A PbP Strategy Game for Erfworld

[LTDave]

Erfworld Empires
A Play-by-post forum game
By David Grounds & Ronaldo Calliari


Premise
This is a strategy game based loosely on the Erfworld Comic.
Each Player controls a small Erfworld Empire, composed of cities and units. They do combat to discover who among them can become THE GREATEST TOOL (of the Titans, of course).

This game is designed for seven players. Players post orders on the forum. A player may not post their next set of orders until all the other players have had a turn, or six days have passed since their last post. If a player misses a turn, too bad.

There is no GM, and every player’s units and stats, etc, is known to everyone. This makes a game a bit more boring, but stops one player getting burdened with all the book-keeping.

Objective
A Player is deemed to be the Winner of the Game if, at the beginning of their Turn, they control THREE Capitals. If they do so, they are THE GREATEST TOOL (of the Titans).

If a player loses their own Capital, they are out of the Game.

Map
The map is a series of Squares, 6 x 6. Squares are different to the Erfworld concept of hexes, but are easier to draw, and make it easier to work out where stuff is.

There are three terrain types – Open, Woods, and Water (white, green, blue).

All units may move into and fight in Open.
All units may move into Woods, but Fliers may not fight.
Only Fliers can move into and fight in Water.

Units may not move diagonally on the map.

Cities
Players may build cities in Open squares only. A City is marked with a circle of the appropriate colour, and a number, 1 – 5.
1 Indicates a small city – it produces 1 gold per turn.
2, 2 gold, etc.
5 indicates a Capital – it produces 5 gold per turn.

Each player starts with a Capital. New Cities may be created in any square that:
1. doesn’t already have a City
2. where the player has at least 1 unit, AND
3. that is not adjacent to a City controlled by another player.
To upgrade a City to the next level, pay Gold equal to the level desired.
To upgrade a level two to a level three, pay three gold.
Cities may upgrade multiple levels in a turn – just pay Gold for each level.
No City may be upgraded to a Capital (level 5). To win, you have to conquer two other Capitals.

Cities have a defence factor equal to its level – the number of units inside the city is multiplied by the level of the City for combat purposes.
So three units inside a level 4 City would count as 12 units for Combat purposes.

Gold
Gold is the primary resource in the Game. It is used to create and upgrade cities, create and upkeep units.
Without Gold, not much is possible. With Gold, most things are plausible.

Units
There are four kinds of units – Infantry, Cavalry, Fliers, and Siege.
All of the units count as having 1 combat point, and 1 hit point. The main difference is the distance the units can move, and the upkeep cost.

Units can only be created in Cities. One unit can be created in each City per turn, regardless of level. All Cities can create Infantry or Siege, but only level 2 Cities or higher can create Cavalry, and level 3 Cities or higher can create Fliers.

Infantry can move 1 square per turn, and cost 1 gold in upkeep.
Cavalry can move 2 squares per turn, and cost 2 gold in upkeep.
Fliers can move 3 squares per turn, and cost 3 gold in upkeep.
Siege can move ½ square per turn, and cost ½ gold in upkeep. Siege units may only move in even numbered turns, and may only be created in odd numbered turns.

Each Siege unit in an Attack lowers the level of any City defence by 1, to a minimum of 1. For example, a stack of units attacking a level 3 city has 2 siege units. The level of defence for the city is reduced to 1.

Combat
Combat happens when units of two players meet in a square.

Add the number of units on each side to a Random Number (1 to 10) generated from the time of the post. The side with the highest result is the Victor, the other side the Loser. If a tie, the Defender is the Victor.

The Victor inflicts a number of hits on the opposing side equal to two-thirds of the number of units (rounded to nearest whole number).

The Loser inflicts a number of hits on the opposing side equal to one-half of the number of units (rounded to nearest whole number).

For Example:

Transylvito has 8 units attacking Gobwin Knob’s 5.
Transylvito uses the time of the post to generate two random numbers. The first (the attacker’s) is 6. The second is 3.

Transylvito has a score of 8 (units) + 6 = 14, which beats Gobwin Knob’s 5+3 = 8.

Transylvito is the Victor, and inflicts 2/3 of 8 = 6 hits on Gobwin Knob.

Gobwin Knob is the Loser, and inflicts ½ of 6 = 3 hits on Transylvito.


If the Attacker is the Victor, all their surviving units end their turn in the attacked square. If the Attacker is the Loser, all their surviving units return to the squares from which they attacked.

If the Defender is the Victor, all their surviving units remain in the square that was attacked. If the Defender is the Loser, all their surviving units must retreat 1 square directly away from the main force of the enemy. Units which cannot enter such a square’s terrain are destroyed – as are units forced off the map.

To generate a random number, use the Erfworld Empires Spreadsheet and the “U” time. You may need to change your Forum settings to see the “U” time.


Develop-A-Mancy
Each Player has FIVE A-Mancy Points to spend on special Developments each turn.

Players may propose one Development each turn, at the Cost of ONE A-Mancy Point.
A-Mancy Points may not be stored for future turns – The Think-A-Mancers need to think in the now.

The Proposal must contain:
1. A Unique Name
2. A Game Effect
3. A bit of Fluff, explaining how it came to be.
Other players must then “RATE” the proposal based on how easy or hard it should be to discover: 1 – Easy through to 9 – Impossible.
Players have one week to give their opinion of the rating, which is then averaged between the players, and then Squared, and rounded up to the nearest whole number – this is the amount of A-Mancy points required to develop the Advance.
For Example:
Name: Dwagon Fire
Game Effect: Three Dwagons count as Four Units for Combat Purposes
Fluff: The Tool has trained his Dwagons to concentrate their fire on opposing units, maximising their effects.

Once the Development has been discovered by the proposing player, other Players may also develop it. The Original Proposing Player receives ONE additional
A-Mancy Point for each Player that studies the Development, up to a maximum of three.

For Example:
Dwagon Fire, above, has been rated by other players as an average of 3, requiring 9 A-Mancy Points to develop. The Proposing Player spends all FIVE of the next turn’s Philosophy Points, and FOUR of the following turn’s points, to discover the Development. Once discovered, other players may also develop Dwagon Fire – for each one that discovers it, the proposing player receives an additional ONE A-Mancy point to spend in their next turn (up to a maximum of three).


Turn Procedure

1. Calculate Income from Cities
2. Upgrade Cities
3. Create New Units
4. Pay Upkeep on Units (if you can’t afford upkeep, remove units until you can)
5. Make any Develop-A-Mancy decisions
6. Move Units
7. Resolve Combat (if any)
8. Post end of turn report

Steps 1 – 6 can be in one post.
Step 7 – there should be a post for each combat
Step 8 – once your turn is done, post a report stating where your units are, level of cities, etc.

Rules, Disputes, and Disagreements
These rules are inherently flawed in ways that can only be discovered in the playing. The rules can be changed by a vote on the forum. Each active player gets 1 vote, and a simple majority is required to change the rules.

[LTDave]

A prettier version of these rules can be found HERE along with the Excel Srpeadsheet mentioned above, and a fairly basic map.

I am interested in feedback, etc, and whether anyone would like to play such a game?

It is pretty basic, but I feel that is its virtue.

[turbler]

I gave it a skim, and I love it! Simple, yet fun, and true to the comic (kinda) If there are enough people I would love to play Although I kinda miss the hex mechanic, it's still great ( and it would be a little less confusing, like you said). Another thing , If something is voted as a 9 then 9^2=81 so they would use their next 16 turns of A-Mancy and their 1 point from their 17th turn after the research? or would the research finish on that 17th turn?

Nobody else wanna play?? C'mon!

[LTDave]

hey turbler. Thanks for the feedback.

To respond to your question:
Things happen in the order of the turn sequence. So a Gold-A-Many development wouldn't change the amount of Gold, since that happens at the start of the turn.

But a Move-a-mancy or Fight-a-mancy would have an immediate effect in that same turn, since Movement and Combat happen after A-Mancy decisions.


Anyone else interested?

I figure if we get five players then it'll make a good game - only three more needed!

[turbler]

ok that answered part of it, so Goldamancy would affect next turn.Wouldn't Moneymancy instead of Goldamancy to be closer to canon, And Schmuckers instead of gold? Oh, and the other part of my question. if the A-mancy points can't carry over, and something needs more than five, then what? I have a friend who likes to game but is kinda busy, so I might be able to convince him, might not.

[LTDave]

The A-Mancy points can't be stored like Gold (or Schmuckers), if not spent in a turn they are lost.

But ones that are invested in a development stay there.

In the example you give, above, on the 17th turn the player spends 1 A-Mancy finishing the development. With the remaining four they can start developing something else, propose a new A-Mancy, etc.

