TheLizardKing
Let's talk Michelle.
Starting Map
Updates
1880
1881
1882, part 1/1882, part 2
Thanks in advance to LoE and EQ.
Welcome to the world of Belle Époque.
This NES will be ran similar to my previous NES's, namely the Six-Months War series.
The NES starts in 1880, in the wake of a quickly modernizing world. This timeline is very similar to our original timeline in terms of technology, albeit it suffered a divergent point sometime in 1815, which allowed for Napoleon to gain a favorable peace in Europe, and the United States to lose the War of 1812.
The Rules
Anybody can play this NES, but not everyone can be a Great Power. If you see an open nation, just go ahead and take over for them. In order to keep your nation though, you must send orders consistently. If you continuously miss the deadline, I reserve the right to kick you out. I also reserve the right to take nations away from players, if the players are acting OOC (out of character), just doing a generally terrible job, or being a nuisance.
I for one, love stories, or anything that one could consider to be a 'world building action', such as maps, flags, or anything else you feel like making an argument about. As such, I have had a policy in my past few NES's to reward players who post stories, or anything else of that nature between updates, as a way to flesh out this world a little bit. These bonuses are generally small, and aren't too consequential, but it's my way of recognizing the players that put forth a little bit more effort to develop a character for their country. Rewards cannot be stacked however, so don't feel obligated to write multiple stories (though that would be nice!). Not everyone has the same amount of time to dedicate to the NES, and it would be unfair for someone to get that many more bonuses because they have the time and ability to write multiple stories. This is also done to prevent poor story spam.
This world is meant to be realistic, but also fun. Feel free to include real-world figures from our past, and throw them into new and interesting situations. It's always interesting seeing who may pop up where.
When asking about when the update will be up, keep in mind that I have a life outside of NESing, and real life is always a priority to this. I will do my best to update in a timely manner, but constantly asking or complaining about the time taken to update is generally annoying. Anyone who has moderated an NES before can understand.
I also reserve the right to redact any player action, or consider it non-canon, and just make it disappear. If any action is ridiculous enough, or OOC enough, I do have the right to step in and just plain and simple make it not happen. I won't be abusing the power, and thankfully, never have really had to use it to any major extent. If you're ever that worried about whether or not your action will be IC (in-character) or not, it probably isn't. But just to humor you, feel free to ask me, and I will explain my position, and why you can or can't commit to that action.
This is the base template;
This is the base template I have used for national stats.
Nation Name
Government Type
Capitol:
Stability:
Economic Power:
Trade:
Army:
Navy:
Self-explanatory.
The style of government you have, and what type of ruling faction is in place.
The center of your nation's government.
How stable your nation is. Stability is based on a regional level; low stability in one region will affect stability across the whole nation. Stability also affects your economy, so try to keep your people happy.
Your economic power and trade abilities are closely associated stats. Your economic power is how much "money" your nation has to spend each turn. The Economic Points or EP, can be spent on national improvements, military designs, or buying units. This will fluctuate drastically each year, depending on world events, wars, etc. You can bank EP, to be spent at a later time.
Trade on the other hand, is a way for a small nation to grow it's economy quickly, and a way for big nations to get even bigger. Each nation is allotted a certain number of Trade Agreements. A larger nation, such as the United States will have more trade opportunities than a smaller nation, like Texas. It's possible for your number of Trade Agreements to go up, through in game action, though it's not easy, and is largely based on the events and actions of others, not just yourself. Land-locked nations are missing out on this lucrative stat, and may find it in their best interests to carve a way to the coast.
How does trade world exactly? Each nation has a trade value, which is entirely based on their in game economy. To use my previous example, the United States' trade worth would obviously be higher than Texas's. For a smaller nation, securing a trade agreement with the United States would be highly advantages for it's economy. On the flip-side, that same trade agreement may be just a drop in the bucket for the United States. Powers and smaller nations must use these agreements to better themselves, their political positioning, and of course their economy.
All nations that have a land border, and that are not at war already are trading cross-border, unless players have otherwise noted.
Now the problem with this system, is that it's very possible for the largest world economies to only trade with one another, and squeeze out the smaller powers. That being said, the Great 8 (the 8 largest economies) and the Less-than-Great 8 (the next 8 largest) will have different rates of trade when dealing with one another. So trade between the United States and Great Britain won't be as fruitful as trade between the United States and a minor power all the time. The Great 8 and the Less Than Great 8 Will be posted at the end of each update.
Be careful becoming too reliant on one particular nation for trade.
