Imperium Offtopicum: Dies the Fire
March 17, 1998. An event known as The Change forever alters the course of history. An electromagnetic pulse felt across the globe hits in an instant, and then disappears just as quickly. All electronic devices cease to work, and the very laws of physics appear to be affected. Rapid combustion reactions no longer occur; gunpowder, instead of creating unimaginable force, sizzles and sputters when lit. Within days, civilization begins to deteriorate into a seething mass of lawlessness and horror. Starvation soon becomes a major issue, with food all but stripped from supermarkets; millions die and the global population is a fraction of what it was pre-Change after a few short weeks. Governments the world over collapse, communication between settlements is set to nearly a standstill, and rioting becomes warfare as gang lords forge inter-city kingdoms where the only law is the strength of one’s arm. Those not killed or enslaved in the larger towns and cities disperse throughout the land, creating or joining new outposts of civilization in the sea of chaos.
It has been six months since the Change. You stand on the edge of a city, moving with several thousand others towards what used to be the fringes of society. You feel the tug of honest work and hard labor, a fair life in a world of death, as you look towards the front of the pack. Peering back, you feel the burning sensation of lust and anger, supplemented by a life of lawlessness and pleasure-seeking. What life will you choose? What future shall you create?
Game Rules:
As always, the usual. Be respectful of other players, do not ruin the game through spam, and the GM’s word is law. There shall be no photos of personal messages, the posting of which shall result in the immediate termination of your nation. Message me at any time, about any issues you have.
Joining the Game:
Create a nation by downloading the map and coloring in a single territory for your nation. Provide a name for your nation, as well as a leader(s) and select a bonus. You must be at least one territory away from another nation at game start. Feel free to RP as much as you want, including during the game. Does your clan/nation/group/commonwealth/etc. have a dictator? A council? What is their history? How did they get to where they are? Feel free to be a bit wild here, if you so wish. The novel is set in America and it is rather unlikely that naval capabilities would return to a level to transport militaries within the beginning of the game, so I scrapped navies and a global map altogether. But I understand that you might want to be, say, Britain. You could claim, for this pre-game roleplaying, that, say, every British sailing ship made it to Boston somehow, and created the British Boston Commonwealth with the ten-thousand or so settlers on the ships, who then took fealty from the hundred-thousand or so locals who survived. Have fun with it, and be creative. However, I wouldn’t mind a Republic of Texas or some such ‘more likely’ nation in its stead, of course. Each nation begins with the equivalent of 3 military units, which will be discussed later on.
The map:
National Bonuses:
Natural Leadership: Foot-soldiers never have negative morale rolls, +1 to rolls when on defense.
Animal Whisperer: Cavalry never have negative morale rolls, and cannot be destroyed by Charge effects.
Inventive: Start with the ability to make gliders, at tier 2 Glider technology.
Warfare:
Each unit can travel any distance each turn, until a battle is reached ie a new territory.
There are three types of units, each with its own abilities:
Foot-soldiers: The basic game unit, which costs 2 IP. At least one is required to siege territories.
Cavalry: Horsemen who can strike terror in the ranks, which cost 4 IP. Cavalry can charge on offense, which negates defender morale bonuses and gives +1 to the charger’s attack. This has a 15% chance in resulting in the destruction of the Cavalry, if victorious.
Glider: Brave men who dare to fly over the battlefield, dropping buckets of whatever nasty surprises can be found, be it arrowheads to snakes to boiling water; they cost 5 IP each. Do not contribute a dice roll, but automatically add +2 to all defensive dice rolls in its stationed territory. Cannot be used in offense, and are only used inside owned territories. Does not travel, but one can be used to defend any owned territory once per turn, with a maximum of one per battle. Cannot be destroyed in battle, but for each territory relinquished the losing defender loses one glider.
Before each battle is calculated, a 6-sided die is rolled with the following possibilities:
1: -1 to combat rolls
2: -1 to combat rolls
3: 0 change
4: +1 to combat rolls
5: +1 to combat rolls
6: +2 to combat rolls
EDIT: this is morale; it is a general factor for an army. I have edited it a tad.
Then, one unit from each side is paired with one from the other side. A 10-sided die is rolled for each, and the larger number destroys the other, after morale, charge, glider, and trait effects have been calculated in. Fighting continues until the side with the greater number of soldiers (excluding gliders) has used all its soldiers once. The defender must re-use units to defend against greater numbers.
