Yey, I'm finally done writing this down!
FORUM: TOTAL WAR.Forum: Total War is a forum game slightly inspired by the real time battles of the rather known "Total War" video games series.
How does this work? First of all, the 'environment"' of choice is Microsoft Excel ( MICROSOFT EXCEL? THE DEVIL'S APPARATUS? ). Yes. A 50X50 hex field is filled in with colours so that it resembles a landscape. "Regiments" of units traverse these landscapes while battling eachother.
That's it, really. This game is a game of wit in which
your only goal is to humiliate your enemy by killing off his army.
I see.An example.
This is an example of a map made up on the fly. The light green tiles are plains, the dark green tiles can be forests and the brown tiles are hills. In U7 there is an artillery regiment of ten units with 100 morale, in X13 there is a rifle infantry regiment of 100 units with 50 morale and in AE17 there is a cavalry unit of 50 units with 100 morale.
How do we play?A turnThe game is turnbased. Every turn is split up in:
- Deployment ( only for the first turn )
- Simultanious movement
- Reaction fire
- Combat
Deployment First, both players get an equal amount of regiments to deploy in a certain area. After the deployment phase, the actual fighting starts. Both players can see at all times where the enemy regiments are, but he does not know where they will move to until the turn is over and the next turn starts. Movement orders are PM'd to me, the GM. For example: move rifle regiment on X13 to X14, move x regiment to y,...
Battle orders are also to be given, but that's for later.
Facing All units automatically start with a specific facing to somewhere. When an army starts in the north and the other army starts in the south, the northern units will all face south and vice versa. This is indicated with either a N,E,S,W,NE,NW,SE or a SW. This is not indicated on the example, I apologise for that.
Facing can be changed, but only during movement phase. You can change facing and move at the same time. ( For example, move X to Y facing east )
Simultanious movement. Both players move simultaniously. In the case that two regiments collide in movement, the regiment that was the closest to the hex stays and the other one "bounces off" to a tile adjacent to the goal tile. If a regiment of you and an enemy regiment collide, these two regiments engage in melee combat.
Reaction fire.When a regiment does not move on a turn, it has a chance to do reaction fire to enemy regiments. When a enemy regiment marches in to the range of the not moving regiment, or it is already in the range of the regiment and it moves again, to a tile still in range of your regiment, then it recieves "reaction fire". Every standard regiment will automatically do reaction fire unless there is a regiment between them and the enemy regiment ( see friendly fire ). They can do this only once a turn and they do it automatically to the first enemy regiment that moves ( the first regiment that comes up in the list of movement orders that the enemy gave me ). Only your "general" regiment can have more than one reaction fire a turn, it has 3 reaction fires to be exact.
Combat: Battle ordersAfter regiments have moved and reaction fire has been given, the map will be updated. Both players will see the shifted situation on the battlefield. Now, combat orders are to be given.
For example, Red Cannon 1 ( all regiments will be numbered in the game, I did not do this in the example, sorry for that ) shoot X10/blue rifle regiment 1.
Combat: BasicsThere are three types of units in the game:
- Infantry
The mainstay of the army. They can do both melee and range, they move at a speed of 2 tiles a turn. They can shoot in a specific vector to where they are facing ( see range ), up to 6 tiles away.
-Cavalry
These move at a basic speed of 4 tiles a turn. They can only engage in melee but they are a lot more proficient in it then infantry. On top of that, they cause more moral loss when they charge. They have less units in a regiment than infantry though.
-Artillery
These are the support regiments of your army. They move at only a tile a turn, and if they move they need a turn to be redeployed. ( This will be indicated with a white "U" in the regiment's name ). However, they can shoot up to 15 tiles in front of them ( see range). They cause significant morale loss to enemy regiments. They also have a rough aoe.
Combat: Melee Basics In the case that two regiments "bounce", or that two regiments move adjacent to eachother, they will automatically go in to melee. There is no way to stop this and both regiments will automatically fight eachother. When one of the two regiments stand still and the other regiment attacks them by moving adjacent to them, that unit is "charged". If two regiments move to eachother and end up adjacent, they both "charge" eachother. A regiment that is charged suffers a morale loss and more casualties than in a regular round of melee combat. You can order them to withdraw in the next turn, at half speed, but if the enemy manages to figure out where you are withdrawing to, he can force you in to another round of melee. Because withdrawing from melee reduces your speed in half, it is hard to run away without any support, so withdraw wisely.
Notice that combat is also simultanious. So, two regiments will do damage to eachother like they would be able to do on the start of the turn. In other games, one player might be allowed to start first and he would be able to do damage first, which would mean the other player's regiments are weakened and do not do quite as much damage as they would if they would start first. Nothing of that here.
Combat: Range Basics If two regiments shoot eachother, they deal damage to eachother. How much? See Combat: Damage. Hmmm. Not a lot to talk about here. Let's move on.
Combat: Friendly FireIf a regiment shoots another regiment, but a friendly regiment is located between your regiment and the enemy regiment, damage is dealt to the friendly regiment. Oh dear.
To keep things simply and to punish friendly fire, the amount of damage dealt to the friendly regiment is half of what the enemy regiment would normally recieve. On top of that, the enemy regiment recieves only half the damage of what it would it normally recieve. If two friendly regiments are in the way (!) each regiment recieves 1/3 of the damage the friendly regiment would normally deal to the enemy regiment. Remember, friendly fire isn't.
