The Will of the Senate - FAQ

[econ21]

This thread is for frequently asked questions about the Will of the Senate PBM.

THE PLAYLIST

Members of the Senate, 251 Autumn


Notes on the table

[1] # denotes position on family tree: a = by adoption; m = by marriage
[2] Rank: Gen = General; Leg = Legate; Tri = Tribune
[3] Cmd = command (military formation) ; FA = Field Army; Leg = Legio; prefix "t" denotes second general (tribune) of the formation
[4] City = city governed
[5] Stats: command - management - influence
[6] Hse = house; L = Lower; U = Upper
[7] Act = activity (number of senate polls the player has participated in).

All Senators have one vote and the potential for bonus votes.
Generals and diplomats have bonus votes for influence, at a rate of one per two points of influence (rounding up). Spies have bonus votes equal to (subterfuge/5), rounding up.

Future avatars will be assigned to participants according to voting record, although Lower House members without adult avatars will be given first refusal.

Screenshots of avatars are recorded in the Senate Library.

Unassigned generals - not updated


Inactive Players

Deceased avatars
=========================================================================

If you want to join in ...

People wishing to join the PBM should post in the "in character" thread.

People may join the campaign at any time, although the order in which people first post in the out of character thread will be their "seniority" in the campaign and affect the assignment of faction members to be their "avatars". Priority in assigning avatars will go to lower house members, with seniority being a tie breaker. Ultimately as the Republic grows, we should have 30+ faction members, so every one - Upper and Lower House - should have an-game representation.

Anyone who joins the Lower House of the Senate is confirming:
(a) you have successfully installed RTR Platinum and the Metropolis mod for it.
(b) you could fight a battle at 2 days notice if your avatar gets into a scrap.

Anyone who joins the Upper House is confirming they will be an active member of the Senate, voting on elections and motions etc.

Remember, you can always freely switch between houses, but avatars may be re-assigned in order to give priority to lower house members. We don't want to autoresolve battles involving faction members.

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GUIDE TO PBM THREADS

Queries on PBM rules should be posted in this thread.

The thread for other out of character posts (e.g. administrative issues, problems etc) is:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=64791

The thread for in character discussions in the Senate is:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=64954

First Consul reports are here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=64989

Battle reports are here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=65721

Reference materials (esp. maps and screenshots of avatars) are in the Senate library:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=64965

[econ21]

THE RULES

(THIS POST WILL BE CONTINUALLY UPDATED TO REFLECT THE LATEST RULES)

Briefly, what it is all about:

:This will be a PBM where the entire body of participants contributes to the on-going campaign, whether playing the current 'round' or not. We will all be members of the 'Senate' and will generally decide what will happen through debate and voting on the forums. There will always be a single 'Consul', elected by majority vote in the Senate, who will be responsible for playing the actual game itself. He will serve for a 5 year term (20 game turns, using the 4 turns per year mod) and his actions will be reported back to the Senate regularly.

Each Senator will represent an actual Roman family member present in the game. You will know your traits, family connections, etc. All battles will be auto-calc UNLESS the general of the army is the current Consul. In addition, if a Senator's in-game family member is involved in a battle, the Consul will pass off the save game to that Senator for that single battle. Essentially, you will control everything involving the family member that represents YOU in the game. Using politics you can negotiate with other Senators and with the Consuls to get postings to the best cities with the best academies, to be assigned leadership of legions or even to be the next Consul yourself. Alternatively, you can sit back and simply aggitate as a member of the Senate... passing legislation (requirements that the Consul must try and fulfill) and otherwise politicing as you please without needing to play any turns. When your character dies, you will be assigned a new one when one becomes available (probably instantly).

We're still working out the finer points, but that's the gist of it. Oh, and it will be played using the Rome: Total Realism mod and some other sub-mods.

=========================================================================

CURRENT RULES:

Game version - We are playing the Metropolis and Naval mod for Rome Total Realism Platinum Edition. The mod files required to play as a lower house senator in this campaign have been uploaded at RapidShare.

