Okay. The title is a mouthful.
The idea is to make a game that combines Risk style territorial control and Diplomacy's intense political betrayal while adding the nice factor of civil wars, revolutions and imperial vegistation. The game is designed to support a large number of city states and small number of empires within the map. The game is complex enough to be immersive while still able to be played at parties.
Balancing: The game is to be equally hard for single territory players and players owning half the map. The treat of losing your empire is to be constant and the treat of losing must be constant as well. A supposed idea is a
"Balkanisation" system utilizing a civilian happiness (Civ hap) rating.
How Civ hap works: Civ hap is increased at the cost of potential armies. Instead of creating one army, Civ hap is increased by one point.
Each turn, Civ hap is decreased randomly by 2, 1 or 0 for every territory owned. If it reaches zero, you lose instantly. If it reaches half the number of territories you own (4 Civ hap while you have 8 territories) your land is split into 2 or 3 separate countries. (Players can then join these new countries to play.) (Random values based on die rolls.)
Each turn, a random disaster will happen one one territory. This will half the Civ hap of any player who owns that territory. A loss of a territory will decrease Civ hap by one.
Smaller countries will have an easy time increasing Civ hap at the cost of armies (Risk like territory bonuses will apply optionally I.E. Any 2 territories grants a bonus army/Civ hap point.) ensuring small stable players. larger empires will have difficulty dominating the map while avoiding "balkanisation". This should encourage political maneuvering with the win conditions.
Combat: I'll need to flesh this out...
Win conditions: There are several win conditions:
Stalemate: No territories gained or lost for 4 turns.
Truce: All players not meeting lose conditions agree for truce.
Complete control: One player controls the map. Winner can choose "seconds" who is considered a winner also.
Complete destabilisation: All players meet lose conditions once.
Lose conditions: There are two lose conditions:
lose all territories.
Civ hap </= 0.
Players who have met lose conditions cannot win. They can only be "seconds". They can join in at any time as any newly founded country via "balkanisation".
Balkanisation: "Balkanisation" is not a lose condition. It can be activated volantarily at no penalty (To avoid threats or other political maneuvers) or at low enough Civ hap. All player territories are split into 2 or 3 seperate countries. (Decided by coin toss or die roll) Players can then join these new countries to play.
2 way split: Player retains 2 thirds (rounded up) of territories. Cannot attack lost territories for 1 turn. Examples:
Player has 6 territories. Two way split means he now has 4.
Player has 13 territories. Two way split means he now has 9. (Rounded up.)
3 way split. Player retains 1 third (rounded up) of territories. Cannot attack lost territories for 1 turn. Other countries contain 1 third of territories each. Examples:
Player has 6 territories. Three way split means he now has 2.
Player has 13 territories. Three way split means he now has 5. (Rounded up.)
Yeah, I'll need help with fleshing everything out, especially combat. Is it balanced though? That's my question...