Black Boxes and Stat Calculators

[Birdjaguar]

I have been asked more than once about the Excel spreadsheets I have used to calculate stats for my two NESes. I have taken my most recent version, cleaned it up, added useful notes and instructions.

This model has places for over 40 players, 4 cradles, and includes fixes and changes for problems that had crept into my last used model. I have removed references to the Forge of Empires. To the best of my knowledge all the various links work and you can see a variety of ways that data is moved around and manipulated.

This is a very complicated model and may not be useful for all, but it may be helpful in thinking about how to create a stat calculator for your specific game. I will be happy to answer any questions you have about the spreadsheet or how to change it to suit your needs.

The place to begin is with the "Nation 00" tab. This is the master tab for all the other nations and has a variety of notes explaining how some things work.

I have posted two versions, one for Office 2007 users and the other for those using Office 2003. I cannot open the Office 2003 version it that environment, so I cannot see if the backward translation went smoothly. Let me know if it appears to have problems.

 

[Matt0088]

HOLY DINOSAURS, BATMAN!!!
Extremely nice job Birdjaguar, thanks a bunch.
Will post questions later if there are any, which I doubt, after I digest this masterpiece.

Edit: Do you have the technologies listed in the page farthest to the left affect the stats once researched? If so, how?
Edit2: It works fine with Excel 2003. So no worries there.

 

[Birdjaguar]

HOLY DINOSAURS, BATMAN!!!
Extremely nice job Birdjaguar, thanks a bunch.
Will post questions later if there are any, which I doubt, after I digest this masterpiece.

Edit: Do you have the technologies listed in the page farthest to the left affect the stats once researched? If so, how?
Edit2: It works fine with Excel 2003. So no worries there.

As yet no. I've been thinking about ways to integrate them as items selected by players, or as advances based on the tech spending. I am open to suggestions.

 

[Matt0088]

Is this the original version of the calculator that you started BirdNESII with? Or did you make some changes according to the discussion you had with Abbadon & others near the end of the General BirdNESII thread?

Reegarding tech, I think that following what EQ is doing in ABNW with Techs would be best. However, I personally think that you shouldn't list how much this or that tech costs. Its not like in OTL that scientist know that their going to finish X tech in X amount of time.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Is this the original version of the calculator that you started BirdNESII with? Or did you make some changes according to the discussion you had with Abbadon & others near the end of the General BirdNESII thread?

Everything I do is a work in progress. About 90% of what I posted was in place when I started BirdNES 2. I added a few new lines that seemed to be needed given the way players were spending; I expanded the tech posting section part way through the game and made it uniform for this version; and I added the global variables as a playing aid for anyone who actually tries to use it. For the posted version, I added all the notes and descriptions and standardized places where individual nations had veered off because of what they did in their orders. I also added the population and square miles calculations. The only game related calculations that have been changed are those pertaining to leadership. I reworked those for this model. this is a big and complicated model and not for the faint of heart, but I hope that mods will pick out pieces of it that interest them and find ways to apply them to their games. As I see it the single most valuable piece is the way you can update a nation's stats, and the text for posting all your stats is automatically updated so only a cut and paste is needed. I found my previous manual updating process so tedious and prone to error, that I desparetly wanted a way to simplify it. From there it just got out of hand.

Regarding tech, I think that following what EQ is doing in ABNW with Techs would be best. However, I personally think that you shouldn't list how much this or that tech costs. Its not like in OTL that scientist know that their going to finish X tech in X amount of time.

I will take a look at EQ's game and post more. Thanks.

 

[Terrance888]

Maybe have it a little random. With a dice roll. So a nation might be lucky on an endever and unlucky in another or just plain get a random thing that is usefull. That can be blackboxed really well. Like "Try to find a harder metal" would be an example of spending and responses can be "Your people failed" "Ore is found but can't be purifyed" "You discovered and used Iron!" ect. Then we will post a direction and amount the nation as a whole will focus on that direction. (so 2/3 of Private IC in a modern nes means two out of three are working on that) I should try to find a balance for a few techs...

