I have been working on a new NES that is really a redo of my first one with major changes. Before I expend the effort to finalize all the various aspects of this game I would like to gauge how much interest there might be, so please vote based on the summary descriptions posted here. You may ask questions and offer suggestions too.
Game begins 1492ish
5 year turns
Rules would use the best or most appropriate parts of BirdNES 1 & 2 including:
VoD and Trade
Less elaborate black box stats
Mercenary armies
European transition from mercenary to standing armies
Policies
Colonies
Religious strife
New items being developed:
Battle calculator to resolve wars
Regional as well as national stats
Clearly defined tech tree for weapons and warships
Government type impact on economics and tech change
Automatic spread of technology across regions
New Roles
BirdNES 1 had nation players and a Pope who had a different kind of role in the game, and towards the end, a pirate leader who preyed upon the lucrative trade between America and Europe. I have been working on several more non nation roles that might be fun: Bankers who would supply cash to needy nations (which all were in this time); Mercenary army leaders who will raise armies and rent those troops to European nations for gold; and possibly traders who will try to connect the world’s markets for their own profit. None of these are definite yet, except the Pope. I have sketched out how each might work, but making them integrate smoothly into play has yet to happen.
The tech tree is pretty far along and should enable me to include both European arms and armor along with those of the Americas, Africa and Asia. I am building it to reflect the advantages the Europeans had, but make progress and catch up possible by the non European regions. The three core paths are: a nation’s economic system, its progress in manufacturing technique and the weapons age it is in. The tree ends with the 19th C advancements of the percussion cap musket, Napoleonic cannon, and early ironclads.
The single biggest change will be the map. Europe and Asia will start as you might expect, but I plan on erasing all of the Americas, Australia and southern Africa and replacing those lands with entirely new land masses that will be cloaked until discovered. The new lands will be entirely new shapes. The "Americas" will still have the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans as playable nations plus other tribes. It’s just that no one will know where they are until they are discovered. Nations will have to actually explore to discover new lands or find trade routes to the east. This means that the finished maps of the cloaked lands will be completely fresh and new.
Earliest expected start date: late Jan 09; most likely: Feb 09.
Thanks!
Game begins 1492ish
5 year turns
Rules would use the best or most appropriate parts of BirdNES 1 & 2 including:
VoD and Trade
Less elaborate black box stats
Mercenary armies
European transition from mercenary to standing armies
Policies
Colonies
Religious strife
New items being developed:
Battle calculator to resolve wars
Regional as well as national stats
Clearly defined tech tree for weapons and warships
Government type impact on economics and tech change
Automatic spread of technology across regions
New Roles
BirdNES 1 had nation players and a Pope who had a different kind of role in the game, and towards the end, a pirate leader who preyed upon the lucrative trade between America and Europe. I have been working on several more non nation roles that might be fun: Bankers who would supply cash to needy nations (which all were in this time); Mercenary army leaders who will raise armies and rent those troops to European nations for gold; and possibly traders who will try to connect the world’s markets for their own profit. None of these are definite yet, except the Pope. I have sketched out how each might work, but making them integrate smoothly into play has yet to happen.
The tech tree is pretty far along and should enable me to include both European arms and armor along with those of the Americas, Africa and Asia. I am building it to reflect the advantages the Europeans had, but make progress and catch up possible by the non European regions. The three core paths are: a nation’s economic system, its progress in manufacturing technique and the weapons age it is in. The tree ends with the 19th C advancements of the percussion cap musket, Napoleonic cannon, and early ironclads.
The single biggest change will be the map. Europe and Asia will start as you might expect, but I plan on erasing all of the Americas, Australia and southern Africa and replacing those lands with entirely new land masses that will be cloaked until discovered. The new lands will be entirely new shapes. The "Americas" will still have the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayans as playable nations plus other tribes. It’s just that no one will know where they are until they are discovered. Nations will have to actually explore to discover new lands or find trade routes to the east. This means that the finished maps of the cloaked lands will be completely fresh and new.
Earliest expected start date: late Jan 09; most likely: Feb 09.
Thanks!
