Daftpanzer
canonically ambiguous
Orders Deadline: Wednesday 9th October, 23:59 pm
Welcome to DaftRTOR
The concept is based on a Civ3 game that I was playing roughly 20 years ago. I was inspired to make an AAR out of this called ‘Celtic Peacekeepers’ which was a popular thread on CFC for a time. Then came DaftNES1, my first foray into NESing. I had way too many ideas and not enough discipline at the time to make that work
The setting has been burned in my brain all these years, and there’s something compelling about it… Partly the nostalgia of Civ3, but also the aesthetics of the world map, the interesting things that happened in the game, and many empires that rose and fell, the juxtaposition of european and american civs, the fact that the USA is there but is not starting as a powerhouse, Vikings managed to spread colonies across the globe, a modernised Roman empire is there (in Byzantine form), the Celts are a fading world hegemon (something like a British Empire), and two world wars happened before tanks and planes were even invented…
The start is roughly mid-1920’s OTL in terms of technology, but world wars have already taken place using mostly OTL 19th century tech. Capitalism is not as advanced, so there are some differences: mass-production of motor cars has not yet happened. Fascist, Communist and Democratic ideologies have already been fighting for a century. The world begins as a mix of ‘belle epoque’ meets ‘art deco’ with maybe just a touch of ‘Iron Harvest’. However, where the world goes from here is entirely up to players. Each nation has a starting trajectory, but this can be drastically altered over time…
Government - there are various archetypes to choose from, based on the classic Civ varieties. Details further down. You are welcome to invent your own types.
Treasury - this is strictly the amount of money you can actually spend during the turn. Any gifts from players, or any form of income, will be added to the treasury at the end of the turn (not the beginning). You are allowed to go into debt up to the inverse of your Eco level, although being in debt will increase Upkeep (see below).
Eco - essentially, the amount of money that will be added to your treasury next turn. Eco represents the ‘light’ economy, agriculture and services.
Ind - Industry produces Production Points (PP) that can either be spent on units (see below), or spent on Trade Goods™, or any mix of both. Trade Goods convert to some amount of $ at the end of the turn - usually this would be $1 each. Alternatively, Industry can be boosted with money ($), with $2 per extra PP, for up to +50% normal production (rounded up). This allows you to get extra unit production when needed. There is a slight risk of industrial accidents when doing this, increasing with the amount of boosting.
Tech level - for simplicity, represented by a generic number, with progress in fractions. Higher levels unlock more advanced UU options, and make it easier to develop Eco and Ind to a higher level (more details below). Progress turn to turn is somewhat random, the chance for free progress is shown. This can of course be accelerated by direct investment in Tech ($5 per roll). When considered ‘cutting edge’, it will be slower to advance, as scientists are breaking new ground.
Manpower - shown as a percentage, 100% means all jobs and military units have enough people. As this gets lower, upkeep may increase (due to high salaries) and means military units aren’t at full strength, so fight with increasing penalties. But a manpower shortage may be a minor boost to innovations in technology. On the flip side, with a manpower surplus, labour costs are lower but increased demands on welfare may balance this out. Very high numbers may lead to instability, but do mean there is a large surplus for rapid Eco / Ind growth or military expansion. Manpower will tend to increase over time so long as there are no major disturbances. Volunteers are the number of units that can be built in a turn without resorting to conscription, which can impact stability.
Stability - a generic stat for stability, unity and the absence of corruption. Generally, the higher the better, as this will reduce upkeep and other problems. However if you are looking to impose a radical new government, it may actually be easier to work with an unstable society. Low stability obviously gives greater chance for full-blown rebellions to fire. Totalitarian governments may struggle to keep stability high but it’s easier for them to avoid low stability, so they may tend to hover somewhere in the middle. Democratic type governments gain more from high stability but have no easy options for dealing with a stability crash. You can declare Martial Law if things get desperate, but this keeps soldiers from the front lines and is not a good long-term strategy.
Oil Supply - as oil is the main resource of the era, it gets its own stat. The percentage shown here is the amount of domestic demand that can be met with domestic supply. Being under 100% is not necessarily terrible, it just means oil has to be bought off the market (access to at least one friendly exporter), which factors into the amount of upkeep. Whereas, oil exporters get money back and a reduction of upkeep. Nations are assumed to stockpile oil where possible, so a military is not going to be immediately crippled unless it is unable to meet demands for several turns. Oil reserves are concentrated in areas marked on the map, and these will increase output based on tech and industry of the nation that holds them. A certain amount of ‘free’ oil is also gained from higher Ind and Tech levels, representing synthetic oil production from coal and the like.
Upkeep - the amount paid to keep the state running, plus all military expenses, and debt interest (if any), minus any bonuses from oil exports etc. There is no strict mathematical formula for this, it is a moderator judgement based on the situation. Upkeep is deducted from income at the end of turn. By default, it’s assumed upkeep will be paid in full, but players can specify to hold back on upkeep by any amount, at the risk of causing instability, Eco / Ind shutdowns, and major military supply problems.
Faiths - the various faiths / religions practised in a nation are shown here. Religion may be a fading influence in the world overall, but can still factor into politics and stability.
Agendas - generic term for factions, lobbies, interest groups etc that are pushing for a particular idea, and these will tend to overlap. If your actions are in line with what they want, they will contribute to stability and may even contribute funds, manpower or volunteer soldiers. Otherwise, some of the more radical groups may eventually rise up as rebellions or even attempt a coup. Alternatively, democracies may be forced into a change of policy or even change of government. If you do want to change the government, it may be best to have a strong faction supporting the idea first... Agendas can be created, boosted or weakened in various ways, and you can also attempt to influence the ones in other nations.
Minorities - shows the relative strength of minorities which are not of the main ‘official’ culture(s). This can factor into politics and stability.
Military Readiness - essentially a sliding scale: the higher it goes, the more effective the military is, but the greater the upkeep costs and manpower needs will be. Highest levels, there is bonus Eco and Industry production, but this can wear out a nation over time and can’t be maintained forever. Please note that offensive operations are limited to only a few units while upkeep is low, IE it won’t be possible to send your whole army on a campaign without raising military readiness. More details below.
