December World: sign-up thread

It's easier to chat on mobile than it is to use the forum
 
Terran Empress said:
It's easier to chat on mobile than it is to use the forum
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I'm absolutely sure of it. However, chatting on Discord is completely off-limits for me during work hours. And even outside of work, I won't be able to consistently show up there even if I wanted to. That's all I can really say about it. :)
 
thomas.berubeg said:
1) Canada
2) CSA
3) Empire of Haiti
4) Communard France
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If you're looking for joining, please select 3-4 nations you'd like to play from the list below (ideally, range them by preference and leave, maybe, a brief comment, if you wish).
  • Directorial Russia
  • Hungary
  • North-German Federation
  • Austria-Bavaria
  • Communard France
  • Italy
  • Portugal-Brazil - player found (Nuka-Sama)
  • British Royal Commonwealth - player found (Ophorian)
  • Supreme Porte
  • Egypt
  • Maghreb
  • Free Boer Republic
  • Sikh Empire
  • Third Burmese Empire - player found (SouthernKing)
  • Taiping Mandate
  • Tokugawa Shogunate - player found (Immaculate)
  • Union of North America - player found (J.K. Stockholme)
  • Confederate States of America
  • Mexico
  • Gran Paraguay
Click to expand...
Sorry to burst your bubble thomas :(
 
Hey folks! I've lock-confirmed a few more nations:
  • Communard France - Terran Empress
  • Confederate States of America - thomas.berubeg
  • North-German Federation - Seon

The rest of you are still being considered for all other roles. We have a week-ish to figure out who plays what.

I'm still looking for experienced, consistent players who could take up Directorial Russia and Sublime Porte. (Smaller great powers are easier to get, since they require quite a bit less work.)
 
Austria-Bavaria

Sounds pretty interesting to be a confederation of southern German Kingdoms that resembles the Holy Roman Empire and is somewhat conservative.

Edit: Actually, my first choice is Gran Paraguay.
 
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1) Gran Paraguay - shopping local for their Imperialist needs
2) Free Boer Republic - a place where all 'people' can be free
3) Mexico - honestly, I'm interested in Mexico just for what seems to be in a really cool geopolitical position
 
1. Taiping

And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever

Daniel 2:44

Winning the Kingdom of Heaven was the easy part, keeping it going has proven harder. The fields lie fallow, the people naked and the cities empty. This is not the Kingdom of Heaven we fought for. The fact of material want shows that we have strayed from Biblical principles of governance. Indeed our Christian brothers across the sea show us what might be done in the fullness of Christ and Hong. Thus brothers we must reform not just the external - foot binding - but the internal barbarism within us all. We must therefore:

A. Reform the government along sound biblical principles. We must have justice. We must have peace. We must have rebuilding. We must have order. If this requires our own mandarins then so be it for does not the Bible say: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God? (Romans 13:1)

B. Learn what we can from the foreigners. The foreigners are at once to be loved as fellow Christians and abhorred as heretics. But they have much they can help us with. Thus while we must be wary of the foreigners, lest they spread heresy to us, was it not also the Good Samaritan who stopped to help?

C. Faithfully and truthfully build the Kingdom of Heaven. Once we have achieved our goal in the fullness of Christ and Hong opposition to our rule will become impossible. Faced with paradise on earth, a foretaste of the paradise above, who will be able to resist us?

With these three problems solved we might truly and faithfully usher in the fulness Kingdom of Heaven.

2. Russia
3. Turkey
 
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Few announcements.

1. I've fixed the issues with the map and updated it in the top post (the only exception is the name of the Taiping faction; I'll edit its name probably further in-game). If you still see something off with it, please let me know.
2. I've lock-confirmed christopher_sni as Mexico and Masada as the Taiping player. Omega - my apologies, but Masada is one hell of a player.
3. #2 actually brings me to a certain decision. Right now, my attempt to fill in major nations with the players that I feel would be strong, consistent, and representative of these nations is making many of you feel somewhat disenfranchised. It's understandable, my knowledge of other players is limited, so sometimes my personal bias may stop me from letting a perfectly good player join as a major power.

