Imperium Offtopicum: The Peshawar Lancers
On October 3, 1878, the first of a series of high-velocity heavenly bodies struck the earth.
The impacts continued for the next twelve hours, moving in a band from east to west and impacting at shallow angles. The first strike was close to the southern edge of Moscow; a band of further collisions swept across Europe, the last impacting 50 miles west and slightly south of Paris. Strikes were recorded as far north as the Baltic, and the southernmost fell at the head of the Adriatic.
The next impact was the largest of all, in the western Atlantic, and our finest scientific minds believe the body involved may have been up to a kilometer in diameter. Further large fragments fell all across North America, in a rather wider band than in Europe and as far west as the Rocky Mountains.
Blast damage from strikes on land was the first and most obvious consequence; millions perished in the immediate aftermath.
Hours to days later, tsunamis struck the coasts of countries all around the North Atlantic Basin. These were most severe along the Atlantic coast of North America, with wave fronts reaching as far inland as the Appalachians. In Europe, Ireland, coastal Scandinavia, and much of the Atlantic coast of France and Spain were wrecked, with loss of life in the tens of millions.
Less dramatically, and yet far more fatally, enormous amounts of particulate matter and water were ejected into the upper atmosphere. The Gulf Stream has been disrupted, and with insolation reduced by perhaps 10 percent the winter was exceptionally severe all across the northern hemisphere. The cold season lasted through April, though, even with humanity ravaged, recovery might have been possible had the next summer been even remotely normal.
It was not. By late 1879, with starvation universal, order had broken down throughout northern and central Europe. Mass migrations southward were attempted, but only to the effect that the Mediterranean coast was catastrophically overloaded.
You stand upon the dawn of the year 1880, a new decade, and indeed a new era in the history of mankind. The winter has not relented, and governments across Europe have shattered under the strain. Roving bands of cannibals now stalk the frozen, bloody ruins of once great cities. The world is changing. Has the age of Empire come to an end? Who would rise in place of the sundered European titans? Your people look to you for answers, for salvation.
How will your nation survive The Fall?
The impacts continued for the next twelve hours, moving in a band from east to west and impacting at shallow angles. The first strike was close to the southern edge of Moscow; a band of further collisions swept across Europe, the last impacting 50 miles west and slightly south of Paris. Strikes were recorded as far north as the Baltic, and the southernmost fell at the head of the Adriatic.
The next impact was the largest of all, in the western Atlantic, and our finest scientific minds believe the body involved may have been up to a kilometer in diameter. Further large fragments fell all across North America, in a rather wider band than in Europe and as far west as the Rocky Mountains.
Blast damage from strikes on land was the first and most obvious consequence; millions perished in the immediate aftermath.
Hours to days later, tsunamis struck the coasts of countries all around the North Atlantic Basin. These were most severe along the Atlantic coast of North America, with wave fronts reaching as far inland as the Appalachians. In Europe, Ireland, coastal Scandinavia, and much of the Atlantic coast of France and Spain were wrecked, with loss of life in the tens of millions.
Less dramatically, and yet far more fatally, enormous amounts of particulate matter and water were ejected into the upper atmosphere. The Gulf Stream has been disrupted, and with insolation reduced by perhaps 10 percent the winter was exceptionally severe all across the northern hemisphere. The cold season lasted through April, though, even with humanity ravaged, recovery might have been possible had the next summer been even remotely normal.
It was not. By late 1879, with starvation universal, order had broken down throughout northern and central Europe. Mass migrations southward were attempted, but only to the effect that the Mediterranean coast was catastrophically overloaded.
You stand upon the dawn of the year 1880, a new decade, and indeed a new era in the history of mankind. The winter has not relented, and governments across Europe have shattered under the strain. Roving bands of cannibals now stalk the frozen, bloody ruins of once great cities. The world is changing. Has the age of Empire come to an end? Who would rise in place of the sundered European titans? Your people look to you for answers, for salvation.
How will your nation survive The Fall?
Game Rules:
House rules are nothing unusual. Be respectful, refrain from spamming or annoying other players, contact me privately if you have issues with the running of the game, I have the final say on all things, and try to enjoy yourself.
Now to the details.
Joining the Game:
Create a nation by downloading the world map and selecting one starting territory. Color your border in and post the new map here.
Wasteland is denoted in blue. These are areas devastated by the Fall, and currently in the grip of the unnatural winter. You may not start here, but the snows will recede as the game proceeds; still, attempts to expand into Wasteland will be met with fierce resistance from cannibal bands.
Impassible territory is denoted in green. These northern territories have succumbed entirely to the unrelenting frost. You may not start or move here, though they too will eventually begin to thaw.
Ice is the Sea Zone form of Impassible areas, shown in light icy blue. They are too treacherous for your navies to navigate.
The Suez Canal lies ruined, but may perhaps be reconstructed by enterprising survivors.
Create a name, flag, and tell us about your history or institutions. How did the Fall affect your people? If you are having trouble finding inspiration, the Peshawar Lancers wikipedia page can tell you about many canon societies.
I do reserve the right to veto any nations that lower the quality of the game for others (space hamster robots), or give preference to well fleshed out nations in the case of conflicting claims.
Each nation begins with Two Armies.
Updates:
This is a turn based game. Each turn comprises 5 in game years. After receiving 50% of the orders, I will post a 24 hour warning. You can send orders after the warning period has elapsed and I have not yet posted an update, but if I've already started resolving the turn I don't guarantee that they will be included.