Army / Navy / Airforce - a list of different Units for each branch of the military. The level of training / veterancy is shown in brackets, this will increase from combat experience or from spending money on military exercises, but otherwise it will slowly decay. More details below.
Mothballed - units placed in storage / reserve, will require basically no upkeep and no manpower. Re-activating these units will take a full turn to complete, and will use up some manpower or volunteers if available. They may be rushed into battle in an emergency but will have a large penalty to combat. Activating a lot of reserves at once may also lower the level of training for the army/navy/airforce etc (feel free to discuss with the GM if you have concerns).
Eco and Ind stats have a description in brackets, that equates to the development costs below, to increase 1 point:
IF Rudimentary: $10 (representing the difficulties of getting started)
IF Basic / Expanding: $5
IF Under-Developed: $10
IF Developed: $20
IF Over-Developed: $30
IF Maximised: $40
IF Ludicrous: $50
The number shown to the right of this indicates the level at which the cost will increase. For example, 'under-developed: 10' means that the stat will remain 'under-developed' until reaching level 10, when it will move up to 'developed' and be more expensive to increase.
Essentially, it will get more expensive over time, as ‘low hanging fruit’ is used up, to the point that returns on investment are very slow (at which point, you may want to consider making deals to invest in another nation…)
To avoid complex maths, this rating is a moderator judgement based on the situation - technology, stability, manpower, and the territory under control, as well as the railway / port infrastructure (see below). Basically, there are various things you can do to lower the cost of development, up to a point.
The idea is money is the main currency for ‘doing stuff’, and is tradable, while Industry is a capacity for building weapons or trade goods™, but is not tradable itself.
To complete the triangle, money can be spent to boost industry to get more unit production when needed (at a rate of $2 per PP, and max of +50% production, rounded up), at the expense of doing other actions with the money.
As you’ll see from the units list, there is no $ money cost for building units, it is purely a PP and manpower cost. I considered there is already an opportunity cost in not building trade goods, and a cost in increased upkeep.
Notes on trade goods
Usually trade goods sell for $1, but the idea here is that returns may be less or more, depending on how many trade goods are produced globally, and how good your access to world markets is. Updates will try to give feedback on this. I will also say that being a consistent seller of trade goods (rather than dumping on random turns) will lead to greater returns.
Debt spending
You are allowed to go into debt up to the negative value of your current Eco level (with some leeway for very small economies). Being in debt may add to upkeep a little (interest payments), which will be added to upkeep for next turn.
Deals with other players
$ money is freely tradable, the only thing to bear in mind, in the age before global digital transactions, is that physical gold/precious metals/currency has to be transported across the world. If there is no rail connection, you will need to allocate a ship, transport plane, truck, zeppelin etc for this purpose, and it will take at least one turn. The transport can potentially be intercepted by malicious actors.
By connecting settlements with each other via Railways, or to areas of food/mineral/oil production, you can make it easier to develop your Eco and Ind stats, and may get some random other bonuses as well. Railways are of course very useful for moving troops into battle also. Feel free to discuss with the GM how much a particular route would cost.
All other standard infrastructure spending is done in increments of $10…
Dockyards- you don’t need one in every coastal city, but they will help with logistics in that area, reduce fleet upkeep a bit, and provide an avenue for trade. They could also be ‘doubled up’ or more to support very large fleets.
Fortifications - these are modern bunker systems designed to withstand artillery fire, and provide protection for friendly artillery to fire back. Can be placed on top of a city, or along a particular border area, coastline, or other area of interest. They could be ‘doubled up’ for extra effect.
Airfields - ideally would not be placed in mountainous terrain! At the start of the game, basic aircraft require little in the way of ground infrastructure, but would benefit slightly from an airfield. Similarly, civilian air travel is in its infancy, but an airfield may bring certain prestige. Airships and Zeppelins are the exception in that they do require an airfield to operate from.
Other items (Radar?) will become available as technology progresses…
Special projects?
Projects such as major hydroelectric dams, massive skyscrapers, cultural centres, temples, world exhibitions, new presidential palaces and the like, can be discussed with your friendly GM. These would have multiple effects and maybe some negative as well as positive, require quite a bit of money (and possibly some Industrial PP capacity), and would usually take several turns to complete.
Tech level has a subtle bonus effect on all of a nation’s stats, but more specifically, it raises the cap on when Eco and Ind are considered more ‘Developed’, and of course, allows for more advanced units.
Rough guide to tech levels:
Level 1 - OTL 1880’s technology.
Level 5 - OTL WW1 technology.
Level 10 - OTL 1928 technology.
Level 20 - OTL 1939 technology.
Level 30 - OTL 1945 technology?
Each nation will obviously have different areas of tech at which it excels, and you are welcome to nudge this in a particular direction. I’ve chosen not to complicate the stats by adding this in, but it can be represented by the Unique Units (UU’s) that the nation creates, and will otherwise be hinted at in updates and affect things in subtle ways.
Spending on tech rolls is done in intervals of $5. Each investment will increase progression to the next tech by some amount. If you are lucky, it will also increase the momentum of progress that will continue next turn. Smaller nations with lower GDP will be a little more ‘lucky’ with the tech rolls.
You can send advisors to help another nation at a lower tech level. This will speed up their progress, but slow yours down a little, as your experts are busy instructing others.
When the tech level is ‘cutting edge’, actual progress will be slowed regardless, representing the fact that your scientists are treading new ground.
You can attempt to increase stability with investments of $5 a time, this will have bigger impacts for smaller nations. This represents work in tackling corruption, enforcing laws and/or providing benefits and payoffs to the right people…
‘Influence’ can be used as a free action each turn to influence NPC nations, or to promote or discourage Agendas at home or abroad (see above), influence elections, etc. The leaders of more powerful nations obviously have more influence by default, but any leader can work to cultivate greater influence on the world stage. Ideally there should only be one or two diplomatic goals per turn, as efforts will be divided between each.
Secret Agents / Covert Ops / Espionage! (not shown in public stats)
Spending on secret agents is done in intervals of $5. Agents work as you might expect, they can be given tasks in your own nation or elsewhere - some ideas below:
Having higher levels of technology will obviously help. Totalitarian governments tend to have higher defence against foreign agents, but otherwise no bonuses to their own operations.
The higher the Military Readiness is, the more effective your troops will be in attack and defence, and the greater portion of your units you can use offensively… But the more upkeep they will require.
Unless your territory has been invaded in a full-scale war, raising this suddenly will be unpopular, so it would be wise to do it in stages (and justify this to the people/senate etc where appropriate!). Also bear in mind that full mobilisation will wear out a population over time and could eventually contribute to collapse in morale…
Expeditions and Offensives
For overseas operations, you’ll need a decent number of transports, for max efficiency this would be a 1:1 ratio of transports to the shipped units.
You can also boost your troops in combat with extra supplies - for simplicity, this is using $ money. For max effectiveness, this would be $1 for each unit involved. If unused for any reason, the money will be refunded to the treasury. Bear in mind the supplies have to physically travel to the front, also on transport ships if needed, and might be destroyed or captured en route.
Veterancy and Military Exercises
Experience will certainly be gained from combat of any kind. Experience will also tend to slowly decrease over time, or when many new units are trained at once. Levels are shown thus:
In war or peace, you can also run military exercises to help increase this rating. To be meaningful, you would allocate some $ funds for this (no more than $1 per unit). The units will be occupied during the turn and will not be available for defence, or at least will be slow to respond. Exercises may not immediately raise the veterancy level but rest assured that nothing is ‘wasted’ as it will all be taken into account behind the scenes. Running joint exercises with an ally can also give advantages to combined operations with their forces in the event of actual combat!
Units have a cost in PP (production points) that is produced by your industry (see the quick rundown above). Generally, units can’t be used the same turn they are being created; there may be emergency situations where you’re allowed to rush units straight into battle, although they will not fight at full strength. Units can also be part-built over several turns if not enough PP is available - this would be the only way that smaller nations can build their own heavy units. Some units like Dreadnoughts definitely need two or more turns before they can be used, even if all PP is paid upfront.
You have two options for building units. By default they become part of the active military once created. This will impact manpower, and also the Volunteer count - if there are not enough volunteers, this is considered conscription and may impact stability depending on the situation (anything marked ‘Manpower intensive’ in the units list would require 2 Volunteers). Note that Volunteers will ‘respawn’ each turn, up to a certain limit.
However, you can also build units directly to storage / mothballed status...
Mothballed units require almost no upkeep, so allow you to keep weapons in reserve for emergency mobilisation. For infantry and cavalry, this represents all of the equipment and weapons being stored, while the soldiers return to civilian life. You can either build units directly into storage, or mothball existing units as a free action (provided they are not engaged overseas etc).
The catch is that mothballed units take at least one turn to fully re-mobilise, they can be rushed into combat but will not be fully effective until the following turn. They also require manpower and volunteers the same as new units. There’s also a risk of 'mothballed' units being captured by enemies in a sneak attack.
Elite Units!
You may see units marked as Elite in the units list - these can’t be ‘mothballed’ or exported. In general, these are ‘special forces’ infantry and cavalry units. There is always a shortage of elite soldiers to go around, and to represent this, elite units should not be more than 1 / 10 out of your total army size (ideally less) - otherwise, they can be considered only ‘semi-elite’ and will start to lose effectiveness. Small armies get some leeway to support a single elite unit.
Trading / Sending Units!
Any unit can be freely shipped to other nations in the form of just the weapons, equipment and vehicles etc, without your troops (manpower), which are left behind and returned to the manpower pool. There also needs to be a free transport ship from either side, or a railway link to the destination (except for naval units, which can send themselves). Basically, if not already 'mothballed', the traded unit is considered 'mothballed' for transit, and will remain that way unless the receiving party will need to spend their own manpower/volunteers to bring them into service. If the reciever is expecting the unit(s), they can send orders to do so the same turn and rush them straight into action (given the timescale is roughly a year, at least for now), but those units will fight with a penalty on the first turn, as they get organised.
Damage and Repairing Units
This has changed since the start of the game - there is now a combined 'Damage' percentage for Army, Navy and Airforce. This will only be shown if some units are under-strength of in need of serious repair. You'll see a PP cost to fully restore each branch of the military, but you can spend any amount of PP you wish to restore a fraction of the damage. This will also be a drain on available manpower, especially if lots of infantry or 'manpower intensive' units are damaged. A small percentage of damage will be repaired for free each turn, provided there are no major disturbances or shortages.
Any unit type that has a particularly high percentage of damaged or under-strength units will still have '(damaged)' listed next to it in the stats.
Disbanding Units!
This is a free action that will return the manpower and 1/2 the PP value in $, rounded down. So a unit that cost 5PP will yield $2. For units that only cost 1PP, or ‘antiquated’ units (see below), you can get $1 back by disbanding two at a time. The money is added to your treasury at the end of the turn, so can’t be spent right away.
This is not super efficient, so you may make a bigger profit by selling your obsolete units to other player nations, or NPC’s - feel free to discuss with the GM!
For sanity purposes, please only request one UU per player turn on average... I'm happy with multiple requests a turn, so long as its not every turn! Exceptions can be made for major conflicts...
UU’s can be designed in discussion with the GM - let me know what you have in mind, and I will let you know if it’s feasible with the current tech, and how much the prototype unit will cost. Prototypes will always be more expensive to build in terms of PP, and they may also have defects - if you want to rush a horde of experimental UU’s into service, that is your call. The cost will likely reduce the turn after at least one prototype is built, and problems are ironed out.
Switching government type can happen through elections, and/or through crafting an agenda to push a certain government type. Generally, you won’t be able to suddenly impose a radically new government type without pushback and possibly civil war. Feel free to discuss with the GM to get an idea of what to expect.
Government archetypes (you are free to suggest your own ideas as well):
Druidist / Environmentalist
A hypothetical form of government based on idealised visions of ancient times; a focus on environmental protection and social wellbeing, with a limited form of democracy.
Anti-materialist ethos; Economy and Industry will be sacrificed for greater wellbeing and stability. Corporations will be viewed with distrust.
