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Bregir

Troop rules and land combat

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Land Combat and troop rules

NB: This is a first version of the rules, and they are subject to changes and balances.

Recruiting troops

To license troops, you must post a moc. This moc could be showing the troops in a relevant scene, and include some background or details of the unit (their history, tactics, weaponry, tasks, or similar); it could be a recruitment drive, an officer making plans; or similar. Number of troops recruited and location of recruitment is required.

(As with all other builds, BoBS leadership reserves the right to ask for improvements on builds not showing sufficient effort)

There is a limit to how many soldiers can be "recruited" (i.e., purchased and MOC'd) from a settlement during any MRCA period, based on the settlement's level:

Hamlet:          Can't recruit troops
Town:             10 men per MRCA
Large Town:   30 men per MRCA
City:                60 men per MRCA
Large City:      90 men per MRCA
Grand City:   180 men per MRCA
Capital City:  270 men per MRCA

Note that all troop purchases, as well as movement of troops from one location to another, are done through use of the troop form.

Below you can find the price of raising troops. Note that there is a slight discount to raising more at a time, but the upkeep is always 6DBs per MRCA per 10 men (always rounded up)

Platoon: 30DB | 10 Men | Upkeep 6DB / MRCA
Company: 80DB | 30 Men | Upkeep 18DB / MRCA
Battalion: 220DB | 90 Men | Upkeep 54DB / MRCA
Regiment 600DB | 270 Men | Upkeep 162DB / MRCA
Division: 1700DB | 810 Men | Upkeep 486DB / MRCA
Army 4500DB | 2430 Men | Upkeep 1458DB / MRCA

Fort construction

Forts can only be built in settlements you control. This can either be your own settlements, or an occupied settlement. The rules differ between the two. Limits on number of forts by settlement size still applies.

Own settlement
This is a settlement you have established on your own lands, or won in an official treaty. Here you can build forts as always with one stipulation: The same turn you build a fort, you cannot raise troops. (As troops are raised for the fort garrison)

Occupied settlement
This is a settlement you have taken in war, but which has not yet been officially transferred to you in a peace negotiation. Since you cannot raise troops here, you cannot build a fort either, unless you have the troops available to man the fort. And as a fort is a massive engineering feat, one cannot raise a large fort from scratch. Hence:

  • Any fort building in an occupied settlement will deduct the manpower from forces present to man the garrison. (5 men per crew point)
  • First turn of occupation, only a small fort can be constructed, second turn: a medium, third turn: large, fourth turn: a royal.
    • NB: Each turn, the total footprint must meet the requirements, but the fort can be upgraded consecutively. So the first build adds minimum 16x16 for a small fort. Next turn adds enough to reach a total of 32x32 and the fort is upgraded to medium, etc. Technically, 100x100 studs could be built the first turn, and the fort would only count as a small first turn, medium second turn, etc. However, each turn must still include a build to progress the upgrade, even if just a vignette.
      NB: Please do not license the fort until the final stage has been completed. (For accounting purposes) 

NB: A fort cannot be constructed in a settlement under attack, unless posted at least 18 days before the tMRCA deadline (or four days earlier than the attack deadline), or before the attack build is posted. This is to avoid forts being constructed in response to an attack. 

Moving troops

Troops can move once each turn. Either by sea or by land, but not both in the same turn.

 - By sea

When moving troops between islands, you will need the proper transports. Hence, troops will be embarked on ships that can then move during the tMRCA turns. A ship can carry troops equal to 5 * ([class] + [cargo rating]).

(Please do not fill in the troop form for the next turn before the conclusion of the previous tMRCA, as some ships (with their troops) may be diverted. Troops on sunk/captured ships will be lost/captured with the ship.)

 - By land

Troops can march overland between settlements and locations connected by land and can visit one settlement per turn. (No interrim stops)

Combat

Troops can attack once per turn. If this is in connection with sea transport, this is handled as a raid.

Land combat can be entered in any location where two (or more) opposing armies are in proximity (i.e. can reach each other over land), and can be initiated by any of the opposing armies.

