Pre-NinNES I: Antinquity Broken

That didn’t go as planned. The overwhelming thought of the thousand remnants of the Greek army, shattered and defeated. Clearly, Troy was stronger than anticipated. And who needs that Helen person anyway? Plenty of other women in Greece.

NinNES I: Antiquity Broken

Background: The Trojan War has ended. Rather disastrously too. The great walls of Troy managed to hold against the defenders, but when the famous horse entered the city for the coup de grace, some Trojan fool thought it funny to light the whole thing on fire, as an insult to the Greeks. Their most powerful heroes died in the flames that night. The Greek Army never managed to recover.

The following morning was a rout, as the Trojans crushed the broken armies of Greece.

Now, Greece has fallen. The only power in all of Europe preventing the armies of Egypt, Assyria, and Troy from invading has now collapsed.

What will happen?

Mechanincs:

Welcome!

I am new to NESing in general, but have loved it thus far. I figured that I would try my hand at modding one, and this seemed like an interesting start.

You take control of a nation in 1000 B.C, or in many areas a city-state or tribe, and attempt to lead it through a classical world that developed in numerous different ways.

Each turn represents 5 years.

There are three key differences:
1. Greece can no longer act as a bulwark against Middle Eastern nations.

2. According to the Aeneid, the Romans were Anatolian Greeks, or Trojans. This NES assumes that is true, thus Rome has absolutely zilch in terms of base advantages over other Italian city-states. A good leader could theoretically still make the Roman Empire if they so desired though.

3. Troy has managed to retain their power, and controls most of West Anatolia, though not as far north as Byzantion. (Constantinople/Istanbul)

Economy:

Each area has its own economy relative to numerous factors. 90 something percent of the map is dirt poor as it is inhabited by nomadic tribal people, or a very simple agrarian society. In this NES, nations will have gradually more developed economies based on distance from Babylon, as well as other factors like politics, geography, and time elapsed.

This economy can be changed and upgraded in any way you see fit, though numerous natural resources in your areas are likely to help you. As with most NESs, I will be using EPs, or economic points.

Technology:

Technology is relatively under your control. I don’t think a “tech tree” is quite accurate, as it feels stiff and not really organic.

I don’t quite think the hands-off approach is right either from a player standpoint.
So, you are allowed to make certain areas of tech a priority, and emphasize funding into them. This will greatly increase your chances of getting a breakthrough there, though it is not guaranteed.

Similarly, there is a small chance of receiving a random tech in any category simply due to a person discovering it in your nation. It is a very, very small chance, however.

Theory Points:

Something new here, I figured that with the massive amounts of historical Greek philosophers and scientists littered throughout the known world, the clear lack of a Greece should prompt other nations to pursue these ideas and pastimes.

Every nation will NOT have even one TP to start, though some highly developed nations such as Troy and Phoenicia will start with an income of 1 or 2.

I don’t want Erik the Icelandic mathematician theorizing on the existence of infinity. At least, not immediately.

The way these work is that you will in time acquire certain buildings or social policies that promote learning in your nation. Libraries, academies, schools, etc. They will contribute to your TP income.

You, as a player, can then invest TPs wherever you think prudent. They heavily influence technology as well, as investing in mathematics may provide drastically more efficient infrastructure buildings, whilst investing in chemistry could provide a new metal to use for war, such as iron or steel. I’m not about to give anyone steel anytime soon.

You can choose which field to invest in, though not the random bonuses you get.

Weaponry:

I am going to allow certain “designs” to emerge over time, similar to EQ’s Capto Iugulum system.

HOWEVER

I am not going to allow you to directly commission a design, that is too ahistorical for this time period. You could, at the most, encourage blacksmiths and engineers in your nation through policies and economic investure. Don’t expect a new design though.
If you can find a weapon you cannot produce yourself, you can then reverse engineer it. Your people may or may not be able to produce the item itself immediately, depending on the materials used. For example, an advanced catapult designed by the Egyptians could require large amounts of iron. If your nation doesn’t have iron yet, tough. It can attempt to rebuild the weapon with an inferior material, such as bronze or copper, and it may or may not work.

Also, these designs are not going to be marginal improvements over the previous, they are more along the lines of chewing up and spitting out the competition. Thus, difficult to produce.

