Slitherine

Hi all!
After a weekend of brainstorming here you have the (hopefully) final set of implemented rules, designed to revive the diplomatic feature of the game, greatly undervalued up till now, and to shape in a more complex, but also much correct way the spotting of the winner at the end of the campaign.
I hope these rules won’t be too difficult to understand and to put in practice, whereas they should also spice up the competition between the players at different levels.
The whole stuff is also updated on the first page of the thread where all the rules are extensively wrote out.


Nations, Provinces and Treasury
Each nation owns at the beginning of the game a treasury of 500 ducats and 5 provinces, with 1 Capital Province (marked with an asterisk and underlined on the map), 1 Core Province (marked with an asterisk on the map) and 3 Ordinary Provinces.


Nations, Provinces and Treasury
In the game there are 8 nations: Aragonese (Christian), Castilians (Christian), Byzantines (Christian), Hafsids (Muslim), Mamluks (Muslim), Milanese (Christian), Ottomans (Muslim) and Venetians (Christian) as well as 40 independent provinces.


Stability Level
Stability levels earn 1 Victory Point each at the end of the game.


Prestige Level
Every nation has its own prestige level that will be influenced by the construction of various buildings and by the events related to diplomatic agreements.
At the beginning of the campaign each nation has a Prestige level of 7.
If the Prestige lowers to level 3 the Nation will lose 1 Stability level.
If the Prestige lowers to level 1 the Nation will lose 2 Stability levels.
Prestige levels earn 1 Victory Point each at the end of the game.


Actions
Actions consist in the building of Fleets, Fortifications and Siege Trains, Academies, Merchant’s Quarter and Churches/Mosques, in Diplomatic Missions, Tax Exemption, Tax Increase and in different types of Attacks.


Fleets
Each Fleet earn 1 Victory Point at the end of the game if still present.


Fortifications
Each Fortification earn 1 Victory Point at the end of the game if still present.


Academy
Academies represent the display of the cultural and bureaucratic skills of a Nation.
A player may build an Academy in his Capital Province paying 75 ducats.
The inherent action takes 4 days to be completed after which the Academy becomes operational at 23.59 GMT hr. No more than 1 Academy is allowed.
The building of an Academy enhance the Nation’s Prestige of 3 levels.
Academies are destroyed when the Capital Province is conquered.
Academies earns 2 Victory Points at the end of the game if still present.


Merchant’s Quarter
Merchant’s Quarters represent the economic strength of a Nation.
A player may build a Merchant Quarter’s in his Core Province paying 50 ducats.
The inherent action takes 4 days to be completed after which the Merchant’s Quarter becomes operational at 23.59 GMT hr. No more than 1 Merchant’s Quarter is allowed.
Merchant’s Quarters allow a player to seal Trade Agreements with other Nations.
Merchant’s Quarter are destroyed when the Core Province is conquered.


Churches and Mosques
Churches/Mosques display the Nation’s prestige related to the presence of sacred buildings.
A player may build a Church/Mosque in each of his Ordinary Provinces paying 25 ducats.
The inherent action takes 4 days to be completed after which the Church/Mosque becomes operational at 23.59 GMT hr. No more than 1 Church/Mosque per Ordinary Province is allowed.
The building of a Church/Mosque enhances the Nation’s Prestige of 2 level.
Churches/Mosques are destroyed if the Province is conquered by a player of a different religion.
Churches/Mosques earn 1 Victory Point at the end of the game if still present.


Diplomatic Missions
A Diplomatic Mission represents the dealings involved in the proposals and denials or signing of a Diplomatic Agreement.
Diplomatic Agreements consist in Trade Agreements, Peace Treaties, Mutual Defence Agreements and Alliances.
The inherent action hasn’t cost and maintain validity until the 23.59 GMT hr. of the 4th day, after which it will expire.
If the proposal is accepted in due time, the Diplomatic Agreement becomes operational at 23.59 GMT hr. of the 4th day from the launch of the Diplomatic Mission and the proposing player gains 1 Prestige Level.
A player cannot have more than 3 Diplomatic Agreements running at the same time.

