The Will of the Senate - Out of character thread V

[econ21]

This is the current out of character thread for the Will of the Senate. Please use this thread for all out of character discussion and keep the others free for role-play and stories.

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The Civil War - overview

Civil war has broken out in the Republic, between the Senate and and the Consul. I will be playing out the war on the campaign map, according to orders received from players about what they want their avatars to do. I will try to delay battle on the campaign map for a while to allow forces to be amassed.

I will be working from the latest savegame in the uploader:
http://www.totalwar.org/patrons/pbm/250-spr-Tib3.zip

Urgent - if you have not already done so, please give me any orders you have for the first two turns and any general directions for your character (e.g. they want to march on Rome or kill Numerius or whatever).

Try to check the Throne room for updates every day just in case there is something that requires your attention.

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Battle mechanics

When rival avatars meet, a battle will be fought in a manner to be mutually agreed by the participants. It could be multiplayer; it could be via orders to an umpire (I volunteer); it could be by setting up a matching AI vs AI battle; or it could be by "mirrored" battles against the AI (whoever does better, wins). Different methods could be used for different battles, according to the preferences of those directly involved.

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Campaign mechanics

I don't want to get bogged down in rules and mechanics, but a few pointers to guide your orders:

1) Only Italy has significant troop building facilities. Whoever controls it, should ultimately win.

2) Loyalty of armies not under avatars will be determined by some random mechanic modified by the influence and proximity of rival generals. Blood ties will also come into play.

3) Control of fleets will be important, especially for those in Afrika. Loyalty of fleets will be determined similarly to loyalty of armies but I will try to make sure no one is stranded and unable to have at least a chance of getting to Italy.

4) The war will be over when all generals on one side are dead or surrender.

5) This PBM may live on after the war, so if you want to build bridges for a future life for your character (especially if they seem to be on the losing side) feel free to do so.

6) Obviously, strength of armies on the campaign map will be reflected in however battles are decided - they won't necessarily be fair fights. However, I will try to keep things at least initially balanced, so we get a "good war".

7) If I do not receive directions or orders, I will generally leave your avatar inactive unless there is some extremely obvious move he should make (e.g. flee a stronger enemy or get more men). Make sure you tell me if you want your character to be inactive (e.g. he's staying neutral for a while).

8) To keep things simple, and focussed on the players, only player generals (and admirals) can be ordered to move. I will move loyal non-player generals to join with player generals if they are within a turn's reach. The exception to this is Quintus Naevius, who Lucjan persuaded me to let him control. At the time, it looked like he might be hopelessly outnumbered after the impeachment, so I agreed. It does seem to balance things up pretty well.

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Story-telling and role-playing

Feel free to contribute in-character write-ups to the Civil war stories thread. To make sure things match up with what I am doing on the campaign map, you could PM me with a sketch of what you plan.

I will play along with any juicy plot twists you would like your character to be involved with.

But make sure you do not put words into another player's character's mouth or kill them out of battle without their consent!


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EDIT: I'm going to keep editing this post with additional information, additions being marked in italics. I've made an initial assignment of non-player generals (NPG) to factions in the Civil War Stories thread. The spoiler gives the gory details, but as I said, I don't want to get into mechanics too much.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

If any NPG was in a turn's reach of a player general, they took a test of allegiance. Rolled a six sided dice. 1 = Consular, 6 = Senate.

Modified by (Senate influence - Consular influence +/- Blood tie)/2
where influence is that of any player general within one turn's reach or 1/2 influence if within two turns reach.
Blood tie is a 10 point modifier for if the NPG has a father or son in one faction.

A roll of "1" or "6" stands, regardless of modifiers.

[Lucjan]

This is going to be interesting. The division of players with legions is pretty good.

New Republicans (6)- Servius Aemilius, Manius Coruncanius, Quintus Libo, Quintus Naevius, Oppius Aemilius, Flavius Pacuvius

The Old Senate (5)- Numerious Aureolus, Appius Barbetus, Tiberius Coruncanius, Lucius Aemilius, Marcellus Aemilius

[GeneralHankerchief]

Hmm, seems as if look of the Old Senate fighters is a mixed blessing. On one hand, we have the two Old Farts of the Republic, Lucius and Tiberius, who have massive command/influence. On the other hand, they could both decide to keel over and die of natural causes at the wrong time.

Best of luck to everybody.

[TinCow]

The Library has been updated with all important information. I haven't bothered with the general family tree or the multi-shot Roman territorial bit, since they seem irrelevant at this point.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Hmm, seems as if look of the Old Senate fighters is a mixed blessing. On one hand, we have the two Old Farts of the Republic, Lucius and Tiberius, who have massive command/influence. On the other hand, they could both decide to keel over and die of natural causes at the wrong time.
Best of luck to everybody.

