Terran Empress
Hornet
why exactly do you think that manpower is irrelevant? It is used to build armies, your ground forces, the more men you have the larger your armies will be, contrasting the more armies you have, the less money you will have.
IOT Developmental Thread
- Thread starter Joecoolyo
- Start date
Bowsling
Deity
What is the timeframe? Populations are pretty fluid, and can easily be modelled by a catch-all industry mechanic.
Bowsling
Deity
Also, do you really think humans will fight wars by the time we've figured out how to cross the galaxy? Population is hardly relevant to militaries now, much less in a thousand years.
Mathalamus
Emperor of Mathalia
er... yeah. they will fight wars. guaranteed. if humanity can do one thing, its war.
Bowsling
Deity
Drones do it better. That said, I like you well you completely missed the point of my post.
EDIT: Crosspost my Tyo, yo
EDIT: Crosspost my Tyo, yo
Terran Empress
Hornet
I would say, the time frame and tech level would be something about Mass Effect/Star Trek, so basic drones, but people would still be needed to run them, and boots on the ground would still be the better choice in many situations, we arn't talking about trade federation armies. However they could be researched. But even then, unless you can get near perfect AI you would still need some form of people to order and direct the army.
and im not too sure, im going to say that depending on the planets, most planets can hold about 10 billion people, so im thinking maybe each man power would 10 million people or about the size of an army Theater in warfare, which would be IMO what you would deal with mostly for planetary invasions at this level, you aren't dealing with individual divisions like in Sam's IOT, your dealing with entire modern day armed forces sizes.
and im not too sure, im going to say that depending on the planets, most planets can hold about 10 billion people, so im thinking maybe each man power would 10 million people or about the size of an army Theater in warfare, which would be IMO what you would deal with mostly for planetary invasions at this level, you aren't dealing with individual divisions like in Sam's IOT, your dealing with entire modern day armed forces sizes.
Bowsling
Deity
Don't you think air and space power would be much more important than massed armies? 
Terran Empress
Hornet
Don't you think air and space power would be much more important than massed armies?
not when invading a planet, you still need boots on the ground, the maps have both systems and planets, systems you have to have space superiority, but unless you want to destroy the planet, you will still need boots on the ground to secure it for your own empire.
Bowsling
Deity
Whatever bro I don't really feel like arguing this much about the future. Agree to disagree. My original point that keeping track of population is a useless waste of time stands.
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Depending on how keen you are on keeping the populace. Sins of a Solar Empire, a real-time strategy game, has you literally killing the entire populous of planets and all the infrastructure before you can take it for yourself. By nuking it from orbit.
Terran Empress
Hornet
yah that would be possible in my IOT, but then you lose all the planet improvements and the population, and thus the planet is more of a burden on your economy than it would be a boom, unless you are a planet cracker from Dead Space.
Mosher
Mushroom dad
A giant laser cannon can be only so precise.
Civ'ed
I ain't gotta explain a thing
Imperium Ankh-Morporkium Dev Diary 1 - How does one go about this?
Welcome to my first newfangled Dev Diary! This will be a dev diary that will explain how my next IOT shall work. Spoiler :
Imperium Ankh-Morporkium is an IOT based on Terry Pratchett's long-running Discworld series of books (if you haven't read them, shame on you!). This IOT will use several principles from my previous IOTs:
a regional bonus from TESIOT - But instead of "racial" it's more "geographical".
a map which is not cylindrical! That's part of the discworld.
So, furthermore, today I'll talk about a few important things - Joining the game, a warning about magic and quite possibly expansion drive.
How to join:
Name your nation. If you don't provide a name, the province name will immediately be chosen. For the Counterweight Continent region, the nation name is a Dynasty name instead.
Select a government.
Select a primary race.
Flag, history, currency etc optional. But extensive use of Narrativium (read: RP) is seen as proper in the setting.
BE REALISTIC. Here's a quick summary of the main races of the Disc (which will also get bonuses in retrospect):
Human - Found in various varieties. Humans.
Trolls - Living rocks, silicon brains. A Troll Nation in Klatch is doomed. In the Ramtops, not so much.
Dwarves - Live underground. Like gold and singing songs about it. Gender optional.
Vampires - Good, old fashioned bloodsucker or a reformed Black Ribboner?
Werewolf - highly dangerous clans across Überwald.
WARNING ABOUT MAGIC:
Magic exists in the sense that it provides jobs to several fat men discwide. It's really useless (picking a lock requires equal amounts of concentration and strength magically as it does manually, and you'll still have your brains exit through your ears). Steampunk technology does exist in a way (telegraph etc). Magic, in the form of Octarine and Narrativium gives special events.