Trade Agreement
A player who owns a Merchant’s Quarter may propose to another player that also owns a Merchant’s Quarter the conclusion of a Trade Agreement.
If the Agreement is sealed it will immediately yields 100 ducats for every party and will last for 30 days. If one of the party attacks the other during the length of the agreement, this will be immediately cancelled and the attackers will lose 25 ducats, while his Nation’s Prestige will be lowered of 1 level.

Peace Treaty
A player may propose to another player the conclusion of a Peace Treaty, also offering or requesting a determined sum of money.
If the Agreement is sealed it will imply that the two Nations won’t attack each other for a period of 30 days and also the exchange of the agreed sum of money.
The signing of the treaty yields in any case 20 ducats for each party.
If one of the party attacks the other during the length of the treaty, this will be immediately cancelled and his Nation’s Prestige will be lowered of 2 levels.

Mutual Defence Agreement
A player may propose to another player the conclusion of a Mutual Defence Agreement, also offering or requesting a determined sum of money.
If the Agreement is sealed it will imply that the two Nations will be bound by a Peace Treaty and that each party may pretend that, in the case he is the target of a Land or Amphibious Attack (not an Allied one), the other party, with his first eligible action, launches a Land, Amphibious or Allied Attack against his aggressor.
It will also involve the exchange of the agreed sum of money.
The agreement lasts 30 days and yields in any case 20 ducats for each party.
If one of the party refuses to act offensively when requested the treaty will be immediately cancelled and his Nation’s Prestige will be lowered of 2 levels.

Alliance
A player may propose to another player the conclusion of an Alliance, also offering or requesting a determined sum of money.
If the Agreement is sealed it will imply that the two Nations will be simultaneously bound by a Peace Treaty and a Mutual Defence Agreement and that each party may launch a Joint Attack Action or request assistance with a Joint Defence Option.
It will also involve the exchange of the agreed sum of money.
The agreement lasts 30 days and yields in any case 30 ducats for each party.
If one of the party attacks the other during the length of it or refuses to act defensively or offensively when requested the treaty will be immediately cancelled and his Nation’s Prestige will be lowered of 3 levels.


Attacks

Joint Attack
A player, bound with an Alliance Treaty to another party, may launch a Joint Attack against any enemy or independent province adjacent on the map or linked with a sea route either to his and his ally’s province.
All the rules regarding a Land or Amphibious Attack will be applied with the difference that the Joint Attack must to be confirmed by the allied player, that the naval encounter will occur taking count of the total of the fleets owned by the allied parties, that if the allied players will be defeated the one with the greater number of fleets will have 1 wrecked (whereas in the other cases a lottery draw will determine who will lose the fleet), and that the attack will be resolved with 2 DAG battles against the defender, each conducted by one of the allied player. The result of every battle will be added to make an overall total and the final tally will be conducted on it.
(Examples:
Castilians (2 fleets) allied with Hafsids (1 fleets) Joint Attack Aragonese (2 fleets)
Castilians/Hafsids 120 pts. + 32 pts. lottery draw = 152 pts
Aragonese 80 pts. + 67 pts. lottery draw = 147 pts.
Castilians/Hafsids win the naval encounter / Aragonese lost 1 fleet
follows DAG battles:
Castilians (40/60) Aragonese (70/60)
Hafsids (40/40) Aragonese (25/40)
Castilians/Hafsids (80/100) Aragonese (95/100) = Castilians/Hafsids +15
15:200=x:100 = 7.5% Tactical Victory)
If the allied players obtain a strategic victory the province will be assigned to the player that launched the attack.

If the defender targeted by a Joint Attack is bound with an Alliance Treaty to another party, he may call on his ally with a Joint Defence Option.
If the other party agrees the naval encounter will be decided taking count of the total of the fleets owned by both alliances while the attack will be resolved with 2 DAG battles, each conducted by one of the allied player, the defenders having the privilege to decide the pairings.
Every other aspect of the attack will be determined like an ordinary Joint Attack.


Battles
A player allied with another may not be chosen to lead an independent army against his ally.


Plunder
If, after a strategic victory, the attacker fails to assault the fortifications present in the Province, the victory will be treated as tactical for the purpose of Plunder.


Victory Points
Victory Points represent the strategic power of a Nation at the end of the campaign.
They are counted summing 4 pts. for every Province, 2 pts. for every Academy and 1 pt. for every Church/Mosque, Fleet, Fortification, Stability level and Prestige level.


Winning Conditions
The player that at the end of the campaign will have the greater number of Victory Points will win the game. If two or more players will have the same number of Victory Points, the player with the greater amount of ducats will prevail. Otherwise all these players will be declared winners “ex aequo”.

Of course, Pete, the coming into effect of the new rules implies the giving out of the treaties actually being (Venetians with Milanese), with the first handing back to the second the money they received.
Any new treaty must therefore be signed in accordance with them.

Lysimachos wrote:Of course, Pete, the coming into effect of the new rules implies the giving out of the treaties actually being (Venetians with Milanese), with the first handing back to the second the money they received.
Any new treaty must therefore be signed in accordance with them.

Yes OK. I am just making sure my diplomats have taken a proper bath this year and then I will be sending them over to have a chat with your Doge chappie.

2nd Venetian action

The Doge of the "Serenissima" Republic, having seen the Ottoman efforts to become a naval power, asked the "Gran Consiglio" to act firmly in order to avoid the Muslims put in danger the Venetian possessions in the east.
So the decision is taken of outfitting a second fleet!

iandavidsmith wrote:Challenge Posted

Land Attack
Byzantine attacks Ae [Aetolia] (target) from Th [Thessaly] (starting point).
550 pts. Battle, DM on, FoW on Triarius defending.
Password= Triarius

Good Luck,
Ian

The Independant Orthodoxy of Aetolia has resisted the agression of Byzantium/Constantinople
Byzantium 45/42.
Aetolia 35/49.

2. A potted history of the Venetian Republic in the 15thC AD

At the beginning of the 15th century Venice had just triumphed in a very long war with the Genoese (1350-1381) and was therefore able to begin expanding its territories in Italy from 1404 onwards, conquering important cities such as Vicenza, Verona and Padua – and to recover its former possessions along the Dalmatian coastline, as civil war broke out in Hungary and Ladislaus of Naples was minded to sell its Dalmatic possessions to Venice. By 1400 Venice also had a very powerful navy of more than 3,000 ships.

The most powerful ruler of Venice (Doge) in the first half of the 15thC was Francesco Foscari, who ruled from 1423 until he was forced to abdicate in 1457 (preceded by Michele Steno 1400-1413 and Tommaso Mocenigo 1413 to 1423).

So this is what Lysimachos looks like . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Franc ... stiani.jpg

And it was under Foscari that Venice reached the height of its power . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Repub ... enezia.png

War broke out with Milan in 1425 and the Venetians were decisively victorious at Maclodio in 1427. A further period of fighting began in1446 that saw Venice confronted by a league including Milan, Florence, Bologna and Cremona. Hostilities were terminated by the Peace of Lodi in 1454 and a new Italian League was formed that brought peace to northern Italy for nearly half a century.

But, in 1453, Constantinople had finally fallen to the Ottoman Turks although Venice was able to retain some of its trading rights in the city. War inevitably broke out with the Ottoman Turks in 1463 and Venice loss the important possession of Negroponte in 1470. A peace agreement was reached in 1479.

A Venetian fort in Greece . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Venit ... avlion.jpg

By 1500 Venice was the second largest city in Europe behind Paris and it was certainly the richest in the world.

Lysimachos wrote:2nd Venetian action

The Doge of the "Serenissima" Republic, having seen the Ottoman efforts to become a naval power, asked the "Gran Consiglio" to act firmly in order to avoid the Muslims put in danger the Venetian possessions in the east.
So the decision is taken of outfitting a second fleet!

Oh Duck of Venice ( we apoligise if our Neopolitan linguist has translated your honorific incorrectly), how can you declare the peaceful Moslems that coexist in hamony on the Eastern shores of the the central sea a Naval menace. Is it not true that you , and your ally the Duck of Milan have been deforresting your own lands and building ships as fast as can be? Take care little Ducks, where you swim , for there are sharks in the water.

Amphibious Attack
Hafsids attack Aragonese in Sicily (target) from Ifriqiya (starting point).
750 pts. Battle, DM on and FoW off.
Naval encounter randomly decided with the lottery draw of Tuesday.

Edit: Just realized I'll have to wait for Triarius to declare if he's sending his fleet to defend or not...

TheGrayMouser wrote:Oh Duck of Venice ( we apoligise if our Neopolitan linguist has translated your honorific incorrectly), how can you declare the peaceful Moslems that coexist in hamony on the Eastern shores of the the central sea a Naval menace. Is it not true that you , and your ally the Duck of Milan have been deforresting your own lands and building ships as fast as can be? Take care little Ducks, where you swim , for there are sharks in the water.

Your post reminded me of this, TGM.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/an-CDMc2J ... _of_death/

Feeling an obligation to maintain equality with others engaged in aggressive deforestation, the Castillian navy will build a second fleet in Galicia.

Chris

May the nations of Earth unite to rid the world of mankinds greatest enemy , the trees:)

stockwellpete wrote:
So this is what Lysimachos looks like . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Franc ... stiani.jpg

Well Pete, I can assure you and the other players that I'm really a bit more handsome and younger ..
and anyway this represents me better:
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/gciv/imag ... hos_fr.jpg

but I've also found this one, that's maybe better:
http://www.google.it/imgres?start=73&um ... ,s:73,i:21

Hi all, these are in chronological order the attack vs independent provinces waiting to having determined the name of the player taking up the independent armies:
1) Hafsids (hidde) attack Cyrenaica from Tripolitania

And these are the results of the lottery draw in decreasing order of size:
1) Napoli 80 (kilroy)

So, matching the attacks with the lottery draws, we have that:
kilroy will defend Cyrenaica vs hidde

For the naval encounter hidde has to wait until the 23.59 GMT hr. of the 30th of August in order to see if Triarius accept battles on the sea or wait the invaders on the shore!

TheGrayMouser wrote:

Lysimachos wrote:2nd Venetian action

The Doge of the "Serenissima" Republic, having seen the Ottoman efforts to become a naval power, asked the "Gran Consiglio" to act firmly in order to avoid the Muslims put in danger the Venetian possessions in the east.
So the decision is taken of outfitting a second fleet!

Oh Duck of Venice ( we apoligise if our Neopolitan linguist has translated your honorific incorrectly), how can you declare the peaceful Moslems that coexist in hamony on the Eastern shores of the the central sea a Naval menace. Is it not true that you , and your ally the Duck of Milan have been deforresting your own lands and building ships as fast as can be? Take care little Ducks, where you swim , for there are sharks in the water.

Be aware, oh dried Sultana (sorry but our Greek interpreter probably smoked a bit much of your opium poppy), that ducking a Venetian Duck is not a task for shark without sharpened teeth!

Hmm, our learned men and scholars have pondered your words , done the apropriate research and biological measurements, and have determined that even a blind, toothless shark can swallow a flock of ducks with ease. We draw the conlusion that your threat is but bombastic posturing. Oh Venetians , know you not that the time of the city state is over? The sun rises in the East, and it is a new day, yet even to your north lies the shadow of the Hapsburgs and to the West, the Iberians unite and gather strength. Now pray excuse me, new applicants have arrived for positions in the Harrem and must be rigouruosly tested for their secratarial skills.


Action: 50 ducats spent for more galleys for the sardine fleet

Challenge posted for kilroy

Hafsid Kingdom attack Cyrenaica (target) from Tripolitania (starting point).
400 pts. Battle, DM on, FoW off.
PW=kilroy

Cheers

Two new actions for the Duchy of Milan . . .

i) build Academy in capital province
ii) build Merchant's Quarter in core province

For my next action....

The Byzantine Empire purchases one Fleet at Morea for 50 ducats

Cheers
Ian

The Mamluk Sultanate for its next action:

Proposes an Alliance with the Ottoman Empire.

kilroy

Venetians (Lysimachos) 28/41 Condotta Naples (Stockwellpete) 44/44
Strategic victory (15.29%)
Conquest of Apulia

After a really bitter struggle on the Apulian plains the Venetian army was able to dislodge the Neapolitan Knights from a favourable position atop on some hills gaining a strategic victory with the last breath of their soldiers, which enable the Republic to conquer a bridgehead in southern Italy.

Next move, then, is a Diplomatic Mission to the Duchy of Milan with the proposal of an Alliance, requesting the payment of 100 ducats.