das
Regeneration In Process
Now before I say anything else... don't get excited. The next NES mentioned in the title likely wouldn't come any time soon. In fact we will be lucky if it begins at some point in this July. My schedule is likely to be very unstable even then, so I really cannot make any promises.
But we all knew and know that sooner or later, I will be compelled to mod again. And frankly, I still have no idea as to what I should do. I have some ideas for settings, but I will almost certainly come up with new ones and tweak existant ones, and it goes without saying that I am yet to really choose between them. And what about the rules?
And then there are stats and so forth. In other words, development will take time, so I might as well start now, as welll as accept and encourage contributions fromthe plebs my fellow NESers.
Anyhow:
Setting (ideas for):
- NES2 VII, an althist NES like all the other NES2s, based on this guess-the-PoD map:
which most of you already know and remember. It strikes me as a generally pretty good setting for a modernish NES, with many interesting nations and possibilities, and a fairly different geopolitical setup when compared to what we usually see in modern NESes (no Russia ever existed, Australia and the Canada-equivalent are great powers, the sun never sets on the Portuguese empire, neither India nor China nor even Africa are fully colonised and so on);
- Advanced Fresh Start. This isn't an idea of my own, nor is it really new; people create some nations and I blitz them through milleniums in several proto-updates, with limited (mostly BT-level) guidance, until we reach a late Middle Ages equivalent or something. As I said, the idea isn't new, it has been tried before, but for one reason or another it never came to fruition or lived for long beyond it. Which is a shame, because it is, in my mind, a very good idea, and if executed properly could be very fun. So I would really like to try that one myself, if there's enough popular support. If this works I might be creating yet another monster of a NES style (that would be a second, or maybe a third, commented he without any false modesty);
- ITNES II - another fresh start, possibly with some nice twists;
- ITNES I IT V and NES2 VI IT III? Sorry, I really don't have a lot of ideas as to what more could be done there (especially as compared to the other options), and the latter in particular is already divided by three friendly superpowers;
- An idea that has been nagging me a bit is the setting of the infamously short-lived NES2 IV, taken through an exciting two decades of impericide and global chaos and then given over to the NESers for reconstruction and more chaos still. There might actually be some merit in this idea, but how many people would actually be interested in that?
The first two ideas are obviously my favourites at present. I'm very much torn between them.
Rules (thoughts about; unless said otherwise, I'm using the ITNES I incarnation two rules as a base for those):
- I probably will have to get rid of the prestige stat, because objectively speaking it was pretty stupid of me to even conceive it in the first place. Ah well;
- On the other hand, the descriptive cultures and governments worked quite to my satisfaction;
- The age system in Technology Level doesn't seem to express all that much except for major gaps; perhaps a descriptive system (seeing as that has been working out quite well for me) is in order? On the flip side, it would be very detailed, but somehow I don't think Symphony D. or Disenfrancised, for instance, would mind that much;
- More detailed military? Nah.
Although, maybe some sort of an additional descriptive stat for military composition (quality, organisation, leadership, base unit type, equipment and all other information that people PMed me about previously) might be in order; its not like this information was ever secret either in a NES or in RL;
- On a somewhat related note, wars would generally be easier for us all to manage if all the nations had general military doctrines (which would remain secret, but will be kept by me in a separate file and passed on to a new player taking a nation) from the first turn of the NES on. That's tactics, strategy and everything else; you would be able to make adjustments to it if you want, both within the doctrne itself and for specific situations, but generally it would be very convenient for us all to be able to refer to this doctrine;
- Troops on the maps - I'm honestly not sure what ended up as more time-consuming, placing said troops or answering PMs about their locations. Perhaps more generalised army and navy icons (of different but still fairly generalised sizes) could be used instead, with an understandment that more precise numbers are hard to get, especially with rotation, replacements, reinforcements and other such processes?
- Economy. Simple and usual though the economy level system may be, the arguments for the more complex sectorised system are convincing. Other issues are those of economic centres (I'll probably just adapt the same approach as in ITNES, though, leaving trade centres that don't magically generate income by themselves but still are significant for actual trade) and of economic regions (which are also increasingly widespread, but strike me as a bit too complex). Really, I'm out of my depth here, so I'll particularily appreciate suggestions here;
- Other ideas worth stealing include a Population stat (which will function as the Size stat for things like Education and would have some obvious, though probably not mathematical, influence on economy and military) and a periphery system (like in the sadly short-lived DisNES, for autonomous regions and effectively autonomous colonies);
- I'm sure I forgot something here - any other nice ideas?