Discipline:

The other element of warfare is the soldiers.

I am representing how good your soldiers themselves are through discipline, a rating of 1-100%.

1% means you have no army. At all.

100% would be similar to the Spartan style birth-to-death professional army.

Chances are most people will hover at about 35-50%, (tribal players exempted) which implies a trained army or militia, though not overly much. This rating will affect your combat to some degree, though not an immense amount.

Diplomacy:

I am always going to allow everybody to see the world map. Not really accurate, I know, but I am taking measures to ensure historical realism is preserved, thus making the map available purely as a resource for the player.

For Example:

Diplomacy is limited to those with you have contact previously, or know about. Italians could pursue diplomacy with other Italians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and perhaps Egyptians. Beyond that would be dependent on your trust in rumors, sketched maps, and word of mouth. Contacting a government that was just deposed may not help you very much.

Political Unity:

This is intended to make it difficult for certain types of nations to achieve empires. Greece and Italy, for example, are going to suffer from a very low political unity rating unless you take significant measures to instill national pride and unity. This is basically stability.

Projects:

Projects are allowed, they will help you tremendously, but they are expensive. You want one, it is most likely going to be awhile on 100% EP.

Domestic Orders:

I will take into account ALL domestic orders you send me. You enact a law or policy, something is going to happen. Might be good or bad, but something will come of it.

Stories:

Stories are not necessary in any way, shape, or form. If you do write some, I will take that into account. Issuing orders through stories for example may allow you bonuses or abstract values like diplomatic contact that you could not otherwise achieve.

Nation Stats:

Nation/Player

Capitol City

Natural Resources

EP: Bank/Income

TP: Bank/Income

Political Unity

Projects

Other Misc. Facts Worth Mentioning

Army Stats:

Unit: Attack, Defense, Mobility, Siege, Cost.

Civilized Units:

Spearman: 1,3,1,2,1
Swordsman: 3,2,1,3,3
Light Calvary: 3,1,3,1,2
Archer: 2,4,1,1,3
Ram: 1,1,1,6,2

Tribal Units:

Raider Infantry: 2,1,2,1,1
Slingers: 1,2,1,1,.5
Horseman: 3,1,4,1,3

Navy Stats:

Unit: Attack, Defense, Mobility, Blockade, Cost.

Civilized Nations:
Trireme:2,2,3,1,4
Cog: 1,2,4,1,1
Ram Ships: 3,2,1,1,3
Fire Ship: 4,1,2,3,6

Tribal Nations:
Galley: 2,1,4,2,2
Longboat (North and West Germanic Peoples only): 4,1,5,1,3

Map:

You may notice that only a handful of nations are present. Not so! The numerous tribes I have labeled are fully playable nations, but I have decided not to mark them on the map due to their generally loose government and border definitions. Should anybody select one of these nations, I will define it's borders for you accordingly.



Application:

Player/Nation
Leader Name
Background of Leader
Capitol

For reference, the "civilized" nations available are: Persis, Medea, Assyria, Egypt, Phoenicia, the Hittites, Troy, Crete, Athens, Argos, Elis, Sparta, Corinth, Larissa, Ambracia, Delphi, Cyrenaica, and Calabria.

Order Format:

PM me orders titled: NinNES, [Nation], [Turn No.]. Include the following:

Stats
Economy Spending
Theory Spending
Domestic Orders
Military Orders
Diplomatic Messages and Treaties
Misc.

Stats:

reserved

reserved

You may now post

Did Aeneas still go on his journey, and if he did, did he receive word that Troy had not fell? If he heard this and chose to go to Italy anyway, maybe I could play as the Latins and have a different Aeneid as part of their mythology.

The only thing I am going to mandate on mythology is this:

1. Aeneas was at Troy when the Greeks attacked.

2. The Gods are worshiped, but they play no role in this NES other than perhaps a diplomatic one.

If you want to have Aeneas go to Rome, only to sail back to Troy, that works.

My plan was to have Aeneas stay and have his descendants found Rome like OTL, but Juno convinces Anchises and Ascanius (Aeneas' father and son, respectively) to return to Troy, resulting in a much darker Aeneid. Romulus and Remus will still be born, as they were descended of Aeneas' second son, the whose mother was a Latin princess.