Combat: TerrainTerrain is rather important in Forum: Total War. It influences movement and how much damage you recieve. Terrain in this game is rather basic. We have:
- plains: alters nothing to damage or movement
- hills: damage taken is reduced by 10%, every tile of hills passed counts for 1.5 tiles of plains ( important is that all decimals are rounded upwards, so 1 tile of hills = 2 tiles of plains and 2 tile of hills = 3 tiles of plains. )
- forest: damage taken is reduced by 5%, every tile of forest passed counts for 1.5 tiles of plains...
- buildings ( if there are any ): damage taken is reduced by 50% except for damage taken when shot at by cannons, this is increased by 25%!
Combat: MoraleMorale is very important. All units start out with 100% morale. When various things happen, there morale can change. It can never go above 110% and never below 0%.
This is a list of what can make it change:
Loss of half the regiment in one turn = -45% Morale
Loss 1/4 batallion in one turn = -20% Morale
Loss 1/8 batallion in one turn = -5% Morale
Shot at by artillery = - 3% Morale ( can only cause a loss of morale up to -9 %)
Loss of the general regiment = - 5 % Morale to all units, permanent
Regiment rested for a turn ( did not move or shoot ) = +5 % Morale
A routing enemy unit nearby ( is within 3 tiles ) = +5% Morale
A routing friendly unit nearby ( is within 3 tiles ) = -5% Morale
1/2 army is destroyed = - 10% morale to all units, permanent
General unit is nearby ( is within 3 tiles ) = + 10% Morale
Charged by infantry in the front = - 4 % morale
in the side = - 9 % morale
in the back = - 11 % morale
Charged by cavalry in the front = -9 % morale
in the side = - 11 % morale
in the back = - 16 % morale
End of turn = +4 % morale
Killed, routed or dispersed enemy regiment = +10% morale
Morale has an effect on your units efficiency.
If the morale is:
110 - 100 % => Triumphant, +2 movement speed, except for cannons, +1 reaction fire per turn
99 - 80 % => Enthusiastic, +1 movement speed, except for cannons
79 - 60% => Steady
59 - 40 % => Unsteady, - 10 % damage
39 - 20 % => Waver, - 25 % Damage, will not charge if it's a rifle regiment
19 - 10 % => Rout = the regiment runs away from all nearby enemy regiments, and is uncontrolleable for 3 turns. When you regain control of it, it starts out at 20% morale again.
10 - 0 % => Disperse = the regiment is deleted from the battlefield.
Combat: Damage- Normal melee
Cavalry kills a random amount of units each round. That number is between the amount of units left in the regiment/3 and the amount of units left in regiment/2. This number is then affected by cover, morale,...
Infantry kills a random amount of units each round. That number is between the amount of units left in the regiment/5 and the amount of units left in the regiment/4. Once again, that number is then affected by cover, morale,...
- Charges
A charge deals more damage then usual.
When cavalry charges, it does half of the amount of units in the regiment left of damage, but recieves a fourth of it's own units in the regiment as damage, on top of this can come the damage caused by it being charged, so a unit that is charged from different sides can be completely annihilated. NOTE: Both numbers are NOT affected by morale.
When infantry charge, however, it can either have a succesful charge or a failed charge. To determine this, a dice is rolled. On a 1,2 or 3 the charge is a fail, on a 4,5 or 6 is succesful.
If the charge fails, the infantry loses a third of it's own units and deals a fourth of it's own units in damage. If the charge is succesful, vice versa. NOTE: Both numbers are NOT affected by morale.
- Normal range
When a rifle regiment shoots another rifle regiment or cavalry regiment or heck even an artillery regiment, it does a third of it's own amounts of units in damage, but that number is affected by morale, cover and RANGE! The closer the enemy is, the more damage you do. If the enemy is 6 tiles away, you do only 60% of your damage. If the enemy is 5 tiles away, 70%, 4 tiles 80 %, 3 tiles 90 %, 2 tiles 100 %. You can't shoot anyone when he is one tile away, cause then you are in melee, of course!
- Artillery bombardment
Artillery does not shoot, instead, it "bombards".
Artillery kills a random amount of casualties between it's own amount of units multiplied by 2 and it's own amount of units multiplied by 4. That number is of course affected by morale, cover,...
HOWEVER, artillery also has an aoe. For every tile adjacent to the tile the artillery regiment shot, a dice is rolled. If the dice is 1,2 or 3 the tile is not hit, if the dice is 4, 5 or 6 the tile is hit and a random amount of units between the number of artillery units divided by 4 and the amount of artillery units divided by 2 is killed. This number is once again affected by cover and morale.
- Vectors of range!
Artillery and infantry can shoot everything in a specific vector.
If we assume the example regiments are facing right, then, the following infantry regiment can shoot all tiles that have an "O" in them.
O O O
O O O O O O
I O O O O O O
O O O O O O
O O O
And a artillery regiment could shoot:
O O O O ...
O O O O O ...
O O O O O O ...
A O O O O O O O ...
O O O O O O ...
O O O O O ...
O O O O ...
- A last word on artillery
Artillery can not engage in melee. If they are engaged in melee, they will automatically be destroyed, unless there is a friendly regiment adjacent to the artillery regiment to protect them. They will recieve the amount of damage that was targeted at the artillery regiment.
WOW! You made it! Good! If you made it and you want to
join, fill this in to apply.
Colour of your army:
That's all.
You'll be able to fight another player ( arrange this yourself or just ask me to automatically pit you against eachother ). Due to the nature of the game, I'll be able to let several games play at once, depending on how popular this is. This might not work at all, but hey, it's worth the try. If I notice some things are unbalanced, I will tweak them, but tweaked rules only apply in following games, unless they are REALLY game breaking.
You'll be able to choose different types of terrains and armies and all that. For that, see the following post.
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Topic: Forum: Total War. APPLY NOW! (Read 4924 times)