  - Attacking

An attack is started by the attacker posting a build (vignette or larger) including a (short) description of the tactics employed, no later than 2 weeks before the tMRCA deadline. The post must include information on which army (and how many troops) is attacking who, and should be linked in this thread with at least two active players of the opposing faction tagged. NB: Only when all these conditions are met has an attack been initiated!

NB: If the court decides that an NPC will make an attack, it will be announced by the deadline.
A build is not required for NPCs, but any player can volunteer to build for the NPC, the build to be submitted before the tMRCA deadline. Players of allied nations (if available) of the NPC will have preference if more than one player volunteers.

- Defending

The defender has until the tMRCA deadline (two weeks) to post a counter-build defining the defense strategy. Defenders have two options: Defense or retreat.

 - Retreating
If there is somewhere to move (which means a friendly settlement to move to or enough ships to transport the troops out), the defender can decide to refuse battle. This will yield the ground to the attacker, but save the troops for another battle.
This requires no build.

 - Defending
If the defender decides to offer battle, a build (vignette or larger) must be posted with a description of the defenders tactics. NB: If no defense build is posted, the defenders will be considered overrun, and get a tactical score of 1.

NB: If the defender is an NPC, a player can volunteer to build the defense build. Again, players of allied nations will have preference if more than one volunteers.

NB: Fortresses in a settlement under attack will add their garrisons and artillery to the defense. ((Crew + Guns) * 5) will be added to troop numbers.

NB: You cannot reinforce a settlement under attack, but you can raise troops there up to the recruitment capacity. This represents raising the militias.

- Tactical score

The attacker and the defender will get each a tactical score based on their build, which will have a significant impact on combat outcome. This score is determined by court.

Tactical score is judged based on two factors:

  1. Cleverness of tactic
  2. Integration of established IC elements
    1. Terrain
      Could be forests or cliffs that are used to ambush the attackers, or particular terrain features of a settlement, island, or area. Could also be island rumours
    2. Buildings or fortifications
    3. Troops
      Troop numbers are set by the EGS, but for instance, a build may have established that some of the invested troops are hussars, and you recreate the charge of the light brigade (probably not a good idea...:pir-wink:)
    4. Etc.

These two factors can be brought together by clever tactical use of established IC elements. Please link to the elements used by the tactic. More is not better - we go for quality over quantity, so clever use of one or two elements is better than mediocre use of a multitude.

  Q: What are "established IC elements"?

  A: Anything that has been established by builds and stories before the attack. This means players can use existing elements or build-up elements. Examples could be building field fortifications in preparation for a potential defence, or digging siege trenches in preparation for an attack. It could also be clever use of a previously established unit (e.g. a charge by heavy cavalry recruited earlier).

  Q: Is it sometimes better not to build?

  A: Attackers get a score between 1 and 5. NPC's will default to a score of 1 unless a player volunteers to build for the NPC, in which case the score will be between 2 and 5. Defenders will default to a tactical score of 1. If a build is submitted, the score will be between 2 and 5. NPCs will default to a score of 2, with a build raising it to 3 to 5.

Hence, it is *never* a disadvantage to submit a build.

NB: There is no size requirements or limits, although all builds have to show sufficient effort. The court reserves the right to reject any build that is deemed subpar.

  Q: What happens if my troops move out from location A to attack location B, while my enemy attacks location A from location C

  A: To avoid too many speculations in deadlines, and since an attacker will be planning his attack based on where your troops originally were, in this case, you will be allowed to decide whether to break off your attack to join the defence, and with what proportion of your forces. Should two armies both march out to attack each other, they will meet in the middle.

- Commander skill

Commander skill ranges between 1 and 5. A commander starts at skill 1 and will gain +1 skill for each successful battle (tactical retreat or better). Accordingly, it will be decreased by -1 for the most grievous defeats. If no commander is present, a new commander will be appointed (by the relevant faction). Named commanders can be player characters or faction controlled characters.

Commander skill is applied to all troops under his command, but only one commander can be in charge of each battle (you cannot add the skill of several commanders present). Commanders can be moved similar to troops, although he takes up no troop capacity and can hence move by even the smallest of ships.

NB 2: Both attack and defence builds must include the name of the commanding officer.

 - Combat resolution

Combat outcome is a function of the following:

  • Troop numbers
  • Tactical scores
  • Commander skill
  • Random factor (1 to 5)

A battle will rarely conclude with the total destruction of an army, but rather with some losses and a retreat. However, in some cases, unconditional surrender may be the result. The results, including losses, will be published as part of the KPA.

Note that an experienced commander scoring a high tactical score may defeat a considerably larger enemy, but that evenly matched, troop numbers will have significant impact on the outcome of a battle.

 

 - Known Commanders

  • TER
    • Miro Oldis: 1
      • +1 for first battle of Kings Port
      • -1 for losing Kings Port
    • L'Olius: 1
  • OL
    • Brigadier des Armées Charles Louis Gabriel: 3
      • + 1 for first battle for Kings Port
      • +1 for capturing Kings Port
    • Jean Batiste de Moncey: 2
      • +1 for skirmishes in relation to the capture of Kings Port
    • General Hercule François: 2 (3 against Lotus)
      • +1 command bonus against the Lotii on El Oleonda from the Flower of the Lotus challenge
      • +1 for the battle of Seawatch
  • COR
    • Count Mesabi: 2
      • +1 for the successful landing at Fatu Hiva.
    • Brigadier Allcock: 2
      • +1 for the battle of Seawatch
  • ESL
    • Unknown commander: 2
      • +1 for the battle of Seawatch

 - Notable battles

 

Edited by Bregir
Updated battle and commanders

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Good stuff, all looks nice to me after a first read. :pir-thumb:

First question: nothing will change concerning attacks over water, right?

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18 minutes ago, Darnok said:

Good stuff, all looks nice to me after a first read. :pir-thumb:

First question: nothing will change concerning attacks over water, right?

So far, no. Raids are conducted as usual. We may sometime in the future align them more with land combat rules, but babysteps.

First question - what is the WTC planning? :pir-tongue:

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These are great @Bregir, and I'm glad they've made it to the Brick Seas. 

On 10/7/2020 at 2:10 PM, Bregir said:

To license troops, you must post a moc showing the troops in a relevant scene, and include some background or details of the unit (their history, tactics, weaponry, tasks, or similar). Number of troops recruited and location of recruitment is required.

(As with all other builds, BoBS leadership reserves the right to ask for improvements on builds not showing sufficient effort)

How are existing troops grandfathered into this? Do they require a MOC update, a declaration somewhere, etc.

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55 minutes ago, Mesabi said:

These are great @Bregir, and I'm glad they've made it to the Brick Seas. 

How are existing troops grandfathered into this? Do they require a MOC update, a declaration somewhere, etc.

Nope - this is just restating the current rules for raising troops. I think it might in fact be an old phrasing of the rules, as we typically allow much more leeway in what mocs can be used for raising troops. I will look at an update.

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Woot!  Yes! - kudos to the leadership for coming out with these rules - it's obvious at a glance that a lot of thought went into them and I'm really liking what I'm seeing!  Looking forward to watching these get some testing here :pir-grin: :pir-sweet:

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Two small updates:

  • Both attacking and defending builds must include the name of the commander.
  • If you are attacked in the location you are leaving, you can decide whether to stay and defend or continue your move. You may even decide to leave some part of your forces in the defence, and attack with the rest. This is to avoid a) speculation in deadlines, and b) too passive tactics in war.

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Rule update:

Fort construction

Forts can only be built in settlements you control. This can either be your own settlements, or an occupied settlement. The rules differ between the two. Limits on number of forts by settlement size still applies.

Own settlement
This is a settlement you have established on your own lands, or won in an official treaty. Here you can build forts as always with one stipulation: The same turn you build a fort, you cannot raise troops. (As troops are raised for the fort garrison)

Occupied settlement
This is a settlement you have taken in war, but which has not yet been officially transferred to you in a peace negotiation. Since you cannot raise troops here, you cannot build a fort either, unless you have the troops available to man the fort. And as a fort is a massive engineering feat, one cannot raise a large fort from scratch. Hence:

  • Any fort building in an occupied settlement will deduct the manpower from forces present to man the garrison. (5 men per crew point)
  • First turn of occupation, only a small fort can be constructed, second turn: a medium, third turn: large, fourth turn: a royal.
    • NB: Each turn, the total footprint must meet the requirements, but the fort can be upgraded consecutively. So the first build adds minimum 16x16 for a small fort. Next turn adds enough to reach a total of 32x32 and the fort is upgraded to medium, etc. Technically, 100x100 studs could be built the first turn, and the fort would only count as a small first turn, medium second turn, etc. However, each turn must still include a build to progress the upgrade, even if just a vignette.
      NB: Please do not license the fort until the final stage has been completed. (For accounting purposes) 

NB: A fort cannot be constructed in a settlement under attack, unless posted at least 18 days before the tMRCA deadline (or four days earlier than the attack deadline), or before the attack build is posted. This is to avoid forts being constructed in response to an attack. 

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Addendum:

You cannot reinforce a settlement under attack, but you can raise troops there up to the recruitment capacity. This represents raising the militias.

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7 hours ago, CapOnBOBS said:

---Can't delete post, just content inside it----

It is perfectly reasonable to ask constructive questions here. Others may benefit from the answers too. :pir-classic:

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On 3/29/2021 at 9:06 PM, Bregir said:

 A fort cannot be constructed in a settlement under attack, unless posted at least 18 days before the tMRCA deadline (or four days earlier than the attack deadline), or before the attack build is posted. This is to avoid forts being constructed in response to an attack. 

I’m not super happy about that, since we actually planned building a fort to defend Aurelia, but (apart for the bad timing... but this happens when you have to define combat rules with a war ongoing :pir_tong2:) I think it makes perfectly sense. With this I think we got a reasonable balance between realism and turn-based dynamics.

My only suggestion (not super sure this is the right place to write this) is that we maybe should get a clear separation between raid and attack, with the first not occupying the settlement (or occupying it for a turn, that would allow a double range for the attacking force) and the second resulting in invasion, no matter if by sea or land.

However, these rules seem well balanced... see your redcoats on the battlefield soon! :pir_tong2:

Edited by Keymonus

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8 minutes ago, Keymonus said:

My only suggestion (not super sure this is the right place to write this) is that we maybe should get a clear separation between raid and attack, with the first not occupying the settlement (or occupying it for a turn, that would allow a double range for the attacking force) and the second resulting in invasion, no matter if by sea or land.

It is on our list to revisit raids vs. invasions, but I have been holding back on making more changes than necessary to rules that have already been in play this war to keep it consistent and fair. (Where they haven't been too skewed) :pir-classic:

So probably we will figure something out in this regard once this war is over.

10 minutes ago, Keymonus said:

see your redcoats on the battlefield soon! 

*salutes* We can appreciate a worthy opponent, monsieur! :pir-wink:

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Hey, if the court so feels that this is correct, please make sure that Count Mesabi is added to the next Account sheet under "Commander." He lead the charge on Fatu Hiva, and it was a successful outcome for him. 

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16 minutes ago, Ross Fisher said:

Can Hercule François also be added?

Has he taken part in any battles yet? (which?)

@Mesabi: Count Mesabi has been added.

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4 hours ago, Bregir said:

Has he taken part in any battles yet?

I mean... he has valiantly wrestled with the contents of his own cellar on many an occasion. He was won many battles, and also suffered many grievous injuries. 

Edited by Ross Fisher

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On 1/15/2023 at 10:48 PM, Ross Fisher said:

I mean... he has valiantly wrestled with the contents of his own cellar on many an occasion. He was won many battles, and also suffered many grievous injuries. 

Apart from these glorious deeds, we would also like to assign him the “Know your Enemy” +1 command bonus.

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8 hours ago, Keymonus said:

Apart from these glorious deeds, we would also like to assign him the “Know your Enemy” +1 command bonus.

Pardon?

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25 minutes ago, Bregir said:

Pardon?

Sorry, my fault. The faction reward for the minichallenge Flower of the Lotus was a +1 command bonus against the Lotii on El Oleonda.

We would like to assign it to General Hercule François.

 

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Thank you :pir-blush:

I had forgotten that. Will add it with the relevant stipulations.

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