 

[Matt0088]

Questions regarding Nation 00 page: (If your wondering why I have things in quotes, well.. I don't know, just felt like it)

1. You wrote about green cells. However, unless there is a error with my excel, I see no green cells. Which cells are green, or are the purplish cells suppose to be green?
2. To the right of the government practices through trade cells, you have five mostly empty columns of cells. What do they do?
3. I'm I correct in assuming that where you have "Items researched listed here" to the left of the cells mentioned above, that is where you list things you research? More specially the items in the tech page? Is there any other things that go here?
4. In the first Tech Points cell, you have .40, whats that? What are the cells to the right for? Further right, you wrote "Not currently used", why? What will it be used for?
5. I'm I correct in assuming that the Tech Divisor numbers are used to control tech progress if it accelerates out of control or slows down to a snail's pace?
6. Same question as for tech points, except for Tech progress.
7. Is the area divisor used to control the area number, like the tech divisor?
8. Why do you have a pixel cell for diversity/policy effects?
9. What are you're characteristics for each level of land base?
10. Is the population divisor used to control the population number, like the other two divisors already mentioned?
11. What's the red cell in the confidence base used for?
12. How do you measure how each country has a natural resource? Via using a natural resources map?
13. How do you measure each level of "At home War & Rebellion: -5 to 0"? I mean, how do you determine the difference between -4 and -1?
14. Same as question 13, except regarding "Foreign Wars: -5 to +5".
15. Same as question 13&14, but for Natural Events? But here, do you have a chart of natural events and effects?
16. What do all the cells in the "Stability" row mean/do?
17. Same as question 16, but regarding "Civilian Leadership/max".

I have the rest of the questions later, but I'm keeping the current questions quantity small, just to make it easier to dicuss your anwsers.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Here are a few answers:

Questions regarding Nation 00 page: (If your wondering why I have things in quotes, well.. I don't know, just felt like it)

1. You wrote about green cells. However, unless there is a error with my excel, I see no green cells. Which cells are green, or are the purplish cells suppose to be green?

Your colors may be because of the backward translation to 2003. The following cells are all green in my view: D6, B49, B52, B53, B54. Of course there are more, but that should help you match colors to function. At the very top of Nation 00, there is a key and the text there should match to the color in the adjacent cell. So row 6 where I typed "green" you will see what ever color corresponds to green.

7. Is the area divisor used to control the area number, like the tech divisor?
The area divisor (D52) is used to bring the pixel count number down to a size that is manageable for posting in stats: 2.8 vs 2800

8. Why do you have a pixel cell for diversity/policy effects? I use the size of the nation as an influence on diversity. I assume that the larger a country is, the more culturally diverse it will be. Therefore as size grows (cell D52) it will have an impact on diversity (B54).

9. What are you're characteristics for each level of land base?

0=desert/barren
1=steppe/marginal suited for nomadic life or marginal agriculture
2=any land suitable for raising crops that allow the transition to settled communities
3=The best lands


10. Is the population divisor used to control the population number, like the other two divisors already mentioned?
No, it merely "counts" as other stats change. If you use the "trace precedents" and "trace dependents" arrows, you can easily see how cells interact. They are very powerful for seeing the flow from cell to cell and finding errors. In 2007, it is under the formulas tab.

11. What's the red cell in the confidence base used for?

It (cell C58) changes B58. It allows you to alter the global number in B58 for an individual nation based on policies or orders. I noticed that the note to the right has the wrong reference cell; that is because I must have added rows after I wrote the note and the text, and I did not update the text. There are probably other similar errors. I will try to find them and post the correct references.

Cell G58 should read: Starting point for Confidence calculation; C58 +/- adjusts confidence

I will get to the others over the next few days.

I have the rest of the questions later, but I'm keeping the current questions quantity small, just to make it easier to dicuss your anwsers.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The remaining answers:

2. To the right of the government practices through trade cells, you have five mostly empty columns of cells. What do they do? ATM they don’t do much. I use column B for entry of tech related spending. My original intent was to have a time component spread across the page, but that got dropped. I column G I list specific things that players research to match the spending in column B.

3. I'm I correct in assuming that where you have "Items researched listed here" to the left of the cells mentioned above, that is where you list things you research? More specially the items in the tech page? Is there any other things that go here? Nothing at the moment. The whole tech development is not actually working. There is no reason the tech tab and those spaces couldn’t be linked.

4. In the first Tech Points cell, you have .40, what’s that? What are the cells to the right for? Further right, you wrote "Not currently used", why? What will it be used for? If you use the “trace precedents” arrows you will see how the .4 is calculated. ATM it does nothing. I have tried to build lots of checks and balances into this system to prevent/control runaway stat inflation or progress because of some overlooked flaw in my thinking: the “Abaddon effect”. Row 48 is a way that I could use to slow down or speed up tech progress for any nation if the situation called for it. Since the tech model was never completed, it does nothing now.

