BirdNES 4: Song of the Nile

[Birdjaguar]

The Song of Nile

Before the Pyramids, before the Sphinx and before the Valley of the Kings, there was the Nile and it was Egypt. It was life and sustenance where all else was sand and rock. It was wealth and power.

This NES will focus on the consolidation of control of the Nile valley from the Mediterranean Sea to the Second Cataract. To win a player needs to unite the Nile under his rule. This is a game more of conquest than empire building. For the most part the action will be limited to the Nile Valley, the narrow strips of arable land on either side of the river. As a player you will begin with a short strip of river valley and city.

for game purposes the map area has been divided into three sections: the Delta (Lower Egypt), Upper Egypt (from the delta south to the first cataract) and the land south of the first cataract. Three players may start in the Delta; five in Upper Egypt and one south of the first cataract, for a total of nine players. Players will choose a city (from the city map) as the center of their fledgling kingdom.

Each turn will have two parts: the Nile in flood and the Nile not in flood. The turn starts with the Nile in flood and ends with it not in flood. The game will begin in year 1. Players may act in either part (or both) of a turn, but the state of the Nile will affect play. All farming and other agricultural work happens in the “Nile not in flood” part of the turn. Pillaging land during the agricultural part of the year may reduce income from that land in the next turn. Pillaging during the Nile flood, may yield more plunder. Crossing the river will need boats if the Nile is in flood etc.

The flood level of the Nile is determined every year (turn) and its level will set the amount of “wealth” that is created in that turn. A low level of flooding will mean a lean year in which crops and animal production is low or poor. A higher than average flood can mean an abundance of food and animals and hence more wealth. Wealth is measured in gold and determined by how much of the river or delta you control. Unspent wealth is kept in a treasury that can be looted by other players.

Spending:
1 gold supports 10 men for war
• Troops must be warriors (spearmen & axmen) or archers
10 gold builds 1 ship (no support needed)
• Ships hold and can transport up to 100 warriors each
300 gold builds a small fort at a named town
600 gold builds a large fort
300 gold builds a small temple in a named town
500 gold builds a large temple
• In addition to building temples, gold can be spent on feasts and ceremonies for your god to increase their influence and intervention.

Combat:
Attacker points minus defender points determines the winner
• Loser—minimum losses 30% of actual men
• Winner—minimum losses 15% of actual men
• Forts increase attacker casualties, but all fort bonuses only apply to a fort that is defended by at least 100 men.
• Higher point differential increases casualties to the loser.

Defenders
• 2 points per archer
• 1 point per melee warrior
• +200 points for a small fort
• +400 points for a large fort
• Bonus for submitting a good plan that turn

Attacker:
• 2 points per melee warrior
• 1 point per archer
• Bonus for submitting a good plan that turn

Example:
A small fort is defended by 100 archers and 300 warriors: 200+200+300 = 700
The attackers: a +20% General, 200 archers and 400 warriors: 200+800 = 1000+20% = 1200
The attacker wins.
Attacker: minimum losses 30 archers, 60 warriors; capture fort and may continue to campaign
Defender: minimum losses 30 archers, 90 warriors, fort lost; survivors retreat and may fight again

Expansion and War
Expansion into land that is not controlled by another player will have to be won. NPC land is defended.

Armies are raised for the upcoming year and are not held over. Each time you win a battle your general improves his skill and gets a bonus next time he fights. Losing generals earn a negative effect. If you capture a city with a fort/temple, you can destroy the fort/temple and lessen the influence of that god or the defense of that city.

Stats
Quban/Yui108
Primary God: Set
Income: 20
Treasury: 675
Ships: 3
General's Bonus: 0%
Piety: 0

Your posted Treasury amount includes your income for the current turn plus plunder from last turn. There is no need to add it. You can spend up to your full Treasury amount.

How turns will work
For this game I am trying something new. The stats are very simple and the game is designed to be mostly about conquest. I am only allowing 9 players and the game will end when one of them has conquered all of Upper and Lower Egypt. Once a turn starts, players will post public diplomacy, announcements or stories in the thread.

Short, very structured orders will be sent. The format TBD at this point. Every few days or when I have an evening free, I will end the turn and update based on what has been submitted. There will be no extended announcement or warning other than my perhaps being around or a “24 hours left” post. With so few players, updates should not take long. Players who have not sent or posted orders will just accumulate wealth or defend themselves. My goal is have the game move along and to have missing a turn not a huge deal. Spending options will be few: raise armies, build forts and ships, fight wars and worship the gods. There will not be any tech growth or change, nor any way to improve “wealth production”. The weather in the Ethiopian highlands determines the year's income.

If you are interested, please post. You may request a specific city as your starting location. Before the game begins all players will have to post a 50 words or less description of their city-state on which I will base initial stats. There will be an 11 player limit, but the selection will not necessarily be “first come first served”.

