Cataclysm Mechanics Draft

[edit] Changes to the FAQ since the initial posting are in red for ease of identification. The entire 'final' FAQ will be reposted at the start of the relevant thread when the Cataclysm begins.

Since 1320 is rapidly approaching, I have been ironing out the system I am going to use to run this thing. I have written up the following Cataclysm FAQ as a draft. These are the general blueprints that I am planning on following, but they are not 'rules' in any hard sense and I will break them if I think I need to in order to do what I want.

Comments are welcome and I am open to changes.

----------------------------------

Cataclysm FAQ

Overview:

At the beginning of every game turn, I will make a Status Post with all information needed for the players that turn. At the start of the post will be a general overview of significant events, such as AI army movements, city conquests, etc. This will be followed by a situation report for each player. The situation report will include any pertinent results from the previous turn, a basic description of the player’s current situation, provinces the player controls, the player’s personal wealth, the Direct Recruitment units available to the player, and a short multiple choice description of possible actions. These multiple choice descriptions will not be definitive by any means; they will merely provide examples of options that are open to you. For example:

Johnny von Hindenburg:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Controlled Provinces: Pfarphenplatz (rioting), Somewhatnearbyville
Personal Wealth: 3
Units Available: Town Militia, Spear Militia, Crossbow Militia, Free Company Longbowmen, Free Company Men-at-Arms

The city is rioting and half of the garrison has been killed or deserted. You have two units of knights with you and a large Polish army is nearby. The Poles will likely attack Pfarphenplatz next turn.

(A) Garrison Pfarphenplatz with your knights, recruit 3 Town Militia, and attempt to restore order and hold the city.
(B) Ride to Pfarphenplatz and rescue the garrison before they are overwhelmed, then attempt to flee to the safety of Somewhatnearbyville. This will slow you down and you may be caught in the field by the Polish army. You cannot recruit more than 1 Militia unit if you do this, but the garrison will join your army for free.
*(C) Abandon Pfarphenplatz and ride immediately for Somewhatnearbyville. You cannot recruit any Militia units if you do this.

After I have made this post at the beginning of each game turn, players may send me their action choices. This can be something as simple as "B" (indicating you want to do multiple choice option B corresponding to your character) or a 4 paragraph explanation of what you want to do and why. ALL PLAYERS MUST SEND ME THEIR CHOICES BY PRIVATE MESSAGE. This is to ensure secrecy, since some choices can harm other players. I do not want other players to see what you are going to do before you do it, because it might effect their own decisions. The * will indicate the option that I think is the safest for the avatar. If a player does not respond with their choice of action within the time allotted for the turn, I will always use the * choice. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR OPTIONS ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE CHOICES I LIST. IF YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING ELSE, YOU SIMPLY NEED TO SAY SO. I will figure out a way to implement nearly anything you can think of, so long as it makes sense and would be realistically possible for your avatar.

Specific Game Mechanics:

Income:
Money will be very tight during the Cataclysm and each player will have to accumulate money for their own personal use. Their current wealth will be represented by a simple number, which has no relation to in-game prices. There will be two kinds of income:

1) Fixed Income: Each player will receive an income of 1 for each city that is under their control, not rioting, and has an uninterrupted path to the player’s location. Castles do not generate Fixed Income. If an enemy army is blocking the route, you will not get the income. If you are besieged, all routes are considered blocked and you will get no income except for the settlement you are in (unless that is rioting too). Each player will be told which provinces are under their control each turn.

Provinces that belong to a Count who remains loyal to their Duke will provide 1 income to BOTH the Count and the Duke. Counts that rebel from their Dukes will receive an income of 2 from the province they declare as their 'Capital' for the rest of the Cataclysm, provided that all other requirements for the income are met. Rebel Capitals that are Castle settlements will receive an income of 1; this is the only way that a Castle settlement can produce Fixed Income during the cataclysm. Rebel Capitals cannot be moved during the cataclysm, even if your capital is held by the AI or has fallen under the control of another player; if you care about the extra income, you had better protect it.

2) Event Generated Income: Extra income can be created in nearly any way imaginable, but the methods will have consequences. The amount gained from an Event will vary, but will generally range from 1 to 10. For instance, you can disperse your army to tax the surrounding lands for 2, but if you are unlucky, a regiment could be attacked by bandits and destroyed while away from the main army. Doing this would also prevent you from moving out of the province, so it would be best to do it when you know you won’t be attacked or will be able to win if you are attacked. The safest and most profitable method of gaining Event Income is to plunder any destructible buildings in a settlement. Doing this will destroy the building for good, but it will produce an income equal to the number of turns required to build the structure from scratch and there is no limit to the number of buildings you can knock down per turn. Please note that destroying buildings in a province will probably make the people of that province hate you. This will make it difficult to recruit new soldiers and will limit your options in some other regards. Of course, you could always plunder the buildings from a neighboring province whose Lord is not around to protect it…

Construction/Repair:
Players can only build or repair buildings in the province they are physically located in at the beginning of a turn. Construction cost will be equal to the number of turns required to build the structure from scratch. Repairs will cost 1 per building being repaired, except for walls and towers, which will cost 2.

Recruitment:
Armies are the lifeblood of the Cataclysm. The larger your army, the more territory you will be able to successfully control and the better off you’ll be in general. I don’t think I need to explain why. THERE WILL BE NO RETRAINING DURING THE CATACLYSM. There will be multiple ways for players to recruit new units.

1) Direct Recruitment: Each player can recruit any unit type that is available in the province they are physically located in, to include settlement units and mercenaries. Please note that events and player choices may ‘disable’ recruitment of some unit types temporarily or even permanently. Each player will be told which units are recruitable in their current province each turn. Unit costs will vary according to my whims, but will generally be as follows:

Poor Quality Infantry or Militia: 1
Medium Quality Infantry or Militia/Low Quality Missile: 2
High Quality Infantry/High Quality Missile/Low Quality Cavalry: 3
Medium Quality Cavalry/Low Quality Artillery: 4
High Quality Cavalry/High Quality Artillery: 5

2) Event Generated Recruitment: Extra recruits can be created in nearly any way imaginable, but the methods will have consequences. One option could be to use press-gangs to levy civilians into your army. This will obviously make the people unhappy (which has its own consequences), reduce the population, and won’t provide you with high quality units, but it will let you raise a small force quickly and for free. As another example, if you have high piety and chivalry and are in a city with a Teutonic Knights guild house, you may be able to convince them to join you for free. A third option would be to bribe away the soldiers from another player’s army or settlement. Since there will be no retraining during the cataclysm, bribing will be the only way to gain new veteran units. The cost of bribing will vary based on the traits of the avatar who owns them. An avatar that is well-loved (via traits) by his troops will greatly increase the bribe price of his men (i.e. High Quality Infantry cost 5 instead of 3). In contrast, units will require less money to desert from an avatar that they do not like (High Quality Infantry cost 2 instead of 3).

Movement:
There will be no captain-led army movement during the Cataclysm. If you want to move forces around, you'll need to do it yourself or find an ally who will do it for you. Avatar led armies will generally be constrained by normal in-game movement limits, but not always. Exceptions to movement:

1) Avatar Only Armies: Avatars that move alone without any other units can move anywhere on the map that is not blocked by enemy (AI or HRE) forces. If the route is clear, you can get there, including by boat. The only possible exception to this could be the sea route from the Reich to Outremer. If someone wishes to cross that distance, they should discuss it with me first and I will figure out how to implement it.

2) Cavalry Armies: Avatars that move with only cavalry can cover long distances on land, so long as the route is not blocked by enemy (AI or HRE) forces and does not cross out of HRE-held territory. If there is a continuous safe road from Ragusa to Caen, a cavalry force can ride there in 1 turn.

3) Individual requests: I will consider making other exceptions for movement restrictions if people request them. You'll have to give me a good reason why, but I will seriously consider it if it makes sense. For instance, players could attempt to cross an otherwise impassable mountain range as a short-cut, but will risk losing men to avalanches and rock slides. If you want to move in a non-standard fashion, you must specifically request it.

Controlling Provinces:
At the start of the Cataclysm, Dukes/King will control all of their corresponding Duchy's/Outremer's provinces which still belong to the HRE, unless otherwise noted. Counts will control the provinces officially allocated to them. After the Cataclysm begins, control of provinces can be gained and lost through the choices made by the players. Obviously, losing it to an enemy faction will result in your loss of control. However, other players can seize control of your territories as well by marching an army into it and formally declaring that they are seizing it. Depending on the circumstances, the settlement might resist the attack and fight back, or it might simply surrender without a fight.

