das
Regeneration In Process
NES2 V - The Great Game.
Rules.
DO NOT POST UNTIL I SAY YOU CAN.
Setting
Not really all that long ago, in our own world but in another universe, life went on. A great era of peace was inaguarated in 1827, and so far, towards 1860, the world was in a comparative state of peace. Sure, there were colonial wars and naval incidents, and many other little outbursts of violence, but generally, things were peaceful. This was an unnaturally-long calm before the storm, and thus the storm promises to be even more violent than what one could expect. For underneath the peaceful facade, tensions grew.
For long have the Kingdom of France and the Federated Kingdoms been the leading powers of the world, fighting on the land and the sea, at the courts of foreign powers and in the very souls of peoples primitive and civilized alike. Both had their victories and defeats, but neither could break the other. Both, also, brought allies - Britain befriended the Holy Roman Empire, France - the Qing Empire of China, and so forth. Yet the distance between the two great powers and those powers that are considered second-rate is decreasing; China and the Empire, after a period of reforms, became quite strong on their own right, and so did the Kingdom of Poland and the Ottoman Empire. And even the lesser powers could hardly be ignored in the combat for dominance that spans the world. Meanwhile, in the shadows, the increasingly-obsolete existing social, political and economic order is beign threatened by a caleidoscope of revolutionary movements, and dissent is growing world-wide, both in the homelands and in the colonies; and speaking of colonies, Africa, the last (or maybe not...) cake undivided, is also the battlefield of great powers, and of various native tribes or even empires.
For long has this world been in a state of comparative peace. Yet the "New Roman Peace", so-called after the treaty that ended the Nine-Years War, cannot hold forever. A new generation grew up, and it knows not the horrors of war. Already, voices call out - for war, for revolution, for colonization, for, above all, action. And already, the leaders of countries great and small prepare for the coming time of chaos and violence, prepare to play their part and play it well in this game, the Great Game.
Do play it.
Introduction
In spite of some pessimism about this expressed by certain persons, I maintain that it still will probably work.
A few things before we start, though. I request that all those that join this make sure to:
a) commit to this fully;
b) read the rules;
AND
c) have fun.
Players, stories, orders, NPCs, barbarians, updates, map, countries
Players - unlimited. Please only join if you trully have the time to PARTICIPATE, and that doesn't simply mean telling me to "grow economy" at every turn.
Stories - not necessary, but very encouraged. For good (and FULL-LENGTH, i.e. two-three lines will not be considered one) stories, I will give out story bonuses (but not as generous as in ITNES I). Don't forget that stories create atmosphere like nothing else (apart from good, precise, in-depth updates perhaps, but that's not my specialty I'm afraid).
Orders - orders in a list. Ideally, they should be precise and easily-understandable, because I'll have to deal with lots of them; naturally, they will probably be quite long anyway because you people rarely trust your buerocrats and generals for some reason. In democratic and other councillary forms of government (such as Feudalism), you'll have to take the opinion of your council into account; sometimes, depending on your nation's constitution, it might even take matters into its own hands altogether. This, by the way, is one of the reasons for you to send orders a day before the deadline, so that I have time to inform you if the council disapproves of any parts of your orders; the other reason is that it just makes things easier for me. Oh, and note that some of the actions you order might inadvertly have sideeffects, positive or negative.
NPCs - lol, considering they’re NPC, I will play them, kinda. Same as the NPCs in all other NESes of late. Some will roll over rather easily, some will be harder to fight than PCs...
Barbarians - as not all of the world is civilized yet (most is), the barbarians will be there. Not innovatively, they will be light gray and have no stats. They will have their names written on them, unless I forget to do that. And many of them are likely to attack you and try to eat you; others only want to be left alone, and when somebody tries to change that they will... well, they'll try to eat whoever tries that too. The barbarians are NOT to be underestimated, some of them could bring out a horde of ferocious warriors five times larger then your army (okay, maybe not).
Updates - Updates come on WedNESdays (unless I say otherwise), yet the orders have to be sent in by Tuesday barring emergencies. Where I live the deadline for orders is 20:00, GMT it should be 15:00, and I don't know nor want to know what time it should be on the western coast of North America (which is where I know for sure there are at least three NESers of note). Updates will consist of “military events” (including violent rebellions, not just wars), “other events” (mostly domestic, but also foreign), “random events” (random events - people who write good stories get good random events, often related to what they’re writing about. And there is also always a “bad” random event for a random nation, lots of them), “spotlight” (a more detailed description of something that happened) and “ooc” (OOC comments and death threats).
(boldened to make sure you people actually notice it this time)
Map - I will use the current version of the collectively-improved "Jason map". I will put in cities (black circles), fortifications (line of black squares) and rebellion areas (dark gray area within nations). A capital is a city with white borders; an economic center is a city with red borders (a capital economic center will have a combination of the two).
Countries - pick a NPC, create your own (tell me where and tell me some details - ruler, brief history, culture - and I will give you the stats) or start a rebellion or demand for independence. Also, please read your nation background, and don’t act uncharacteristically. Right now, you could only create your own; you should do it within a Civilized Zone (more on that later), and you should either make it historic for the period, either make an althistoric nation, hopefully an original one; in the latter case especially, you should write down the basics of your culture and generally of what makes your people unique. Note that while there are no alliances in the beginning, some nations are much more likely to ally then the others, dependant on past history (that’s why you probably should read the nation backgrounds) and, ofcourse, on the situation at hand.
NATIONAL TEMPLATE
Nation Name
Capital:
Ruler:
Government:
Centralization:
Tech. Level:
Army (Training):
Navy (Training):
Economy:
Leadership (Military/Civilian): /
Infrastructure:
Education:
Culture:
Confidence:
Projects:
Nation Background:
Government
Government - is your form of government. Now note that I DON’T want the “Sheep2’s [insert nation ever played by Sheep2 in a non-Fresh Start NES here]” syndrome in this NES. You are free to change your government, and explain it how ever do you want, but that can piss off followers of the previous governments, and might lead to nation-wide riots. Or a civil war, depending on what mood I am in. Also, keep it historical. That is, you could invent your own government, but it must make sense for YOUR nation of THAT time. You could consult me about that.
Centralization
This is one of the most important issues of politics historically and today. A centralized state is, on one hand, more efficient as its resources are much easier to control, but, on the other hand, is quite vulnerable and less likely to be popular amongst minorities. A decentralized state is less stable, less united, but on the other hand is harder to destroy from within and indeed is more defendable.
You usually (barring random events or unforeseen consequences of your actions) could change your centralization "slider" once per turn, and ofcourse only move forward or backward a level. However, do know that changes are unlikely to be welcomed by those who like the way things are AND ofcourse those who want to move in the opposite direction...
League-Loose Confederation-Confederation-Loose Federation-Federation-Tight Federation-Unitary with Exceptions-Unitary-Uberunitary-More Unitary-Overcentralized
Technology Level
Will use the age system. It is the same as in other NESes of other people, ofcourse the ages are not identical. They will advance at their own pace, though nations with higher education are likelier to advance to the next age. This, for the most part, begins in Middle Industrial Age.
Also note that though I brought up analogical technologic levels of OTL, they aren't entirely identical, and ofcourse there is a chance that technology will advance faster, slower, or even in a different direction than in OTL.
Early Industrial Age: approximate analogy in our world is 1790-1840 Europe.
Middle Industrial Age: approximate analogy - 1840-1880.
Late Industrial Age: approximate analogy - 1880-1916.
Military
That will, as of now, consist of army and navy (later to be joined by air force). These will be number-based as it gives more versatility. These will be represented in divisions and squadrons (at a later date, I might also add "capital ships" as a separate part of the navy).
What will you have in it? Anything that is allowed by your tech. level (see Technology Level)! Each “stat-growth” will increase any part of military by 5 (however, there could be exceptions). But know that if you have too large an army, your economy will probably suffer, as will perhaps, depending on your culture's stance on war, your confidence; ofcourse, both could be restored by succesful military campaigns.
UUs - one per nation, but can be changed at any point (though the newly-“demoted” UU units will not be happy). I will keep a list of them, somewhere. Could be land, sea, or air at a later point. They will be separated from other units in the stats. They are grown as normal units. Remember to keep them REALISTIC.
Training - it is done in levels. There are separate training stats for army, navy and fleet, and it is grown with eco. points. UU is assumed to be one level higher then the average training level for its branch. If your army grows too quickly, there will be a chance of training level lowering.
Conscription will give you a certain amount of conscript divisions that you could specify if you want; ofcourse, conscription, especially in democratic countries, tends to be quite unpopular, especially the large-scale variety...
As a certain Corsican once said in OTL, an army marches on its stomach. Logistical support is necessary for any real military operations, so you will probably have to invest 1 eco. point into each such operation, whether offensive or defensive; if involving a particularily-large army (or navy), you might have to invest more than one eco. point.
None-Rabble-Semi-Rabble-Tolerable-Normal-Better-Good-Very Good-Professional-Elite
Economy
The NES2 V Economy System is based on a mixture of my old ideas and those of some other people.
Economy levels still play the vital role. However, the amount of economy points that you have differs from level to level (if you get a negative amount of them, I will decrease a random stat per negative point); it is also influenced by random events and by economic centers (cities that are either trade centers, industrial centers or capitals of agriculturally-rich provinces); each of the latter provides one eco. point per turn to whoever holds it at the time (i.e. if it is on occupied territory, the occupier receives the eco. point). To grow economy (i.e. to advance from one level to another), you have to a) not spend your eco. points, apart from those received from eco. centers, on anything else that turn and b) to point out what exactly are you going to do to grow it (note that eco. growth might not always be succesful, depending on what you do and how things fold out).
Eco. points could (and should) be spent on growing military, miscellanous stats (see below), logistical support for the military and on continuing projects. Speaking of the latter, you could also invest a whole eco. level into a project to speed it up by two turns.
Eco. points cannot be banked.
Eco. levels still could be "sacrificed", i.e. converted into 6 eco. points each. Only two eco. levels could be sacrificed per turn.
Creation of economic centers also requires the investment of at least one eco. point into some specific development programs.
Depression (-2)-Bankrupt (-1)-Recession (-1)-Very Poor (0)-Poor (0)-Not Bad (+1)-Normal (+1)-Good Enough (+2)-Growing (+2)-Rich (+3)-Very Rich (+3)-Richer (+4)-Richest (+4)-Economic Powerhouse (+5)-Monopoly (+6) (after Monopoly, you get Monopoly+x (+6+x), where x is the amount of economy levels beyond Monopoly)
Miscellanous Stats
Those stats below are all grown with eco. points, but, like with growing economy itself, you are supposed to point out what exactly you are doing.
Leadership
Whether military or civilian, leadership is an important factor. Competent military leaders will succesfully carry out plans or will even attain some successes on their own without orders; competent buerocrats will greatly help all government programs and assist the development of the land. But incompetent generals will even with the best plan stagger and blunder, while incompetent civilian administrators will embezzle funds and otherwise will be corrupt. So, this is quite crucial, and cadre preparation thus should be an important priority.
None-Imbecile-Moronic-Stupid-Incompetent-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Competent-Better-Good-Brilliant
Infrastructure
Roads, bridges, boats - all things used for transportation of goods and men - are listed under infrastructure. The higher is your infrastructure, the easier it is to move your (or enemy) troops across your territory; also, infrastructure could sometimes slightly grow economic benefits from trade centers, and it is a must for maintenance of a high culture level in large empires, as well as actually maintaining your grip on faraway provinces.
None-Dirt Paths-Pathetic-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Improving-Good-Efficient-Very Efficient-Great-Excellent
Education
This is just how your people are... educated, I guess. Obvious enough. With a good education, you have better chances of receiving a “miraculous invention”. You could design better walls and siege engines, and ships for that matter, with higher education. It also affects just how advanced are your weapons, and thus the success of your army in a battlefield.
Once someone reaches Enlightenment education, he becomes much more likely to reach the next age as soon as it becomes possible at all. When he does, he loses two education levels.
None-Dumb-Illiterate-Tolerable-Literate-Educated-Well Educated-Perfect-Academic-Enlightenment
Culture
This is how culturally strong, patriotic and unified your nation is. A nation with strong patriotism is less likely to fall into a civil war, and it’s people would resist most invaders and otherwise help their government. This also influences army morale. A nation with weak patriotism is unlikely to be as resistant to outside threats, there will often be rebellions and defections.
None-Divided-Untrusting-Average-Strongly Cultured-Devoted-Patriotic-Hyperpatriotic-Jingoist-Uberpatriotic
Confidence
People can be fiercely unified and patriotic, but they will not necessarily like their ruler - in fact, a strongly cultured nation with little confidence in its leaders can, in its cultural unity, lynch the rulers and fire their remains from cannons. Into the huge pot filled with boiled sharks. Not that the rulers will care by then... You can grow confidence by economy (propaganda), but wouldn’t it be easier to write a speech or persuade the people that you are the leader they need?
Lynching-Hateful-Resentful-Barely Tolerating-Tolerating-Respecting-Admiring-Loving-Nation Personified
Projects
Local equivalent of wonders (that name is inappropriate in most NESes, as these are often modernization programs, national revival and other PROJECTS, not just huge and magnificent buildings). You tell me what it does, I tell you how long do you build it. You will have to invest an eco. point once each turn for the work on the project to continue You can sacrifice an econ. level once for a project to speed it up by two turns.
EDIT:
Btw - it has been pointed out that projects are quite unprofitable now. I'm thinking of decreasing the time it takes to build them and allowing people to rush projects by investing 2 additional eco. points (2 eco. points=+1 project progress) an unlimited amount of time. They might also have unexpected, mostly positive, sideeffects.
Nation Background
To better fit in as the ruler of your country, you will have a brief history of each country. You probably shouldn't fill it in at first.
Rules.
DO NOT POST UNTIL I SAY YOU CAN.
Setting
Not really all that long ago, in our own world but in another universe, life went on. A great era of peace was inaguarated in 1827, and so far, towards 1860, the world was in a comparative state of peace. Sure, there were colonial wars and naval incidents, and many other little outbursts of violence, but generally, things were peaceful. This was an unnaturally-long calm before the storm, and thus the storm promises to be even more violent than what one could expect. For underneath the peaceful facade, tensions grew.
For long have the Kingdom of France and the Federated Kingdoms been the leading powers of the world, fighting on the land and the sea, at the courts of foreign powers and in the very souls of peoples primitive and civilized alike. Both had their victories and defeats, but neither could break the other. Both, also, brought allies - Britain befriended the Holy Roman Empire, France - the Qing Empire of China, and so forth. Yet the distance between the two great powers and those powers that are considered second-rate is decreasing; China and the Empire, after a period of reforms, became quite strong on their own right, and so did the Kingdom of Poland and the Ottoman Empire. And even the lesser powers could hardly be ignored in the combat for dominance that spans the world. Meanwhile, in the shadows, the increasingly-obsolete existing social, political and economic order is beign threatened by a caleidoscope of revolutionary movements, and dissent is growing world-wide, both in the homelands and in the colonies; and speaking of colonies, Africa, the last (or maybe not...) cake undivided, is also the battlefield of great powers, and of various native tribes or even empires.
For long has this world been in a state of comparative peace. Yet the "New Roman Peace", so-called after the treaty that ended the Nine-Years War, cannot hold forever. A new generation grew up, and it knows not the horrors of war. Already, voices call out - for war, for revolution, for colonization, for, above all, action. And already, the leaders of countries great and small prepare for the coming time of chaos and violence, prepare to play their part and play it well in this game, the Great Game.
Do play it.
Introduction
In spite of some pessimism about this expressed by certain persons, I maintain that it still will probably work.
A few things before we start, though. I request that all those that join this make sure to:
a) commit to this fully;
b) read the rules;
AND
c) have fun.
Players, stories, orders, NPCs, barbarians, updates, map, countries
Players - unlimited. Please only join if you trully have the time to PARTICIPATE, and that doesn't simply mean telling me to "grow economy" at every turn.
Stories - not necessary, but very encouraged. For good (and FULL-LENGTH, i.e. two-three lines will not be considered one) stories, I will give out story bonuses (but not as generous as in ITNES I). Don't forget that stories create atmosphere like nothing else (apart from good, precise, in-depth updates perhaps, but that's not my specialty I'm afraid).
Orders - orders in a list. Ideally, they should be precise and easily-understandable, because I'll have to deal with lots of them; naturally, they will probably be quite long anyway because you people rarely trust your buerocrats and generals for some reason. In democratic and other councillary forms of government (such as Feudalism), you'll have to take the opinion of your council into account; sometimes, depending on your nation's constitution, it might even take matters into its own hands altogether. This, by the way, is one of the reasons for you to send orders a day before the deadline, so that I have time to inform you if the council disapproves of any parts of your orders; the other reason is that it just makes things easier for me. Oh, and note that some of the actions you order might inadvertly have sideeffects, positive or negative.
NPCs - lol, considering they’re NPC, I will play them, kinda. Same as the NPCs in all other NESes of late. Some will roll over rather easily, some will be harder to fight than PCs...
Barbarians - as not all of the world is civilized yet (most is), the barbarians will be there. Not innovatively, they will be light gray and have no stats. They will have their names written on them, unless I forget to do that. And many of them are likely to attack you and try to eat you; others only want to be left alone, and when somebody tries to change that they will... well, they'll try to eat whoever tries that too. The barbarians are NOT to be underestimated, some of them could bring out a horde of ferocious warriors five times larger then your army (okay, maybe not).
Updates - Updates come on WedNESdays (unless I say otherwise), yet the orders have to be sent in by Tuesday barring emergencies. Where I live the deadline for orders is 20:00, GMT it should be 15:00, and I don't know nor want to know what time it should be on the western coast of North America (which is where I know for sure there are at least three NESers of note). Updates will consist of “military events” (including violent rebellions, not just wars), “other events” (mostly domestic, but also foreign), “random events” (random events - people who write good stories get good random events, often related to what they’re writing about. And there is also always a “bad” random event for a random nation, lots of them), “spotlight” (a more detailed description of something that happened) and “ooc” (OOC comments and death threats).
(boldened to make sure you people actually notice it this time)
Map - I will use the current version of the collectively-improved "Jason map". I will put in cities (black circles), fortifications (line of black squares) and rebellion areas (dark gray area within nations). A capital is a city with white borders; an economic center is a city with red borders (a capital economic center will have a combination of the two).
Countries - pick a NPC, create your own (tell me where and tell me some details - ruler, brief history, culture - and I will give you the stats) or start a rebellion or demand for independence. Also, please read your nation background, and don’t act uncharacteristically. Right now, you could only create your own; you should do it within a Civilized Zone (more on that later), and you should either make it historic for the period, either make an althistoric nation, hopefully an original one; in the latter case especially, you should write down the basics of your culture and generally of what makes your people unique. Note that while there are no alliances in the beginning, some nations are much more likely to ally then the others, dependant on past history (that’s why you probably should read the nation backgrounds) and, ofcourse, on the situation at hand.
NATIONAL TEMPLATE
Nation Name
Capital:
Ruler:
Government:
Centralization:
Tech. Level:
Army (Training):
Navy (Training):
Economy:
Leadership (Military/Civilian): /
Infrastructure:
Education:
Culture:
Confidence:
Projects:
Nation Background:
Government
Government - is your form of government. Now note that I DON’T want the “Sheep2’s [insert nation ever played by Sheep2 in a non-Fresh Start NES here]” syndrome in this NES. You are free to change your government, and explain it how ever do you want, but that can piss off followers of the previous governments, and might lead to nation-wide riots. Or a civil war, depending on what mood I am in. Also, keep it historical. That is, you could invent your own government, but it must make sense for YOUR nation of THAT time. You could consult me about that.
Centralization
This is one of the most important issues of politics historically and today. A centralized state is, on one hand, more efficient as its resources are much easier to control, but, on the other hand, is quite vulnerable and less likely to be popular amongst minorities. A decentralized state is less stable, less united, but on the other hand is harder to destroy from within and indeed is more defendable.
You usually (barring random events or unforeseen consequences of your actions) could change your centralization "slider" once per turn, and ofcourse only move forward or backward a level. However, do know that changes are unlikely to be welcomed by those who like the way things are AND ofcourse those who want to move in the opposite direction...
League-Loose Confederation-Confederation-Loose Federation-Federation-Tight Federation-Unitary with Exceptions-Unitary-Uberunitary-More Unitary-Overcentralized
Technology Level
Will use the age system. It is the same as in other NESes of other people, ofcourse the ages are not identical. They will advance at their own pace, though nations with higher education are likelier to advance to the next age. This, for the most part, begins in Middle Industrial Age.
Also note that though I brought up analogical technologic levels of OTL, they aren't entirely identical, and ofcourse there is a chance that technology will advance faster, slower, or even in a different direction than in OTL.
Early Industrial Age: approximate analogy in our world is 1790-1840 Europe.
Middle Industrial Age: approximate analogy - 1840-1880.
Late Industrial Age: approximate analogy - 1880-1916.
Military
That will, as of now, consist of army and navy (later to be joined by air force). These will be number-based as it gives more versatility. These will be represented in divisions and squadrons (at a later date, I might also add "capital ships" as a separate part of the navy).
What will you have in it? Anything that is allowed by your tech. level (see Technology Level)! Each “stat-growth” will increase any part of military by 5 (however, there could be exceptions). But know that if you have too large an army, your economy will probably suffer, as will perhaps, depending on your culture's stance on war, your confidence; ofcourse, both could be restored by succesful military campaigns.
UUs - one per nation, but can be changed at any point (though the newly-“demoted” UU units will not be happy). I will keep a list of them, somewhere. Could be land, sea, or air at a later point. They will be separated from other units in the stats. They are grown as normal units. Remember to keep them REALISTIC.
Training - it is done in levels. There are separate training stats for army, navy and fleet, and it is grown with eco. points. UU is assumed to be one level higher then the average training level for its branch. If your army grows too quickly, there will be a chance of training level lowering.
Conscription will give you a certain amount of conscript divisions that you could specify if you want; ofcourse, conscription, especially in democratic countries, tends to be quite unpopular, especially the large-scale variety...
As a certain Corsican once said in OTL, an army marches on its stomach. Logistical support is necessary for any real military operations, so you will probably have to invest 1 eco. point into each such operation, whether offensive or defensive; if involving a particularily-large army (or navy), you might have to invest more than one eco. point.
None-Rabble-Semi-Rabble-Tolerable-Normal-Better-Good-Very Good-Professional-Elite
Economy
The NES2 V Economy System is based on a mixture of my old ideas and those of some other people.
Economy levels still play the vital role. However, the amount of economy points that you have differs from level to level (if you get a negative amount of them, I will decrease a random stat per negative point); it is also influenced by random events and by economic centers (cities that are either trade centers, industrial centers or capitals of agriculturally-rich provinces); each of the latter provides one eco. point per turn to whoever holds it at the time (i.e. if it is on occupied territory, the occupier receives the eco. point). To grow economy (i.e. to advance from one level to another), you have to a) not spend your eco. points, apart from those received from eco. centers, on anything else that turn and b) to point out what exactly are you going to do to grow it (note that eco. growth might not always be succesful, depending on what you do and how things fold out).
Eco. points could (and should) be spent on growing military, miscellanous stats (see below), logistical support for the military and on continuing projects. Speaking of the latter, you could also invest a whole eco. level into a project to speed it up by two turns.
Eco. points cannot be banked.
Eco. levels still could be "sacrificed", i.e. converted into 6 eco. points each. Only two eco. levels could be sacrificed per turn.
Creation of economic centers also requires the investment of at least one eco. point into some specific development programs.
Depression (-2)-Bankrupt (-1)-Recession (-1)-Very Poor (0)-Poor (0)-Not Bad (+1)-Normal (+1)-Good Enough (+2)-Growing (+2)-Rich (+3)-Very Rich (+3)-Richer (+4)-Richest (+4)-Economic Powerhouse (+5)-Monopoly (+6) (after Monopoly, you get Monopoly+x (+6+x), where x is the amount of economy levels beyond Monopoly)
Miscellanous Stats
Those stats below are all grown with eco. points, but, like with growing economy itself, you are supposed to point out what exactly you are doing.
Leadership
Whether military or civilian, leadership is an important factor. Competent military leaders will succesfully carry out plans or will even attain some successes on their own without orders; competent buerocrats will greatly help all government programs and assist the development of the land. But incompetent generals will even with the best plan stagger and blunder, while incompetent civilian administrators will embezzle funds and otherwise will be corrupt. So, this is quite crucial, and cadre preparation thus should be an important priority.
None-Imbecile-Moronic-Stupid-Incompetent-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Competent-Better-Good-Brilliant
Infrastructure
Roads, bridges, boats - all things used for transportation of goods and men - are listed under infrastructure. The higher is your infrastructure, the easier it is to move your (or enemy) troops across your territory; also, infrastructure could sometimes slightly grow economic benefits from trade centers, and it is a must for maintenance of a high culture level in large empires, as well as actually maintaining your grip on faraway provinces.
None-Dirt Paths-Pathetic-Barely Tolerable-Tolerable-Improving-Good-Efficient-Very Efficient-Great-Excellent
Education
This is just how your people are... educated, I guess. Obvious enough. With a good education, you have better chances of receiving a “miraculous invention”. You could design better walls and siege engines, and ships for that matter, with higher education. It also affects just how advanced are your weapons, and thus the success of your army in a battlefield.
Once someone reaches Enlightenment education, he becomes much more likely to reach the next age as soon as it becomes possible at all. When he does, he loses two education levels.
None-Dumb-Illiterate-Tolerable-Literate-Educated-Well Educated-Perfect-Academic-Enlightenment
Culture
This is how culturally strong, patriotic and unified your nation is. A nation with strong patriotism is less likely to fall into a civil war, and it’s people would resist most invaders and otherwise help their government. This also influences army morale. A nation with weak patriotism is unlikely to be as resistant to outside threats, there will often be rebellions and defections.
None-Divided-Untrusting-Average-Strongly Cultured-Devoted-Patriotic-Hyperpatriotic-Jingoist-Uberpatriotic
Confidence
People can be fiercely unified and patriotic, but they will not necessarily like their ruler - in fact, a strongly cultured nation with little confidence in its leaders can, in its cultural unity, lynch the rulers and fire their remains from cannons. Into the huge pot filled with boiled sharks. Not that the rulers will care by then... You can grow confidence by economy (propaganda), but wouldn’t it be easier to write a speech or persuade the people that you are the leader they need?
Lynching-Hateful-Resentful-Barely Tolerating-Tolerating-Respecting-Admiring-Loving-Nation Personified
Projects
Local equivalent of wonders (that name is inappropriate in most NESes, as these are often modernization programs, national revival and other PROJECTS, not just huge and magnificent buildings). You tell me what it does, I tell you how long do you build it. You will have to invest an eco. point once each turn for the work on the project to continue You can sacrifice an econ. level once for a project to speed it up by two turns.
EDIT:
Btw - it has been pointed out that projects are quite unprofitable now. I'm thinking of decreasing the time it takes to build them and allowing people to rush projects by investing 2 additional eco. points (2 eco. points=+1 project progress) an unlimited amount of time. They might also have unexpected, mostly positive, sideeffects.
Nation Background
To better fit in as the ruler of your country, you will have a brief history of each country. You probably shouldn't fill it in at first.