5. I'm I correct in assuming that the Tech Divisor numbers are used to control tech progress if it accelerates out of control or slows down to a snail's pace? Yes, exactly. The tech interface is crying out to be added, but for a fresh start game it is a complicated undertaking.
6. Same question as for tech points, except for Tech progress. In the tech spending section, only rows 42-46 have any effects. If you click on any of B42-B46 and follow the “trace dependents” arrows you can see exactly which cells they affect.

12. How do you measure how each country has a natural resource? Via using a natural resources map? I only had a climate map and then placed some resources on that for discovery by players. It was not a well defined system.

13. How do you measure each level of "At home War & Rebellion: -5 to 0"? I mean, how do you determine the difference between -4 and -1? I just used my judgment for how to “score” the effects of war and rebellions based on the effect I wanted to create and the events that were unfolding, mostly changes were in the -1 to -2 range. The nice thing was that I could make a change and immediately see the effect on all stats. If it was too severe, I lessened it.

14. Same as question 13, except regarding "Foreign Wars: -5 to +5". Same answer, except that it is possible for a foreign war to improve things if it is a popular war. Foreign wars only affect stability while at home wars have more effects.

15. Same as question 13&14, but for Natural Events? But here, do you have a chart of natural events and effects? No chart, but it would be easy to create one. A number here again only affects stability and so if a natural event happens, I would apply a number that had the effect I wanted.
16. What do all the cells in the "Stability" row mean/do? The numbers in the stability row feed right to left to calculate stability. Cell C69 incorporates the tax rate into the formula, so if the tax rate goes over 50% or if cells D69 and E69 increase, stability decreases. TBH, I cannot recall exactly why I have two input cells D69 & E69, but they enable me to fine tune stability. I created those inputs in response to some event in the game. D69 is probably sufficient

17. Same as question 16, but regarding "Civilian Leadership/max. Here again the note cell references are wrong. I am looking for all those and will post a fix. Column B is the player spending total, column C the maximum level allowed based on policies and progress constraints and the blue cell in column D is the bonus of a legal system on overall leadership.

I hope these answers are clear, if not let me know.

 

[Matt0088]

Just to scale down the number of questions(I have many more, we can take this to PMs if you want). I'm I correct in assuming that anything technolog related is not currently implemented?
I also remember you mentioning in the BirdNESII rules that you could tweak the rules if anything went considerably unrealistic, is this what some divisors do? If so, which ones?

 

[Abaddon]

I have tried to build lots of checks and balances into this system to prevent/control runaway stat inflation or progress because of some overlooked flaw in my thinking: the “Abaddon effect”.

I feel but I am unsure if I really should!

TBH I think with you having that secret "leveler" all your other checks and balances are not needed. An also that you turn the NES into too much of a "NannyNES" where no-one can ever get a decisive lead and make changes in the world.

I see this happening in your 2nd NES where civilization has passed through many eons without any real winners or losers.

 

[Terrance888]

There should be a "Dynamics" stat. Smaller kingdoms are naturally undynamic but a increasing profit in trade might increase it. A police state is undynamic but an overexpanded empire is. Dynamic just means how likey of new rule (player takes a turn break of anarchy ect) or insurection. Let players move as fast as they want and off them as they watch their empire collaspe! More slower, I.E. under a number means safer. It would be based on all states and a random number.

 

[Matt0088]

I feel but I am unsure if I really should!

TBH I think with you having that secret "leveler" all your other checks and balances are not needed. An also that you turn the NES into too much of a "NannyNES" where no-one can ever get a decisive lead and make changes in the world.

I see this happening in your 2nd NES where civilization has passed through many eons without any real winners or losers.

Think about the time though, I believe that Birdy said that the NES started around 1,500 B.C and BirdNESII only got 450 years through. So its not like anicent countries in OTL during that span rapidly rose and fell, or even had much of a edge compared to other countries.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Just to scale down the number of questions(I have many more, we can take this to PMs if you want). I'm I correct in assuming that anything technolog related is not currently implemented?
I also remember you mentioning in the BirdNESII rules that you could tweak the rules if anything went considerably unrealistic, is this what some divisors do? If so, which ones?

The thread is easier for me than pms.

Correct, tech progress items arenot impleemented beyond a manual entry based on player orders.