Fighting Other Players:
Since players are free to sack and seize each others lands, bribe each others armies, and generally do things that will make other people mad, it is possible that some players may seek to fight each other. This will be allowed, even if one party wants to avoid the battle (though it may be difficult to corner a player who is trying to avoid you). If you don’t want someone to fight you, you probably shouldn’t do things to anger them. If two players end up engaging in battle, the situation will be resolved as follows:

1) If both players agree, the battle will be fought in multiplayer. I will create a specific list of the units each player will have available to them in the multiplayer battle and state the type of map on which the battle must be fought (i.e. open field, Player A defending a Castle, etc.) and the battle must be fought under those conditions. The results must then be sent to me and I will disband units to reflect the casualties.

2) If either player cannot or will not fight a multiplayer battle for any reason, I will decide the end result of the battle on my own in any way I see fit. I will disband units to reflect the casualties.

In both cases, the loser will become the prisoner of the victor. The loser’s surviving units will join the victor’s army and the victor will gain control of all of the loser’s provinces. NO AVATAR WILL DIE IN PVP BATTLE, NO MATTER HOW IT IS FOUGHT OR WHAT THE RESULTS ARE. However, victors can execute their prisoners if they so choose. Players who become prisoners will continue to have choices to make every turn, just like everyone else, but their options will reflect their new circumstances. These would likely be things such as attempting to break out of prison or proclaiming loyalty to the victor and offering to serve him.

Sounds fantastic TinCow! I'm certainly glad that I stuck it out this long.

When do we send our PM's to you?

After the Cataclysm starts, which is still a week or so away. I'm just trying to iron out the way it's going to work.

-edit- Nevermind, I really need to read more carefully.

The rest of it looks great. :yes:

*I need to make sure to conserve the army during Papal Smackdown II...

So how do you define city under your control? Being a Count of it? Having your avatar inside? Just a free road to you?

What about historical army limitations during the cataclysm?

I think TinCow works out which settlements declare for the various factions when the cataclysm hits.

There will be no army limits at all during the cataclysm. Use whatever you can get your hands on. My concern is armies being too weak, not too strong. If you get too strong, I can always create some act of God to balance things out. (Though I will admit, FH's ridiculous skill with cavalry was a factor in their 'price.')

I started writing rules about who will control what, but it got confusing so I deleted it. Let me try again:

At the start of the Cataclysm, Dukes/King will control all of their corresponding Duchy's/Outremer's provinces which still belong to the HRE, unless otherwise noted. Counts will control the provinces officially allocated to them. Provinces that belong to a Count who remains loyal to their Duke will provide 1 income to BOTH the Count and the Duke. (Should there be a bonus income for Counts that rebel?)

After the Cataclysm begins, control of provinces can be gained and lost through the choices made by the players. Obviously, losing it to an enemy faction will result in your loss of control. However, other players can sieze control of your territories as well by marching an army into it and formally declaring that they are siezing it. Depending on the circumstances, the settlement might resist the attack and fight back, or it might simply surrender without a fight.

This is extremely impressive work Tincow, I'm quite looking forward to the end of the world. :beam:

Alas, would that Sigismund were here...

Something tells me that half of the fun will be enacting political vengeance after the cataclysm on anyone who has !@#$'d with you during the cataclysm. :yes:

remember, we'll all have to figure out how to work with each other after this is all over. :beam:

Work with? Work with???

Pah, you and your high-minded chivalrous mannerisms...

yes, there will still be a diet after this is all over. there will be edicts when this is all over. there will be a chancellor when this is all over. and there will be a charter to constrain us again when this is all over.

I say, have fun, but don't be surprised if your actions bite you in the arse later. :yes:

I think the Romanists are slightly outnumbered.

romanists?

Part of the reason I wrote all this up was to create a method for people to rebel effectively. There seems to be a lot of desire to do that lately, so I wanted to show people how they could do it, and warn them of the possible consequences that could result. I have no idea how much anyone will make use of the rebellion system, but at least it's an option.

