Rollcall

[laurentius]

Fall of Rome would be awesome! Viking/Dark Age NES would be interesting too I think..

[appleciders]

Anyone else?

[bipolarbear]

Dinosaurs!!!

They're the ooposite of Mechs, and a ba jillion times cooler!

Come on! Brontosaur taxis, Petrodactyl bomb raids, T-Rex rides at the park! You guys suck.

I'll take whatever, I'll make it fun. Just a good solid NES would be nice. As long as people play and it doesn't necessarily require a huge time commitment.

[appleciders]

A historical NES light on the numbers that make modding and playing time consuming would be fine by me.

[appleciders]

So what's the verdict? Maybe a split in the Roman Empire, with each player representing one general. I'm willing to mod it, although my time this fall will be limited, so it's going to need to be low-maintenence.

[foolish_icarus]

I'd play anything of course, but my vote goes for a dark ages or middle ages scenario.

For example, set maybe 10 or 20 years after a different battle of Poitiers (732) where the Muslims win and are pressing in on Europe.

[appleciders]

Poitiers was the Franks under Charles Martel, wasn't it? If I remember correctly, he won that battle by ordering his heavy cavalry to dismount and use spears, effectively countering the Muslim light cavalry. If we change that little tiny decision, the whole battle could come out differently. Problem I see with that scenario is that if the Muslims win, there's a ridiculously powerful group to deal with, and few other powerful nations to oppose them. Maybe write in a schism or two amongst the Muslim armies... Sounds like a plan.

I'll look into it.

[foolish_icarus]

Ok. And as for modding, it is a SIMPLE Nes, so as long as you don't fall into the trap of ever longer and more embellished updates, you'll be fine. Contentious battles and a map, basically. What we're trying to do is create and Nes where a player can enter the thread on any day at any time and have something to do, without waiting for an update, and likewise will not be compelled to send orders at any given time to keep from holding up the update.

And at Poitiers, there really was a small scale civil war amongst the army over the treasure train; that's part of the reason they lost (they weren't really utterly defeated, but they did have to withdraw) so it wouldn't take much to say they won and still threatened Europe but had internal issues or multiple factions to deal with.

[appleciders]

Ok, so here's what I've got so far:

At the battle of Poitiers, Charles Martel, leader of the last major Frankish army, is defeated by a Muslim force of cavalry led by Abd er Rahman. After the battle, Rahman declares himself the Caliph of Iberia and Gaul, forming a schism within the empire. Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, the current Caliph of the Islamic world, declares Rahman an outlaw and marches against him. After a bloody campaign in Northern Africa, an unstable cease-fire is reached, with Gibralter as the division between the Caliphates.

At the same time, King Liutpert of the Kingdom of Italy unites the Italian peninsula, calling for a New Roman Empire. Several campaigns northward gain large amounts of loot and yearly tribute from the Germanic states, although no attempt is made to hold the territory... yet. Liutpert also constructs a large navy, citing the Roman and Greek control of the Mediterranean as an important precendent.

Leo III, the ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire, focuses inward, building a system of defenses in the territory not yet lost to the Muslims. The recent infighting amongst Muslim armies may prove an opportunity, but the rise of Liutpert in the west will certainly prove a threat. The highly trained Byzantine army stands ready to retake the recently lost province Syria and the navy, while small, still controls the vital Greek fire.


So that's four nations. Any suggestions? I feel like five nations would be about right, but I could just go from here.

[foolish_icarus]

Sounds good
Other minor nations could include the British nations, the Franks, German states, Avars, Bulgarians, Moroccan/Algerian kingdoms, barbarian states et al.

[laurentius]

wow! sounds good indeed.

[appleciders]

At the moment, I see only 3 people who will seriously play this (Foolish_Icarus, Laurentius, and Bipolarbear), so I'm goign to stick with the 4 aforementioned major states. If anyone else wants to jump in, speak quickly so I can make sure to have some other major powers.

To avoid unnessecary complication, the only numbers involved will be a per-turn income and troops. I'm also planning to borrow the army movement system from the AHENES, where you place troops into an army and give orders to particular armies.

I'm partway done with the map, hope to have it posted tomorrow.

[foolish_icarus]

the only numbers involved will be a per-turn income and troops.

That sounds like an unnecessary complication to me. IMO it saps the flavor of the game

[appleciders]

Which? The troops or the money? It's just easier for me to judge relative strengths of armies and economies that way.

[foolish_icarus]

troop numbers are fine but I don't like the number economy. It's not how economies or government budgets do or did work, it doesn't approximate them in a meaningful way, and purchase points for military is too rigid and eliminates fun and useful subtleties of economies, societies, and militaries. Best to leave it a subjective but still more accurate and fun decision of either the player or the moderator.