Natural Leaders begin with 3 Foot-soldiers.
Animal Whisperers begin with 2 Foot-soldiers and 3 IP invested in a Cavalry.
Inventors begin with 2 Foot-soldiers and 4 IP invested in a Glider.
Undefended owned territories shall be automatically given to the conquering player, when attacked by at least one foot soldier. Do not forget that units can travel anywhere, but once engaged in a battle cannot move again that turn; thus, armies will not reach farther than one territory from one’s borders. If you commit all your troops to defending one territory, the enemy could sneak in and take a different one; they are first stationed in whichever territory they are created, and after that in whichever they end their turn. All movements are calculated before battles each turn.
EDIT: Units may travel the same turn they are created.
Industry:
Each territory produces 1 IP. Capitals, starting positions, produce 2 IP. It can be used the same turn it is earned, so each nation starts with 2 IP. It can be banked, but a running bank must be mentioned each turn in one’s Orders post. There is also CP, which is earned for roleplaying. It can be banked also, and used as 1IP/1 CP in creating armies or 2IP/1CP investing in technology. The maximum CP possible to be earned per turn is 3, with amount of CP given based holistically and with no set rubric.
EDIT: IP may be given to other nations, either as a bribe, a gift, or as a part of a trade for military assistance. Units themselves may not be traded. Such exchanges of IP, due to their constituting diplomacy, may be done secretly via PM or openly in your turn-ly Orders post.
Roleplaying:
CP is earned through roleplaying, and sticking to a theme(s) for your nation is a great way to make the game “realistic” and thus have an easier time earning CP. If you have a running feud with a nation, and stick to policies which antagonize this group, there is the possibility of earning CP. Besides this, there is the normal method of having role-playing posts; great examples may be found in previous IO games.
Technology:
There are three tiers of research in each branch, the first costing 25 IP, the second 50, the third 75:
Army:
Tier I (Training): +1 to combat rolls (stacked)
Tier II (Archery School): +2 to combat rolls (stacked)
Tier III (Steel Armor): Negates ¾ the effect of gliders.
Gliders:
Tier I (Breakthrough): Can produce Gliders
Tier II (Hot-air balloons): +2 to effect (stacked)
Tier III (Expert Pilots): +1 to effect (stacked), can use 2 in a battle
Cavalry:
Tier I (Experienced Horses): +1 to effect; lowers chance of negative effect to 10%
Tier II (Bloodlust): +1 to combat rolls (stacked), +2 to effect (stacked); raises chance of negative effect to 20%
Tier III (Professional Riders): +1 to effect (stacked), chance of effect lowered to 5%.
Diplomacy:
This is all on you. You can make any treaty trading anything or agreeing to anything, and break any treaty no matter how binding. They can be secret or public, but remember secret treaties can be a double-edged sword. There is one rule: War between two nations must be publicly announced, before any battles are calculated.
Magic:
As magic eventually became a central theme of the novels, the following system may be implemented:
10 CP/20 IP rolls a die; if a 6 is rolled that nation receives 30 IP as a gift from the Gods. (I really don’t know how to fairly implement divine will, so this sort of luck is all I can think of; having temples built/religious fervor [the investment] provides the chance of earning favor).
Updates:
After I have received half the orders, I will post a 24 hour countdown to the next turn. If I receive fewer than half the orders after three days, I will enact the countdown and message the unresponsive players. YOU are only allowed one Orders post per turn, in which you must place your orders. It must be titled Orders for _________ . For RP posts, you are allowed to fuse them with Orders posts, or make them separate, in their own color of your choice with a title mentioning which nation it is for in some way. For OOC posts, just type in white (this is all for my sake). I will use what is in the FIRST Orders post for each nation per turn in determining what their orders are; these posts must be edited if orders are changed, and their appearance as I am about to calculate the turn determines my calculations for those nations that turn.
EDIT: I forgot to mention, and with my sincere apologies, but it should be known- orders for unit creation and movement may be PM'ed to me, and they shall remain hidden. Look to my post in the development thread for more about this.
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Two players have agreed to a system, so I'm going to roll with it. To further your knowledge of the game, I suggest new players look at previous games of IO as well as the development thread for this game. If anyone has any questions, look to the development thread for this game as well.
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I've been ordered to cite this: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=444560
What a spectacle. Well, my apologies to any offended party over at Civfanatics, as mentioned on page 2.
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