Combat

Troops require nfp support. Six percent per turn. To give troops, they must be the same religion and language, then half are kept. If the same religion or language, 1/4 are gained. Loaned troops suffer a 6% attrition rate if the same religion and language, 12% if the religion is tolerant or the language is different and 25% if tolerant religion and different language. They are treated as mercenaries in most respects. Demobilized troops return 1/2 of their nfp value to the nfp pool. The only exception is rebuilding walls after expanding a city, where the full value is retained.

Infantry and Cavalry come in three equipment classes: light, regular and heavy. Light troops cost the same as regular troops; heavy troops cost 1 more. To change the equipment class requires as much gold as the original cost of the troop. So, to convert heavy cav into light cav for a renaissance nation would require 4 gold, no nfp. Light move faster, so gain a larger more cav modifier in combat, but do less damage. Heavy move slower, but do more damage. In some terrains, light troops are actually better in combat than heavy (jungle, for example.)

Equipment classes available are elite, regular and inferior. Elite troops may be built when the AQR of the troop reaches 7. Inferior troops may only be built during a mass conscription, although they may appear at other times. Elite troops count as having AQRs 5 points higher than normal troops, inferior as 5 points lower (1 minimum). During a mass conscription, NFP rate is added to saved nfp, but the nfp may only be spent on inferior troops -- which cost exactly the same as regular troops. The following turn, the nation's nfp rate is halved. Ships may not be inferior; galleons may not be elite. Inferior troops are produced by rebellions. If a nation's capital/homeland is attacked, half of that nation's saved nfp is converted (for free) into inferior infantry.

Battlefield promotions are possible when an attacking army, or sufficiently large defending army, find itself without a leader and forced to fight. The leaders will be poor -- average stats will be 3 and 97 1/2% of the time the stats will lie in the 1-5 range (except loyalty). These are leaders promoted from the ranks. Defending armies must number at least 50 troops or half the defending nation's army.

Mercenaries are split proportionately between all the countries bidding for them.

Maximum number of reserved troops is equal to the nfp replacement rate. You must be tech 6 to reserve troops. Elite troops become regular if reserved while inferior troops may not be reserved.

Artillery is available for all civilized Old World nations and will be available to all civilized New World nations as soon as the acquire gunpowder. Warships of countries with an artillery AQR of at least 3 have cannons aboard their ships. Every 5 warships act as 1 field artillery. Tech 8 nations with at least a 3 artillery AQR may build galleons at a cost of 10 gold and 1 nfp. These are heavy warships loaded with guns. In addition to their combat value, they each act as a piece of field artillery, and every 5 may also act as siege artillery to bombard port cities. They may not raid or travel up rivers. They may not be elite, heavy, light, or inferior. Their cargo value is 0, although they may still be placed on trade functions as escorts.

MSI is based heavily on NFP replacement.

Leaders by themselves receive + 2 moves; with an army, they receive +1 if 9 or better for their combat value, and a -1 if 4 or lower. So, a renaissance nation with an army of light, elite cavalry led by an A leader would have 12 moves a turn, while an army with siege artillery or heavy, inferior infantry led by a 3 leader would have 5 moves per turn. Renaissance ships get 7+nav rating moves per year.

Native armies are based on rgpv, rpwb, rrv, cgpv and cpwb. The professional army (active army) is based on rgpv and pwb; militia/levies are based on rrv and cgpv (inferior troops). The active army is the army available to allies and the troops turned over by a friendly region. A friendly region retains no troops for its own protection other than the militias -- the nation it is friendly to is responsible for its protection.

Rebellions stir up the rabble to revolt -- so troops produced are based solely on rrv and cgpv, are inferior, and are led by a poor leader. If the rebellion succeeds, the following turn a full native army is available and a normal leader is in charge. Generally, only pacified or pacified tributary/protectorate regions may be incited to rebel. The two special cases of rebellions are religious unrest and slave rebellions. In order to incite a religious civil war, the majority religion must be oppressed by a minority elite (i.e., the majority religion is different from the listed religion of the region). The holy warriors gain a proportion of militia troops equal to their percent of conversion (so if 70% of the region is a different religion, they gain 70% of the troops, to 30% for the minority elite). If a professional army exists, it sides with the minority ruling class. Slave revolts may be incited in any region controlled by a slave nation. If successful, a number of inferior troops based on rpwb and cpwb are gained. Because rebellions initially have inferior troops, most will be doomed to failure without outside assistance. A nation assisting a rebellion which also DPs the region the same turn the rebellion succeeds, gains a +10 bonus to the diplomacy (a significant modifier).