Yes, really all the divisors can be used to tweak things that get out of hand. Mainly though, in practice I found that they were most useful as ways to respond to players orders createdsome change in the fundamental of their nation and set it apart from the others. Players would institute various policies that would address some problem; I could then adjust a divisor to reflect that change. Typically column B entries were all about spending and the other columns about policy. For example, if a player spends 1 EP to set up a spy ring in a neighboring nation, then I add 1 EP to B74. That change will add to national upkeep in B104. If a player establishes a policy of recruiting foreign traders to spy on neighbors, then I add up to 1 EP to C74 increasing the espionage divisor which lowers the upkeep tallied in B104. Now if a player dumps, say, 5 EP at one time into either, then it is easy for some stat to get whacky and distort available spending unrealistically. Such a big increase in espionage would raise upkeep quickly and may reduce available spending to a negative number in a single turn. If that happens, I can use the divisor in C74 to bring things back into a more normal range and adjust things more slowly over a few turns by using fractional increments of change.

A good way to see how things work is to begin with zeros in all the yellow cells and then change one cell to a 3 or 4 and see what happens. Experiment and keep your eye on the "posted stats" at the top to see how what the player will see changes.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I feel but I am unsure if I really should!

TBH I think with you having that secret "leveler" all your other checks and balances are not needed. An also that you turn the NES into too much of a "NannyNES" where no-one can ever get a decisive lead and make changes in the world.

I see this happening in your 2nd NES where civilization has passed through many eons without any real winners or losers.

Of course you should feel .

Your other points are important ones, but I need more time than I have now to address them and will do so later.

 

[Birdjaguar]

TBH I think with you having that secret "leveler" all your other checks and balances are not needed. An also that you turn the NES into too much of a "NannyNES" where no-one can ever get a decisive lead and make changes in the world.

I see this happening in your 2nd NES where civilization has passed through many eons without any real winners or losers.

Your questions raise an important point: In a historical NES in a tight time frame like BirdNES 1, which focused on the 16th C, how much should history be respected? Should Spain be allowed to disappear from the map if poorly run? Or should a conquered nation be forced to change leadership (new player)? Where should the game push history aside and when should historical or real world reality quash player ingenuity? I do not have good answers. I am still looking for a good way to confine players to the constraints of historical reality and at the same time give them lots of freedom to be clever and ingeniuous (or stupid and idiotic). And not bog the game down with too much detail.

 

[Matt0088]

The rest of the batch of questions for the Nation00 page:

1. What do all the cells in the Bureaucracy/Max row do?
2. What do the cells in the Legal system/Max row do?
3. For Base spending, how do you decide what number to put in? How does it affect everything esle? Why is it reduced throughout the game?
4. What is the Confidence C colunm cell?
5. Is Gross DE Taxes the spending EP made from taxes?
6. What does Domestic Tax Rate start at?
7. What is the Gross Trade Taxes C column cell?
8. To stop myself from needlessly asking more pointless questions? What are the starting base numbers and global variables for everything if we would be starting a NES line yours?
9. If this is possible, can you give me a chart on how all the base numbers and global variables affect everything? And how you no how to change them besides player action? NOTE: You don't have to answer this question, purely a guide for me when I do eventually start my NES.
10. How do you decide on what number to put for Treasury effect on Stability?
11. How is this Instability Trigger calculated, I saw no traces, period. Plus, how do you know when a nation will have a rebellion?
12. Does the C column cell for Economic Growth automatically change from growing, stagnant, and recession?
13. For Economy Type, how do you decide if its Command, Mixed, or Market?
14. What is all of the Economy Type variable cells do/mean?
15. How do you know when a EC is created?
16. What does the Lost EC cell do?
17. How do you know what percent to put for DE change from War and DE Growth Control cells?
18. How is the Military practices cells affected?
19. What is the Military Leadership/Max D column cell?
20. Is the Indexed Army/Navy Values auto calculated?
21. For the entire Military Pratices section, is any of it autocalculated? If not, how do you decide what to put? What do all the cells in section do/mean?
22. Same as above question, but for the entire Trade section.
23. For every comma in the Maps, Charts & Trade Routes, is there a map, Chart & Trade Route? How do you divide the map into these sections?
24. Same as question 21, but for Culture & Religion.
25. Are there any parts of the spreadsheet that are not finished?
26. What were/are you looking to improve on the spreadsheet? Can I help give suggestions?
27. When I create my NES based of this one, what will I have to do to the spreadsheet to set it up for the start?
28. For modding, how do you decide military battles?
29. Is there anything esle I should know about this spreadsheet when I start my modding my NES?

Hope this isn't too much to ask or seem to greedy for help from you. Sorry if it is.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Your questions, or anyone else's are just fine. I'm glad to answer them. I will do this in batches.

The rest of the batch of questions for the Nation00 page:

1. What do all the cells in the Bureaucracy/Max row do?
2. What do the cells in the Legal system/Max row do?
   Column B is where spending goes and column C is the current maximum level allowed because of development issues. If a player spent 1 EP on Beaucracy I added 1 to B71. Policies were way that I increased the max allowed levels in column C. B should never be greater than C.
   
   In the legal row using "trace dependents" you'll see that B72 affects stability B69, Leadership D70, and reduces corruption B86.
   
3. For Base spending, how do you decide what number to put in? How does it affect everything esle? Why is it reduced throughout the game? At the very beginning nations had no spending because they had minimal or no stats. That base spending provided cash to start the game. when a nation reached an available spending level of 6 or 8, I forget which, I reduced the base spending to zero.
   
4. What is the Confidence C colunm cell? B78 calculates confidence through an IF, THEN statment in that cell. The global variable in C78 sets the effect of your domestic tax rate on confidence. .5 halves the tax rate for computational purposes. Using the global variable, allowed me to change the basic formula in all nations at one time until I found the place I want it to be.
   
5. Is Gross DE Taxes the spending EP made from taxes?
   Available spending B65 begins with DE taxes B79 and trade taxes B81 that are added and multiplied times the tax efficiency rate in B83. To that result base spending is added, and national and military upkeep are subtracted to get net available spending.
   
6. What does Domestic Tax Rate start at? It started at 35%.
7. What is the Gross Trade Taxes C column cell? C81 is part of the computation in B81. "trace dependents" arrows are your friend!!!
   
8. To stop myself from needlessly asking more pointless questions? What are the starting base numbers and global variables for everything if we would be starting a NES line yours?
9. If this is possible, can you give me a chart on how all the base numbers and global variables affect everything? And how you no how to change them besides player action? NOTE: You don't have to answer this question, purely a guide for me when I do eventually start my NES. IIRC most of the global variables are unchanged from the start of the game.
   
10. How do you decide on what number to put for Treasury effect on Stability?
    Like many items, it wa a trial an error process, that got tweaked as teh first few turns were played.
    
11. How is this Instability Trigger calculated, I saw no traces, period. Plus, how do you know when a nation will have a rebellion? It was just a rIt was just a reference point. If a nation's stability reached or approached "1" then trouble was brewing. Any actual rebellion was then a judgement call based on what was happening in the game.
    
12. Does the C column cell for Economic Growth automatically change from growing, stagnant, and recession? The formula in C93 is "=IF(B93>0,"Growing",IF(B93<0,"Recession","Stagnant"))" When B92 changes, C93 changes as directed by the formula.
    
13. For Economy Type, how do you decide if its Command, Mixed, or Market? IIRC everyone started as command. The development of more openness would move the marker closer to mixed and then market.
14. What is all of the Economy Type variable cells do/mean? They affect corruption in cell B77. Each type of economy affect corruption differently and those numbers create the differences.
    
15. How do you know when a EC is created? It is auto calcualted in B108. the DE total B92 is divided by the EC calculator in B110 and rounded to provide the number of ECs. I then place them on the map. ECs (and TCs and RCs)are driven by the strength of the domestic economy (trade and religion for the others). Once the stats are completed, and I'mworking on th emap i check the ECs in the stas against what is on the map to make sure they match. If you change the calculator number the number of ECs will go up or down. If a nation had a policy of developing its domestic economy in some special way, I could lower the calculator by .25 or .5 to increase the number of ECs on the map.
    
    
16. What does the Lost EC cell do? Nothing. I built it in but found it was not needed.
17. How do you know what percent to put for DE change from War and DE Growth Control cells?
18. How is the Military practices cells affected?
19. What is the Military Leadership/Max D column cell?
20. Is the Indexed Army/Navy Values auto calculated?
21. For the entire Military Pratices section, is any of it autocalculated? If not, how do you decide what to put? What do all the cells in section do/mean?
22. Same as above question, but for the entire Trade section.
23. For every comma in the Maps, Charts & Trade Routes, is there a map, Chart & Trade Route? How do you divide the map into these sections?
24. Same as question 21, but for Culture & Religion.
25. Are there any parts of the spreadsheet that are not finished?
26. What were/are you looking to improve on the spreadsheet? Can I help give suggestions?
27. When I create my NES based of this one, what will I have to do to the spreadsheet to set it up for the start?
28. For modding, how do you decide military battles?
29. Is there anything esle I should know about this spreadsheet when I start my modding my NES?

