Bay 12 Games Forum

Main thread: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=178122.msg8250025#msg8250025

Welcome to the Association of Heroes. While this intro is a bit sparse, a more proper one will come with your choice.
 
Your choice of starting Hero are as follows. This will also determine your starting location

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Here, at the Ocantroval Archipelago, the nations of Veenland and Magna Mongadizafra. Two nations that came to be in their modern form in far different ways in the nineteenth century, and will soon find themselves fighting against each other at the dawn of the twentieth century. However, these nations are ones who's background will be made through decisions made by you, the players.

What Is This?

This is an arms race where you will be controlling the naval forces of Veenland or Magna Mongadizafra and designing the ships, guns, fire control, ect that they use. The rules are somewhat based on They Who Dare, just like the original, though there are quite a few major differences. The key differences, however, from other Arms Races games are as such:

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Your nations will have a few traits that will be made by players choices in the pregame, these traits can be good or bad. The perks in question chosen will have effects on the game, and should lead to some interesting differences in terms of how the sides use their forces and also the characteristics of their nation, not only adding a bit of a interesting dynamic and difference between the two sides outside of name and equipment, but also potentially making the game a bit more asymmetrical. These perks are added through choices in decisions of the creation of the nation, and these choices will often either lead to another related event in the nations history, good or bad, or simply be a double edged sword. These will be selected at the start of the game, and potentially can change over the course of the game depending on the perk in question.

Abstraction in Production This game’s only resource is production points, which represent industrial production. The budget of PP fluctuates from turn to turn, dependent on national traits, how long the war has gone on, and finally the success and size of the navy. PP is spent on progressing projects as well as building and maintaining ships, along with any separate equipment. In the beginning of the game, neither side has its economy on a proper war footing, and PP budgets will increase to represent greater spending on defense. As both sides progress toward total war, the rate of increase will slow, and there will be increased competition from the army for your budget.

One does not 'hold' sea like they do land The map doesn't have a front line, however it does have regions of sea where ships will go. Of course, one side could theoretically send a cruiser force to raid convoys right in the enemies backyard, so long as they have cruisers with enough range, but going further away from friendly controlled ports has its risks. A ship hit by a torpedo a few hours from a friendly port is much more likely to survive than one hit by a torpedo that now is forced to sail at 5 knots and will take over a month to reach a friendly port in waters enemy ships commonly transit through. Its important to mention that unless enemy ships sail there, sea zones behind the main areas of fighting are under your control, and that ships can be intercepted before they reach sea zones as they cross others.

Land for Landlubbers Battles on the ground are done over bases that exist on the map, and fights over said bases are represented with a cross of swords, however should the base flip over to the other side, the battle might still continue as the last pockets of defense stubbornly hold onto their last bastions on the island, or as the enemy army remains not too far from the base they just lost control over. Needless to say, docking at a base currently being fought over is generally a unwise idea, though you can still use it should it be in your control while in combat, and this might be more useful later on should the game reach certain years.

Companies are useful, you know. Should the game reach a point where aircraft are a useful addition to the navy, you will be able to request a type of aircraft and a few general characteristics you'd like from it. After a turn or two, three companies will present offers of aircraft for you to take, all with their pro's and cons. These stats are naturally rolled, which means some are obviously better than others at times. However companies tend to have a trend in a few things they are good at.

The Roma wasn't built in a day. Ships that are under construction take time to make, the amount of time to make a ship decreases as time goes on and on perks. Ships that are damaged usually take less time to repair than building a new one from scratch and so too is refitting a ship. Finally ship designs are limited by the size of the dry docks you have, which can be expanded for production points in order to make bigger ships, though this will take a year to do.

Cargo sends its regards. While development of things like X Lighters can be done, other certain Auxiliary ships like repair ships or sub tenders, no cargo ships will need to be produced or made by your navy. Do not take this to mean that you can try to throw landing forces everywhere while they are unguarded, as you don't have an infinite number of them or marines, and losing them will hurt future landing attempts for a time.

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The Nations:

The Republic of Veenland. Once a Dutch Colony, it is best known for it's long guerilla war against the British for their freedom after the colony was taken by the British during the Napoleonic Wars, and it being the worlds first Socialist nation. It's heartlands are full of fertile fields, and low hills, and mires for which it is named. It's form of government is a Proto Syndicalist Republic

The Republic of Magna Mongadizafra. Once controlled by the Spanish, the Republic became free during the collapse of the Spanish Empire in a relatively bloodless revolution. It's heartlands are quite warm, and have distinct tall mountains and mostly rocky or dry lands around them that are rich in ore. It's form of government is a Representative Republic

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There are 4 turns per year, with each turn split into the Design, Revision and Refit, Production/Deployment, and the Battle phases.

During the Design Phase, you can propose Projects and Ship Designs, along with progressing existing ones. Projects can be anything from guns to weight saving techniques, while Ship Designs are purely for ships. Each team has 6 dice to spend on rolls every turn, and can bank up to 4 dice to the next turn. To start a project takes 3 dice: one to roll time estimate, one to roll initial progress, and one to roll project expense. Additional dice may be added to ‘double-roll’ any of the projects dice rolls. After the initial rolls are made, the design rolls 3 main dice for Effectiveness, Cost and Bugs. These will be the final rolls for the project if no revisions are made.

Each die of progress rolled has a corresponding cost in Production Points (PP) that must be paid. For every such ‘paid’ die, you can choose to rush the project, which adds an extra die worth of progress (not subtracted from the 5) but has a 50% chance of adding a bug to the project or worsening an existing bug.

Ship designs meanwhile use 4 dice, however unlike projects they don't have the initial three dice rolls and instead just have the final three rolls instead along with a single d4 to determine how many seasons it takes to finish the design, with a minus or plus depending on the size, class, and complexity of the design in question. The time required for the ship to actually be completed in the shipyards is determined by me based on the size of the ship, its complexity, and quite simply any national bonuses or cons in effect on top of it. Additionally, for it to progress, 1 PP must be dedicated to it per season. A few example of a project and ship design is:

2 Pounder Pine Gun | 12/15 progress | 2 PP per die | Rushed 0 times | 6 PP invested

Van Bergenaar Class | 2/3 Seasons to Completion | Armored Cruiser | 6/2 PP cost | 7 Season Construction Time

During the Revision & Refit Phase, you can spend one die on making a Revision. Examples of revisions are fixing a flaw that causes your 14 inch guns to explode violently when firing. Meanwhile, Refits are spent on things like modifying your oldest Battlecruiser with the newly developed fire control and anti aircraft guns. It should be noted that it is possible to lower Cost through a revision, but it will result in either bugs or a reduction in effectiveness except on high rolls. Of course, you can turn this to your advantage by specifying exactly which aspects of the existing design should be traded-off for a reduction in cost. Revisions that fix bugs will be applied for free to all deployed equipment, however refits will be used to fix bugs on finished, constructed ships. Retrofits that add capabilities or fix bugs with finished ship designs will only be applied to newly produced ships and ships that stay at home port getting refit.

There are technically speaking, no diminishing returns for multiple revisions to improve a ship design beyond original specifications, but obviously, in practice its hull will be outdated and its machinery likely as well with time. While the latter can be replaced, it tends to take significant time to do so, additionally, adding too much without doing things that reduce the ships weight can cause it to become overweight.

During the Production & Deployment Phase, each team spends Production Points on producing new ships and equipment, and on maintaining existing ships. Unspent PP will not be banked to the next turn. Ship's cost a certain amount of PP each turn when being built, and not spending their PP cost on them will result in construction being paused. If a ship has a cost of 3/1, that means that producing a new ship of the class costs 3 PP per turn until its finished, while maintaining that ship costs 1 PP a turn. When a ship is under Refit, it is treated similarly to a ship being built, however it generally costs much less and takes much less time, with an exception being if its a major conversion, like turning it into an aircraft carrier, or replacing all of its machinery. Additionally ships under construction when a revision has been done to the design can, depending on the state of construction, take a delay in order to apply the new addition. It also should be noted that sometimes, ships might have a delay in construction, or be ahead of schedule, and this applies to ships being Refit as well.

A very important aspect of the game is suggesting Deployments or Operations for the ships produced. Examples of deployments would be for a battleship escorted by two cruisers and four destroyers to bombard a particular coastal town to assist in a landing, or for a cruiser to raid enemy shipping by itself. Note that suggesting deployments of multiple ships together is important, a battle cruiser on its lonesome is, while less likely to be spotted, much more vulnerable should it come to face a fleet of other ships or be spotted by submarines than a battle cruiser with a proper escort.

Finally, in the Battle Phase, you simply wait for the other side to finish or for me to write how things are going on the high seas. There is nothing to be done during this phase.

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The main unit of your Navy is a ship, who'd guess? They always represent one specific vessel of their class and they often will have a special little card made by me with general specifications on them. Despite this a quick short description of any ship will also be provided. An example of a ship is as such:


Each ship also has a level of both crew and captain experience, which in this case is “Regular” and "Elite" respectively. Experience is tracked from 0 to 100, but in- game you will only get to see the experience levels. These levels are, in ascending order: Poor(<10), Greenhorn(11-24), Trained(25-44), Regular(45-70), Veteran(71-90), Elite (90>). Those of poor skill have basically just completed the most basic of training and haven't been given time to have any working up, while those of Elite are master sailors and strategists who run with almost clockwork efficiency.

Experience of a crew determines how accurate the ship is, how good its damage control is, how likely it is not to break down, and generally just preforming its job better. Captains meanwhile determine how well it maneuvers in combat and how likely it is for the right calls to be made. Captains also have a nature, being either Aggressive, Cautious, or Balanced. An aggressive captain is more likely to order his ship to risk getting closer to try and unleash a well aimed torpedo spread that can be devastating to an enemy battleship at the risk of his own light cruiser, while a cautious captain may elect to try and leave battle and not risk the ship if it takes too much damage. Lastly, a captain may have varying traits. There are one to three which are hidden initially, but more can be gained as their service record continues. These can be anything from prone to bouts of rage, to unlucky, to even such things as being a War Hero.

When a ship is finished it will enter a state of Working up for two seasons, in which the crew will get to a Greenhorn status, however they can be ordered to go out into the fight before this if so desired. Over time, should a ship not engage in combat, its crew will slowly gain experience as they properly man the ship, however if they are engaged in combat missions and get into gunfights with other ships often, experience increases faster, proportional to the intensity of the combat. Experience also can decrease to represent losses in combat should they suffer enough yet not sink.

Every ship that is more than a fishing boat that was confiscated by the navy and had a gun slapped on it has a captain. It also should be mentioned that the captain in the biggest, newest, most important ship in a fleet will generally be put in command of said fleet. If there are multiple ships of that description, I'll pick the most experienced captain of the bunch, though you can specify who if you wish.

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Both sides have Marines and they have their own equipment that is designed by the navy. This equipment can be designed using revisions or designs, but regardless they aren't the focus of this game. They still exist, and you'll probably be hearing a lot about them if you decide to try an amphibious invasion of an island, likely about their success as they land or their failure as their transports are sunk. But their equipment can make a difference, especially if things at sea are mostly even.

Should the game get to a point where naval aviation is a thing, each turn you can tender a proposal for aircraft, with a primary and secondary focus on the craft. Three aircraft will be rolled up in a season or two and you will then pick one of these aircraft for use. Squadrons based on either carriers or land will have their own experience, and you can have things like flying boats and floatplanes for scouting. They use the same experience levels as crews, and each squadron would cost a small amount of maintenance.

Should either side make Submarines, they will be able to be ordered like a normal ship, but they likely won't have a special unit card made for them...Mostly because the thing I use for ships only really works for surface ships, not submarines. Regardless, should you create a submarine, you can also set up a general doctrine telling them to use prize rules, simply go and do as the Jerries did and go unrestricted. Both have their pro's and cons. Related to that, you can make Auxiliary cruisers...Pinguin fans rejoice.

Land fortifications and installations are a thing, however, for the Navy they are mainly defensive guns, docks, and if we get late enough, airfields. Defensive guns are quite cheep, and useful should your navy be on the other side of the archipelago...or below the waves. It should be noted you have a home dock where your ships are made, it has a displacement limit on what it can make, and you can expand it for some PP, which takes 4 turns to complete.

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Discord is here.

Another day, and a long trip, but finally, the steam ship pulls into the port where you will be staying for many years. Veenland needs much in the way of security on the waves, enough to make a forign power think twice about any invasion, and more importantly in case a northern neighbor acts up against us. Even so, we will not be like the Boers and find ourselves under a foreign powers boot, and you will make sure of that.

Now, you are to answer pre war history choices and make a flag to fly proudly from our ships. The history choices will be made soon after a number join, and the answers will determine perks. After, you are to design a legacy fleet using four turns, with the design finished on the same turn automatically. After these four turns, you may spend a number of PP on the ships you designed before the first normal turn starts, followed by the first turn at war. Feel free to give a fancy name for the Navy as well, if you desire.

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Today is a good day for you, and a few others as the small steam ship used to transport you to the main docks. This will be not only your own new home for the foreseeable future, but also the home port for the entire navy, and where those new ships you make will be created. Of course, hopefully you won't need to actually use these ships, but its of extreme importance to have them with the rising tensions coming from that peasant republic that calls themselves Nemorland. After all, what would they do if a war was to break out and they manage to win? That would be horrific...

Still, with current overhauls in the entire military, you've been made to make Sothweg's control and skill of the sea similar to that of our ancient ancestors. However, while there is no real need to rush as we aren't at war, its likely only a matter of time. By then however, we should have expanded the navy enough to deal with them and bring them under the rule of a proper leader rather than one of their rabble.

Now, you are to make a flag to fly proudly above your ships and pick a few perks. After, you are to design a legacy fleet using four turns, with the design finished on the same turn automatically. After these four turns, you may spend a number of PP on the ships you designed before the first normal turn starts, followed by the first turn at war. Feel free to give a fancy name for the Navy as well, if you desire.

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Pregame Turn 1, Design Phase.

Today is the first of the new year of 1915 where war is fought in both Europe, and here on the grand archipelago of Arnot, where the Principality of Pren Gwyn and the Empire of Schwarzes Holz once again continue the war they have been fighting for years now, with war continuing after an assassination attempt on Pren Gwyn's Prince Dywel by a citizen of Schwarzes Holz and the Empire of Schwarzes Holz pushing their claim on the southern part of King Cadigan's land. Now they again fight on the beaches, fields, trenches sea, and now in the air as the information of aircraft's potential use in war spreads from Europe.

However, the new air force of both nations, which has only existed for three months now, has had a change in management for two very different reasons. The noble in charge of our new air force was quite simply begging to be replaced and wanted to manage things as far away from the front lines as possible, or more accurately, he simply wanted to keep his comfortable position and return to his manor on the north eastern part of King Cadigan's land. Regardless, he isn't the air forces problem anymore.

A single truck that had to pass by on its way to the front takes you to the Testing Field, where a airplane can be seen coming in for a landing. The plane comes down hard and bounces a few times before turning to the right a bit to much and the aircraft crushes the lower wing as it comes to a stop, both the Pilot and the ground crew that approaches the aircraft clearly looking annoyed at the extra work they now have to do.

Inside the main office building for designing and working out the new equipment and planes that will be rolled out to the forces, the engineers meet at a large table while bits of furniture and what appears to be belongings are taken by a few bored servants while a guard quietly watches their every move and maybe even your own. Now, what will you propose to your fellow engineers?

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Start of Early Summer 1915
Design Phase of Early Summer
Revision Phase of Early Summer
Start of Late Summer 1915
Design Phase of Late Summer
Revision Phase of Late Summer
Start of Early Autumn 1915
Design Phase of Early Autumn
Revision Phase of Early Autumn
Start of Late Autumn 1915
Design Phase of Late Autumn
Revision Phase of Late Autumn
Start of Early Winter 1915
Design Phase of Early Winter
Revision Phase of Early Winter
Start of Late Winter 1915
Design Phase of Late Winter
Revision Phase of Late Winter
Start of Early Spring 1915
Design Phase of Early Spring 1915
Revision Phase of Early Spring 1915
Start of Late Spring 1915
Design Phase of Late Spring
Revision Phase of Late Spring
Start of Early Summer 1916
Design Phase of Early Summer
Revision Phase of Early Summer

Today is the first of the new year of 1915 where war is fought in both Europe, and here on the grand archipelago of Arnot, where the Principality of Pren Gwyn and the Empire of Schwarzes Holz once again continue the war they have been fighting for years now, with war continuing after an assassination attempt on Pren Gwyn's Prince Dywel by a citizen of Schwarzes Holz and the Empire of Schwarzes Holz pushing their claim on the southern part of King Cadigan's land. Now they again fight on the beaches, fields, trenches, sea, and now in the air as the information of aircraft's potential use in war spreads from Europe.

However, the new air force of both nations, which has only existed for three months now, has had a change in management for two very different reasons. So now you, a few engineers, are in charge of building up the new air force from its humble beginnings into something grand that the world will envy.


What Is This?
Put simply, this is an Arms Race game in which you, the players, have control over designing, building and deploying the air forces of two opposing nations. The rules are copied ripped off stolen heavily inspired from by Cnidaros's Knights of the Skies Arms Race, with some slight modifications. The key differences from other Arms Races games (Other than Knights of the skies except for one rule) are as such:

Victory and/or Glory! The goal of this game is not only to win battles and push the other side back, it’s also to amass as much prestige and power for your fledgling air force as necessary. If your prestige falls to the point where the air force is seen as not worth its cost, you will be replaced, and that side will be considered to have lost the game!

Ground is for the Ground Pounders: In a similar vein, losing territory is hardly your concern, as long as the army can’t find a way to blame you for it. In fact, your side can lose ground and still have an increased budget, assuming your prestige warrants it.

Abstraction in Production: This game’s only resource is production points, which represent industrial production. The budget of PP fluctuates from turn to turn, dependent on your prestige and the current state of the war. PP is spent on progressing projects and producing and maintaining squadrons and equipment. In the beginning of the game, neither side has its economy on a war footing, and PP budgets will increase to represent greater spending on defense. As both sides progress toward total war, the rate of increase will slow, and there will be increased competition from both the army and the navy for the air force’s budget.

Not-So-Friendly Rivalry: Both the Army and the Navy are established services with many decades of history, while the air force is months old. There are factions of officers within the army and navy that doubt the need for an air force, especially one that uses resources better spent on their own forces. Expect opposition to any attempts to improve the status of the air force as an independent command, and bureaucratic shenanigans wherever your domains overlap. Good outcomes might be something like the Key West Agreement on a clear division of responsibilities; bad outcomes would be IJA/IJN levels of inter service assassinations.

Free-Spirited Pilots: Your pilots do not appreciate a group of engineers trying to teach them how to fly a plane. There will be no “tactics” designs in this game like the finger-four formation, and the focus will be on physical designs instead. In general, your pilots will fly their planes according to what the plane is designed for.

Defensive Defeat in Detail: As the front line changes, each side will have a fortification level which will effect how hard or easy it is to break the lines and push forward that goes from 1 to 10, with 1 being a full on rout while 10 is a heavily fortified network of trenches and bunkers full of machine guns and barbwire. If a section of the front remains stagnant for a long time, both sides will have a high fortification level as each side slowly builds up their defenses, but if a front is highly fluid and goes back and forth, the fortification level will be low. The fortification level will also be effected by cities and terrain. The exact level will not be directly shown, but can be implied.

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The Nations:

The Principality of Pren Gwyn lands go from the small island of Whitefield, to the high peaks of the Craeock Summit on King Cadigan's land. Many of its lands are hilly and fairly warm with plenty of forests, the most noteworthy of which are made up mostly of Sycamores. Its form of government is a Autocratic Princedom

The Empire of Schwarzes Holz has territories from the Island of Vegregrae to the south to the central homeland territories of Brimnach, the empires lands tend to be, with the exception of the Redspire mountains on Arvendon, plains and fields, with occasional forests, the most noteworthy made out of ebony. Its form of government is an Imperial Bureaucracy
The Kingdom of Shirohon, original rulers of the archipelago, now only rule the smaller islands around the main 4 islands the Prinicaplity and Emprie fight over. It's main island is heavily fortified, with a cliff face coast that acts as a natural barrier from naval attacks. It is still behind technologically, but it's industry keeps growing. It's form of government is a Theocratic Monarchy.

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There are 8 turns per year, with each turn split into the Design, Revision, Production/Deployment, and the Battle phases.

During the Design Phase, you can propose Projects and progress on existing ones. Each team has 5 dice to spend on rolls every turn, and can bank up to 4 dice to the next turn. To start a project takes 3 dice: one to roll time estimate, one to roll initial progress, and one to roll project expense. Additional dice may be added to ‘double-roll’ either time estimate or project expense. An example of a project is:

Falcon Triplane| 12/30 progress | 3 PP per die | Rushed 0 times | 15 PP invested

Each die of progress rolled has a corresponding cost in Production Points (PP) that must be paid. For every such ‘paid’ die, you can choose to rush the project, which adds an extra die worth of progress (not subtracted from the 5) but has a 50% chance of adding a bug to the project or worsening an existing bug.

At the start of a project, the design rolls 3 dice for Effectiveness, Cost and Bugs. These will be the final rolls for the project if no revisions are made.

At 50% progress, you have the option of producing a prototype and paying the associated cost in PP. Prototypes are either enough aircraft for one squadron, or enough equipment to outfit one squadron. In the case of aircraft, such a “prototype squadron” costs 50% more in maintenance. You can also opt to not produce a prototype to save on PP: unless clearly stated otherwise, prototypes will be produced for all projects. The advantage of prototypes is that you can gain an idea of how your design matches up to existing enemy designs in combat, while the project is not yet finished.

At 100% progress, the project is considered complete and ready for mass production, and you can order squadrons of the new aircraft or equip existing squadrons with the new equipment during the production phase.

There is also the option to make Requisitions from the army or the navy for their existing equipment during this phase. Said equipment is limited to what militaries of the time can be reasonably expected to have, and requisitions are affected by the state of relations between you and the army/navy – better relations mean that the army will be more willing to release the latest equipment for air force usage. Conversely, the army may outright refuse the requisition or provide you with an outdated machine gun instead of their latest model if relations are poor.

During the Revision Phase, you can spend one die on making a Revision. Examples of revisions are fixing a flaw that causes your planes to tear their wings off in a dive, or altering your existing fighter designs with the newly developed autocannons. It should be noted that it is possible to lower Cost through a revision, but it will result in either bugs or a reduction in effectiveness except on high rolls. Of course, you can turn this to your advantage by specifying exactly which aspects of the existing design should be traded-off for a reduction in cost. Revisions that fix bugs will be applied for free to all deployed planes and equipment, while revisions that add capabilities will only be applied to newly produced units. There are also diminishing returns for multiple revisions to improve a design beyond original specifications, but revisions to correct bugs are not subject to this limitation.

During the Production & Deployment Phase, each team spends Production Points on producing new squadrons and equipment, and on maintaining existing squadrons. Unspent PP will not be banked to the next turn. Squadron cost is given by the two cost numbers of the aircraft design, with 3/1 meaning that producing a new squadron of that aircraft costs 3 PP, while maintaining that squadron costs 1 PP a turn.

There is also the possibility of changing aircraft type, which may affect the squadron’s experience but allows you to get good pilots into the newest planes immediately. Experience may decrease depending on how the role of the squadron is changed: a fighter squadron transitioning to a fighter-bomber one only has a small drop in experience, but transitioning into zeppelins results in a squadron of rookie pilots.

You may also suggest Deployments for the squadrons produced. Examples of deployments would be for bombers to target a particular industrial town, or for fighter planes to provide CAS for a particular offensive by the army. Note that suggesting deployments are only possible while the air force is independent – if the air force should come under command of the army, deployments will no longer be up to you to decide!

Finally, in the Battle Phase, you simply have to wait for the reports on how your air force is performing on the frontlines. There is nothing to be done during this phase.

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The basic unit of your air force is a squadron, which represents 12-24 planes depending on what type of squadron it is. An example of a squadron is as such:

122 Squadron | Windlance Bombers | 50kg ‘Dart’ bombs, Type III radios| Dive Bombing | Veteran | No Aces | Maintenance Cost 5
Currently assigned to support the encirclement at Basselton

Each squadron has a name and a plane type that the squadron is operating. After this is listed any additional equipment the squadron is equipped with, which is equipment that does not come standard with the airframe. There is also the role the squadron is operating as, which may be switched at will but is obviously limited by the type of plane. In this example, the bombers might also be set to level bombing, and may be of greater or lesser effectiveness depending on the design of the airframe.

Each squadron also has an associated level of experience, which in this case is “Veteran”. Experience is tracked from 0 to 100, but in- game you will only get to see the experience levels. These levels are, in ascending order: Neophyte (<10), Rookie (11-20), Regular (21-40), Experienced (41-60), Veteran (61-80), Elite (81-90) and Legendary (>90). Experience determines the performance of a squadron in carrying out its assigned mission – more experienced pilots in less capable planes will be a match for less experienced pilots in more capable planes.

Experience increases a little each turn to represent passive training. If a squadron is engaged in combat missions, experience increases faster, proportional to the intensity of the combat. Experience also decreases to represent plane and pilot losses in combat. Overall, if two sides are exactly equal, experience for both sides will increase slowly – which is why it is vital to design better planes and weapons for your side to break the stalemate! It is also important that you do not get caught in a cycle of sending out rookie pilots against enemy veterans, which serves only to build enemy experience at your expense.

All squadrons have a hidden roster of pilots with ranks and names that are tracked with their own individual experience that can be better or worse than the squadrons average and effects how likely they are to get aerial victories or simply not get shot down when engaged in combat. Naturally, this becomes especially important if two aces are in the same area and happen to come across each other. Additionally, their aerial victories are counted, and if one manages to get five or more air to air kills, or aerial victories, in total, they become a Fighter Ace. Aces within a squadron improve the rate of experience gained, as they share their lessons with other less experienced pilots. They also have a slight effect on your air force’s Prestige. Aces can be transferred between squadrons, and may also be killed in combat, removing the bonuses.

Finally, there is Maintenance Cost, which is the amount in PP necessary to keep the squadron operational, and a description of the squadron’s current Deployment.

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One very important factor that determines your success or failure is the air force’s Prestige. This is a measure of how highly regarded your air force is, both among the general public and the military. Prestige increases when the air force makes significant contributions to land and naval victories, when new and shiny plane designs are rolled out, and when the papers publish the exploits of famous fighter aces, among others. The need to win greater prestige and glory for your air force should be a factor in every decision. Higher prestige means a larger PP budget is allocated to the air force, and may force the army and navy to acquiesce to your demands when you come into conflict with them. Also, higher prestige is a key consideration when the decision is made to elevate the air force’s status.

Status refers to the command status of the air force – or who actually has the authority to order the planes around. For Pren Gwyn, the Prince is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, while in Schwarzes Holz, a couple of high ranking Generals and admirals have almost complete authority over the war effort, and while the Emperor himself can intervene and stop their plans, they rarely do so. However, there are multiple degrees of command independence under these leaders. The four degrees are as follows:
-Subordinate Command: The air force is under the command of the army, with superior officers overseeing the operation of every squadron in concert with army objectives. While this gives a large bonus to combined arms operations, it disallows the independent deployment of squadrons according to your suggestions and gives the army control over your PP budget. At this stage, the air force is roughly equivalent to the marines or the coast guard during war time.
-Auxiliary Service: Both sides start at this degree. The air force is its own organisation answering to the top brass, and has the ability to make independent deployments. At this stage, the air force is roughly equivalent to the coast guard or gendarmeries during peace time, and has no say on large-scale command decisions such as general offensives and doctrinal changes.
-Autonomous Corps: The air force is recognised as able to contribute in unique ways to the war effort and is given some input into the decisions of the high command, although this may in turn be overruled by the army or navy representatives. At this degree, you may also lobby the high command for certain boons, such as a temporary increase in PP to finance the development of an advanced fighter.
-Service Branch: The air force is the equal of the army or navy and has correspondingly greater input on the decisions of high command, along with the ability to table proposals to high command. At this degree, you may also call for army and navy resources to be diverted to the air force if justifiable, and design requisitions from them will not be refused.

Advancing up these degrees of command independence is largely a matter of prestige, along with your choices in the various random events that occur during turns. If relations with the Army and Navy are bad, they will attempt to block such progress.

Relations are a measure of how the Army and Navy establishment regard your nascent organisations. Good relations will result in more favourable responses to requisitions, along with better performance in operations that require close cooperation between both services, such as close air support and artillery spotting. Bad relations mean that the Army and Navy will work to stymie the influence of the air force and divert resources away from it. The state of relations will depend mostly on the choices made in response to events, and to a smaller extent, on whether the air force is useful to army and navy operations.

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Starting Equipment




State of the Army and Navy:
Army:
-Infantry are issued bolt-action rifles and some are given stick grenades.
-Machine guns are the heaviest weapons of the infantry, creating formidable defensive positions.
-Artillery is used only to bombard enemy positions, and infantry advances are preceded by copious artillery barrages. Accuracy has been improved from successful aerial reconnaissance, but real-time spotting from the air is not yet possible.
-Portable radios are carried by two-man teams, and despite their newness, play an important role in battlefield communications.
-Armoured cars and the occasional motorcycle see use in fighting wherever there are roads, but infantry is still the bulk of any assault.
-Motorised trucks are used for some of the army’s logistics, but the majority is still carried by horses, which are sometimes used to drag artillery.   
Navy:
-Both sides have a single battleship which serves as the flagship of their navy. Foreigners who are caught referring to it as a “large heavy cruiser” tend to learn fairly quickly the natives don't like such slander.
-Most of the navy is made up of cruiser-destroyer squadrons powered by steam engines, operating close to shore.
-The naval war consists of shore bombardment and convoy escorting between the many islands, with engagements mostly taking place in mostly shallow waters around the three main islands. Battles in the Sea of Vermir are very rare, and are usually inconclusive.

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Miscellaneous Information

-Battle reports will be posted here in the core thread, while individual sides' squadron/equipment lists, random events and decisions will be posted to their individual threads.

-I will be posting the first 'pre-game' battle phase, along with associated maps within 24 hours. In the meantime, you can choose which side to design for, and ask for any clarifications on the game system.

-You can move equipment from squadron to squadron for free unless stated otherwise and equipment will stay with a squadron until it is removed.

-We have a discord

(Flag made by kot)
Long ago, our ancestors were masters of all of Asia and most of eastern Europe. All of this was set into motion by the great Genghis Khan. However, we did not get here due to Genghis Khan, we got here by Kublai Khan, who sent us to invade the last of Asia that wasn't under our control...Our ancestors failed to do that, and a massive storm destroyed the invasion fleet. lost and unable to find the lands they where previously meant to invade nor the land they where trying to return to, our ancestors searched for months before they found these lands, and made a home in the north. Slowly, they built up, and slowly, they found themselves in desperate need for more supplies in order to survive. So, the current Khan of the time ordered a raid on the ripe and undefended lands to the south. The returns where much more then expected, and another raid was sent, and then another. Eventually, this lead to a full conflict with us making good advances at first before being pushed back, then we pushed back, and then they did. This cycle lasted for ages, but recently a man from Europe, specifically a place called France came to our lands. After a few weeks of learning how to communicate with him we had an exchange. In exchange for some of the things of worth we had, he would give us brand new technology of something thousands of times more powerful then a bow, a gun it was called, and he showed how it worked. We took the deal, and now we plan on ending this war once and for all. And the Khan has chosen you to make us finally overcome the southern natives. Once again, we will show the superiority of the Mongolian empire.


OOC and rules/what the hell is this here




So, Engineers of the Khan, what will we design?