Why don't you?
Seriously, though, that's kind of normal.
On my end, I probably won't even have Internet for the end of June and most of July.
IOT Developmental Thread
- Thread starter Joecoolyo
- Start date
Why don't you?
Seriously, though, that's kind of normal.
On my end, I probably won't even have Internet for the end of June and most of July.
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2008
- Messages
- 14,928
I go to college and I need a lot of math classes.
"Kind of" in this case being entirely ironic.
NedimNapoleon
Weird Little Human
I have a Japanese culture/language class this July, but I think I can still continue my normal IOT activities...anyways summer classes are relatively easier and dont take up time as ordinary school.
AlexRomaniaGrig
Warlord
We have job practice in Romania. We're sent to work just like qualified people, for no pay, for good grades.
NedimNapoleon
Weird Little Human
We have that here too. But I go to Gymnasium, so I dont have job practice.
Lighthearter
President of the United States
Empires Through Time: Military
At first I struggled with how to adopt a standard RNG combat system to showcase different types of units, all with strengths against one another. I needed a way to have a rock-paper-scissors system of combat that could support easy technological advancement and counter units without any undue difficulty - and that's when it hit me.
Armies are large things. Having two or three batteries of anti-tank cannons won't stop their tanks from breaking your line. You have to be able to pump it out in force - which is another potential reason not to invest in research as much since you'll need your gold to actually train troops.
The way it works now is simple. Every unit has XStrength, with X being the upgrade level(1 per Epoch) that the unit is caught up to. For example, a unit from the Renaissance would have 6 Strength, because the Renaissance is the sixth Epoch. If there is parity in countering units to countered, all countering units gain +.5 Strength per Epoch level. If there is superiority, +1 per Epoch level.
Hence, that same Renaissance unit with 6 strength becomes a 9 strength unit if there are an equal amount of its type on your side than of the type they counter on the enemy side. It becomes 12 if there are more.
Invest in all unit types for this reason, or focus on one area and become matchless with it. You need to make it hard or impossible for an enemy to beat you down with excellent use of the counter system, since total army strengths must be public. If they can draw your forces into a battle where even one part of your force is outnumbered by their counters, they could easily score a victory all out of proportion to the numbers involved.
Anyone have comments or suggestions on this system?
-L
At first I struggled with how to adopt a standard RNG combat system to showcase different types of units, all with strengths against one another. I needed a way to have a rock-paper-scissors system of combat that could support easy technological advancement and counter units without any undue difficulty - and that's when it hit me.
Armies are large things. Having two or three batteries of anti-tank cannons won't stop their tanks from breaking your line. You have to be able to pump it out in force - which is another potential reason not to invest in research as much since you'll need your gold to actually train troops.
The way it works now is simple. Every unit has XStrength, with X being the upgrade level(1 per Epoch) that the unit is caught up to. For example, a unit from the Renaissance would have 6 Strength, because the Renaissance is the sixth Epoch. If there is parity in countering units to countered, all countering units gain +.5 Strength per Epoch level. If there is superiority, +1 per Epoch level.
Hence, that same Renaissance unit with 6 strength becomes a 9 strength unit if there are an equal amount of its type on your side than of the type they counter on the enemy side. It becomes 12 if there are more.
Invest in all unit types for this reason, or focus on one area and become matchless with it. You need to make it hard or impossible for an enemy to beat you down with excellent use of the counter system, since total army strengths must be public. If they can draw your forces into a battle where even one part of your force is outnumbered by their counters, they could easily score a victory all out of proportion to the numbers involved.
Anyone have comments or suggestions on this system?
-L
At least interns do it voluntarily. Indentured servitude is so much better than slavery.
mechaerik
Tuturuu!
Development Diary: Combat
For all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Thought it was just a joke, did you? Well it wasn't. Coming soon to a forum near you, Thy Kingdom Come. To help give you an idea on how the game will operate, I shall publish a development diary, as they seem to be all the rage these days.
Scale
In Thy Kingdom Come, there is a single unit represented in combat; the Man, which is exactly what it says on the tin. That is correct, every soldier in an army is individually represented. No abstraction where 1 military point is equal to a division, or a corps; every Man is one man. Naval units are not currently represented, nor are there any plans to represent them. The Crusades era was not known for its major naval engagements. You can still ship units across waterways, but it comes at a cost.
Men are a resource obtained primarily from the countryside (in most cases, see later devdiaries if applicable), but there are also Holy Orders and mercenaries available, as well as just general adventurers who show up wanting to fight for the cross or crescent.
