Middle Provincial Era GROGPUBLIC game thread

Started by JasonPratt, September 17, 2018, 05:04:17 PM

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JasonPratt

While we're waiting for Tripoli to make a choice on this, he already noted that he would spend all 5 of Manlius' cash on another automatic knight, increasing Manny's minions to 3, his Mil skill to an even-more-manly 8  :notworthy: , and the Faction's vote tally to 10.

Worth noting that when the current Manlius retires (or if he lives to retirement, to be more precise), the new Manly Senator will get to keep all his pieces, meaning that while he'll lose the 2 extra Military skill from being the generic Military Statesman he'll still have a proper Headquarters of 6. (Or whatever bonus from another knight or two he picks up before then!)

Meanwhile, I'll drop Tripoli a line pointing back here to his Persuasion opportunity (or risk, to be more precise).

If anyone wants to provisionally declare how much of their Faction cash they'll blow on counter-bribing, if Tripoli orders Julius to go for it, that could prove politically informative.  :coolsmiley:
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Tripoli

Jason. I'm working off an iPhone 7 right now. I replied to your PM, but am uncertain if my reply went out. Did you receive it?   
"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" -Abraham Lincoln

JasonPratt

Yep, just checked back in a minute ago!

So, here's the deal: Tripoli is going for it.

But before anyone gets too trigger happy with counter-bribing, you should be aware that he's taking the opportunity to throw a Seduction card on Aelius!



Saucy minx, isn't she? Trip has been fondling this card since Turn Zero, and itching to play it!!

:D

This essentially means none of you can counter-bribe his attempt.

It also means there's no point in Julius spending more than 9 of his 15 Talents on the bribe: his Inf + Ora exactly matches Ael's Loyalty (7 each), and any natural roll of 10 or above is an automatic loss anyway. So 9 Talents will get Julius the maximum possible chance to win, a little more than 83% if I recall correctly.

2d6, 9 or below wins!

[blockquote]Rolled 2d6 : 3, 6, total 9[/blockquote]
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
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JasonPratt

She needed every talent!  :coolsmiley:

I'll make adjustments soon. This ends the Forum Phase in effect. I'll do Pop Phase tomorrow afternoon and set up the Senate Phase for this turn.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

As some quick considerations to be making preliminary plans about in the coming Senate (starting Thursday afternoon):

Mandatory Business:

Proposing two new Consuls (with an eye toward whether one or both of them will be going out to the Wars);

(Ya'll don't have enough War threat yet to unlock Dictator and Master of Horse offices.)

Proposing a Censor (possibly still the current one -- I'll need to double-check the rule on that to be sure I've understood correctly that Censors can be directly re-elected);

Prosecution(s) if any.


Other Business (not necessarily in this order):

Time to unlock Tribunes?

Land Bills (depending on Unrest factors)?

Raising the 9th and perhaps 10th Legions?

Sending one or both Consuls to War(s), and if so then with how many Legions?
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

Erax

Hello guys, I got access today and expect to be fully active tomorrow. I believe the Pyrrhan War has to be actively fought for it to lose strength, it won't wind down by itself if left unprosecuted.

JasonPratt

Erax, upon examination, is totally correct, and I have updated the post introducing that war accordingly.

(Worse, I remember making a note to mention this condition along the way, and then apparently a neuron zigged instead of zagged...  :buck2: )
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
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Tripoli

If only we had a general who could lead forces sufficient to successfully prosecute a strength 7 war...... ;)
"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" -Abraham Lincoln

JasonPratt

Hee hee hee...

Note that the Groghead forum engine has been experiencing some goofy timing problems today, so Tripoli isn't really posting from back in late April 2012. ;)

My apologies for the delay -- got laid out by a short-term stomach bug of some kind this afternoon, but I'm back in action. Let's get the Senate going!


TURN SIX -- POPULATION PHASE
----------------------------

All senators with Major office get a Major suspicion marker.

No cards currently waiting in the Curia.

No Unprosecuted Wars to affect Unrest. But the Plebian Revolt has generated two ongoing Drought Effects, which each add +1 to Unrest, up to 2.

The current HRAO is Fulvius of the Plutocrats, who has a Popularity of nothing (0, totally neutral). So his State of the Republic speech will be 3d6 -2 Unrest.

[blockquote]Rolled 3d6 : 5, 2, 5, total 12[/blockquote]
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

12 - 2 unrest = 10, which on the chart adds +1 Unrest, up to 3.

With that, the Senate officially starts. I'll be taking snapshots of everyone's current mat and posting those in a few minutes, along with some commentary about the State of the Republic.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

#565
Here are the current Events active in the Forum, and the two existent (and Active) Wars:






The Republic currently fields 8 Active Legions (the 1st thru 8th inclusive), with another two possible Legions (9th and 10th) in the Force Pool.

There are 126 Talents in the Republic's Treasury, with a current normal income of 40 per Turn. The currently Active Legions will cost 16 Talents next Turn (if they still survive). The currently Active Wars will cost 10 Talents each next turn.

Unrest, just as a reminder, is currently +3 (after the most recent State of the Republic address).

Next I'll compile the Player mats.
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

JasonPratt

#566
It took me some thought to gauge a 2nd place Faction right now, but ultimately I lean toward I.I.'s Aristocrats. His totals of cash, influence, and voting power, simply outscore the Plutocrats; his luck at gaining financial Concessions keeps him able to spend cash as he likes while still rivaling the Plutocrats; and having at last pulled ahead solidly in the Influence Totals his increasing number of knights can now bring double voting power to bear on any topic, pro or con -- arguably the best activist advantage in the game, and one that the Plutocrats will always lack (having no voting activist abilities at all).

This does remind me, by the way, that Cinc's recent Influence gain (after being elected Field Consul again, and winning the Aequian War) should have generated two extra influence points to be spent on one of his other senators.

For that matter, Cornelius donated 10 Talents to Rome's Treasury last Turn (Turn 5), which should have generated another extra Influence point to be spent somewhere other than Corny.

Yeesh, going back to check farther, Valerius being elected one of the Consular tribunes should have generated another point, too! Man, I am suckinnngggg at keeping track of the Aristocrats' Influence farming, sorry! (Fortunately this faultiness on my part has not affected the game yet.)

I.I., let me know where those four extra Influence points should be!





Tripoli's Militarists probably rank 5th among Factions this Turn, but that could start changing again soon, and sharply. The least powerful of the original four Factions -- partly due to a spate of unlucky rolls, and partly due to the other three original factions conspiring with each other (and possibly against him) -- the Militarists have recently scored a 3rd senator at last with much-needed voting power, and his careful conservation of income has given him some latent strength at taking advantage of opportunities. With stronger Wars coming over the horizon, his fellow Factions may start turning to him soon; or they may need rescuing before they'll give him his extra bonuses from military victories! His two Tax Farming Concessions are helping keep him afloat meanwhile as he quietly trains for mega-campaigning.





The Frog's Plutocrats are lingering in 3rd place, both generally among the Factions and among the majority voting block (so far), but ironically this is due to bad luck in not being able to snap up any Concessions yet! (And a few bad luck rolls elsewhere.) His cash generation abilities offset his lack of other kinds of special abilities, as demonstrated by him giving a ludicrous total of 11 Talents to each of his senators during distributions this Turn! His voting and total Influence tallies are nothing to sneeze at, and his political capabilities can be judged by him having successfully Proposed one of his own senators as Rome's first Censor last Turn! -- a dangerous concentration of power in a Faction which usually manages to produce one of the Consuls each Turn, including last Turn! Whether his Censor can score an election two Turns in a row remains to be seen...





Currently the indisputably most powerful Faction in the Republic, AzTank's Conservatives show no signs of weakness. With an economy to rival the Plutocrats (currently), the Pontifex Maximus for life, successful senators pushing a total Influence that has up until recently kept the Aristocrats from activist voting, a respectable voting total, and no less than four senators in his Faction (partly thanks to the Conservatives' unique starting bonus), it's hard to see AzTank's star descending any time soon. His activist knights will lend strength toward keeping other Factions from gaining power, if he so chooses; and his permanent capability of Statesman inheritance could keep his gains in play longer than other Factions during the long game, even as his initial advantage fades to less importance over time. His only main weakness currently, is his own success, making him a potential target of competition if the Factions start putting their own power ahead of the safety of the Republic.

Heck, he's so powerful that he hasn't even bothered to clarify yet where I should put his most recently persuaded knight! :D (Being away from his computer, he thought Fulvius was one of his own senators, an understandable mistake; personally I recommend the knight should go to Furius Camillus, who will safely conserve it for inheritance one way or another.)





Malize's Populists have spiked into 4th place recently, now leading the three minority Factions, and competently leveraging his special Faction abilities into the new strongest single voting block in the Senate! -- even a touch stronger than the activist knight support for the Aristocrats! The majority three Factions must either lockstep even tighter to keep their reins on senatorial authority, or alternately the stronger Factions may start looking to compete against each other by courting the increasingly powerful swing votes, among which the Populists take precedence. There is no reason to expect the Populists to slow their rise to power, as long as Malize's play stays careful (helped by his lucrative local Mining rights); but with only two senators (as he suffered back during the Barbarian Sack of Rome) Malize still lacks any buffering against random disaster -- or possibly intentional sabotage. On the other hand, Malize overtly sports no less than three unplayed Faction cards, much like his minority ally the Progressives, which suggests more potential surging on the way.





Erax's Progressives are necessarily in last place, for obvious reasons. Aside from being naturally hampered by late entry, he has also been haunted by bad luck rolls, most destructively the untimely deaths of two Flaminian senators. This has kept his total influence and voting power low, although with his increasing number of knights and a possibly cooperative oppositional base among other Factions, he could start racking up Influence by voting against senatorial gains or for senatorial harm (or for emergency Land Bills if those become necessary soon). Recently he netted two local Tax Farming territories, which will help his struggling Faction economy, too.

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Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

IncompetentIdiot

Three to Cornelius, one to Valerius.

JasonPratt

Will do (tomorrow afternoon)!

It's time for the Frog to consider Proposing the next two Consuls. If one is an Aristocrat, I'll try reaaaalllly hard to remember to add an extra point of Influence this time.  :-[ (Though if I.I. manages to remember for me, I won't complain!  O:-) )
ICEBREAKER THESIS CHRONOLOGY! -- Victor Suvorov's Stalin Grand Strategy theory, in lots and lots of chronological order...
Dawn of Armageddon -- narrative AAR for Dawn of War: Soulstorm: Ultimate Apocalypse
Survive Harder! -- Two season narrative AAR, an Amazon Blood Bowl career.
PanzOrc Corpz Generals -- Fantasy Wars narrative AAR, half a combined campaign.
Khazâd du-bekâr! -- narrative dwarf AAR for LotR BfME2 RotWK campaign.
RobO Q Campaign Generator -- archived classic CMBB/CMAK tool!

IncompetentIdiot

Before we nominate candidates, I think we should consider whether we'll focus on one war or try to knock out both at the same time. With a potential maximum strength of 20 (including MIL bonuses) and a very healthy treasury, we should have a reasonably chance of success with the latter.