Of Nations and States: Reborn

[USSRGirl]

Okay, here we go - hope it meets the standard.

Character Sheet:

Name: Cadbury Augustus Constantine

Age: 35

Race: Chimera

Physical Description:

History: C. Constantine is the name emblazoned on his office door, though he is known as “Cadbury” to close friends. His father was head of the banker clan until he suffered an unfortunate accident and fell from a fifth story window. Many suspect Constantine was behind the deed. True or not, Constantine succeeded his late father and gained both wealth and influence – a chance to spread his wings and show the world what he could do.
From his cub years, Constantine had always lived under a strict code. The sole heir to a wealthy family, he learned languages, etiquette, business management skills, when to nod and say “yes, ma’am” “no, ma’am.” Few suspected that within the well-mannered cub’s three heads insanity had begun to boil and crack like an overdone egg. By his teen years, the chimera’s true ruthlessness had begun to shine through. As an adult, he is cold and merciless under a polite façade. He claims he had a vision of a human woman telling him it was time he murdered his father and seized what was rightfully his – the banker clan empire.

Skills (limited to 10 for the entire RP, though you don't have to list them all now, choose and plan wisely): His snake head is poisonous, his goat head is a smooth talker, and the lion head is the one with the teeth. He speaks multiple languages and possesses a great deal of business know how and global expertise. While weaker on the physical side, Constantine would sooner hide behind his wallet and his power of influence than take on an enemy with his own two paws. He is a capable commander behind an army, however, as he runs his late father’s empire much like a military regime.

Miscellaneous facts: Hates grilled cheese sandwiches. Like watching foreign films and taking yoga lessons.

Nation Sheet:

Name: The Banker Clan of Chimrajh (generally known as simply “the banker clan” or “the banking nation.”)
Location: The heart of Eastern Europe

Dominant Race (whatever race is in control): Chimera

Recent History: The banker clan operates similar to a world bank. A wealthy and prosperous nation, they offer loans to developing countries to further progress civilization. However, exorbitant interest rates make the debt difficult to pay off. If it is not paid under the allotted time period, the clan has the right to seize a nation’s land instead. Indebted nations are subject to certain controls by the clan until the debt is paid.

Other information: Chimera are an affluent and intelligent race despite their animal appearance. Each head operates as one individual, not as a separate entity. The serpent head is venomous.

Titan Sheet

Name: T4 Lion

Pilot: Constantine

Weapons: Homing missiles, spy bugs, defense shields, scatter bombs.

[Jingo Jaden]

Indeed, join the fun! Trade shall prosper if you see so fit. Our main currency is randomness, but we can also trade humor and irony if it should be needed.

[USSRGirl]

Character Sheet:

Name: Cadbury Augustus Constantine

Age: 35

Race: Chimera

Physical Description: http://th09.deviantart.net/fs70/150/i/2010/207/3/f/Baby_Chimera_by_x_Mimik_x.jpg
History: C. Constantine is the name emblazoned on his office door, though he is known as “Cadburyâ€

[USSRGirl]

Character Sheet:

Name: Cadbury Augustus Constantine

Age: 35

Race: Chimera

Physical Description: http://th09.deviantart.net/fs70/150/i/2010/207/3/f/Baby_Chimera_by_x_Mimik_x.jpg

History: C. Constantine is the name emblazoned on his office door, though he is known as “Cadbury” to close friends. His father was head of the banker clan until he suffered an unfortunate accident and fell from a fifth story window. Many suspect Constantine was behind the deed. True or not, Constantine succeeded his late father and gained both wealth and influence – a chance to spread his wings and show the world what he could do.
From his cub years, Constantine had always lived under a strict code. The sole heir to a wealthy family, he learned languages, etiquette, business management skills, when to nod and say “yes, ma’am” “no, ma’am.” Few suspected that within the well-mannered cub’s three heads insanity had begun to boil and crack like an overdone egg. By his teen years, the chimera’s true ruthlessness had begun to shine through. As an adult, he is cold and merciless under a polite façade. He claims he had a vision of a human woman telling him it was time he murdered his father and seized what was rightfully his – the banker clan empire.