Also, a newer map might or might not be in order; discuss. If we go with my althist setting but pick a new map, I will need a volunteer to transfer it there.
Thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc? Silly polar bear vs. penguin stories? Portraits of random 18th century Russian nobles? The former, at least, are definitely welcome.
But we all knew and know that sooner or later, I will be compelled to mod again. And frankly, I still have no idea as to what I should do. I have some ideas for settings, but I will almost certainly come up with new ones and tweak existant ones, and it goes without saying that I am yet to really choose between them. And what about the rules?
And then there are stats and so forth. In other words, development will take time, so I might as well start now, as welll as accept and encourage contributions from
Anyhow:
Setting (ideas for):
- NES2 VII, an althist NES like all the other NES2s, based on this guess-the-PoD map:
- Advanced Fresh Start. This isn't an idea of my own, nor is it really new; people create some nations and I blitz them through milleniums in several proto-updates, with limited (mostly BT-level) guidance, until we reach a late Middle Ages equivalent or something. As I said, the idea isn't new, it has been tried before, but for one reason or another it never came to fruition or lived for long beyond it. Which is a shame, because it is, in my mind, a very good idea, and if executed properly could be very fun. So I would really like to try that one myself, if there's enough popular support. If this works I might be creating yet another monster of a NES style (that would be a second, or maybe a third, commented he without any false modesty);
- ITNES II - another fresh start, possibly with some nice twists;
- ITNES I IT V and NES2 VI IT III? Sorry, I really don't have a lot of ideas as to what more could be done there (especially as compared to the other options), and the latter in particular is already divided by three friendly superpowers;
- An idea that has been nagging me a bit is the setting of the infamously short-lived NES2 IV, taken through an exciting two decades of impericide and global chaos and then given over to the NESers for reconstruction and more chaos still. There might actually be some merit in this idea, but how many people would actually be interested in that?
The first two ideas are obviously my favourites at present. I'm very much torn between them.
Rules (thoughts about; unless said otherwise, I'm using the ITNES I incarnation two rules as a base for those):
- I probably will have to get rid of the prestige stat, because objectively speaking it was pretty stupid of me to even conceive it in the first place. Ah well;
- On the other hand, the descriptive cultures and governments worked quite to my satisfaction;
- The age system in Technology Level doesn't seem to express all that much except for major gaps; perhaps a descriptive system (seeing as that has been working out quite well for me) is in order? On the flip side, it would be very detailed, but somehow I don't think Symphony D. or Disenfrancised, for instance, would mind that much;
- More detailed military? Nah.
Although, maybe some sort of an additional descriptive stat for military composition (quality, organisation, leadership, base unit type, equipment and all other information that people PMed me about previously) might be in order; its not like this information was ever secret either in a NES or in RL;- On a somewhat related note, wars would generally be easier for us all to manage if all the nations had general military doctrines (which would remain secret, but will be kept by me in a separate file and passed on to a new player taking a nation) from the first turn of the NES on. That's tactics, strategy and everything else; you would be able to make adjustments to it if you want, both within the doctrne itself and for specific situations, but generally it would be very convenient for us all to be able to refer to this doctrine;
- Troops on the maps - I'm honestly not sure what ended up as more time-consuming, placing said troops or answering PMs about their locations. Perhaps more generalised army and navy icons (of different but still fairly generalised sizes) could be used instead, with an understandment that more precise numbers are hard to get, especially with rotation, replacements, reinforcements and other such processes?
- Economy. Simple and usual though the economy level system may be, the arguments for the more complex sectorised system are convincing. Other issues are those of economic centres (I'll probably just adapt the same approach as in ITNES, though, leaving trade centres that don't magically generate income by themselves but still are significant for actual trade) and of economic regions (which are also increasingly widespread, but strike me as a bit too complex). Really, I'm out of my depth here, so I'll particularily appreciate suggestions here;
- Other ideas worth stealing include a Population stat (which will function as the Size stat for things like Education and would have some obvious, though probably not mathematical, influence on economy and military) and a periphery system (like in the sadly short-lived DisNES, for autonomous regions and effectively autonomous colonies);
- I'm sure I forgot something here - any other nice ideas?
Also, a newer map might or might not be in order; discuss. If we go with my althist setting but pick a new map, I will need a volunteer to transfer it there.
Thoughts, comments, suggestions, etc? Silly polar bear vs. penguin stories? Portraits of random 18th century Russian nobles? The former, at least, are definitely welcome.
.
!