I'm also worried about death due to age, but on the other hand I and Tiberius have some serious command skill.

EDIT :

Bummer about the pirates, Wonderland.
Econ21, it would be nice if the senate would command some ships. All the fleets seem to be assigned to Servius.

[Lucjan]

Actually...fleets seem to have swung like this.

New Republic
Servius (fleet at Narbo)
Oppius (fleet at Tingi)

Senate
Marcellus (Fleet south of Sicily)


Fleet near Asia Minor is most likely still up in the air. They're a new fleet, but also the smallest and with no relations with any of the generals yet, probably waiting to see the initial victor in Asia Minor before making any decisions. That's just my take on the situation though, Econ is the one in charge of determining actual AI loyalties.

[Mount Suribachi]

Simon, just a thought about recruitment of troops, in that, do we really want to do it? It just makes things more messy and complicated. I would be much more in favour of a fight were everyone has their own legions, and thats it. Last one standing wins!

[Patriarch of Constantinople]

*walks in quietly*

Ummmmmmmm , I'm sorry for never have been active during this, but since this has gotten good, can I still be in? Thank you

*leaves quietly*

[econ21]

Hi Patriach of Constantinople, aka Hannibal99. I am sorry but this is PBM is just closing - there would be no point rejoining. However, we will very soon be starting a similar M2TW PBM which you would be welcome to join. Keep your eyes peeled or contribute to the brainstorming session going on in the M2TW HRE trial thread.

[Mount Suribachi]

One thing I was thinking about is starting another RTW mod PBEM. In the MTW2 test thread there seems agreement that the "feudal" system you've developed makes for a slow game, so how about running a more conventional system in another game? Perhaps using the royal and non-royal idea I talked about in the MTW2 test thread.

I was thinking maybe a BI game using gothmod or Invasio Barbarorum, perhaps re-uniting the Roman Empire again, this time as the ERE? I know you want to do an EB game as well Simon, but are waiting for 1.0 to come out. For that matter, anyone have a clue when RTR 7.0 is due? Its been "soon" for about 6 months now....

[Braden]

Gah! We was robbed!!

Anyway, seems like I ought to put some effort into finishing the Decus/Manius story now guys.

Trust something like a holiday to get in the way of creative endeavours.

*Consul forever!!*

*Edit - Actually, I’m waiting for the HOF results. Thought I’d missed the votes as they were “meant” to be finalised over Christmas but I see that they polls haven’t opened yet.

[Dutch_guy]

So I understand this entire thing is slowly winding down now, isn't it...

Anyway, the consul isn't found yet and would it be possible for him to ...ehm...resurface at some time - or will the good consul (heh) eventually rise up again ?

Having such an army at my disposal as I have now, and doing nothing with it, is a waste...

[econ21]

One thing I was thinking about is starting another RTW mod PBEM. In the MTW2 test thread there seems agreement that the "feudal" system you've developed makes for a slow game, so how about running a more conventional system in another game? Perhaps using the royal and non-royal idea I talked about in the MTW2 test thread.

I was thinking maybe a BI game using gothmod or Invasio Barbarorum, perhaps re-uniting the Roman Empire again, this time as the ERE? I know you want to do an EB game as well Simon, but are waiting for 1.0 to come out. For that matter, anyone have a clue when RTR 7.0 is due? Its been "soon" for about 6 months now....

Both a M2TW and an EB PBM are going to happen soon - within weeks for the former and a month or two for the latter. I've just posted some simple ideas for a WotSII type PBM for M2TW that I think would be unproblematic. EB players want to go with the current version 0.8, after a minor patch (not 1.0). It looks like it may not be a Roman one - perhaps Greeks or a less conventional faction.

The question is whether there is room for a third new PBM. Personally, I would be interested in a BI game using gothmod or Invasio Barbarorum. But would enough other players? If you want to pursue this idea, you could start a new thread.

I personally can't get enough of the Romans, so I would be happy to join an ERE campaign. I'd like to keep it to the traditional "succession" type model though - I think there's only room for one WotS type game with deliberations and votes etc. I can't recall how long generals live in BI, but I think we played proper reigns in the WRE epic and reigns were epic, but manageable (just - someone suggested we play on after unificaton and an exhausted TinCow was aghast at the idea). I'd even prefer not to delegate battles, so as to keep up momentum and pace.

[Mount Suribachi]

Well, I was thinking of a more in-between game. The MTW2 rules for HRE are still a bit too complicated for my liking. My ideal would be a game with a hereditary ruler, but battles still parcelled out to other players.