Skills (limited to 10 for the entire RP, though you don't have to list them all now, choose and plan wisely): His snake head is poisonous, his goat head is a smooth talker, and the lion head is the one with the teeth. He speaks multiple languages and possesses a great deal of business know how and global expertise. While weaker on the physical side, Constantine would sooner hide behind his wallet and his power of influence than take on an enemy with his own two paws. He is a capable commander behind an army, however, as he runs his late father’s empire much like a military regime.

Miscellaneous facts: Hates grilled cheese sandwiches. Like watching foreign films and taking yoga lessons.

Nation Sheet:

Name: The Banker Clan of Chimrajh (generally known as simply “the banker clan” or “the banking nation.”)

Location: Territory 53

Dominant Race (whatever race is in control): Chimera

Recent History: The banker clan operates similar to a world bank. A wealthy and prosperous nation, they offer loans to developing countries to further progress civilization. However, exorbitant interest rates make the debt difficult to pay off. If it is not paid under the allotted time period, the clan has the right to seize a nation’s land instead. Indebted nations are subject to certain controls by the clan until the debt is paid.

Other information: Chimera are an affluent and intelligent race despite their animal appearance. Each head operates as one individual, not as a separate entity. The serpent head is venomous.

Titan Sheet

Name: T4 Lion

Pilot: Constantine

Weapons: Homing missiles, spy bugs, defense shields, scatter bombs.

[USSRGirl]

Thanks for the welcome.

Edit: Nevermind, it's up.

[goldenspines]

Oh, sorry about that Septimus. I should have checked this thread sooner. Your previous posts got caught in the filter because they were long (happens to every new member, so don't worry about it).


Your nation sounds formidable. You're even close to my nation on the map. O:

[USSRGirl]

No worries - thanks for putting it up! :3

Mufufufu *villain laugh* I'm sure you don't have any reason to worry.

[Peanut]

All right Septimus, you are pretty much all set. All you need is a Nation Ability to start with and you should be fine. You can find the list on the first page of this thread.

[Kaligraphic]

Character Sheet:
Name: Scaramouche
Age: (conversion error) (adult)
Race: Aikon
Physical Description: A tall Aikon, with shoulder-length wavy light grey hair gathered at the back, in a military uniform unknown on Earth.
History: "Scaramouche", as he calls himself, showed up one day as the captain of a large starship of unfamiliar design. He tells wild, contradictory, impossible, and utterly absurd stories about what happened before that.
Skills (limited to 10 for the entire RP, though you don't have to list them all now, choose and plan wisely): (data unavailable)
Miscellaneous facts:

Nation Sheet:
Name: Whisperer in the Dark
Dominant Race (whatever race is in control): mixed-race crew, captain is an Aikon
Recent History: Whisperer in the dark only recently entered the Sol system, obviously badly mauled by a much superior foe.
Other information: No actual territory, this is just the crew of the Whisperer. The only territory they actually own is their ship.

Titan Sheet
Name: Whisperer in the Dark
Captain: Scaramouche
Weapons: Prismatic beam cannons, shard cannons, missile tubes (blocked) (no missiles left), anything else they can get working again.
Description: Whisperer in the Dark is a starship. It is an Obsidian Intelligence light cruiser - designed for long-term deployment and equipped with absurdly expensive communication and computation equipment, albeit sacrificing much of its internal magazine space to computers. Whisperer in the Dark begins the game damaged, and may recover functionality as it manages to feed its repair systems.

[Peanut]

Welcome aboard Kali with your wondrous Ship of shiplyness.

[Peanut]

Welcome aboard Kali with your wondrous Ship of shiplyness.

[goldenspines]

Adding another character to give myself some more versatility.

Character Sheet:
Name: General Flyn Hei
Age: 47
Race: Nekojin
Physical Description: Stands about 4'1". Sandy colored fur. Fairly muscular; he can tote around and use a good size gun with no trouble.
History: He comes from a long line of military officers, but he only recently became the head general of the Nekojin military force. He's a very hands/paws on general and is not content to sit in the back and just strategize. He likes to be part of the actions. He currently acts as a diplomat and the right hand of Acela.
Skills (limited to 10 for the entire RP, though you don't have to list them all now, choose and plan wisely): The trademark Nekojin intelligence; he is known for being able to think quick on his feet in the heat of battle or even in simple diplomatic matters. He is very good at fixing most machines as well.
Miscellaneous facts: He has known Acela since she was 10 years old and he enjoys fishing.

[Dante]

Introducing the ZODEAC Titan, an ancient powerful relic from Tensor-Industries, with advanced sensor system and anti-warp capabilities. It's my happy little over-powered unit designed in the spirit of the old days, with less explosive power and more of a jujitsu style attack that should make it quite potent on the battlefield.

Name: T.E.M.M.I.I. (Tactically Extreme Mechanical Military Infernal Invader)
Pilot: Lexya Valhalla
Weapons & Design: (From the On-Board Computer) (Scroll to post 21)

[Peanut]

Since I mentioned it earlier, here are the new rules

1. Contact the region you wish to buy.

2. Negotiate a price with that region. Since you do not own that region, I will take control their reactions to whatever you are suggesting.

3. Once a price has been settled on, pay for it with an equivalent number of economic units.

Also, because his race needs a unique nation ability, I've created a special nation ability for Septimus that he has agreed too. Unlike the other ones, this one cannot be bought from the Black Market but can be researched similar to Tech if you meet certain criteria:

1. It must involve horrific, mad science experiments.

2. It has to fit your nation. So, if you're playing a nice, wonderful, ethical nation that wouldn't engage in unethical experiments, you can't research anything that will give you this ability.

Now for some information about the ability itself. I'll note that since I'm limiting who can actually get access to it, I'll probably create something for more ethical nations as well.

Fear-Cuts opposing force by 1 dice roll with equal number of sides as the number of the force (for instance, an opposing force of 13 would result in a 13 sided dice roll...and yes, I can do that because I'm just that awesome.)

[goldenspines]

Interesting nation ability; it seems to fit Sept's nation quite well. ^__^


New character because I need to get stuff done and that cannot be accomplish with only two characters at the present moment.

Character Sheet:
Name: Tifer Li
Age: 25
Race: Nekojin (may be part human/nekojin hybrid, but there is no physical evidence of this)
Physical Description: Stands about 3'10". Pitch black fur, unusually large golden eyes (even for a Nekojin, he is sometimes teased for still being too "kitten-like"). He has a very, very short tail and rather springy legs.
History: He's not exactly built for fighting (too skinny and not very muscular), but Tifer joined the military at the age of 20. When asked why, he claims he did it for a friend, yet he seems to remain a loner for the most part. Even though he is overly nice to everyone, he never gets very close to anyone. Rumor has it he grew up with the pilot of the Titan, Kamen Rider (though since no one knows who pilots the Kamen Rider, this is all speculation as well) and that is the friend he refer to. After exhibiting his skills of being able to resolve many fights that would sometimes break out between his fellow soldiers, General Flyn decided the better place for him would be behind a desk, making negotiations. Flyn recommended Tifer to Lady Acela and after some time of interviewing him, she bestowed Tifer the position of her personal diplomat. While most of his work would be behind a desk, writing letters, he would still be able to travel if need be.
Skills (limited to 10 for the entire RP, though you don't have to list them all now, choose and plan wisely): He can jump higher than the average Nekojin. He is quite the peacemaker, but can often act a bit sneaky at times.
Miscellaneous facts: He is one the few Nekojins who will talk to the humans and hybrids living in The Nation of Ark.

[Peanut]

So remember when I said I was making a minor update to the rules? Well, that turned out to be false. First of all, I'm changing around the schedule for how I am doing updates since, now that I'm working again, time is getting tighter for me. From this day forward, the cut-off for each update is on Wednesday instead of Saturday. There is no more grace period, if you don't tell me what you are going to do for that specific turn, then its your loss. I will be posting these updates now on Saturday instead of Monday-Wednesday. I've found that these updates take a lot of time to complete and write up and the time I have free to do them is quickly disappearing. With this new schedule, I should be able to consistently release updates and not be cramming at the end to get them up. Next, I've changes some things in both the economic and military system to both cover a flaw and mold the rules to how I've actually been using them. I've marked the changes in bold.

-Investment: Gives a 25% bonus to Investing (discount for selling, increase for buying).

Mil System:

-Each region and country has a military score.

-Military score is essentially the total number of units a nation has.

-After conquering your first region, each military unit costs .1 economic units per turn to keep supplied and happy. If you are unable to pay, then the countries military will rebel and overthrow your government.

-Combat is determined by military movements made by the players (can be as detailed as they want) followed by dice rolls to determine damage.

-Military strength in combat is determined by total military score sent into combat and the military bonus.

-Other bonuses can be added on the spot for having an attack be rather detailed. Without tactics, success determined by 1 d12(1-3:failure; 4-9: moderate success; 10-12: huge success). Failure means no bonus.

-losing units are destroyed/disbanded.

-Combat is done by dice rolls equal to the number of troops involved; highest number wins, tie goes to the defender.

-Titan's effect:Automatically destroy military in the same area unless the opposing force is accompanied by a Titan.

-Titan's cannot conquer areas on their own and must be accompanied by at least 3 Military units.

-A minimum of 3 military units must be used in any offensive action.

-ZPEB: ZPEB's are scattered around the playing field (15 in total). These one time use weapons have the same effect as Titan's except they can both stop a Titan and eliminate an army at the same time.

-Other Super weapons can be built by the players but are limited to one per person, must have a failure rate and cannot match the power of a ZPEB or Titan.

-take hold of a state when it's military score reaches 0, or if score is low enough for successful diplomacy (below 50% military strength; d12 roll higher then 6).

Econ System:

-Besides purchasing, the main component will be the player stock market.

-Each player has 100 units of stock to sell.

-Player, to start with, has direct control over 60 of these units, 40 are placed for sale to begin with. The other 60 can be put up for sale by the player if they are desperate for economic units.

-Price of stock is determined by the economic strength of that player with a base price of 1 economic unit.

-When stock is bought, money is given to the player giving a temporary economic boost and, in turn, increasing the price of their stock.

-Investors gain a portion of the player's economic growth based on the percentage of that each investor owns (spoils of war being the initial boast from conquering that territory).

-Economic growth results in a pay off equal to the percentage owned by the player.

-The stocks each player has bought can also be sold based off of the current price of the stock. The economic units from this sale will go directly into the player's own economic score, boosting it instantly.

-When stocks are purchased in an economy, the amount that goes to a player is .6 what was paid. The other .4 are divided by the number of regions the player owns. That number is then added to the economic growth score of each area the player owns.

-When stocks are sold, that amount is decreased in an equivalent fashion.

-All trade transactions must be told to the GM (via pm) by all players involved otherwise no change in the scores will occur.

Finally, I'll be posting up an explanation of sorts of how I've been calculating military combat...I'd recommend you read it.

[Peanut]

Combat: A Case Study

All right, so I figure that something that might help all of you in your strategizing and planning and backstabbing and stuff would be if I actually explained how I've been calculating combat. Seeing as how the rules I wrote are rather vague on this process, I've had to improvise what has turned out to be a pretty effective system so far. After some though, I figured it would be better to show it instead of just telling you all how I've been doing it. I should mention that this system hasn't been solidified until now really, however it is not that different then the system I started with. Anyway, meet the nations of Bob and Joe. Both of these nations are about to engage in combat in a single region that doesn't actually exist (just like them!). Before anything is done, the players who own these nations send to me the following information:
Bob
Military Units being used: 6
Military Bonus: Tactics (+3)
Technology being used: Awesome Air Plane (+2)

Joe
Military Units being used: 5
Military Bonus: Military Leadership (+4 by using General McFurry)
Technology being used: Awesome Ship (+3)

As you can see, each nation has given me a number of military units they are sending into the territory, their military bonuses (which I would have known already), and the technology being used. To explain what the number next to the technology listed is and does, it is used to calculate the technology's effect within combat. It works the same was as the military bonus and is used with it to create a modifier (more on that in a minute). Now, usually, the first thing I do is check to see if the players are using any Nation Abilities that activate before combat like Fear or Assassination, their Titan, or any other specified move that could cause a portion of the force to either not fight or be out of comission. All of these affect the overall military score or its modifier that is being used in combat. Neither of these nations are using them so they can be disregarded for this example. With that step out of the way and our forces completely set for combat, its time to figure out who wins the fight.