Hope this isn't too much to ask or seem to greedy for help from you. Sorry if it is.

I'll finish the rest tomorrow.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The rest of the batch of questions for the Nation00 page:

1. How do you know what percent to put for DE change from War Judgement, based on the state of the game. The war effect could go up or down. enthusiam would perhaps raise things 5-7%; being overrun could drop it 20% or more. Over run ECs cause a bigger effect.
   ...and DE Growth Control cells? This is a control to keep the game from having one or two players out run everyone else in EP growth creating a "broken" game. By slowly lowering this cell for a nation, their DE is slowed an dkept from getting to out of whack because of something not correct in the rules. I never had to use it in BirdNES 2.
   
2. How is the Military practices cells affected? That cell carries investments in military tech down the work sheet from B43. It effects the army/navy index values and the availability of UUs.
   
3. What is the Military Leadership/Max D column cell? D116=Bonus impact of Quality on Military Leadership in overall Leadership score
   
4. Is the Indexed Army/Navy Values auto calculated? Yes. Army index =((B116*B133)+(B126+(D126*B136))+(E126*B137)+(B124*B134)+(B115*B138))/1000
   
5. For the entire Military Pratices section, is any of it autocalculated? If not, how do you decide what to put? What do all the cells in section do/mean?
   Rows 122-123 provide the cost of buying troops
   124-125 the quality levels for armies and navies
   126-128 the actual number of troops you have available
   130-131 are used to calculate the upkeep cost of your armies an navies
   132 is used to calculate the maximum allowable infantry
   133-138 are numbers used to calculate the two indexes. Each type of troop is weighted differntly in the calculation. These cells allow the mod to refigure the index calculation.
   
   If you study the forulas in the cells in this section and use the trace arrows, you can see just how each number affects things.
   
6. Same as above question, but for the entire Trade section.
7. For every comma in the Maps, Charts & Trade Routes, is there a map, Chart & Trade Route? How do you divide the map into these sections?
8. Same as question 21, but for Culture & Religion. Look at the formulas and when you cannot figure out what is going on in a cell ask. both of these sectins are similar to the sections above them. Trade is different because it is linked to the trade tab where lots of things happen.
   
9. Are there any parts of the spreadsheet that are not finished? Tech
10. What were/are you looking to improve on the spreadsheet? Can I help give suggestions? Suggestions are always welcome.
11. When I create my NES based of this one, what will I have to do to the spreadsheet to set it up for the start? I will post a check list in a day or so.
12. For modding, how do you decide military battles? I know enough military history to figure out what is the likely outcome based on the armies, the orders and the indexes. When needed I used dice to make the final choice or the degree of success or failure. I am building a spreadsheet to replace that system. It is not ready yet; when it is, I will probably post it.
    

Hope this isn't too much to ask or seem to greedy for help from you. Sorry if it is.

........xcl

 

[Matt0088]

Taking the short discussion in the NES idea thread to this one, a couple ideas regarding FoE.

1. A idea I had a while back, inaccuracies with the stats. To give a more realistic feel as being a leader of a nation, the stats posted on the front page can be inaccurate, anywhere frfom 20% under or over the actual number. This would be a bell curve. Heck, if you implement this, you don't have to even tell players, because how will they notice? Just more fun for you the mod. May make the game events more decisive, with players acting on incorrect decisions resulting in bad outcomes.
2. Speaking about decisiveness, and I'm going in about what I've read in that FoE Discussion Thread towards the end(I've only read some updates), make casulties in battles etc. I mean, lots more casulties. Although this is straying from realism, it (should) be increasing player interest. I mean, although I love the realisticness, I don't if it takes 500 years and 10-15 updates to get something military done. To LINESII, it has highly unrealistic casulties, but is anyone complaining about that, no. Also in LINESII, things happen mcuh quicker, like in 1-4 updates, the Great War in it was only 4 and about 200 years, A Great WAR.
3. Lastly, regarding updating, although your updates are quite nice, they should time a large amount of time to do. My thought was to cut the length per event/issue/war down. Like to PureNES levels, or even to LINESII level. The latter is still awesome even thought the update length is shorter for the sizze of the NES compared to others.

Just my thoughts on the matters you mentioned.