Hi All,

I'm very interested in playing N-Sim.  While I have a stack of questions, I'll restrict it to these couple to start.

a) Is the Democratic Republic of MesoAmerica still available?
b) Is the Mughal Empire still available?
c) How are the starting ports/infrastructure/facilities of these new countries worked out?
d) Is there a 'finish date' for the game?
e) Taking control of one of these nations, I assume you run all the turns from the start of the game?  Giving yourself a chance to R&D tech's, develop guns, etc?
f) How often are turns done?


Thanks in advance, any helpfully newbie advice would be welcome!


Hooper

Welcome!
I know the DRM is still open, and the Mughal Empire might also be open as well.

Here's the advice:
1.) Never, ever, ever make Glorious France angry.
2.) Never, ever, ever make the most superior Middle Kingdom angry.
3.) Alliance is life-  get into a lot of them and make sure that you drag them into as much as they drag you into. ;)

For the answer to f check this thread out: http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=2289.0

d) The end of the era of interest

Welcome aboard!  Let me answer your questions in the order asked:

a)  Err, not really.

b)  Yes!

c)  The Moderators assigned starting infrastructure based on their assessment of the nation's economy and need.

d)  There's no fixed date in mind.  The sim could go kablooey if we start a world war, or if we just get tired of it all, but nothing specific's been set.

e)  We'd assign a tech level for the current year (1916) and starting levels for military stuff; you'd have some leeway in determining the details.

f)  We attempt to do a turn every two weeks; usually, it drags out longer than that.

Thank you for your reply's, I appreciate it.

If the moderators see this, I'd be keen to take the Mughal Empire.
On that note, who are the moderators?

I'll start reading up any details on the Mughal Empire, and start filling in some rough idea's to be presented to the Moderators, hopefully to help with the establishment of tech levels / starting forces / etc.

On another note, How are aircraft / army units designed.  While airpower is negligable in its effect in 1916, soon (1930's) airpower becomes much more important.
I assume that there can be land wars as well as naval battles, and there must be some way of designing and comparing two armys?


Thanks again,
Hooper

Quote from: hooper82 on March 05, 2009, 07:51:13 PM
On that note, who are the moderators?

Maddox
The Rock Doctor
Guinness

Michael

I've been waiting for someone to come along who was interested in playing the Mughals.

*mwahahahahahahahahahahahah

Seriously though: The Mughals are one of the non-player countries that a player has been updating the reports for on the side (in this case ctwaterman, our Italian Empire player), so it should be roughly ready to go.

I'd start by reviewing their data:

First their history and tech (both courtesy of ctwaterman so far): http://www.navalism.org/index.php?board=143.0

and second their sim reports up to 1914 or so: http://www.navalism.org/index.php?board=143.0

Feel free to PM any or all of the Mods (myself, The Rock Doctor and Maddox as Mike noted) with any questions or ideas, and in the meantime, we'll make triply sure that we weren't planning on dropping any asteroids on Karachi, etc. before we give you the keys.

Edit: should answer this too:

Quote
On another note, How are aircraft / army units designed.  While airpower is negligable in its effect in 1916, soon (1930's) airpower becomes much more important.
I assume that there can be land wars as well as naval battles, and there must be some way of designing and comparing two armys?

Read over the army section of the rules first for details if you haven't already: http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=87.0

But the basics are thus: the basic unit for an Army is the Corps (about 50,000 men for an infantry corps for example). We allow units smaller than a corps, but they are still essentially subdivisions of a corps. The fighting power of a corps is represented by "rating", artillery, morale and strength. The details of that are in the thread I linked above. So, a "2/0" infantry corps is pretty much just a bunch of guys with guns, and something we usually see only in reserve units today, but also something the Mughals have or had quite a few of (at least as of 1909). Usually player nations will break out the current status of their army by corps in each report, but that's not in the updated reports for the Mughals, but give me a day or so, and I can detail that for you (unless ctwaterman wants to do that for me). And yes, land battles have certainly been simmed here in the past. For some idea of the results, you can find your way through this thread: http://www.navalism.org/index.php?board=169.0

Aircraft are indeed a recent innovation in the nverse, and have not figured decisively in our wars yet, though now that I've said that, players will now likely speak up with stories of zeppelines sinking ships, and the advantage the Ottomans got from aircraft artillery spotting in their recent war with the Austrians and Spanish. The truth is the rules are a living document and continue to evolve, and aircraft are near the forefront of that evolution. I don't anticipate any significant changes in the ruleset about aircraft now, but as the game proceeds, we'll see how the current rules work. As of right now, the rules really only cover the acquisition of aircraft and their attendant technologies, but not really units of aircraft that could form battle formations, etc. We just haven't quite gotten to needing that (yet).

