Let's Play... the Muriad! (4X Grand Strategy)

[Azira]

I would not call it as much an eventuality as a certainty, knowing the codex.. M:

 

[treave]

I'm sure we can all get along in peace and harmony. The continent is big enough for all six of us.

 

[Peter]

Conan was thinking of using the little icons as indicators of who controls what - does that not work?

They blend in too much with the earthy colours of the map, so they're a bit more difficult to find than they should be, imo. A good solution to this would be either to make the icons stand out more, say, with an outline, or, like I said, colouring in the regions under civ control.

And I assumed that the icons represented capitals or some other noteworthy places for the civs, since they aren't in the center of each region (which I now realize is because you didn't want to hide the numbers of the regions), but that's just me being dumb.

 

[The Barbarian]

The Codex... what a wild-eyed beast it be, to quote the Dave Matthews Band.

EDIT: Peter, Conan will see what he can do - he's not that well versed in Campaign Cartographer 3, so it might take a bit of figuring out.

 

[anus_pounder]

I'm sure we can all get along in peace and harmony. The continent is big enough for all six of us.

Its usually the people saying stuff like this that are the worse offenders.

 

[Ulminati]

All your sheep belong to the thanes of Jom!

Loving the position of my NPC faction. I foresee much RAEP of whichever faction is slowest to solidify their trading relationship with the smelly river pirates

 

[Johnny the Mule]

So what happens if 97 expands into 100 or vice versa next turn?
How are their military and population rating compared to each other... What if one of them spends the next turn investing into military? Do they get half the bonus midwar?

 

[The Barbarian]

Re: military - You won't know until they go to war. That's the consequence of the 'Pursue conflict with...' action. Similarly, if both cultures attempt the 'Expand into... 100' action, this will result in a conflict.

From the Chronicle you know that both are city states, though one seems to be more centralized than the other. Population-wise, unless a huge disparity is noted, you can assume that there's no huge disparity.

If you spend the next turn investing into the military, you receive the bonus immediately.

And, yes, it is possible for a culture to be destroyed through this process.

 

[Johnny the Mule]

Is it possible to acquire tech/culture by simple contact?
Like currency or farming principles or arms?
Are treaties in some form possible?

 

[The Barbarian]

The way the attributes work is actually kind of complex, and that will become apparent as the circlejerk goes on. Technology spreads, of course, as technology did in real life.

It is more likely to spread if the Thought attributes are developed, if Liberty is developed, if Democratic is developed, if Mercantile is developed and if Commerce & Trade (especially) is developed.

By the same token, Order/Autocracy/Theocracy/Nomadic make the spread less likely (while having other advantages). In both instances, we are talking about influences on a chance, rather than binary yes/no propositions.

However, a culture that has (2) in C&T is advantaged over a culture with a (1) no matter what. A culture with (3) is even more advantaged (though the returns are diminishing, as the disparity grows) over a culture with (1). That is not to say that the technology isn't spreading, but that the former culture retains its advantage. Perhaps it develops new technology. Or it's just more competitive with the existing technology.

The point being that trying to be a jack of all trades and a master of none might work, or it might backfire spectacularly. You all have the same number of points - what you do with them is up to you.

Diplomacy has no effect in game terms.

If you wish to propose an agreement, the player listing is as follows:

JagreenLern - Amalechites
Azira - Costalians
anus_pounder - Emphtyhines
Johnny the Mule - Inui
DamnedRegistrations - Mobians
treave - Panoplites

You may PM each other to your hearts' content. When you have reached an agreement, PM your friendly neighborhood Barbarian with details. Your agreements, it goes without saying, are not ironclad, as each turn covers a large period of time. Conan will only break them if it makes sense to do so - they will be considered indicative of what the tribal leadership would pursue, in terms of diplomatic policy.

As always, common sense prevails...

 

[Damned Registrations]

Errr, looking at the map it doesn't seem like the Black River runs through (or even close to the borders of) the Emphythines. They're sitting on a different river entirely.

At any rate, seems I've ended up in the most interesting region, if not the safest. 2 opposing theocracies with raiders waiting to pick someone off. I predict some major bloodshed in the near future.

Edit: Who's piloting Jomni?

 

[The Barbarian]

Correct, the Frusca, as specified in the Chronicle update.

The Jomnii raid well into the Black River Delta, and inland. They also follow the lesser tributaries (not shown on the map) to the Black River Delta's and 99's borders with Longinia. They are an NPC (Non-Player Culture).

