The anarchy and chaos of the late 21st century prompted the world’s leading diplomats to meet for the Union Accords of 2128, with the express purpose of providing international laws on conflict, piracy, and a lasting basis for international peace and stability. Some diplomats proposed a very strong union that controlled strategic waterways and was funded through duties on trade, while others wanted a weak union that was symbolic if anything. A compromise was reached to instead create a Union similar to the fallen United Nations; the Peacekeeper Corps was marginally more effective than its 20th century predecessors, but overall the union struck a fine balance. By 2149, various states had developed nuclear weapons, and worked together to pass the resolution of the Paris Convention of 2150, which stipulated that further development of nuclear weapons by outside powers was a high crime that the UN was authorized to legalize forceful disarmament. The “nuclear club” was given official status, and the 2150 statutes gave a legal basis for a multipolar world.
Multipolarity is a franchise based on the premise of economic and diplomatic power over military might. A key component of the game is the race to acquire clients, minor powers that you provide protection and economic support to but gain better business deals (client revenue) and diplomatic loyalty in exchange. This constant battle over client empires forms the meat and potatoes of the game.
Claim 10 provinces on the map; be sure to give a color, and detail your government, economy, culture, anything you want really. More detail = more depth and bonuses!
Your nation cannot be from outer space unless they have no way of ever returning home (i.e. destroyed homeworld) so as to ensure all players are equal. You can be whatever you want, but I require some medium of REASON behind it. Furries, cyborgs, androids, etc. are all well and good but please have some sort of science. "Magical" races are technically valid if you can pseudoscience it up. Economics
Spoiler:
Each state has a population ranking, resource base, and infrastructure ranking. Multiplied together, they create your actual economic size. The resource base is fixed, but infrastructure and population change depending on events and your investments in infrastructure and healthcare, respectively.
You also collect 1% of the world’s total economic size in trade revenue; this revenue decreases if someone embargoes you.
Economies grow naturally; smaller militaries, lower taxation, and low debt increase the rate. Needless to say going the opposite route will decrease the rate.
Islands are normally not counted towards one's provinces due to their small size; they are used for strategic purposes. Some, such as the Hawaiian chain, are exceptions.
Finance
Spoiler:
Your tax rate is applied to the sum of your economy and trade. Tax rate reflects your overall tax burden as a percent of GDP, not the marginal tax rate. This gives you the amount of money you can afford to spend every turn. You can go into debt if necessary, but too much debt will cripple your economy; take heed at Spain and Greece’s examples.
Your spending can be applied to the following fields: Army Quality, Naval Quality, Healthcare, Education, and Infrastructure. Army and Navy are self-explanatory, better healthcare leads to more population growth, education makes your money spent on technology more valuable, and infrastructure boosts economic growth.
The key elements of a Cold War are WMD and spies. Every major power already has access to ICBMs, negating the need for a WMD tech tree and also eliminating the threat of direct war between them; your advisors would sooner depose you than let you stumble into a nuclear war. Espionage will be described in its own section.
Constant investment into a field is a must to keep it from decaying and falling far behind the competition. Put your eggs in one basket at your own peril.
Diplomacy
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Every nation begins trading with eachother, so please no “offer/accept trade to everyone” spam. If you wish to detail your trading relationship, feel free; I’ll give a boost to states that do so.
If you dislike a nation for any reason, you may embargo them, which keeps your goods from flowing into each other’s ports and depresses trade income.
You may also direct your navy to blockade states that you find unsavory; this often leads to war so be careful with its application. This is best used against minor countries with no real ability to retaliate.
You can invest money into any minor country; this money is used by that state to further its own ends, while also granting you “Influence” in that country. The more influence you have, the greater chance your diplomatic overtures (including requests to throw out the influence of another country) will be successful, and the more client revenue you can extract from them. Keep in mind other states can also buy influence in a country; you must thus keep up your investments so as to avoid being crowded out.
If you can think it, you can do it, diplomatically speaking. There are no real tech sales, however, due to a lack of “stats” as in prior games. This is for balance purposes if nothing else.
When words fail, you may declare war, which is detailed below.
Militaries and Conflict
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You can set your army and navy to any number of men you see fit, as a percentage of your population. The percentage can be whatever you want, whether you want 50% or 0.001%, to give two examples. As your military grows, economic growth will decline.
When nations collide, their unit quality, unit number and war plans are all factored into determining a victor. Never neglect any of these three fields. Occupied territory has sluggish economic productivity and will take many turns before it becomes a fully productive part of your nation, and you are liable to be beset by international rancor and domestic terrorism in the meantime.
With modern radar services, it is impossible to invade a nation in a large-scale surprise attack unless you disable their early warning systems first. It is best to pair espionage and military operations for this reason.
Militaries force public order by their mere presence, and can be used for non-violent ends as well. You can deploy any number of troops to a foreign country to support the government. You can also use them to invade another country and replace its government with one more favorable. As with diplomacy, if you can think it, you can probably do it.
Espionage
Spoiler:
Espionage works very differently compared to most games. You can spend money on espionage tech the same as infrastructure or healthcare, which will beef up your defenses. However, you can also invest in spies overseas; this works much like influence, with each nation having an intelligence clout in that nation proportionate to their overall intel investment. You cannot take advantage of increased espionage in a country on the same turn you make the investment, so must wait a turn before you can utilize that power.
You are unlimited in what you can order your spies in another nation to do, but are limited to one mission per country. Keep in mind that coups do not displace other nations’ spies, so you are still vulnerable. NPCs also tend to invest in their own intel networks to fend off disruptions from foreign spies.
For example, I invest 100 into espionage tech and 10 into spies in Carthagistan. My 100 espionage tech protects me from espionage attempts by foreign powers on MY soil; I cannot use that tech overseas. I can stage a coup in Carthagistan, and depending on the espionage tech of said nation, I will succeed or fail.
Domestic espionage forces can be used for both defense and counterintel: if you have 100 Espionage tech at home, you could use 50 to protect against foreign attacks and 50 to search for foreign espionage agents, as an example. Minor NPCs never use their forces for counterintelligence.
As a final note, you can collaborate with other players to stage offensive missions, or order your agents to protect the government of the country they reside in (which combines your espionage tech in that country).
NPC Nations
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There will be no major NPCs for a period of more than two turns so as to make up for player absences. Players that do not get a general outline in for more than two turns will be disbanded and turned into minor countries.
Minor NPCs will vary in size and power, and be under the control of Ailedhoo, who will be responsible for their diplomacy and finances. Specifics of NPCGMship will be discussed with him.
NPC GM decisions are vetted by the Chair GM to ensure they comply with game rules.
NGOs
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Terrorist groups, or non-government organisations, also exist in the world of MP4. They are basically glorified espionage agencies, and invest in spies abroad much like major powers do. Where they differ is funding: through embezzlement, theft, and other activities, they receive a portion of the economic value of every country they’re active in. NGOs can conduct any activity they wish much like a player nation, while their invisibility more than makes up for their lesser resources.
Resignations and Absences
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Players who drop will see their nation torn up into smaller nations. Temporary absences of two turns or less will see the nation automated (with no foreign policy present); it is suggested one leave a guide for automation if they ever must go away for a few days.
Roleplay
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Roleplay keeps the game fun, and is the flesh and blood on top of the skeleton of the mechanics. Roleplay is encouraged and will be rewarded accordingly. Roleplay is a great way to stem the flow of negative events.
Game Procession
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My goal is for there to be an update every week. Order locks will generally be of a duration of 48-72 hours, varying on how many orders have been received.
An example of what a set of orders could look like if one had 1000 income:
100 into Army
100 into Navy
200 into Healthcare
200 into Education
200 into Infrastructure
100 into Espionage
50 into Influence in Mainland Japan
50 into spies in Mainland Japan
Work with Poland’s agents to coup the Soviet Union; purge German and Chinese influence in the country
Please remember the acronym ANHEI-E (Army, Navy, Health, Education, Infrastructure, Espionage), as I will put your first six numbers into the spreadsheet in that order.
As this is a signup thread, an actual start date will be determined at a later point. Currently my focus is on Terios over at NES.
