Grand Campaign Hotseat 2: The Rising Storm

[Zim]

The year is 1080 A.D. After centuries of fighting to expand, strong powers are coaslescing in Europe, North Africa, and Asia. For any one of these power to become dominant, others must be destroyed. Religious and secular conflicts are driving some together and far more apart. Rumors of war are arising all over the region, and it is only a matter before it is caught up in a tide of Total War.

Welcome to the second hotseat campaign for the Grand Campaign. I've been hoping to start one of these, and some interest has been showed in the poll thread, so this is the official sign-up/OOC thread for my Grand Campaign hotseat.

Here are the factions, and their players if assigned.

England-AskThePizzaGuy
France-TuffStuffMcGruff
Holy Roman Empire - Cecil XIX
Spain-Mrs. Zim
Venice- Zim
Sicily-Elite Ferret
Milan-rossahh
Scotland -Ignoramus
Byzantine Empire-Tristan de Castelreng
Russia-Ichigo
Moors-General Hankerchief
Turks-Overknight
Egypt-Ramses II CP
Denmark- deguerra
Portugal-gibsonsg91921
Poland- FactionHeir
Hungary-turcoman

Reserve Players:



This will be version 1.3, and an admin enabled game. I'll have a longish list of rules in a bit, culled from the other hotseats (including mine ).

Here's a tentative list of rules:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

1. MTW2 version 1.3. FactionHeir has been kind enough to work on a few files read at the beginning of the game to make for tougher AI factions. It does not require anyone to change their files but the host, me.

2. 24 hours to play a turn, 48 if the GM is notified. Otherweise the turn will be skipped.

3. When you finish your turn, post a link to the save here and pm the next guy in line.

4. No reloads.

5. As a courtesy, inform your victim OOC if you do anything to them that they would find out about in the beginning turn announcements in a SP game. Think battles, or settlements of their's you take.

6. Diplomacy can take place via pms, in the diplomacy thread that will be opened, or just through the in-game mechanics available to diplomat agents. There is no obligation to keep deals made, but don't be surprised if you become very unpopular or even a target if you break deals all the time.

7. No obvious exploits. No parking a stack of merchants in a fort on a resource, or exploiting crusade/jihad mechanics. I won't do anything silly like say you can only take x settlements in a crusade, but please don't blitz across the whole map with one, taking several dozen settlements. It makes the game less fun for others.

8. Important, since the turn limit is fairly short, try to designate another player or other ORG member to sub if you can't make it. I will be glad to fulfill this role if you give me permission. Also, pm your passwords to me so I can give them to a sub or skip the turn if neccessary.

9. Crusades/Jihads should be announced in the Council thread.

Player Deaths:
Ignoramus, King of Scotland, at the hands of Tran, King of England.
gibsonsg91921, King of Portugal, at the hands of GeneralHankerchief, Emir of the Moors.

[Zim]

Ok, the player I thought would play Turkey is out, so all unassigned factions are open. I'm thinking at least 1-2 more before we talk about starting.

With the way Muslim factions get knocked around in-game, and the many crusades that might be sent his way (lots of catholic factions) I don't mind if Ramses has the first chance to consolidate the middle-east, but an HRE or French player would be especially welcome to fill in that central European area..

[RoadKill]

Sign me up for France, but I may need to be subbed in since I will be away for a week.

[Privateerkev]

Here are my thoughts for now:

1.) Lets try to fill all the factions if possible. It would be infinitely more fun. And it shouldn't take too long.

2.) 24 hours from post of save game if possible but 48 is allowed. More than 48 requires prior notice to at least the GM.

3.) Post your save in here in a link and do it with a brand new shiny post so that it bumps the thread up.

4.) Diplomacy does not have to be agreed to first in PM's but it does speed the process up if it is.

5.) No reloads. You play it once and deal with what happens.

6.) Anything goes with playing your faction. You can play your faction however you want as long as you observe the few rules. No "house rules". Feel free to play your faction IC, OOC, random, or erratic. Do not be surprised if your backstabbed. Do not be surprised if your eliminated in the beginning of the game. Just play your faction however you wish within the confines of the rules that the GM sets up.

7.) As a courtesy, inform your victim OOC if you do anything to them that they would find out about in the beginning turn announcements in a SP game.

These are just the rules I use for my games. Zim can pluck from these, modify, or ignore as he sees fit.

[Zim]

Welcome to the game Roadkill. If you give permission, anyone can sub your turn, even me if you'd like (may be hard to find peiople outside the game to do so, since so many throne room regulars are in it).

PK, most of those are along what I was thinking. I'll leave the signup open another day or two, although I may put the Council thread up late tonight for public diplomacy.

Faction Heir has some ideas to make AI factions tougher without anyone (but me) having to download files.

One thing I'll add to the rules is a requirement to pm the next guy. With so many players, that will be important to keep things moving.

Also, limits on time to take turns will be greatly relaxed until after New Year's, when all our lives return to normal.

[Zim]

Ok, I have a tentative set of rules up in the first post. They are still very flexible, and I'll gladly take suggestions.

Overknight , I need confirmation on your faction. You had told me you considered playing Milan, but stated in the other thread that you wanted to wait until more people had chosen factions. Just tell me if you need me to change your assigned faction.

[OverKnight]

I'm pondering, how much of a disadvantage would it be to take an Orthodox or Muslim faction?

Edit: Sorry for the indecision, but I'm new to this.

[Zim]

That's fine. Given that turns would move slow over the holidays anyway, I'm leaving the signup list open at least one more day. There's no hurry.

Muslim factions have slightly weaker autoresolve units, but the main weakness is that they're outnumbered, so a lot of crusades could be headed their way. This could be negated largely by engaging in diplomacy with A. Ramses, playing Egypt and B. some of the Catholic factions.

Orthodox factions' main weakness is no crusades or jihads, but I'm hoping players won't abuse the Crusade/Jihad mechanics to conquer vast swaths of territory. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Hey guys, my wife expressed interest in playing one of these games a while back. Would her entry into the game bother anybody considering I'm the GM? It would mean an 12th player.

[Ramses II CP]

Well I'd say Orthodox factions have it the worst because they can't crusade/jihad. Muslims are going to get gangbanged and no mistake, but never underestimate the power of the turn 1 jihad. Seriously. I took Egypt because we need a Muslim power to make the bloody game interesting.

Speaking of which, I need to line up some alliances dangit.

[Ramses II CP]

Speaking of crusade/jihad abuse, I promise not to use my first jihad on a player faction (But don't get in my way! :p). How's that?

[Zim]

There's nothing stopping you from making any, Ramses.
OK, Turkey might be a good one if you're interested in a Muslim faction. Then, even if the Muslim factions get ganged up on, you have a potential ally in the region (Ramses).

[Zim]

There, we now have a Council thread. Private deals by PM are still encouraged, but now negotiation, declarations, etc. can be made in public as well.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...41#post1784541

[gibsonsg91921]

We need only six more players. Cmon, baby!

[Zim]

We need only six more players. Cmon, baby!

That could be five if more people answered my question.

"Hey guys, my wife expressed interest in playing one of these games a while back. Would her entry into the game bother anybody considering I'm the GM? It would mean an 12th player. "

[Ramses II CP]

Err, I don't see any reason why anyone would object except for the whole girl cooties issue, but I checked with my wife and she says you can't get those over the 'net.

[gibsonsg91921]

Umm, I trust you won't cheat or double-team anyone. We'll have to clean up the place a bit, kind of like when EternalOlympia temporarily was part of KOTR.

[Zim]

Interesting, I kind of thought rules here were strict enough that that wouldn't be neccessary (like swear words being replaced by mods with flower smilies).

Umm, I trust you won't cheat or double-team anyone. We'll have to clean up the place a bit, kind of like when EternalOlympia temporarily was part of KOTR.

[Mrs. Zim]

Hi everybody, I'm obviously Zim's wife. I've played the game a teensy bit and thought it'd be fun to try out the multiplayer. My husband has been telling me about so here I am. I'm playing as Spain if that's cool with everyone. I predict that I will either rise in glory or go down in flames with the game, either one I'm good with.

[phonicsmonkey]

welcome to the Org Mrs.Zim!

[OverKnight]

Egad, I need to start recruiting my own family members to form an alliance, but knowing my family they'd be the first to back stab me. "Sorry Son, it's strictly business. You shouldn't have crossed my line of death."



Anyway, I'm feeling indecisive. A part of me wants to play a familiar faction, such as HRE or the Byzzies, but I don't want to leave Ramses all by his lonesome, so the Turks or Moors, who I've never played, would be interesting. Of course Iberia is looking crowded. . .

Thoughts?

Either way, I'll probably be pwned.

[deguerra]

hi Zims wife! I'm usually the one hes chatting with when he up half the night. well one of the ones. when hes not being annihalated as jerusalem or as novgorod anyway :P

[Zim]

OK, I'm not sure about my wife but I know my brother and father would backstab me at the first possible chance, as well as most of my old friends.

deguerra, I'm playing Turkey in the Crusades game and doing well. As for Novgorod, well, no comment.

[Mrs. Zim]

Hey everyone, thanks for the welcome. It's nice to "see" and "meet" who my husband's been talking to. I hear him laughing whenever he's on the computer chatting on the boards.

It would be funny if more people recruited their family members. Unfortunate on the whole backstabbing issue. Course, you could be the first to backstab them and destroy any evil plans they may have. Just a thought, trust no one.

[Zim]

OK, I'd say the HRE or Turkey. The HRE fills a big empty spot in central Europe, while Turkey could take the place of Byzantium while preventing Ramses from being on his own in the Middle East.

Or course, the Moors would provide some real competition(three factions!) in Iberia...

[Privateerkev]

If we simply get players for all the factions, then FH's AI fixes will be quite moot.

(not a fan of mods or anything)

Welcome Mrs. Zim! You can partially blame me for your husband being on the computer so much. ^_^

[Cecil XIX]

I'll make OverKnight's decision easier and choose HRE.

[OverKnight]

Turkey it is then.

Of course if Ramses and I follow historical precedent, we'll spend more time fighting each other than the Europeans. Of course the same would hold true for Europe.

[Zim]

If the other factions fill, or we end up with only a couple, I might tell him it's not neccessary. Still, I'd like to stress that FH's mod would only be neccessary for me, and only when I first start the game.

[Privateerkev]

I would love to see this game with all factions player controlled. Except for the Papacy, Mongols, Timurids, and Aztecs of course. And it's not just to avoid of mod. It's because it will be much more fun.

[Zim]

Even if no more players join, we've got 13 and filled almost the whole map! This will be great!

Everyone, I will need passwords to be pmed to me in case someone can't play a turn.

I would love to see this game with all factions player controlled. Except for the Papacy, Mongols, Timurids, and Aztecs of course. And it's not just to avoid of mod. It's because it will be much more fun.