EMPIRE! A Community World-Building Tale of People & Discovery

[moossabi]

OK, assuming that Haldir doesn't suddenly whip up everything needed for his/her region (region 3), I'm getting 3! Yay! Just to be prepared, I have drawn up a chart short description of Nyroth and it's recently-of-age ruler. Sorry that it is not as elaborate as anyone else's description, but this will have to do...

TERRAIN

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The majority of Nyroth is covered in forest, but the most prominent (tallest) feature is the Barli Mountain Range, which blocks off the majority of the Eastern Border. However, the most curious is Blackrock Crater, and it's pretty obvious what this is. Rumors have it that all who enter to mine it's rich minerals are never seen again. Survivors report a large monster (think Hydralisk) in the mist, but these people are quite insane and not trustworthy. Do not talk to them.

PEOPLE

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The residents of Nyroth feature silvery-white skinned humans with pink hair. They are extremely active at night, as they do not sleep and have developed night-vision. There are also tribes of lizardfolk in the forests and at the base of the mountains. These lizardfolk are loyal to the humans in every way, shape, and form. The lizardfolk serve as warriors while the humans take part in other affairs.

RESOURCES

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All tradable resources in the region come from the forests, so, obviously, lumber is a primary export. But near the town of Lint (I'm not good with names), many forms of spices grow in the outskirts of the woods. These have a subtle scent that draw in moths from miles around. These moths' larvae produce a silky substance when cocooned, which, when woven, produces silk. Many other goods, such as metals and grains, are produced locally in low abundance. The Nyrothians are short on building materials and currently desire stone.

RELIGION

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The majority of the population worships the Lord of Fire. The lizardfolk worship pagans of various purposes. The aristocracy worships a secret dualistic religion known as Lords of Knowledge and Night. However, the new queen, Cavindra Lilin, has plans to raise LoKaN (hey, that's a good name...) to the majority religion using unknown means.
EDIT: as of round 3, LoKaN is the majority religion among humans. The Lizardfolk still maintain their beliefs.

POPULATION

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The population is a tangled mix of humans and lizardfolk, numbering about 37,000.

TECHNOLOGY

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I bet we all know what this is. "No extra techs."

MAP

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Sorry that it is small.
The helical lines are mountains.
The pink splotches are forts.
The green areas are forests.
(red=spices)
(yellow=silk)
(brown=lumber)
Lime is Nyroth's lands.
Purple is other lands.
Dark brown lines are roads.
Light blue stands for human population centers (cities).

LEADER

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Cavindra Lilin is 16 years old. She has a 'disease' that prevents hormones from spreading after she turns 18. basically, she's a teenager forever. Her mother died ten years previously and, because Cavindra was not of age, the chamberlain, Antoln, took charge and started an era of diplomatic silence where nobody was allowed to enter or exit Nyroth (this explains the diplomatic unavailability due to not being present the first two rounds). As mentioned previously, Cavindra's main goal is to convert her subjects to LoKaN and get rid of the Lord of Fire's pressense in her lands.

Personality Test Scores(Attributes)
Diplomacy: 2
Military: 2
Curiosity: 4
Faith: 5
Luck: 3

Remaining Family consists of many older brothers. Succession goes to the oldest daughter, and that's how Cavindra, and not her brothers, are in charge.

If I forgot anything or made errors, please tell me. Thanks to TheWombatOfDoom for telling me how to upload the map!

EDIT: Coat of Arms

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EDIT: Army Formations

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'Cause why not?
1) Standard Infantry: 600 lizardfolk swordsmen, 400 lizardfolk archers
2) Coming soon...

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Of course, if Haldir comes up with a country, this is obsolete. But I just want to be prepared . If I forgot anything or made errors, please tell me. And if some one can tell me how to upload a picture, please let me know!

Try tinypic.com, it's where i upload my images.

[moossabi]

Try tinypic.com, it's where i upload my images.

Thanks! This should help!

[Logic]

For the Grand Ball, I was pressed for time when creating a cultural tradition for marriage. So sue me.

[SamBurke]

For the Grand Ball, I was pressed for time when creating a cultural tradition for marriage. So sue me.

I just imagined the couple as very... vivacious in their use of wooden swords.

