Hi All,
Stop me if this has been done before, but I've been thinking about setting up a multi-player campaign game. The bones of the idea are that each player who signs up is either a warlord (if Barbarian) or a family member (if Roman).
The warlords each control a province and are essentially independent, allowing them to ally with or make war against their neighbours, whether they are of the same nation or not.
The Romans family members each control a province and are (nominally) lead by their faction leader. Faction leaders will be voted into office (currently planned at) every fifteen turns.
If this idea gets a good response here, I will complete the website and go live, allowing people to sign up. I'm thinking of doing a turn a week at the moment, but may speed this up if considered too slow.
As this is a campaign game, the economy of the nations is an important factor. Poor economy means no money to pay for armies, meaning insufficient defence against invaders, etc. I'm sure you get the idea. If you have a minor city you receive X amount of dinarii per turn. A major city will earn you XX dinarii per turn. Buildings such as markets and ports increase your profits depending upon their level.
Other buildings allow players to improve the weapons, armour and experience of their troops, just like in the single-player campaign.
Populations will grow at a percentage just like in the single-player campaign, allowing settlements to grow naturally as well. Capturing settlements will also net you a percentage of dinarii and slaves, depending on the settlement's size.
Diplomacy will be important too. You will need to talk to other players to discuss alliances and wars. Unfortunately, they way I see it, I cannot hide the map so all players will be aware of who owns where and how large their empires are.
At the moment, my main stumbling block is the map. I'd like either a scanned or drawn map with a hex grid and at about the scale of a battle square per hex. Obviously, the more detail on the map (rivers, bridges, mountains, roads, cities, etc) the better. If anyone has either the artistic or technical know-how of how to do that I'd be grateful.
Players will submit routes their armies are moving about/invading and I will notify players if they are being attacked and by whom, giving contact details to both so that they can arrange to play out their battle. Each army on the map will be logged with me by the player advising the size and composition of his forces (e.g. army 3 consists four archers, four Hastati and two heavy cavalry). Screenshots from each player at the setup will let me confirm the correct army compositions and, at the end, the victor of the battle.
I am still considering if the victorious army should receive a monetary reward to represent looting of the fallen dead. Let me know what you think.
Although thare are other aspects, the above is pretty much the essence of my planned Rome multi-player campaign. Any feedback or ideas to enhance the campaign will be gratefully received and considered. Any one who can supply the map will be honoured as a god!
