Civilizations [GovSim; Sign-Ups (Open)] page 4

Really? That’s odd.

Do I need to sign up again?

Cloudsdale

Pegesai

It seems pretty much agreed-upon that there is no need to sign up again; the existing information will be reused.

As soon as I get back to my computer I’ll work on getting everything in order.

Anyone who has trouble viewing the Google Docs need only speak up and I will try to arrange for them to be visible somehow. I added Mendacium and will now get around to working on the new guidelines, which shouldn’t take too long.

I’ve said before that I will be away, but yeah. Maybe I can at least get the game up and running by the time I leave (in about 23 hours) so that actions can be sent in, plans can be made, etc.

OK, I’m unsigning.

Sorry, but the game has made me lose all interest in it when you made it an essential text-based Civilization clone.

Honestly, if I wanted to play a game of Civilization, I would play a game of Civilization rather than spend my time playing a text-based essential clone of it that takes forever to update.

As I have explained, it’s not a Civilization clone, it’s simply borrowing certain game mechanics to add structure. But I’ll remove you if you’d like.

Originally posted by W0LVERINE123:

As I have explained, it’s not a Civilization clone, it’s simply borrowing certain game mechanics to add structure. But I’ll remove you if you’d like.

No, it’s a Civilization clone.

Essentially, you’re taking the game, throwing a mod onto it, making it test based, and hand it to us. Confirm my unsign.

Alright. Whatever. I would urge you to look at it once it’s complete and running (and, y’know, there are actual systems to support either of our arguments), but I can’t force you to.

Which reminds me, I did ask for opinions, and nobody really gave any except “Civilization is to complicated and we don’t want it”. Which confused me since it has been, from the beginning, loosely inspired by Civilization (as undeadcupcake’s How To Build A Civilization appeared to be, which probably influenced me more).

Anyways, you’ve been removed from the Google Doc which displays the players. That is the official record and I no longer feel like updating the OP until I can actually put action behind my words.

I would provide more feedback, except I’ve never played civilizations, and know nothing about it. So, I can’t really say anything about this idea, other than that I hope it works out.

Some notes that I typed on the plane from my phone last night, probably to be revised once I’m at an actual computer, are below. I will be trying to finalize the game quickly, before I actually get home, and the map will with any luck be done by that time as well.

Mendacium and I are working to get it all done as soon as we can. Anyways, without further ado, my plane-notes.

Civilizations OP

Gold

Money has often been called the oldest and most effective of political lubricants (actually I just said that once while playing NotW2, but it still applies, damn it!), and so it is. Your states all use different internal currencies, unless otherwise cited, and so economic fluctuation is very real, but gold holds its value well, and so it is used to record governmental funds. While you may be quite literally handing over carts of gold bars to your business partners if you (or they) are at a technological level which would necessitate that; however, as technology advances in your state, that’s more likely to happen behind the scenes. Still, gold is a universal currency in Civilizations, and as such will likely be your most prized possession. It can be used for just about anything you can imagine; whatever you want done, there’s probably someone willing to do it if you pay them. Whether this means hiring foreign mercenaries or recruiters within your own state, subsidizing domestic business or buying external products to meet internal needs, it still costs gold. Just remember that how you go about doing things is every bit as important as how much you pay to have them done. Some would go so far as to invent silly phrases like “quality over quantity”, but we all know that sufficient quantities of gold is a perfectly fine substitute for competence.

Military

The size, equipment, and level of training are the primary records kept of your military. Diplomacy, propaganda, and savvy politics will get you far, but there comes a time when every state finds itself in dire need of a decisive military victory. Funds pumped into the military are useful for maintaining their equipment and ensuring discipline, but an unseasoned army will always find itself at a disadvantage when facing an army of veterans. War games, drilling, and employing mercenaries can help to bring an army up to par, but there’s really no substitute for experience, so be careful when relying on your military as a political tool.

NPCs

They do exist, and they will interact with you, whether you like it or not. It is my goal to make interactions with NPCs every bit as in-depth as interactions with players. As a player, I always loved NPCs, and so as a GM, I consider them an integral part of Civilizations, every bit as important as the rest of the game. You will notice that they often lack initiative. This for two reasons; firstly, they cannot win the game, and so aren’t as focused on being the only state with any degree of power; and secondly, I just don’t have the time to think through every possible action that an NPC might take, so they often take whatever actions I immediately decide that they should. Nonetheless, I will scrutinize every bit of diplomacy that you attempt to conduct with NPCs as though they were real players. They will not be easy targets, nor your everlasting allies. Approach them with caution, as you would other players.

Hegemony

This is the goal of Civilizations: achieving world hegemony for your state. This means that no other state can effectively oppose you. This means that you can bring to bear enough pressure to force anyone you like to do anything you please. You have the power to bend world events to your advantage, and it is clear that you could paint the map whatever color you chose for yourself. When your flag hangs proudly over your capital, and you sit secure in the knowledge that no rival exists to challenge your rule, you win. Yeah. Other players can still be on their feet, but once they recognize defeat, you win, the end. They can keep their state and everything. I may decide that their can be multiple winners. We’ll see. The prerequisite to victory, however, does not change. You must achieve hegemony.

Official announcement: I now know where I’m going with this. I would put the text portion of the game at ~80%, depending on several factors mostly reliant on my creative drive over the next few days, and the graphical portion at ~40%, although I’m no expert there but am confident that it is coming along nicely and have personally seen how well it is turning out so far.

I get home at the end of the month, just about perfectly so. At that point I hope to begin the game.

Latest potential update format:

State [Player]
Population density; satisfaction
Army size; equipment; training
Technology (production capability)

- Actions and events

This will potentially change. I have to add Gold in there somewhere, as well as income (which will likely rely on population and cities at its most basic), and I may decide on other bits and pieces to toss in.

Questions and comments on anything and everything are welcome. I don’t like double-posting and do value your opinions, since it is your enjoyment satisfaction that I have to keep in mind.

Might want to include something about land size. Land = money = power. More land means more people, less population density, more happiness, less death, bigger military, and more resources.

Some of that I had thought of, some of it I hadn’t (I was thinking a bit about how annexation might affect population density, mostly; the rest I shall be addressing for the first time now).

In terms of money, you would probably end up with more of a population to tax and more cities, with would lead to a larger income (and your various other enterprises would probably have more room to flourish). Gaining land wouldn’t necessarily equate to gaining population, though; a state might annex a tundra region like, for instance, Siberia, or a desert region like the Sahara, and not gain many people. Likewise, it is possible for population density to rise rather than fall if one were to expand into a forest from a tundra or something of the like, where you might go from having a very limited population to a much larger one.

As for happiness, having more land would probably equate to that on some scale, again heavily dependent on what region gets annexed. Taking a highly-developed region or a lush region just begging for tourism might increase happiness because people might want to move there; likewise, taking a barren crag with all the resources exploited and all of the inhabitants unhappy with your annexation might result in quite the opposite and decrease average happiness.

I don’t see how death relates to land size, but certainly with more room to move around, health might be more stable and thus death could potentially be reduced.

Annexation will almost always yield resources of some type, yes, so that should certainly be kept in mind by anyone getting closed in on by larger states, and since resources and population are necessary to increase the size and power of one’s military no matter how much money you have, I can see how land acquisition might have an indirect but very significant impact on the size of one’s armed forces.

Anyways, you’re right, expansion should probably get a section. It’s very important. I certainly see how it could affect a wide range of factors, beyond even what we’ve mentioned here.

Is the game started?

The text will hopefully be done tonight, but I am on vacation and my parents have never heard of human rights or y’know, honesty, so I can’t be sure of anything. Then the map will be finished (it’s actually pretty nearly ready, I believe) and the game itself will begin when I get home at the end of the month.

It’s quite literally very close and nearing completion; I just won’t be able to run it from shitty hotel Internet with parentally-enforced time limits.

I will be so happy when the game starts.

About population=tax, I would also want to see wealth of the citizens considered in how much is gained from taxes. After all, if population=money, then China and India should be the two richest countries in the world. Just a thought

There’s no real way to measure the wealth of individual citizens in a game of this size. I don’t really want to write a formula – it would probably be like NotW’s GDP measurement, I guess, measured against population, to get average wealth or something like that – but I’ll take a look at it tonight when I get my laptop on.

A country can have a lot of population and still be quite poor, there must be taken in consideration more things, like actual productivity.

I sign up,I wanna sign up.I really REALLY WANT TO JOIN.

State name :RNG Rooster National Goverment

State Color: Furious pink

If you give me a position in the game I would simply LOVE THAT!

…I’m gonna go ahead and assume that is a serious joining attempt and accept it.

Anyways, I just wrote up the economic formula on my phone like a few hours ago, the map is pretty much completely done depending on whether we decide to modify a few small things or not, the majority of the information is typed up, and I will be home on Sunday. That means positions will be randomized then and yeah. We can start. Again. >.<;

ACK START.

State Name: BNG Baron National Government.

Civilization: Mayazorians

That’s my serious joining attempt

Color: Furious pink