[Rain Dragon]

If there's no activity from the Heartwaste does that mean some lucky eastern nation gets to stick a flag in it and claim all that juicy juicy bloodfire?

Aww, C'Nor is awesome. I hope C'Nor comes back.
I may also have kinda hoped vampirism became a big thing in Tekorva (the name will evolve by then, but let's just call it that for now) around the 1600s...

For the Grand Ball, I was pressed for time when creating a cultural tradition for marriage. So sue me.

That's what makes it interesting though. One time, my players broke my campaign and ended up in a weird pixie place due to a magical phenomenon that occurs only once every few hundred years.
I've collected a lot of backup stuff and improvisation practice since then though.

I just imagined the couple as very... vivacious in their use of wooden swords.

[Silverbit]

Hi all, I'm not feeling very well at present, so whilst I'm certainly not dropping out (this is far too fun ) I might not be posting a lot in the next few days. Just a heads up.

And if C'nor unfortunately does go missing, well, the Heartwaste is right on my border. It'd be a shame to waste it...

[WaylanderX]

Indeed.

@everyone - I'm listing who is there in the OP of the ball, so if you could in your posts in the actions thread which people are attending the ball in the action.

Also, I'd LOVE to have a list of all those looking to get hitched, and whatnot.

I also talked to Morph, and since this is a special event, know that any alliance and trade actions, so long as all members you wish to trade or ally with are present, you can fold them into the Ball action. Just be sure to summarize what happens in the Ball in your action post.

Dorona Flamestrike and his daughter, Leona have arrived at the ball late.
Leona Flamestrike, 17 years old, is single and on the hunt....so beware.

[avr]

Both Akali and Alara are looking for partners, Alara a little more urgently. She wants to get away from home.

Edit: and apologies for lateness posting. I blame the elephant.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Both Akali and Alara are looking for partners, Alara a little more urgently. She wants to get away from home.

Edit: and apologies for lateness posting. I blame the elephant.

As per our discussions, I'll take care of Alara. Would you like to discuss matters with rulers for trade as well?

[avr]

Sure, grab Akali when he comes back to get a drink.

[Rain Dragon]

I'll check again to see if I've missed anything, but are pregnancies/childbirths handled by the player or the GM?

(If we get to decide our ruling family's pregnant well, there's potential for abuse but I would roll a d20 to determine it anyway. Otherwise it would be a bit silly.)

[TheWombatOfDoom]

I'll check again to see if I've missed anything, but are pregnancies/childbirths handled by the player or the GM?

(If we get to decide our ruling family's pregnant well, there's potential for abuse but I would roll a d20 to determine it anyway. Otherwise it would be a bit silly.)

Ah! A question for the FAQ! No, child bearing and making is all a fluff action. There is no need for the whole action to be spent on it. Asked Morph about that myself before making Lyra pregnant.

[Logic]

Speaking of marriages, Celero has two 18 year old male heir presumptives that are unhitched.

Also, I thought it might be kinda cool to do a rumors and gossip section for my country after every round.

Spoiler: Celero Rumors and Gossip

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King Andust has dismissed his Chief Bureaucrat, Esquire Qualton Stopes. Rumored reasons:

• Stopes is a Lord of Fire worshiper.
• The King only recently learned to read, and dismissed his letter writer.
• Stopes was caught in a compromised position with the Queen-Consort, Bethea.
• Stopes challenged the King's brother-in-law to a duel and lost.

Heinrich, brother to the king suspiciously has never married, and is 40. Rumored reasons:

• He lost his only love and refuses to marry.
• He isn't right in the head.
• He puts duty before family.
• He has been forced to remain unwed to allow for a political alliance.
• He isn't interested in women.

[Rain Dragon]

Ah! A question for the FAQ! No, child bearing and making is all a fluff action. There is no need for the whole action to be spent on it. Asked Morph about that myself before making Lyra pregnant.

Ah thank you. Now to think of the best roll for Jaten to become pregnant. It wouldn't make sense if she were suddenly pregnant right now I guess.

Also, I thought it might be kinda cool to do a rumors and gossip section for my country after every round.

I also think it would be cool and was going to implement it into fluff as well when I had more things to foreshadow (though with the short length of my posts it's going to be really obvious). A nice neat list is a really cool idea as well. Now... To figure out what is relevant...

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Dear me, that was a long post...

[Logic]

Dear me, that was a long post...

Yup. Now I have to figure out what I'm doing instead of sulking in the corner. I may just delete that post and save it for after the scolding.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Yup. Now I have to figure out what I'm doing instead of sulking in the corner. I may just delete that post and save it for after the scolding.

No worries. That sounds good to me. Sorry it took me so long to get out.

[Logic]

No worries. That sounds good to me. Sorry it took me so long to get out.

Now that I have responded to the scolding, I am awaiting a response before I can get back to the King having zero luck on the dance floor, and sulking in the corner with the intention of getting thoroughly smashed. It's gonna take an army (or perhaps one beautiful lady) to stop him now!

[Morph Bark]

Hello all I'm very intrested in this game. Is there any openings or unclaimed land were I may build a highland kingdom? I'll have to read over every thing agin. I'll take what ever I can but a Highland area would be my first choice.

I'll put you on the waiting list. Currently, region 11 has become open, and region 26 may open up by Sunday. Region 11 borders the mountains and could conceivably have some, and also has access to the sea.

Hello everyone. Morph has given me permission to populate area 25, so here goes the short version:

*snip*

Quoting for the link.

I admit (I should not have, but) I was caught out a little by Round 1 finishing a day earlier. I had finished the actions, but did not finish the fluff and did not catch the fact I did not specify what Tekorva was trading with Pyronia for. (It should be public knowledge... It was Tekorva fish for Pyronia coal) Ah well... Had a busy week.

My question is, do I now have to redo that in Round 2 to be importing coal? It also invalidates my 'just curious' action of Round 1. Two actions useless! /headdesk (ah, I feel the royal fool! Hahaha)

Mmm? I thought the Wordiness was a joke.

I'll make note of that. Don't worry, you won't have to take a new action to make it clear.

I can always lend you my jester's turban. (A turban, yes, I don't own a jester's hat.)

And what, you thought I'd joke?! HA.

*snip*

Quoting for the link.

Hey, Morph? I just thought of something.

What if the new Doge has to be trained by the Old Doge for, say, five years or so? That way it's just like a normal succession. It's fluffed differently, but it can be treated the same in Crunch.

Hm. I'll have to think about it. The point from the start was actually more that you're playing a ruling family rather than a country's government. I'd actually rather not put it up to par with the benefits you might get with a fixed ruling family, because the downside of having one ruling family is that they could all die out, whereas with an elective system someone else would just take over. ImperatorV has something that sort of combines your current system with that of a monarchic dynasty. Perhaps that would work for you? Alternatively, you could have it that the new Doge must marry into the old Doge's family, like by taking one of his daughter's or her son's as a spouse, who'd then be an advisor (spouses so often are). A 5 year tutoring period wouldn't do at least, closer to 10 or up.

Platinum?
If that's too OP, then silver.

Both are fine. Either/or, pick one. Silver might actually be more OP, considering who you're living underneath.

Alright, so for furs, what I meant was ermine, bear, and sable furs. I counted that as all one resource, under furs, and Morph did not seem to have a problem with it. But I'll bring it up Thursday or Friday, to be sure.

Furs is good by itself. Nice to have the clarification. Besides, what else would you get from those creatures anyway? Their meat is very bad to eat, because they're predators.

Basilisk does make more sense as a reassure than just the venom. Might ask Morph about changing that.

Sounds good. I mean, you may not get more than venom out of a basilisk, but with basilisks themselves as a resource, you could technically end up training them for stuff.

Actually, making all "special" kinds of creatures require cultivating per species or group of species (such as Kasumor's giant insects) sounds like a good idea. I may even make it so that if you have a related creature already trained, you only require Curiosity 8 to develop a taming/training program.

We should make sure Wombat gets the title of "Assistant DM."

He already is. I made him a badge.

Aww. Catcha later maybe.

Seventeen? It would be very difficult to run seventeen games and keep up with this one. Good luck with everything.

I never quite got how people end up in that many games and expect them all to run smoothly enough. I figure at that point it starts to feel more like work, and you really have to time manage it all, or everything just runs poorly.

Yes, hopefully. I really love these type of games, but I just don't have time.

Should you return once school quiets down and half those games have gone the way of the dodo, know that you're always welcome in the Halls of Bark.

I also talked to Morph, and since this is a special event, know that any alliance and trade actions, so long as all members you wish to trade or ally with are present, you can fold them into the Ball action. Just be sure to summarize what happens in the Ball in your action post.

Quoting for everyone who may have missed it (and will likely miss it in this post).

27 pages is a good thing. Even More impressive is the fact that we have four separate threads running with a high post rate in each.

Also, this entire group is awesome.

Yes.

MORPH QUESTIONS/NOTIFICATINS LIST

• QuintonBeck wants to invade region 3, but a new player wants to claim it from the waiting list.
  

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• D20Ragon has dropped from the game. What happens to Sidvarsa?
  

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• Regions that did not post Round 1: Heartwaste, Keldagrim, and Meraska
  

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• New Table! - Resources!
  

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• New Table! - Alliances!
  

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• Resource Clarification! - Hrathan and Tuor's resource "Basilisk's Venom" is corrected to: Basilisk (Venom)
  

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• Resource Clarification! - Guilder's resource "Crops" is corrected to: Grains
  

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• Resource Clarification! - Ashenia's resource "Dairy" is corrected to: Cows (Dairy)
  

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• Resource Clarification! - Tekorva's resource "Metals" is corrected to: Iron
  

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• Resource Clarification! - Eyrecradia's resource "Precious Metals" is corrected to: Platinum (or Silver if you prefer)
  

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• Resource Clarification! - Woodwind's resource "Animals" is corrected to: Boar (Dire)
  

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• Ruler Update! - Genivana has a new Ruler: King Mosi Nia-Rohana II, Stats - 2, 4, 4, 6, 5 (+1 to Diplomacy, Faith, Luck for previous ruler) (+1 to Faith from round 2)
  

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• Stats updates! All scores have been updated in the Leadership table!

Declaration of Eternal Bromance.

Wombat! I have a request: Any official alliances (Like the Northern Union), could you note their membership in the profile of the country? I have a hard time remembering that sort of thing, and it'll come in handy eventually.

QuintonBeck made a graphic for the first round on that, though it may be a little harder now. Maps like those are handy to get a visual idea beyond just the text, like how Chief did with his resource/religion map.

*snip*

Quoting for the link.

I know! I would have even just accepted some metal, but ah well. If there's no activity from the Heartwaste does that mean some lucky eastern nation gets to stick a flag in it and claim all that juicy juicy bloodfire?

Also, since everyone is listing the types of army they're raising and I don't want to edit my first action post since round one is closed I would like to note the first 2,000 troops are archers/ranger-types and I will edit my current actions post to reflect what this batch is composed of.

If a player goes absent, I'll PM them three rounds later, and if they haven't posted by the fourth round afterwards, the region can be re-claimed by a new player for one week. If nobody claims it (feel free to invite someone to), then it becomes an NPC nation. If a new player claims it they may decide to simply take over the region as it is the way the old player left it, unless the old player gave note that they want their region to go away if they leave. However, if the old player had any marriages with other player's families, they can lay claim to it, and I won't make the old region go away. Instead, it becomes a free-for-all for all those who have a claim to it, plus whatever rebel forces there may be.

I like how some people fluff out their armies. Should I make the military mechanics more defined? Like how a lot of games have melee>archers>cavalry>melee, or such. (Even if I were to do that, that won't be implemented anytime soon due to requiring a lot of little tinkering.)

Also, I've noticed that some people have armies, but do not have access to iron or bronze/copper. I hope they have at least access to wood, otherwise they're prettymuch a nation of martial artists (or mages, once magic is unlocked). Which is cool, but probably should impose a -1 on Military checks. However, I am thinking of giving organized religions a special bonus, the choice of the player who created it. The bonus for Lord of Fire could be that they do not have a -1 penalty to Military checks if they lack weapons, considering their temples are likely filled with warrior monks or such.

A note on your Morph update list, I updated my rulers before he left >.> and he is definitely aware of it by now. At least I really hope so.