Remember though, even if you're a rebel you'll still have to deal with the enemy AI. They're going to be launching major attacks and they won't care what the internal politics of the Reich are. Also, keep in mind that cooperation will pay off as well. Players will be able to give their resources to others if they want to. This includes wealth and military units. A few people pooling resources will likely be able to assemble a stronger force than the same number of people working independently. Even if you're rebelling, it might be good to find some friends...

Yeah, and I think it's cool that people have the option. It just would be good for people to keep in mind that we're playing the same game, just with different rules for 10 turns. Since we can't kill each other's avatars, we're going to have to live with the consequences of our actions.

I for one will keep track of every person who !@#$'s Jan over or helps him. I think players should have the ability to rebel and !@#$ people over, and I think those of us who wish to, should make them pay political consequences afterwards. :D

While the Reich will look different, the power relationships enshrined in the Charter will be relatively the same when this is all over. If you rebel against your Duke in the Cataclysm, you shouldn't whine if you lose your county at the next Diet. (unless your freehold, but there are other ways your duke can mess with you) ^_^

Would Lothar care in swearing allegience to Wolfgang?:laugh4:

And why is Matthias Steffen near Timbuktu?

Econ put Matthias there to get him out of the way. He is in "prison" but since you can't put an avatar in another faction's settlement, econ would have to leave him outside. But that would put Matthias in danger since the Reich is at war with the Byzantines. So, he is in prison.

But if he is in Morocco, I ask that he bring Jan back some gold as a souvenir. ^_^

I'm gathering Matthias is in Timbuktu to see who's using fow_off. :laugh4:

It's all part of my "Heart of Darkness" meets "A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" storyline that will soon be unveiled.

I don't want to spoil anything, but there will be Elephants with Frickin' Lasers on their tusks. It's going to be sweet.

Be sure to bring the Kaiser some "Arnolds".

The King would like some too if you can spare some. :yes:

:elephant:

So just to make sure I understand this is basically what I do. I pm tincow about what I want to do, without asking any permission at all, so I can go rampaging throughout the Reich and do what ever I want? Also, After I pm you the things I want to do, and then tincow sends me the options I have? :idea2:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Privateerkev

I for one will keep track of every person who !@#$'s Jan over or helps him. I think players should have the ability to rebel and !@#$ people over, and I think those of us who wish to, should make them pay political consequences afterwards. :D

---

Remember you're "the Merciful". :yes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RoadKill

So just to make sure I understand this is basically what I do. I pm tincow about what I want to do, without asking any permission at all, so I can go rampaging throughout the Reich and do what ever I want? Also, After I pm you the things I want to do, and then tincow sends me the options I have? :idea2:

---

You can ask to do whatever you want. Doesn't mean you'll be successful at it though. ^^

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ignoramus

Remember you're "the Merciful"

---

lol

Merciful does not equal doormat. :no:

taking men in order to survive a perilous journey would be forgiven

taking men to carve out an independent kingdom would not be as forgiven

taking men in order to exterminate and execute a path through the Reich would probably bring about political retribution as soon as it could be arranged.

:yes:

Ahhh, Roadkill, I see you have aspirations my fine young friend...

:beam:

...your Duke will be watching.

Some thoughts on three issues related to the cataclysm:

(1) On the issue of rebellions, one point to bear in mind is that in 1340 we will be back to business as usual so that the Diet, through the Chancellor, will control most of the resources. I don't think it would be right to say that rebel settlements and armies suddenly fall under the Chancellor's control. But they presumably will be severely outgunned. Hence any rebellions that want to last should try to build up the support for a political settlement in 1340.

Additionally, from 1340 onwards, the Kaiser will control the allocation of settlements to Houses. If a House loses control of a settlement and the HRE takes it (whether by reconquest from the AI or by one player taking it from another player), then on paper it will become Imperial (it not automatically revert to its original House). This gives the Kaiser some power to frustrate [EDIT: or reward!] Houses or players who try to grab others' settlements. Although again, the Kaiser allocating a settlement on paper does not de facto suddenly make a rebellious province loyal or redistribute it to another House. If there is a conflict between the Kaiser's de jure allocation and the de facto facts on the ground, we will find a realistic/in character way of resolving that.

(2) On Swabia:

TinCow is taking over in 1320, but it looks like the Swabian rebellion has been announced at the end of 1312. Hence we have to confront the issue of how control of Swabian settlements is decided now.

The initial control as of end 1312 is:

Controlled by Hummel (controls SHA1):
Metz as [EDIT: de facto] Count

Controlled by Hans (controls Prinz's army):
Staufen as Capital
Bern as settlement with no Count
EDIT: Bruges as settlement with no Count
EDIT: Rheims as settlement with no Count

Controlled by von Salza (controls SHA2):
Paris - de facto
Dijon as Count

Controlled by Elberhard:
Rheims as Count
Bruges as Imperial
Caen as Imperial

As TinCow indicated, a character can seize control of a settlement by moving his avatar into it. The garrison may fight, disband or join the occupier based on some modified random determination. Paris is occupied by SHA2 and cannot be occupied by another avatar until Warluster comes back to the PBM.

I won't be implementing TinCow's economic model - although that will come into effect in 1320. I will recruit soldiers for players from the settlements they control, although there will be some desertion and resource constraints.

(3) Ducal succession. This is a fairly pressing issue given that Hans is getting on a bit. Factionheir has indicated that he wishes to take Ruppel as his next avatar and make him his successor. I am happy for him to take Ruppel (that's why I adopted the chap) but am leery about allowing players to tie up the position of Duke throughout generations. It does not seem quite fair and also risks making things rather boring.

What I propose is that if a Duke nominates as their successor an avatar that is of age when the current Duke dies and is controlled by another player, then that avatar will be a Duke. Any other nomination, and the succession becomes disputed and is determined by CA11.1. This means that Factionheir could nominate Ruppel as his successor and could become the next Duke, but that it would require the agreement of the Council.

This also applies to the Franconian succession which I don't quite understand, but seems to involve making Peter Steward. If, when the current Duke of Franconia dies, there is no player controlled avatar who is of age and is the nominated successor, then the Council will decide the succession. They may approve a Stewardship arrangement or they may choose a new Duke.

By the looks of it, after the cataclysm, Swabia will have exactly 0 counts and 1 Duke if Warluster also decides to rebel.
That should be interesting, huh? :laugh4:

Btw, if we take someone prisoner, can we force them to work on a galley which happens to have an accident? :grin:

[edit]
Ignoramus is no longer count of metz. He lost it by declaring his intentions.

Ok, Hummel is "de facto" Count of Metz - the settlement will be loyal to him initially.

Until 1320, I won't let players kill other players, but if I read his first post correctly, it looks like TinCow will after that.

I'd like to add publicly that I'm very grateful to TC and Econ for investing what is clearly a large amount of their personal time into this game.

Guy's, a BIG THANKS and well done.

I echo AG's thanks. As I opened this thread and saw Tincow's post, I realised just how big (and great!) this was going to be, as well as how much investment TC and econ were going to put in. Thanks a lot, guys!

I've got a question: I didn't read the earlier cataclysm thread entirely, so the main plot would still be a surprise for me. However, it seems this cataclysm is only going to last 10 turns (from 1320 to 1340). So, won't that make it slightly... problematic? Suppose Jan wants to go and conquer Bavaria (for example, I'm not saying he should!). Well, because of the game's mechanisms, getting from Outremer to Rome will take the majority of those 10 turns, no?
What I'm asking is, if the situation requires it, could the cataclysm last longer? I realise it would ask more time investment from TC and econ, but it would be ridiculous to cut a good rebellion short, no?

That's a good question, Warmaster Horus. I think we need a kind of scripted end to the cataclysm - I have an idea that I will PM to TinCow. I doubt TinCow will want to run things beyond 10 turns - what he proposes is far more time intensive than what I have been doing and I am devoting an awful lot of time to this. So what I suggest is that we have a scripted return to normalcy in 1340. If rebellions etc continue beyond that point, then I will oversee them as gamesmaster but they will have to contend with a fully functional Chancellor, Diet and Charter. So it will be in the rebels interests to get things sorted out by then.

Another point on the post-cataclysm stage. I am pretty relaxed about tearing up large parts of the Charter. If people want a Fifth House, want to move their avatar to a different House, want to make their Counties in to "Reichsgrafs" that are independent of any House etc etc that is all fine by me OOC. The only constraint will be that such changes will need a Charter Amendment - ie 2/3 support. Elberhard may even support such changes, if they buy peace, and weigh in with his mighty two influence. :laugh4:

The joys of being shamelessly lewd, huh? :laugh4: