I) Getting Started
To begin the game, we start at a Post apocalyptic, Dark Age technology level. When signing up, all you need is the name of your country, a color, a location on the map for your capital, and filling out of the Stats. The kingdom or nation will be the small plot of land surrounding the capital. This is a blank map of eastern North America. Since this is a story-telling-based game, we would recommend a history of your kingdom up to this point, and a flag would be excellent too.
When creating your stories, please do not make to many references to the fallen civilization. It has been 700 years of Dark Age, with no one able to read the languages of the ancients. (just recently have scholars begun to be able to decode their writings.)
I should probably add: When you choose your color, do not choose any whites, light grays, blacks, or light blues. The whites are too close to the blank terrain, grays are for barbarians, blacks are too close to the border colors, and light blues too close to water.
II) The Turn
The turn is the basic unit of in-game time, and lasts from the previous update until the GMs declare that the turn is over, usually when all orders are in (See section III for details). If not everyone hands in their orders, the turn ends after 48 hours. During each turn, you sort out diplomacy and trades between other countries, and you work out agreements. However, anything you say here does not have to be truthful. Only your orders are what matter. Also, PMs can be made between players to deal with these matters. These also do not require any truth. To maintain this, we ask that PMs received by a GM not be quoted in any PMs between players.
III) Orders
Within a given period from the previous update, you must PM your orders to one of your GMs. Orders are lists of where you want to spend your money, what projects you want to make, where you want your troops to go, where you want to expand, etc. If you fail to send orders in a timely manner, your country will be automated for the turn. Missing multiple orders, without warning me in advance, may make your country an NPC, meaning that they are fully automated and open to anyone else to join. Also, when filling out orders, please include your stats.
A) Economy + Infrastructure
Your nation's economy is determined in Gold Per Turn (GPT). This is your nation's income per turn. This income is what you will use to improve your nation, either by building cities, researching technology, or building your army and navy. You can also bank your gold for spending at a future date, but it will not accumulate interest until a specific tech is introduced by me and researched. Also note your GPT will naturally rise over time due to inflation. If your GPT is in between 1 and 50, it takes 3 turns for it to rise by one. From 50 to 75, it will raise by one every 5 turns. Various technologies will and events may give Civilizations a boost.
B) Resources
Resources will be treated differently in this game than in any other game so far. Instead of generic colored blocks, they will be specific resources, which will provide a specific benefit, be it military, economic, or random.
Gold: +5 gpt
Iron: +5% military
Old Tech Dig: Random Effect
Grapes: +3 stability
Apples: +3 Stability
Wood: -10% to Built Project cost
Cotton: +5% stability
Bamboo: +5% Navy
Horses: +10% Military
Cattle: + 1 to city cap
Other Resources may become available as time goes on.
To claim a resource, there will be a base cost that must be paid before the resource can be exploited. (To represent the creation of a camp or mine.) This cost will depend on the resource and the location. The cost will be posted in the thread during an update when a person takes over a region.
C) Great People. Yes, like in Civ, we now have great people. After a particularly great turn, you may receive a great person, who will bring his expertise to help you, be it a great strategist or an innovator in the likes of Einstein and Leonardo Da Vinci.
D) Military
Your military is divided into army and navy, and each is rated by an arbitrary number that rates your country relative to the others. For every 1 gold you invest here you get 1 military point. The more military power you have, the higher the chance that you will win. However, upsets can happen, and the better military may not always win. Additionally, certain techs you can research will give you military multipliers. Also, for every 5 military you have, whether it’s army or navy, you lose 1 gpt in maintenance.
There will also be a Military Cap, which will be raised by various techs and government types. At first, the Cap will be set at 25 total Units. (land, sea, and river)
E) War details
When you are at war with someone, you PM in your orders a minimum of how many units of military you want to send and where you want to send them. If you want to, you can be more detailed, and you will probably get better results. When you capture a city, it will be in revolt. Since cities do not make units, all this means is that you don’t get its base 2 gpt for 1 turn. In this turn, you can do three things: You can do nothing, which makes Thomas.berubeg (the official War GM) flip a coin. Heads, it comes out of rebellion. Tails, it stays in for another turn. Or, you can Raze the city, erasing it from the face of the earth and adding an instant amount of gold (determined by the age you are in) to your banked gold. The last option is to Pacify the citizens, spending an amount of gold that is determined by your era to make it instantly come out of revolt.