[President_Allosaurus]

I'd be down for doing something like this. Seems a little strange, though- you can only support one flier per city, if you wanted a flight crew. Seems pricey for the power to manuever through blue tiles..

[turbler]

A live your work, Al, and you also raise a good point about the low level of money (and by extension units) we can each use...
2 more left till we can play, c'mon you guys, we get to play erfworld.

[Crovius]

I'd be interested, though the amount of gold from city production seems a bit low. I mean it sounds like all someone has to do is Zerg rush Infantry and then Calvalry and Siege become pointless to get and Fliers are only good if you have to deal with water as an issue. I've designed a couple games like this, and if you wanted I could help figure out how to make combat more strategy based (unless you like it simple.)

I understand that Infantry is like the main unit you'd want.
Calvalry obviously can move more than Infantry.
Siege... well with this combat system siege is kinda pointless.
Fliers seem only good for getting over water and not much else.

[flatlander37]

Squares can be used in a hex pattern.

I buy big sheets of graph paper and every other row, I split the squares so they are offset. Quick hex paper on big scale.

[turbler]

so wait, do you wanna play?? Since If you're gonna than we have enough people...

[LTDave]

Ok, so in light of some of the feedback, above, I've changed a couple of things:

* Squares to Hexes
* Gold to Schmuckers
* The amount of upkeep on units
* Siege units and combat
* Combat calculations, giving combined forces an advantage in battle (so there's a reason for Flyers and Cavalry now).

Have a look, tell me what you think...


Erfworld Empires
A Play-by-post forum game
By David Grounds & Ronaldo Calliari
Version 1.1

Premise
This is a strategy game based loosely on the Erfworld Comic.
Each Player controls a small Erfworld Empire, composed of cities and units. They do combat to discover who among them can become THE GREATEST TOOL (of the Titans, of course).

This game is designed for six players. Players post orders on the forum. A player may not post their next set of orders until all the other players have had a turn, or six days have passed since their last post. If a player misses a turn, too bad.

There is no GM, and every player’s units and stats, etc, is known to everyone. This makes a game a bit more boring, but stops one player getting burdened with all the book-keeping.

Objective
A Player is deemed to be the Winner of the Game if, at the beginning of their Turn, they control THREE Capitals. If they do so, they are THE GREATEST TOOL (of the Titans).

If a player loses their own Capital, they are out of the Game.

Map
The map is a series of hexes. Hexes are designated based on their position relative to the central hex. A Hex might be 2N (North) or 5 SE (South East) – or might need a combination of two directions – 1N, 3NE.

There are three terrain types – Open, Woods, and Water (white, green, and blue).

All units may move into and fight in Open.
All units may move into Woods, but Fliers may not fight.
Only Fliers can move into and fight over Water.


Cities
Players may build cities in Open hexes only. A City is marked with a circle of the appropriate colour, and a number, 1 – 5.
1 Indicates a small city – it produces 1 Schmuckers per turn.
2, 2 Schmuckers, etc.
5 indicates a Capital – it produces 5 Schmuckers per turn.

Each player starts with a Capital. New Cities may be created in any hex that:
1. doesn’t already have a City
2. where the player has at least 1 unit, AND
3. that is not adjacent to a City controlled by another player.
To upgrade a City to the next level, pay Schmuckers equal to the level desired.
To upgrade a level two to a level three, pay three Schmuckers.
Cities may upgrade multiple levels in a turn – just pay Schmuckers for each level.
No City may be upgraded to a Capital (level 5). To win, you have to conquer two other Capitals.

Cities have a defence factor equal to its level – the number of units inside the city is multiplied by the level of the City for combat purposes.
So three units inside a level 4 City would count as 12 units for Combat purposes.

Schmuckers
Schmuckers are the primary resource in the Game. They are used to create and upgrade cities, create and upkeep units.
Without Schmuckers, not much is possible. With Schmuckers, most things are plausible.

Units
There are four kinds of units – Infantry, Cavalry, Fliers, and Siege.
All of the units count as having 1 combat point (except Siege), and 1 hit point. The main difference is the distance the units can move, and the upkeep cost.

Units can only be created in Cities. One unit can be created in each City per turn, regardless of level. All Cities can create Infantry or Siege, but only level 2 Cities or higher can create Cavalry, and level 3 Cities or higher can create Fliers.