Your fighting forces.
On the Matter of Technology
Technological development is handled differently in a variety of NES's, and in my experience can be great or detrimental to the NES. For the sake of simplicity, the system of technological development in the NES is going to be regulated by myself. It's perfectly acceptable for the rate of development for this timeline to advance a bit further, or lag behind OTL, but all in all, the time periods will be relatively similar.
Of the many ideas that I will be stealing from EQ in this respect, will be the ideal of SRP's, or Special Research Products. Every now and then a scientist or group in your nation will send you a message (privately) letting you know that with proper funding, certain advances or technologies may be discovered. Sometimes these are fruitful, sometimes they fail magnificently.
On the Matter of Industrialization
Most nations will start the NES fairly industrialized, and 'modern', but not all of them. Nations such as Japan, China, Korea, Khalistan, etc. have the potential to industrialize and go toe-to-toe with their Western counter-parts, but only after some time, and trial and error. Industrialization can be quick and potentially volatile, with the support of another power, or slow and independent. Until then, these pre-Industrial nations will not be afforded the same unit selection as industrialized nations, and will economically and militarily fall behind in the long-run.
Generic Unit Pricing
Industrialized Nations:
Infantry Brigade: 5 EP
Artillery Brigade: 7 EP
Cavalry Brigade: 10 EP
Battleship: 45 EP/2 turns to recruit
Cruiser: 32 EP/2 turns to recruit
Frigate: 16 EP
Gunboat: 8 EP
Non-Industrialized Nations
Infantry Brigade: 3 EP
Artillery Brigade: 10 EP
Cavalry Brigade: 5 EP
Gunboat: 12 EP
Unique Units
I will be employing a system exactly like EQ's UU system in Capto Iugulum. All nations can develop any sort of unit that they wish, by employing a point system. Each point will have an EP cost, and will branch off of Generic Units, which all have a base '1' point in each category. Each unit has different categories. Since no nation is starting out with unique units, I'll leave it to each player to contact me and discuss further more in depth how the point system works for the unit they have in mind. From there, the standard will be set, and you can all base it off of that.
Please submit any and all questions to me, I'll be happy to answer them, or work with you to find a solution. Particularly good questions will be added to the FAQ found below.
Spoiler :

Updates
1880
1881
1882, part 1/1882, part 2

Thanks in advance to LoE and EQ.
Welcome to the world of Belle Époque.
This NES will be ran similar to my previous NES's, namely the Six-Months War series.
The NES starts in 1880, in the wake of a quickly modernizing world. This timeline is very similar to our original timeline in terms of technology, albeit it suffered a divergent point sometime in 1815, which allowed for Napoleon to gain a favorable peace in Europe, and the United States to lose the War of 1812.
The Rules
Anybody can play this NES, but not everyone can be a Great Power. If you see an open nation, just go ahead and take over for them. In order to keep your nation though, you must send orders consistently. If you continuously miss the deadline, I reserve the right to kick you out. I also reserve the right to take nations away from players, if the players are acting OOC (out of character), just doing a generally terrible job, or being a nuisance.
I for one, love stories, or anything that one could consider to be a 'world building action', such as maps, flags, or anything else you feel like making an argument about. As such, I have had a policy in my past few NES's to reward players who post stories, or anything else of that nature between updates, as a way to flesh out this world a little bit. These bonuses are generally small, and aren't too consequential, but it's my way of recognizing the players that put forth a little bit more effort to develop a character for their country. Rewards cannot be stacked however, so don't feel obligated to write multiple stories (though that would be nice!). Not everyone has the same amount of time to dedicate to the NES, and it would be unfair for someone to get that many more bonuses because they have the time and ability to write multiple stories. This is also done to prevent poor story spam.
This world is meant to be realistic, but also fun. Feel free to include real-world figures from our past, and throw them into new and interesting situations. It's always interesting seeing who may pop up where.
When asking about when the update will be up, keep in mind that I have a life outside of NESing, and real life is always a priority to this. I will do my best to update in a timely manner, but constantly asking or complaining about the time taken to update is generally annoying. Anyone who has moderated an NES before can understand.
I also reserve the right to redact any player action, or consider it non-canon, and just make it disappear. If any action is ridiculous enough, or OOC enough, I do have the right to step in and just plain and simple make it not happen. I won't be abusing the power, and thankfully, never have really had to use it to any major extent. If you're ever that worried about whether or not your action will be IC (in-character) or not, it probably isn't. But just to humor you, feel free to ask me, and I will explain my position, and why you can or can't commit to that action.