F) Technology
The Dual GMs will pick one or two advances made in any, assign it a tech value, and open it up for everyone. You can then use Tech Points, bought at 1 gold per point, to purchase these advances. They may give economic benefits, enable further expansion, discover new resources, provide military multipliers, or really anything that technology has done for man. Some, not many, technologies will be exclusive. This means that only one or two nations can research them, and once researched they can be traded. Mostly these exclusive techs will be sent via a private PM, to preserve secrecy. And remember, you cannot trade a tech that you do not have! Trades are only recognized if you send them to both the person you’re trading with and your assigned GM, and if you lie about a tech, you will receive a penalty. Some Unique techs will be Untradeable.
G) Special Projects
Projects were a big part of the RfMK, and they will still be important. Think of something that actually makes sense, like diverting gold for a massive blitzkrieg or a boost in research, and we’ll assign it a monetary value. Additionally, you can suggest a unique technology (again, that makes sense) for your nation. If it gets approved, it will be assigned a Tech Point value and effect and will act like any other exclusive tech.
H) Cities
There are some projects that came up multiple times, and have been made into things you can spend money on. The first of these are cities. Give a name and location, you get a city on the map that adds 2 gpt to your economy. Cities cost 5 gold for the first two, and for every two after the cost increases by 5. However, if the city is lost, the gpt bonus transfers away. There is a city cap that increases with time. For the first few turns, population is too low for much expansion, and only two cities are allowed. At a predetermined time by the GMs, more cities will be allowed.
I) Expansion and Attack
If there is empty land next to your country, or within reach by sea, you can order expansion to that area. This incorporates this area into your country, as long as the request is not excessive. Expansion is limited by the technology you have researched, and may be severely limited in the beginning. Larger nations also have lower stability (See section H for info on this). Also, you can make attacks with your military. Simply say where you want to attack and with how much power, and we will set up the attack. You can tell us more (the method of transport, perhaps some tactics) and you will get better results, but you don’t have to. Defenders can also include in their orders strategies for defense and will have better results. It’s probably worth mentioning, too, that you CAN make surprise attacks (without declaring war), but you will recieve a penalty as a result. It's still worth doing, however.
J) Trade and Diplomacy Orders
When you’ve finished making arrangements with other players, you must give the orders to fulfill your part of the trade in your orders. For instance, if you are going to trade 7 tech to get 21 gold, you must say “I give 7 tech to this country” in your orders. Same goes for any other diplomatic action. In trades, the items that are traded, excluding projects, grow by 10%, rounded up. This means that if you give 4 power, the receiver receives 4.4 power, which is rounded up to 5. Technology is special when traded, because you don’t actually lose it when you trade it. It’s sort of like the flame of a candle – you can spread it without losing it. However, be careful- once a nation knows a technology, they can never unlearn it. Other diplomatic actions like treaties, alliances, and for that matter trades will be limited by tech level but are largely left up to the players’ imaginations.
K) Stability
No nation is totally stable. Several things affect your stability- your ratio of military to population (cities), your governmental types, whether you’re at war or not, the size of your empire, and various random events all have a hand in it. Your stability will be kept a secret from other nations! It will not be posted on the main stat page, but if you ask your GM for it you will receive a PM with information. Stability is ranked between 0 and 50. The higher you are, the more stable. Each nation starts at a stability of 40. Instability carries several negative effects. You have a higher chance of cities rebelling and forming their own nations, you can suffer diplomatic penalties from other NPCs, and if you have any unique technologies they are likely to be leaked by malcontents.
L) Government type
Government types carry pros and cons. Every system has its strengths and weaknesses. In the beginning you will be restricted to a few basic types, but as time progresses you can PM era-appropriate governments you want to switch to and, if approved, they will be implemented for all to use. In the start you are restricted to:
Republic: Bonus to Stability, neutral to Military, neutral to Expansion, penalty to Technology
Theocracy: Bonus to Stability, bonus to Military, neutral to Expansion, large penalty to Technology
Military Dictatorship: Penalty to Stability, bonus to Military, neutral to Expansion, neutral to Technology
City-States: Penalty to Stability, neutral to Military, neutral to Expansion, bonus to Technology
Feudalism: Neutral to Stability, bonus to Military, large penalty to Expansion, bonus to Technology
As time goes on and more people invent new governments in their PMs, new forms of government will be available.
M) Stories
The more detailed you are in your orders, the more successful you will be. If two nations clash that are absolutely equal in power, the one who is more descriptive wins. Remember, we GMs are people too, and we like reading good stories, so naturally we will want to keep the storytellers alive, right?
Likewise, Stories written in the thread may give benefits.
I said north east. Look at the far North East part of the map - you'll see two rivers close together that do not touch. Put my capital on the southern river in it's dogleg - the dogleg makes a "u" shape. Thanks.
You got it!