Population centres will be somewhat more self-sufficient and less vulnerable to disasters / shortages.
The ruling council will be uneasy about war mobilisation and will need to be convinced about wars of aggression.
There are no easy tools for dealing with dissent.
Democratic
A focus on fairness, equality and rule of law. But the establishment can still wield great power.
Elections can switch the ruling party between big capitalist, social welfarist, conservative (status-quo) and others.
Economy and Industry will generally be easier to develop.
Tech progress will be faster than otherwise.
Minorities will be more vocal about demanding rights, and/or independence.
The public will be uneasy about war mobilisation and are unlikely to support wars of aggression.
There are no easy tools for dealing with dissent.
Senatorial
A carefully-curated form of democracy. Consuls (or similar) are elected by the senate, some steps removed from direct public vote. Oligarchs can wield great power.
Elections can switch the ruling party but they all tend to be rather conservative.
Economy and Industry will be somewhat easier to develop.
Tech progress will be slightly faster than otherwise.
The senate would like a casus belli for war mobilisation and wars of aggression.
The public have some protection against outright oppression.
Communist
A communist state with state-owned industries and varying degrees of totalitarianism.
The economy is sacrificed for Industry, which is significantly easier to develop.
Corporations are nationalised. Trade goods are slightly less profitable.
There is global solidarity among Communist movements.
Can declare war at will, but the ruling politburo may wish to be consulted…
Minorities and dissenters can be brutally repressed.
High stability will be hard to maintain.
Fascist
A totalitarian state with revanchist and/or ethno-nationalist ideas.
The majority ethnicity can appeal to diaspora living in other nations.
Militarism: more volunteers and reduced military upkeep.
Can declare war at will.
Minorities and dissenters can be systematically eliminated.
High stability will be hard to maintain.
Theocratic / Fundamentalist
A totalitarian state in which a religious authority has control over most aspects of daily life.
Can appeal to believers living in other nations.
Dogmatic: tech progression is slower than normal.
Militarism: more volunteers and reduced military upkeep.
Can declare war at will against non-believers.
Pagans and infidels can be brutally repressed if they refuse to convert.
Stability will be easier to maintain, so long as the faith is defended.
Despotic
Considered an archaic system by some, the ruling dynasty has full control of the state.
Stability depends largely on the popularity and perceived strength of the current monarch or despot. Succession may be disputed.
Cult of personality can lead to various bonuses.
Can declare war at will.
Minorities and dissenters can be brutally repressed.
High stability will be hard to maintain, endemic corruption is likely.
Authoritarian
Pessimists predict this will be the end-state of all governments; when Communist or Fascist states that have lost their ideological drive, Democracies have been bought out by Corporations, and power and control remain the only motives.
Can be ruthlessly capitalist, technocratic, or militarist in nature, for different bonuses.
Can declare war at will, but the ruling cabal/oligarchs may wish to be consulted…
Minorities and dissenters can be brutally repressed.
High stability will be hard to maintain, endemic corruption is likely.
Acadia
Democratic - Republic - Independent State
Defensive Pact with Celtonia (expires in 2 turns)
Consail Hillary Schmidt-Douglas - Liberal Party
North American / French / Celtonian mixed Culture
Treasury: $10
Eco: 5 EP (under-developed)
Ind: 2 PP (under-developed)
Tech Level: 7.0 (good), decent progress
Manpower: 100% (1 Volunteer)
Stability: 80%
Oil supply: 0%
Upkeep: -$2
Faiths: Druidism, Christianity (both moderate), Wotanism (weak)
Agendas: pro-Celtic movement (strong), Liberal party (strong), pro-USA party (moderate), Communist party (weak), Neo-Druidist movement (weak), Demilitarisation movement (moderate)
Minorities: German, Greek, Norse (weak)
Military Readiness: Low
Army (professional): 3 Militia, 2 Infantry, 1 Highlander, 2 Rough Rider, 1 Armoured Car, 1 Field Artillery, 1 Siege Artillery
Navy (professional): 2 Gunboats, 1 Torpedo Boat, 1 Destroyer, 1 Steamer
Airforce (trained): 1 Basic Biplane
Mothballed: 2 Militia, 1 Cannon, 1 Ironclad
----
Money spending (optional):
$10 Treasury available
Develop +1 Industry for $10 [due to being ‘under-developed’]
Spend $5 on 1 tech roll
[now going -$5 into debt which is allowable; debt can equal Eco stat]
Industry spending (optional):
No unit production; 2PP into trade goods
[note: the new industry won’t be available until next turn]
Diplomatic influence (optional):
Try to work against the anti-militarist movement both in Celtonia and at home, arguing for the need for continued defence of allies.
Agents (optional):
No spending at this time.
Unit orders (optional):
No additional spending on training, but Destroyer is to sail to Holstein on a friendly naval exchange mission.
Welcome to DaftRTOR
The concept is based on a Civ3 game that I was playing roughly 20 years ago. I was inspired to make an AAR out of this called ‘Celtic Peacekeepers’ which was a popular thread on CFC for a time. Then came DaftNES1, my first foray into NESing. I had way too many ideas and not enough discipline at the time to make that work
The setting has been burned in my brain all these years, and there’s something compelling about it… Partly the nostalgia of Civ3, but also the aesthetics of the world map, the interesting things that happened in the game, and many empires that rose and fell, the juxtaposition of european and american civs, the fact that the USA is there but is not starting as a powerhouse, Vikings managed to spread colonies across the globe, a modernised Roman empire is there (in Byzantine form), the Celts are a fading world hegemon (something like a British Empire), and two world wars happened before tanks and planes were even invented…
The start is roughly mid-1920’s OTL in terms of technology, but world wars have already taken place using mostly OTL 19th century tech. Capitalism is not as advanced, so there are some differences: mass-production of motor cars has not yet happened. Fascist, Communist and Democratic ideologies have already been fighting for a century. The world begins as a mix of ‘belle epoque’ meets ‘art deco’ with maybe just a touch of ‘Iron Harvest’. However, where the world goes from here is entirely up to players. Each nation has a starting trajectory, but this can be drastically altered over time…
Player List:
Union of Celtonia - Thlayli
French Empire - Lord_Iggy
Roman Empire - Nuka
Union of Scandinavia - Angst
Inca Nation - Jehoshua
USA - Zappericus
Holy Kingdom of Hatti - Terrance888
Germany - Shirogane
Mayan Empire - Shadowbound
Kingdom of Spain - Ork75
Available major powers:
Great Iroquois Nation - NPC
United Netherlands - NPC
Union of Mexico - NPC
Union of Celtonia - Thlayli
French Empire - Lord_Iggy
Roman Empire - Nuka
Union of Scandinavia - Angst
Inca Nation - Jehoshua
USA - Zappericus
Holy Kingdom of Hatti - Terrance888
Germany - Shirogane
Mayan Empire - Shadowbound
Kingdom of Spain - Ork75
Available major powers:
Great Iroquois Nation - NPC
United Netherlands - NPC
Union of Mexico - NPC
Stats - Quick Guide
Spoiler Stats - Quick Guide :
Government - there are various archetypes to choose from, based on the classic Civ varieties. Details further down. You are welcome to invent your own types.
Treasury - this is strictly the amount of money you can actually spend during the turn. Any gifts from players, or any form of income, will be added to the treasury at the end of the turn (not the beginning). You are allowed to go into debt up to the inverse of your Eco level, although being in debt will increase Upkeep (see below).
Eco - essentially, the amount of money that will be added to your treasury next turn. Eco represents the ‘light’ economy, agriculture and services.
Ind - Industry produces Production Points (PP) that can either be spent on units (see below), or spent on Trade Goods™, or any mix of both. Trade Goods convert to some amount of $ at the end of the turn - usually this would be $1 each. Alternatively, Industry can be boosted with money ($), with $2 per extra PP, for up to +50% normal production (rounded up). This allows you to get extra unit production when needed. There is a slight risk of industrial accidents when doing this, increasing with the amount of boosting.
Tech level - for simplicity, represented by a generic number, with progress in fractions. Higher levels unlock more advanced UU options, and make it easier to develop Eco and Ind to a higher level (more details below). Progress turn to turn is somewhat random, the chance for free progress is shown. This can of course be accelerated by direct investment in Tech ($5 per roll). When considered ‘cutting edge’, it will be slower to advance, as scientists are breaking new ground.
Manpower - shown as a percentage, 100% means all jobs and military units have enough people. As this gets lower, upkeep may increase (due to high salaries) and means military units aren’t at full strength, so fight with increasing penalties. But a manpower shortage may be a minor boost to innovations in technology. On the flip side, with a manpower surplus, labour costs are lower but increased demands on welfare may balance this out. Very high numbers may lead to instability, but do mean there is a large surplus for rapid Eco / Ind growth or military expansion. Manpower will tend to increase over time so long as there are no major disturbances. Volunteers are the number of units that can be built in a turn without resorting to conscription, which can impact stability.
Stability - a generic stat for stability, unity and the absence of corruption. Generally, the higher the better, as this will reduce upkeep and other problems. However if you are looking to impose a radical new government, it may actually be easier to work with an unstable society. Low stability obviously gives greater chance for full-blown rebellions to fire. Totalitarian governments may struggle to keep stability high but it’s easier for them to avoid low stability, so they may tend to hover somewhere in the middle. Democratic type governments gain more from high stability but have no easy options for dealing with a stability crash. You can declare Martial Law if things get desperate, but this keeps soldiers from the front lines and is not a good long-term strategy.
Oil Supply - as oil is the main resource of the era, it gets its own stat. The percentage shown here is the amount of domestic demand that can be met with domestic supply. Being under 100% is not necessarily terrible, it just means oil has to be bought off the market (access to at least one friendly exporter), which factors into the amount of upkeep. Whereas, oil exporters get money back and a reduction of upkeep. Nations are assumed to stockpile oil where possible, so a military is not going to be immediately crippled unless it is unable to meet demands for several turns. Oil reserves are concentrated in areas marked on the map, and these will increase output based on tech and industry of the nation that holds them. A certain amount of ‘free’ oil is also gained from higher Ind and Tech levels, representing synthetic oil production from coal and the like.
Upkeep - the amount paid to keep the state running, plus all military expenses, and debt interest (if any), minus any bonuses from oil exports etc. There is no strict mathematical formula for this, it is a moderator judgement based on the situation. Upkeep is deducted from income at the end of turn. By default, it’s assumed upkeep will be paid in full, but players can specify to hold back on upkeep by any amount, at the risk of causing instability, Eco / Ind shutdowns, and major military supply problems.
Faiths - the various faiths / religions practised in a nation are shown here. Religion may be a fading influence in the world overall, but can still factor into politics and stability.
Agendas - generic term for factions, lobbies, interest groups etc that are pushing for a particular idea, and these will tend to overlap. If your actions are in line with what they want, they will contribute to stability and may even contribute funds, manpower or volunteer soldiers. Otherwise, some of the more radical groups may eventually rise up as rebellions or even attempt a coup. Alternatively, democracies may be forced into a change of policy or even change of government. If you do want to change the government, it may be best to have a strong faction supporting the idea first... Agendas can be created, boosted or weakened in various ways, and you can also attempt to influence the ones in other nations.
Minorities - shows the relative strength of minorities which are not of the main ‘official’ culture(s). This can factor into politics and stability.
Military Readiness - essentially a sliding scale: the higher it goes, the more effective the military is, but the greater the upkeep costs and manpower needs will be. Highest levels, there is bonus Eco and Industry production, but this can wear out a nation over time and can’t be maintained forever. Please note that offensive operations are limited to only a few units while upkeep is low, IE it won’t be possible to send your whole army on a campaign without raising military readiness. More details below.
Army / Navy / Airforce - a list of different Units for each branch of the military. The level of training / veterancy is shown in brackets, this will increase from combat experience or from spending money on military exercises, but otherwise it will slowly decay. More details below.