[Birdjaguar]

Player Stats

Rosetta/<nuke>
Primary God: isis
Income: 38
Treasury: 280
Ships: 5
Leadership: -3%
Piety: 0
Plunder: 0

Tanis/JoanK
Primary God: Amon
Income: 31
Treasury: 465
Ships: 8
Leadership: 0%
Piety: 0
Plunder: 0

Heliopolis/Gem Hound
Primary God: Hapi
Income: 128
Treasury: 184
Ships: 14
Leadership 0%
Piety: 3
Plunder

Giza/Optical
Primary God: Isis
Income: 38
Treasury: 255
Ships: 3
Leadership: -2.5%
Piety: 0
Plunder: 0

Memphis/erez87
Primary God: Ra
Income: 38
Treasury: 588
Ships: 26
Leadership 14%
Piety: 0
Plunder 0

Minia/BSmith1068
Primary God: Horus
Income: 67
Treasury: 308
Ships: 1
Leadership 10%
Piety: 14
Plunder 225

Amarna/spryllino
Primary God: Hathor
Income: 53
Treasury: 249
Ships: 0
Leadership 12.5%
Piety: 44
Plunder 100

Abydos/Available
Primary God: Thoth
Income: 40
Treasury: 62
Ships: 10
Leadership: 0%
Piety: 50
Plunder: 0

Thebes/Blaze Injun
Primary God: Sekhmet
Income: 56
Treasury: 533
Ships: 16
Leadership 17.5%
Piety: 26
Plunder 75

Quban/Yui108
Primary God: Set
Income: 28
Treasury: 101
Ships: 10
Leadership: 0%
Piety: 0
Plunder: 0

Abu Simbel/Dreadnought
Primary God: Set
Income: 28
Treasury: 501
Ships: 3
Leadership: 0%
Piety: 0
Plunder: 0

NPC Cities: Treasury Amounts

Spoiler:

Damietta 150
Buto 250
Sais 690
Busiris 550
Naukratis 850
Bubastis 675
Avaris 450
Saqqara 550
Dahshur 625
Meydum 150
Lahun 725
Herakleopolis 450
Asyut 275
Badari 150
Qau 625
Dendera 300
Hierakonpolis 650
Edfu 200
Kom Ombo 350
Aswan 200
Buhen 225

[Birdjaguar]

Current Map

Cities:
White center = small fort
Black center = large fort

White corners = small temple
Black Border = large temple

[Birdjaguar]

Orders:

City/Player/Turn number
Spending: how much on what as a simple list
Actions while Nile is in flood: lists are good
Actions while the Nile is not in flood: lists are good
Special plans, actions or considerations: paragraphs are fine here

Orders for the next turn should be sent soon after an update to catch the next update. Please make sure that the pm header has both city name and turn number:

Rosetta orders turn 3

[Birdjaguar]

Update 1




Turn 1 map

[Birdjaguar]

Reserved

[Birdjaguar]

Reserved

You may post

[Yui108]

OOC: Very excited for the NES bird, but one thing. If we're at ~3000 BC isn't the inclusion of Jerusalem something of an anachronism?

[Birdjaguar]

Some of the cities are, but cities in the Levant will mostly not be used anyway. I already removed Alexandria. Capturing Jerusalem won't do much to unite Egypt.

[Optical]

Giza, reporting in.

[<nuke>]

Hail to the glorious deity of 0

[Birdjaguar]

Originally Posted by <nuke>

Hail to the glorious deity of 0

Did you select one?

[<nuke>]

Isis

[Birdjaguar]

@thomas.berubeg

"mixed" is not good enough for armies. I need a percent archers vs warriors for each "army" to do the math right. You can post here if you like.

[Optical]

Originally Posted by <nuke>

Isis

[thomas.berubeg]

50-50

[Birdjaguar]

Blaze, your orders are just fine.

[erez87]

Memphis is here. Will be sending orders as soon as I'm back from university.

[erez87]

Is a large fort an upgrade of a small one or can we directly build it?
If they are two different things, do we get bonus from both? Does the money we paid for the small one disappears after we build the large one?

Some cities have the same god? Isn't that weird? Can I support polytheism and not be hurt by other peoples temples? Can I build More than one temple in a city for different gods?

[Birdjaguar]

Originally Posted by erez87

Is a large fort an upgrade of a small one or can we directly build it?
If they are two different things, do we get bonus from both? Does the money we paid for the small one disappears after we build the large one?

Some cities have the same god? Isn't that weird? Can I support polytheism and not be hurt by other peoples temples? Can I build More than one temple in a city for different gods?

Forts are either large or small and you can upgrade from small to large, but there is not discount on the large if you build a small one first. And you can build a large one from scratch.

Cities can have the same primary god. You can support polytheism, but you will lose any benefits that come from focusing your religious activities on a single deity.

For game play simplicity, only one temple per city please. If you control more than one city, then each city can have a temple to a different god.