Grand Campaign Hotseat 2: The Rising Storm

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 :clown: ).

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. :no:

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.

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. :yes:

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.. :yes:

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

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. :yes:

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. :yes:

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.

Ok, I have a tentative set of rules up in the first post. They are still very flexible, and I'll gladly take suggestions. :2thumbsup:

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. :yes:

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.

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. :yes:

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. :2thumbsup:

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.

:egypt:

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?

:egypt:

There's nothing stopping you from making any, Ramses. :clown:
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).

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. :beam:

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

We need only six more players. Cmon, baby!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gibsonsg91921

We need only six more players. Cmon, baby!

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That could be five if more people answered my question. :clown:

"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. "

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.:dizzy2:

:egypt:

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.

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). :clown:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 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.

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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. :creep:

welcome to the Org Mrs.Zim!

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."

:laugh4:

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.

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

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. :sweatdrop:

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

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. :laugh4:

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. :dizzy2:

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...

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. ^_^

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

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.

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. :yes:

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. :yes:

Even if no more players join, we've got 13 and filled almost the whole map! This will be great! :2thumbsup:

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

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 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. :yes:

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Can anyone steer me in the direction of a good FAQ or thread on how to play a Hotseat PBM?

excellent. cecil, you and I need to talk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Can anyone steer me in the direction of a good FAQ or thread on how to play a Hotseat PBM?

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There really isn't one yet. Basically, play like an SP game but talk a whole lot to the other players. Also, for better autoresolves, put your heavy infantry in the front of the stack. It makes a difference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Can anyone steer me in the direction of a good FAQ or thread on how to play a Hotseat PBM?

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Hmmm, there's a pbm FAQ but I'm not sure about a hotseat one. Since you play KOTR I know you know how to upload files. :yes:

The first time you download and play your turn, you'll need to come up with a password. When you finish the turn, hit end turn and a screen asking the next guy's password will come up. Hit esc to go to the menu, then save, then upload. Repeat continually, except after that you'll just type in the password you'd first used. :yes:

PK is right, diplomacy is big in these games, sometimes public (Council thread), more often private (pms).

Heh, I'm Turkey do I even have Heavy Infantry for the first 100 turns?

:laugh4:

I'll spend some time poking around.

Passwords? Any restrictions on length or characters?

Edited: Nevermind, Zim got it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OverKnight

Passwords? Any restrictions on length or characters?

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Probably something simple so you don't forget it like a certain someone who will remain Gibson... :clown:

Either way, Zim can reset it or change it to anything he wants so it's not too big of a deal anymore.

Don't know about any FAQs OK, but seeing as I'm participating in the first I can tell you how it's down.

1. Download the save from the filespace and load it up. All save files, when loaded, show Campaign status and password input screen.

2. Imput password, hit the enter button, and play campaign as normal. Note that in Hotseat campaigns there are no status messages at the start of the turn, except those that requre a yes/no choice. Also, every single battle is auto-resolved.

3. Once your turn is complete, hit enter and the password input screen for the next faction will appear. Save game, upload file, PM next in line. Remember that you must save when you are at the next player's password screen, or else the save file will show your password screen when loaded.

EDIT: Wow that took a while to type.

Question: Are there any rules for Crusade or Jihad?

IE, Can anyone call a crusade if they're able to do it ingame? Or is only the Pope allowed to call one?

In SP I like Crusades, but the thought of a horde of zero upkeep death stacks descending on my Sultanate from multiple Catholic Lands is a bit alarming.

Zim has something vague about not taking too many settlements with one. I would prefer there be no rules with Crusades/Jihads because specific rules would A.) be hard to agree to, and B.) be even harder to enforce.

I say, if the game allows it, let it go. Because sooner or later someone will do it anyways. But that's me.

*edit*

By the way, to mister diplomacy over there! (Cecil)

Clear your PM box if you want a reply!

:D

That's something I've been wondering about. Although I warned against people using a single Crusade to conquer half the map (a la Askthepizzaguy), I'm loath to tell anyone not to use a regular game mechanic. I think heavy diplomacy will be the key to keep everyone from joining crusades against you, and possibly coordination with Ramses. Of course, you can always call a Jihad, without worrying about a pope-o-meter. :yes:

All I know is, that if someone's territory number jumps up by 10+ after crusading everywhere but the target, Venice is encouraging everyone to attack them. Think of it as an informal excommunication.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zim

That's something I've been wondering about. Although I warned against people using a single Crusade to conquer half the map (a la Askthepizzaguy), I'm loath to tell anyone not to use a regular game mechanic. I think heavy diplomacy will be the key to keep everyone from joining crusades against you, and possibly coordination with Ramses. Of course, you can always call a Jihad, without worrying about a pope-o-meter. :yes:

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Yeah, I much rather figure out as a group what to do "in the game", rather than try to hammer out some sort of guideline. I say lets just set up some OOC rules to the game as a whole (which we have), then just let the game go, and see where it heads. :2thumbsup:

im happy with informal rules. also, zim, youre welcome to sub for me anytime if i cannot make it, but I will try my utmost to keep you informed

Ok, deguerra. :yes:

To everyone, should you want the GM (me) or anyone else to sub for you in case of emergency (say, your computer dies for a couple days and you miss the deadline completely), tell me. I'll type up a list and that way emergencies will not screw over people's factions.

Room has been made. Looks like it's time for me to sort through all of Sigismund's old correspondence.

Well, it's just one of those things like Scotland-England. Eventually somebody's going to be on the bad side of a crusade. I knew that going in as a Muslim, but rest assured a united Islam will be a bad force to face if we answer a crusade with a jihad. Our mercs aren't as good as yours, but they're soooo cheap it's scary. By turn ten we could each have 3 or more stacks of mercs without abusing the jihad mechanic to capture huge territories.