I'm still half worried that the confusion last week will undo my religion @_@

Hakuna Matata.

That is now the motto of your religion. Just kidding.

OK, assuming that Haldir doesn't suddenly whip up everything needed for his/her region (region 3), I'm getting 3!

Now that statement is about as premature as my twin sisters' birth was. (It's true though.)

Lizardmen? Cool. Like that you made a map as well. That makes you the second one to map out his country.

On the dualistic religion amongst nobles... I'll get back to you on that.

Aww, C'Nor is awesome. I hope C'Nor comes back.
I may also have kinda hoped vampirism became a big thing in Tekorva (the name will evolve by then, but let's just call it that for now) around the 1600s...

You're free to contact C'nor about it. S/he had good ideas though. I like it that a lot of players have something unique to their country, some even a big thing or two.

And why the 1600s? That's like... 252 rounds away!
(Or wait, did you have a calendar of your own?)

Hi all, I'm not feeling very well at present, so whilst I'm certainly not dropping out (this is far too fun ) I might not be posting a lot in the next few days. Just a heads up.

And if C'nor unfortunately does go missing, well, the Heartwaste is right on my border. It'd be a shame to waste it...

As further up this post, if C'nor does not post during Round 3, I'll PM him/her. If I receive no word back, the Heartwaste will be opened by Round 5 for a new player, and a free-for-all by Round 6 if no new player claims it.

To all those who'd wish to invade countries that are "slumbering" in this manner, or who wish to convert their peoples, please hold off until their players return or until the country opens up.

Dorona Flamestrike and his daughter, Leona have arrived at the ball late.
Leona Flamestrike, 17 years old, is single and on the hunt....so beware.

Feel the Sun's glory.

Speaking of marriages, Celero has two 18 year old male heir presumptives that are unhitched.

Also, I thought it might be kinda cool to do a rumors and gossip section for my country after every round.

Spoiler: Celero Rumors and Gossip

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King Andust has dismissed his Chief Bureaucrat, Esquire Qualton Stopes. Rumored reasons:

• Stopes is a Lord of Fire worshiper.
• The King only recently learned to read, and dismissed his letter writer.
• Stopes was caught in a compromised position with the Queen-Consort, Bethea.
• Stopes challenged the King's brother-in-law to a duel and lost.

Heinrich, brother to the king suspiciously has never married, and is 40. Rumored reasons:

• He lost his only love and refuses to marry.
• He isn't right in the head.
• He puts duty before family.
• He has been forced to remain unwed to allow for a political alliance.
• He isn't interested in women.

That's quite cool. Extra's are always cool. They're kind of like bowties in that.

Dear me, that was a long post...

This was a long post.

[Recaiden]

I think I should withdraw from this game, opening up region 23, since I'm not finding the time for it. Sorry.

[Logic]

I think I should withdraw from this game, opening up region 23, since I'm not finding the time for it. Sorry.

If you already posted actions in round 1, perhaps your country devolves into a CIVIL WAR! And the player that takes over is the winning faction of that Civil War. At least, that's how I would roll with it.

[ImperatorV]

Yay morph is back. And he brought a text wall.

I'll edit my info post with the basilisk update later.

[zabbarot]

*terminator reference*

If only you'd said "I'll be back" in your last post.

I like how some people fluff out their armies. Should I make the military mechanics more defined? Like how a lot of games have melee>archers>cavalry>melee, or such. (Even if I were to do that, that won't be implemented anytime soon due to requiring a lot of little tinkering.)

Also, I've noticed that some people have armies, but do not have access to iron or bronze/copper. I hope they have at least access to wood, otherwise they're prettymuch a nation of martial artists (or mages, once magic is unlocked). Which is cool, but probably should impose a -1 on Military checks. However, I am thinking of giving organized religions a special bonus, the choice of the player who created it. The bonus for Lord of Fire could be that they do not have a -1 penalty to Military checks if they lack weapons, considering their temples are likely filled with warrior monks or such.

That would be pretty cool. But it would probably be more complicated that just melee>archers>cavalry>melee. I mean we have flying cavalry in this game. I'm sure there is a way to embellish the combat without making it too complicated. It'll take a bit of work to figure out though.

Hakuna Matata.

That is now the motto of your religion. Just kidding.

Considering half the names in my royal family are African this is closer to being true than anyone intended.



EDIT: I have an idea for the military =D
Perhaps when each unit is created the creator chooses a Unit Type(melee, archer, cavalry, *magic type here*) and a unit type it is strong against.

Facing that particular unit type it gets a bonus, maybe just plus one.

That way someone could say make some lancers and describe them as anti-cavalry cavalry, or a shocktrooper unit of melee specialized against archers.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

He already is. I made him a badge.

Declaration of Eternal Bromance.

Lies! I've not seen it!

D'aw. Bro-liness is next to Modliness.

[zabbarot]

Perhaps when each unit is created the creator chooses a Unit Type(melee, archer, cavalry, *magic type here*) and a unit type it is strong against.

Facing that particular unit type it gets a bonus, maybe just plus one.

That way someone could say make some lancers and describe them as anti-cavalry cavalry, or a shocktrooper unit of melee specialized against archers.

Continuing this. The bonuses are ablative. You don't get them if that unit is countered, but each unit can only counter one other unit. So basically just start crossing units off each side until all bonuses are applied to another unit. Any countered units left over apply their bonus to the total combat roll.

Example:
Two nations have a battle. Each commits two armies. On one side we have 1 unit of Anti-Cavalry Melee and 1 of Anti-Melee Archers. On the other we have 1 unit of Anti-Melee Cavalry and 1 of Anti-Archer Magi.

Side One's Melee and Archers are both countered, but Side Two's Magi are left unchecked.

Therefore Side Two gets a bonus to this combat.

This makes it a bit more involved, but still allows the out come to be resolved with a single die roll. Perhaps as a Military 5 special a commander could train a unit that can counter an additional unit, or instead have a more general counter such as "+1 on attack" or "+1 on defense".

[Logic]

Differing unit types should have a difference between units and attacking/defending.

For example, melee infantry (spearmen) should get a bonus to mounted land units when defending. But no bonus when attacking. Similarily, lancer cavalry should only get their bonus to other mounted units when attacking, but not defending.

Just my two cents.

[QuintonBeck]

Having run a somewhat similar game to this (albeit a lot more complicated where resources were involved) each resource you had that could be applied to military could be burned for the round and would apply for the entire round giving a +X bonus to military rolls depending on what the resource was.

So while navigating different types of military units and the like might be more in depth an such my suggestion is simply have any militarily applied resource constitute a +X bonus to Military rolls. The base line military roll is folks with bone/wood/stone weapons and if you add Bronze you get +1, iron confers +2, Steel +3, Mystical Magical fantasy metal +4 and maybe that's if you use the resource to make weapons and only grants those bonuses on offense but you can burn a resource to make armor out of them and confer it to defense, or burn two resources and apply to both attack and defense.

As for types of units I think generally what they're fighting with (IE Lance vs Battleaxe) shouldn't matter for simplicity's sake. However if they have mounts (like horses) maybe a +1 if they have flying/burrowing/crazy-movement mounts (like Kasumor's insects) maybe a +2

Of course this really only balances out if we get a firmer grip on resources I think but that requires more bookkeeping. I know it was posted what the different grades of resources mean but as of now that seems pretty nebulous. Maybe we ought to make it clearer and more implemented. IE, you have 3 [Good] Resource points and so they wouldn't count as actions but if you had started trade with a country you'd note that one of your resource points was spent shipping it to them, then you could spend another one on making weapons for yourself or whatever. For simplicity of book keeping might be best to say you get no rollover resource points. The game I ran did that and a few weeks down the line keeping track of stockpiled materials was a bit of a nightmare.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Currently, the first round has not yet started. We are still in the phase of gathering players, fluffing regions and statting characters.

Needs removal from OP.

[SamBurke]

Having run a somewhat similar game to this (albeit a lot more complicated where resources were involved) each resource you had that could be applied to military could be burned for the round and would apply for the entire round giving a +X bonus to military rolls depending on what the resource was.

