Tani Coyote
Son of Huehuecoyotl
- Joined
- May 28, 2007
- Messages
- 15,191
Map
I will use the traditional map from the first Sons of Mars, except the provinces in North America and China have swollen enormously to bring them more on par with Europe.
To truly emphasise soft power, players will begin as 25-province juggernauts, with rival NPCs at tiers of 20, 15, 10, 5, or 1 provinces. Players are in essence the major powers, but will have to work hard to be true superpowers.
Starting Out and Expansion
As a human, claim 25 provinces, wherever you wish, but they must be contiguous via land/coastline, and not have a ridiculous shape. Build your capital wherever you please(or I will autoplace it where it would be most appropriate).
For your nation's character, have whatever you want. Chaos demigods, radioactive flying monkeys with lasers for eyes, zombies, etc. Just know you will ALWAYS be accountable to the RNG Gods. Also remember the community can pretty much ka-pow you, so let that regulate your behavior.
Every 5 cities, you will get a "fort," which is just a province where your roll is increased 50% to represent strategic chokepoints. You can choose where you want it, or I will autoplace it where I think it would do best.
You can move forts as you expand, but there's one catch - due to them being newly-built, you forfeit the fort's protections for that turn.
Forts overlap a la towers in the Great Wall of China. You can have ONE province between forts, and that will force enemy troops to funnel through the forts. Provinces must be between forts, or the fort and the coast, to be granted this bonus.
--
All provinces cost 1 XP to claim regardless of size or location(so claim all over the world if you so desire, just make it coastal!), and you get 5 XP each turn that cannot be banked or traded.
Logically, you cannot claim halfway across the world's oceans if you do not have a port. Sorry, no airport-based colonies.
You cannot claim while at war.
NPCs do not expand! They can only gain land through gifts/conquests, and conquest is only initiated if the NPC in particular has a reason and is aggressive. New NPCs join from time to time, either from old nations breaking up, or to increase flavor. Regions that are neglected will quickly spawn NPCs.
The goal, after all, is not mindless conquest.
New players start with 25 + 5x provinces, where x is the turn number. Join on turn 2, and you get 35 provinces(including the claims for that turn).
As a disclaimer, any complexities you see here should not be worried about. Ask me if you have any questions, of course, and I may even give you advice!
Economics
Military and War
Revolts
Diplomacy
I will use the traditional map from the first Sons of Mars, except the provinces in North America and China have swollen enormously to bring them more on par with Europe.
To truly emphasise soft power, players will begin as 25-province juggernauts, with rival NPCs at tiers of 20, 15, 10, 5, or 1 provinces. Players are in essence the major powers, but will have to work hard to be true superpowers.
Starting Out and Expansion
As a human, claim 25 provinces, wherever you wish, but they must be contiguous via land/coastline, and not have a ridiculous shape. Build your capital wherever you please(or I will autoplace it where it would be most appropriate).
For your nation's character, have whatever you want. Chaos demigods, radioactive flying monkeys with lasers for eyes, zombies, etc. Just know you will ALWAYS be accountable to the RNG Gods. Also remember the community can pretty much ka-pow you, so let that regulate your behavior.
Every 5 cities, you will get a "fort," which is just a province where your roll is increased 50% to represent strategic chokepoints. You can choose where you want it, or I will autoplace it where I think it would do best.
You can move forts as you expand, but there's one catch - due to them being newly-built, you forfeit the fort's protections for that turn.
Forts overlap a la towers in the Great Wall of China. You can have ONE province between forts, and that will force enemy troops to funnel through the forts. Provinces must be between forts, or the fort and the coast, to be granted this bonus.
--
All provinces cost 1 XP to claim regardless of size or location(so claim all over the world if you so desire, just make it coastal!), and you get 5 XP each turn that cannot be banked or traded.
Logically, you cannot claim halfway across the world's oceans if you do not have a port. Sorry, no airport-based colonies.
You cannot claim while at war.
NPCs do not expand! They can only gain land through gifts/conquests, and conquest is only initiated if the NPC in particular has a reason and is aggressive. New NPCs join from time to time, either from old nations breaking up, or to increase flavor. Regions that are neglected will quickly spawn NPCs.
The goal, after all, is not mindless conquest.
New players start with 25 + 5x provinces, where x is the turn number. Join on turn 2, and you get 35 provinces(including the claims for that turn).
As a disclaimer, any complexities you see here should not be worried about. Ask me if you have any questions, of course, and I may even give you advice!
Economics
Spoiler :
All provinces give 1 gpt, of course.