Mothballed - units placed in storage / reserve, will require basically no upkeep and no manpower. Re-activating these units will take a full turn to complete, and will use up some manpower or volunteers if available. They may be rushed into battle in an emergency but will have a large penalty to combat. Activating a lot of reserves at once may also lower the level of training for the army/navy/airforce etc (feel free to discuss with the GM if you have concerns).
Developing Economy and Industry
Spoiler Developing Economy and Industry :
Eco and Ind stats have a description in brackets, that equates to the development costs below, to increase 1 point:
IF Rudimentary: $10 (representing the difficulties of getting started)
IF Basic / Expanding: $5
IF Under-Developed: $10
IF Developed: $20
IF Over-Developed: $30
IF Maximised: $40
IF Ludicrous: $50
The number shown to the right of this indicates the level at which the cost will increase. For example, 'under-developed: 10' means that the stat will remain 'under-developed' until reaching level 10, when it will move up to 'developed' and be more expensive to increase.
Essentially, it will get more expensive over time, as ‘low hanging fruit’ is used up, to the point that returns on investment are very slow (at which point, you may want to consider making deals to invest in another nation…)
To avoid complex maths, this rating is a moderator judgement based on the situation - technology, stability, manpower, and the territory under control, as well as the railway / port infrastructure (see below). Basically, there are various things you can do to lower the cost of development, up to a point.
Notes on Economy and Industry
Spoiler Notes on Economy and Industry :
The idea is money is the main currency for ‘doing stuff’, and is tradable, while Industry is a capacity for building weapons or trade goods™, but is not tradable itself.
To complete the triangle, money can be spent to boost industry to get more unit production when needed (at a rate of $2 per PP, and max of +50% production, rounded up), at the expense of doing other actions with the money.
As you’ll see from the units list, there is no $ money cost for building units, it is purely a PP and manpower cost. I considered there is already an opportunity cost in not building trade goods, and a cost in increased upkeep.
Notes on trade goods
Usually trade goods sell for $1, but the idea here is that returns may be less or more, depending on how many trade goods are produced globally, and how good your access to world markets is. Updates will try to give feedback on this. I will also say that being a consistent seller of trade goods (rather than dumping on random turns) will lead to greater returns.
Debt spending
You are allowed to go into debt up to the negative value of your current Eco level (with some leeway for very small economies). Being in debt may add to upkeep a little (interest payments), which will be added to upkeep for next turn.
Deals with other players
$ money is freely tradable, the only thing to bear in mind, in the age before global digital transactions, is that physical gold/precious metals/currency has to be transported across the world. If there is no rail connection, you will need to allocate a ship, transport plane, truck, zeppelin etc for this purpose, and it will take at least one turn. The transport can potentially be intercepted by malicious actors.
Infrastructure and Projects
Spoiler Infrastructure and Projects :
By connecting settlements with each other via Railways, or to areas of food/mineral/oil production, you can make it easier to develop your Eco and Ind stats, and may get some random other bonuses as well. Railways are of course very useful for moving troops into battle also. Feel free to discuss with the GM how much a particular route would cost.
All other standard infrastructure spending is done in increments of $10…
Dockyards- you don’t need one in every coastal city, but they will help with logistics in that area, reduce fleet upkeep a bit, and provide an avenue for trade. They could also be ‘doubled up’ or more to support very large fleets.
Fortifications - these are modern bunker systems designed to withstand artillery fire, and provide protection for friendly artillery to fire back. Can be placed on top of a city, or along a particular border area, coastline, or other area of interest. They could be ‘doubled up’ for extra effect.
Airfields - ideally would not be placed in mountainous terrain! At the start of the game, basic aircraft require little in the way of ground infrastructure, but would benefit slightly from an airfield. Similarly, civilian air travel is in its infancy, but an airfield may bring certain prestige. Airships and Zeppelins are the exception in that they do require an airfield to operate from.
Other items (Radar?) will become available as technology progresses…
Special projects?
Projects such as major hydroelectric dams, massive skyscrapers, cultural centres, temples, world exhibitions, new presidential palaces and the like, can be discussed with your friendly GM. These would have multiple effects and maybe some negative as well as positive, require quite a bit of money (and possibly some Industrial PP capacity), and would usually take several turns to complete.
Technology
Spoiler Technology :
Tech level has a subtle bonus effect on all of a nation’s stats, but more specifically, it raises the cap on when Eco and Ind are considered more ‘Developed’, and of course, allows for more advanced units.
Rough guide to tech levels:
Level 1 - OTL 1880’s technology.
Level 5 - OTL WW1 technology.
Level 10 - OTL 1928 technology.
Level 20 - OTL 1939 technology.
Level 30 - OTL 1945 technology?
Each nation will obviously have different areas of tech at which it excels, and you are welcome to nudge this in a particular direction. I’ve chosen not to complicate the stats by adding this in, but it can be represented by the Unique Units (UU’s) that the nation creates, and will otherwise be hinted at in updates and affect things in subtle ways.
Spending on tech rolls is done in intervals of $5. Each investment will increase progression to the next tech by some amount. If you are lucky, it will also increase the momentum of progress that will continue next turn. Smaller nations with lower GDP will be a little more ‘lucky’ with the tech rolls.
You can send advisors to help another nation at a lower tech level. This will speed up their progress, but slow yours down a little, as your experts are busy instructing others.
When the tech level is ‘cutting edge’, actual progress will be slowed regardless, representing the fact that your scientists are treading new ground.
Stability
Spoiler Stability :
You can attempt to increase stability with investments of $5 a time, this will have bigger impacts for smaller nations. This represents work in tackling corruption, enforcing laws and/or providing benefits and payoffs to the right people…
Soft Power and Subterfuge
Spoiler Soft Power and Subterfuge :
‘Influence’ can be used as a free action each turn to influence NPC nations, or to promote or discourage Agendas at home or abroad (see above), influence elections, etc. The leaders of more powerful nations obviously have more influence by default, but any leader can work to cultivate greater influence on the world stage. Ideally there should only be one or two diplomatic goals per turn, as efforts will be divided between each.
Secret Agents / Covert Ops / Espionage! (not shown in public stats)
Spending on secret agents is done in intervals of $5. Agents work as you might expect, they can be given tasks in your own nation or elsewhere - some ideas below:
- Counter-Espionage
- Assassinations
- Create, promote or disrupt Agendas in your own nation or others.
