Post by Desophaeus on Nov 18, 2016 19:19:26 GMT
Okay, as the GM of the upcoming TW game... my role is one main thing: create a scenario for people to participate and have fun in it. (Plus, maintening the setting and keep things running smoothly in general and for the overall majority, but not necessarily holding a player's hand if he whines when he loses a battle).
I won't impose upon you guys something that isn't fair or well... not what you guys want. If everyone doesn't like a combat system, I don't mind putting in a reasonable alternative. I want you guys to enjoy this. I've worked hard on the fun little other details except for combat which I have touched only so lightly because it seems to me that combat in TWs is the most salt-prone, trouble-causing feature that more people gets upset about than anything else.
1. Basic set of actions available to a player, starting with 5 actions per phase. It may be improved to 8 at most via techs. I'm flexible on possible events to grant everyone additional actions per phase to rebalance if it looks real bad (so I do have this in mind, guys).
2. There will be plenty of surprise secret events popping up in various years. It will have an effect on your combat sometimes, or not so much if you choose to. I do try to set up various events to offer alternative choices or to give a certain buff/nerf that gives you the opportunity to use it or not if you didn't want to. Most events won't be simply this: "You must surrender this city, this is the one option." So don't worry, I won't be that harsh as your GM. None of my events are that bad, but they definitely can have negative effects you don't like (or postive effects you like, who knows?).
3. Okay and the CBs (Casus Belli) and WW (War Weariness) remains the same as said in the rules and references thread. Ww is Wartime Exhaustion, or like Unpopular War Mood, I might accidentally say something different but mean the same thing.
To recap from the reference thread:
A CB burns 2 actions to declare war. Only with a CB, an attempt to wage war is allowed, so please no premature attacks without a CB.
Ofc, if attacked, the defender has automatic CB to fight back or even to counter-conquer if he wants to attack the attacker's cities on the defending player's turn.
(Note: sometimes a free CB is given by event, but not that often)
4. 1 action for 1 unit to move 1 space, that's the ratio. Land or sea doesn't matter for action costs (once fleet/armies conversion is enabled via tech).
Armies are generally weaker on water than on land. Land vs land or water vs water is straightforward.
Water vs land is basically the attacker landing onto a shore and gove battle to the opponent somewhere on a field. No modern communications mean it's easier to land on an empty beach safely and sneakily. So it's like land vs land.
Land vs water, the land attacker is on a boat in order to attack a boat, so it's like water vs water.
5. After a war... Once a ceasefire is decided, the belligerents cannot make an attempt on their former enemy for the next 2 phases.
To quote:
Wartime exhaustion may set into both sides of a war continues past 5 phases (including the initial phase when a CB was declared). The nobles, the merchants, and the peasants and certainly the mercenaries themselves, will insist that you call for a cease-fire. All army units will increase their necessary gold maintenance expenses by 1 ducat per year for each unit. Also each phase will have one revolt springing up in one of your cities.
War Exhaustion goes away after a treaty is signed. War Exhaustion doesn't stack from multiple wars, but if the older war is over and the newer war doesn't give War Exhaustion yet, the War Exhaustion is lifted (until it comes back for the newer war).
6. Excommunicated by the Pope (doesn't work for the Turks), let me quote the specific section that affects combat units:
Due to the effects of the leader being excommunicated by the head of the Catholic Church, the mercenaries are wary to fight for a blemished name. They now asks for more gold, increasing their yearly maintenance by 1 ducat for that player. Even though the citizens may still be loyal to their nation, they waver in doubt of the greatness of their leader's standing. Their resistance to a bribe by a different ruler is down to the normal level of a mercenary army. Elite Professional Armies will ask for the increase of gold to line their pockets and doesn't resist the bribes that well either.
7. And... for the battles themselves... It's almost similar to the board game Risk.
Battles are determined by how strong the two sides are in that battle. Each sides adds up their BPs from units in that space (not the whole country).