I usually start with the invading army (or armies) first in this process. I haven't specificied whose invading who in this example so, I'll just start with Bob. The order I address these countries in really doesn't change anything so, choosing to look at one before the other doesn't give either nation an advantage. The Nation of Bob is using 6 military units in this attack so, I roll a 6 sided die to give myself an idea of how this nation's military has performed in combat. After rolling the die, this is the number that came up:

4

However, this is not the final total on the roll for Bob. Because of the military bonus he gets from Tactics, the number 3 is added to this total:

4+3=7

This is called a modifier and it is basically a way to adjust the dice roll to better reflect the strength of a force. Technology as well is used as a modifier in combat. Bob sent with his force his Awesome Air Plane's which give him a +2 bonus. This changes the total like so:

4+3+2=9

Technology is counted only once in combat for simplicities sake. This is also why I've chosen a single digit number to represent it. This number is assigned to the technology when I receive your tech reports and is unchanging. I've restricted the number to single digits because any larger and it discourages using multiple pieces of technology. This also creates the assumption (on my part) that when you are using a specific piece of technology in combat, you are using more then just one of them within your own army. This eliminates the need for you to supply me with the precise number of pieces of technology you are sending into combat making life much easier for all of us. The one exception is single items purchased from the Black Market. Because you are purchasing a single item/unit/whatever you want to call it, it's assumed that it isn't in widespread use within your own military. Therefore, its affect is smaller and is depicted by a number that is lower then 1.

Now the question you might be asking now is what does this number mean? The answer is nothing until I've produced a similar number for the other force. The key in this combat system, you see, is not to roll the highest possible number (though that helps) but to have a higher number then your opponent. So before we can figure out how well Bob has done, we need to produce a similar number for the Nation of Joe. This number turned out to be:
1+4+3=8

So for Bob, we have a total of 9 and for Joe we have a total of 8. Because Bob has the higher number, that nation has won this combat situation. Now comes the next part which is determining the amount of damage done. The losing force always does d4 damage. This means, I roll a 4 sided die to determine how much damage is done to the winning force since it is assumed that both sides will have casualties. This also limits the chance that the loosing force will do more damage then the winning force unless the battle was somewhat close. In this scenario, Joe caused 4 military units worth of casualties to Bob's force, reducing Bob's overall force from 6 to 2.

The victor rolls a dice whose number of sides is nearest to the difference between each of the numbers produced in combat. The difference in this case was

9-8=1

So, the closest dice I have access to via the internet that matches this total is also a 4 sided dice. Bob rolled a 4 as well so Joe's force is reduced to 1. You might see what seems to be a problem here. In this scenario, if Bob had rolled less then a 4, then how exactly did he win? My answer is pretty simple: last stand. Based on the numbers, this fight was very close and therefore a situation where the winning force may have come away with more casualties is believable. In fact, in the RP, we've already had 2 of these situations though they've been with the NPC Pacifican Empire. Twice in one turn, the Pacifican forces were wiped out but won the combat, so, they kept the region they were defending. Anyway, with the combat done and both forces still somewhat intact, I return the attacking force to the nearest territory (for time being) and leave the defending force alone. This is just a way for me to keep the number organized for when I produce the updates. I wouldn't want any of your guys military forces disappearing mysteriously because of GM error now would I?

Anyway, I hope this expample has been enlightening for you and has helped you understand how I am calculating things for combat. I also hope that it has made you realize the one key to winning any military combat situation; have a higher modifier then you're opponent or figure out a way to reduce their modifier and/or total military force. Jaden, for instance, did this brilliantly when he took region 39. You'd be surprised what being detailed with your descriptions of how you want to attack a specific region can do for you. You'd also be surprised what having superior technology can do for you and, in fact, is probably how some of the battles later on will be won. So don't neglect your Technology folks.

[Dante]

Let's just wait and see about this.