 

[Johnny the Mule]

The Chosen People will prosper!

 

[laclongquan]

Nice design! Still, the monstrous tree need more roots, or the trunk wouldnt be properly supported. Triple that number.

 

[Destroid]

Are you still taking reserve cultures?

 

[The Barbarian]

Indeed, the Barbarian will be populating much of the rest of the continent, one way or another. He'd prefer to do it with reserve cultures, rather than his own creations.

 

[Ulminati]

Indeed, the Barbarian will be populating much of the rest of the continent, one way or another. He'd prefer to do it with reserve cultures, rather than his own creations.

Are we limited to one NPC (non-player culture) per spectator, or can we submit multiple NPCs and you tell us which one goes "live" in case of player dropout?

 

[The Barbarian]

You may submit multiple cultures, brother Ulminati, and then decide which one you want to activate, if and when a player is eliminated.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Ok, some questions regarding mechanics.

Does military manpower represent a proportion of the population enlisted or a flat bonus? For example, since both agriculture and manpower (and presumably other factors) impact total population, will a culture that invested in manpower early be at a disadvantage to a culture that invested in manpower later on, assuming they both have the same total orders? Like say the A's started with Agriculture (3) and then the B's started with Manpower (3) and fought 3 turns later when they're both at Agriculture (3) and manpower (3), what would the total/military populations look like relative to eachother?

Does expanding into a territory imply a large population bonus, or mostly dividing the existing population into the area? Likewise, would the newly added territory have roughly the same kind of infrastructure as the older territories, or be much more prone to attacks? If it's conquered, does that territory benefit from the highest infrastructure of whoever was there, or is that mostly presumed to be destroyed in the conquest? Assuming an equal amount of military power between the two civs, would it be easier to defend a newly acquired territory the turn after it was expanded to, or take it from an opposing civ?

Would the construction of things like forts, outposts and watch/signal towers be performed more by infrastructure or either military equipment or organization? Or something else I overlooked?

Can these stats raise through means other than direct orders? For example, could a culture gain Craftsmanship (1) without using an order to promote it, by either trading or conquest? Or will all cultures have a number or points = to the orders spent on them, and for example, a culture with high technology trading ability through government but no craftsmanship, will gain little from improving craftsmanship, because they already had some of that effectively, and are just bringing up their own skill, rather than building on top of what others did before them? Or as another way of putting it, who is better at craftsmanship, a culture with high trading and 2 craftsmanship, or a culture with no trading at all and 3 craftsmanship. What if they're both bordering a culture with 4 craftsmanship?

 

[The Barbarian]

Conan's answers, below:

Does military manpower represent a proportion of the population enlisted or a flat bonus? For example, since both agriculture and manpower (and presumably other factors) impact total population, will a culture that invested in manpower early be at a disadvantage to a culture that invested in manpower later on, assuming they both have the same total orders? Like say the A's started with Agriculture (3) and then the B's started with Manpower (3) and fought 3 turns later when they're both at Agriculture (3) and manpower (3), what would the total/military populations look like relative to eachother?

The abstraction involved means that, regardless of the Player Sheet population listing, two cultures at Manpower (3) would have similar military manpower available. Obviously, if one culture has a population of a million, and the other at ten thousand, that's not going to be the case in an absolute sense. But the principle remains.

For example, if both Culture A and B had Manpower (3), but Culture A had half a million people and Culture B one million, that might mean that Culture A's peasant levies are far more effective. Or that they take in younger persons. Or retain older persons more successfully. Or have reduced desertion rates. Or have reduced attrition from disease or lack of supplies. Or the government demands more bodies for the military from each village. Or the logistical network is better developed.

You, the player, will never see anything like (Military - 15,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry). As can be seen on your Player Sheet, it is described very generally, instead. Numbers can sort of be extrapolated from the total population and the Manpower attribute. But they remain Conan's domain.

As stated in the game description, this is a satellite view of a civilization's development. Several wars can come and go in a single turn without your input. You affect macro trends.

Does expanding into a territory imply a large population bonus, or mostly dividing the existing population into the area? Likewise, would the newly added territory have roughly the same kind of infrastructure as the older territories, or be much more prone to attacks?

Refer to common sense - Conan is not relying on any mechanistic approach. If a province has a large population - that is to say, large enough to be noted in the Chronicle - then you will see the net population gain on your next Player Sheet, if you successfully incorporate it into your domain. If not, then no.

Likewise, would the newly added territory have roughly the same kind of infrastructure as the older territories, or be much more prone to attacks? If it's conquered, does that territory benefit from the highest infrastructure of whoever was there, or is that mostly presumed to be destroyed in the conquest?

Each turn spans fifty years. You may assume that your Infrastructure attribute covers all territory under your control.

Assuming an equal amount of military power between the two civs, would it be easier to defend a newly acquired territory the turn after it was expanded to, or take it from an opposing civ?

Fifty years per turn make that consideration a bit more micro than we're concerning ourselves with. Assume that defense, in a relative sense, is always more straightforward than attack. Conan relies on general military maxims, to this end.

Would the construction of things like forts, outposts and watch/signal towers be performed more by infrastructure or either military equipment or organization? Or something else I overlooked?

Military: Equipment and Infrastructure both affect defense construction projects. The former more so than the latter.

Can these stats raise through means other than direct orders? For example, could a culture gain Craftsmanship (1) without using an order to promote it, by either trading or conquest?

No.

An attribute is a measure of relative standing. Without investment, a culture cannot gain an advantage or negate another culture's advantage in any sense. For example, imagine two countries sitting side-by-side. One invests heavily in its military, developing new tanks, aircraft and other weapons. The other invests much less. Over a period of fifty years, both countries' military will improve. But the latter will not catch up to the former, without investment.

Or will all cultures have a number or points = to the orders spent on them, and for example, a culture with high technology trading ability through government but no craftsmanship, will gain little from improving craftsmanship, because they already had some of that effectively, and are just bringing up their own skill, rather than building on top of what others did before them?

The attributes are all relative. So, it is always good to improve craftsmanship, if a culture aims to be advantaged in craftsmanship. A culture with (2) in craftsmanship is always advantaged when compared to a culture with (1). The advantage of 2-1 is the same as the advantage of 3-2. The advantage of 2-1 is lesser than an advantage of 5-1, but obviously diminishing returns come into play, the greater the disparity.

Or as another way of putting it, who is better at craftsmanship, a culture with high trading and 2 craftsmanship, or a culture with no trading at all and 3 craftsmanship.

The latter. The former will be advantaged in trade and commerce. It is up to the player to decide which of the two scenarios is more attractive.

What if they're both bordering a culture with 4 craftsmanship?

Then they are both bordering superior competition, that will stay superior in terms of craftsmanship until investment is made.

Also, always keep in mind that you have three choices a turn. Even just getting to Craftsmanship (4) would take two hundred years of constant investment, assuming you start at (0). These are very, very high level abstractions.

 

[laclongquan]

I think there's difference in ManPower and Agriculture.

Develop Military Manpower is more like develop and maintain a system to better provide a number of troops. Kinda like the levies system: you send out the call and levies of militias, personal armies of warlords, groups of mercenaries, trickle in. You got system of numerous ways to gather troops. In Napoleon times it's press gangs. Modern times you got war propaganda apparatus. This orders allow we bypass cultural implication (pacifist...) work implication (harvest time need people...) in short term. Abuse it in disadvantagous time and you will pay for it later (pop unrest, famine)

While Agrilculture is more like the total pool of people. You will have a bigger pool of potential recruits to build troops. But make no mistake, conduct war during harvest or planting time is a big no no for Develop Agriculture, because they need every willing and able hands during that time period. Heck, if necessary, troops will be given leaves to get home to help or send to the nearby fields to help. There's known records of that during Cao Cao's time in CHina.

 

[The Barbarian]

The above is correct. Manpower and Agriculture are different attributes.

Agriculture has some impact on your military manpower. It certainly affects your culture's ability to regenerate losses over sustained campaigns, for example. But Manpower and Warlike are the primary attributes for sheer military force.

A larger population, of course, has its own significant advantages.

 

[Destroid]

You should probably be more specific about time, our Friday is rather different from USA friday.

 

[The Barbarian]

For now, Conan is expecting orders in within five days of the mailing of the Player Sheets and the publishing of the Chronicle entry. As it stands, there is still a fair bit of time.

However, if the players get their orders in nice and early (two outstanding, at last count), Conan is willing to update correspondingly early.

EDIT: Having just checked his e-mail, it turns out that the remaining players have sent their orders in.

Update ahoy...

 

[Azira]

Update ahoy...