Iron and Blood 5: Development Diary

[Tee Kay]

"He who fears being conquered is certain of defeat."
- Napoleon Bonaparte​

Introduction

Development diary seems to be all the rage among Imperium Offtopicum's GMs these days. So I've decided to join in the fun, and share a little something I've been working on.

Iron and Blood 5 will be the latest installment in the critically-acclaimed (citation needed) Iron and Blood series. The aim is to try to recapture the spirit of the original Iron and Blood and improve on it. Like the original, it will be set in an industrialising world of the mid-19th century, with the option to carry forward into the 20th century, with all its wonders and turmoils.

The challenge, as always, is to balance realism with gameplay, simplicity with complexity. Like the original Iron and Blood it will aim to portray a dynamic, changing, realistic world, where not only careful management but also diplomacy will be crucial. Internal politics will make a comeback from IB2 and IB4, though it will be considerably simplified.

The Map

An entirely new map is currently being produced for the game. It marks a departure from earlier games in the series due to having a relatively large number of smaller provinces. This is mainly to facilitate a new combat system, which will be discussed later.

Instead of building factories in each province to gain income, as in previous games, each province now has a value between 1-5. In place of factories each country will have an industry score. This score is multiplied by the province value to get the IC (industrial capacity) of that province.

In addition, some provinces also produce strategic resources. Four shown at the beginning of the timeline are coal, gold, metals, and rare materials. Oil and uranium can be discovered later in the timeline. Strategic resources can be traded between countries and may be important to keep your military and industries running.

Each province will have a terrain type associated with it, such as desert, plains, hilly/mountainous terrain, tropical forests, and cold forests. They mostly affect combat.

Here is a map of Australia from the game map showing how each province features are indicated.

Spoiler :

 

[JohannaK]

I hate you! I am afraid that this will never see the light of day, but I want to play it too! You like to play with my feelings. D:

 

[Tani Coyote]

Looks wonderful, TK!

Alas, I'm usually too busy to participate.

I can get down with the individual resource values and a national industry value, though. I can only imagine how much that simplifies calculations!

 

[Tyo]

I am physically excited.

 

[christos200]

Subbed.

 

[NedimNapoleon]

You are jimmieing my rustles. It looks awesome. Make it last.

 

[Ailedhoo]

I will watch this and see the grandness that will come from this fruit bowl of golden apples!

 

[SouthernKing]

I&B5? You've got another sub.

 

[Robert Can't]

Port Hadley standing by.

 

[Sonereal]

Tags
badly as my last thread, fail blog is fail, glory to the hypnotoad, iron and blood, my little pony

No but seriously. Subbing.

 

[Mosher]

TK why do you toy with our hearts so?

 

[Terran Empress]

Hello, new sub

 

[Tee Kay]

Terrain

Terrain is mainly relevant for combat. After some deliberation on how much I should simplify it, I decided on five types of terrain:

Temperate regions - armies gain no particular bonus or penalty, most of the time...
Tropical lowlands - armies fighting in these areas suffer high attrition; invaders far more than defenders. You can research medicine and sanitation to decrease attrition. Also decreases mobility somewhat.
Cold forests - same with tropical lowlands, except cold instead of hot and humid.
Mountainous regions - These terrain very much favour defenders over attackers. Decreases mobility for attackers.
Desert regions - High attrition if there are over a certain number of units in the province. Research doesn't help this situation much. Favours high mobility armies.

Here's a map of North America with terrain

Spoiler :

 

[Robert Can't]

Question! In the first post you showed us some maps of Australia, on of which was a culture map.
This makes me think either you aren't going to do the culture map until after sign ups or that the sign ups will all consist of claiming an already existent nation a la NES.

Another question I have is that of in the terrain descriptions you have ideas such as mobility and attrition. Does this mean that the game will be playing out at a much smaller scale than previous I&B games. Will you be having units moving multiple provinces per turn and the like and in the end is it going to see a more province based combat system?

 

[christos200]

Question: Will you allow all players who want to join or you shall decide by RNG, like I&B4?

 

[Robert Can't]

Question: Will you allow all players who want to join or you shall decide by RNG, like I&B4?

Because if you do use RNG and I don't get in... There will be a murder.

 

[NedimNapoleon]

Riots will break out.

 

[Ailedhoo]

I look forward to make use of the terrain in what ever play I am to play!

 

[Tee Kay]

This makes me think either you aren't going to do the culture map until after sign ups or that the sign ups will all consist of claiming an already existent nation a la NES.

I'm going for the first option.

Another question I have is that of in the terrain descriptions you have ideas such as mobility and attrition. Does this mean that the game will be playing out at a much smaller scale than previous I&B games. Will you be having units moving multiple provinces per turn and the like and in the end is it going to see a more province based combat system?

Basically. The idea is to incorporate the "War Plans" aspect of IB1-4 into the game mechanics itself.

This is also the reason why the map is taking so long to finish. In fact I still need to do Siberia and Indonesia, and the ocean spaces.

Question: Will you allow all players who want to join or you shall decide by RNG, like I&B4?

Hmm. I would very much like to allow in all players who wants to play, but if there's going to be like 30+ players I have to draw the line somewhere...

 

[Tyo]

You could have unequal starts. Perhaps first-come-first-served gets the advantage, or do it based on the quality of the join post.

If the game is full all you should be obliged to do is say as much.