The West is No More (476 AD): general thread

[kronenblatt]

We're currently 12 players and each gets to play only one major power:

1. Captainwaltersavage: Italy
2. Snugglebunnies: East Rome
3. TomoeGozen: Vandals
4. Aetius39: West Rome
5. pompeytheflatulent: Franks
6. olin0111: Soissons
7. deeter: Ostrogoths
8. Karvon: Gepids
9. kronenblatt: Visigoths
10. tyronec: Alamans
11. MadMaxBot: Burgundians
12. MarcoCato75: Suevians

We're now ready to go!

TheWestIsNoMoreNumberedGrey_SubProvinces_ThickBorders_POLITICAL.png (54.31 KiB) Viewed 1602 times

[tyronec]

Will take on the Alamans if they are still available.
Any colour is OK.

[kronenblatt]

Will take on the Alamans if they are still available.
Any colour is OK.

Excellent: Alamans are hereby yours. Welcome! And I will move away from the option to select colours actually (to much of a hazzle): will keep it at the different shades of purple, which I like very much.

[MadMaxBot]

I will take the Burgundians....You will not bring to heel the wild & free Germanic Horse Tribes!

[kronenblatt]

I will take the Burgundians....You will not bring to heel the wild & free Germanic Horse Tribes!

Great: Welcome, MadMaxBot to Burgundia!

So now we're only 1 player short and the Suevians long for a benefactor.

Meanwhile I'm documenting the rules.

[MarcoCato75]

Hi!

I could join with the suevians, if possible

Thanks!

[kronenblatt]

Absolutely, MarcoCato: Welcome! I'll add you to the list with the Suevians!

Hi!

I could join with the suevians, if possible

Thanks!

[tyronec]

The tournament will end when at least one of the following occurs:
1. a player controls (whether directly or through vassals) at least three times as many provinces as his number of starting provinces.
2. a player doesn’t control any provinces at all, or
3. the C-in-C of all major factions have fallen (at least once) in battle.

The winner of the tournament is then the player who controls (whether directly or through vassals) the most provinces in excess of the number of starting provinces.

Just a few thoughts.
1. Does that mean that a one province faction would end the campaign by getting up to 3 provinces ?
2. Any player losing control of all their provinces ends the game ?
3. Would that mean lost in battle OR lost in battle and not recovered from wounds for the next one (assuming losses carry over to future games) ?
Winner - so a small faction could trigger the end of the campaign by taking two provinces but a larger faction might be winner if they had taken 3 ?

[kronenblatt]

The tournament will end when at least one of the following occurs:
1. a player controls (whether directly or through vassals) at least three times as many provinces as his number of starting provinces.
2. a player doesn’t control any provinces at all, or
3. the C-in-C of all major factions have fallen (at least once) in battle.

The winner of the tournament is then the player who controls (whether directly or through vassals) the most provinces in excess of the number of starting provinces.

Just a few thoughts.
1. Does that mean that a one province faction would end the campaign by getting up to 3 provinces ?
2. Any player losing control of all their provinces ends the game ?
3. Would that mean lost in battle OR lost in battle and not recovered from wounds for the next one (assuming losses carry over to future games) ?
4. Winner - so a small faction could trigger the end of the campaign by taking two provinces but a larger faction might be winner if they had taken 3 ?

1. Yes. Though only major provinces to be counted, i.e., the provinces held by players already at start. See 4 below as well.
2. Yes. But keep in mind that (i) each major province consists of two halves (no geographical significance) so player will lose only one half of major province per occasion, and (ii) if an independent (non-vassal) player loses all his provinces, he will be resurrected as a vassal to the victor and in return receive that last province back in full (i.e., both halves if a major province). It's only a vassal who gets eliminated who will not be resurrected which will end the tournament.
3. The C-in-C of a major faction "falling in battle" and thus ending the battle (since all battles will be Remove the Head). So when that has happened to all major factions (at least once) at any time during the tournament (i.e., not necessarily in the same round), the tournament will end.
4. Yes. But I may need to rethink that in case it doesn't work out well. It may be something like this instead (not yet finalised):

... a player fully controls (whether directly or through vassals) at least three major provinces in addition to those controlled at start of the tournament...

Which would then be linked to the winner of the tournament being the player who:

... fully controls (whether directly or through vassals) the largest number of major provinces...

[tyronec]

A few more thoughts on the rules.

Attack declarations. Could be a difficult process if all 12 players have to issue their turn orders in sequence every turn, and maybe prone to player error if they are issued in the wrong order or perhaps not issued at all. Would it be possible for them to be done simultaneously, say we all have 24/48 hours to PM you with our attack orders and you don't read them until you have done your own. That way is someone was slow at issuing their orders it would not put a spoke in the whole campaign.

Allied faction player. Maybe could be done in a deterministic way rather than by the major faction players choice. So work down a sequence of priorities, something like:
Player with least games this turn.
If equal, then player who had least games last turn.
If equal, then player who has won most battles...
If you have several 'Allied faction' players to resource then allocate the priority ones on a die roll.

Using allies in battles. Have not thought this through but they are going to need to be declared at some stage before the battle is set up. Probably not important but is there a bit of sequencing between choosing terrain and allies for a battle before it is created.

[kronenblatt]

A few more thoughts on the rules.

1. Attack declarations. Could be a difficult process if all 12 players have to issue their turn orders in sequence every turn, and maybe prone to player error if they are issued in the wrong order or perhaps not issued at all. Would it be possible for them to be done simultaneously, say we all have 24/48 hours to PM you with our attack orders and you don't read them until you have done your own. That way is someone was slow at issuing their orders it would not put a spoke in the whole campaign.

2. Allied faction player. Maybe could be done in a deterministic way rather than by the major faction players choice. So work down a sequence of priorities, something like:
Player with least games this turn.
If equal, then player who had least games last turn.
If equal, then player who has won most battles...
If you have several 'Allied faction' players to resource then allocate the priority ones on a die roll.

3. Using allies in battles. Have not thought this through but they are going to need to be declared at some stage before the battle is set up. Probably not important but is there a bit of sequencing between choosing terrain and allies for a battle before it is created.

Thanks for feedback!

1. It actually works quite well (I think) in TYME and DiSp, where each player gets a deadline date to answer, in a pre-specified order, e.g.,

tyronec (Jan.11).
kronenblatt (Jan. 12)
and so on.

And as soon as all players before you have posted then you're free to post as well, not having to wait for your deadline date. And a player not posting at all (has never happened yet) will simply not do any attacks.

2. With "allied faction" you mean the cases where a player must be designated to play a minor or foreign faction (such as punitive expedition or annexation)? Then good points: I could specify that sequence further.

3. Tes, when making the attack declaration, the attacker must specify which allies (if any) are used, and if attacker selects map terrain, which map terrain to be used. I'll give some examples.

[kronenblatt]

This particular tournament with 12 players, each representing one and the same major faction throughout the tournament, will be put on hold, since I haven't heard from all 12 players confirming their participation. Sorry about this and thanks for your interest, but I couldn't in the end reach the required player number of 12.

Instead another version of TWiNM tournament will be launched, similar to the original version in all respects except that it will involve a major faction rotation system. This means that players will at certain points during the tournament select new major factions to represent, such certain points being when at least one C-in-C of a major faction falls in battle. This version hopefully also works better with fewer players than the original version, so the tournament will be run with a limited number of players (we're currently 5) in order to try out the rules and the mechanics. Its progress will, once launched, be posted here, in this forum as usual.