8. The attacker will need to roll better than the minimum. The minimum is calculated by the Picard system formula. Defender wins if the roll fails to meet the minimum or the roll is lower than the minimum, ofc.
8+ (( (Def - Atk) / Atk) ×5) = the minimum roll.
9. I've thought about many possibilities for determining casualties. I think a very simple but reasonably fair approach is best.
For attacker victories
The defender is allowed to retreat to whichever the attacker is fighting in the same phase with the next action. The attacker cannot manipulate and bypass the defender army to make free captures.
For defender victories
The attacker is allowed back to his space wherehe had attempted his attack from.
If the attacker wins...AND rolls a 11 or 12, 50% casualties is inflicted upon the defender.
If the attacker loses... AND rolls a 3 or 2, 50% casualties is inflicted upon the attacker.
Rolling a 2 or 3 (or 11, 12) is pretty rare. Only 8% of a chance to lose some armies, and only 8% of a chance to kill some armies.
Btw, if someone wants some kind of a justification from RL history...
During the Italian Wars, the mercenaries were very good at avoiding getting wounded in battle so they would be able to continue earning gold by participating in subsequent battles. Well... that could be a reasonable cause.
10. To be honest, there's plenty of ways of dying (famines and plagues) plus if a player keeps losing cities, eventually he cannot afford to keep paying for armies, and he will be forced to cut down. The way things are in TW14... it's unlikely that a player would be able to afford to field a large army without a huge population.
11. Neutrals... they start with peasants just like the players but eventually as a certain year (need to double check when for balance purposes)... Neutrals will change from peasants to mercenaries, then to citizens, then eventually to elite mercenaries near the very end of the TW.
12. Oh I forgot to add... dogpiles... well this is ONLY if people do really want the freedom to form coalitions and attack a shared target. I am currently setting it as prohibited, but if a vast majority gives a feedback saying "I don't mind dogpiles in this TW" like over 70, 80 percent of everybody... I will only say that this is not a right, but a privilege that I still can pull back if I sense abusive behavior in the TW.
Anything else I haven't covered?
I think this is the general overall idea of combat.
I won't impose upon you guys something that isn't fair or well... not what you guys want. If everyone doesn't like a combat system, I don't mind putting in a reasonable alternative. I want you guys to enjoy this. I've worked hard on the fun little other details except for combat which I have touched only so lightly because it seems to me that combat in TWs is the most salt-prone, trouble-causing feature that more people gets upset about than anything else.
1. Basic set of actions available to a player, starting with 5 actions per phase. It may be improved to 8 at most via techs. I'm flexible on possible events to grant everyone additional actions per phase to rebalance if it looks real bad (so I do have this in mind, guys).
2. There will be plenty of surprise secret events popping up in various years. It will have an effect on your combat sometimes, or not so much if you choose to. I do try to set up various events to offer alternative choices or to give a certain buff/nerf that gives you the opportunity to use it or not if you didn't want to. Most events won't be simply this: "You must surrender this city, this is the one option." So don't worry, I won't be that harsh as your GM. None of my events are that bad, but they definitely can have negative effects you don't like (or postive effects you like, who knows?).
3. Okay and the CBs (Casus Belli) and WW (War Weariness) remains the same as said in the rules and references thread. Ww is Wartime Exhaustion, or like Unpopular War Mood, I might accidentally say something different but mean the same thing.
To recap from the reference thread:
A CB burns 2 actions to declare war. Only with a CB, an attempt to wage war is allowed, so please no premature attacks without a CB.
Ofc, if attacked, the defender has automatic CB to fight back or even to counter-conquer if he wants to attack the attacker's cities on the defending player's turn.
(Note: sometimes a free CB is given by event, but not that often)
4. 1 action for 1 unit to move 1 space, that's the ratio. Land or sea doesn't matter for action costs (once fleet/armies conversion is enabled via tech).