Representation
In Thy Kingdom Come, units are attached to Military Leaders. Military Leaders are basically another class of military unit (so the above section is technically not entirely truthful), however, unlike the Man, they are very limited. While a player can reasonably expect having thousands of men available for battle, Military Leaders will very likely number under a half a dozen per player.
Example of Military Leader
This is because Military Leaders are represented individually on the map. For offensive operations, you attach units to a military leader, who then moves around on the map, pillaging, conquering, sieging, and generally making war. The units attached to the military leader are considered to be part of his Host.
Military leaders can have traits, which can affect their effectiveness in battle. Maybe one leader is a zealot, maybe another is inspiring, and maybe a third is reckless. Do note, however, that military leaders can be killed or captured during battle, and if this happens to a great leader, that could easily turn the tide of a battle.
Soldiers can also be assigned to garrison a city, which strengthens its defenses in the event of attack, but swollen numbers can also result in a faster surrender (see Sieges, below).
Most of the time, you will not have your entire army called up; raising levies hurts your economic output. A certain allowance is given, however, to represent things such as city guards and professional soldiers in the personal employ of the ruler.
Battle
For combat itself, TKC shall use a variation on the Standardized Combat System. Should be fairly self explanatory.
After the battle, however, different things may happen. Depending on how badly the battle (and the war in general) went down, and on the traits of both the attacking and defending military leader, one of three things may happen: there could be an orderly retreat, a retreat can turn into a rout, or (in extreme cases) the losing army may panic and break.
Sieges
This is the Crusades, however, and your target isn't the countryside; your target is the juicy, wealthy cities. Much of your income will come from cities (which are also represented on map, to be expanded upon in a later development diary), with the countryside primarily providing men for your levies and a buffer zone. Undefended countryside will fall immediately to hostile armies, but cities will not. If a military leader moves his host onto a province containing a city, a siege will begin.
While a city is under siege, its economic output is greatly reduced and you will find it very difficult to move what income remains, as well as troops ,in or out. The difficulty and reduction only increase as provinces bordering the city fall to the enemy as well. Every turn, a siege check is rolled and added to the siege's total. Once the sum of the siege checks exceeds the city's defensibility, the city falls. Once the city falls, the victor can sack it, leave it be, or anything in between. Sacking permanently damages the city's economic output.
If sieges are too slow for you (or an enemy army is bearing down to relieve the siege), you can attempt to storm the city. If you do, expect terrible losses, a permanent reduction to the city's economic output, and a reduction to the city's defensibility.
That is all for this development diary, see you soon. Deus Vult!
Release Date: Summergeddon 2013
All information presented is subject to change at the GM's discretion
Robert Can't
Éponine
Developer's Diary
The Private Sector, "Other", and of Factions and Nations
Come the end of my exams on the 24th of June we will once again be embarking into the world of Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds which - as I understand - had a recent revival that I haven't been luck enough to see. This being the case and as Sonereal suggested I should I'm going to tell you about the biggest new mechanic that I'll be introducing. Other than this the game is likely to be very much the same.
Economy
Firstly Economics is going to work a bit differently to other IOTs that have come previously. Most noticeably due to the fact that the private and public sectors are going to be split.
The Economy of a nation is split into two parts, its Private sector representing privately owned enterprises and its Public sector representing Government owned initiatives. Economy is represented as in many other IOTs simply by factories, which provide the ubiquitous IC that will fuel your nation. Both the Private and Public sectors are comprised of factories. Note: Factories represent all economic stuff, not just factories.
Each province on the map has a separate value for its Private and Public sector production, all provinces also have a value for Government Control. (Representing the authority of a state in its constituents) A Government Control of 0% represents occupation or territory not expanded into but internationally recognised as sovereign territories of your nations (i.e Uncolonized areas of Africa).
Each province then gets a value for Government Revenue which is the Government control multiplied by Public Sector IC. This value is then added directly to your total IC to spend.
Private sector income is all pooled at a national level. You can set a tax rate depending on what faction you're in (more on that later) and that percentage of Private Sector Revenue is added to total IC.
But wait - there's more! All that untaxed IC, it goes into the pockets of the factory owners and potential investors. This allows them to invest in factories themselves, this is how the private sector expands. A quasi-random amount of the private owner's money is reinvested into new factories. All the factories that you build are Public Sector.