Every state gets an "Industry" rating in the tech columns. It seems like the traditional Infra/Economics tech, but it's not. It is a dynamic value that grows naturally each turn. Whatever your Industry is added/subtracted to your income. So, Industry 10 gives +10% income, Industry 20 gives +20%, etc. Woe unto the nation with a negative Industry rating! Likewise, Industry -10% would mean you only collect 90% of what you otherwise would.
Industry cannot go below a value of 1.00 except with bio weapons.
Industry is, like real economics, primarily random and outside your control. Every country's initial rating is their starting provinces, so humans begin at Industry 25, giving them a huge advantage. (25 * 1.25 = ~31, whereas 20 * 1.2 = 24, so +7 income from the start over NPCs).
Now, the fun part. You can increase it manually, but will cost you - for every 10% of your base income you put towards it, you increase it by 1. So, by donating 100% of your income for 10 turns, you get 100% Industry by the end of the 10th turn.
It also grows naturally, at a rate of 5% per turn, rounded. So, within 29 turns, it will naturally be at 100.
So, with a little investment here and a little growth there, all will be good, right?
Wrong. Random events also take their toll.
-War, depending on what you're hit with. Obviously, a war around the world (see America's overseas interventions) won't do much damage, but one on your home soil (see World War II) will tear you apart depending on back and forth warfare. Every five provinces you lose, regardless of if you retake them, drops your Economy by 1.
-Embargos. Has a one-time penalty of 1 to both the giver and receiver.
-Natural disasters. Severity will take 1-5 from your Industry. 1/20 of the nations are hit by this every turn.
-Natural boom/bust cycles. You can gain anywhere from -2% to 2% per turn; only 1/20 of the nations are hit by this every turn.
-Scientific breakthroughs. Innovations such as better power sources or transportation stimulate your economy, with you gaining +10 Industry, every neighbor +5 Industry, and everyone else +1 Industry. It's up to you what the breakthrough is. Scientific breakthroughs only happen once every 5 turns, starting with the first update. This allows economically powerful nations to form early on, but not so much they dominate.
-Resource discoveries. A new deposit of a material can give you anywhere from +1 to +5 Industry. These events hit every turn to 1/20 of the nations(so if there were 100 nations, there'd be 5 incidents)
-Biological weapons. See bioweapons.
So, feel free to increase it by 10 using all your income, but know that events could easily erase it, or even worse, drag you down.
Furthermore, there are international boom/bust cycles, which few can escape(even if some may not feel much). Consider that developed economies have the most to lose in recessions! A global boom/bust cycle will hit all nations with anywhere from -10% to +10% Industry. The cycle hits every 5 turns.
Even if everything was fine and dandy, you have the fact that while you focus on building an economy, neglecting other areas won't do you good. Build up a huge treasure but no vault and guards to protect it, however, and you'll be in trouble.
That in mind...
Every state gets an "Industry" rating in the tech columns. It seems like the traditional Infra/Economics tech, but it's not. It is a dynamic value that grows naturally each turn. Whatever your Industry is added/subtracted to your income. So, Industry 10 gives +10% income, Industry 20 gives +20%, etc. Woe unto the nation with a negative Industry rating! Likewise, Industry -10% would mean you only collect 90% of what you otherwise would.
Industry cannot go below a value of 1.00 except with bio weapons.
Industry is, like real economics, primarily random and outside your control. Every country's initial rating is their starting provinces, so humans begin at Industry 25, giving them a huge advantage. (25 * 1.25 = ~31, whereas 20 * 1.2 = 24, so +7 income from the start over NPCs).
Now, the fun part. You can increase it manually, but will cost you - for every 10% of your base income you put towards it, you increase it by 1. So, by donating 100% of your income for 10 turns, you get 100% Industry by the end of the 10th turn.
It also grows naturally, at a rate of 5% per turn, rounded. So, within 29 turns, it will naturally be at 100.
So, with a little investment here and a little growth there, all will be good, right?
Wrong. Random events also take their toll.
-War, depending on what you're hit with. Obviously, a war around the world (see America's overseas interventions) won't do much damage, but one on your home soil (see World War II) will tear you apart depending on back and forth warfare. Every five provinces you lose, regardless of if you retake them, drops your Economy by 1.
-Embargos. Has a one-time penalty of 1 to both the giver and receiver.
-Natural disasters. Severity will take 1-5 from your Industry. 1/20 of the nations are hit by this every turn.
-Natural boom/bust cycles. You can gain anywhere from -2% to 2% per turn; only 1/20 of the nations are hit by this every turn.
-Scientific breakthroughs. Innovations such as better power sources or transportation stimulate your economy, with you gaining +10 Industry, every neighbor +5 Industry, and everyone else +1 Industry. It's up to you what the breakthrough is. Scientific breakthroughs only happen once every 5 turns, starting with the first update. This allows economically powerful nations to form early on, but not so much they dominate.