- Gather military intelligence to directly help your troops in a war situation.
- Sabotage enemy infrastructure (such as railways, ports, airfields, fortifications etc).
- Incite riots and unrest.
- Steal technology (partial tech progress) or blueprints of unique enemy units (UU’s).
- Infiltrate and set up support networks for later ops
Having higher levels of technology will obviously help. Totalitarian governments tend to have higher defence against foreign agents, but otherwise no bonuses to their own operations.
Military Readiness, Veterancy, Logistics
Spoiler Military Readiness, Veterancy, Logistics :
The higher the Military Readiness is, the more effective your troops will be in attack and defence, and the greater portion of your units you can use offensively… But the more upkeep they will require.
Unless your territory has been invaded in a full-scale war, raising this suddenly will be unpopular, so it would be wise to do it in stages (and justify this to the people/senate etc where appropriate!). Also bear in mind that full mobilisation will wear out a population over time and could eventually contribute to collapse in morale…
- Full mobilisation (all units can be used, more bonus manpower / Industry)
- Partial mobilisation (all units can be used, some bonus manpower / Industry)
- High (~1/2 units can be used offensively)
- Moderate (~1/3 units can be used offensively)
- Low (~1/4 units can be used offensively)
- None (no foreign deployments)
Expeditions and Offensives
For overseas operations, you’ll need a decent number of transports, for max efficiency this would be a 1:1 ratio of transports to the shipped units.
You can also boost your troops in combat with extra supplies - for simplicity, this is using $ money. For max effectiveness, this would be $1 for each unit involved. If unused for any reason, the money will be refunded to the treasury. Bear in mind the supplies have to physically travel to the front, also on transport ships if needed, and might be destroyed or captured en route.
Veterancy and Military Exercises
Experience will certainly be gained from combat of any kind. Experience will also tend to slowly decrease over time, or when many new units are trained at once. Levels are shown thus:
- Experimental / Undisciplined
- Trained
- Professional
- Veteran
- Legendary
In war or peace, you can also run military exercises to help increase this rating. To be meaningful, you would allocate some $ funds for this (no more than $1 per unit). The units will be occupied during the turn and will not be available for defence, or at least will be slow to respond. Exercises may not immediately raise the veterancy level but rest assured that nothing is ‘wasted’ as it will all be taken into account behind the scenes. Running joint exercises with an ally can also give advantages to combined operations with their forces in the event of actual combat!
Building (and trading, and repairing, and disbanding) Units
Spoiler Building Units :
Units have a cost in PP (production points) that is produced by your industry (see the quick rundown above). Generally, units can’t be used the same turn they are being created; there may be emergency situations where you’re allowed to rush units straight into battle, although they will not fight at full strength. Units can also be part-built over several turns if not enough PP is available - this would be the only way that smaller nations can build their own heavy units. Some units like Dreadnoughts definitely need two or more turns before they can be used, even if all PP is paid upfront.
You have two options for building units. By default they become part of the active military once created. This will impact manpower, and also the Volunteer count - if there are not enough volunteers, this is considered conscription and may impact stability depending on the situation (anything marked ‘Manpower intensive’ in the units list would require 2 Volunteers). Note that Volunteers will ‘respawn’ each turn, up to a certain limit.
However, you can also build units directly to storage / mothballed status...
Mothballed units require almost no upkeep, so allow you to keep weapons in reserve for emergency mobilisation. For infantry and cavalry, this represents all of the equipment and weapons being stored, while the soldiers return to civilian life. You can either build units directly into storage, or mothball existing units as a free action (provided they are not engaged overseas etc).
The catch is that mothballed units take at least one turn to fully re-mobilise, they can be rushed into combat but will not be fully effective until the following turn. They also require manpower and volunteers the same as new units. There’s also a risk of 'mothballed' units being captured by enemies in a sneak attack.
Elite Units!
You may see units marked as Elite in the units list - these can’t be ‘mothballed’ or exported. In general, these are ‘special forces’ infantry and cavalry units. There is always a shortage of elite soldiers to go around, and to represent this, elite units should not be more than 1 / 10 out of your total army size (ideally less) - otherwise, they can be considered only ‘semi-elite’ and will start to lose effectiveness. Small armies get some leeway to support a single elite unit.
Trading / Sending Units!
Any unit can be freely shipped to other nations in the form of just the weapons, equipment and vehicles etc, without your troops (manpower), which are left behind and returned to the manpower pool. There also needs to be a free transport ship from either side, or a railway link to the destination (except for naval units, which can send themselves). Basically, if not already 'mothballed', the traded unit is considered 'mothballed' for transit, and will remain that way unless the receiving party will need to spend their own manpower/volunteers to bring them into service. If the reciever is expecting the unit(s), they can send orders to do so the same turn and rush them straight into action (given the timescale is roughly a year, at least for now), but those units will fight with a penalty on the first turn, as they get organised.
Damage and Repairing Units
This has changed since the start of the game - there is now a combined 'Damage' percentage for Army, Navy and Airforce. This will only be shown if some units are under-strength of in need of serious repair. You'll see a PP cost to fully restore each branch of the military, but you can spend any amount of PP you wish to restore a fraction of the damage. This will also be a drain on available manpower, especially if lots of infantry or 'manpower intensive' units are damaged. A small percentage of damage will be repaired for free each turn, provided there are no major disturbances or shortages.
Any unit type that has a particularly high percentage of damaged or under-strength units will still have '(damaged)' listed next to it in the stats.
Disbanding Units!
This is a free action that will return the manpower and 1/2 the PP value in $, rounded down. So a unit that cost 5PP will yield $2. For units that only cost 1PP, or ‘antiquated’ units (see below), you can get $1 back by disbanding two at a time. The money is added to your treasury at the end of the turn, so can’t be spent right away.
This is not super efficient, so you may make a bigger profit by selling your obsolete units to other player nations, or NPC’s - feel free to discuss with the GM!