This is the base template;
This is the base template I have used for national stats.
Nation Name
Government Type
Capitol:
Stability:
Economic Power:
Trade:
Army:
Navy:
Nation Name
Self-explanatory.
Government Type
The style of government you have, and what type of ruling faction is in place.
Capitol
The center of your nation's government.
Stability
How stable your nation is. Stability is based on a regional level; low stability in one region will affect stability across the whole nation. Stability also affects your economy, so try to keep your people happy.
Economic Power:
Trade:
Your economic power and trade abilities are closely associated stats. Your economic power is how much "money" your nation has to spend each turn. The Economic Points or EP, can be spent on national improvements, military designs, or buying units. This will fluctuate drastically each year, depending on world events, wars, etc. You can bank EP, to be spent at a later time.
Trade on the other hand, is a way for a small nation to grow it's economy quickly, and a way for big nations to get even bigger. Each nation is allotted a certain number of Trade Agreements. A larger nation, such as the United States will have more trade opportunities than a smaller nation, like Texas. It's possible for your number of Trade Agreements to go up, through in game action, though it's not easy, and is largely based on the events and actions of others, not just yourself. Land-locked nations are missing out on this lucrative stat, and may find it in their best interests to carve a way to the coast.
How does trade world exactly? Each nation has a trade value, which is entirely based on their in game economy. To use my previous example, the United States' trade worth would obviously be higher than Texas's. For a smaller nation, securing a trade agreement with the United States would be highly advantages for it's economy. On the flip-side, that same trade agreement may be just a drop in the bucket for the United States. Powers and smaller nations must use these agreements to better themselves, their political positioning, and of course their economy.
All nations that have a land border, and that are not at war already are trading cross-border, unless players have otherwise noted.
Now the problem with this system, is that it's very possible for the largest world economies to only trade with one another, and squeeze out the smaller powers. That being said, the Great 8 (the 8 largest economies) and the Less-than-Great 8 (the next 8 largest) will have different rates of trade when dealing with one another. So trade between the United States and Great Britain won't be as fruitful as trade between the United States and a minor power all the time. The Great 8 and the Less Than Great 8 Will be posted at the end of each update.
Be careful becoming too reliant on one particular nation for trade.
Army:
Navy:
Your fighting forces.
On the Matter of Technology
Technological development is handled differently in a variety of NES's, and in my experience can be great or detrimental to the NES. For the sake of simplicity, the system of technological development in the NES is going to be regulated by myself. It's perfectly acceptable for the rate of development for this timeline to advance a bit further, or lag behind OTL, but all in all, the time periods will be relatively similar.
Of the many ideas that I will be stealing from EQ in this respect, will be the ideal of SRP's, or Special Research Products. Every now and then a scientist or group in your nation will send you a message (privately) letting you know that with proper funding, certain advances or technologies may be discovered. Sometimes these are fruitful, sometimes they fail magnificently.
On the Matter of Industrialization
Most nations will start the NES fairly industrialized, and 'modern', but not all of them. Nations such as Japan, China, Korea, Khalistan, etc. have the potential to industrialize and go toe-to-toe with their Western counter-parts, but only after some time, and trial and error. Industrialization can be quick and potentially volatile, with the support of another power, or slow and independent. Until then, these pre-Industrial nations will not be afforded the same unit selection as industrialized nations, and will economically and militarily fall behind in the long-run.
Generic Unit Pricing
Industrialized Nations:
Infantry Brigade: 5 EP
Artillery Brigade: 7 EP
Cavalry Brigade: 10 EP
Battleship: 45 EP/2 turns to recruit
Cruiser: 32 EP/2 turns to recruit
Frigate: 16 EP
Gunboat: 8 EP
Non-Industrialized Nations
Infantry Brigade: 3 EP
Artillery Brigade: 10 EP
Cavalry Brigade: 5 EP
Gunboat: 12 EP
Unique Units
I will be employing a system exactly like EQ's UU system in Capto Iugulum. All nations can develop any sort of unit that they wish, by employing a point system. Each point will have an EP cost, and will branch off of Generic Units, which all have a base '1' point in each category. Each unit has different categories. Since no nation is starting out with unique units, I'll leave it to each player to contact me and discuss further more in depth how the point system works for the unit they have in mind. From there, the standard will be set, and you can all base it off of that.
Please submit any and all questions to me, I'll be happy to answer them, or work with you to find a solution. Particularly good questions will be added to the FAQ found below.