EB MP campaign

[Ibn-Khaldun]

This have been on my mind about 5-6 months or so.
First of all, I know there is no mp campaigns in RTW.
What I had in mind was a forum game with 2-3 factions. There will be a map, risk style movement from province-to-province and MANY MP BATTLES.
Multiplayer battles actually are the whole point of this.
There are several campaign ideas but two have stayed above others: First Punic War and First Syrian War.
Each player would start with some units(you are free to choose them) and would gain access to more of them during the game. If you loose your general in a battle then player is out of the game.

Anyway, I thought starting something like this in March-April.

Anyone interested?
If you are then you could make your suggestions and I see how to incorporate them into the game.

[Lazy O]

Hotseats do work on rtw but it has a chance of screwing EB over to no ends.But I like this idea, many people dont seem to understand that one does not HAVE to fight it in autoresolve and can do it in a custom battle

[Ibn-Khaldun]

What I thought was using a map like the one below and editing for this game.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

All the recruitment/movemen/etc will happen there but all the battles will be played as multiplayer battles using EB.

[Ludens]

That's the best way of doing it: the EB script does not work for hotseat games. I agree that for the first run a limited theatre is probably best. It's time-consuming to manage twenty factions and drop-outs are going to be a problem. I'd say five to seven factions are probably enough for a diverse game while still being easy to organize.

Two things for you to consider: firstly, will factions be controlled by a team or a single person? The former will prevent drop-outs and will make large factions easier (if, say, the Seleucids get dogpiled it won't be one person that has to fight all the battles). Single-person is easier to organize, though. Secondly, how are you going to balance the factions, both on the strategic level and the battlefield? Obviously, you are not going to achieve a perfect balance, but the weaker factions should have a reasonable chance of winning, or at least holding out.

[Drag0nUL]

I'm interested in this as a matter of principle, but I'd like to know more details, especially about how strategic map movements and recruitment would be handled, but also regarding MP (what version of the game will be used, what, if anything, would one need to play mp, ways to insure that MP battles comply with what's on the strategic map etc.)

[Poulp']

About the stage, I suggest Asia Minor and its surroundings. If you're playing in a limited area, that means you can swap a few unfeatured factions to better match factions in Asia Minor.

Just imagine, pontic, ptolemees, seleucids, greeks, macedons wouldn't be the only ones clashing for control of the land; you can add gauls playing Galatians, epirotes for cilicians pirates, Bythnians, Pergameses... And Hayasdan and Sauromatae would be looming on the sides.

The best would be to fill every provinces with a player faction and let diplomacy do its magic - while others enjoy the alliance bindings and back stabbings.

Plus, such a campaign would be limited in time. A plus in my book.

How unfortunate I won't be able to attend.


...

on an utterly unrelated note, it has been a few months since I last posted or even lurked. Happy to see EB is still doing fine.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

That's the best way of doing it: the EB script does not work for hotseat games. I agree that for the first run a limited theatre is probably best. It's time-consuming to manage twenty factions and drop-outs are going to be a problem. I'd say five to seven factions are probably enough for a diverse game while still being easy to organize.

Two things for you to consider: firstly, will factions be controlled by a team or a single person? The former will prevent drop-outs and will make large factions easier (if, say, the Seleucids get dogpiled it won't be one person that has to fight all the battles). Single-person is easier to organize, though. Secondly, how are you going to balance the factions, both on the strategic level and the battlefield? Obviously, you are not going to achieve a perfect balance, but the weaker factions should have a reasonable chance of winning, or at least holding out.

1. Factions will be controlled by a team. However, each player will have his own army. Teams will decide the overall strategy on campaign map(whether someone should move/attack another province or just wait and defend the province his in etc).

2. I proposed the First Syrian War and First Punic war because we can limit the number of factions to 2. Why so few? Firstly, I really don't want to start a game with more than 5-6 factions. Secondly, with only two factions it's a great test game. I think if it succeeds then there will be another one with more factions.

3. It's easy to balance a game with just 2 factions.

I'm interested in this as a matter of principle, but I'd like to know more details, especially about how strategic map movements and recruitment would be handled, but also regarding MP (what version of the game will be used, what, if anything, would one need to play mp, ways to insure that MP battles comply with what's on the strategic map etc.)

Each turn is divided into two sections: campaign and battle.
First one, campaign part, will last 2 days. That is the time where people should discuss with their teammates what to do next. Then, orders for movement should be sent. You can move 1 province per turn.

About recruitment.. Each player will start with 8-10 units. Each victory will give the player a chance to recruit another unit(when he uses that option is up to him). If player looses a battle he will loose the right for one unit(you had 10 units but lost then next turn you can have 9 units). Also, you can recruit a unit that is available for your faction in that province. All understrength similar units will be merged. This means you can merge your sphendonetai with toxotai and creat a new toxotai unit. However, you will loose some experience you had in the toxotai unit. But you can not merge prodromoi(cavalry) with thorakitai(heavy infantry).

Since I'm not able to start anything like this before March then we have enough time to set out the correct rules. I'm currently trying to find a good but simple system for economy.

[The Celtic Viking]

First of all, I'm in. Second of all... I'm in. That's all I have the energy to say right now, so I'll leave it at that. It's good to have a game of this type set in EB again.

[johnhughthom]

Perhaps another EB PBM might work better, it's been a while since the last one.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Well, but then MP battles can not be used. But, you are right, it's been a while since the last EB PBM was hosted.
Anyway, this game will be played in Throne Room. Hopefully, it will promote EB multiplayer capabilities and bring more active people into these parts(Campus Martius and Throne Room) of the Org.

And it's good to see some old faces here!

[Risasi]

I am interested. Not so much to play, as I am interested to observe and see how this works out.

I believe it would be unfair for me to commit right now as I don't have much time for some sort of campaign. Hopefully you will document this campaign? I shall watch this thread and in the Throne Room.

[Risasi]

It's now March. Any news to report on this campaign? I just checked the Throne room but didn't see anything...I might be interested in joining. I may have time to play a campaign, especially because I'll probably be fodder for the better players. :-)

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I apologize for the lack of news but just so that you know.. I haven't abandoned this idea. You will probably hear more on Saturday.

Edit: I think I should give some info. I have chosen The First Punic War for this game. Why? Since this is the first game like this I need the game to be easy for me to host and people to play. It has 2 main factions (Rome and Carthage) and 5 small "neutral" factions.

Here is the campaign map:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

About the recruitment, units, armies, battles, ranks etc on Saturday.

[vartan]

Looking very promising. Best of luck LG.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I apologize for not showing anything last Saturday(as I promised). However, today is good enough day to tell you more about the game.

Today I will tell more about recruitment, retraining and regions.

Most provinces on the map are organized into larger regions. Controlling all the provinces in the region will give you money bonus. But more importantly, units that you can recruit are also divived into regions. While at the start of the game it's possible to get what ever units you want then during the game it's possible only to recruit units from a region where your army currently is stationed.

Here is the list of regions:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Region: Carthaginian Homeland
Provinces: Zeugitana, Byzacena

Region: North-African Coast
Provinces: Massylia, Mauretania Massaesili

Region: Numidia
Provinces: Mauretania, Numidia

Region: Iberian Coast
Provinces: Bastetania, Edetania, Baleares

Region: Iberia
Provinces: Carpetania, Celtibeia, Asturia, Cantabria

Region: Sardinia
Provinces: Sardinia, Korsim

Region: Sicily
Provinces: Elimya, Sicilia, Trinakrie

Region: South-Italy
Provinces: Brettia, Kalabria

Region: Italy
Provinces: Apulia, Etruria, Umbria,

Region: Roman Homeland
Provinces: Latium, Campania

Region: North-Italy
Provinces: Liguria, Aemilia, Venetia, Insubramrog

Region: Coast of Gallia
Provinces: Lacetania, Greseoallra, Volcallra

Region: Gallia
Provinces: Aquitae, Arvernotorg, Lugonesis

Region: Illyria
Provinces: Pannonia Illyrica, Dalmatia

For example, as Carthaginian player you can't recruit Iberian troops if you are stationed in South-Italy, recruit Gallic units in Numidia etc.

All units are divided into factional, allied and mercenary units. Carthaginian and Roman players can recruit factional units only in their Homeland regions. It's possible to recruit some factional units in nearby provinces as well but not the "elite" units. Minor factions can recruit factional units only in their starting province.
Allied troops are the regional units from EB.
Mercenary units are also divided between regions. However, many of them are available in several regions.

Since it's hard to represent units that have lost men in battles then all units will be retrained automatically after each battle. It will cost money to retrain and that money will also automatically subtraced from the faction treasury. However, if there are less than 50% men in the unit then I, as the Game Admin, will merge the unit with another unit or disband it.