Garrison requirements will be treated as additive rather than multiplicative. Replace x2 with +100% and x1.5 with +50% (round up). So, if a civilized nation is garrisoning a hostile religion (x2), steppe (x2) with infantry (x2) with a resistance value of 10 and no city, the garrison requirement was 80 infantry; now it will be 10 +100% +100% +100% = 40. Base garrison requirements for cities is 1 per gpv (the rulebook lists both 1 per gpv and 1 per 2 gpv). Minimal garrisons are in danger of rebellions -- even though a rebellion may fail to destroy the garrison entirely, it could easily reduce the number of garrisoning troops below the minimum that is necessary. Militarily converted regions require a +100% garrison, even if the previous religion was tolerant.

Government Transformation

RR = successful reform religion must accompany the expenditures

Oligarchies

The most stable form of government for a mercantile combine is an oligarchy. Mercoms may designate one cartel city per BL leader to be the "Home Office" for that leader. The city will still be considered a cartel city for all purposes except it will add nothing to the ISZ of the nation. This will help offset the low Infrastructure ceiling. In times of dynastic strife, the home office may shift to one of the oligarchs’ cities.

For primacies, a religious oligarchy is most stable. The prince positions are the oligarchs for the Primacy. Each prince may be designated as an archbishop (or arch-mullah). Each cathedral in the bishopric counts as a monastery for ISZ purposes. If the church goes through a schism, the entire bishopric will either stay loyal or revolt as one. Cathedrals must be in contiguous regions or touching the same sea zone. There is no limit to the number of Cathedrals that may be in any particular bishopric, but if more cathedrals are under the control of a cardinal than are under the direct control of the primate, the leader will make a "strong man overthrow" roll each turn.

Intel Update

Leader Intel: leaders use their charisma statistic to determine whether or not they are successful. Some religious operations may also be performed by leaders from countries with an RS of 7+ – they will be treated as having an RS of 7 for purposes of computing the success number. Actions available are:

Whole Turn – CA (and leader may be killed if unsuccessful)

1 year – SK, SL, Investigate Location (finds hidden locations)

1 month – JB, KP, KL, KK

Religious actions:

Whole Turn – IW, II, RR

Infiltrate Enemy:

An Infiltration will only reveal information in the area subverted instead of giving the infiltrator a complete stat sheet. I’ve added two new areas to be infiltrated: economic and technological infiltration. Beginning at an infiltration level of 3, additional abilities are gained, according to the area subverted.

Espionage: bonus to DIB, DAB

Level 3: may attempt RO on operations or assassins

Subverted: no longer affected by target’s CIs or CAs, reveals location of hiding leaders.

Government: bonus to ST, AO (infra),

Level 3: may attempt RE

Subverted: may attempt RO on leaders other than the king

Royal Family:

Subverted: if royal family member becomes king, the country passes into control of the subverting player. Automatic DF.

Military: Bonus to CM, SL, and SK (military tech)

Level 3: may attempt RO on national or allied leaders (not royal leaders)

Populace: Bonus to CU

Level 3: may conduct secret diplomacy on regions loyal to other countries (even friendly regions)

Subverted: CU may be used against any region and if successful, and diplomacy or secret diplomacy is used in the same turn, they will join the subverter’s side.

Religion: Bonus to Religious Operations

Subverted: may use AO on religious stats. Reveals open religious locations.

Economy: Bonus to ST, SGS

Technology: Bonus to SK(any)

Counter Intel protects all sectors from infiltration attempts. A sufficiently high SL may reveal or degrade existing infiltrations. This action does not protect the nation from subvert infiltration. To protect against other intel operations, use CI/*, where * is the code for the action from which you wish to be protected. For example, CI/DIB+3 protects your intel service from Destroy Intel Base with a bonus of 3. Use CA/* for protection from specific assassin operations.

Actions with cumulative effects are:

Intel: CM, SK, and ST

Assassin: KK, KL, PI, and TA

Religion: MW

In all other cases, the best result will be taken if multiple attempts succeed.

When I first took over Lords 9, I toned down Intel by approximately doubling the support costs, lowering the maximum effectiveness, increased the difficulty of raising the OB, AB and ROB, giving every country a free CI each turn (even when not being played -- with a bonus equal to the square root – rounded down – of their op bonus) and a free CA (for their king/regent) and continued Thad’s innovation of allowing specific CI’s and CA’s to counter particular intel and assassins actions. I also disallowed cumulative effects for most actions -- all except the actions that work as percentages, which have a diminishing cumulative effect. For example, two 50% cause mutinies results in a 75% desertion rate rather than 100%. Cause Mutinies have additionally been suffering from a negative modifier based on the charisma of the best combat leader with them. Elite troops suffer less from CM’s than other troops while inferior, mercenary and borrowed troops suffer twice the number of casualties. Intel has, therefore, been significantly less powerful in my campaign than any other Lords campaign.

In spite of these reformations, the main problem with intel continues to persist: the bonus acts to increase the chance of success as well as the effects of the success. When the entire bonus of a high tech country is put on a single action, the target has very little chance to avoid the results. I am switching the intel system (and religion) to that the maximum bonus that will count toward effect is ½ tech level (i.e., your action radius). Any bonus beyond this adds to the chance of success, but not the results. Players who have been using less than ½ their bonus on any particular action will, obviously, be unaffected by this rule. It is possible to have a effect bonus greater than your AR if you have extant infiltrations of the target sector.

Spending money on intel is most effective when the bonus applied to the action is low. If you already have put a +8 bonus on an action, money is unlikely to improve your chances. Money generated bonuses will add only to chance of success, not to effect. Leader intel is restricted (see intel supplement) as to which actions are legal. Leader intel will always be based on the minimum for effect. Spending extra money on your support costs helps you to defend those sectors against hostile intel; -1 per extra 50%. For example paying double your government support gives a –2 bonus to all attacks against your government. This is an existing rule from the Secret Rules.

Distance beyond your action radius gives a –1 per point of range, cumulative. So 1 region beyond is –1, two beyond is an additional –2 for a –3; at 3 regions beyond, the penalty is –6. Intel is traced from the edge of your CCR (from controlled territory) except that outposts may not be used as intel bases and conduits count as one against your range for each connection. Fully connected conduits do not count against range. Many actions require that your opponent’s capital be inside your intel range.

Naturally, you cannot protect against everything that an imaginative opponent throws your way (if it were possible, Intel would be useless). You can protect yourself against the things that would hurt you most. And, of course, if your enemies do the same thing to you every turn and you still do nothing to prevent it, you get what you deserve. Intel is an opportunity for the players to outmaneuver each other and makes the game more enjoyable. It does not matter that the mighty intel services are not historically accurate – neither are the obscene amounts of money generated by trade nor the huge armies. Think of intel services from fiction rather than history as examples – such as Cardinal Richelieu’s spy network in Dumas’s novels.

I am raising the success number for specific CI’s and CA’s to 8 – including CA used by assassins to counter assassinations/kidnappings. Cause Mutiny targeting troops within the HBZ will have an additional negative modifier equal to the greater of the King’s command stat or the country’s BL. Armies within the CCR will continue to have a negative modifier equal to the best combat leader’s charisma.

All restrictions affecting Intel also apply to religious operations.

For those of you who feel the new changes unfairly weaken an intel service that you have painstakingly built up at great expense, I will allow you, this turn only, to reduce your OB, AB or ROB and receive a rebate of gold equal to 100*reduction. So, if you give up 3 points of OB, you get 300gold. Nothing for capacities, although you may still reduce these to save support costs. For the sophists in the game who will argue that the rules unfairly penalize pre-Columbian tech one nations who will not be able to use their bonus, I will point out the following:

1. They already have a range of 0, so can’t do much with Intel anyway
2. They still get to use their bonus to increase their chance of success
3. There are no tech one nations in the game
4. If there were, they could convert their bonus into gold.

An example: under the official rules, a country does a CM+8 + 2000gold to cause desertions, gaining 2 extra bonus points for money. A CM+10 has 140% chance of succeeding. From 25% to 80% will desert (with a 40% chance of the maximum). Under the new rules, they would still have the 140% chance of success, but effects would range from 5% to 40%, then would be reduced for BL/Charisma.

People who still believe Intel is too powerful should do one of the following:

1. Talk to the game designers
2. Build and use an Intel service, if it’s really such a powerful weapon.

Religion Update

Reform Religion produces major changes in a religion. If a Primacy exists, a RR should only be attempted by the Primate or his Religious Operations – others are likely to spawn new heresies. RR may be used to modernize a religion, helping to mitigate the effects of a high RS on tech advancement. I have given RR easier odds but it is now like an infiltration – RR must be built up to level 10 before the change is made. It is much easier to reform your own religion than someone else’s. Reformation must me maintained with Maintain Influence. It is also possible to reform your religion to allow or disallow polygyny. Polygynous leaders are more likely to have children and more likely to have DFs. A primacy may also transform itself into a Religious Oligarchy led by a celibate priests/mullahs. Such an oligarchy is stable. The heir/chancellor slot will never be filled but the available prince slots (BL/2) will always be filled (this is the college of cardinals). As for normal oligarchies, BL max is TL and Infra max is TL*1.5.

Raise/Lower Religious Strength has a maximum increase or decrease of one point per turn. SLs greater than 1 occur over SL number of turns. If someone else’s country is the target, this action must be maintained for SL turns. Raise RS/Lower RS are not based on your religious strength for success -- unlike other religious actions.

High Religious Strength (7+) and an organized religion (at least one point of ROC & ROB) give resistance to hostile religious actions similar to CI and CA.

I’m adding in an Influence multiplier for countries with an ISZ of 5 or less. Also, megalithic cathedrals may be built by a primacy in regions where the influence is at least one per level of the cathedral. The Cathedral must replace an existing location. It acts as a cathedral for income purposes and the level/3 adds to Influence to a maximum of 1 (instead of 1/3 for a normal cathedral). Eventually the location will become a pilgrimage site.

Religious Locations

The base influence a primacy has over a country is dependent upon the number and type of religious locations. The number is multiplied by country (RS+2)/12 and +1 is added per point of BL loaned and 1/2 per Infra loaned. The result is rounded down. Primacies may also exact a tithe from its member nations. At least one location must be present and the tithe cannot exceed 25%. The first 1% has no effect on the economy, but each % thereafter lowers the country's income by 1%. Extremely religious nations (RS 7+) are less affected by the tithe: for each point of RS above 6, 1 additional % has no effect on the economy. A nation may refuse to pay the tithe; in such a case they can be compelled to pay 1% per point of influence the primacy exerts over them. The tithe may not be more than 50% of a primacy's income - any amount beyond 50% is lost because the church lacks the infrastructure (abbeys, monasteries, etc.) to collect it.

Any money, other than the tithe, received by a primacy from a foreign power has a chance of causing a scandal or heresy. The chance is reduced if the donation is from a country of the same religion.

Maximum Status for Terrain based on Religious Strength

The codes lbr, lbo, lbh and lbd are land trade routes controlled by a combine with a branch office as the terminal point. Lcr, lco, lch, and lcd are land trade routes controlled by a combine which terminate in a cartel city or home office. Mercoms receive 10% of the trade from branch office routes and 15% from a cartel city route. They can receive as much as 20% from sea trade routes. Smuggling is possible for combines that are not trading openly with another nation. Land trade routes controlled by mercoms are traced branch office to branch office (or Cartel City). Combine efficiency tells what percent of the normal trade a combine receives (this does not reduce the trade of the nation).

Trade with the new world gives +20% to all trade if a single country has contact; +10% for each if two countries have contact; +5% for three countries and no bonus for 4 or more.

Road cities are divided into three categories: terminus points (a single road), road cities (two roads) and crossroad cities (3 or more cities). Cities on lakes comprising a single sea zone (but touching at least two regions) or on dredged rivers or canals will be listed as lake/river cities (l) rather than port cities. Dredging rivers is 1 megalithic construction per border, modified by border terrain, and will extend the portion of the river that is navigable. Cities along current river sections will continue to act as port cities. Each city adds the following to ITV:

Outposts, Conduits and Colonies

Regions separated by sea are outposts. Outposts roll for revolt each turn if they are beyond the nation’s conduit limit or command radius. If a shuttle fleet is sent equal to the sum of the numbers of regions in and beyond the outpost and the outpost’s cities’ gold value in msp, the outpost becomes a conduit. A nation may trade through its conduits by sea but not by land, nor may it receive trade through its conduits and outposts. If msp equal to the nation’s trade value is sent to the conduit, it becomes a connected conduit or colony. The nation may trade by land through a connected conduit or receive merchant fleets from other nations. For example, if a country with a trade value of 20 has two consecutive outposts. If the first outpost consists of 1 region with a 5gp city and the second is 2 regions each with a 1 gp city, turning these outposts into conduits would require 10msp going to the first outpost and 4msp connecting the second to the first. To make these areas into connected conduits would require 2 fleets of 20 msp. Trading through conduits does not reduce sea zones distant. See the renaissance rulebook for examples of trade through conduits. Control statuses available for colonies/conduits are pacified, friendly, allied, economic allied, tributary and claimed (abbreviated cp, cf, ca, ce, ct, and c, respectively claimed is normal). Colonies/Conduits add half the ISZ that a normal region would but are more likely to revolt.

Intel/Religious actions may not be traced from an outpost. If traced from a conduit, they are treated as having used up one point of range per link in the conduit. If traced from a colony/connected conduit, there is no penalty.

Mercantile Combines

Each additional expenditure of time gives a bonus; each doubling of money gives a bonus. Large cities are difficult to become established in. Countries may grant or revoke preferential treatment at any time. They may also ban a trade country at will. Preferential treatment greatly increases the chances of success while banning greatly reduces them. Any locations built in a banned country are automatically hidden. In cities where a country has neither banned a mercom nor granted preferential treatment to a mercom, combine leaders may use Gain Preferential Treatment to make a particular city more accessible; likewise, they may use Discredit Competitor to ban another combine. Be warned that player nations make revoke this special status at any time. When the king is ruling, a bonus is given to the establishment of locations. Locations may not be built in regions unless the region has no city but has a port area or a trade center. In the former case a branch office may be built, a mf in the latter. Diplomacy is used for establishing open locations, charisma for hidden locations.

Mercantile combines may buy undefined msp from player nations for whatever price they can agree upon without difficulty – even if the culture and religion are different. They may also buy undefined msp from non-player sources each turn. The cost is n²/2 where n is the number of msp the combine wishes to buy. For example, if a combine wishes to buy 2msp the cost is 2²/2 = 2gold. For 20msp, the cost is 20²/2=200 gold. Mercoms do not need shuttle fleets connecting their overseas possessions the way normal empires do except when the area is separated by open-ocean or inter-island arrows. Then they need a fleet equal to the gpv of all cities beyond that point or their own ITV, just like the shuttle fleets for normal countries.

Combines receive 1nfp per 6 ITV in addition to the NFP provided by their home city and any friendly colonies they might possess.

An Oligarchy may designate 1 cartel city per BL leader to be the "home office" of a particular oligarch. These cities add nothing to the ISZ of the combine but in all other respects are treated as normal cartel cities. In times of dynastic strife, the home office may change to one of these cities. A new combine begins with a branch office in the Renaissance city of their choice.

Other Economic Matters

Sale of Agro à Countries may convert surplus (actual yield - consumption) into gold of nfp as follows:

The conversion of Agro into NFP represents surplus labor being pulled off of farms and conscripted for other services rather than the transformation of food into people -- for this reason, saved Agro may not be converted. Converted NFP by slave societies is always sNFP and must be used before the end of the turn.

Banking Systems à Each country has a private banking system. Ten percent of a bank's value is held by non-player entities. When the Banking system is inactive, 5% of the Bank's value is generated each turn in profits. Nation's may invest in their own banks to gain a share of the profits. The profit is split proportionately between the nation and the private sector. A nation that controls at least half the reserves of a bank may set the interest rate as low as 5% -- otherwise, a 10% interest rate is in effect for any nation wishing to take out a loan from their own bank (the 10% is for three years, so the actual interest rate is about 3%). Accumulated interest must be paid at the start of each turn to avoid default, but the principle may be postponed indefinitely. National reserves may be removed from the banking system, although doing so slightly depresses the economy.

Miscellaneous Rules

No project support is necessary for public works; they pay for themselves. Project support for university systems is library level * ISZ.

Rivers not on the maps may be dredged if you can find an article showing that, historically, some trade has been conducted through them. The cost to dredge the river system (making it navigable) is one per border touched (counting both sides of the river), modified by terrain. Cities on the new river systems will become lake/river ports (designated by "l" to distinguish them from seaports.)

Buying technology costs 10xISZx.6 in gold and ISZx.6 in NFP. You also must get someone at least two tech levels higher than yourself to give you access to the new technology. Each turn, you will receive about 30 tech points, modified by culture, economy, government, etc.

Tech 9 requires 1450 tech points. Each tech level beyond that costs an additional 250 points.

RPWB reduce years to cultivation by 1 per point. Scorched Earth sets the years to cultivation back by twenty years (so a cultivated region would revert to steppe/wilderness but would need only 20 years to be changed back.) All 1 gpv regions may be colonized to 2 gpv for 15 gold, 15 NFP. All colonization attempts, except colonial conversion, require 15 gp 15 nfp. Colonial conversions require 10 nfp, 10 gold per gpv of the region and 5gp, 5nfp for per gpv of the city. This sort of conversion, if it doesn't inspire a revolt, converts half of the country to your religion and turns the region friendly (or cf). It also has a chance of converting your country to a caste society based on the imperial size of the regions so converted and your own imperial size.

The imperial size divisor in section 9.1.71. of the rulebook no longer applies. Instead, each road section, connected to the capital by a system of roads counts as 80% of its normal ISZ. Postal roads give 90%. So most countries can achieve an imperial size divisor of 3.75, when fully connected. Some Asian countries, which start with an ISZ divisor of 4, can achieve a divisor of 5.

Diplomatic bribes are logarithmically based. The more you spend, the less efficient each gold piece becomes. For easy terrain/religion, 5 gold is enough to give a +1, 30 gives +5, 80 gives +10, 160 +20.

Kings in their capital add their command stat to CCR. If ruling they add 150% of command to CCR and 1 to Infra. If administering, they add 1 to CCR and command to Infra. Heirs or regents may rule if the king is not around, but are significantly less effective.

Decadence has a minor effect on the game. Currently the highest decadence level is less than 5%. Base decadence is total income divided by base (non-trade) income. A large university level or high religious strength reduces it. A large standing army moves decadence towards zero. The decadence percent reduces the tech point rate. So at 5% decadence, a nation receiving 20 tech points per turn would, instead, receive 19. In most cases, you will not be able to tell what affect, if any, decadence has on your country since the lost tech points will be fractional (the computer keeps track of the fractional points, but your stat sheet lists the nearest integer values.) Decadence WILL NOT increase your chance of having a DF or reduce your AQRs.

The fanatic societal base reduces the nfp support to half its usual level. As fanatics distrust change and outside influences, fanatic societies have a poor tech modifier. Fanaticism can only be maintained for many generations by societies with a high religious strength, otherwise, fanatic societies have a tendency to revert back to their previous societal base after a generation. Extremely religious societies (7+ RS) may spontaneously convert to fanaticism after a DF (1% for RS 7, 4% for RS 8, 9% for RS 9 and 16% for RS 10). Any time a change of leadership occurs, a fanatic society may lose its zeal -- the chance of retaining the fanaticism is RS² as a percent (RS 7 has a 49%, RS 3 has a 9%). Friendly Regions are one point more loyal for purposes of rebellions, as are national leaders. To become fanatic requires Mgn; to change back to the previous societal base requires MG.