Designing Unique Units
Spoiler Designing Unique Units :
For sanity purposes, please only request one UU per player turn on average... I'm happy with multiple requests a turn, so long as its not every turn! Exceptions can be made for major conflicts...
UU’s can be designed in discussion with the GM - let me know what you have in mind, and I will let you know if it’s feasible with the current tech, and how much the prototype unit will cost. Prototypes will always be more expensive to build in terms of PP, and they may also have defects - if you want to rush a horde of experimental UU’s into service, that is your call. The cost will likely reduce the turn after at least one prototype is built, and problems are ironed out.
Government Types
Spoiler Government Types :
Switching government type can happen through elections, and/or through crafting an agenda to push a certain government type. Generally, you won’t be able to suddenly impose a radically new government type without pushback and possibly civil war. Feel free to discuss with the GM to get an idea of what to expect.
Government archetypes (you are free to suggest your own ideas as well):
Druidist / Environmentalist
A hypothetical form of government based on idealised visions of ancient times; a focus on environmental protection and social wellbeing, with a limited form of democracy.
Anti-materialist ethos; Economy and Industry will be sacrificed for greater wellbeing and stability. Corporations will be viewed with distrust.
Population centres will be somewhat more self-sufficient and less vulnerable to disasters / shortages.
The ruling council will be uneasy about war mobilisation and will need to be convinced about wars of aggression.
There are no easy tools for dealing with dissent.
Democratic
A focus on fairness, equality and rule of law. But the establishment can still wield great power.
Elections can switch the ruling party between big capitalist, social welfarist, conservative (status-quo) and others.
Economy and Industry will generally be easier to develop.
Tech progress will be faster than otherwise.
Minorities will be more vocal about demanding rights, and/or independence.
The public will be uneasy about war mobilisation and are unlikely to support wars of aggression.
There are no easy tools for dealing with dissent.
Senatorial
A carefully-curated form of democracy. Consuls (or similar) are elected by the senate, some steps removed from direct public vote. Oligarchs can wield great power.
Elections can switch the ruling party but they all tend to be rather conservative.
Economy and Industry will be somewhat easier to develop.
Tech progress will be slightly faster than otherwise.
The senate would like a casus belli for war mobilisation and wars of aggression.
The public have some protection against outright oppression.
Communist
A communist state with state-owned industries and varying degrees of totalitarianism.
The economy is sacrificed for Industry, which is significantly easier to develop.
Corporations are nationalised. Trade goods are slightly less profitable.
There is global solidarity among Communist movements.
Can declare war at will, but the ruling politburo may wish to be consulted…
Minorities and dissenters can be brutally repressed.
High stability will be hard to maintain.
Fascist
A totalitarian state with revanchist and/or ethno-nationalist ideas.
The majority ethnicity can appeal to diaspora living in other nations.
Militarism: more volunteers and reduced military upkeep.
Can declare war at will.
Minorities and dissenters can be systematically eliminated.
High stability will be hard to maintain.
Theocratic / Fundamentalist
A totalitarian state in which a religious authority has control over most aspects of daily life.
Can appeal to believers living in other nations.
Dogmatic: tech progression is slower than normal.
Militarism: more volunteers and reduced military upkeep.
Can declare war at will against non-believers.
Pagans and infidels can be brutally repressed if they refuse to convert.
Stability will be easier to maintain, so long as the faith is defended.
Despotic
Considered an archaic system by some, the ruling dynasty has full control of the state.
Stability depends largely on the popularity and perceived strength of the current monarch or despot. Succession may be disputed.
Cult of personality can lead to various bonuses.
Can declare war at will.
Minorities and dissenters can be brutally repressed.
High stability will be hard to maintain, endemic corruption is likely.
Authoritarian
Pessimists predict this will be the end-state of all governments; when Communist or Fascist states that have lost their ideological drive, Democracies have been bought out by Corporations, and power and control remain the only motives.
Can be ruthlessly capitalist, technocratic, or militarist in nature, for different bonuses.
Can declare war at will, but the ruling cabal/oligarchs may wish to be consulted…
Minorities and dissenters can be brutally repressed.
High stability will be hard to maintain, endemic corruption is likely.
Example Orders
Spoiler :
Acadia
Democratic - Republic - Independent State
Defensive Pact with Celtonia (expires in 2 turns)
Consail Hillary Schmidt-Douglas - Liberal Party
North American / French / Celtonian mixed Culture
Treasury: $10
Eco: 5 EP (under-developed)
Ind: 2 PP (under-developed)
Tech Level: 7.0 (good), decent progress
Manpower: 100% (1 Volunteer)
Stability: 80%
Oil supply: 0%
Upkeep: -$2
Faiths: Druidism, Christianity (both moderate), Wotanism (weak)
Agendas: pro-Celtic movement (strong), Liberal party (strong), pro-USA party (moderate), Communist party (weak), Neo-Druidist movement (weak), Demilitarisation movement (moderate)
Minorities: German, Greek, Norse (weak)
Military Readiness: Low
Army (professional): 3 Militia, 2 Infantry, 1 Highlander, 2 Rough Rider, 1 Armoured Car, 1 Field Artillery, 1 Siege Artillery
Navy (professional): 2 Gunboats, 1 Torpedo Boat, 1 Destroyer, 1 Steamer
Airforce (trained): 1 Basic Biplane
Mothballed: 2 Militia, 1 Cannon, 1 Ironclad
----
Money spending (optional):
$10 Treasury available
Develop +1 Industry for $10 [due to being ‘under-developed’]
Spend $5 on 1 tech roll
[now going -$5 into debt which is allowable; debt can equal Eco stat]
Industry spending (optional):
No unit production; 2PP into trade goods
[note: the new industry won’t be available until next turn]
Diplomatic influence (optional):
Try to work against the anti-militarist movement both in Celtonia and at home, arguing for the need for continued defence of allies.
Agents (optional):
No spending at this time.
Unit orders (optional):
No additional spending on training, but Destroyer is to sail to Holstein on a friendly naval exchange mission.
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I've updated the official player list, everything else is up for grabs. Let me know if you have any questions about rules, the setting, or anything else!
I can flesh out the timeline in this thread if you would like any more info, but basically happy for you to add your own details.
