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Post by director on Nov 19, 2015 0:36:25 GMT -6
This is an alternative history game in which the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as Byzantium) survives challenges from barbarians, Persians, Turks and Muslim expansion and lives on to the present day. In 1900 it is a relatively poor, uneducated autocracy but controls modern Turkey (as home area), Greece (not a game area but it features in a lot of combat), Rhodes, Cyprus and Egypt. The AI nations in the game are Austria-Hungary, Italy, Spain, Russia, France and Great Britain, so it is a very Euro-centric game.
I've worked up some ship names (since I don't speak Greek, I've used mostly English versions of names), assigned the areas and generated the WarInfo file. Next step is to do final proofreading of the WarInfo file, then offer the custom nation for playtesting - hopefully in a few days.
If there are ship names or other things you'd like to see in this custom setup, please post and let me know. I have not modified the MapInfo in any way (the port names are still Turkish - Izmir instead of Smyrna, for example) so you should be able to just unzip it into the Data directory and play.
This Byzantium has about the same naval budget as Austria and suffers from Russia's poor education and undeveloped shipbuilding traits, so it is fairly weak - the Japan of Europe, so to speak. Their starting strength is in 'Improved explosive filler packing' (they had Greek fire in the middle ages; they must know something about chemistry, right?).
Obviously I'd like to know if this custom nation needs balancing and tweaking, so comments will be welcome. One thought is to give Byzantium a friend in Great Britain, based on ownership of the Suez Canal and traditional hostility to Russia.
Oh, and the flag is purple and gold so it makes a nice contrast with those of other nations.
I'm excited about this one - I've had a lot of fun playing them already, and I hope you will too.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Nov 19, 2015 9:20:47 GMT -6
This is an alternative history game in which the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as Byzantium) survives challenges from barbarians, Persians, Turks and Muslim expansion and lives on to the present day. In 1900 it is a relatively poor, uneducated autocracy but controls modern Turkey (as home area), Greece (not a game area but it features in a lot of combat), Rhodes, Cyprus and Egypt. The AI nations in the game are Austria-Hungary, Italy, Spain, Russia, France and Great Britain, so it is a very Euro-centric game.
I've worked up some ship names (since I don't speak Greek, I've used mostly English versions of names), assigned the areas and generated the WarInfo file. Next step is to do final proofreading of the WarInfo file, then offer the custom nation for playtesting - hopefully in a few days.
If there are ship names or other things you'd like to see in this custom setup, please post and let me know. I have not modified the MapInfo in any way (the port names are still Turkish - Izmir instead of Smyrna, for example) so you should be able to just unzip it into the Data directory and play.
This Byzantium has about the same naval budget as Austria and suffers from Russia's poor education and undeveloped shipbuilding traits, so it is fairly weak - the Japan of Europe, so to speak. Their starting strength is in 'Improved explosive filler packing' (they had Greek fire in the middle ages; they must know something about chemistry, right?).
Obviously I'd like to know if this custom nation needs balancing and tweaking, so comments will be welcome. One thought is to give Byzantium a friend in Great Britain, based on ownership of the Suez Canal and traditional hostility to Russia.
Oh, and the flag is purple and gold so it makes a nice contrast with those of other nations.
I'm excited about this one - I've had a lot of fun playing them already, and I hope you will too. I am curious about your alternate historical game. The Byzantines were eliminated in 1453 by the Turks after Constantinople was captured. There would be no geographical changes in the country. Unless the surrounding nations or states were changed, then the geopolitical situation in the late 19th century and early 20th century would be almost exactly the same. The only difference might be that the Byzantine Empire was Christian, the Turks were Moslem. So how does your alternate history actually change anything? Socially and economically the differences would probably be minimal, except for the religious attachment to Western Europe, that might be the only change.
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Post by director on Nov 19, 2015 9:59:54 GMT -6
Historically the Byzantines were quite hard to kill - the Eastern Empire did fine after the West fell and then entered a long slow decline punctuated by periods of restoration. The last tiny bit, reduced mostly to Constantinople, fell in 1453 as you say, but we could postulate that things went differently at several points (Fourth Crusade, Manzikert and so forth).
In terms of territory it would not be the same as the later Ottoman Empire since that state also controlled modern Iraq, northern Africa to the Atlantic and most of the Balkans. Economically it would likely be different also - the Ottomans were notably conservative (even reactionary) and averse to making improvements. Ottoman power remained about the same while Europe industrialized, sprouted canals and railroads, and developed modern economies. Sultan after Sultan attempted to make reforms in the army, the educational system and the economy only to be stopped (or overthrown) by entrenched power blocs including the Janissaries. This failure to keep up with military and industrial technologies is the main reason they were called, 'the sick man of Europe'. Modern Turkey's successes came largely after the old Ottoman systems were reformed and replaced in the post-World War I revolution.
Anyway, I don't want this to turn into a defense of the premise. At some point I will write up a brief explanation of how it came to be, but for now I'm just trying to get the custom nation balanced and fun to play. Having a naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean does open up some interesting possibilities.
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Post by dickturpin on Nov 19, 2015 16:32:53 GMT -6
The relationship with Russia would be an interesting one due to the shared religion.
The Russians tended to regard the Balkans as within their sphere of influence as this area was predominantly Orthodox. How would the relationship be with another Orthodox nation in the area?
If the relationship was a friendly one, this could give the Russians access to the Med with interesting possibilities.
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Post by director on Nov 19, 2015 20:53:00 GMT -6
I'm not sure how the 'friend' setting works in the nation file; where it is used, it is always reciprocal, so that France is a friend of Russia and Russia is a friend of France. Since I don't want to modify the original nations file, I'm not setting Byzantium as a friend of anyone yet. Perhaps Fredrik could enlighten me as to how the 'Friend' setting works, and whether or not it must be reciprocal?
Any co-operation or hostilities between Russia and Byzantium have to take place outside the Black Sea - no-one can build ships in the Black Sea or move any ships there. That's a hard limit of the game as it presently exists.
Got the WarInfo file proofread (I think). Upped Byzantium's initial money between Austria and Italy; they were just too weak otherwise.
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Post by Fredrik W on Nov 20, 2015 11:13:36 GMT -6
The only effect of the Friend attribute is that initial tension with that nation will be somewhat lower. It does not need to be reciprocal, it just is that way based on historical circumstances.
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Post by director on Nov 20, 2015 14:27:45 GMT -6
Thanks Fredrik! I'll experiment with that.
So far the playtesting is going OK with a few cases of confusion where I did not correctly understand how to set up the WarInfo missions. Currently allied with Austria (!?) and at war with Italy. I have 4 good B's rebuilt with latest fire control and they have 7 weak ones, so the fleet battles are... interesting. I have been able to use my big, 10"-gunned CAs in the battle line but it's been a tactic of desperation and they've taken a pounding. If only my 3 semi-dreadnoughts were ready...
This one should be ready to offer sometime next week.
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Post by tbr on Nov 21, 2015 2:24:32 GMT -6
The relationship with Russia would be an interesting one due to the shared religion. The Russians tended to regard the Balkans as within their sphere of influence as this area was predominantly Orthodox. How would the relationship be with another Orthodox nation in the area? If the relationship was a friendly one, this could give the Russians access to the Med with interesting possibilities. Russian history would have turned ot vastly different with a surviving Byzantium. OTL their self-image is that of being the successor to Byzantium, they derive and justify much of their seeking religious and regional dominance from that. Their very nation and its institutions as well as internal makeup has been shaped in the conflict with the Muslim nations on its southern border. A surviving Byzantium isolates them from most of that and becomes their adversary instead once their expansion hits the Crimea/Georgia region. End result could be a Russia that becomes Catholic in the 14th or its own flavour of Protestant in the 15-16th century to get a religious emancipation from Byzantium and get religious justifcation for the conflict...
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Post by dutchyhd on Nov 21, 2015 5:24:26 GMT -6
Just spouting a couple of names here: Karabisianoi; Dromon; Constantine; Justinian; thalássion; Basilius; Olympia; Nepos; Jerusalem; Acre; Damascus; Cairo; Thessalonica; Basil; Cyprus; Antioch; Adrianople; Crusader. Cant wait for custom nations to pop-up
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Post by director on Nov 21, 2015 17:26:43 GMT -6
I am using Dromon as a class-type for all destroyers. Constantine, Justinian and Basileus are commemorated in battleships. Thank you - the help is very much appreciated. So far the naming system is: Capital ships: Emperors, 'glorious' names CA: places and cities CL: classical monsters DD: Dromon-1 etc AMC: a random grab-bag of names that might go on a merchant ship
The playtesting is going well; I beat the Italians and got Tripoli, beat the Spaniards into Revolution and took Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Now the Spaniards are back for round two. Biggest concern now is figuring out how to offer the file. Any suggestions?
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Post by dutchyhd on Nov 22, 2015 4:06:05 GMT -6
Mediafire and such?
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Post by tbr on Nov 22, 2015 10:12:21 GMT -6
I had a good experiencce wih dropbox
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Post by gornik on Nov 22, 2015 14:44:25 GMT -6
Maybe, just post it here as zip archive? I don't think it would be larger than 1 mb.
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Post by brucesim2003 on Nov 22, 2015 17:54:22 GMT -6
Seeing as they would be the literal descendants of Rome, you could use (Greek equivalents of) Latin names and Roman emperor names. If such an ability exists you could make them historical enemies of Italy.
Alternatively you could give all their land to Italy and rename them either SPQR or, it they have stagnated and suffered reverses before bouncing back, Nova Roma. Then you would have a dominant southern European power, especially if they have Egypt and north Africa.
Cheers
Bruce.
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Post by director on Nov 22, 2015 23:17:17 GMT -6
Their enemies list 'in game' is Austria, Italy, Spain, Russia, France and Great Britain - I haven't given them any friends.
In my current play-through I wound up allied to Austria (twice) and Great Britain (once) in my 1 war with Italy and 3 wars with Spain. (I took their colonies. Heh.) Now, unfortunately, my pushing has led Austria to declare war on me and Spain (ever hopeful) has joined in... one month after my alliance with Italy ended.
*Sigh* It's going to be a long war with lots, and lots, of fleet battles.
Anyway, here's the current version: custom nation Byzantium 1.1. Just unzip into your NWS/Rule the Waves/Data directory, start the game and select Byzantium from the drop-down.
So far I haven't played on 'very large'. May need a bigger b... list of ship names.
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