rulers and fire their remains from cannons. Into the huge pot filled with boiled sharks. Not that the rulers will care by then...
Lynching-Hateful-Resentful-Barely Tolerating-Tolerating-Respecting-Admiring-Loving-Nation Personified
Investments
Wait! There is even more stuff you could waste your treasury on! Particularly, you could invest it, in the form of eco. points, into all sorts of programs - for example, you could invest them into the development of some technology (NOTE - it MUST be something conceivable for this time. You probably will have to consult me about this too... :sigh: ), though the success will depend not just on the amount of money invested, but also on your education level and on chance. Sometimes it could take quite a while. Or maybe you could invest it into a colonial venture. Or into some nice idea that you have, such as a jungle-clearing program that might increase infrastructure, and, in long-term, economy. This is also one of the few ways you could increase culture and confidence using money.
Note - in no case is success - or, at least, complete success - guaranteed. But its possible.
Deterioration
Over time, all your stats will deteriorate. This can be sped up by many factors, such as war, rebellion, neglect, low economy (not just with a minus eco. point, though the lower the "better"), et cetera. You could delay this by investing money into maintaining your current stats, the more money the less your stats will deteriorate.
Projects
Local equivalent of wonders (that name is inappropriate in most NESes, as these are often modernization programs, national revival and other PROJECTS, not just huge and magnificent buildings). You tell me what it does, I tell you how long do you build it. You will have to invest an eco. point once each turn for the work on the project to continue You can sacrifice an econ. level to speed it up by THREE turns, or invest 2 additional eco. points to speed it up by one more turn. Note that there is a limit - you can only invest one eco. level per turn, and accordingly only 6 extra eco. points per turn. The exact time it takes to build a project will depend on too many factors to list here.
Concept Again
Ok, so I do not want these rules to be a burden on anyone. I must again re-iterate that if you want to go a lot more in depth than these rules, please go ahead, and I will accommodate that, note all of your changes, and act accordingly. If you like the eco point system, by all means use it, but if you dislike it, you could simply tell me to invest in the economy and living standards, without telling me how much and I will figure it out. Orders can vary from some infamous multi-pm ones to a few short lines. I want to make this fun for everyone.
Template
Nation Name
Capital:
Ruler:
Government:
Tech. Level:
Army (Training):
Navy (Training):
Economy:
Leadership (Military/Civilian): /
Infrastructure:
Education:
Living Standards:
Culture:
Religion:
Confidence:
Projects:
Nation Background:
My last NES failed because only a few people were willing to go along with the complex rules that it required. On the other hand quite a few people did want complicated rules that make the NES more realistic. After pondering this for a while I decided to come up with the rule concept that I will use in this NES which allows the players to decide how complicated and deep they want to make the game.
Nation
This is a fresh start NES so go ahead and pick a historical nation or tribe that you like and jump right in. I do not want to see Russia or Germany in 3000 BC, please do keep this as realistic as possible.
Government
Here is where my concept comes in. Do you like domestic politics, political intrigue, and subtle changes in your government? (I like that stuff a lot) Great, you can spend a lot of time describing your government, how centralized it is, how it works, etc. and I will take all of that into account and note it down here, and it will have an effect on your nation. Are you one of the types who just want to fight or would rather do diplomacy, not particularly caring about domestic politics? Just pick a one-word description for the government and you will be just fine.
Tech Level
The tech level is an approximate description of the technology available to you. It works exactly the same way as tech levels or ages work in some of the other NESes. When we are close to the end of the age the nations with high education and civilian leadership will advance to the next one, while other nations will take longer to do so. You can research specific technologies and designs which are improvements of the generic designs for the age, but I will not note them down in the stats, and you will have to keep track of them yourselves.
