New NESes, ideas, development, etc

[Daftpanzer]

I've watched more than one TV documentary that has mentioned the mysterious presence of new-world drugs (cocaine and nicotine?) in ancient egyptian mummies. From this we can deduce that the Sea Peoples were actually native american drug cartels expanding into the mediterranean!

What do you guys think?

@Dance.Down I really like that idea, it reminds me of an old Amiga computer game called Moonstone: A Hard Days Knight. I would play just for that.

 

[Dance.Down]

D:

All this support makes me want to actually start it.

 

[Bil]

I have a basic concept that I probably won't get around to fleshing out any time soon, so I figured I would post my idea and see if there was any interest in it or possibly some ideas/suggestions.

The backstory of the setting for this NES would be, more or less, that every player oversees a tribe that has recently escaped from an apocalypse of some kind (a flood, volcanic eruption, major earthquake, war, or even an Atlantis-style sinking, whatever it is isn't exactly important) and could only really bring with them a group of close people, some supplies, and a will to survive. The tribes then find themselves landing on the coast of some unexplored land, and can either choose to settle there or move further inland. The basic idea is sort of a "fresh start" NES with a slight twist to the history of it, but otherwise is fairly much the same.

Players would be able to expand their little villages, explore the new landmass, interact with each other, grow into cities/empires, whatever they want. I don't really have much else to it than that, but if anyone is interested, or wants to suggest anything, or even wants to take this idea and run with it, feel free to share.

 

[vruchten]

@Bil
could be interesting... like "lost" but in a bigger scale... you should, think about some sort of native inhabitans or so.. maybe a "unknown evil" for you to mod... and for the others to interact with...

 

[Dance.Down]

In fact just make it LostNES. Include as much batshit crazy things that you can.

 

[Milarqui]

Same opinion in here, regarding Bill's idea.

Might post something later, in regards to my future NES.

 

[Bil]

@Bil
could be interesting... like "lost" but in a bigger scale... you should, think about some sort of native inhabitans or so.. maybe a "unknown evil" for you to mod... and for the others to interact with...

I was planning on having natives, of course. It would be boring if it was just "grow grow grow into the wilderness" and there wasn't any conflict aside from what the players brought to each other.

In fact just make it LostNES. Include as much batshit crazy things that you can.

Good idea. Smoke monsters, time warps, and maybe a variety of extraspatial dimensions, or whatever the hell goes on on that show. I haven't watched it yet, really.

 

[Ninja Dude]

The problem with such an NES is if you want to take just small tribes and try to have them form an empire, it would take forever. :/ That is, unless you had the updates take place over many years. But then that means less in detail interaction with players and perhaps other elements of the NES.

 

[Bil]

I was kind of imagining that the update span would be variable, depending on what was going on. At first, it would be really small increments, but at certain points could be years or decades at a time, just to get the ball rolling a little stronger. Basically, as soon as it seemed to be wearing thin as to how much fun everyone was having being a little tribe, it would jump forward to a city-state level. I would hope that might keep people interested.

One of the questions I'm having is if I should put a player cap in place, or just leave it open to however many people show up. Another question is if it should be cut off after I start it, or if new players can arrive at any time. It might be interesting to have new tribes dropping in from time to time, perhaps escaping other cataclysms, or the same one still, or just moving along their way trying to find a new home, or whatever.

 

[bestrfcplayer]

This is going to be a NES called BestNES: Tails of Exploration.

Story


The year is 1500. Christopher Columbus just got back from his journey into the New World. Around the same time many different rulers are uniting different lands and calling the lands "nations". It is also a time of reberth, and renual, as more and more people are going back to studing the ways of the Anchint Greeks and Romans. The world seems right as rain, right? Well quite franklly no. The Arabs have cut off trade and once the recources were gone in Europe, the Second Dark Ages began. The civilized world seemed to be falling apart, and to make it worse, the Arabs have declared war on all Christian nations! But, China (playable) steps in and once again trades with Europe. But that still isn't enough to bring back the Renasaunce as Europe is still falling apart! The leaders of France,Britian,Spain,Portagel,Germany,and Russia seek out the New World for recources and are looking in the wrong place! The Chris Columbus Jr. is the first Europian to set foot in North America with recources a plenty! With the Renasaunce to be back in about 20-40 years (2-4 updates) you decied if your nation will be their that long. So, will you lead your nation to glory, or downfall, you decied.

This is going as long as it can, maybe even to the 1800's and beyond! Hope you like it! Will not post rules up, for I will need help on that.

 

[Milarqui]

Chris Columbus Jr was called Ferdinand. Just FYI.

 

[Angst]

The year is 1500. Christopher Columbus just got back from his journey into the New World. Around the same time many different rulers are uniting different lands and calling the lands "nations". It is also a time of rebirth, and renewal, as more and more people are going back to studying the ways of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The world seems right as rain, right? Well quite franklly no. The Arabs have cut off trade and once the recources were gone in Europe, the Second Dark Ages began. The civilized world seemed to be falling apart, and to make it worse, the Arabs have declared war on all Christian nations! But China (playable) steps in and once again trades with Europe. But that still isn't enough to bring back the Renaissance as Europe is still falling apart! The leaders of France, Britain, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Russia seek out the New World for resources and are looking in the wrong place! The Chris Columbus Jr. is the first European to set foot in North America with resources a plenty! With the Renaissance to be back in about 20-40 years (2-4 updates) you decide if your nation will be there that long. So, will you lead your nation to glory, or downfall, you decide.

First off, I made a quick run-through on the text and edited it for your pleasure. Again, I urge you to get some sort of spellcheck, since people in here usually frown at bad grammar. Now to the discussion...

Tbh, your scenario makes me raise my eyebrow a little. I'm not sure what circumstances would have a second Dark Age shroud Europe on the premise of the Arabs cutting off trade. The Arabs exported plenty of goods to Europe, of course, but those wares were not necessary for European survival. What the Near East really acted as was middle men who bought exotic goods from India fx only to profit when they sold the luxuries to Italian traders, etc. I'm not sure that lack of luxuries would lead Europe into a Dark Age. Also, I don't see why the Arabs would ever declare war on "all of Europe". They have never done that, and would never be able to succeed in such a war.

And I don't see why the Arabs would ever cut off trade with Europe, they benefited severely on the trade ordinances.

Oh, and how would China actually trade goods with Europe if the Arabs wouldn't further the goods?

I'm trying to help you out, remember.

 

[Cobalt Command]

Yes, the scenario has it's problems, but I'm very intrigued by the idea of a second "Dark Ages" after the New World was discovered; and the historical possibilities of such a timeline.

 

[Angst]

Yes, the scenario has it's problems, but I'm very intrigued by the idea of a second "Dark Ages" after the New World was discovered; and the historical possibilities of such a timeline.

I second this though.

 

[Dachs]

I'm sure the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluks will feel very satisfied in themselves that they have singlehandedly destroyed their own economies.

 

[bombshoo]

Maybe a longer Black Death or some sort of ecological disaster would be a better method of achieving "a second dark age" in Europe.

 

[Masada]

Maybe a longer Black Death or some sort of ecological disaster would be a better method of achieving "a second dark age" in Europe.

...can I just say Malthus and leave it at that?

 

[Dachs]

Yeah, considering the intermediate effects that the Black Death had - "people die, coins don't" - I can't see it leading to any sort of dark age in Europe. Unless you want to go totally overboard with the disease. Somehow. And if you're doing that you might as well get into Rice and Salt territory and go batshit.

 

[bombshoo]

Yeah, considering the intermediate effects that the Black Death had - "people die, coins don't" - I can't see it leading to any sort of dark age in Europe. Unless you want to go totally overboard with the disease. Somehow. And if you're doing that you might as well get into Rice and Salt territory and go batshit.

Well considering the Black Death was nasty enough on its own, I would consider elongating it at all "going overboard". Rice and Salt isn't a bad way of looking at it, but pushing the date for it later could change everything.

 

[Masada]

Well considering the Black Death was nasty enough on its own, I would consider elongated it at all "going overboard". Rice and Salt isn't a bad way of looking at it, but pushing the date for it later could change everything.

Why? The literature tends to argue that the Black Death was a major transformational episode unto itself and was pivotal in dragging the European economy up the economic ladder by a few rungs. Leaving it later under this view shouldn't really matter at all. Population will fall, then rise as living conditions improve and people either have more children or have more surviving children. Wages will rise as labour becomes scarce relative to land and capital, before reaching a point at which land either cracks down on labour or comes to an accord. If more of the latter happens then its generally supposed that feudalism was probably on the way out - and even if more of the former happened significant space was usually gained, in spite of the crack downs. The timing isn't really all that important, since economic growth was negligible and the 'fundamentals' underpinning the economy of Europe hadn't really changed all that much in a few hundred years - there had been adjustments, but certainly nothing of the scale of what followed.

That's the argument as short and succinct as I can manage it...