Kraellin - This reminds me of an Idea I had awhile ago. A massively multiplayer game based on a province like setup. Each Nations army is made up of various people serveing as 'Taishos'.

THe idea I purpose is a little easier to manage.

1. Land = Koku:
This is the heart of the system. A kingdom's total 'wealth' is devided amongst its Taishos. When you start your 'History' your given a sum of Koku dependant on your kingdoms size and wealth. YOu then must choose a army and that army is yours. You must guide it and its men through many battles in your campaigne.

2.Reinforcements:
During the course of your "history' YOu'll receive reinforcements. At the end of a 'year' all Taishos receive a equally divided amount of Koku to reequip there army. YOu also receive money through pillaging and bribes.

3. Diplomacy:
Diplomacy is handled by the Daiymo, that being the Best player in the nation. Daiymo army gains more money then a ordinary Taisho as well. A Daiymo can speek via a 'National Chatroom' With other lower ranked Taisho to discuss the affairs of state. The daiymo can also send messages to other nations for treatys, alliances, declarations and the like. THere whould be four relation states - Alliance, Peace Treaty, Neutral and War.

Peeace treaty and Alliance are binding agreements that ristrict the ordinary Taisho from invadeing. Neutral means a Taisho can invade if he likes but if hes going against the will of his Daiymo, it can lead to his summary execution...another of the Daiymo's powers.

During war, a Taisho can invade as he pleases. Though it is best to coordinate your efforts with the others.

4. Heirarchy system - Unlike Feudal Japan, where rank was determined by birth, here your rank is determined by not wins but total kills. Phryyic victorys are not acctually victorys in the long run since supplies and men are limited. Getting kills and HOnour is what determines your rank. The higher the number of kills/average honour of your army, the higher up the ladder you are.

Ranks:
1 Daiymo (Top player in a nation)
2 Cheif General (Second highest)
3 Ministers of war (Upper 10 percentile)
4 Taisho (Everything eles)

Notes:

Useing a special uneditable logfile thats saved to the Server to determine your troops for the next battle and there condition, you can then add on to that at the battle menu if you have any Koku.

The number of Taishos a nation can have is based on what the Daiymo decides. If he has a small nation yet allows many Taishos, the koku will be cut up into tiny bits and maybe to little for the Taisho to use. Baisicly he just puts in a number of Allowable Taisho and it then shows how much koku each Taisho will get.

Theres many ways to get game over. Based on rank you chould be let go if the Daiymo cuts down the Taisho number. THe lowest ranked ones get let go first. YOu chould die in combat. You chould be executed by the Daiymo (or delcared a rogue army, which is almost certain death.) YOu chould even commit Seppuku if your honour is REALLLLY Bad.

Finnaly to make it clear, the world map view is that of provinces. This is because thats easier to do and less hard on the small system.

When you log off, your army becomes "garrison". If there is a active army in the area they'll fight first. If they're beaten the enemy army will then move on to the next army and the next until the province is completely taken. When attacking Garrison(sleeping) armys, its always a autocalc battle. But there are normally few losses/kills and there is no honour gain/loss nor do Taishos die in Autocalc. Its just a either you win or you don't situation.

When Invadeing a province the enemy peice remains on the province. THis is now a 'contested province' in which armys are meeting and fighting in. After defeating a enemy your army must rest for about 3 hours (Real world time). THis is why its important to coordinate attacks. SO that you don't defeat one army, but then end up sitting there faceing three other Taishos and your men are resting on Autocalc. YOu can do 'surge' attacks in which you attack immediately afterwards but your men are as tired as they were after the end of thel ast battle and tire even more quickly in the next.

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"I maintain none the less that Yin-Yang Dualism can be overcome. With sufficent enlightment, we can give substance to any distinction: Mind without body, north without south, pleasure without pain. Renember, enlightment is a function of will power, not of physical strength."- Shang-ji Yang, essays on mind and matter.