So while navigating different types of military units and the like might be more in depth an such my suggestion is simply have any militarily applied resource constitute a +X bonus to Military rolls. The base line military roll is folks with bone/wood/stone weapons and if you add Bronze you get +1, iron confers +2, Steel +3, Mystical Magical fantasy metal +4 and maybe that's if you use the resource to make weapons and only grants those bonuses on offense but you can burn a resource to make armor out of them and confer it to defense, or burn two resources and apply to both attack and defense.

I'd like to point out that Bronze is roughly the same hardness as iron, and actually far more durable. It's just that it needs sharpening after a few uses: however, that'd happen between battle. The reason the Iron Age came after the Bronze Age was simply the rarity of Tin, not any inferiority in Bronze.

Continuing this. The bonuses are ablative. You don't get them if that unit is countered, but each unit can only counter one other unit. So basically just start crossing units off each side until all bonuses are applied to another unit. Any countered units left over apply their bonus to the total combat roll.

Example:
Two nations have a battle. Each commits two armies. On one side we have 1 unit of Anti-Cavalry Melee and 1 of Anti-Melee Archers. On the other we have 1 unit of Anti-Melee Cavalry and 1 of Anti-Archer Magi.

Side One's Melee and Archers are both countered, but Side Two's Magi are left unchecked.

Therefore Side Two gets a bonus to this combat.

This makes it a bit more involved, but still allows the out come to be resolved with a single die roll. Perhaps as a Military 5 special a commander could train a unit that can counter an additional unit, or instead have a more general counter such as "+1 on attack" or "+1 on defense".

So basically a Pokemon or Rock/Paper/Scissors arrangement? I rather like it, though the more complex, the worse.

As for types of units I think generally what they're fighting with (IE Lance vs Battleaxe) shouldn't matter for simplicity's sake. However if they have mounts (like horses) maybe a +1 if they have flying/burrowing/crazy-movement mounts (like Kasumor's insects) maybe a +2

Of course this really only balances out if we get a firmer grip on resources I think but that requires more bookkeeping. I know it was posted what the different grades of resources mean but as of now that seems pretty nebulous. Maybe we ought to make it clearer and more implemented. IE, you have 3 [Good] Resource points and so they wouldn't count as actions but if you had started trade with a country you'd note that one of your resource points was spent shipping it to them, then you could spend another one on making weapons for yourself or whatever. For simplicity of book keeping might be best to say you get no rollover resource points. The game I ran did that and a few weeks down the line keeping track of stockpiled materials was a bit of a nightmare.

While I like the simplicity here, I much prefer the idea of some strategy in unit types. If we did this, I'd ask for some sort of other tactical choice, perhaps a six-space grid of unit positions (IE, Front RightFlank/LeftFlank/Center and Back Right/Left/Center), or something of the sort. I think battles should have significance.

Differing unit types should have a difference between units and attacking/defending.

For example, melee infantry (spearmen) should get a bonus to mounted land units when defending. But no bonus when attacking. Similarily, lancer cavalry should only get their bonus to other mounted units when attacking, but not defending.

Just my two cents.

Hm... This adds a lot to the complexity, though, doesn't it? I mean, I love strategy, but... that'd make war by far the heaviest part of the game. Which I suppose could be deemed an edge of realism, because nations tried to avoid it. Still, I'd hate for the most interesting type of conflict in games to simply be over-complicated out of the way.

All in all, I think a three-part system should be the basis: cavalry, melee (Infantry), and ranged, or something of the sort. Maybe with some sort of similar differential between sea units like Attack/Defense/Ranged. Make the core rules of the system VERY simple, very intuitive. Cavalry>Melee>Ranged>etc. If you place a cavalry against a melee unit, you get a +1 bonus. Add up all bonuses, roll the dice, and you're done. (This might require a board of some sort, as noted in the response above).

THEN, on top of that very simple ruleset, add in the extra things. Mantids may be able to fly, so that means, say, they can choose one type of unit when deployed to get a +1 against. Then better weapons give various units natural +1/2/3, etc, or perhaps they deal greater damage, etc. That's where the rules get interesting, in the add-ons, not in the core.

Anyway, that's just my 2 Cents. I think we do need to get this worked out at least a few turns before war begins, that way people can get used to the ruleset and get ready for it.