Public sector buildings are also susceptible to decay and there is a quasi-random chance that a number of your facilities will have to be replaced each turn.
Other
Next up the thing I ambiguously named in the title as "Other". You see the thing is that I'm changing the way that spending is going to work. You can now only Spend IC to build armed forces, build factories or to do Other. You will note that there is no obvious way to invest in Leadership, Government Control, Reducing Revolt Risk (Which is incidentally a hidden number), espionage or anything else.
This is where Other comes in. You can invest in absolutely anything you want, wether it be to rebuild a railway system, invest in telecommunications, build a new university or send out your agents to assess the internal power struggles in your nation. Often you will get suggestions from Private Investors or Government Ministers to keep you on track but really I think this method of spending gives a more free form feel to the game and keeps it from becoming a number crunch and makes it a more immersive experience. I will keep it balanced so you needn't be worried about that.
The Factions
One element of gameplay that has knock on effects in all aspects of your nation is what faction you are part of. Most nations previous played by players have a pre-assigned faction. There are 4 major factions each with benefits and the other things. This adds even more individuality as the old system of nations specific traits will be retained but still this system aims to make each persons nation play completely differently to each other. Bear in mind that though some factions may seem unbalance to others further balance comes from the nation's specific abilities.
Here I will list the four Major Factions:
Spoiler :
There are also going to be 3 other Minor factions in the game. These are factions that nations cannot join but still represent powerful bodies in the world.
Spoiler :
That's all for this time. As usual I'm open to suggestions and questions and the odd "Your Rules Suck" sort of comment.
Mosher
Mushroom dad
Is there any market for an ancient era IOT without many hard stats?
NedimNapoleon
Weird Little Human
I'd be interested.
mechaerik
Tuturuu!
Development Diary II: Religion
In this sign you shall conquer.
The second development diary for Thy Kingdom Come, this one focuses on religion. After all, what would a Crusades-based game be without religion?
Cross and Crescent
In Thy Kingdom Come, there are two religious groups, Christianity and Islam. In addition, each religious group has two sects. This does not mean, however, that a member of one sect is destined to be in perpetual conflict with the three other groups. In fact, it does not even mean that Christians and Muslims are locked in permanent hostilities. Players are free to make alliances with "the other side", and free to declare war on their brothers in the faith.
Each faith has a stat, Moral Authority, which represents how strong the believers' conviction is. A low Moral Authority can result in serious penalties for those of that faith, while a high one can result in great benefits. Moral Authority is strengthened upon conversions, successful wars against other faiths, and other such activities, while it is lowered upon apostasy and failed wars against other faiths (particularly failed wars of aggression).
Each faith also has unique attributes, some of which are covered here.
Christianity
Christianity is divided into Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox. The head of the Catholic Church is the Pope, while the default head of the Greek Orthodox Church is the Ecumenical Patriarch.
Catholics have some of the more detailed religion-specific mechanics. The Pope is the only religious head that is off-map. As such, he cannot be directly controlled. The GM will run all interaction with the Papacy. The Pope has the power to call for Crusades. Catholics responding to the calls will be rewarded. Catholics who interfere will be punished. Crusades are targeted towards one specific city. If a Crusade is successful, Catholic moral authority will experience a significant bump, and those who participated will recieve various things, such as gold or additional manpower. In addition, Catholics have a much higher conversion rate, and periodically gain additional manpower from off-map. Tapping this increased rate, however, will damage a city's economic output, and Catholic players recieve dramatically less manpower from province ownership.
Those of the Greek Orthodox Church also have some unique mechanics. Their head is the Ecumenical Patriarch. However, the Ecumenical Patriarch is far less active than his counterparts. The Ecumenical Patriarchy is located on-map. In addition, controlling one of the cities of the Pentarchy will give you complete independence from the Ecumenical Patriarch. Heads of the Orthodox Church do not call crusades. However, Orthodox countries can still participate in Catholic crusades, though potential rewards are lower. In general, Orthodox rewards for holy war are lower.
Islam
Islam is divided into Sunni and Shia. Sunni Islam is headed by the Caliph, while Shia Islam is headed by an Imam. Both Sunni and Shia recieve additional gold from non-Muslim territory. The Sunni and Shia faiths can also gain Moral Authority from fighting each other.