Bronze Age 2000BC 1200BC
Iron Age 1200BC 600BC
Classical Age 600BC 500AD
Medieval Age 500AD 1000AD
High Middle Age 1000AD 1300AD
Renaissance 1300AD 1500AD
High Renaissance 1500AD 1600AD
Age of Exploration 1600AD 1700AD
Enlightenment 1700AD 1800AD
Industrial Revolution 1800AD 1850AD
Industrial Age 1850AD 1900AD
Early Modern Age 1900AD 1930AD
Modern Age 1930AD 1960AD
Space Age 1960AD 2000AD
Army/Navy
The army and navy, and later air force, are made up of units divisions, squadrons, wings. You can of course ask for specific units, like a division of cavalry, or a squadron of submarines, and I will note it down in the orders. If you do not do that, I will assume that a division is a mix of cavalry, infantry, artillery that adds up to about the size of a regular division, and fights as a combined force. Same with squadrons and air wings. If you want to micromanage your armed forces, feel free to do so, if you want to leave it to me, you can also do that.
Increasing your armed forces is easy you recruit people and give them weapons. You can of course recruit people and not pay them, that is totally fine, so you can increase your armed forces for very cheap, only the price of the weapons, but that comes with some drawbacks, obviously. That is reflected in training, with higher training troops being a lot better than lower trained troops. Training levels are:
None-Rabble-Semi-Rabble-Tolerable-Normal-Better-Good-Very Good-Professional-Elite
Both the army size and its training are increased by spending economic points on the specific things.
Economy
Economy is the measure of the overall health of the economy. This is a very broad definition, but it is the one we are going to use. This includes trade, production, taxation, and everything else that an economy needs. Economic levels are:
Depression (-2)-Bankrupt (-1)-Recession (-1)-Very Poor (0)-Poor (0)-Not Bad (+1)-Normal (+1)-Good Enough (+2)-Growing (+2)-Rich (+3)-Very Rich (+3)-Richer (+4)-Richest (+4)-Economic Powerhouse (+5)-Monopoly (+6)
The word description is a quick overview of how well the economy is doing. The number is the number of eco points that you have every turn and can spend. They are spent on military and anything else that you want to increase. Think of it as your governments income that it has to spend. Eco points cannot be banked.
How do you increase the economy? Well, a sure way is to invest some money into it and give me a reason why it should work. There is no rule set in stone for how to increase economy, you just have to improvise. If you like economics, making your nation richer, and all of that you can write extensive orders and explain exactly what you want your investments to do. On the other hand you can write use 3 eco to increase economy and that will be just fine. The success of the increase depends on your civilian leadership, how much money you invested, and other basic things.
Leadership
Whether military or civilian, leadership is an important factor. Competent military leaders will successfully carry out plans or will even attain some successes on their own without orders; competent bureaucrats will greatly help all government programs and assist the development of the land. But incompetent generals will even with the best plan stagger and blunder, while incompetent civilian administrators will embezzle funds and otherwise will be corrupt. So, this is quite crucial, and cadre preparation thus should be an important priority. Note that sometimes it is best to give specifics when growing this stat (meaning, how EXACTLY are you training your new leaders - what military doctrines should be emphasized, for instance, what stance should your bureaucrats take on the various rebels, et cetera). But again, if you prefer, you can simply write increase civilian leadership and I will figure it out from there. When you expand your army radically, your military leadership will suffer; when you expand your territory, the civilian one will. The levels are:
None-Imbecile-Moronic-Stupid-Incompetent-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Competent-Better-Good-Brilliant
Infrastructure
Roads, bridges, boats - all things used for transportation of goods and men - are listed under infrastructure. The higher is your infrastructure, the easier it is to move your (or enemy) troops across your territory; also, infrastructure contributes to the economy and it is a must for maintenance of a high culture level in large empires, as well as actually maintaining your grip on faraway provinces. Levels are:
None-Dirt Paths-Pathetic-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Improving-Good-Efficient-Very Efficient-Great-Excellent
Education
This is just how your people are... educated, I guess. Obvious enough. With a good education, you have better chances of receiving a miraculous invention. You could design better walls and siege engines, and ships for that matter, with higher education. The higher education, the more chances you have to develop some technology.