-Resource discoveries. A new deposit of a material can give you anywhere from +1 to +5 Industry. These events hit every turn to 1/20 of the nations(so if there were 100 nations, there'd be 5 incidents)
-Biological weapons. See bioweapons.
So, feel free to increase it by 10 using all your income, but know that events could easily erase it, or even worse, drag you down.
Furthermore, there are international boom/bust cycles, which few can escape(even if some may not feel much). Consider that developed economies have the most to lose in recessions! A global boom/bust cycle will hit all nations with anywhere from -10% to +10% Industry. The cycle hits every 5 turns.
Even if everything was fine and dandy, you have the fact that while you focus on building an economy, neglecting other areas won't do you good. Build up a huge treasure but no vault and guards to protect it, however, and you'll be in trouble.
That in mind...
Military and War
Spoiler :
I suggest you PM me for advice regarding battles and war before you launch them. Don't get mad when your strategy DOESN'T work - I calculate based on rolls, and will tell you if things are against you. You have been warned.
If you're lucky, maybe I'll even suggest the best way to puncture your foe's military arteries.
Units are pooled regionally. That is, one pool of units can deploy anywhere in a territory of yours that is contiguous. If you deploy 10 units in your European area and 20 in your Asian area for instance, they are confined to those areas unless you transport them. You can see the pool on the map.
Army, air, and naval units all cost 5 gold. HOWEVER, bear in mind that they can only be recruited at forts/your capital. As such, it is highly suggested you have a fort in every region you own overseas/separated from your capital region, so that region can provide for its own defense without your naval power.
The system of military tech will return, with RNG being 1-10.
There are 10 Army techs, each costing 25x, with x being the level(exampke: Army 10 costs 250 gold). If you have an advantage in army tech, that is added onto your roll. Likewise, if the defender has an advantage, they get that.
There is no longer any maintenance feature for simplicity. Let your own big spending be your end.
-- Army
-- Navy
-- Air Force
-- Ballistics
Black Ops
If you're lucky, maybe I'll even suggest the best way to puncture your foe's military arteries.
Units are pooled regionally. That is, one pool of units can deploy anywhere in a territory of yours that is contiguous. If you deploy 10 units in your European area and 20 in your Asian area for instance, they are confined to those areas unless you transport them. You can see the pool on the map.
Army, air, and naval units all cost 5 gold. HOWEVER, bear in mind that they can only be recruited at forts/your capital. As such, it is highly suggested you have a fort in every region you own overseas/separated from your capital region, so that region can provide for its own defense without your naval power.
The system of military tech will return, with RNG being 1-10.
There are 10 Army techs, each costing 25x, with x being the level(exampke: Army 10 costs 250 gold). If you have an advantage in army tech, that is added onto your roll. Likewise, if the defender has an advantage, they get that.
There is no longer any maintenance feature for simplicity. Let your own big spending be your end.
-- Army
Spoiler :
Ties are always won by the defender.
City-states and capitals have their roll doubled to represent urban warfare. Attack at your own risk.
Attacks can be stacked, but this will use up all attackers' moves. Stacking attacks adds +10% to the roll, up to a max of five.
So, if you have 5 armies attack 1 army all at once, and roll a 5 to their 7, it looks like you would lose, but you actually roll 7.5 once the bonus is applied. If they were a city-state, however, they would actually roll a 14, and annihilate all 5 of your troops!
Armies can defend themselves against aircraft fire, with a 20% chance of shooting attackers down.
City-states and capitals have their roll doubled to represent urban warfare. Attack at your own risk.
Attacks can be stacked, but this will use up all attackers' moves. Stacking attacks adds +10% to the roll, up to a max of five.
So, if you have 5 armies attack 1 army all at once, and roll a 5 to their 7, it looks like you would lose, but you actually roll 7.5 once the bonus is applied. If they were a city-state, however, they would actually roll a 14, and annihilate all 5 of your troops!
Armies can defend themselves against aircraft fire, with a 20% chance of shooting attackers down.
-- Navy
Spoiler :
Navies are simple. There are a few ocean zones to keep a navy from popping up on the other side of the world instantly. Navies can move 1 water tile by default, but every 2 Army techs ups this by 1. So, Army 10 means your navies can move 6 water tiles.
They operate on the same rules as armies when attacking eachother. Navies can also bombard the land and have a 20% chance of destroying planes that attack them.
So, 5 navies against 1 navy. Roll a 5 to their 7. Just like in the land battle, you actually roll 7.5 thanks to bonuses and so, win.
5 navies can bombard a single coastal province and guarantee the destruction of an army there, but use up their offensive move.
Navies can blockade ports. One navy per coastal province, so, easy enough. When all ports are cut, the country can no longer trade via the sea.
Navies can transport an unlimited number of troops, but if destroyed, all the troops on board die. If you have 2 ships transporting 5 troops, 3 will die if one is sunk. (2.5 rounded is 3)
They operate on the same rules as armies when attacking eachother. Navies can also bombard the land and have a 20% chance of destroying planes that attack them.
So, 5 navies against 1 navy. Roll a 5 to their 7. Just like in the land battle, you actually roll 7.5 thanks to bonuses and so, win.
5 navies can bombard a single coastal province and guarantee the destruction of an army there, but use up their offensive move.
Navies can blockade ports. One navy per coastal province, so, easy enough. When all ports are cut, the country can no longer trade via the sea.
Navies can transport an unlimited number of troops, but if destroyed, all the troops on board die. If you have 2 ships transporting 5 troops, 3 will die if one is sunk. (2.5 rounded is 3)
-- Air Force
Spoiler :
Air forces are simple as well. They are based wherever, and can go anywhere in the world at the cost of their move. They can attack 10x pixels away from their province's border, with x being your army tech. So, a plane of a Mil Tech 10 nation can bomb 100 pixels away from their base province's border.
Air forces intercept other air forces with the same mechanics as navy on navy or army on army combat. 5 planes against 5 planes. 5 to the left, 7 to the right. In this circumstance, bonuses obviously aren't applied since they're pointless, and the first five planes are destroyed.
Planes have a 20% chance of destroying any army or navy they attack. Navies have a 10% chance of shooting down planes. Armies have a 20% chance of shooting down planes, provided they are in a fort or "wall" province.
Stacking 5 planes against a target guarantees a hit, but each plane has a 10% chance of being shot down.
Air forces intercept other air forces with the same mechanics as navy on navy or army on army combat. 5 planes against 5 planes. 5 to the left, 7 to the right. In this circumstance, bonuses obviously aren't applied since they're pointless, and the first five planes are destroyed.
Planes have a 20% chance of destroying any army or navy they attack. Navies have a 10% chance of shooting down planes. Armies have a 20% chance of shooting down planes, provided they are in a fort or "wall" province.
Stacking 5 planes against a target guarantees a hit, but each plane has a 10% chance of being shot down.
-- Ballistics
Spoiler :
Ah, the ultimate weapons - there are three kinds, biological, chemical and province-busters. However, most require a weapons program to unlock - anything above the starting weapon requires an extra investment.
A weapons program is easy. You simply start one(whether public(you tell everyone) or private(you don't)) and put however much money you want into it. Every unit of gold you put into it, there's that chance of that weapon being unlocked. Keep in mind there are Army tech qualifications for some weapons, so you need that army tech as well as a successful RnD.
The gold stays constant, but will be depleted back to 0 upon development. So, if you put 20 gold into Small PBs, you will have a 20% chance for every turn after that until you discover it. Once discovered, that research project is over and the gold is depleted.
Weapons programs can be started at any time, but the weapons themselves must be available to begin with - i.e. you must have the prerequisite Army Tech.
Note - You can lend Province-Busters to unconventional(read: terrorist) groups around the world, with a 10% risk of discovery. They still follow the same rules, however. Discovery causes nasty things, obviously.
Province Busters
Biological
Chemical
SDI
SDI, the Strategic Defense Initiative, raises the chance of province-buster interception by 1% for every 50 gold invested(sounds like a lot, but trade, trade, trade!). While wealthy nations could undertake this alone, it is highly suggested you work with other nations. Nations are free to pool SDI research with as many nations as they wish, thus eliminating an entire class of weapons. Your SDI progress will be kept track of on a separate page, and will be given to you upon request.
A weapons program is easy. You simply start one(whether public(you tell everyone) or private(you don't)) and put however much money you want into it. Every unit of gold you put into it, there's that chance of that weapon being unlocked. Keep in mind there are Army tech qualifications for some weapons, so you need that army tech as well as a successful RnD.
The gold stays constant, but will be depleted back to 0 upon development. So, if you put 20 gold into Small PBs, you will have a 20% chance for every turn after that until you discover it. Once discovered, that research project is over and the gold is depleted.
Weapons programs can be started at any time, but the weapons themselves must be available to begin with - i.e. you must have the prerequisite Army Tech.
Note - You can lend Province-Busters to unconventional(read: terrorist) groups around the world, with a 10% risk of discovery. They still follow the same rules, however. Discovery causes nasty things, obviously.
Province Busters
Spoiler :
Province-busters are devastating weapons, with costs to be determined based on the economic state at their unlocking. They will be expensive at first, but become cheaper as more access the technology. Every missile has a chance of being intercepted, decreasing by 5% at each interval, so mega PBs only have a 5% chance, compared to tiny PBs' 25%.
Lv. I(Tiny) PBs are cheap and destroy only one province. Good for punitive measures. Auto-unlocked at Army 2.
Lv. II(Small) PBs destroy two provinces, and have a 25% chance of destroying a third. Requires Army 3.
Lv. III (Medium) PBs destroy three provinces, and have a 50% chance of destroying a fourth and fifth. Requires Army 4.
Lv. IV (Large) PBs destroy four provinces, and have a 75% chance of destroying a fourth, fifth, and seventh. Requires Army 6.
Lv. V (Mega) PBs are godly, destroying five provinces and having a 90% chance of destroying five more! Requires Army 8.
PBs' chance of interception will likely increase as nations develop SDI. In the meantime, they are TERRIFYING weapons of war, having more lethality than nukes but none of the radioactivity. Perfect for clearing real estate, capable of destroying entire NATIONS with the push of a button.
Strategy - Province-busters are good for destroying a nation entirely. Enough of them is a one-turn kill. The best defense against province-busters, barring SDI, is simply building your own arsenal as a deterrent. Furthermore, due to the "sabotage Province Buster" spy action determining its victim at random, it is suggested you keep an arsenal of small PBs to balance things out.
Lv. I(Tiny) PBs are cheap and destroy only one province. Good for punitive measures. Auto-unlocked at Army 2.
Lv. II(Small) PBs destroy two provinces, and have a 25% chance of destroying a third. Requires Army 3.
Lv. III (Medium) PBs destroy three provinces, and have a 50% chance of destroying a fourth and fifth. Requires Army 4.
Lv. IV (Large) PBs destroy four provinces, and have a 75% chance of destroying a fourth, fifth, and seventh. Requires Army 6.
Lv. V (Mega) PBs are godly, destroying five provinces and having a 90% chance of destroying five more! Requires Army 8.
PBs' chance of interception will likely increase as nations develop SDI. In the meantime, they are TERRIFYING weapons of war, having more lethality than nukes but none of the radioactivity. Perfect for clearing real estate, capable of destroying entire NATIONS with the push of a button.
Strategy - Province-busters are good for destroying a nation entirely. Enough of them is a one-turn kill. The best defense against province-busters, barring SDI, is simply building your own arsenal as a deterrent. Furthermore, due to the "sabotage Province Buster" spy action determining its victim at random, it is suggested you keep an arsenal of small PBs to balance things out.
Biological
Spoiler :
Bio weapons target the population, and so hurt Industry points.
Lv. I(Tiny) BWs are cheap and destroy 5% of an economy. Auto-unlocked at Army 2.
Lv. II(Small) BWs destroy 5-10% of an economy. Requires Army 3.
Lv. III (Medium) BWs destroy 5-15% of an economy. Requires Army 4.
Lv. IV (Large) BWs destroy 5-20% of an economy. Requires Army 6.
Lv. V (Mega) BWs destroy 5-25% of an economy! Requires Army 8.
Bioweapons have no intercept chance, but do have a fail rate, starting at 25% from Tiny and dropping 5% each level to only a 5% chance fail rate with Mega. There's also a 10% chance of being discovered deploying one. A fail rate means it isn't strong enough to infect the population, thus negating the damage.
HOWEVER, they can backfire on you. When a bioweapon goes off, there's a separate chance the disease will spread to any country that touches the target or trades with it, including yours. This chance is the max damage of the bioweapon, so a Mega Bioweapon has a 25% percent chance of spreading to any neighboring country. If it spreads, you get a rate calculated for you based on its damage, so if a Mega bioweapon spreads to your territory, you stand to lose 5-25% of your economy.
So, in order:
-Discovery roll(10% chance)
-Success roll in target nation(5-25%)
-Damage roll(How much of the economy is torn apart)
-Infection roll(5-25%, depending on the size of the weapon)
-Damage done(same as the original superweapon)
-Continues to spread from each infected nation, up to a max of 5 with T5 weapons.
Each infected nation can infect its neighbors, in an exponential effect. T1 weapons can go one country away from the origin, T2 can go two countries away, etc. So a T5 weapon can very easily infect the entire planet. Multiple weapons can be stacked against a country, but as the rate compounds, returns diminish after the first weapon usually.
Strategy - Bioweapons hurt an economy and can be deployed against a foe even in peace due to their difficulty to track. Be warned, however, the implications of a backfire could be catastrophic. Indeed, if you are discovered, NPCs will soon get word and put you in diplomatic isolation. Use of larger bioweapons will merit instant war, as large bioweapons could destroy humanity.
Lv. I(Tiny) BWs are cheap and destroy 5% of an economy. Auto-unlocked at Army 2.
Lv. II(Small) BWs destroy 5-10% of an economy. Requires Army 3.
Lv. III (Medium) BWs destroy 5-15% of an economy. Requires Army 4.
Lv. IV (Large) BWs destroy 5-20% of an economy. Requires Army 6.
Lv. V (Mega) BWs destroy 5-25% of an economy! Requires Army 8.
Bioweapons have no intercept chance, but do have a fail rate, starting at 25% from Tiny and dropping 5% each level to only a 5% chance fail rate with Mega. There's also a 10% chance of being discovered deploying one. A fail rate means it isn't strong enough to infect the population, thus negating the damage.
HOWEVER, they can backfire on you. When a bioweapon goes off, there's a separate chance the disease will spread to any country that touches the target or trades with it, including yours. This chance is the max damage of the bioweapon, so a Mega Bioweapon has a 25% percent chance of spreading to any neighboring country. If it spreads, you get a rate calculated for you based on its damage, so if a Mega bioweapon spreads to your territory, you stand to lose 5-25% of your economy.
So, in order:
-Discovery roll(10% chance)
-Success roll in target nation(5-25%)
-Damage roll(How much of the economy is torn apart)
-Infection roll(5-25%, depending on the size of the weapon)
-Damage done(same as the original superweapon)
-Continues to spread from each infected nation, up to a max of 5 with T5 weapons.
Each infected nation can infect its neighbors, in an exponential effect. T1 weapons can go one country away from the origin, T2 can go two countries away, etc. So a T5 weapon can very easily infect the entire planet. Multiple weapons can be stacked against a country, but as the rate compounds, returns diminish after the first weapon usually.
Strategy - Bioweapons hurt an economy and can be deployed against a foe even in peace due to their difficulty to track. Be warned, however, the implications of a backfire could be catastrophic. Indeed, if you are discovered, NPCs will soon get word and put you in diplomatic isolation. Use of larger bioweapons will merit instant war, as large bioweapons could destroy humanity.
Chemical
Spoiler :
Chemical weapons target troops.
Lv. I(Tiny) CWs are cheap and destroy one army. Auto-unlocked at Army 2.
Lv. II(Small) CWs destroy two armies, and have a 25% chance of destroying a third. Requires Army 3.
Lv. III (Medium) CWs destroy three armies, and have a 50% chance of destroying a fourth and fifth. Requires Army 4.
Lv. IV (Large) CWs destroy four armies, and have a 75% chance of destroying a fourth, fifth, and seventh. Requires Army 6.
Lv. V (Mega) CWs are powerful, destroying five armies and having a 90% chance of destroying five more! Requires Army 8.
Chemical weapons have a 30-5x chance of being intercepted if fired at a bordering nation, with x being the level of weapon. So, Lv. V only have a 5% chance of being intercepted, vs. Lv. 1's 25%.
If fired at a non-bordering nation, it's 25% chance of being intercepted across the board.
Landing a successful hit will kill the number of armies specified, with additional casualties calculated separately.
Strategy - if the war will be protracted, purging your enemy's armies will let you seize his provinces more easily. This is useful because if you were to destroy them with province-busters, you'd have to wait until the war was over to claim empty provinces.
Lv. I(Tiny) CWs are cheap and destroy one army. Auto-unlocked at Army 2.
Lv. II(Small) CWs destroy two armies, and have a 25% chance of destroying a third. Requires Army 3.
Lv. III (Medium) CWs destroy three armies, and have a 50% chance of destroying a fourth and fifth. Requires Army 4.
Lv. IV (Large) CWs destroy four armies, and have a 75% chance of destroying a fourth, fifth, and seventh. Requires Army 6.
Lv. V (Mega) CWs are powerful, destroying five armies and having a 90% chance of destroying five more! Requires Army 8.
Chemical weapons have a 30-5x chance of being intercepted if fired at a bordering nation, with x being the level of weapon. So, Lv. V only have a 5% chance of being intercepted, vs. Lv. 1's 25%.
If fired at a non-bordering nation, it's 25% chance of being intercepted across the board.
Landing a successful hit will kill the number of armies specified, with additional casualties calculated separately.
Strategy - if the war will be protracted, purging your enemy's armies will let you seize his provinces more easily. This is useful because if you were to destroy them with province-busters, you'd have to wait until the war was over to claim empty provinces.
SDI
SDI, the Strategic Defense Initiative, raises the chance of province-buster interception by 1% for every 50 gold invested(sounds like a lot, but trade, trade, trade!). While wealthy nations could undertake this alone, it is highly suggested you work with other nations. Nations are free to pool SDI research with as many nations as they wish, thus eliminating an entire class of weapons. Your SDI progress will be kept track of on a separate page, and will be given to you upon request.
Black Ops
Spoiler :
Also known as espionage, it's simple and straightforward. You get one against each opponent per turn. Success/Secrecy rates are next to eachother. Success is obvious, Secrecy means you weren't discovered.
-Incite revolt - 20/80; creates anywhere from 1-10 revolts in the enemy nation. Being professionally armed, these rebels automatically kill the defenders of the provinces. If the rebels take over the state(conquer half of it and the capital), they will be loyal to you.
-Increase Discontent - 10/90 - Increases instability by 1
-Sabotage PB - 20/50; dangerous, but disarms a random PB of your foe.
-Disable SDI - 25/25; your most skilled agents disarm their SDI network, removing any bonuses against you. Fire away! If it is a shared SDI network, it also disables their allies'. So, a global SDI network = a chance to disarm the entire world for one turn!
-Incite revolt - 20/80; creates anywhere from 1-10 revolts in the enemy nation. Being professionally armed, these rebels automatically kill the defenders of the provinces. If the rebels take over the state(conquer half of it and the capital), they will be loyal to you.
-Increase Discontent - 10/90 - Increases instability by 1
-Sabotage PB - 20/50; dangerous, but disarms a random PB of your foe.
-Disable SDI - 25/25; your most skilled agents disarm their SDI network, removing any bonuses against you. Fire away! If it is a shared SDI network, it also disables their allies'. So, a global SDI network = a chance to disarm the entire world for one turn!
Revolts
Spoiler :
The top powers will, for the most part, not have to worry about revolts barring espionage.
A instability measure is present next to any nation. It ranks from 0-20. 0 is peaceful and hippietastic. 20 is a hellhole. Note: LOWER = BETTER
Major powers and city-states start at instability 0. All other states get theirs randomly assigned for fun!
Every level away from 0 adds 5% to RR. The higher your RR, the more provinces will attempt to break away - if an RR of 10 is triggered, 10% of your empire will try to break away.
These armies must defeat the armies already present in combat to win the province, so even large revolts aren't automatically a death sentence.
Instability is mostly changed by actions, but it's impacted by many things:
-Unjustified wars of aggression raise it by 1.
-Being totally blockaded raises it by 1 per turn. Either kick those enemies out or cave in to their demands.
-Random events(recession, disaster) sometimes will make it raise by 1.
-Your capital falling raises it by 3.
-Losing provinces in war raises it by 1 for every 5 lost
-Every 5 provinces claimed/annexed raises it by 1; this is normally taken care of by being at peace.
-Defensive wars create a rally around the flag, and lower it by 4 if it wasn't provoked, 2 if provoked(spy action, harsh rhetoric).
-Being victorious in a war lowers it by 1. Wars of aggression, provided they bring territory or clients, lower it by 3.
-Every 5 provinces occupied in a war lower it by 1(meaning the war is going well)
-Every turn you're unified(no revolts) and at peace, it lowers by 1.
-Random events will sometimes lower it(economic boom, scientific breakthrough) by 1.
-Reclaiming a lost capital lowers it by 3.
-Lifting a total blockade lowers it by 1.
As you can see, most of these are temporary and the instability can be lowered again through sufficient counteraction.
A instability measure is present next to any nation. It ranks from 0-20. 0 is peaceful and hippietastic. 20 is a hellhole. Note: LOWER = BETTER
Major powers and city-states start at instability 0. All other states get theirs randomly assigned for fun!

These armies must defeat the armies already present in combat to win the province, so even large revolts aren't automatically a death sentence.
Instability is mostly changed by actions, but it's impacted by many things:
-Unjustified wars of aggression raise it by 1.
-Being totally blockaded raises it by 1 per turn. Either kick those enemies out or cave in to their demands.
-Random events(recession, disaster) sometimes will make it raise by 1.
-Your capital falling raises it by 3.
-Losing provinces in war raises it by 1 for every 5 lost
-Every 5 provinces claimed/annexed raises it by 1; this is normally taken care of by being at peace.
-Defensive wars create a rally around the flag, and lower it by 4 if it wasn't provoked, 2 if provoked(spy action, harsh rhetoric).
-Being victorious in a war lowers it by 1. Wars of aggression, provided they bring territory or clients, lower it by 3.
-Every 5 provinces occupied in a war lower it by 1(meaning the war is going well)
-Every turn you're unified(no revolts) and at peace, it lowers by 1.
-Random events will sometimes lower it(economic boom, scientific breakthrough) by 1.
-Reclaiming a lost capital lowers it by 3.
-Lifting a total blockade lowers it by 1.
As you can see, most of these are temporary and the instability can be lowered again through sufficient counteraction.
Diplomacy
Spoiler :
Meat and potatoes.
You have an invisible reputation with each nation. It's easy to guess how you stand - being of the same faith is good, different faiths bad, good relations in the past help, etc.
Casus belli are not required for war. However, going to war without one hits your stability(raising instability by 1), makes NPCs less happy with you, and may even prompt some NPCs to fight alongside them. Wars that are justified are:
-Brought about by defensive alliances(i.e. a fellow member is attacked)
-In response to a failed espionage action
-The result of serious national tensions. Ask the GM if your tensions are serious or not before using this. Some insults probably isn't good enough, but combined with funding for your insurgencies or something, probably is.
-You can attack an ally who deserted you, provided the alliance was public
Usage of province-busters will quickly alienate NPCs, especially if the intent is genocide rather than a quick end to conflict.
Bioweapons will alienate NPCs, as will chemical(unless they too use chemical weapons), but large bioweapons will result in a declaration of war instantly, due to their potential to kill humans everywhere.
NPCs that don't like you that much and are close by will probably step in on the side of the defender. So, keep your brib- er, gifts, coming.
Trade - You can trade with any amount of nations, and you reap 50% of the total income between you, so the average(if you bring in 50 income, they bring in 30, the trade value is 80, so you each bring home 40 from the deal). You can cancel/sign as many as you want per turn, but you can only have a max of x agreements, where x is the turn number. Cancelling one will make the other nation unhappy, obviously. PLAN ACCORDINGLY.
Alliances - Defensive or offensive, sign them with whoever. Large alliances however, will find themselves prone to events that make them rupture/weaken. What this means is NPCs may undergo political shifts, or I may give nations in the alliance priority for being a victim of disasters/recessions.
Stationing - You can devote your armies to overseas causes, whether putting down revolts in other nations, or helping protect territory. There's a lot of flexibility with what your troops will do. Note that assisting another nation in defending itself is NOT a declaration of war on your part, whereas using those troops to conquer territory IS.
Sanctions/Embargos - An embargo drops both states' Industry by 1, but more importantly, means that the states cannot use eachother's land routes to trade.
Concepts such as faith/ethnicity technically aren't hardcoded, but can affect relations. Go nuts with religion and race and whatnot. Every NPC is given its qualities at random, so whereas a secular Islamic nation won't judge you too much on your faith choices, a radical Hindu one will. Similarly, a rabid Communist state isn't gonna like you very much if you're capitalist, and so on. Use logic to understand who your policies don't go well with.
You have an invisible reputation with each nation. It's easy to guess how you stand - being of the same faith is good, different faiths bad, good relations in the past help, etc.
Casus belli are not required for war. However, going to war without one hits your stability(raising instability by 1), makes NPCs less happy with you, and may even prompt some NPCs to fight alongside them. Wars that are justified are:
-Brought about by defensive alliances(i.e. a fellow member is attacked)
-In response to a failed espionage action
-The result of serious national tensions. Ask the GM if your tensions are serious or not before using this. Some insults probably isn't good enough, but combined with funding for your insurgencies or something, probably is.
-You can attack an ally who deserted you, provided the alliance was public
Usage of province-busters will quickly alienate NPCs, especially if the intent is genocide rather than a quick end to conflict.
Bioweapons will alienate NPCs, as will chemical(unless they too use chemical weapons), but large bioweapons will result in a declaration of war instantly, due to their potential to kill humans everywhere.
NPCs that don't like you that much and are close by will probably step in on the side of the defender. So, keep your brib- er, gifts, coming.
Trade - You can trade with any amount of nations, and you reap 50% of the total income between you, so the average(if you bring in 50 income, they bring in 30, the trade value is 80, so you each bring home 40 from the deal). You can cancel/sign as many as you want per turn, but you can only have a max of x agreements, where x is the turn number. Cancelling one will make the other nation unhappy, obviously. PLAN ACCORDINGLY.
Alliances - Defensive or offensive, sign them with whoever. Large alliances however, will find themselves prone to events that make them rupture/weaken. What this means is NPCs may undergo political shifts, or I may give nations in the alliance priority for being a victim of disasters/recessions.
Stationing - You can devote your armies to overseas causes, whether putting down revolts in other nations, or helping protect territory. There's a lot of flexibility with what your troops will do. Note that assisting another nation in defending itself is NOT a declaration of war on your part, whereas using those troops to conquer territory IS.
Sanctions/Embargos - An embargo drops both states' Industry by 1, but more importantly, means that the states cannot use eachother's land routes to trade.
Concepts such as faith/ethnicity technically aren't hardcoded, but can affect relations. Go nuts with religion and race and whatnot. Every NPC is given its qualities at random, so whereas a secular Islamic nation won't judge you too much on your faith choices, a radical Hindu one will. Similarly, a rabid Communist state isn't gonna like you very much if you're capitalist, and so on. Use logic to understand who your policies don't go well with.