The Black Standard
The Sunni Caliph is represented on-map. Having him within your borders is a great boon to prestige, and can grant several potential benefits. In addition, having him within your borders confers upon you his authority - if you create a Shadow Caliphate. Creating a Shadow Caliphate can only be done when the Caliph resides in your borders, and lowers the moral authority of the Sunni faith. In return, you can directly control the Caliph's powers. If you are defeated in a war against other Sunnis, they can demand transfer of the Caliph.
The Shia are lead by an Imam. The Imam's powers are much the same as the Sunni Caliph's. However, you cannot create a Shadow Imamate.
That is all for this development diary, see you soon. Deus Vult!
Release Date: Summergeddon 2013
All information presented is subject to change at the GM's discretion
Robert Can't
Éponine
The Black Standard
Well... That's an interesting black square
mechaerik
Tuturuu!
As the length and width are not equal, it is actually rectangular in shape.
christos200
Never tell me the odds
THE BALKAN WARS
DEVELOPMENT BLOG:
PART 1 : ECONOMICS
Welcome to the first part of a series of Development Blogs for my Balkan Wars IOT. The Balkan Wars IOT will take place in 1912, with the nations of Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria united with the aim of driving the Turks out of Europe once and for all. The first Development Blog will be about the economy.
When I decided to start the Balkan IOT, I wanted to create an IOT that had a complex and realistic but at the same time simple and easy to learn economic system. I decided that instead of the income per province or factories, to focus more on Taxes.
So, here is the System I have created for my Balkan wars IOT:
Economy:
Each nation begins with a certain amount of IC (Industrial Capacity), FC (Farming Capacity) and EP's (Economic Points). IC comes from Industry. FC from Farms. EP comes from taxes. You use EP's to pay for armies and healthcare, IC to build Factories and FC to develop Farms and feed the army.
Taxes:
Tax can be from 1 to 100%. If you have Free Market (1 - 49%) Taxes, you have from 1 to 10 (1 - 25%) and 1 to 20 (26-49%) chances of getting 4 free Factories each Turn. If you are more protectionist or Communist (51% - 100%), you get more money from Taxes, but no investment in the Industry. Also, having more Taxes is not good public support. So, unless you are Communist Dictator, taxing above 80% is going to ruin your political career. Having 50% does not give you any Bonus.
Taxes take in account the following Factors:
1) % of Taxes * Number of Private Sector Factories / 10.
2) % of Taxes * Number of Farms/ 10.
3) % of Taxes * Number of Workers/ 10
Example: Greece has 5 Private Sector Factories, 3 Farms and 15 Workers. Tax Rate is 34%. So, we have:
5 * 34 = 170 (=) 170/10 = 17.
3 * 34 = 102 (=) 102/10 = 10 (0.x are not counted).
14 * 34 = 476 (=) 476/10 = 47.
So total income is 17 + 10 + 47 = 74 EP's.
It may sound a bit Complex, but in reality it is quite simple.
Factories:
Each country starts with a Certain amount of Factories. Nations like Greece, the Ottoman Empire and Romania are more industrialized than Serbia or Bulgaria. Factories cost 20 IC, 40 EP's and 4 Workers, take 2 Turns to be build and give 8 IC and 10 EP's per Turn. For factories you have to pay an upkeep of 4 EP's.
Companies:
You can then sell the Factories to companies in exchange from 20 IC and 40 EP's up to 60 IC and 80 EP's. Based on negotiations and how stable your nation is. It is a good way to get fast huge amounts of money. Also, you will get extra money from Taxing the Companies. So, you either have direct control of the economy and get EP's and IC's every turn (Public Sector) or you sell them for huge amounts of EP's and IC's and then Tax them to increase your EP's (Private Sector).
The good thing about Private Sector is that you get more EP's and you get fast money. You also do not have to pay Upkeeps. The bad thing is that you do not get IC's every turn and IC are needed for your War Machine. The good thing about the Public Sector is that you get EP's and IC's every turn, that you do not need to worry much about IC, but the bad thing is the Upkeep and that you could gain more EP's if you selled the Factory and taxed it.
Buying IC's:
You can buy IC's from Private Factories. The price is 1 IC for 4 EP's.
Farms:
Each country starts with a Certain amount of Farms. Nations like Serbia or Bulgaria have more Farming based economies than nations like Greece, the Ottoman Empire and Romania. Farms cost 10 FC, 14 EP's and 8 Workers, take 1 Turn to be build and give 3 FC and 6 EP's. Farms are more simple than Factories. They are under your control and you also Tax them.