Once someone reaches Enlightenment education, he becomes much more likely to reach the next age as soon as it becomes possible at all. When he does, he loses two education levels. Levels:
None-Dumb-Illiterate-Tolerable-Literate-Educated-Well Educated-Perfect-Academic-Enlightenment
Living Standards
This is pretty simple. The higher your living standards are, the happier your population is; the lower, the tougher it is, because of the tougher life. Living standards drop easily, due to economic weakness and war; they are raised as any other economic stats are raised, but the more they are raised the more greedy your people get for more. To create a classic revolutionary situation, raise the living standards somewhat and then neglect them and let them drop. Here are the levels:
None-Slums-Very Low-Low-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Normal-Higher-Very High-Splendid
Culture
This is how culturally strong, patriotic and unified your nation is. Unlike some other NESes, where this is a measure of patriotism, here it is a measure of how much influence your country has on others. It is very hard to grow by simply investing economy into it, but again, it is possible just like with all other things.
None-Minimal-Small-Average-Strong-Influential-Sprawling-Overpowering-Dominating-World-Wide
Confidence
People can be fiercely unified and patriotic, but they will not necessarily like their ruler - in fact, a strongly cultured nation with little confidence in its leaders can, in its cultural unity, lynch the rulers and fire their remains from cannons. Into the huge pot filled with boiled sharks. Not that the rulers will care by then...
Lynching-Hateful-Resentful-Barely Tolerating-Tolerating-Respecting-Admiring-Loving-Nation Personified
Investments
Wait! There is even more stuff you could waste your treasury on! Particularly, you could invest it, in the form of eco. points, into all sorts of programs - for example, you could invest them into the development of some technology (NOTE - it MUST be something conceivable for this time. You probably will have to consult me about this too... :sigh: ), though the success will depend not just on the amount of money invested, but also on your education level and on chance. Sometimes it could take quite a while. Or maybe you could invest it into a colonial venture. Or into some nice idea that you have, such as a jungle-clearing program that might increase infrastructure, and, in long-term, economy. This is also one of the few ways you could increase culture and confidence using money.
Note - in no case is success - or, at least, complete success - guaranteed. But its possible.
Deterioration
Over time, all your stats will deteriorate. This can be sped up by many factors, such as war, rebellion, neglect, low economy (not just with a minus eco. point, though the lower the "better"), et cetera. You could delay this by investing money into maintaining your current stats, the more money the less your stats will deteriorate.
Projects
Local equivalent of wonders (that name is inappropriate in most NESes, as these are often modernization programs, national revival and other PROJECTS, not just huge and magnificent buildings). You tell me what it does, I tell you how long do you build it. You will have to invest an eco. point once each turn for the work on the project to continue You can sacrifice an econ. level to speed it up by THREE turns, or invest 2 additional eco. points to speed it up by one more turn. Note that there is a limit - you can only invest one eco. level per turn, and accordingly only 6 extra eco. points per turn. The exact time it takes to build a project will depend on too many factors to list here.
Concept Again
Ok, so I do not want these rules to be a burden on anyone. I must again re-iterate that if you want to go a lot more in depth than these rules, please go ahead, and I will accommodate that, note all of your changes, and act accordingly. If you like the eco point system, by all means use it, but if you dislike it, you could simply tell me to invest in the economy and living standards, without telling me how much and I will figure it out. Orders can vary from some infamous multi-pm ones to a few short lines. I want to make this fun for everyone.
Template
Nation Name
Capital:
Ruler:
Government:
Tech. Level:
Army (Training):
Navy (Training):
Economy:
Leadership (Military/Civilian): /
Infrastructure:
Education:
Living Standards:
Culture:
Religion:
Confidence:
Projects:
Nation Background:
