INTRODUCTION:
The Empire of Zhou is no more, and the region is heavily decentralized.
A Player (maximum of 10?) picks a State, a Color (Red, Gold, Green, Cyan, Orange, Silver, Purple, White, Teal, Lavender), a Philosophy (Legalist, Taoist, Confucian, Mohist) and from there, they must take control of neighbouring lands and declare their own Kingdom.
Only then can they start a campaign to reunite the lands of Han, and start a new dynasty of Emperors!
If any Player gets eliminated, another can take their color, pick an independent State, and try their hand in the fight for the throne.
TURN ORDER:
The turns of all Players are SIMULTANEOUS. Orders can be sent through Personal Messages to the GM (Haspen), or if you're not caring about what people see, in the game thread itself.
For your orders to be valid, they must be bolded using the forum bbcode.
A simple example of a Player's turn:
5 Rice for Defense of Chen.
5 Rice for Investing of Chen.
10 Rice for Conquest of Sui.
You cannot edit your orders once you've send the post! Think twice before posting!!
STATES, KINGDOMS, AND THE EMPIRE:
The map is divided into 62 States, each with its own name. A Player starts with one State. Note that said State can be located in a KINGDOM-type State (underlined). The only off-limits state at start is Zhou, seat of the weak and puny descendants of former Emperors.
Each Player starts with 10 Rice, which is used to support their forces when conquering and defending, and can be used to invest into states so that they generate more Rice.
To create a Kingdom, one must control a KINGDOM-type State (underlined, ZHOU also counts) plus minimum of 4 States adjacent to it. All of the KINGDOM-states have more than 4 States adjacent to them, allowing for some wiggling room when it comes for planning your diplomacy and conquests.
There's special Rice bonus for being a Kingdom: a non-State dependent +5 to your Rice count, and this bonus persists until end of the game (or your early demise).
Once you create a Kingdom, you're viable for creation of a new Empire. The process is more time- and rice-consuming than making a mere Kingdom.
IMPERIAL VICTORY:
First, you need to conquer the independent State of Zhou, where the imperial palace is located.
Second, you must control at least 4 KINGDOM-type States: QI, JIN, SONG, WU, CHU, SHU or QIN.
Third, your dominion must be continuous; any gaps between your provinces (whether due to rebels, or other Players' conquest) must be filled up with your glorious state color!
HEGEMONIC VICTORY:
Sometimes 2 or more States are simply too strong to find a 'true' ruler of the Han. To resolve the game without making it an endless string of Turns, the game is stopped after End of Turn 15.
After it, the Rice is counted up for all Players who have reached Kingdom level; Player with highest Rice owned is declared the winner, without taking Imperial Victory requirements into consideration.
INDEPENDENT STATES:
Non-Player States will always dedicate themselves to defense of their borders, meaning that 10 Rice will always be spent on Defense. Zhou, being the capital of former Empire, is much more developed, and has 15 Rice to spend on defense.
The independent States will never use Rice for Conquests, nor they will Invest Rice to improve their economy. Fools, all of them!
RICE AND INVESTMENTS:
Rice is used twofold; to supply soldiers fighting abroad or defending the states, or to improve the economy of the state.
If you do not dedicate any Rice to defense of a province, any opportunistic Player can simply walk their well-fed soldiers into it and automatically take control of the state!
The more Rice you dedicate for defense, the greater chances of repelling the enemy. Same with conquering your neighbours; the more Rice you set aside for the conquest, the greater chances of success.
You can also Invest your Rice in a State that you control. Each State at start lets you use 10 Rice per Turn.
For each 5 Rice Invested into a State, the State will provide you with 1 extra Rice, starting from next Turn.
Example: You have 90 Rice, and your home State, Lai, provides you with 15 Rice. If you invest half of your Rice, 45, into Lai, this will raise Lai's Rice output to 24 (15 + [45/5=9] = 24).
CONQUESTS, DEFENSE, DEVASTATION, AND THE DIE OF WAR:
Once you decide to conquer some of your neighbours, you must know that each combat is resolved using a d10 die. You can only Conquer States adjacent to the ones you control.
Combat formula is simple: d10 + Rice = your number. If you roll higher than the opponents' defending force, you win and the State is yours!
Example: You decide to conquer State of Zhuang, and dedicate 19 Rice to the task. State of Zhuang can afford to dedicate only 12 Rice for defense of its borders. You roll is 4, their roll is 6. 19+4 = 23, 12+6 = 18. State of Zhang loses the fight and its lands are now yours!
If a State is attacked by more than 1 Player at once, the Rice spent on Defense is spread as equally as possible with any leftover spent against the Player with highest amount of Rice dedicated to the conquest.
If a State is defeated by more than 1 Player at once, the control of the State falls into the hands of the Player that dedicated more Rice into the State's Conquest. If Players invest same amount of Rice, then a coin toss will determine the new owner of the State.
Once a State is conquered, inevitably there will be looting, pillaging and destruction at hands of victorious soldiers. The Rice output of the State is thus HALVED, and the new owner of the pillaged land will need to re-invest into it. This can lead to Devastation:
Devastated States are those States that have 0 Rice output; it is not possible to launch attacks from Devastated States, and one must first Invest in them to be able to launch attacks from it in the next Turn.
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT:
When creating your State, you must decide which School of Thought you follow; all 4 bestow certain benefits on you.
Legalist: Kingdom bonus raised to +10, +5 Rice extra from each KINGDOM-state controlled after 1st.
Taoist: Pillaging will lower Rice of a conquered Province by 1 Rice less (to minimum of 0 Rice pillaged).
Confucian: Investing requires 3 Rice instead of 5.
Mohist: Bonus +3 Rice when Defending (still requires at least 1 Rice to Defend).
You cannot change your School at any point of the game, so choose carefully!