Workers:
Someone has to build the Farms and Factories for the nation. That someone is the Workers Units. Those Units are based on the Population of each country. They Work for you and you can Tax them. When you have them to build Factories of Farms or Military Bases, it takes some Turns. Workers have chances to die based on how much you spend in Healthcare. You can also gain new Workers, again based on how much you spend in Healthcare.
NEXT: Balkan Politics
DEVELOPMENT BLOG:
PART 1 : ECONOMICS
Welcome to the first part of a series of Development Blogs for my Balkan Wars IOT. The Balkan Wars IOT will take place in 1912, with the nations of Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria united with the aim of driving the Turks out of Europe once and for all. The first Development Blog will be about the economy.
When I decided to start the Balkan IOT, I wanted to create an IOT that had a complex and realistic but at the same time simple and easy to learn economic system. I decided that instead of the income per province or factories, to focus more on Taxes.
So, here is the System I have created for my Balkan wars IOT:
Economy:
Each nation begins with a certain amount of IC (Industrial Capacity), FC (Farming Capacity) and EP's (Economic Points). IC comes from Industry. FC from Farms. EP comes from taxes. You use EP's to pay for armies and healthcare, IC to build Factories and FC to develop Farms and feed the army.
Taxes:
Tax can be from 1 to 100%. If you have Free Market (1 - 49%) Taxes, you have from 1 to 10 (1 - 25%) and 1 to 20 (26-49%) chances of getting 4 free Factories each Turn. If you are more protectionist or Communist (51% - 100%), you get more money from Taxes, but no investment in the Industry. Also, having more Taxes is not good public support. So, unless you are Communist Dictator, taxing above 80% is going to ruin your political career. Having 50% does not give you any Bonus.
Taxes take in account the following Factors:
1) % of Taxes * Number of Private Sector Factories / 10.
2) % of Taxes * Number of Farms/ 10.
3) % of Taxes * Number of Workers/ 10
Example: Greece has 5 Private Sector Factories, 3 Farms and 15 Workers. Tax Rate is 34%. So, we have:
5 * 34 = 170 (=) 170/10 = 17.
3 * 34 = 102 (=) 102/10 = 10 (0.x are not counted).
14 * 34 = 476 (=) 476/10 = 47.
So total income is 17 + 10 + 47 = 74 EP's.
It may sound a bit Complex, but in reality it is quite simple.
Factories:
Each country starts with a Certain amount of Factories. Nations like Greece, the Ottoman Empire and Romania are more industrialized than Serbia or Bulgaria. Factories cost 20 IC, 40 EP's and 4 Workers, take 2 Turns to be build and give 8 IC and 10 EP's per Turn. For factories you have to pay an upkeep of 4 EP's.
Companies:
You can then sell the Factories to companies in exchange from 20 IC and 40 EP's up to 60 IC and 80 EP's. Based on negotiations and how stable your nation is. It is a good way to get fast huge amounts of money. Also, you will get extra money from Taxing the Companies. So, you either have direct control of the economy and get EP's and IC's every turn (Public Sector) or you sell them for huge amounts of EP's and IC's and then Tax them to increase your EP's (Private Sector).
The good thing about Private Sector is that you get more EP's and you get fast money. You also do not have to pay Upkeeps. The bad thing is that you do not get IC's every turn and IC are needed for your War Machine. The good thing about the Public Sector is that you get EP's and IC's every turn, that you do not need to worry much about IC, but the bad thing is the Upkeep and that you could gain more EP's if you selled the Factory and taxed it.
Buying IC's:
You can buy IC's from Private Factories. The price is 1 IC for 4 EP's.
Farms:
Each country starts with a Certain amount of Farms. Nations like Serbia or Bulgaria have more Farming based economies than nations like Greece, the Ottoman Empire and Romania. Farms cost 10 FC, 14 EP's and 8 Workers, take 1 Turn to be build and give 3 FC and 6 EP's. Farms are more simple than Factories. They are under your control and you also Tax them.
Workers:
Someone has to build the Farms and Factories for the nation. That someone is the Workers Units. Those Units are based on the Population of each country. They Work for you and you can Tax them. When you have them to build Factories of Farms or Military Bases, it takes some Turns. Workers have chances to die based on how much you spend in Healthcare. You can also gain new Workers, again based on how much you spend in Healthcare.
NEXT: Balkan Politics
Thorvald of Lym
A Little Sketchy
inb4 nedim
NedimNapoleon
Weird Little Human
inb4 Sonereal.