Therefore, I decided to open all nations to subscription. Any nation not included in the top 20 (see the entry post) can be taken by absolutely any player, regardless of my knowledge of you or any other factors. Just a complete "first come-first serve."

However, if you do want to try to join as a major power (one of top 20), then please be ready that I'll check your gaming track record and make my decision based on that. It's not the most inclusive approach, but usually it helps with keeping games on track.

If you're not sure you can make it to top 20, I'd recommend that you include at least one major and at least one minor nation in your list of sign-ups. Then you'd be eligible for both, and in the worst case you'll get a minor nation you're interested in.
 
hello i would like to play as directorial russia

qualifications

1) I once went to a steampunk themed bar night in a t-shirt and jeans and chatted with the bartender about how everyone there was lame and didn't actually spend a lot of money

2) I played Kaiserreich a lot. Apparently at some point I wrote events for it, too, because my name shows up in the credits, though I don't remember that at all.

3) I'm finalizing my EP, "Russian Democracy" due for release as part of the Star Citizen official soundtrack.

stats too complex
 
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May I maintain my claim to Russia too?

In addition to my international political intrigues and enjoyment of the historic I also sense potential joys with the setting here.

That or the other 3rd Rome: if the ageing Ottoman Empire got their hands on steampunk tech...
 
1. Supreme Porte
2. Sikh Empire
3. Free Boer Republic

I'm a bit busy, but should be more active starting next week.
 
Another piece of the ruleset, for your information and pleasure.

Units

There’s four types of units in the December World, representing the three major aspects of geopolitical competition: civic (politics, currency, culture, intelligence, information), industrial (manufacture, investments, infrastructure), land military might (troops and fortifications), and naval power (fleets, merchant marine, and troops supporting them). Here are the actual names of these units:
  • Mission
  • Enterprise
  • Corps
  • Squadron
Before we talk about the differences between these four, let’s first discuss the basics that are true for all of them.
  1. Any in-game action (except the ones listed in #2 below) requires at least 1 unit to be performed;

  2. Exceptions to the rule #1 are: change of a national policy, adoption of an existing technology, and diplomatic statement of any nature;

  3. Actions can be performed against other units or against Regional Quests (representing how a nation dedicates some part of its state apparatus to addressing an issue); these Regional Quests may be created by me or by the player (just like Projects in more traditional NES/IOT games);

  4. As units perform these actions, they’ll be expending resources (at war, a Corps fighting against a Corps will literally suffer losses; same applies to an espionage Mission clashing with a Mission from another nation; at the same time, an Enterprise working on industrializing some region would suffer “losses” of materiel in a less literal sense, but I’ll call it the same way just for naming consistency);

  5. How much you lose and how effectively you progress at your tasks (be it a military offensive, or an attempt to build the Panama Canal) is defined by luck (I’ll talk about it below) and effectiveness of actions;

  6. There’s four types of effectiveness for each unit (we’ll talk about it below, too), and each of them is dependent on the technologies adopted by your nation (again, bear with me, we’ll get to it);

  7. Each unit requires some spending (in each resource) every turn to maintain it, and that amount is also dependent on technologies; if a nation doesn’t have enough resources to maintain all of its units, I’ll start arbitrarily removing technologies or units from your pool, unless you do it preemptively.
It seems like a lot to take in, right? Not really. Just make two major assumptions:
  • Conflict in the December World can be launched on four different planes: civic, economic, land war, and naval war.
  • Conflict in the December World can be launched against another player or against the world itself (by resolving regional issues or initiating some projects)
Now, let’s talk about how various tasks get resolved.

When a unit (or several units) receives an order from a player to perform a certain task (be it attacking an enemy or building some project or tackling some problem), I roll 10d10 for each unit assigned (yes, multiple units can be assigned to the same task, which I highly recommend in the most of cases) against a challenge rating that ranges from 2 (almost guaranteed success) to 9 (very hard assignment). Then I combine the total number of successes and multiply by the effectiveness of various stats, which we’ll discuss when we talk about technology. For now, just remember that effectiveness goes a long way at making your successful rolls count.

How do I determine the challenge rating? Mostly, it’ll be based on my arbitrary interpretation of your orders (the more detailed they are and the more they make sense to me, the lower is the challenge) and on basic common sense (attacking a well-entrenched enemy across the mountains in winter with no logistical support is most likely going to be a pretty hard assignment, for example). Besides, there will be some housekeeping rules that will make your challenge lower or higher, which we’ll discuss when we talk about housekeeping in particular.

Now, let’s take a look at each unit type specifically. Please remember that these are all abstractions, so let’s not get too bogged down in arguments about exact definitions of each unit type.

Missions
These are Civic units that, depending on a situation, may stand for centers of cultural influence and propaganda, financial groups, information brokerage firms, political parties and lobbies, (counter)intelligence units, sabotage teams, etc. Anything we usually associate with the words “soft power” will most likely be a Mission. Anything involved in some sort of clandestine activity is also likely to be a mission.
  • Missions are the most mobile and flexible of all units. A mission can be assigned to literally any region in the world and will take no time (in turns) to get there and start doing something.

  • Missions don’t really recognize borders and diplomacy. Even if you’re at war with another country, your missions may still be active in the enemy’s rear. It doesn’t mean their effectiveness is not impacted by diplomacy, of course. It’s much, much harder to run a propaganda newspaper in a nation you’re at war with, especially if that nation has censorship and whatnot. But it’s still possible.

  • A mission can be prevented from running its operations only by another mission. It doesn’t mean that an unopposed mission never suffers any losses, but an unopposed mission pretty much rolls through its task at its maximum speed. If you want to prevent somebody from, say, sabotaging your giant infrastructure project, I recommend that you assign at least one Mission to guard its security. If two Missions clash over one task, they’ll be hurting each other directly while playing a tug-of-war at driving toward each other’s goal.

  • Missions can be assigned to generic tasks of influencing other regions. Make your orders more detailed if you want to drop your challenge rating, but you don’t have to.

  • Missions can protect your Regional Influence from being removed/lowered by other Missions or Enterprises. Again, detailed orders are welcome, but not necessary.
Enterprises
These are Industrial units that, depending on a situation, may stand for infrastructure and transportation companies, resource harvesting corporations, manufacturing plants, and other economic players that roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. They also belong to the “soft power” domain, and they’re as soft as “soft” gets.
  • Enterprises are never or almost never involving themselves in illegal or clandestine activities. They’re legal economic actors, regardless of how far from home they operate at.

  • Enterprises almost always improve the region they operate at. They may be not as flexible as Missions, but they also try to solve problems constructively through economic means. They add up some value to the Growth Fluctuation of the region they operate at.

  • Enterprises are impacted by diplomacy, to a degree. Even in the midst of a trade war, an Enterprise may find some legal loophole to continue its operations beyond the embargo horizon, but it’s very, very hard for it to succeed in that case.

  • Enterprises can operate anywhere on Earth, but logistics matters for them. You can assign them to perform tasks anywhere, and they’ll try to, but ideally you’d want to consider how you get materiel to where you need it.

  • Enterprises cannot operate on enemy’s territory. If somebody declares a war at you, your Enterprises will get back home and won’t return to enemy’s territory until the war is over. (But what about nationalization? you say. Nationalization is also going to be an action that requires Enterprises or, at least, Missions to succeed fully. A failed or ineffective nationalization attempt may help you regain your influence eventually, but at the cost of damaging the region).

  • Enterprises can be assigned to generic tasks of developing any region. In that case, they’ll be generating growth for that region while proportionally increasing your share of Regional Influence there. Detailed orders in this case are welcome (to lower the challenge rating), but not necessary.

  • Enterprises can be assigned to generic tasks of competing with other Enterprises. This is a sort of defensive or destructive economic activity centered not on generation of value, but on preventing others from getting an economic beachhead in a certain region. Very often it may be more effective than just trying to outgrow your opponent’s share of influence through “business as usual.” Such actions are not considered diplomatically hostile and can be performed even by allies.
Corps

These are Army units that are the easiest to define. Depending on a situation, they may stand for standing army units, territorial garrison districts, expeditionary forces, military police, and, eventually, land-based aviation. They are the most blunt units in the game, but they get things done in the most irreversible way.

  • Corps have very few applications outside of direct military confrontation. Once in a while, you’ll have to use your Corps to research certain Army technology. Often times, you’ll be able to use them to crackdown on some social discontent at home or in another nation (assuming that nation invites you to do so or simply is not in a position to say “no”). Investing into Corps is like investing into self-defense and shooting courses. You won’t need them often, but when you do, you’d better have them ready and in the right number.

  • Corps function most effectively in the state of open confrontation. Open warfare on land is where Corps shine. Diplomatic confusion and uncertainty limit their ability to get things done.

  • Corps are the most heavily impacted by logistics. I don’t think I need to spend much time explaining this. “An army marches on its stomach.”

  • Corps can directly hurt only another Corps or another Squadron (in case of countering an amphibious invasion). I guess this one is self-explanatory. When people try to kill each other, people die. Also, things get broken.

  • Corps hurt the economy and well-being of the region they operate in. Again, war breaks things.

  • At war, Corps are the best at turning your enemy’s Regional Influence into yours. That’s how occupation works. Vae victis.

  • The Regional Influence conquered by the Corps is the hardest to reverse. Missions acting as sabotage teams or partisan groups, or Squadrons acting as amphibious invasions forces may help you regain some influence you’ve lost to the enemy occupation, but no serious success deeply inland is achievable without your Corps beating an enemy Corps.

  • You can assign your Corps to generic military actions, but more detailed/specific operation plans will greatly improve your chances of success. In other words, “invade the enemy territory and kill them like dogs” is still a valid order, but “Initiate Operation Dog Hunter,” followed by specific details of the operation, will be much more effective.
Squadron
These are Naval units that, depending on a situation, may include the high seas fleet, littoral waters protection force, convoys and merchant marine, and land forces participating in amphibious operations. They are pretty expensive, but are a very powerful tool of power projection.

  • Squadrons shine in an open confrontation, but can perform tasks bordering warfare. The navy can be used to secure the nation’s merchant marine from operations of a neutral third power (think of OTL USA in the early days of German submarine warfare during WWI). A clash of two navies is possible even if their nations are neutral, but have reasons to suspect hostility (for example, when their orders are somewhat contradictory.)

  • Squadrons may raise the nation’s Regional Influence in a region connected to the sea or a major river through gunboat diplomacy. Simply pointing your main caliber at the port facilities of a minor nation may go a long way at persuading locals to respect you. However, this is a cheap, but blunt action, which is easy to reverse through other means, not even mentioning the risk of escalation.

  • Squadrons may hurt the growth or well-being of a region by blockading it. Isolation hurts economy, and weak economy hurts everything. Now you know how to measure the effectiveness of your blockade and find most effective ways to implement it.

  • Squadrons are heavily impacted by logistics, but much less so than Corps. The closer you are to your own bases (not necessarily located in your territory), the higher are your chances of succeeding.

  • Squadrons can fight on land via amphibious operations, but only close to an ocean or a lake or a river. The smaller the source of water, the smaller is your power projection inland. Think about how many marines you can land on the beaches of Normandy and how few of them can reach Vienna by going all the way up the Danube river. That’s one scenario, in which a Squadron may fight a Corps.

  • In order to use a Corps in an overseas operation, you have to first secure the landing spot by a Squadron. Simple enough. Even regular infantry can cross a wide river, but you’d need an actual navy to force the Bosphorus strait.

  • Squadrons can operate on rivers. They can make it harder for Corps to cross them, but they can’t make a river completely uncrossable. However, it’s a good habit to protect some of your most critical rivers with some naval presence.

  • If your nation has no ports left to keep your Squadrons operational, they get disbanded. Ships are not going to patiently wait in the middle of the Pacific until the Great Tibetan Empire regains its hard-won sea access.
I hope now you're slightly more familiar with your tools of world domination.
 
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On a separate note, I'm lock-confirming Decamper as the Subleme Porte. I also see that Christos has edited his application from Austria-Bavaria to Gran Paraguay, and wow, does it make a lot of sense. Crhistos is also lock-confirmed as the Gran Paraguay player.
 
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