This is the official "gathered-facts" for the The Republic of Genoa MTW PBM.
The Rules:
The Chancellor: A player who works as the "mod" and who does all the dirty work. The Chancellor will be the one who constructs buildings and recruit troops according to other player's suggestions (see below). The Chancellor also moves troops around. If there is a battle, the Chancellor will send the game (via e-mail, for example) to the player who's character or province is involved (see below) who then plays the battle. The game is then "returned" to the Chancellor who continues as above.
The Chancellor has some power however, and can be a provincial ruler (most likely the capital or whatever big city that is closest to the King's position, for more info see below). The Chancellor is however, different from other Provincial Rulers (refered to as PR's from here on), ruled directly by the Consul and does not have as much power over his own lands as other PR's. The Chancellor's vote counts as two however in any given vote.
The Chancellor can also engineer domestic troubles if he wishes to; i.e. by spending a little extra on himself and his own province, which should likely provoke some disputes. The Chancellor can also engineer civil wars (this is done in-game) by being convinced (perhaps by bribery) by some prince or such to assassinate the King.
The Consul: Then there is the Consul. The Consul is played by another player. The Consul is the one who makes all the final suggestions, but not without the influence of other players (see below). A Consul must be roleplayed (i.e. if the Consul has the vice "irritable", he will not be keen to settle with truces and such, and a Consul who is known for executing prisoners must continue to do so, even it earns him some nasty vices). More than just having the final word in financial matters and politics, the Consul is also responsible for the main army of the kingdom, and must command all larger, offensive, campaigns. Good commander or not. These are the things that the Consul has supreme command of:
1. Marriage of members of the royal house
2. Military campaigns (Crusades included)
3. Handing out of provincial titles (really determined by OOC-discussions and joining lists)
4. Alliances and such
He also has the right to demand a certain amount (and what kind) of units in return for granting provincial titles. In all other matters than the ones mentioned above, votes will be held. The word of the Consul is the weightiest, but if 2/3 or more if the Princes and PR's vote against him he will lose.
When the Consul dies, it will be proclaimed that a new Consul has been elected in Genoa, and there will then be an OOC-vote to determine who gets to play the next Consul.
Princes: Princes must be roleplayed just like the Consul, but are mainly for military purposes. A player chosing to play as a prince must take in regard that he will get to fight a lot. Princes will be "distributed" as generals (they are not roleplayed as heirs to the throne as Genoa is a republic) by the Consul.
Provincial Rulers: A PR is a player who is in command of a province. As we start, there will be no effective rulers of many provinces (i.e. the titles remain idle), but as soon as a scripted hero or general with at least one star appear he can be given the title from the Consul. That doesn't mean you have to wait to play as a RP, you'll just have no true avatar untill a suitable one appears.
If you are new to the PBM and have only recently been given a newly conquered province, you'll have "first dibs" on whatever sutiable general that will appear. There will also be a joining que for the players. As we will play with green generals, a PR is always encouraged to recruit new troops in the hunt for a suitable successor to the current titleholder.
As an RP you are responsible to the Consul, and must be able to muster the requested amount of troops in the time of need. Also, all provinces have their own economy. First of all, your expenses can't surpass your income, but you must also take in regard that 1/10 of your profit goes straight to the Consul. What remains after of your profit after taxation is free for you to use on whatever you wish.
Finally, PR's will also be divided into four main duchys: Genoa, Tuscany, Sardinia and Corsica. Each with their own personal goals and objectives. The Genoans would probably be more friendly with the Consul while the more independent Corsicans would be more unruly. Plotting between these duchies would be encouraged.
Genoans: Really very consul-friendly (they elected him after all...) and will obey, if not blindly, then at least willingly.
Tuscany: More interested in warfare and expansion than the others. No great promoters of trading. Has some in common with the Consul, though not much.
Sardinia: Really wants to mind their own business, though they don't dislike the Consul. Interested in naval expansion, naval warfare and the conquest of naval bases (i.e. islands).
Corsica: The furthest away from Genoa they share pretty much nothing with the Consul and are likely to cause a lot of trouble. Mostly interested in themselves and growing richer from trading.
Please note than none of the above are very historical, it's entirely for gameplay pruposes.
Military: Quite simply, the armies must be kept balanced. Both for the realism of it and to make the game in general more interesting. A core of elite troops surrounded by lesser soldiers will be the model.
For each unit of knights that is trained, two units of retainers have to be trained. As we will be playing as a faction that can use Gothic Knights the retainers will appear as follows:
Early: Knights = Feudal Knights, Retainers = Mounted Sergeants or other light cavalry
High: Knights = Chivalric Knights, Retainers = Feudal Knights
Late: Knights = Gothic Knights, Retainers = Feudal Knights (CK's will fall into a class of their own as 'medium' cavalry)
1. Homelands - I personally have a little problem with Genoese Sailors and Italian Infantry produced in Volga Bulgaria or Ireland. It just feels wrong. So I suggest that we use a list of homelands, where we can build our core troops, and have only region-specific troops built in the other provinces, where possible - for example Jinettes in Spain and Steppe Cavalry in the Steppes. I propose the following homelands: Genoa, Tuscany, Corsica, Sardinia, Savoy, Venice, Milan, Rome, the Papal States, Sicily, Malta, Naples, Tyrolia, and the three islands in the Eastern Mediterranean - from Crete to Cyprus. I also think knightly troops should be allowed for production in the Holy land, in the four provinces that are originally Crusades targets - units such as Feudal Knights and Feudal Men at Arms, but no militia, archers, etc. of course, there Turcopoles should be allowed under the region specific troops rule. I wonder if the Chancellor should mod the game to make Hospitallers, Hospitaller Foot Knights and Order Foot Soldiers trainable with certain building requirements, so that we can build them in the Holy Land.
2. Infantry heavy armies - just expanding on the military rules. The Genoese as Italians should use infantry heavy armies, with plenty of militiamen and spearmen. I think that heavy cavalry should not be allowed at all in early, apart from royal and princely retinues and the Hospitallers that spawn with a Crusade. Heavy cavalry should be allowed only in the Holy land if a crusade is successful, see my previous point, until the High Period. Throughout the entire game the following ratio should be applied - 8 infantry units for each cavalry unit. This ratio should only be applied to the troops produced in the Homelands, regional troops should be excluded. As far as cavalry is concerned, I like the retainers rule.
3. Specific rather than generic troops - let's try to field an army truly Genoese in its character. We can do this by training specific troops instead of generic ones. For example, vanilla archers would not be allowed, and instead Genoese Sailors would need to be trained. Once Italian Infantry becomes available (I think we need to wait until High), then no Chivalric and Feudal Sergeants, and no spearmen. I do not have any problem with militia, haberdiers and mounted sergeants (as long as the cavalry:infantry ratio is observed), but considering that Genoa was a city state, I do not think we should use Feudal troops at all, such as Feudal men at Arms, Knights (especially) and perhaps even Feudal Sergeants. Crossbowmen and arbalesters should be absolutely OK though, and I think Chivalric Men at Arms should be allowed. Later on Pikemen and handgunners should be allowed.
4. Limited mercenaries - this one is tough, but generally, I do not think we should be storming in Naples on turn 3 with an army of Kwarizmian Cavalry and Armenian Infantry. We should probably make a list of allowed mercenaries, such as Bulgarian Brigands, Alans, Longbowmen, Vikings, Turcoman Horse, Almughavars, and all troop types available to our faction. Also, I think in order to recruit mercenaries from far away lands, we would need a ship line to the provinces they come from - for example a ship in the Black Sea for Bulgarian Brigands and Alans. It sounds extremely complicated, but I want to make sure that we do not just make a fortune from trade and then gather a motley army of unbelievable mercs (Camels, Norman Knights, Billmen and some Cuman Heavies) and throw it at our enemies. But mercenaries should be allowed, within the above limits. Please feel free to add any other troop types which were wide spread in Europe as mercenaries.
5. No farming for rebels, no suicidal missions for weak heirs and undesired heroes, no Grand Inquisitors, no attacks on one Catholic faction just to have a free pass for the rest, only one Crusade at a time and a next one built only after the previous is concluded, no spamming of spies, no preparation for the Mongols, no building and raising of farms in Corsica just for the purpose of acquiring builder and steward virtues, generally no cheesy exploits and tactics. Tactical exploits however would have to be allowed, because we cannot make up for a poor AI and besides, we cannot really control what players do in a battle, even if they replay it several times in order to get a favorable outcome.
And then onto who plays what (will be updated and added onto as time goes):
Round 1 (i.e. rule of the first Consul):
Chancellor: Kavhan Isbul - Isbulino Doria of Tuscany
Consul: Warmaster Horus - Gregorio III
House of Genoa:
Warmaster Horus (Consul Gregorio)
Innocentius
House of Tuscany:
Kavhan Isbul (Chancellor)
Rythmic
House of Sardinia:
gunslinger
Martok
House of Corsica:
Wasp
Warluster
Player joining que:
Ignoramus - n/a
UltraWar - n/a
And if someone could sticky this it'd be very nice:yes:
