jackelgull
An aberration of nature
I would like to claim the Toucouler Empire
December World: sign-up thread
- Thread starter Ahigin
- Start date
Your wish is my command. Also, I applaud your bravery, because it won't be an easy sail.
On another note, I'm 90% done with the first update, so please expect the game to start some time next week. I'll lock-confirm the rest of the players before that happens, of course.
Be advised: the first update will be BIG, since I populate the entire world with Regional Quests that will give you plenty to do for many more turns in advance. It doesn't mean you have to read all of it, because it will be split by regions, and players will be able to decide which parts of the globe they care about. Either way, sit tight and be ready.
Brougal
Chieftain
I'd wish to join as Sardinia-Piedmont, if still possible
Your wish is granted!
Hey all. I'm going to start the game today or tomorrow (finishing the rules post).
The following players have been lock-confirmed:
The following players have been lock-confirmed:
- Reus - Egypt
- tobiisagoodboy - Italy
- Ailedhoo - Austria-Bavaria
- Sniperman456 - Hungary
- Sikh Empire
- Free Boer Republic
- Maghreb
The last preview of the rules before we begin.
Trade and resource conversion
While the modifiers provided to all nations by Policies help to balance your resource budget, sometimes players will find out that some of their resources are in short supply, while other resources are in surplus. What are players’ options in that case?
One is Conversion. Based on total global supply and demand of all resources, any resource can be converted into another resource on the go. It’s not the most optimal conversion rate, but it will help your nations overcome shortages quickly. And yes, conversion rates change every turn, but they are the same for all nations. Here’s an example.
In this example, 5.322 HC can be converted into 1 IC, and 2.261 HC can be converted into 1 EC. (Seems like the world has more labor than wealth or innovation.)
Another option is International Trade. Any nation can try to exchange any resource on any resource at absolutely any rate (it’s up to players to decide what deals they’re comfortable with). Please note that International Trade may be impacted by logistics. For example, a nation suffering from a sea blockade will be unlikely to be able to benefit from export of resources from overseas nations. Some landlocked nations may want to secure transit rights with their neighbors in order to be able to trade with other nations that don’t directly border them. All logistic-related decisions regarding International Trade will be made by me as a GM, just for simplicity sake.
Technology
Now it’s time to talk about my favorite brainchild, namely Technology system in the December World. As always, I encourage all players to approach it with an open mind and accept as an abstraction that drives the game instead of finding out its flaws (trust me, I’m aware of most of them). In other words, let’s relax and enjoy.
Let’s start with most basic assumptions.
Let’s consider an example.
Let’s assume your nation has 10 Corps units. By adopting the Semi-automatic small arms technology, you would improve their Tactical Attack efficiency by 5% and Tactical Defense efficiency by 6%. (Please note: all technological bonuses simply get added together and don’t overlap or exclude each other. Mass use of semi-automatic small arms doesn’t mean that your nation has no niche that could benefit from smoothbore firearms, for instance.) In order to adopt it, you would have to spend [number of units]*[maintenance per unit]*5. In this case, it means a the cost of adopting the tech would be: 10*0.1*5=5 EC and 10*0.4*10=20 MC. After it’s adopted, the tech would add 0.1 EC and 0.4 MC of maintenance per turn for each impacted unit.
Role-playing note: If your nation hasn’t adopted a technology, it doesn’t mean it’s entirely unknown in your nation. It simply means that your people don’t use it habitually and widely enough to make a universal difference. For instance, there may be a few steam carriages in Persia, but it’s probably not enough to significantly impact how effective Persian Enterprises are over all.
Unit Efficiency
Let’s talk about what each unit stat does.
When a unit is directly “clashing” with a Regional Quest or performs a task that doesn’t involve another unit, I’ll use that unit’s average TA/TD and SA/SD values for determining its progress. Yes, that means that all Regional Quests and regions have certain hidden resource capacity and strategic scope, which I won’t be sharing with players. I recommend that players simply use their common sense. This system is not much different from what GM does in other IOT/NES games, but it’s not as arbitrary.
In the end, this system is designed to let players customize their units the way they want. Some of you prefer hurting enemies tactically and draining them of resources. Some of you rely more on strategic success and are ready to soak in any losses. Some of you prefer attack and some of you prefer defense. Technologies are there to make it work whichever way you like.
Technology research
From the beginning, all existing technologies can be adopted by anyone and anywhere, as long as they can pay for it. As the game progresses, players will have a chance to develop new technologies, though.
I will be sending them to players via PMs, organized in stacks. Each turn, the player will be free to select up to 1 technology to activate research, and the rest of them can be either kept in the stack or discarded.
If the player activates research, it will pop up as a Regional Quest with a somewhat vague description in one of that nation’s regions next turn. Yes, it means that other players will see it, too. They will be able to use their Missions (or whichever units they choose to use) to disrupt your research, or steal some blueprints, or do something else. Their chance of success won’t be too high, but if you want to guarantee protection to your research project, I recommend you use at least one Mission to protect it.
How does the Research Quest work? Much like any other quests. From the beginning, you’ll know what types of units you need to use to progress at it. No direct allocation of resources is required. Adding some extra details to your research-related orders may help you with Challenge Rating and end result, but it’s not necessary to succeed.
If the player keeps a tech in the stack, they will have a chance to activate it next turn if they choose to. It’s helpful when you get a lot of really prospective technologies, but can only choose one.
If the player discards a tech, it will not come back to you next turn and will most likely appear in somebody else’s stack next. Why should you do it? To open a slot for another potential tech. It’s a good action to do if some particular tech seems to be not very promising, or it’s just not something you can afford in any observable future.
New technology
Let’s assume you did activate a technology and have done your diligence researching it. What happens next?
First of all, your nation automatically adopts it with no additional cost (you still have to pay your regular maintenance cost per turn, though). Secondly, your nation gets a one-turn 3X modifier to that tech’s efficiency. This resembles the “wow” effect that technological breakthroughs often get on the enemies and the market. (If you’re curious, read up diaries of German soldiers that saw first British tanks at the Somme in 1916. And those tanks were cumbersome, unreliable crawling metal boxes.) At that point, the technology is too new to be adopted by any other nation. Next turn, the “wow” effect with will cool down to 2X, and eventually drop to normal 1X. Only then will it be adoptable for others. What if you succeeded at stealing blueprints earlier? Then you can adopt that tech at 2X.
All together, I feel like these rules will enrich the setting and give a lot of strategic choices to players. Sounds complex? Then simply explain to your GM (that’s me) what technologic composition you’re looking for, and I’ll be happy to manage technology for you. I get some perverted pleasure from doing that.
World Tension
Finally, we need to briefly talk about a brand new concept known as World Tension. This is a hidden modifier that players will be able to guess just purely through reading updates. World Tension is a reflection of how many unsolved urgent issues exist in world politics, of how close the world to major conflicts, how explosive the situation is across the globe. The game will start at a fairly mellow point, but gradually tensions might rise through aggressive diplomacy, crises, and military conflicts. On the other hand, any de-escalation, peace conference, and simply exhaustion of all warring sides will contribute to lowering World Tensions.
So, what does it do? It simply defines how long of a historical period each turn represents. At the start of the game, each turn represents one year. As the world becomes a more dangerous place, turns will shorten, turning into 9-months, 6-months, and 3-months periods. Those of you who’re familiar with the history of World Wars will remember how many various swings could happen in world politics over the span of a single year, so I hope to model it by making each turn stand for a 3-month period when World Tensions are at their peak.
Does it impact research and resources per turn? Not at all. Again, let’s all remember that resources are completely abstract, so there’s no real need to change their values. As for technology, I’d like to point out that sciences and even culture evolved over the course of the Great War more than over the span of the previous (and the following) decade. I guess, when tensions are high, human mind creates faster. Who knows?
Housekeeping
Finally, let’s talk about some basic rules of how this game will flow.
Trade and resource conversion
While the modifiers provided to all nations by Policies help to balance your resource budget, sometimes players will find out that some of their resources are in short supply, while other resources are in surplus. What are players’ options in that case?
One is Conversion. Based on total global supply and demand of all resources, any resource can be converted into another resource on the go. It’s not the most optimal conversion rate, but it will help your nations overcome shortages quickly. And yes, conversion rates change every turn, but they are the same for all nations. Here’s an example.
In this example, 5.322 HC can be converted into 1 IC, and 2.261 HC can be converted into 1 EC. (Seems like the world has more labor than wealth or innovation.)
Another option is International Trade. Any nation can try to exchange any resource on any resource at absolutely any rate (it’s up to players to decide what deals they’re comfortable with). Please note that International Trade may be impacted by logistics. For example, a nation suffering from a sea blockade will be unlikely to be able to benefit from export of resources from overseas nations. Some landlocked nations may want to secure transit rights with their neighbors in order to be able to trade with other nations that don’t directly border them. All logistic-related decisions regarding International Trade will be made by me as a GM, just for simplicity sake.
Technology
Now it’s time to talk about my favorite brainchild, namely Technology system in the December World. As always, I encourage all players to approach it with an open mind and accept as an abstraction that drives the game instead of finding out its flaws (trust me, I’m aware of most of them). In other words, let’s relax and enjoy.
Let’s start with most basic assumptions.
- Technology in the game doesn’t directly impact your nation’s resources (it’s not realistic, but makes my life easier).
- Technology impacts only units’ efficiency.
- Based on the type of units a technology impacts, it will belong to one of four major domains: Civic, Industrial, Army, and Navy.
- Each unit has four types of efficiency (or four stats): Tactical Attack (TA), Tactical Defence (TD), Strategic Attack (SA), and Strategic Defense (SD). We will talk about them below.
- Besides improving the stats, each technology also requires certain maintenance in resources.
- It costs nothing to roll back a technology, but it also doesn’t pay anything back immediately. It can be done only in order to save on units’ maintenance.
- To adopt a technology, the user has to pay five times its maintenance cost for all of the units it impacts.
Let’s consider an example.
Let’s assume your nation has 10 Corps units. By adopting the Semi-automatic small arms technology, you would improve their Tactical Attack efficiency by 5% and Tactical Defense efficiency by 6%. (Please note: all technological bonuses simply get added together and don’t overlap or exclude each other. Mass use of semi-automatic small arms doesn’t mean that your nation has no niche that could benefit from smoothbore firearms, for instance.) In order to adopt it, you would have to spend [number of units]*[maintenance per unit]*5. In this case, it means a the cost of adopting the tech would be: 10*0.1*5=5 EC and 10*0.4*10=20 MC. After it’s adopted, the tech would add 0.1 EC and 0.4 MC of maintenance per turn for each impacted unit.
Role-playing note: If your nation hasn’t adopted a technology, it doesn’t mean it’s entirely unknown in your nation. It simply means that your people don’t use it habitually and widely enough to make a universal difference. For instance, there may be a few steam carriages in Persia, but it’s probably not enough to significantly impact how effective Persian Enterprises are over all.
Unit Efficiency
Let’s talk about what each unit stat does.
- Tactical Attack (TA): determines how effective the unit is at damaging enemy units when it possesses initiative (usually, it literally means an aggressive order).
- Tactical Defence (TD): determines how effective the unit is at damaging enemy units when it gives up initiative (usually, it literally means a defensive order).
- Strategic Attack (SA): determines how effective the unit is at progressing at its task, growing Regional Influence, or advancing into the enemy territory.
- Strategic Defence (SD): determines how effective the unit is at preventing other units from growing Regional Influence in defended regions, or at stopping enemy units from advancing into defended territory.
When a unit is directly “clashing” with a Regional Quest or performs a task that doesn’t involve another unit, I’ll use that unit’s average TA/TD and SA/SD values for determining its progress. Yes, that means that all Regional Quests and regions have certain hidden resource capacity and strategic scope, which I won’t be sharing with players. I recommend that players simply use their common sense. This system is not much different from what GM does in other IOT/NES games, but it’s not as arbitrary.
In the end, this system is designed to let players customize their units the way they want. Some of you prefer hurting enemies tactically and draining them of resources. Some of you rely more on strategic success and are ready to soak in any losses. Some of you prefer attack and some of you prefer defense. Technologies are there to make it work whichever way you like.
Technology research
From the beginning, all existing technologies can be adopted by anyone and anywhere, as long as they can pay for it. As the game progresses, players will have a chance to develop new technologies, though.
I will be sending them to players via PMs, organized in stacks. Each turn, the player will be free to select up to 1 technology to activate research, and the rest of them can be either kept in the stack or discarded.
If the player activates research, it will pop up as a Regional Quest with a somewhat vague description in one of that nation’s regions next turn. Yes, it means that other players will see it, too. They will be able to use their Missions (or whichever units they choose to use) to disrupt your research, or steal some blueprints, or do something else. Their chance of success won’t be too high, but if you want to guarantee protection to your research project, I recommend you use at least one Mission to protect it.
How does the Research Quest work? Much like any other quests. From the beginning, you’ll know what types of units you need to use to progress at it. No direct allocation of resources is required. Adding some extra details to your research-related orders may help you with Challenge Rating and end result, but it’s not necessary to succeed.
If the player keeps a tech in the stack, they will have a chance to activate it next turn if they choose to. It’s helpful when you get a lot of really prospective technologies, but can only choose one.
If the player discards a tech, it will not come back to you next turn and will most likely appear in somebody else’s stack next. Why should you do it? To open a slot for another potential tech. It’s a good action to do if some particular tech seems to be not very promising, or it’s just not something you can afford in any observable future.
New technology
Let’s assume you did activate a technology and have done your diligence researching it. What happens next?
First of all, your nation automatically adopts it with no additional cost (you still have to pay your regular maintenance cost per turn, though). Secondly, your nation gets a one-turn 3X modifier to that tech’s efficiency. This resembles the “wow” effect that technological breakthroughs often get on the enemies and the market. (If you’re curious, read up diaries of German soldiers that saw first British tanks at the Somme in 1916. And those tanks were cumbersome, unreliable crawling metal boxes.) At that point, the technology is too new to be adopted by any other nation. Next turn, the “wow” effect with will cool down to 2X, and eventually drop to normal 1X. Only then will it be adoptable for others. What if you succeeded at stealing blueprints earlier? Then you can adopt that tech at 2X.
All together, I feel like these rules will enrich the setting and give a lot of strategic choices to players. Sounds complex? Then simply explain to your GM (that’s me) what technologic composition you’re looking for, and I’ll be happy to manage technology for you. I get some perverted pleasure from doing that.
World Tension
Finally, we need to briefly talk about a brand new concept known as World Tension. This is a hidden modifier that players will be able to guess just purely through reading updates. World Tension is a reflection of how many unsolved urgent issues exist in world politics, of how close the world to major conflicts, how explosive the situation is across the globe. The game will start at a fairly mellow point, but gradually tensions might rise through aggressive diplomacy, crises, and military conflicts. On the other hand, any de-escalation, peace conference, and simply exhaustion of all warring sides will contribute to lowering World Tensions.
So, what does it do? It simply defines how long of a historical period each turn represents. At the start of the game, each turn represents one year. As the world becomes a more dangerous place, turns will shorten, turning into 9-months, 6-months, and 3-months periods. Those of you who’re familiar with the history of World Wars will remember how many various swings could happen in world politics over the span of a single year, so I hope to model it by making each turn stand for a 3-month period when World Tensions are at their peak.
Does it impact research and resources per turn? Not at all. Again, let’s all remember that resources are completely abstract, so there’s no real need to change their values. As for technology, I’d like to point out that sciences and even culture evolved over the course of the Great War more than over the span of the previous (and the following) decade. I guess, when tensions are high, human mind creates faster. Who knows?
Housekeeping
Finally, let’s talk about some basic rules of how this game will flow.
- IMPORTANT: It’s up to the players how deeply they want to dig into the stats. I’ll make sure to help you understand key values, and, honestly, there isn’t that many high-level stats you need to know. But if you want to delegate some part of micromanagement to me, feel free to do so. Let me know what you’re trying to achieve, and I’ll micromanage things for you. On the other hand, if you want to be very specific, then almost all stats are open for you. I’ll share all necessary links.
- I’ll give players 1-1.5 weeks to read each update and prepare orders; first turn will be an exception, since the first update will be pretty big, populating the entire setting with Regional Quests. If it’s too much reading for you, then simply select the regions you care about and follow their development. Updates are structured specifically so that players could adjust to their preferred scope.
- Early orders will have a Challenge Rating bonus. Why? Because, as General Patton once said, “A good plan executed immediately is better than a perfect plan executed tomorrow.” Besides, it helps me to not get slammed with last-minutes orders.
- Each turn will have two deadlines: early deadline for economic, diplomatic, and domestic orders, and late deadline for military orders. Why do I keep them separate? First of all, because that way players don’t have to worry about preparing contingency orders in case somebody chooses to play it quiet and overrun their entire country with their pre-set attack order. Besides that, it helps me with updates, because I won’t be getting as many last-minute orders that change everything and force everyone reevaluate what they’re doing.
- Any war declarations will be made public before or immediately after the early deadline, so nations involved in wars will be able to prepare military orders, and the rest of us will be able to wait for the next turn to do so. (For more experienced NESers/IOT gamers: this is my attempt to deal with metagame that involves last-minute attack orders and stuff like that. Let’s see if I’m successful at that or not.)
- If some very important and impactful diplomatic or military events took place, I may sometimes declare a Crisis Update: a mini-update that allows all players to send short orders regarding it. Beginning of the Great War would be an example of such events, allowing nations to “pile up” and join the fray or declare their neutrality or do whatever they come up with in regards to the event.
- While I’m working on my update, I’ll sometimes announce creative mini-contests: describe your nation’s leader, draw your flag, etc. You don’t have to participate in them, they’re just for fun. Particularly good entries may help you get some Challenge Rating bonus for upcoming turns, but I promise to not make it game-changing. These contests are for fun and to keep everyone entertained. They’re not obligatory.
- All orders must be sent via PM to me. I don’t mind if you use Google Docs to draft them, just make sure to include the Google Docs link into your PM.
- In your orders, please use the names I gave to each Regional Quest for non-generic orders. That’s not a must, but makes my life easier.
- Normal rules of behavior: don’t be jerks to each other; don’t associate players’ in-game personality with their real-life personality; keep all offtopic, not game related chat in the sign-up thread; PM me for questions; be patient if I don’t respond right away; repeat questions if you suspect they fell off of my radar; don’t expect me to please everyone; remember that I’m not being paid to run this game and I do it in my free time.
Aaaand it's up!
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/december-world-game-thread.620944/
Also, don't be scared by the size of the first update. Read the regions you care about.
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/december-world-game-thread.620944/
Also, don't be scared by the size of the first update. Read the regions you care about.
Crezth
i knew you were a real man of the left
For freedom and liberty, I humbly apply to lead the brave free men and women of the Free Boer Republic.
Welcome to Afrika, baas!
I'll just humbly use this post to remind anyone who wants to join this game that four major powers are free for the taking:
Austria-Bavaria, the Sikh Empire, Maghreb, and Gran Paraguay.
We also have tons of smaller, but still quite capable nations open:
the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, United Baltic Duchies, Ukrainian Hetmanate, Siberian Popular Assembly, Moravia, Switzerland, Iberian Republic, Caucasian Imamate, Qajar Persia, Khiva, Ma Dynasty, Gran Colombia, etc.
Go ahead and sign up for this steampunk ride.
You know you wanna.
Austria-Bavaria, the Sikh Empire, Maghreb, and Gran Paraguay.
We also have tons of smaller, but still quite capable nations open:
the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, United Baltic Duchies, Ukrainian Hetmanate, Siberian Popular Assembly, Moravia, Switzerland, Iberian Republic, Caucasian Imamate, Qajar Persia, Khiva, Ma Dynasty, Gran Colombia, etc.
Go ahead and sign up for this steampunk ride.
You know you wanna.
JohannaK
Heroically Clueless
I would like to, um, officially join as the Sikh Empire.
Welcome to the game.
awesome
Meme Lord
In descending order:
-Iron Confederacy (or did you want them to be an NPC? They're not listed in the thread but they're on the map and in the Google docs.)
-Third Burmese Empire
-Ma Dynasty
- Tokugawa Hawaii (can I start as a vassal? I doubt it, but it would be interesting, and it's my fourth pick, so I don't really care)
-Iron Confederacy (or did you want them to be an NPC? They're not listed in the thread but they're on the map and in the Google docs.)
-Third Burmese Empire
-Ma Dynasty
- Tokugawa Hawaii (can I start as a vassal? I doubt it, but it would be interesting, and it's my fourth pick, so I don't really care)
Hello and welcome to this thread. The game has been going for more than a year, so it'd be helpful for you to also catch up with what's been going on (that thread has a list of all updates).
All of the nations you wish to join as are open for players (except Hawaii - it's not an independent territory). Given the way the gameplay is structured, I do recommend joining as the Third Burmese Empire (they have more to do and will be easier to play), but if you wish to be the Iron Confederacy or Ma Dynasty, I don't oppose.
Please confirm your final decision in the game thread, which link I have shared. Please expect updated stats soon - I'm working on them since the latest update.
