Considering the Land Wars: Supernerd Edition ruleset worked decently well, I decided to try hosting it with some changes, which are the following:
-Recruitment mechanics simplified to no longer require a calculator
-Minor hedge trimming
-Clarified some things
-The map will not start fully explored this time, you only get to know the basics of where everyone is without sending troops to explore. This makes it easier to insert latejoiners if needed.
IntroductionHello and welcome to Land Wars, the forum based grand strategy game where the GM does as little work as possible! You basically just make shit up in accordance with the rules and I'll just be the one who decides how combat scenes play out, and when something is too absurd to be tolerated.
To start things off,
you will need to submit a map that is 500x500 pixels in size. The map does not need to be of particularly high quality, but I do need to be able to understand what is going on. When the game is ready to start, these maps will be merged into a single large map. For an attempt at consistency, the scale for world maps will be 50 pixels per mile. If you can't think of anything for your map, nothing stops you from borrowing something else, and if that fails, go use a random map generator.
You will also need to decide on a theme. I'm going to be extremely lenient in regards to what is and is not allowed for this; however take note that all players begin the game with the same amount of power. If you want a nation full of dragons, they'll be exceptionally weak dragons; as an example.
Game MechanicsTroops: In this game you'll be able to design your own Soldiers. From ordinary swordsmen to magical walruses, these are the guys you will be sending to do things such as fighting in wars, maintaining order in your lands and just about everything else that can't be handled diplomatically (And sometimes for that too). Every soldier should have a name, and a description about a paragraph in length explaning what they do.
Soldiers can have a "Value" of more or less than 1. This means that a soldier can be about twice as strong but cost twice as much or that you can have a swarm of really weak guys. At the start of the game however, you are limited to soldiers with a value of no higher than 1. If you want stronger guys you'll need to train them up in game. Furthermore, the max point value of a troop you can research is equal to the amount of territories you own!
Each turn you can recruit a certain amount of troops. (Mentioned in detail below)
Heroes: A hero is a special kind of soldier, which is basically just a much better special version of one. Stuff like dragons etc. Heroes are recruited using projects. You can have a maximum of 3 heroes at any given time, and can only create 6 over the course of the entire game; so it is advised to carefully consider how they should be used. They can range from a single powerful individual, to a squad of elite troops.
Strategic Resources: Each map tile will have one special kind of resource. Soldiers designed to use strategic resources will be more powerful than an equivalent one that does not require them. Owning the tile associated with a resource will provide you with 100 of this resource each turn. These resources can be traded, stolen etc.
You get to make up the one on your home tile.
Additional Clarification: You start the game with 0 units of the strategic units and no troops that use it, but you can start the game with
projects for troops that use it. Heroes may or may not be designed with strategic resources. Ordinary troops cannot use more units of strategic resources than their point cost. (But they can use less). Projects do not have a maximum strategic resource cost.
Projects: Each turn you can work on a number of projects. This is the way that you will be able to create new weapons, new types of units, recruit heroes, build military encampments and other things. You can build pretty much whatever you want, but the golden rule is that the value of what you make is equal to the amount of points that the project requires.
Each turn, you gain X+1 project points. X is equal to the number of territories you control.
Development of a new basic soldier type: 2+
Recruiting a powerful dragon hero: 10
Building a fortress: 6
Developing a new technology: 5
Reverse-engineering an enemy technology obtained from battle: Approx 1/2 of initial point value
How to playOnce the game starts, you will be able to do a number of things each turn. All of which must be specified in your post at the time you make it.
Recruitment: Each turn you can gain a certain amount of troops. The amount of recruitment points you can spend is 100 plus 100 per owned developed territory (which is any area populated enough to recruit from).
Diplomacy: Other players may be willing to work together with you in order to deal with certain problems. Simple messages take no time to deliver, and should be in the game thread. It is also possible to trade things such as Strategic Resources, share certain kinds of research-like projects, or send non-hostile re-enforcements. "Trade" actions are not instant and will need to be validated in a GM update so I can know why the dwarves started using elven longbows.
It is possible to betray someone in diplomatic deals, intercept other players deals, and other such shenanigans. It is also possible for them to become hostile as a result of such behavior.
Combat: Your ultimate goal is probably going to be world domination. In order to attack someone, you will need to make a separate post in the game (Separate from your standard update post) and specify the following things.