Hi Guys,

[Tech] - http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=3454.0
Is that fairly standard of the technology levels as of 1914?  I guess I have some work ahead of me! =)

[Sim Reports] http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=3491.0
As I understand it so far -

Mughal Empire			Date -	1914 HY1
Province	Population	BP	IC	Revenue
Afganistan	9.36m	0	1	$3.672
Bolochistan	6.24m	0	1	$3.048
Punjab	42.66m	0.5	7	$21.132
Sindh	22.89m	2	24	$46.89
Rajasthan	24.97m	0	0	$13.994
Misc	n/a	0	0	$0.000
TOTAL	106.12m	2.5	38	$88.736
Nation State -	PEACE
Civilian Budget -	$44.368
Military Budget -	$44.368

Civilian Expenditures
Name/Location	$ this Turn	BP this Turn	Total $ Spent	Total BP Spent	$ To Complete	BP to Complete
IC 39	$45	-	$75	-	$0 (Complete)
.5 BP Punjab	$10.91	-	$91.74	-	$58.26

Military Budget Expenditures
Name/Location	$ this Turn	BP this Turn	Total $ Spent	Total BP Spent	$ To Complete	BP to Complete
To Civilian Budget	$5.63
Create II Mtn Corps	$5	0.75	$10	1.25	$0	0
Create XI Corps	$5	0.75	$10	1.25	$0	0
Create XII Corps	$5	0.75	$10	1.25	$0	0
Ammo Stockpile	$2	0.25
Ammo Costs	$0	0
Total $ Spent	$22.63
Total BP Spent	2.5

R&D Projects	Max R&D -	$1
Project Name	Cost	#HY	Com/Ongo/Roll
1910: 3 Reserve Units per 1 Active	$1	4 or 6	20%

Questions -

g) That seams about right.  However, does gun and turret R&D come under the R&D restriction amount?  Are there any lists of existing know Gun and Turret size's and technologies for The Mughal Empire.

h) Are there listings for existing Army, Navy and (possibly) Air forces?  Or Ports, Slipways, Drydocks and Fortresses?
[EDIT] Ah, Thankyou very much Gunness!

i) Is it possible to expend the entire budget on Civilian Infrastructure (in this case, more BP and IC!), rather than the traditional 50/50 split.

j) While I'm interested in playing a smaller nation, the extreme low BP of the Maghal Empire will limit it in the construction of any sort of serious navy, and in the R&D of any competitive technologies.  Is this by design?  Or is it possible to explain how the BP is in fact higher due to events following the rise to king of Akbar Shah the III in 1887 (at the tender young age, for a king, of 27)?

k) Who rolls for those 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% chances in R&D?

l) Does R&D come under Military Spending or Civilian Spending?

Thanks in advance to those who help a poor newb,
Hooper

g) Yes. I don't know.

i) Yes

k) The mods

I) Military

Quote from: hooper82 on March 05, 2009, 09:31:16 PM
Hi Guys,

[Tech] - http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=3454.0
Is that fairly standard of the technology levels as of 1914?  I guess I have some work ahead of me! =)

It is for the Mughals :)

Quote
g) That seams about right.  However, does gun and turret R&D come under the R&D restriction amount?  Are there any lists of existing know Gun and Turret size's and technologies for The Mughal Empire.

Gun and turret R&D does fall under overall R&D. I don't believe that the Mughals have any indigenous guns or mounts at this time, no. That's the bad news. The good news is that it's perfectly acceptable to license foreign guns and mounts, or to buy them from another nation.

Quote
h) Are there listings for existing Army, Navy and (possibly) Air forces?  Or Ports, Slipways, Drydocks and Fortresses?
[EDIT] Ah, Thankyou very much Gunness!

I'm going to try to work on this tomorrow (hopefully). I've got data as of 1909, so I need only reconcile what ctwaterman did in the reports since then. I can tell you now though that while the Army is pretty well spelled out, as are the ports and shipyards, there isn't much in the way of fortresses now, and the Navy as of 1909 was spelled out in a total approximate tonnage, not specific ships, so there is room there for some creativity.

Quote
i) Is it possible to expend the entire budget on Civilian Infrastructure (in this case, more BP and IC!), rather than the traditional 50/50 split.

Absolutely. The 50/50 split represents maximum annual military expenditures. The minimum annual military expenditure by the rules would be 0. So if you want to pore a bunch of $$ into civilian development, that's a perfectly sensible thing to do.

Quote
j) While I'm interested in playing a smaller nation, the extreme low BP of the Maghal Empire will limit it in the construction of any sort of serious navy, and in the R&D of any competitive technologies.  Is this by design?  Or is it possible to explain how the BP is in fact higher due to events following the rise to king of Akbar Shah the III in 1887 (at the tender young age, for a king, of 27)?

Most nations were fashioned more or less by taking their historical stats for population, etc. for a certain year, and extrapolating from there. So in that respect, yes, the Mughal's current situation was by design. It is a very very different nation with different needs and capabilities than say, the DKB or the CSA, but I don't personally think it is unplayable.

There are lots of routes for a nation to build power beside indigenous industrial production. One can purchase foreign hardware, go to war with others and take their resources and territory, or court international investment to develop the industrial base. I would think that any of these options are available to the Mughals immediately. So don't consider the Mughals hobbled necessarily. While not a great power, they have significant revenue, which could be turned into military assets (or industrial capacity) if desired. For instance, there's a pretty significant conflict brewing next door between France in Kolkuta and the Hindu state of Bharat. The 800 lb gorilla there is the question of what if anything the Mughals might do about that. The French, the Nverse's greatest superpower, might even be looking for some help, and speaking as an ally of France, I can tell you that France can be very generous to its friends ;-)

In other words, don't be afraid to be creative. In this moment, I'd point at DesertFox's little tiny Kingdom Republic of New Zion, which has a much much smaller economy than the Mughals, but he still manages to cause more than his own fair share of trouble. Wheeling and dealing around here is generally well received and rewarded.

But if you look at it in depth and find it not to your liking, let the Mods know what your concerns are and other ideas you have, and we'll give it some thought about options.

Quote
k) Who rolls for those 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% chances in R&D?

The mods do. The easy way for everyone is to send all three of us a PM with a list of your techs and the number of halves they have been researched, and we'll roll them for you.

Quote
l) Does R&D come under Military Spending or Civilian Spending?

Military.

j) It's low but it could be worse. I play New Zion and I only have 1 BP and $18 to play with. The way to go is to get allies and buy used. I bought practicly an entire fleet for New Zion, quadrupuling my strength overnight. Also making Tech Trades or buying Tech will be the only way for you to stay competitive.

BTW The Jewish state of New Zion happens to be very friendly towards other muslim countries, after all we share a common enemy in the evil Papist states.

QuoteIn other words, don't be afraid to be creative. In this moment, I'd point at DesertFox's little tiny Kingdom Republic of New Zion, which has a much much smaller economy than the Mughals, but he still manages to cause more than his own fair share of trouble. Wheeling and dealing around here is generally well received and rewarded.

*cough, cough* ...Imperialistic Communist Dictatorship of New Zion... oh wait you guys don't know that yet. ;D

Quote from: Desertfox on March 05, 2009, 10:00:38 PM
The way to go is to get allies and buy used. I bought practicly an entire fleet for New Zion, quadrupuling my strength overnight.

An important lesson to others: don't take the first offer that comes along, like a certain current Moderator once did when he was a newbie *cough* me *cough*.

*yawn* what a player....

How good are you at handeling spread sheets :)  and do you have a modern version of Excel ??????

The Mughal Empire will have a hard time building a serious navy, but it does have excess cash so it might very well be able to purchase a navy.  And Yes the Mughal Empire lacks the Heavy Industry to do serious research and naval building it will have to use its Income to purchase these things.

Right now It has committed to purchasing a modernized Pre Dreadnaught Battle Ship from  the Dutch $10 in HY1 1916 and $10 in HY2 1916.

The Mughal Empire's Army is its biggest strength and it does have 7 Fortress, but still needs some Shore Batteries.

Anyway drop me a PM and we can discuss it or find me on MSN my addy is in my Profile.

I will Tiddy up the Spread Sheet and send a copy of it too you.

Thank you for the time you've taken ctwaterman and others.

I'm quite familiar with spreadsheets, and have played several spreadsheet based PBeM games before.  I have Excel 2003, 2007 and Open Office.

While I'm quite interested in The Muhhal Empire, especially considering its relative closeness to the Bay of Bengal and its historic future significance...and what seams to be an active area even now.  However, I'm probably more interested in a nation that can build its own (quite possibly small) fleet.  I've got my own ideas that I'd like to put into practice in ship construction and the like.  After all, this is a Naval Sim!

I was going to suggest that India Proper may be a valid option...however on more reading I'm thinking Bharat? is about to become another French Colony.

Perhaps Madagascar?  I could do up a history based on RL History and what I know of Nverse?  Madagascar could have been a French colony (The French historically invaded in 1883) that 'seeded from the union' as per the history of Nverse - "(France) is decadent and slowly shrinking".  Perhaps instead of the English (who no longer exist...kinda), the French could have worked with the Merina rulers in the 1790's to abolish the slave trade and become a defacto-French-colony.  I'm sure the French would have appreciated a strong naval base at Madagascar to support there moves into Indochina.  They could have built it up extensively...being conveniently close when needing to take on bunkerage etc. after passing the Cape of Good Hope.  Until that is, the opening of the Suez Canal, and the general weakening of the French meant that Madagasca had less and less value.  Where upon it slipped from French control and turns into The Kingdom of Madagascar?

Quote from: hooper82 on March 06, 2009, 01:46:38 AM
Thank you for the time you've taken ctwaterman and others.

I'm quite familiar with spreadsheets, and have played several spreadsheet based PBeM games before.  I have Excel 2003, 2007 and Open Office.

While I'm quite interested in The Muhhal Empire, especially considering its relative closeness to the Bay of Bengal and its historic future significance...and what seams to be an active area even now.  However, I'm probably more interested in a nation that can build its own (quite possibly small) fleet.  I've got my own ideas that I'd like to put into practice in ship construction and the like.  After all, this is a Naval Sim!

I was going to suggest that India Proper may be a valid option...however on more reading I'm thinking Bharat? is about to become another French Colony.

Perhaps Madagascar?  I could do up a history based on RL History and what I know of Nverse?  Madagascar could have been a French colony (The French historically invaded in 1883) that 'seeded from the union' as per the history of Nverse - "(France) is decadent and slowly shrinking".  Perhaps instead of the English (who no longer exist...kinda), the French could have worked with the Merina rulers in the 1790's to abolish the slave trade and become a defacto-French-colony.  I'm sure the French would have appreciated a strong naval base at Madagascar to support there moves into Indochina.  They could have built it up extensively...being conveniently close when needing to take on bunkerage etc. after passing the Cape of Good Hope.  Until that is, the opening of the Suez Canal, and the general weakening of the French meant that Madagasca had less and less value.  Where upon it slipped from French control and turns into The Kingdom of Madagascar?

A problem with adding industry / changing a country such as Madagascar is that it will have profound impacts in the neighbouring countries and might radically change how they would have acted in the past. It is likely to created "were the hell did THAT come from" situations. Also there are several more large countries around Madagascar then just France, Oranje and DKB are the main ones, but the Netherlands and Italy also got extensive interests in the region.

However, the player who expressed an interest in the Ottomans basically just posted "I want them" and has not shown up since then. So personally I think he basically has forfeited that place, and the Ottomans are open for take-over (same thing could be said about Ukraine).
Unless the mods know something I do not.