I'll actually leave Expansion Drive for next time. Until then:
Spoiler :
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Development Diary: War Over Land...
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy.
War works rather differently in this IOT than my previous IOTs. The basic idea, sending X number of soldiers to take that hill over yonder, is still there. However, the cost of getting that soldier fed, armed, and motivated has increased. Greatly. War is expensive and risky, but the potential reward is immeasurable. Prestige, wealth, new valuable lands, that string of border of forts your rival used to control, and more are yours for the taking.
But there is still one basic question.
Costs
There are three land units: Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery. Infantry is cheaper than cavalry, which is cheaper than artillery. Each has a manpower cost (the same), and monetary cost, as well as annual maintenance that has to be paid. Already, there is an economic impact have just having a large army, but there is an added cost of war.
Combat in hostile territory has a cost, which can be offset somewhat by pillaging. Investing forts instead of merely attacking them, to, has costs. The cost of operating in even allied territory is higher than your troops merely operating within your own country.
A standing division (ten infantry regiments) can cost you $10,000 a year alone. The cost goes up to $50,000 when operating in hostile territory. The average starting revenue for players is ~$120,000, so as you can imagine, war isn't something to take lightly.
Besides pillaging, building a war chest (you're no longer penalized for not living paycheck to paycheck), and taking out loans are all means by which you can pay off the cost of a war. Hiring mercenary regiments from other players is another way of decreasing costs, as you're not sending your own taxpaying manpower into the war.
And if the occupied territories no longer have anything worth pillaging, your war chest is empty, and the bank won't loan you money? Well, I hope you like mutinies and desertion.
Leaders, Units, and Battles
Instead of hundreds of small scale battles for individual provinces, the number of attacks against an enemy you can perform is limited by the number of generals you have. Generals lead your armies and provide valuable bonuses in combat. Battles generate Army Tradition for both sides, which increases the chance of a new general appearing.
A single battle represents a lot more than just one pitched battle in any case, and individual battles can decide the course of entire wars.
Each battle has three phrases: Skirmish, Main Battle, and Routing. The skirmish is a small scale battle in which cavalry is key and casualties are light. The main battle is the part of the battle where regiments and artillery are key, but cavalry still maintain important power. When a side wins 2/3 phrases, the routing begins. If one person wins the skirmish and another the main battle, another main battle phrase is held before a victor is determined. During the rout, the victor gains a massive bonus to casualties inflicted against the loser (casualties inflicted by the loser are nerfed) and, again, cavalry plays an important role.
Artillery, unlike infantry and cavalry, provide no direct points in determining the victor of a battle. An army made up entirely of artillery will lose, always. But artillery does provide a major support bonus during the main battle. Artillery is extremely expensive, but five artillery regiments in an army can negate even the most powerful fort bonus.
Forts
Forts are marked on the fort map. Forts come in six levels: 0 to 5. All capitals start at level one and a province's fortification level can only be increased by one per year.
Forts are a combination infantry-artillery regiment that can't move. Each fort level increases the militia of a territory by 1000 and increases the support bonus when defending the territory in an amount equal to the same number of artillery. Even though fort levels increase the number of garrison troops you have, garrison troops still can work and pay taxes. They just can't defend outside the fort province.
An invading army has two choices when it comes to dealing with a fort province. It can either assault the fort, in which case the defending garrison+defending army and the support bonus all come into play. Assaults have no skirmish phrase.
Fort battles have three phrases. During the first phrase, the attacker attacks the defenses and cavalry has no special bonus. Both attacker and defender have support bonuses. If the attacker wins the first phrase, the second phrase is fought without any support bonuses on either side. If the attacker loses, support bonuses are back on.
If the attacker wins both first and second phrase, the third phrase is a victorious phrase in which the attacker receives a massive bonus to casualties inflicted and casualties inflicted by the defender are nerfed. If the attackers loses the first phrase, but wins the second, the third battle is a battle with again, no supports, but massively increased casualties inflicted on both sides. If the attacker loses both the first and second phrase, the defender inflicts massive casualties, attacker inflction is nerfed, and best yet, the defender's cavalry, mostly useless the entire battle, get the usual bonus.
If the attacker takes the fort, the fort level of the province decreases by one.
The alternative is to lay siege to the fort by occupying surrounding provinces and waiting one turn.
After the War...
Territory doesn't change hands without a formal peace treaty, or without complete annexation (prepare for a stability hit).
However, throughout a war you will lose soldiers but not regiments. If you started the war off with ten regiments of 10,000 soldiers and end it with 5,000 soldiers, you technically still have ten regiments, but only have the strength and maintenance cost of five regiments.
Your military manpower will gradually replenish (at a rate of 100 soldiers per regiment). In the middle of a war, a depleted army can be damning and the cost of training new regiments from scratch can be daunting as well.
WhiteRobber
Twinkle twinkle Wunderbar
ChesterIOT - Total World War
Coming soon.......
Coming soon.......
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Development Diary: War on the High Seas
Hearts of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men.
We always are ready; steady, boys, steady.
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again!
Hearts of oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men.
We always are ready; steady, boys, steady.
We'll fight and we'll conquer again and again!
The success of an empire based on naval trade rests heavily on the shoulders of your admirals and sailors. While at sea, your merchantmen face many dangers, from pirates to privateers commissioned by your enemies, to natural disaster and blockades. Finally, for the players that usually join as England or Japan, the fleet is the first line of defense against invasion for your continental rivals. A powerful fleet is expensive, but lacking a fleet is just as expensive when your ports find themselves shelled from sea.
Costs
Like the army, there are four types of units: Galleys, Light Ships, Transports, and Heavy Ships. Galleys are the cheapest, followed by Light Ships and Transports, and then Heavy Ships. Ships have an initial cost and annual cost, but not a manpower cost.
The number of ships you can produce a year depends on your naval capacity, which depends on the number of naval bases you have built. Each naval base level in a province (levels run from 0 to 5, with 0 producing none) increases naval capacity by 3 points. Galleys cost one point each, light ships/transports two, and heavy ships three.
Naval bases are important for decreasing attrition. The farther your fleets operate from a friendly port, the higher the chance of a ship being lost at sea. Reaching the new world isn't cheap, and it isn't easy, and countries like Poland are just plain out of luck without friends in the west.
Leaders, Units, and Battles
Instead of generals leading armies, there are admirals who command fleets. Battles increase naval tradition, increasing the chance of a new admiral arriving to your court.
Likewise, a single naval battle can represent dozens of battles.
A naval battle has three phrases, like a land battle: Skirmish, Main Battle, and Pursuit. During the skirmish, light ships are dominant. During a main battle however, it is the Heavy Ships that reign supreme.
Galleys are not very effective in open seas, but receive a combat bonus fighting near the coast.
Transports, meanwhile, are less capable at combat than galleys.
During the pursuit phrase, light ships receive a bonus again, and besides just inflicting casualties/desertion, ships can be captured.
Amphibious Landings
Amphibious landings require not only combat ships, but transport ships (each transport carries one regiment). The landing requires both naval and land combat.
There are six phrases in an amphibious landing: Three naval and three on land.
The first phrase is the naval skirmish, followed by a naval battle. If the attacker wins both, the third phrase is skipped. If not, there is a second naval battle. If the defender wins the naval portion of a landing, there is no landing. If the defender wins the first two battles, the defender will pursue the attacker, inflicting heavy destruction on the enemy fleet.
The first phrase of land combat are the landings, in which infantry are unloaded. The attacker will have artillery support from the fleet, while the defender has the full defensive force at call except the navy. If the attacker fails, there's a second attempt. If that fails, the invaders are pushed back into sea. However, if the attacker wins the second attempt, the attacker deploys cavalry in the third and final battle.
If the attacker wins the first battle, the attacker deploys cavalry for the second battle.
The battle is best two out of three. If the province being landed on is a fort province, the attacker deploys artillery instead of cavalry.
Blockades and Piracy
Some of things that create pirates are massive naval defeats which cause some of your ships to mutiny and strike off on their own as wanted men, merchants of rivaling countries or corporations that want to attack the other's shipping to gain the upperhand, and by countries commissioning privateers.
Ships do not appear out of nowhere however, all ships have to built somehow, paid for, and are subject to naval attrition, meaning the pirates need a friendly port or an unsuspecting port.
Pirate ships will damage trade and use the looted money largely for themselves, but some of it will go back into local economies. Privateers will pay a tax to their commissioner.
On the flip side is official attacking of trade, blockades. Blockades attempt to strangle all naval trade for a country. The success of a blockade largely depends on the flow of trade and who that country trades the most with though. Privateers, pirates, and smugglers will try to run blockades to sell goods on the market at an inflated price, netting the traders involved larger profits.