- Who you are attacking
- What your objectives are
- The troops that you are sending into battle
- Any other important things that need consideration
- The tactics that you intend to use.
Once posted, the defender will then get an opportunity to prepare a defense strategy with whatever troops they have that are not committed elsewhere. If the defender is too far away, they may have multiple turns to prepare.
Note that the tactics you choose to employ will be the primary factor in who wins the battle, and how many troops will die. The troops you send and the terrain are also factors.
Espionage: Sometimes you'll want to do something a bit more subtle, like interfering with an enemy project or stealing stuff. To do that, you will need to post in the game to announce that you are doing a stealth action and which territory you are doing that action in, and then send the rest of the information (As specified under combat) to the GM. At this time, other players with business in that territory should send the GM a PM with any relevant information about how their defenses are prepared.
A stealth action that takes place outside of your established territory will be MUCH less effective than a non-stealth equivalent action. Like, less than half, and using too many stealth actions will increase the odds of your plots being uncovered.
A "stealth" attack involving your entire military is almost guaranteed to fail. A good rule of thumb is to consider if the group you send can realistically traverse an area without getting spotted..
You can also have a battle in neutral territory using agreed upon terms and stakes, where both sides post their troops commited in the thread and PM their strategies to me. You can't capture territory with them unless it's part of the terms, but they're good for settling disputes.
Territory Annexation: In order to officially gain a new tile, you will need to complete a five point annexation project. This project cannot be started if any hostile forces are present on the tile, and will be halted if you are unable to maintain your military dominance on the tile for the project's full duration. Once you complete the annexation process, you will have all the benefits that come with the territory!
Despicable Neutrals: At game start, there will be several "Neutral" territories that may or may not have a standing army. These can and should be annexed as soon as possible. Diplomacy with these neutral territories is not possible and they are much easier to take than an enemy stronghold.
Other: If you want to do something that isn't really covered by the rules, ask the GM first. If you feel that something has not been adequately explained, please let me know.
Each turn is equivalent to one IRL day, and I will post a daily update at 12pm that covers various events, battle reports, the map, and where certain things are.
Application and action format:The below code will show the correct format that all of your updates must be sent in. In addition, you will need to include a map with the initial application, but the map does not need to be on every post.
To clarify, the Owned Strategic Resources line is where you specify the resources for territories that you own, which you are getting each turn. The Supplies field is for where you specify the amount of each resource that you have.
The details field should explain everything from your heroes, troops, research projects etc.
You start the game with 20 points of projects completed. You will need to use these to design your starting troop types, allocate to any heroes you want to start with, your home defenses, and possibly other things. At the end of each project name, include () brackets along with the number of points the project took as well as current progress if applicable. (1/5) (2/3) etc. The maximum point cost for a troop at the
Start of the game is 5.
Some last notes:
- To prevent walls of text, put any fluff longer than a few sentences inside a pastebin or other convenient method.
- Any strategies that involve blatant metagaming and factors your side shouldn't legitimately know aren't permitted, except for obvious stuff going on. An example is army A making project 1 which is designed specifically to prevent army B from getting any use out of their new project 2.
- No mass teleportation.
- No changing strategies unless you made an obvious mistake.
- No bullshit defenses that make your kingdom inaccessible without magic, handwaves, etc. for a medieval tech level civilization. And I will call bullshit if you make everything of value be in an impenetrable bunker.
- Most of the full map will start unexplored, so there can be room for late joiners. Exploration requires sending troops to scout the area and may be unpredictable.
- I will cause various events to happen if I feel like things are slowing down.
-
Notify me immediately in case you find GM errors, so I can fix them ASAP.- You start with full ownership of your starting 10x10 mile area unless you decide otherwise.
You also start with 2,000 points worth of troops. If you want to put in extra effort, you might want to include "zoomed in" maps of your major locations, your civilization's anthem, a flag/color scheme, etc.
The game begins when I feel that we have enough players.
Civilization Name:
Theme:
Day 0:
Home Territory:
Other Territories:
Owned Strategic Resources:
Current Troops:
Heroes:
Supplies:
Recruiting this turn:
[spoiler=Troop Designs]
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Project Information]
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Log]
Put your thoughts for the day, IC or OOC, in this spoiler. You can also use it as a public notepad.
[/spoiler]
If you guys like using discord, you can talk about the game here by clicking
this link. Joining the discord is in no way required for playing the game.