TyOT: Revolutions Per Minute
RPM will be the first of a series of IOTs I’m planning that will follow the same continuity, featuring a dynamic world with evolving mechanics as the games go on. RPM itself will start in the beginning of the 19th century, in 1836. This will start off historically, with players open to claim any nation in the world at that time. I’m not going to allow forming new nations, but I will allow for small changes in the histories of countries so long as it isn’t too bad. No borders will change and some historical events (that I will tell you later) are pretty much guaranteed or given to have happened. After the game starts, it’s mostly in the players’ hands. But keep in mind you are not the absolute ruler of your countries and the countries aren’t embodiments of the personality you want it to have. The slave debate will be happening in the US, Pan-Nationalists are gaining support in Germany, Hungarians are vying for autonomy in Austria, and the Carlists are trying to install their own monarchy in Spain.
Joining and Re-joining
First-come first-served basis, but I have the right to tell you to pick another country. To this effect, you should probably have a top three. If you leave a country or are removed from power in some way, you will have to wait at least a turn (full cycle) to join again. Consecutive leaves doubles the sentence each time. You can also play as a political movement but that will be entirely based on your roleplay and the RNG.
Updates
Updates will highlight the major parts of the past year. Wars between great powers, the massive growing of industry in a previously resource economy, a rise in demand of several goods, etc. Between each update will be a “mid-year report” where smaller parts of the past year will be given the spotlight. In both updates, war orders will be accepted and reported. Each update will be reported as Summer, and each mid-year report will mark the beginning of winter. Updates will have a hard lock when I begin working on them, while mid-year reports will simply be announced, after which everyone can assume it’s winter.
Events
Every update and mid-year report may have events that the players will have to react to. How they react will yields a civilian response as well as possible international response. These events can be random or influenced by what the players have done with concern to other players as well as domestically (roleplay included).
Relative Power
Countries range from 4 tiers of civilization. Great Power, Secondary Power, Civilized, and Uncivilized. Great and Secondary powers will be displayed in the stats, as well as any player civilized and uncivilized countries. All others will not be displayed; if you don’t know their names do at least a little independent research before asking me. The map is based entirely off of Victoria 2 New Nations Mod, to help you out. I’m not going to answer 50 questions asking what country a minor somewhere in africa is. I’m sure if you try hard enough, you can find it. Especially if you have Victoria 2.
Relative power is gauged by industry, resource base, technological level and military. The amount of relative power your country has correlates with overall stability, but this does not guarantee smooth sailing.
Economy
Your economy can lean towards one of the four types. Some variation can exist.
Laissez-Faire
Basically a free market. You cannot set tariffs and have a maximum tax rate of 25%. The government plays a little if any kind of role in the economy. People who support laissez-faire are against reforms that regulate the economy.
Interventionism
The government plays a role in the economy, subsidizing industries as well as having more freedom to set tariffs. Those that support interventionism support some state regulation.
State Capitalism
The government controls most of the economy, allowing only some private industry. The government does most of the factory building and expanding, and has free reign on tariffs and subsidies. Those that support state capitalism support what regulation the government decides is adequate.
Planned economy
The government controls the entire economy, and plans it to meet production quotas for the nation. Those that support the planned economy usually believe in as much regulation as possible, but there are those that believe it hinders efficiency.
How the industry of a nation is doing will be depicted as a value that can, theoretically, infinitely increase. The value is essentially relative power and holds no empirical basis, but it is implied that a high industrial score means that the industrial base is well-established, the country is well-employed, and the industry is getting adequate imports. The industry of a nation also shows its capacity to supply their military forces. A higher industrial score also creates a higher demand for resources, and if a country produces a small amount of domestic resources compared to its industrial score, they will have to rely more on imports.
Government
Different governments function differently. I expect if your government functions a certain way, you stick with that function. That is, if you want to stay stable. Doing something unexpected of your ruling party or government type can lead to very destabilizing events. That’s pretty much it, you can do whatever you want with your nations in terms of governments reasonably speaking. No communist governments until communists are a thing, please.
Military
Probably the most-developed part of the game. Armies are organized into divisions and navies into ships. Divisions can have attachments or modules that make them unique from other divisions. Modules for this game will be pre-defined, and have to be unlocked through technological progression. However, effectiveness of both armies and navies can be increased through military reform or small technological discoveries that don’t necessarily equate to a module. Navies don’t have modules, and are instead advanced by the development of better ships.
Uncivilized countries can’t apply modules.
Civilized countries can apply one module.
Secondary powers can apply two modules.
Great powers can apply three modules.
Technological Progression
Technology will be railroaded to an extent, but can be affected by players with enough determination. For example, widespread application of electricity probably won’t start until the late 19th century, but the first conventional use of it and where it develops the most could arise anywhere really. Technological progression of states that aren’t “up to date” will entirely depend on the state’s success.
Colonizing
Pretty free-form. You can attempt to establish colonies anywhere so long as you're at least a secondary power, but some places will have a lot lower chance of success than others. Most notably Africa.
Espionage
PM me your idea and we’ll see what you can do. You should actively tell me which nations you want to set up networks in update after update. Having no network in a country will probably yield exactly no positive results if you attempt anything.