With that, my nation is:

Kingdom of Alba Longa/MoreEpicThanYou
Leader Name: King Alba Silvius
Background of Leader: A descendant of Aeneas, Alba Silvius was the King of Alba Longa, a precursor of Rome. He leads a people whose civilization is young, but is rebuilding using the methods of the Trojans. He has several contacts in Troy, most of them descendants of Aeneas' other son Ascanius, enabling the Alba Longans to become powerful traders in the Trojan markets. He has three sons, the eldest of which is named Atys.

Cool, that's an interesting idea. With that,

Alba Longa Stats:

Historical correction: Rome wasn't founded until 753 BC, the capitol should be Alba Longa.

Well, I didn't know when you wanted Rome to be founded.

Still, changed.

Edit: Also, I updated your stats slightly. I gave you the bonuses from your natural resources.

I have just a question about your map: The NES is set in the time around 1000 BC, right? But I noticed, that the Germanic tribes have already spread in quite many parts in Europe, even as far as the Iberian Peninsula (the Visigoths), but if I remember correctly, the vast expansion of the Germanic tribes didn't happen until the Migration Period from 400 AD. Before that the Celtic tribes were the dominant people in much of Europe.

... So, in other words: Is the early expansion of the Germanics a bug or a feature? ^^

Combination of the two.

Initially I wanted a 100% accurate map for 1100-1000 B.C., but couldn't find one.

So I went with making my own, and found that I had to consult a disturbing number of maps from a 600 year range to get just this.

So... I am going to be sticking with this as an early migration throughout Europe, minus the British Island excursions. The Huns have also shown up way way too early, but I don't know what else to put over there.

If you or anyone else has ideas on how to improve tribe distribution (particularly in Iberia, Africa, S. Russia, and Iran/Persia), I am open to ideas.

You could just use "Native tribes of (place name)". It's not the best, but anything is better than having the Germanic tribes and the Huns coming centuries early.

I suppose...

I think I'll do that until I have better info on Spain and the Balkans for sure.

I'll just erase the Huns for now.

Other than that, I think the tribe distribution is realistic at least, I could potentially see Germanic people spreading throughout France and Denmark early. Norway and Sweden don't have Germanic tribes, just the generic "peoples".

I found a map of Bronze Age Iberia:

Yes it's quite hard to find some roughly resembling maps about this time, because the written records, or any records at all remain vague at least.

But what about this map? (Large image!):


I would propose to restrict the Germanics to their original homelands in the northern/north-eastern parts of Europe and filling up the now empty reaches of Europe with some Celts, or rather Proto-Celts, like the Urnfield culture groups, or a early Hallstatt culture. Prof. Wikipedia gives us this map of the distribution of Celtic tribes at the times of the Hallstatt and La Tene cultures:


In Russia you will probably find the Proto-Slavic tribes and Uralic people at this time. And it is possible that there were other nomadic tribes coming from Siberia, which are forgotten by history, as they left only scarce remains ...

EDIT:
Generic names are totally okay IMHO, because that's what the historians are doing: They just name a tribe/culture either after the place of theis discovery or important artifacts/traits the group produced. So you could just do the same.

I'm updating the map now.

I think Spain is more or less good now.

France... I'm leaving the Burundians and Franks but I'll take out Visigoths and Gauls.

Germany I'm not touching, Celts there is just weird to me. (Even if it is accurate) Besides, I'm having the Germanic people slightly more expansionistic earlier than OTL.

Found a couple nice Balkan groups, so no more Ostrogoths there.

I'll take a look at some of the other changes that map has, and see where it leaves me.

Updated.

Many tribes were given proper names and placement, and the Latins are now colored on the map.

Krzowwh/Veneti
Leader: Plaitorios Volteios (Plator/Plaetorius Volteius)
Background: After Antenor was accused of treachery and affiliation with the Greeks, he escaped Troy on a westwards bound ship, sailing up the Illyrian coast and founded Patavium, the first city in all of the Cisalpine Peninsula. Now, the descendents of Antenor rule over Venetia, with strong relations with the Illyrians and Greeks, aiding their trade and culture.
Capital: Patavion (Patavium)

Veneti Stats: