Tani Coyote
Son of Huehuecoyotl
- Joined
- May 28, 2007
- Messages
- 15,193
Welcome to Sons of Mars, a game of intrigue, glory, and empire. Starting as a regional power, you will be tasked with leading your nation to worldwide prominence; unfortunately, you will have competition in this pursuit. Use bullets or bullion and friendship or deception to assert your place as the dominant global power.
Keep in mind that while the year is 1550, the European conquests of the Americas have not really gained any traction: Africa has been close to South America in this timeline, thus allowing the spread of technology and diseases to what we call the New World for quite some time already. The indigenous people of the Americas are a force to be reckoned with, having been more or less integrated with the world trade network long enough to not be pushovers.
Sons of Mars’ economy is fairly straightforward: you receive income each turn, as in most IOTs, and spend it on armies, navies, infrastructure, army quality, navy quality, civics, or espionage. Income is determined by your provinces and infrastructure, with maintenance costs subtracted; whatever’s left over is your total income to spend.
Technology and Military
Practically everything costs maintenance. Armies need to be fed, navies need to be regularly repaired, and your training regimens need to remain well-funded. Your roads similarly must remain well-funded, but above all, your government’s effectiveness (Civics) needs the most care; failing to pay Civics costs can lead to rebellions and loss of territory.
Armies cost 5 gold to raise. Armies are tasked with defending territory and capturing new territory, whether owned by another country or neutral. Armies’ movement is determined primarily by infrastructure, whereas their effectiveness in combat is a mixture of numbers and quality. Armies cannot be used the turn they are built.
Navies cost 10 gold to raise. Each navy can ferry one (1) and can go anywhere in their own naval zone (there are three: the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific) or travel to one other naval zone per turn. They can also blockade nations to cut their income and engage enemy ships. Navies cannot be used the turn they are built.
Army and Navy Quality, Infrastructure, and Civics are all techs; the total cost to upgrade a tech to the next level can be seen on the right of the stats tables. You can upgrade each tech ONCE per turn. This will necessitate taking opportunity costs depending on priorities. As for the techs themselves, army and navy quality are self-explanatory. Infrastructure increases revenues, while Civics increases the number of provinces you can rule without repercussions. Keep in mind that civics represents bureaucracy, and so growing civics too fast can likewise drag your empire down as it suffocates from the weight of your administrators.
Unspent funds will be banked for the next turn.
Espionage
Espionage is simple. Pick a country and dump an amount of income into it. You will be able to launch ONE espionage mission against that country every turn. Espionage can be used for anything within reason; the key detail is it’s a secret way to sabotage your rivals. Blow up bridges, assassinate politicians, incite riots, the works.
Religion
Religion is one of the more distinctive traits of Sons of Mars. Everyone is free to choose their own faith, within reason – the year is 1550, after all.
Choose your state religion. It could be a historical one, slightly historical one (i.e. some sort of explanation would be nice, however slight, for say, Ethiopia being Muslim), or more or less made up (some sort of explanation would be nice, and this time around it’ll have to REALLY work good). Irreligion and secularism won’t be popping up for a few centuries. You collect money from every province in your country that is of your faith, and a global bonus for every worldwide province that is of your faith. While it is fine to be tolerant of other faiths, the fact remains that only your faith is the true faith. If you elect to do so, you can be someone else’s faith as well (i.e. Poland or France could be Catholic like Italy), if you feel it would be more advantageous.
Religious conversion happens naturally in your territory, influenced by your communications, your military power (preachers need protection, after all, and dissidents need something to fear), and your situation (being in a war makes heretics more bold, for example). Conversion of other rulers to your faith is naturally of utmost importance.
When you switch from one faith to another, you will receive a one-time bonus in money that represents confiscation of church property from your last state faith. Understandably doing this kind of peeves people.
War and Diplomacy
You may do anything you wish within reason diplomatically. There is trade between everyone by default, which is invisible, though you may declare other nations to be preferred trade partners (keep in mind this reduces your trade with third parties, obviously) or outright embargo nations. Greater infrastructure will increase your trade values.
When talks break down, there is always the ability to go to war. Fleets will engage for superiority on the waves where applicable, and armies can engage on land. Battles are simplistically determined primarily by random number generator based on relative quality and size, though being sufficiently more advanced and/or numerous can guarantee automatic victory. Bear in mind that you can request military access from third parties so as to march your troops through their land.
Occupied territory is reorganized temporarily into an occupation zone, which does not count against your Civics limit; it does not generate standard income but instead sends plunder back to your capital. After the war you can decide what happens to an occupied zone: annexation, partial annexation, returned to original nation, turned into a puppet, etc.
Every nation has a "status." This is what each one means:
Independent - Self-explanatory. This nation has full control over its affairs.
Ally of X - This state is allied to another and will generally respect its interests. NPCs will only choose one ally generally. However, they have full control over their affairs and can desert or change allegiance at will.
Client of X - This state follows the foreign policy of another, but remains more or less independent in domestic affairs. It pays 10% of its income to its partner.
Vassal of X - This state is subordinate to another. It follows foreign policy moves and pays 25% of its income to its suzerain. Suzerains can also direct what it spends money on each turn. The best type of nation if you want to make use of foreign armies.
Puppet of X - This state cannot break away at all and pays 50% to its overlord. On the other side of the coin, it cannot raise its own military forces and will require foreign military forces to defend it. The best type of relationship if you want money for your own purposes.
Sign Ups, Orders and Resignations
Mark 25 provinces with a color of your choice on the map; please mention your nation’s name and its state religion. You can add as much as you like beyond that; bear in mind detail is rewarded.
You may send your orders to me either publicly or via PM each turn; sending via PM is suggested to make sure I do not miss them and also because it’s more convenient if you plan on using espionage. Every turn I will lock orders after there is no activity in a thread, and then proceed to update.
If you are going away for whatever reason, do not hesitate to tell me so I may put your country in a state of automation. Similarly, if you lose interest, please formally resign. Going AWOL (that is, you simply drop the game without any indication) is disruptive; it also makes me put you on a list that, if you are on it too many times, I will submit to a moderator to ask for permission to auto-ban you from future games. It takes two seconds to type the words “I’m quitting,” or some variant, so please take the time to do so.
Update I
Update II
Update III
Update IV
Update V
Keep in mind that while the year is 1550, the European conquests of the Americas have not really gained any traction: Africa has been close to South America in this timeline, thus allowing the spread of technology and diseases to what we call the New World for quite some time already. The indigenous people of the Americas are a force to be reckoned with, having been more or less integrated with the world trade network long enough to not be pushovers.
Sons of Mars’ economy is fairly straightforward: you receive income each turn, as in most IOTs, and spend it on armies, navies, infrastructure, army quality, navy quality, civics, or espionage. Income is determined by your provinces and infrastructure, with maintenance costs subtracted; whatever’s left over is your total income to spend.
Technology and Military
Practically everything costs maintenance. Armies need to be fed, navies need to be regularly repaired, and your training regimens need to remain well-funded. Your roads similarly must remain well-funded, but above all, your government’s effectiveness (Civics) needs the most care; failing to pay Civics costs can lead to rebellions and loss of territory.
Armies cost 5 gold to raise. Armies are tasked with defending territory and capturing new territory, whether owned by another country or neutral. Armies’ movement is determined primarily by infrastructure, whereas their effectiveness in combat is a mixture of numbers and quality. Armies cannot be used the turn they are built.
Navies cost 10 gold to raise. Each navy can ferry one (1) and can go anywhere in their own naval zone (there are three: the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific) or travel to one other naval zone per turn. They can also blockade nations to cut their income and engage enemy ships. Navies cannot be used the turn they are built.
Army and Navy Quality, Infrastructure, and Civics are all techs; the total cost to upgrade a tech to the next level can be seen on the right of the stats tables. You can upgrade each tech ONCE per turn. This will necessitate taking opportunity costs depending on priorities. As for the techs themselves, army and navy quality are self-explanatory. Infrastructure increases revenues, while Civics increases the number of provinces you can rule without repercussions. Keep in mind that civics represents bureaucracy, and so growing civics too fast can likewise drag your empire down as it suffocates from the weight of your administrators.
Unspent funds will be banked for the next turn.
Espionage
Espionage is simple. Pick a country and dump an amount of income into it. You will be able to launch ONE espionage mission against that country every turn. Espionage can be used for anything within reason; the key detail is it’s a secret way to sabotage your rivals. Blow up bridges, assassinate politicians, incite riots, the works.
Religion
Religion is one of the more distinctive traits of Sons of Mars. Everyone is free to choose their own faith, within reason – the year is 1550, after all.
Choose your state religion. It could be a historical one, slightly historical one (i.e. some sort of explanation would be nice, however slight, for say, Ethiopia being Muslim), or more or less made up (some sort of explanation would be nice, and this time around it’ll have to REALLY work good). Irreligion and secularism won’t be popping up for a few centuries. You collect money from every province in your country that is of your faith, and a global bonus for every worldwide province that is of your faith. While it is fine to be tolerant of other faiths, the fact remains that only your faith is the true faith. If you elect to do so, you can be someone else’s faith as well (i.e. Poland or France could be Catholic like Italy), if you feel it would be more advantageous.
Religious conversion happens naturally in your territory, influenced by your communications, your military power (preachers need protection, after all, and dissidents need something to fear), and your situation (being in a war makes heretics more bold, for example). Conversion of other rulers to your faith is naturally of utmost importance.
When you switch from one faith to another, you will receive a one-time bonus in money that represents confiscation of church property from your last state faith. Understandably doing this kind of peeves people.
War and Diplomacy
You may do anything you wish within reason diplomatically. There is trade between everyone by default, which is invisible, though you may declare other nations to be preferred trade partners (keep in mind this reduces your trade with third parties, obviously) or outright embargo nations. Greater infrastructure will increase your trade values.
When talks break down, there is always the ability to go to war. Fleets will engage for superiority on the waves where applicable, and armies can engage on land. Battles are simplistically determined primarily by random number generator based on relative quality and size, though being sufficiently more advanced and/or numerous can guarantee automatic victory. Bear in mind that you can request military access from third parties so as to march your troops through their land.
Occupied territory is reorganized temporarily into an occupation zone, which does not count against your Civics limit; it does not generate standard income but instead sends plunder back to your capital. After the war you can decide what happens to an occupied zone: annexation, partial annexation, returned to original nation, turned into a puppet, etc.
Every nation has a "status." This is what each one means:
Independent - Self-explanatory. This nation has full control over its affairs.
Ally of X - This state is allied to another and will generally respect its interests. NPCs will only choose one ally generally. However, they have full control over their affairs and can desert or change allegiance at will.
Client of X - This state follows the foreign policy of another, but remains more or less independent in domestic affairs. It pays 10% of its income to its partner.
Vassal of X - This state is subordinate to another. It follows foreign policy moves and pays 25% of its income to its suzerain. Suzerains can also direct what it spends money on each turn. The best type of nation if you want to make use of foreign armies.
Puppet of X - This state cannot break away at all and pays 50% to its overlord. On the other side of the coin, it cannot raise its own military forces and will require foreign military forces to defend it. The best type of relationship if you want money for your own purposes.
Sign Ups, Orders and Resignations
Spoiler :
Mark 25 provinces with a color of your choice on the map; please mention your nation’s name and its state religion. You can add as much as you like beyond that; bear in mind detail is rewarded.
You may send your orders to me either publicly or via PM each turn; sending via PM is suggested to make sure I do not miss them and also because it’s more convenient if you plan on using espionage. Every turn I will lock orders after there is no activity in a thread, and then proceed to update.
If you are going away for whatever reason, do not hesitate to tell me so I may put your country in a state of automation. Similarly, if you lose interest, please formally resign. Going AWOL (that is, you simply drop the game without any indication) is disruptive; it also makes me put you on a list that, if you are on it too many times, I will submit to a moderator to ask for permission to auto-ban you from future games. It takes two seconds to type the words “I’m quitting,” or some variant, so please take the time to do so.
Update I
Update II
Update III
Update IV
Update V
