Middle Provincial Era GROGPUBLIC game thread

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

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JasonPratt

From chat, AzTank says, "5 to each of my guys."

Will try to get everything processed tonight!  O:-)
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JasonPratt

All cash distributed as instructed. This ends Segment 2.

Segment 3, Rome's income starts with 25 Talents; +100 standard income; -20 1st Punic War active; -2 x 18 active Legions; -2 x 11 active Fleets = new Republican cash 47.

This ends the Revenue Phase.
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
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JasonPratt

TURN ELEVEN -- FORUM PHASE
--------------------------

Evil Omens finally disperse. Spolia Opima remains (until the next defeat of an Enemy Leader in a Land Battle.)

The Forum Phase starts around the table from Tripoli's Militarists (thanks to him controlling the HRAO, Dictator Julius). They roll 6+2, so he draws a Scenario card...



...the 1st Illyrian War!



This War has another Matching War, which you can expect to arrive in this Era or relatively early in the next Era.

Fortunately, this War starts Inactive. Unfortunately, this is the first War that creates a Drought Event! This happens when Wars either invade the Italian heartland, or (as in this case) when they interfere badly with critical trade. The Drought Event caused by this War triggers even while the War is Inactive, and will stay in the Forum (stacking with any other Droughts) until the War is Defeated.

This War will require 3 Fleets of Naval Support for any Force of Legions, but won't require defeating a Naval strength first. Its D/S results are not very worrisome, only a little more than 4% chance total. It isn't very strong by itself, only a 5 Strength, and if both Wars of the Set are Defeated, Rome will acquire the Province of illyricum (though you'll still get 10 Talents of Spoils for Defeating this one). If Rome somehow acquires the Province of Macedonia first, the Illyrian Wars will attack it!

I'll pause here for Tripoli to manage his senators.
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.
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Tripoli

Manlius will spend 4 and roll for a knight.  Aelius will donate  25 to ROme for the influence
"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" -Abraham Lincoln

JasonPratt

Quote from: Tripoli on February 14, 2019, 10:36:00 PM
Manlius will spend 4 and roll for a knight.  Aelius will donate  25 to ROme for the influence

Hmmm, donations should have been made back in the Revenue Phase -- back when it might save the Republic from bankruptcy through normal expenses!

But I'm willing to allow donations to happen post hoc.  O:-)

I won't be able to process the knight roll, and next round (Frog's), for another seven hours at least; but he's already given me instructions (though if his draw creates a new opportunity for him I'll pause there to let him reconsider expenses.)

Assuming I run the Frog's round automatically after all, AzTank will be next around the board.
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

I'd like to re-allocate if possible, 1 to Flaminius the rest to Plautius. Flaminius will spend that 1 on a knight roll.

If not allowed, he rolls with no talents.

And I might not be available for the weekend.

JasonPratt

I'll allow that retroactively (thanks to asynch), once we get around the table to you.  O0
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

Manlius sacrifices 4 and rolls to attempt his 5th knight. Only a 1 will lose, but he easily clears it with 5. His Mil skill goes up 1 to 8. Normal Vote Tally up to 19. Aelius donates all 25 Talents (retroactively; Trip forgot when donations happen). 3 Influence points, up from 18 to 21; total Influence up to 62. New Republican cash 72.

The Frog's Plutocrats roll 5+4 (y'all would be hella good at craps, btw!) which is a Scenario card: it's a red text Faction card, giving him 4 facedown again. I've sent him a pmail to let him know what it is.

Claudius (per the Frog's instructions) sacrifices all 5 to automatically buy a knight. Vote tally up to 13. Acilius spends 13 of his 16 on Sponsoring Games, increasing his Pop by 2 to 0. (Also reducing Unrest by 2, but it's already 0.)

AzTank's Conservatives roll 5+3 which is almost a Random Event but not quite, so he draws...



...the 1st Macedonian War!

King Philip V has finished his preparations and launches his bid for Successor. First task, bring the upstart Republic to heel! The Macedonian Wars are by themselves threats to the Republic's existence -- if all four are still Active at the end of a Combat Phase, the Republic crashes and burns! And unless Philip randomly dies (which is unlikely), he'll be around to pump up all of them with no less than 6 points of War Strength! (And stacking his D/S results.)

The only good news, per se, is that the card says you only have to expect two of these Wars during the Early Era. Then again, y'all are steadily working your way into the start of the Middle Provincial Era: you still have 8 cards of definite Early Era remaining, so the new Era won't start this Turn, but the chances are good it might start next Turn!

At any rate, you now have two Active Wars again to deal with (bleeding the Republic's Treasury together at -40 per Turn), both of which have strong Leaders. You're going to need 10 Fleets as support for your Legions, too -- but at least you won't need to punch past any Macedonian Fleets first. Defeating this War won't earn you any new Provinces (yet), but you'll get 25 Talents back from Spoils.

I don't have instructions from AzTank yet, so I'll pause here and p-mail him.
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

Meanwhile, since AzTank doesn't have any options that will affect beyond his own mat, I can continue on.

Malize's Populists roll a 5+2, and that's a Random Event! 3d6 then: 5+3+1=9, and that's another Drought card. It stacks with the Drought being caused by the Illyrian War, but this one will go away at the start of next Turn's Forum Phase.

Per Malize's instructions, Fabius Maximus sacrifices his 5 distributed Talents to automatically Persuade his first minion: Populist Vote Tally goes up to 28. Unless Malize decides to shift his Faction Leader from Cato to someone else (which seems unlikely), this ends his Round.

Erax's Progressives roll 4+2, almost another Random Event but a Scenario instead. They draw...



the Syrian War. Antiochus, perhaps having detected that his Successor rival Philip was making his move (or vice versa?), also finishes his preparations.

This War would almost be a joke, except for Antiochus punching its Land Strength up by 6 points! Oddly, Rome won't gain a Syrian Province by defeating it; and the card effectively states this is the only Syrian War in the game. And yet, if Syria is already a Province then this card would trigger a Revolt! So it must be possible to gain the Syrian Province somehow, and the designer seems to be hinting it can (or will) happen in the Early Era. I honestly don't recall how...! -- but, to be equally honest, I wouldn't reveal plot spoilers if I did. ;)

You may not gain a Province for Defeating this War, but you'll gain a massive spoil of 45 Talents! And you won't need to fight a Navy, nor even supply more than 2 Fleets for Logistic support. The main problem, aside from a respectable 12 combined strength (which won't magnify since the Syrian War is not part of a set), is that Antiochus almost blankets the upper half of any combat rolls with D/S results! -- the half which contains ALL THE VICTORY RESULTS! You'll need to roll low and then punch past that deadly zone with your Legions to win. (Also, this War would seriously threaten to roll up and conquer no less than three Provincial targets, but since the Republic doesn't control them right now that's a moot point.)

This brings Rome to 3 Active Wars again (plus another one Inactive fortunately, which I do not recommend aggravating unless you want everyone to lose the game!)

Erax did not leave any senator-management instructions, so I'll pause here. (Note that Erax said he'll be gone for the weekend, so we may not hear back until Sunday night or Monday sometime.)
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

Quote from: Erax on February 15, 2019, 03:19:47 PM
I'd like to re-allocate if possible, 1 to Flaminius the rest to Plautius. Flaminius will spend that 1 on a knight roll.

If not allowed, he rolls with no talents.

And I might not be available for the weekend.

Oh, duh, forgot that. I'll process immediately!
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

Erax retroactively (with permission) re-allocates 1 Talent to Flam, to help with a knight roll attempt. He'll thus win on a 5 or 6, but he rolls a 1.

I don't know what else Erax might have had planned for Plautius, but no new families have become politically active yet; and Sulpy has waaaay too much cash and loyalty (to himself!) for Plautius to punch through with a feasible Persuasion attempt. I'll consider some retroactive action, but for all I know unless Erax wants to take away the one thing keeping Flam in the game so far (Faction Leader status!) then he's done for this Round.
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

That brings us to the final Forum Round for this Phase, I.I.'s Aristocrats, who roll 2+2, a Scenario draw. It's a red-text Faction card, sent to his hand facedown (he has one card now).

I've pmailed him to let him know what the card is and its details for when/how to play it; and also to remind him that I don't have instructions for managing his senators yet.

And with that, I expect I'm done for the night!  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


JasonPratt

Valerius sacrifices 5 Talents for an automatic 4th knight, leaving 5 personal cash. Normal Vote Tally goes up to 19; activist votes add 10 now.

AzTank says Aemilius Paullus will sacrifice his 5 Talents on his first knight, the idea being that Conservatives should specially buff their Statesmen as much as possible in order to take advantage of the Conservative inheritance special ability! Normal vote tally goes up to 15. Activist extra votes go up to 5.

This ends the Forum Phase. 18 cards remain in the Early Provincial deck, so we'll get at least one more Turn in the Early Era.
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

TURN ELEVEN -- POPULATION PHASE
-------------------------------

All major offices from PontMax upward get Major Suspicion markers.

No Wars are threatening heartlands yet, so Tax Farming Concessions are safe. Nor are there any destroyed Concessions in the Curia to respawn.

The Calpurnican and the Fabian families each fail to respawn out of the Curia. (This is most important for Fabius Maximus of the Populists, since the rules require his family to be out of the Curia before Malize can collect their card under him.)

All currently active Enemy Leaders have already left the Curia to join their Wars, so no natural-death rolls for them.

Adjusting Unrest: starts at 0, +1 +1 for Droughts; +1 for the 1st Punic War being Unprosecuted. (The freshly Active Wars don't count, yet.) New Unrest 3.

Julius of the Militarists, being the Dictator, and thus the Highest Ranking Available Officer in the city, starts the Senate by giving the State of the Republic speech. His (maximum!) Popularit of 9 - Unrest 3 + 3d6 results of... 2+3+6, equals 17. This subtracts 2 from the Unrest, down to 1.

With that, the Senate opens. Here are the pre-Senate mat snapshots!

The indisputable game leader right now, I.I.'s Aristocrats are the total package; although some of their dominance could shift during the Mandatory Business, since their influence is being encroached by the Militarists (and with it, their activist-boosted 29 votes.)




Just as indisputably in 2nd place, Tripoli's Militarists are well-poised to continue reaping the benefits of being the preeminent butt-kickers for the Republic. Their Influence closely rivals the Aristocrats, and their normal vote tally actually equals their rivals! They do lack the cash generation/reserves, but this sort-of fluctuates around: Tripoli spent a lot more of his cash this Turn than I.I. did, and the Militarists don't generate much less per Turn!




Thanks to being a perennial target, plus bad luck from the death bag this turn, the Frog's Plutocrats dove down to 4th Place this Turn. The Frog is a canny political operator, however, with four Faction cards being held in reserve for opportune moments! -- and his ability to generate cash, and thus to buy his way out of his slump, cannot be ignored. The only question is whether the current Top 3 will retain their momentum, or stumble out of his way. Or be pushed... ^-^




Are the Conservatives still in 5th Place? I seriously had to wonder if AzTank hadn't solidly passed the Frog this Turn! If you take his Influence, votes, and cash, guess what? -- only the Aristocrats have a higher total, and not by much!! He has two priests, two former Consuls, a nice Statesman of his own (who could parlay his ability to void Macedonian D/S results into a Consulship soon); heck, he's one of only two Players with four senators right now! But some of these factors are a little deceptive: he has been highly (maybe ludicrously) conservative in his cash expenses so far, which is why he has so much but also affects the growth of his senators, two of whom are brand new anyway. He's coming back, but his strength is more potential than actual. Yet.




Malize's Populists continue in a solid 3rd Place, hampered mostly by a surprising lack of cash income. With four senators, and with a normal vote tally only a touch less than the Aristocrats' activist boosted votes, he could gain ground easily, both objectively and relatively -- especially if the Militarists pass the Aristocrats in total Influence soon! Cato's rechargeable Tribune ability remains potent, and Fabius Maximus could be strategically worth to deploy with his amazing defensive abilities against any War. There's a chance he might be able to parlay his relative neutrality into re-electing Junius as Censor, too.




Erax's Progressives, after coming within a short putt of WINNING THE WHOLE GAME BY THEMSELVES -- which I wish to emphasize out of praise for his skill at playing the game -- has, alas, fallen prey to the Kindly Ones once again. The new Flaminian senator has a long way to go before regaining the heights of his family's legacy. Plautius should not be discounted, but he's carrying the Faction by himself right now. I will note that Erax has mastered the subtle political art of making his harmlessly low vote tally a credit instead of a debit! Still, by any metric, the Progressives are back to being last place again. For now.



The Forum is stacking up with opportunities and with problems. One of those Droughts will resolve out next Turn, but the other stays with the Illyrian War (which dare not be attacked so long as the other Wars are burning). The Spolia Opima looks ready to be collected at last by some Commander; and Rome's first Province will need to be assigned a Governor this Turn! (Note that unassigned Senators, like Sulpy smirking over in his corner, can be voted in as Governors...) I'll start discussing Provinces soon.





I'm not even going to include the Inactive Illyrian War here: these three Active Wars are more than bad enough! Each is punchy in its own right, and each is supercharged by a dangerous Enemy Leader. The Syrian War is surely the most vulnerable among them, as well as the most reward for the risk; the Punic War will grant two Provinces if beaten, but needs a Naval Victory before Legions can land and fight against an oak-tough foe. It and the Macedonian War can each be expected to spawn a sequel War during this Era, which will multiply their strengths accordingly -- and risk the total collapse of the Republic!

Currently the Republic has 72 cash, with 100 normal income (plus some semi-random income from the new Province next Turn, more on that later). The three Active Wars will eat 60 Talents among themselves, however! -- and unit upkeep alone will cost 58 more! This leaves roughly 54 Talents to spend, which will quickly eat into any safety net against bad luck events next 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!