One good thing is that there is no upkeep of the units. This helps me to keep the game simple and easy to run.

Expect the sign ups to be open soon. The Rules for the game are all ready. Just polishing the game a bit before beginning it. However, I will probably start the game in the Throne Room.

[Risasi]

Ah, I see now. It's sort of like Risk...I am definitely interested in seeing how this plays out. Hopefully you will post a link to the thread you start in the Throne Room?

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Of course I will! And yes, it's sort of like Risk where players actually can fight their battles.

I will post tomorrow more about the campaign part of the game. The reason I haven't made any update is because I'm checking those EB battle maps. My plan is to tie a different map to each of the provinces. This way battles will look different and hopefully more interesting. So, no grassy plains..

[Ibn-Khaldun]

About the campaign phase.. Just as I promised..

Factions

As I said before there are 2 types of factions: major and minor factions. During each turn, players of the major factions, must elect a leader for that turn. The leader then can determine how the money will be spent. There are also bonuses if he wins a battle during his term. Though, if he loses then there will be severe penalties as well. All players who picked minor factions will become leaders automatically(because there can only be one player for each minor faction).

Although minor factions may look weak there are ways how to protect yourselves. As long as minor faction is neutral it can not be attacked by anyone. This means however, that they can't attack other players as well. Once they pick a side(whether it's Roman or Carthaginian) they can attack and they can be attacked. Minor factions can declare themselves neutral again when ever they want. They can also switch side when ever they want. Switching a side or declaring yourself neutral come in effect next turn though.

So, there are several ways to play the game. If you want a co-op between other players from the start then pick one of the major factions. If you like to hold back and prefer diplomatic manouvering then pick a minor faction.

Buildings

Since I want to keep the game focused on battles then there are just few buildings that the leader can build in order to improve the faction.
Infrastructure - This means roads, markets etc. Ifrastructure determines how much gold each province produces. There are 10 levels.
Barracks - They can only be built in the capital. Barracks give free units for the defence of the capital. Each level give 2 random units to represent volunteers who have joined the army. Those units are generated only when the capital is under attack. There are 5 levels.
Ports - They can be build in every coastal province. They generate money abd allow the construction of warships. There are 5 levels.

I'll post more when I have the chance but now I have to go..

[Risasi]

Just curious, how do you plan to track all this info?

I only ask because I realized a long time ago this seems like a major logistics headache. Right now I'm involved in playing a hotseat campaign using RTR with a few friends. Mostly just to sandbox and as something to do for amusement. I thought about using EB, but four turns per year doesn't play nice with the hotseat script. And the lack of support for PvP battles is kind of a bummer. Right now we just do PvAI. PvP battles will be auto resolved, but have agreed if there is ever some major battle that involves high stakes between two or more humans we will set up the battle (probably using the battle editor) and actually have it out for real. Then when the dust clears we'll put all the "dead" on ships and sink them.
If you have some magic method of tracking a risk style game I think you're on to something...

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I use spreadsheet files to keep track of all the data.

[vartan]

I use spreadsheet files to keep track of all the data.

That's what I would do. I found Jolt's game info in the OP of his thread to be really hard to follow, so I offered him a spreadsheet with updated info that I made myself. He just gave a compliment in return so I doubt he'll be making use of it (I spent some time on it!) Here it is:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?...4ZVdsMWc&hl=en

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I saw it. ;-) I have something similar in use. Only that the games info is on more than one spreadsheet. Makes it easier to follow this way.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I have to apologize but I doubt I'll start this game anytime soon.
The more I worked on it the more I wanted to start another EB PBM game like "Will of the Basileus"
So..

[The Celtic Viking]

So why don't you do that? I'd be happy to come back as the loveable despot.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

So why don't you do that? I'd be happy to come back as the loveable despot.

Who said I don't do that?

[The Celtic Viking]

Awesome! I can't wait to play a PBM the way it should again (never mind bossing Celtic Punk around, hah!).

[Ibn-Khaldun]

I have created a thread in the Throne Room about the new EB PBM game.

Sadly, this means that this game here will be put on halt.

[vartan]

I have created a thread in the Throne Room about the new EB PBM game.

Sadly, this means that this game here will be put on halt.

Turn that frown upside down my friend :) Have fun and good luck in the PBM =)