Armies are generally weaker on water than on land. Land vs land or water vs water is straightforward.
Water vs land is basically the attacker landing onto a shore and gove battle to the opponent somewhere on a field. No modern communications mean it's easier to land on an empty beach safely and sneakily. So it's like land vs land.
Land vs water, the land attacker is on a boat in order to attack a boat, so it's like water vs water.
5. After a war... Once a ceasefire is decided, the belligerents cannot make an attempt on their former enemy for the next 2 phases.
To quote:
Wartime exhaustion may set into both sides of a war continues past 5 phases (including the initial phase when a CB was declared). The nobles, the merchants, and the peasants and certainly the mercenaries themselves, will insist that you call for a cease-fire. All army units will increase their necessary gold maintenance expenses by 1 ducat per year for each unit. Also each phase will have one revolt springing up in one of your cities.
War Exhaustion goes away after a treaty is signed. War Exhaustion doesn't stack from multiple wars, but if the older war is over and the newer war doesn't give War Exhaustion yet, the War Exhaustion is lifted (until it comes back for the newer war).
6. Excommunicated by the Pope (doesn't work for the Turks), let me quote the specific section that affects combat units:
Due to the effects of the leader being excommunicated by the head of the Catholic Church, the mercenaries are wary to fight for a blemished name. They now asks for more gold, increasing their yearly maintenance by 1 ducat for that player. Even though the citizens may still be loyal to their nation, they waver in doubt of the greatness of their leader's standing. Their resistance to a bribe by a different ruler is down to the normal level of a mercenary army. Elite Professional Armies will ask for the increase of gold to line their pockets and doesn't resist the bribes that well either.
7. And... for the battles themselves... It's almost similar to the board game Risk.
Battles are determined by how strong the two sides are in that battle. Each sides adds up their BPs from units in that space (not the whole country).
8. The attacker will need to roll better than the minimum. The minimum is calculated by the Picard system formula. Defender wins if the roll fails to meet the minimum or the roll is lower than the minimum, ofc.
8+ (( (Def - Atk) / Atk) ×5) = the minimum roll.
9. I've thought about many possibilities for determining casualties. I think a very simple but reasonably fair approach is best.
For attacker victories
The defender is allowed to retreat to whichever the attacker is fighting in the same phase with the next action. The attacker cannot manipulate and bypass the defender army to make free captures.
For defender victories
The attacker is allowed back to his space wherehe had attempted his attack from.
If the attacker wins...AND rolls a 11 or 12, 50% casualties is inflicted upon the defender.
If the attacker loses... AND rolls a 3 or 2, 50% casualties is inflicted upon the attacker.
Rolling a 2 or 3 (or 11, 12) is pretty rare. Only 8% of a chance to lose some armies, and only 8% of a chance to kill some armies.
Btw, if someone wants some kind of a justification from RL history...
During the Italian Wars, the mercenaries were very good at avoiding getting wounded in battle so they would be able to continue earning gold by participating in subsequent battles. Well... that could be a reasonable cause.
10. To be honest, there's plenty of ways of dying (famines and plagues) plus if a player keeps losing cities, eventually he cannot afford to keep paying for armies, and he will be forced to cut down. The way things are in TW14... it's unlikely that a player would be able to afford to field a large army without a huge population.
11. Neutrals... they start with peasants just like the players but eventually as a certain year (need to double check when for balance purposes)... Neutrals will change from peasants to mercenaries, then to citizens, then eventually to elite mercenaries near the very end of the TW.
12. Oh I forgot to add... dogpiles... well this is ONLY if people do really want the freedom to form coalitions and attack a shared target. I am currently setting it as prohibited, but if a vast majority gives a feedback saying "I don't mind dogpiles in this TW" like over 70, 80 percent of everybody... I will only say that this is not a right, but a privilege that I still can pull back if I sense abusive behavior in the TW.
Anything else I haven't covered?
I think this is the general overall idea of combat.
)