Economics:
Industrial Points (IP) are the basic currency of the game. All territories provide an income of 1 Industrial Point per turn, with the exception of your starting area. Your Capital territory provides an additional bonus of +1IP; you therefore start the game with 2IP to spend. There is no banking. Every turn you lose what you don't spend. It IS possible to build a navy/army in one turn and use it that turn.
Warfare:
If you declare war on an opposing nation, you are allowed to attack their holdings with your armies and their fleets with navies. Here's how both work:
Armies are NOT represented on the map. Combat is decided by RNG; each army gives you one roll (1-10), with Technology bonuses being added where relevant. Any unused armies are used to defend if attacked. Armies cost 2 IP and are used to invade enemy territory in war. Unless you have the Tanks technology, you cannot blitz territories and use them in the same turn to invade deeper into enemy territory.
Navies cost 4 IP and ARE represented on the map. You may invade an overseas territory if you move a navy into an adjacent Sea Zone. For each navy involved, you may transport 5 armies into battle. Naval combat works the same as land combat. Navies may move to any Sea Zone in a turn, but you may only use them to provide transport for invading Armies within 1 Sea Zone of a friendly port. (The Ironclads technology raises this range to 2 Sea Zones.) This may be either a territory you own, or that of another nation with which you have secured a coaling station agreement. Additionally, provinces lacking a land connection to your capital may only provide IP income if they are within this range of a friendly port. Hostile fleets may blockade these supply lines!
Air Wings cost 6 IP and are stacked in a national pool, like armies. In times of war, they can invade any territory up to 2 provinces away from your borders, and can support armies in battles. If two opposing sides of a battle contain Air Wings, they will engage each other first and fight until one side is defeated. The victorious Air Wings, if attacking in concert with land units, will add an automatic +2 to combat rolls for an Army.
Role Playing:
Role Playing is the essence of the game; it’s how your nation develops. It’s how alliances are formed and broken, wars begin, and the real fun is had. Role Playing is very encouraged: feel free to inhabit your nation with whoever or whatever you want, provided it fits with the setting and the etiquette listed above. To that end, Role Playing is the only way to accrue Culture Points (CP). I will award players CP for quality In Character posts - in effect, to reward players who engage the other players and show that their nation is truly living. CP is used to research technologies, perform any sort of random action you want to PM me about, and is the only way to increase the Industrial Points derived from one territory. These last two follow no set rules - as you accrue CP, throw ideas at me. By no means is CP required to succeed in the game, but hopefully it does incentivize interesting players over ghosts. CPs are not lost each turn, and are kept in a bank.
Technologies:
You can invest IP in researching technologies, and CP at a rate of 2 IP for 1. Technologies are used to add bonuses to your military capacity. There are several Tiers, and every civilization starts at Tier I, which has no bonus. Tier II costs 25 IP, Tier III costs 50 IP, and Tier IV costs 100 IP. You can 'bank' IP used to research tiers, so if you invest 20 research to Tier III Army in turn A and 20 in Turn B, you have 40 IP into that tech in total. You can only research 1 tech at a time.
The tech tree is as follows:
Army
Tier I (Line Infantry): (No bonus)
Tier II (Breech-loading Rifles): +1 on combat rolls
Tier III (Machine Guns): +2 on combat rolls
Tier IV (Tanks): +2 on combat rolls; Can blitz (attack up to 2 "layers" of enemy territory)
Munitions
Tier I (Cannons): (No bonus)
Tier II (Steel Breech-loaded Artillery): +15% chance of enemy casualties
Tier III (Indirect Artillery Fire): +20% chance of enemy casualties
Tier IV (Advanced Ballistics): +25% chance of enemy casualties
Navy
Tier I (Ships of the Line): (No bonus)
Tier II (Ironclads): +1 on combat rolls; Naval supply range increases to 2 Sea Zones
Tier III (Battleships): +2 on combat rolls
Tier IV (Dreadnoughts): +2 on combat rolls
Aerial
Tier I (n/a): <cannot build Air Wings>
Tier II (Airships): Enables Air Wings
Tier III (Stirling Cycle): Air Wings can attack up to 4 territories away from your borders
Tier IV (Fighters): +5 on combat rolls against other Air Wings
Orders:
- All orders will be either private messaged to me or posted in this thread, in bold red text. The subject line of private messages should read: "Orders for [nation name]".
- You must announce orders for military movements in this thread. Owing to the scale of the game, there is no tactical surprise; each turn represents up to five years of fighting.
- Construction or research, if you wish them to remain private, may be private messaged. If you choose to do this, include your military orders in the PM as well as posting them publicly.
- Treaties may be kept secret; if you wish to use an access treaty for the purpose of normally impossible movements, it must either be public or confirmed to me by both signatories through private messages.
- You may update your orders at any time before I have posted the turn results...you may especially feel compelled to reconsider orders if you find yourself in an unexpected war. Again, though, if done after the 24hr warning has elapsed, I do not guarantee their inclusion.
- Remember that there are no 'sneak attacks' on full nations. You must post a public declaration of war in this thread, or I will not process any attacks upon another player. You will face the GM's wrath if you attempt to game the system by posting declarations of war one minute before the expiration of the order deadline.
- Expenditures towards all things may be banked, as in an investment. Research and Army, Navy, and Air Wing construction may take place over multiple turns. You will lose any IP left unspent; always invest odd points.
- Do not forget that you can utilise constructed units in the turn of their completion.
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