Infantry can move 1 hex per turn, and cost 0.3 Schmuckers in upkeep.
Cavalry can move 2 hexes per turn, and cost 0.6 Schmuckers in upkeep.
Fliers can move 3 hexes per turn, and cost 0.9 Schmuckers in upkeep.
Siege can move 1 hex per turn, and cost 0.3 Schmuckers in upkeep.

Siege units do not contribute to a combat, but can be taken as a casualty. Each Siege unit in an Attack lowers the level of any City defence by 1, to a minimum of 1. For example, a stack of units attacking a level 3 city has 2 siege units. The level of defence for the city is reduced to 1.

Combat
Combat happens when units of two players meet in a hex.

Add the number of units on each side (except Siege) to a Random Number (1 to 10) generated from the time of the post, and then add the “Tactical Bonus” number.
The side with the highest result is the Victor, the other side the Loser. If a tie, the Defender is the Victor.

The “Tactical Bonus” is one additional point for the side with the majority of units of a certain type – the side with more infantry gains 1 point, the side with more cavalry gains 2 points, the side with more Flyers gains 3 points.

The Victor inflicts a number of hits on the opposing side equal to two-thirds of the number of units (rounded to nearest whole number).

The Loser inflicts a number of hits on the opposing side equal to one-third of the number of units (rounded to nearest whole number).

For Example:

Transylvito has 8 Infantry units attacking Gobwin Knob’s 5 Infantry.
Transylvito uses the time of the post to generate two random numbers. The first (the attacker’s) is 6. The second is 3.

Transylvito has a score of 8 (units) + 6 + 1 (Bonus Combat Points) = 15, which beats Gobwin Knob’s 5+3 = 8.

Transylvito is the Victor, and inflicts 2/3 of 8 = 6 hits on Gobwin Knob.

Gobwin Knob is the Loser, and inflicts 1/3 of 6 = 2 hits on Transylvito.


If the Attacker is the Victor, all their surviving units end their turn in the attacked hex. If the Attacker is the Loser, all their surviving units return to the hex from which they attacked.

If the Defender is the Victor, all their surviving units remain in the hex that was attacked. If the Defender is the Loser, all their surviving units must retreat 1 hex directly away from the main force of the enemy. Units which cannot enter such a hex’s terrain are destroyed – as are units forced off the map.

To generate a random number, use the Erfworld Empires Spreadsheet and the “U” time. You may need to change your Forum settings to see the “U” time.


Develop-A-Mancy
Each Player has FIVE A-Mancy Points to spend on special Developments each turn.

Players may propose one Development each turn, at the Cost of ONE A-Mancy Point.
A-Mancy Points may not be stored for future turns – The Think-A-Mancers need to think in the now.

The Proposal must contain:
1. A Unique Name
2. A Game Effect
3. A bit of Fluff, explaining how it came to be.
Other players must then “RATE” the proposal based on how easy or hard it should be to discover: 1 – Easy through to 9 – Impossible.
Players have one week to give their opinion of the rating, which is then averaged between the players, and then Squared, and rounded up to the nearest whole number – this is the amount of A-Mancy points required to develop the Advance.
For Example:
Name: Dwagon Fire
Game Effect: Three Dwagons count as Four Units for Combat Purposes
Fluff: The Tool has trained his Dwagons to concentrate their fire on opposing units, maximising their effects.

Once the Development has been discovered by the proposing player, other Players may also develop it. The Original Proposing Player receives ONE additional A-Mancy Point for each Player that studies the Development, up to a maximum of three.

For Example:
Dwagon Fire, above, has been rated by other players as an average of 3, requiring 9 A-Mancy Points to develop. The Proposing Player spends all FIVE of the next turn’s Philosophy Points, and FOUR of the following turn’s points, to discover the Development. Once discovered, other players may also develop Dwagon Fire – for each one that discovers it, the proposing player receives an additional ONE A-Mancy point to spend in their next turn (up to a maximum of three).

Turn Procedure

1. Calculate Income from Cities
2. Upgrade Cities
3. Create New Units
4. Pay Upkeep on Units (if you can’t afford upkeep, remove units until you can)
5. Make any Develop-A-Mancy decisions
6. Move Units
7. Resolve Combat (if any)
8. Post end of turn report

Steps 1 – 6 can be in one post.
Step 7 – there should be a post for each combat
Step 8 – once your turn is done, post a report stating where your units are, level of cities, etc.

Rules, Disputes, and Disagreements
These rules are inherently flawed in ways that can only be discovered in the playing. The rules can be changed by a vote on the forum. Each active player gets 1 vote, and a simple majority is required to change the rules.

[turbler]

To generate a random number, use the Erfworld Empires Spreadsheet and the “U” time. You may need to change your Forum settings to see the “U” time.

umm I dunno what that even means... but either way I do kinda like the new system, even though deling into decimals is sorta... odd.

[Wollem]

The "Super Easy Random Number Generator" has got to be the weirdest random number generator i have seen. What would stop me from trying out different times, and posting at the best one?

All units may move into Woods, but Fliers may not fight.

Fliers not being able to fight with enemy fliers above woods is strange. Also, does it mean that if i attack 8 fliers with 1 ground unit, it will force them to retreat without combat?

To generate a random number, use the Erfworld Empires Spreadsheet and the “U” time. You may need to change your Forum settings to see the “U” time.

I dont understand this either. What is "U" time?

Develop-a-mancy

It seems flawed - there is no incentive for any players to vote for the actual perceived level of difficulty; instead, a rational player would always vote 1 for allies and 9 for enemies.

These rules are inherently flawed in ways that can only be discovered in the playing. The rules can be changed by a vote on the forum. Each active player gets 1 vote, and a simple majority is required to change the rules.

Same goes here - allowing players to vote for the rules during the actual game will make them vote for in-game advantage rather than balance.

And i agree that decimals of schmuckets would best be avoided, inflating the other costs is better.

[turbler]

Well inflation was a problem before, I say we go back to the old upkeep system (except for siege becomes a plain 1) and inflate the income from cities. And maybe you could make it so that you have to provide a reason as to your vote for the develop-a-mancy rating??

[Crovius]

Well inflation was a problem before, I say we go back to the old upkeep system (except for siege becomes a plain 1) and inflate the income from cities. And maybe you could make it so that you have to provide a reason as to your vote for the develop-a-mancy rating??

I second this. Return the cost back to normal, increase the amount of schmuckers a city makes.

[Wollem]

That was what i think too if there was a misunderstanding.

[LTDave]

RE: INFLATION

If there's an issue here, I can go back to the other way of upkeep, and increase the amount of Gold. It just means that level one cities produce 3 gold, 2, 6, etc.
Which I think is more confusing than the other way.

What if level 1 cities produce 10, and upkeep is increased as well, so infantry have upkeep of 3?


RE: Random Numbers

This is the best way I've found for random numbers. To see the "U" time, go to your user settings, find the date and time, and add a capital letter "U" at the end of the string. This will give the time in seconds since the Unix epoch - this gives a worldwide time, irrespective of timezones, etc.

For example, the post above this one is by Wollem. I'm in Australia, so the time of his post for me appears as: Thu Oct 15, 2009 7:39 am 1255592378

Because I have the U in my time and date, the 1255592378 represents the U time. 1.2 billion seconds have passed since the Unix Epoch. Which is nice.

This number can be used to generate the random number - so posting the post is actually the roll of the dice.


Is this open to manipulation? Absolutely.

You can look at the results for the seconds ahead, but can you guarantee you'll push 'submit' bang on the second?
The best way to stop manipulation is to use a forum that won't let you delete a post.



FLYERS IN WOODS

This was just to make some units more powerful in some places. It isn't a true reflection of Erfworld - but it adds a level of complexity to the combat system. Which is nice.
Flyers attacked in woods just don't count their combat factors. They can still be destroyed.


DEVELOP-A-MANCY and VOTING

I guess I have a different view of human nature on this one.
Also, today's ally may well be tomorrow's enemy.


The disadvatage of rating an ally's tech low is that it makes it easy for everyone to develop - remember, you can develop other people's techs as soon as they develop them.

As to voting, this could be increased to a 2/3rds majority, or one player could just be designated the "GM" and make changes as needed.


Any other thoughts?

[turbler]

the u function is interesting. anybody here gone on gaia online and seen the dice roll post action system? it's simple, effcient, and these guys don't have it :S but I suppose U will do. I like the 3 shmuckers to a level of city thing. I think that as long as that is implemented we are ready to play maybe you could mass PM everyone who's shown interest? Love the game and can wait to play, by the way dave:)

[LTDave]

I've been thinking some more about the A-Mancy developments.

Would people be happier if there was just a list of developments already created - like a tech tree, rather than proposing and voting? Would that seem more fair to people?

I'm going to be pretty busy for a couple more weeks (moving house, etc), but would be keen to start this game shortly-ish.

Anyone else really interested?