:egypt:

Are you saying it will be a united Islam then, Ramses? ~;p

I actually think the Muslim factions have one advantage. While it is pretty much assured someone will declare a crusade on the Moors or the Levant, their are far more targets for Jihads, and the Muslims can use the threat of one to get the Christians to back off if they play their cards right.

Hah, until about 10 minutes ago there was only one Islam, so it was pretty united. :p

I expect OK to realize that if we're deep into a war with each other then the first crusade will be the last we live to see, but you know Antioch is the richest city in the world. Who's going to end up with it?

:egypt:

Actually, I'll be decamping all my forces and moving to southern Russia, as suggested by one of the posters in the Turks guide.

:clown:

New rule,
Everyone has to abandon their starting provinces and move somewhere else far away on the map. :clown:

bags italy! :clown:

Nah, Denmark can have Tbilisi. :clown:

Hey, what difficulty would people like this to be?

will difficulty influence auto-reslove results?

Egypt will move to Rome, of course, and after evicting the current unsightly occupiers will expect her neighbors to be more peaceful.

AFAIK any changes to auto-resolve from difficulty will be universal and so irrelevant.

:egypt:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Privateerkev

Probably something simple so you don't forget it like a certain someone who will remain Gibson... :clown:

Either way, Zim can reset it or change it to anything he wants so it's not too big of a deal anymore.

---

I went back to my standard always-hotseat password for safety, and I already PMed it to Zim.

Hey, Mrs. Zim! Welcome to nerd-dom!

Ok guys, one more day has passed and no new players (not a complaint, we've had a ton of people coming into the game). How long should the cutoff date be for us to get started?

We can bump the thead in the Citadel with an update and list of available factions. Then give it another day.

Zim, you still need to send stuff :tongue:

~;p I just did.

One more day then, and I'll post a list of factions in Gibson's thread in the Citadel. I do have one person promising to check it out, so we may get at least one more.

Ok, we're starting this weekened, so if any important diplomatic deals need to be made, get them done soon! :beam:

I think we definitely need players for Russia, Milan and for the Moors. Byzantines can be played by the AI :clown:

TBH I would love to play both Russia and the Moors. Can I? :clown:

No. :clown:

I hope we get a few more as well, but we'll see.
On a side note, we have our second conflict. In addition to the Scottish/English conflict, which will most likely result in war, we have a German/Polish territory conflict, consisting of Germany's claims on lands east to them. Some things don't change, I suppose. :clown:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cheetah

I think we definitely need players for Russia, Milan and for the Moors. Byzantines can be played by the AI :clown:

TBH I would love to play both Russia and the Moors. Can I? :clown:

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Allow me to rephrase that. You can change your faction to one of them, but no playing multiple factions. :clown:

I know that ofc. ~;) I was just jesting. :clown:

And I wont change Hungary. ~;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zim

I Some things don't change, I suppose. :clown:

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Don't tell me that you now have a house rule where we all have to be nice to each other IC.

"Medieval 2 Total Peace"

:clown:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Privateerkev

Don't tell me that you now have a house rule where we all have to be nice to each other IC.

"Medieval 2 Total Peace"

:clown:

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Actually, I was thinking of the "Germany claiming Polish lands" thing. Kaiser Heinrich is setting a precedent Germany will follow until after WW2. :clown:

AFTER ww2?

can't we all just get along. There are 4 territories. Split them evenly. At least some of them are arguably german :D

Isn't that the last time Germany tried to invade Poland?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by deguerra

AFTER ww2?

can't we all just get along. There are 4 territories. Split them evenly. At least some of them are arguably german :D

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hence, until ww2. the german state is no longer claiming any currenly polish lands.

Right, hence they continued to do so until after WW2. If I just said "until WW2", in English it might sound as if I'm saying they stopped when WW2 started, rather than afterward. :clown:

I suppose "until the end of WW2" might have been more accurate, but I didn't think of it at the time.

Not today, but (Not to raise the spector of dead history) depending on how you view the East German state and the Soviet Union's collective intentions you could well call it a territorial ambition.

Which is not to impugn the modern German state, of course, as we're past all that.

:egypt:

Ok, after deguerra gets to response I say we have a moratorium on talk about English grammar. If we're going to talk off-topic, I'd say something more light-hearted is in order. :clown:

'...we're past all that.' not meant to suggest I'm German either. ;)

:egypt:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by deguerra

can't we all just get along. There are 4 territories. Split them evenly. At least some of them are arguably german :D

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People can claim all the territory they want. It's a matter of getting them and defending them that is difficult. ^_^

And it is a matter of getting others to respect your claims. Hence the massive importance of diplomacy. :D

Ok, I still need...just about everybody's password. We're starting in two days, so lets get that done as soon as possible. :yes:

oh yes, it wasn't a serious post. I don't want Medieval 2 Total Peace either :D

Will PM you my password Will

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Privateerkev

People can claim all the territory they want. It's a matter of getting them and defending them that is difficult. ^_^

And it is a matter of getting others to respect your claims. Hence the massive importance of diplomacy. :D

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I think it's interesting that in contrast with the Britannia game, most of the early public announcements in this one have been about divying up the rebel settlements.

well theres not much else denmark can feasably do :D

Well, I think that's true of most factions, since there are relatively few bordering ones, and lots of rebel territory.

I admit to being surprised Denmark wasn't interested in Hamburg. Way back when I started playing the game, almost every single post in the guide thread suggested taking it first. :clown:

Why Hamburg if you can take Nottingham :clown:

Or Stettin.

Bwahaha, if we do this right we can have every faction in the region concerned about Denmark. :clown:

How about we catholic nations call an inofficial crusade on HRE, since they'll end up attacking the pope anyway. Pre-emptive strike and all :grin: