Erfworld Empires Strategy Game Rules Draft 1.3b

[turbler]

I think it would add a bit more depth if the casters had levels, and juice that increased with levels, and that they had multiple abilities with different requirements. I do think that the resting thing is quite fair for strong abilities, though.

[Sinrus]

That could get a bit complicated.

[Crovius]

Yeah, lets wait till version 1.4 before we start making a more complicated magic system.

[LTDave]

Ok, so here's the final version of the rules before we go into the game.

A reminder that they can be found here: http://sites.google.com/site/erfworldempires/files

You will need to download the spreadsheet and may like to get the map from here as well.

Players are expected to use the spreadsheet so their information is kept clear for everyone else, and to calculate their own combats. The Combat page should calculate most things automatically, but if you have a character that influences combat (like a Heal-O-Mancer, you'll need to adjust for that yourself. It does Warlords automatically.


Here's the rules for the game:

Erfworld Empires
A Play-by-post forum game
By David Grounds & Ronaldo Calliari
FINAL Version 1.3d

Premise
This is a turn based 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).

Players post orders on the forum. A player may not post their next set of orders until all the other players have also posted their next turn, or six days have passed since their last post.

There is no GM, and every player’s units and stats are known to everyone. Players are expected to be honest, but other players should keep an eye on each other to ensure there are no errors in movement, expenses, etc.

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 last Capital, they have one turn to retake it. If they do not hold a Capital at the end of their next turn, they are out of the Game. All of their cities and units are removed.

Map
The map is a series of hexes. Hexes are named in columns, left to right (A to J), and numbered, top to bottom (1 to 10). For the purposes of this game, the map is a cylinder, that is, A1 is adjacent to A10, as well as B1, B2, and A2. D1 is adjacent to six hexes, C10, D10, E10, E1, D2, C1.



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. Fliers may be taken as casualties in woods, but do not count for Combat Bonuses.
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 10 Schmuckers per turn.
2, 20 Schmuckers, 3, 30, 4, 40.
5 indicates a Capital – it produces 50 Schmuckers per turn.

Each player starts with a Capital and two other cities. New Cities may be created in any open hex:
1. That doesn’t already have a City
2. Where the player has at least 1 unit, AND
3. That is not adjacent to any other City.
New Cities cost 10 Schmuckers to build.
To upgrade a City to the next level, pay Schmuckers equal to the level desired x 10.
e.g. To upgrade a level two to a level three, pay Thirty Schmuckers.
Cities may not upgrade multiple levels in a turn.
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 calculating Hits inflicted.
So three units inside a level 4 City would count as 12 units for calculating casualties.
This multiplication does not count for combat bonuses – three flyers in a level 3 city do not count as 9 for combat bonuses.

Schmuckers
Schmuckers are the primary resource in the Game. They are used to create and upgrade cities, and upkeep units.

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 popped (created) in Cities. One unit can be popped in each City per level; e.g. A Level 3 city can pop 3 units in a turn. All Cities can pop Infantry, but only level 3 Cities or higher can pop Cavalry or Siege, and only level 4 Cities or higher can pop Fliers. Units cannot pop in a City that has been built this turn.

Infantry can move 2 hexes in the open, and 1 in woods per turn, and cost 3 Schmuckers in upkeep.
Cavalry can move 3 hexes in open, or 1 hex in woods per turn, and cost 6 Schmuckers in upkeep.
Fliers can move 3 hexes (open, water, and woods) per turn, and cost 9 Schmuckers in upkeep.
Siege can move 1 hex (open or woods) per turn, and cost 6 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 a player moves units into a hex containing units of another player. All movement happens before any combat is fought.

Take 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 “Superior”, the other side “Inferior”. If a tie, the Defender is “Superior”.

The “Tactical Bonus” is additional points 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 1 point, the side with more Flyers gains 1 point (if both sides have equal numbers of a unit type, the Defender gains the bonus).

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

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

The side which inflicts the most hits is the Victor, the other side the loser. If a tie, the Defender is Victor.

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 6 + 1 (Bonus Combat Point) = 7, which beats Gobwin Knob’s 3+0 = 3.

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

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

Transylvito is the Victor, inflicting more hits than Gobwin Knob.

Casualties
The player controlling the units decides which ones are taken as casualties.

Retreats
If the Attacker is the Victor, all their surviving units end their turn in the attacked hex. If the attacked hex is a city, the city is captured at its current level.
If the Attacker is the Loser, all their surviving units return to the adjacent hex(es) 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 (ie – most of their units – if there is an even split, the Defender may choose which hex they retreat to).
Units which cannot enter such a hex’s terrain are destroyed – as are units forced off the map.

Attacking Retreating Defenders
Player 1 attacks player 2 and wins. Player 2’s surviving units retreat automatically, but Player 2 hasn’t logged in to list which units are casualties and which are not. Player 3 is impatient, and wants to stick the boot into Player 2’s defeated army. What should he do?
1. Assume that Player 2 has taken the least useful units as casualties first (ie, siege, then infantry, then cavalry, then flyers (unless in woods, then flyers before Infantry and Cavalry))
2. Calculate combat and results
3. When Player 2 logs in, they may choose which units were actually taken as casualties from both combats (if any are left) – but combat is not recalculated.

Random Numbers
To generate a random number, use the Erfworld Empires Spreadsheet (download from (WEBSITE TO COME)) and the time of the attacking post in minutes and seconds as one number.

For example, you create a post outlining the attack. Click Submit. Have a look at the post. The time might be: 10:24:36 am. Enter the number 2436 into the appropriate part of the spreadsheet, and this will generate the random numbers for combat. You may need to change your Forum settings to see the time in seconds.

Characters
Each Empire may have up to THREE Characters. A Character is not a unit, and does not count towards combat casualties. A Character is destroyed if all the friendly units in the same hex are destroyed. Characters cost 10 Schmuckers a turn in upkeep, and can only be popped in a Capital. Capitals that pop a Character may not pop any units in that turn. Characters move as Flyers.
Characters fall broadly into two categories – Warlords, and Casters.

Warlords – Warlords have a level, 1 to 9. They are popped at level 1, and for each Victorious Attack in which they are involved, gain 1 level. In a combat, the side with the higher ranked Warlord gains +1 to the Tactical Bonus. If the levels are tied, the defender gains +1. If either side does not have a Warlord, their Tactical Bonus is -1. If one side has two Warlords, only the highest ranked counts.

In addition, for each level of the Warlord, the attacking player may specify which units of the opposition are casualties. For example, a player with a level 2 Warlord inflicts four casualties. The attacker may declare that two of the casualties are Flyers. The Defender may choose the other casualties at their own discretion.

Casters – There are a variety of Casters, each with different skills:

Croak-A-Mancer – in a victorious attack, one half (round down) of the opposing casualties are ‘uncroaked’ and become part of your faction. Your side may not have a Croak-A-Mancer and a Heal-O-Mancer.

Econ-A-Mancer – each turn an Econ-A-Mancer spends in the capital, the side gains +15% Gold.

Fool-A-Mancer – At the beginning of the turn, any units with a Fool-A-Mancer may move 1 additional hex.

Think-A-Mancer – For each Think-A-Mancer in the Capital, a side may add +1 to the Tactical Bonus of an attack anywhere on the map – this represents superior command and control.

Heal-A-Mancer – Casualties in Attacks are reduced by half (rounded down). Only one Heal-A-Mancer per combat.

Ditto-A-Mancer – A Dittomancer doubles the number of units in an attack – so 5 count as 10. BUT this is a draining exercise, and the Dittomancer will take 2 turns to restore their JUICE, and may make no actions until the 3rd turn.

Dirt-A-Mancer – the Upgrade cost of any City is HALVED if a Dirt-A-Mancer is present.

Cancel-A-Mancer – In a combat, the effects of all enemy A-Mancers are ignored if a Cancel-A-Mancer is present. Note: A Cancel-A-Mancer cannot cancel a Cancel-A-Mancer

Luck-A-Mancer – The Player may “re-roll” the random numbers in any combat with a Luck-A-Mancer present. The second set of rolls must be accepted. The Luck-A-Mancer must then rest for one turn to restore their juice.

Auto-Pilot
If a Player does not take their turn twice in a row, their Empire defaults to Auto-Pilot. The Player acting next in the sequence must make a report for the absent player.
No Schmuckers are generated, and no upkeep costs are paid.
All Cities pop the maximum amount of Infantry. No units may move or attack.
No Characters may perform any actions.
Should a player return to the game after Auto-Pilot, they will find themselves burdened with many low level units and high maintenance to pay.

Turn Procedure

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

Steps 1 –5 can be in one post.
Step 6 – there should be a post for each combat
Step 7 – 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 two-thirds majority is required to change the rules.

Beginning the Game
1. Indicate you want to play via this forum
2. Choose an Empire Name, Leader Name, Colour, etc.
3. Choose one of the starting locations (1 to 5) on the map for your capital.
4. Choose a location for a level 3 and a level 2 City. They must be within two hexes of at least 1 other city of yours.
5. Choose and deploy six units within 2 hexes of your capital.
THIS IS TURN 0.
Cities and Units may not be built, nor cities upgraded this turn.
Unit upkeep must be paid.
Empires start with 0 schmuckers, but will earn 100 schmuckers at the start of the turn.

[LTDave]

I'm going to start another thread for the actual game, but this thread is for discussion of rules, etc.

Please keep the other thread only for your orders, combats, etc. Discussion needs to stay here.

We have five players registered:

Sinrus
turbler
Charlie
crovius
LTDave

So we'll go with them, but if anyone drops out we'll have room for someone else.

I've added some numbers to the map as starting locations, and put in some rules for if players don't post orders.

We'll start turn 0 from today, and get under way once six days have passed or everyone has performed their turn 0.

[Sinrus]

Hey, how do I get the seconds to appear?

But I only need that for combat so I'll take my first turn...

[LTDave]

I believe you got to the user control panel, then in the board preference under global settings you change your time display to custom and put in D M d, Y g:i s a That will show Date Month day, Year then 12 hour time:minutes seconds and then am/pm.

Also I'm ready.

[Sinrus]

Thanks got it.

Also, I would still like to add in a turnamancer character who lets the city he's in produce an extra unit per turn.

And what are the characters' stats? Same as infantry?

[Crovius]

Do they even add to the count of units according to our current rolls? All I remember reading about is that as long as you've got 1 other units they're the last to fall. Does that mean if All I have is my Lv 8 Wrlord and his last Infantry, if that 1 Infantry dies the warlord gets taken down too?

Honestly I think Warlord should be strong, like the count for a number of Infantry equal to their level +1 or +2. That wat if all I have is my Warlord he still fights much better than unled Infantry. Like for example we say we go with a Warlord counts as a number of infantry equal to tehir level +2. So my Lv 3 Warlord counts as 5 Infantry (just for # of hits and offense). He also gets his +1 Leadership bonus. An enemy group of 4 unled Infantry challenge him. They take a -1 penalty because they have no Character leading them, but they will get the +1 tactical bonus (cause the warlord has fewer actual Infantry units). So the Warlord is gonna add 6 to his random number and the 4 Infantry are gonna add 4. Win or lose the Warlord isn't gonna die right away, infact if he wins he kills 2 of them, if he loses he still gets 1. But He'll be injured.

Next roudn they keep fighitng. Let's say the warord lost the first fight so there are 3 Infantry because he at least got 1. He loses again, kiling another but taking 2 damage (they did 2 damage last round too). Now with only 2 left, next round, win or lose, he's only got 1 hit so he will die and take 1 of them down with him. So even losign the whole time he still killed 3 units.

These rules are more-so for warlord rather than casters, but it is something that would be cool to try. I mean 1 level 3 Warlord can kill 3 out of 4 Infantry units by him/herself before they croak him/her. And technically that's if s/he loses all 3 times. If the warlord had one the first match the Warlord would have mopped the floor with them and also leveled up. So Warlords facing off = awesome battles... you know, if people are up for roleplaying some of the action.

[Sinrus]

It seems a bit complex... I think they should just count as two of three infantry for combat, but dies from one hit.

[LTDave]

Sinrus - the Cities produce multiple units already - one per level. Would it really be worth having a character that increases this by one?
If yes, I think it would be called a Pop-A-Mancer.

As to Characters and Combat, I have a different view of the scale here.
As the rules stand, Characters influence combat (Warlords, Heal-A-Mancers, etc) but don't add measurably to it.

That's because what I call a unit is represented in the comic by thousands of units. A unit of infantry isn't one guy with a spear, it's a thousand guys with spears.
So the Characters are powerful yes, but not up to a thousand guys with spears. In the comic, Ansom gets croaked by a single twoll, and we have the stats for the twoll, so Ansom can't be all that special. In consort with other units, and in leadership, yes, very special.

Combat in erfworld is about multipliers - which I've tried to represent with the tactical bonuses. If you've got a warlord attacking a non warlord stack, you're already up +2, which will help you be the superior side, and inflict the most hits.

[Sinrus]

Sinrus - the Cities produce multiple units already - one per level. Would it really be worth having a character that increases this by one?
If yes, I think it would be called a Pop-A-Mancer.

As to Characters and Combat, I have a different view of the scale here.
As the rules stand, Characters influence combat (Warlords, Heal-A-Mancers, etc) but don't add measurably to it.

That's because what I call a unit is represented in the comic by thousands of units. A unit of infantry isn't one guy with a spear, it's a thousand guys with spears.
So the Characters are powerful yes, but not up to a thousand guys with spears. In the comic, Ansom gets croaked by a single twoll, and we have the stats for the twoll, so Ansom can't be all that special. In consort with other units, and in leadership, yes, very special.

Combat in erfworld is about multipliers - which I've tried to represent with the tactical bonuses. If you've got a warlord attacking a non warlord stack, you're already up +2, which will help you be the superior side, and inflict the most hits.

Oh, now it all makes sense.

[Crovius]

Yeah, I don't recall you ever saying that each unit counts as a thousand. That puts it into better perspective.

[LTDave]

Hey.

I've PM'ed turbler, and when I get a PM I get an email, so he might have gotten an email too. But he's got a few more days until turn 1 officially begins.

I suggest that if we don't hear from him by then, we deploy his cities as follows: Capital in B3, Level 2 in C1, Level 3 in A1. 2 Infantry in each to start - and he goes on Autopilot until he turns up or another player wants to take the place.

Any thoughts?

[Sinrus]

Alright, that sounds good to me.

[Sinrus]

I think that there's a problem with the combat generator. I ran 2 siege and 7 infantry attacking an empty city and it said that the attackers lost. I personally fail to see how this is possible.

Also, will turbler's turn still be skipped if he doesn't post by tomorrow even though he has said something?

[LTDave]

Sinrus,
There is a problem with the Combat calculator, but mine is different to yours.

It is possible for the Attacker in your scenario to be "Inferior", that is, tactically, they cause less damage than they otherwise might.
But the winner of the combat is the side that causes most hits. An army with 0 units cannot cause any hits.

I ran the scenario you suggest and got this outcome:

COMBAT!
Battle is joined in hex: E9
TIME OF POST (minutes and seconds): 4911
Attacker: 0 Fliers
0 Cavalry
7 Infantry
2 Siege
0 Level Warlord
Total Combat Factors: 7
Random Number: 2
Tactical Bonus Result: 0
Total Combat: 2
Combat Result: INFERIOR
Hits Inflicted: 2

Defender: 0 Fliers
0 Cavalry
0 Infantry
0 Siege
3 Defence Factor (City Level less Siege - minimum of 1)
0 Level Warlord
Total Combat Factors: 0
Random Number: 1
Tactical Bonus Result: 1
Total Combat: 2
Combat Result: SUPERIOR
Hits Inflicted: 0

VICTORY TO: ATTACKER

The important line is this last one - as long as the attacker inflicts at least 1 hit more than the defender, they are victorious.

Is this different to the result you got?

If there had been even 1 Infantry in the city, the result would have been different.


Now the problem I have with the combat calculator is that if neither side has a unit type (cavalry, Flyers, etc) then the defender still gets +1 tactical bonus. This is because I didn't think about it as I made the spreadsheet, but I've decided that rather than fixing it, I'll say it was deliberate. There have to be some advantages to being a defender, and this is it. So in a plain Infantry versus Infantry battle, the defender will add +2 to the their roll.


As to turbler, while I hope he does post before turn 1 starts in a few hours, (and remember, it's 6 full days, that is 144 hours, so all you folks who posted turn 0 on the same day, there is no real turn order yet - except that Crovius posted four hours before Charlie, so Crovius has a four window of opportunity to post first...) if he doesn't, we'll go with the suggestion above for his set up, and then let him have turn 1 as normal (although after all the other players have had a turn).

Cheers

[Sinrus]

Okay, I got it. Didn't see that last line there, I only saw that the attacker was 'inferior'. Thanks for that.

A bit more though, sorry:
I probably missed this reading through, but if an attacker wins against a city does he take it even if there are still living defenders?
A healomancer cuts attacking casualties in half. Does that only mean after the battle, or can that change the outcome?

[LTDave]

Yes - a Victorious Attacker occupies the hex that was attacked. Any surviving defenders are retreated.

Heal-A-Mancers DO effect the outcome of the battle - changing the number of hits taken by attackers. In a similar way, Ditto-Mancers effect combat by doubling the number of units attacking.

[Azgrut]

Bullocks! I am, as always with these kind of stuff on forums, just a few days late!

I'll be in next round if that is possible though .

Greets from Holland.

(And woohoo, first post. Registered to say this)