It is a 7-part spanned zip file containing :

1. RTR_Platinum.exe
This is RTR Platinum 1.4

2. RTR_Platinum_v1.5_Patch.exe
This is the upgrade from RTR 1.4 to RTR 1.5

3. M_Nmod.exe
This is the version of the M&N mod compatible with RTR 1.5

4. HarbourLandBlock.zip
This is a zip containing the map fixes and installation instructions

You will need a vanilla RTW 1.5 install before installing ! If there is need I can upload the RTW patches also.

Before you can commence play you will have to delete all occurences of the map.rwm file in the total war directory and its subdirectories (don't worry if they reappear later, that's ok).

Here are the download links :

http://rapidshare.de/files/25686658/senate.z01.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/25688655/senate.z02.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/25771083/senate.z03.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/25773359/senate.z04.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/25776092/senate.z05.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/25778395/senate.z06.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/25778948/senate.zip.html

All files are 76 MB. The last one is 16 MB (Total : 76 * 6 + 16 = 472 MB).
The files have been zipped with WinZip, but any decent extractor will suffice I expect. The files are actually one (1) big zip file split into many parts. You need only unzip the file marked .zip (senate.zip) and it will unzip the other files. So just select the senate.zip file, right-click, and select ''extract to...'' and create a senate folder (or whatever).

After extracting the files, follow these steps to install the mod:

(1) Start with vanilla RTW patched to 1.5 (1.6 if you have BI); note the 1.5 patch requires installing 1.3 first.
It is recommended that you use windows explorer to copy your RTW directory and everything in it.
Then rename the coped folder "RTR-Platinum" or something and mod this folder, leaving your vanilla RTW in tact.

(2) Install RTR Platinum Edition 1.5.

(3) Install the Metropolis and Naval mod for Platinum
Current version is 1.4; updated 2 June.

(4) Install the parthia/bactria landblock + africa landblock, and fix for a few map problems.

(5). Update: also install the 1.9.3 version of the 4TPY mod; this should fix some buggy traits for new generals. However, the mod will overwrite the descr_strat file from the Metro Naval mod and so you will have to get the old file back. Instructions to install 4TPY 1.9.3:
a) Download 1.9.3 fromhere.
It has also been uploaded to Rapidshare:
http://rapidshare.de/files/26342268/...1.9.3.zip.html
b) Extract the files.
c) Install the mod into your RTRPE 1.5 folder.
Unfortunately, this installation gives you an inappropriate descr_strat file, you need the one from the Metro-Naval mod. The file is available as:
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/descr_strat.txt
It goes in your data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign folder.

6) Delete map.rwm from
c:\Rome - Total War\data\world\maps\base
c:\Rome - Total War\data\world\maps\campaign\base
c:\Rome - Total War\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign

(7) Start a new campaign using the mod and then exit. This will create appropriate map.rwm files and you should then be able to load savegames for this PBM without a problem.

CRITICAL WARNING FOR ALL PLAYERS !!!
As you load the game, wait for the advisor to pop up (you do not need to have advice on, it will show up anyway). Click on the show-me-how button to activate the mod. If you forget to do this, you will probably mess up the savegame and at the very least mess up the scripting for four turns per year and Roman leadership. Now you can start playing. You need to do this EVERY TIME you load or start a game.

Settings:
VH campaigns; M battles
Large unit size
Timer on
Fog of war on

Player rules:
*1) No retraining, except ships and full units (to get upgrades). Mercenaries can be merged with AOR units.
2) No extermination (except Carthage).
*3) Fleets can only transport on a 1:1 basis (e.g. one tireme: 1 unit)
4) Historical armies - see below
5) No army may leave Roman territory unless it has a General in command.
6) All battles with captains are autoresolved. Non-siege battle reinforcements led by captains should be placed under AI control.
7) Battles with faction members can be fought manually if the avatar is controlled by a member of the Lower House who plays out the battle within 2 days, otherwise they are autoresolved.
9) Regular reports should provided to Senate. The Consul must post every two days - it could be just a holding message ("Spending time attending to various work duties"), rather than a full report. The purpose is to avoid savegames disappearing for weeks (and encourage interaction with the Senate).
10) Players should post mid-term (after 10 turns) and end-term (after 20 turn) reports in the First Consul reports thread. This will be in character, but include a screenshot of the map, the savegame and a description of the key facts (allies, enemies etc). Players deceiving the Senate are unlikely to garner many votes. Players providing colourful write-ups may be rewarded.
*11) Declarations of war, alliances, ceasefires, grants of settlements to other factions and relocation of the capital require Senate authorisation (i.e. a motion). However, the Senate has granted a constitutional ammendment authorising the First Consul to declare war on any faction whose armies enter Roman land.
*12) The player must inform the Senate Speaker asap of new faction members when they are spawned (including infants), so that they may be assigned to participants. Please give full details - name, date and season of spawn, relation to family tree, age, location, stats, traits, ancillaries, everything.
13) The game will end when the following factions are destroyed: Carthage, Iberia, Illyria, Greece, Macedon, Thrace, Seleucia, Egypt, Pontus, Gaul, Numidia. There is a standing constitutional motion that the First Consul can seek out alliances with other factions - Armenia, Bactria, Germany, Samartia and Parthia.
14) Players are encouraged to read Quintus’ guide to being a true Roman for inspiration - e.g. on how to assign faction members by age to armies and provinces.
http://forums.rometotalrealism.org/i...howtopic=12035

Ancillaries
(1) Ancillaries normally should not be swapped without the consent of the participants controlling the avatars with the following exceptions.
(2) Chirurgeons and turncoats can be freely assigned by First Consuls.
(3) Priests can be removed from a character if that character is to stay in a settlement with the relevant temple.
(4) Characters who have 6 ancillaries, can have one ancillary transfered to another character (in order to allow the spawing of other ancillaries).
(5) The special ancillaries created by Marcus Camillus - the legion and field army ancillary, the quaestor ancillaries etc - can be transferred by the First Consul but only to characters qualified - or about to qualify - for them and who are staced with suitably sized armies. eg legios => ex-Tribunes with 10 years experience etc. Exception: the Consular I army ancillary should be assigned to the First Consul.

Participants, Consuls and avatars
1) The player with the savegame is the (First) Consul and plays out a “reign” of 20 turns unless (a) their avatar dies; or (b) they resign the post (including resigning for premature re-election).
2) Participants must elect to join the upper or lower house of the Senate. Participants may switch between houses at any stage by notifying the Senate speaker.
3) Members of the lower house must be willing at some point to act as Consul (play the game) and ready to fight battles manually during the reign of another Consul within 48 hours of notification.
4) Members of the lower house will be assigned a faction member to act as their “avatar” in the game on a first come first served basis.
5) Members of the upper house are not expected to act as Consul or to fight battles. They will be assigned an avatar subject to availability.
6) Members currently without avatars will be “ghost” senators, with full rights.
7) Members whose avatars die will be assigned new avatars subject to the procedures outline above.
8) Members will be informed of the traits and ancillaries of their avatars through the posts in the Senate library every Senate session and will be expected to “role play” them. This will involve respecting bonds of family (e.g. sons should defer to fathers, unless they are “rotten kids”).
9) Dormant participants - who miss two or more Senate votes etc - may have their avatars reassigned.
10) The future Princeps Senatus (Faction heir) will be elected by the Senate on the death of the Princeps Senatus. Future Princeps Senatus will not be disinherited except by a Senate vote in exceptional circumstances (impeachement etc).
11). Generals from the Lower House be tasked with military duties. Specially that, where reasonable, they be rotated through the post of governor of Capua (or some other settlement with a temple of Mars) and end their turns outside of settlements.
12). Seasonal income must be above 10,000 dinarii at the end of every Consulship. This Motion does not effect spending or income levels during the term of any Consulship. Exceptions to this Motion can be temporarily made by Senatorial legislation. (Note: This is a Constitutional Amendment)
13): If Rome does not share a land border with a hostile nation and no land battle has been fought against that nation in 10 years, the Consul may use RomeSage to lower the difficulty level to Easy only for an instant to allow a ceasefire to be negotiated with this enemy. No other actions of any kind may be taken while the difficulty is lowered and it must be returned to Very Hard immediately after the negotiations are complete. (Note: This is a Constitutional Amendment)


Senate proceedings and election of First Consuls
1) A thread will be created devoted to Senate deliberations. All members can post - in character only - any deliberations or thoughts they have during the campaign. The Senate is always in session for debate.
2) Full Senate sessions - where votes are made - will occur in the 3 day interregnums between Consulates; in a mid-term session in the 3rd year of a Consulate; and in emergency sessions.
3) In end-term Senate sessions, members of the lower house have 3 days to offer themselves up for election to Consul by posting manifestos setting out their objectives.
a) Candidates standing for First Consul can specify whether they wish to serve full terms (5 years) or half terms (2.5 years).
(b) No candidate may serve more than 5 years in any given 15 year period.
(c) First Consuls may delegate powers to pro-Consuls provided that they indicate that is their intention during their candidature (the pro-Consul need not be named).
4) Senate members can propose motions that are binding setting out objectives for a Consuls reign. The Consul may ignore this motions at their peril (risk of censure/impeachment). All motions require a proposer and two seconders.
5) There will then be a 1 day period of voting in which Senate members will vote on motions and, if it is an end-term session, for their preferred Consul. One member has one vote plus votes equal to half the influence of Senator’s avatars (rounded up; ghosts have zero influence)
6) The Senate may choose to reward Consuls by awarding them “Triumphs” or they may choose to censure them by Impeachment. Either vote requires a 2/3 majority of the Senate (influence weighted). Motions of thanks and censure require simple majorities.
(7) The Speaker can summon an emergency session of Senate at any time (ie a pause in play). The Senate is always open for deliberation (ie pontificating!) but only votes at a full session.
(8) The Senate can modify game rules by a 2/3 majority, except those deemed inviolable (and marked with an *). These are constitutional ammendments. Exterminating a specific town requires authorising by a 2/3 majority.
(9) Where a motion contradicts existing legislation or a motion (let us call it motion number # from Senate session dated X) that has been tabled with two seconders, the new motion must begin "This motion invalidates motion number # from Senate session dated X"
(10) Tied motions fail.
(11) Legislation lasts only for the reign of the incumbent First Consul (except for constitutional ammendments).

Participant interactions.
1) Members may interact in public in the Senate deliberations thread or in private, via PMs.
2) Members may lobby Consuls for their avatars to be given some assignment (a governorship, time in an academy, field experience, be given a certain ancillary etc) and - heavens forbid - may even let some dealings influence their voting behaviour.
3) Members may not threaten or insult each other, except through public denunciations on the Senate floor. (ie let’s play nice).
4) Members of the lower house whose character takes part in a battle will be PMd by the Consul and asked to play out the battle. They will have 2 days to perform the task; otherwise it will be autoresolved.
5) Members whose avatars are governors will specify tax rates and construction build lists to the Consul at Senate sessions (training troops will be the Consul's responsibility). The Consul may deviate from those instructions (e.g. to balance the books) but will be accountable for such deviations.

The Senate speaker and other Senate posts

The campaign will be coordinated by one person, the Senate speaker (econ21). He will oversee all aspects of the campaign - assigning avatars, counting votes etc. The speaker will have the right to depose any incumbent player who does not provide a timely and satisfactory account of their progress (ie no running off with the savegame and derailing the campaign), but typically this should be done with the agreement of a majority of the Senate. econ21 will also act as a conventional participant in the game but keep this role strictly separate role from the Speaker role (e.g. his avatar is not the Speaker). The Senate speaker (econ21) will be assigned the trait of Office of the Pontifex Maximus.

The Senate librarian (TinCow) will field miscellaneous queries from Upper House Senators about in-game information (e.g. what cities we hold, where is my avatar etc?) from savegames. In the first instance, Consuls should field such requests but in interregnums etc, the Librarian may help. Lower House Senators are expected to have the mod installed and so can consult savegames directly. The Senate Librarian, (TinCow) will be assigned the trait of Office of Censor and given a Librarian Ancillary when it spawns.

The Senate Fixer (DDW) will advise on technical issues around the RTR Platinum and Metropolis mod. He will keep the Senate up to date with the lastest patches and tweaks to the mods, helping us to maintain savegame compatibility while avoiding critical bugs and benefiting from essential updates. The Senate Fixer (DDW) will be assigned the trait of Office of the Aedile and assigned a scribe ancillary when it spawns.

Instructions for awarding traits:

To give DDW's characters his 'office' trait:
give_trait "CHARACTER NAME" "Aedile" 1

To give TinCow's characters his 'office' trait:
give_trait "CHARACTER NAME" "Censor" 1

To give econ21's characters his 'office' trait:
give_trait "CHARACTER NAME" "PontifexMaximus" 1

To remove a disinherited trait:
give_trait "CHARACTER NAME" "Exheir" 0

To give a triumph:
give_trait "CHARACTER NAME" "RomanHero" X
For this trait substitute the following numbers for X depending on the level of Hero you want to give:
Level 1 - Local Hero - X = 1
Level 2 - Popular Hero - X = 2
Level 3 - Roman Hero - X = 3
Level 4 - National Hero - X = 4
Level 5 - Legendary Hero - X = 5

We had a situation where Cornelius Saturninus acquired two military experience traits. To correct it, we did the following:

give_trait "Cornelius Saturninus" "Former_Military_Service" 0
takes out the erroneous former legate trait which I have without 10 years service

give_trait "Cornelius Saturninus" "Military_Service_Years_1to9" 0
takes out the extra 1 year military service trait, leaves the correct 9

give_trait "Cornelius Saturninus" "Tribune" 1
gives tribune trait, without which the 9 year trait doesn't increase and won't work

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Historical armies: until the Marian reforms, the following rules should be adopted:
(1) There can be no more than one Roman unit per allied unit (generals excepted).
(2) Roman infantry must be deployed in the ratio:
2 hastati: 2 principes: 2 velites: 1 triarii
(use common sense where this exact ratio is not possible - e.g. 1 hastati, 2 principes is ok but 1 hastati, 2 triarii is not)
(3) No more than two ranged foot units (slinger or archer) per stack.
(4) No more than four cavalry units (excl. generals) per stack.

Typically, players should aim for two kinds of armies:

(a) Full stack Consular armies - 2 legions + 2 alae
2 hastati, 2 principes, 2 velites, 1 triarii, 1 funditore, 1 equites, 1 general
+ 10 assorted allies (one slot can be a second general, a tribune).

(b) Half stack Praetorian armies - 1 legion +1 alae
1 hastati, 1 principes, 1 velites, 1 general, and 1 of either triarii, equites or funditore
+5 allies

After the Marian reforms, half the stacks should still be allies (auxiliaries).
Roman units should be in the ratio: 1 first cohort: 3 legionnaires.

So a half stack army - a legion - could be:
1 First cohort; 3 legionnaires; 1 general + 5 auxiliaries

And a full stack army - two legions - could be:
2 first cohort; 6 legionnaires; 1 general; 1 artillery
+10 auxiliaries (one slot can be a second general, a tribune)

Equites should be disbanded and not recruited after the Marian reforms.