1.) Can I increase my navy upkeep to get a better navy? What about lower my construction cost?
A.) Not directly. If you want to better your navy you have to keep adding more ships to it that are modern, write training regimens, use your navy in combat to develop experience, conduct joint operations with better naval forces. Its not magic, it will increase the performance of your navy when your sailors are more experienced and know what they are doing. Your maintenance modifier may increase as a result of this. Construction cost will only go down if you continue to build ships on your own.
2.) Can I increase/decrease army cost of upkeep to get a better army or save money?
A.) You can increase/decrease manually to your discretion, but you may not like the results. The costs can drift due to IG actions, however, which admins will tell you about in your yearly financials. ie. Someone trying to transition from conscripts to volunteer forces would see their costs increase. Someone doing consistent training, operations, and modernization might see their costs increase.
3.) I found a ship that should be in my OOB but you forgot it, can I add it?
A.) Yes, if you have proof you can note it in your naval thread and add it, and pay the costs per ton associated in upkeep for it.
4.) My starting torpedo boats have no tonnage assigned, do I have to pay for them?
A.) No, Torpedo boats are in their infancy and nobody has many of them. You dont have to pay for these, but any you build in the future you have to pay standard tonnage upkeep costs for.
5.) Do I have to pay for/ assign IC to boats under construction at start?
A.) You may assume they are monetarily paid off but you must assign proportional IC to them in order to finish them. We will list how much IC or HIC is left on that ship to finish. Unless otherwise noted, you are allowed to finish ships earlier than IRL as long as the ship construction time in total will not be below minimums as listed in the rules.
6.) Some of my naval guns list they are MLR/ML/SB/BL, what does that mean?
A.) Muzzloading Rifle, Muzzleloader, Smoothbore, Breechloading. This is how Conways listed many guns. We've done our best to note whether the guns are breechloading or muzzleloading, but its simply not known what some guns were. If we list nothing, do not assume they are breechloading modern guns, it just means we havent been able to verify what the gun was. We didnt have time to research every gun in depth. This is a guide, not a definitive ruling.
7.) What level of detail is required for my land OOB?
A.) An example is listed below. They do not need to be complex, simple listings with total troops and then a break down into corps will be more than fine. I only ask that Garrisons/forts be in a separate thread from standing field armies..
1st Army
Location: Calais
Commander: Monsieur Le Frog
30k Infantry, 15k Cavalry, 3k Engineers, 150 Pre-1870 Light Artillery, 60 Mortier de 220 mm modèle 1880
1st Corps: 10k Infantry, 5k Cavalry, 1,000 Engineers, 50 Pre-1870 Light Artillery, 20 Mortier de 220 mm modèle 1880
2nd Corps: 10k Infantry, 5k Cavalry, 1,000 Engineers, 50 Pre-1870 Light Artillery, 20 Mortier de 220 mm modèle 1880
3rd Corps: 10k Infantry, 5k Cavalry, 1,000 Engineers, 50 Pre-1870 Light Artillery, 20 Mortier de 220 mm modèle 1880
8.) What level of detail is required for my Navy OOB?
A.) You can maintain a single thread for your navy commands, or multiple threads, at your discretion. You should list out what ships are assigned to which stations. You get one free positioning for all of your ships. After game start, you must issue move commands and wait the appropriate amount of time to move a ship from one station to another.
All ships must be listed in the correct format:
Ship Name (Year of Commission or launching) Normal Tonnage in Long Tons, Main armament (secondary armament optional), max speed
ex. Castelfidardo (1864) 4192t, 4 x 8in MLR, 13kts
9.) When can I build a new ship design? Can I make custom ones?
You can lay down a new design on Jan 1 of the historical year of that ship being laid down. ie HMS Centurion was laid down 30 March 1890, UK could lay it down on Jan 1 1890.
You can only make custom designs in very specific circumstances where there is a very valid reason. "My ships are bad" is not a valid reason. We will assess it on a case by case basis.
10.) Can I build ships for other nations?
A.) Not directly. You can sell to nations the ships that you have under construction (on the stocks) and you can sell ships in your OOB, but not take orders and start new construction. Players are free to solicit shipyards of the various nations to order ships as if they were NPC, but it is unrealistic for a player to take an order, keep the profit, and build a ship for another nation.
If a player orders ships from a shipyard in your nation, you will get some benefit to your IC/HIC numbers, the same as if you laid down a ship yourself.
11.) Can I edit posts?
A.) You are allowed to edit posts to correct typos, or update OOBs and listings where necessary. You are not allowed to edit posts to change the substance of the original post. Ie. You cannot post "Yes we accept the Versailles treaty" and then 10 minutes later go back and say "No, we would rather die!" I have a feature turned on that lets me see what the changes are to a post, so we will know if you do this.
12.) How Long is a turn?
A.) As few as a couple of days, as many as need be to complete the turn. In short, we arent trying to stick to a fixed length. Expect them to average 3 to 4 days in peace time.
13.) Rail construction cost?
Rail lines rule of thumb is 5,000 pounds per mile over easy terrain, 10,000 pounds per mile over rougher/virgin/remote terrain.
14.) how long to recruit men?
6 months unless told otherwise.
15.) Forts
Small Fort Construction Time: 12 Months
Large Fort Construction Time: 24 Months
Small Coastal Fort - 10 Heavy Guns - 175,000
Large Coastal Fort - 20 Heavy Guns - 450,000
Small Land Fort - 4 Heavy Guns, 6 Medium Guns - 200,000
Large Land Fort - 8 Heavy Guns, 12 Medium Guns - 450,000
- If you are a nation which cannot produce heavy artillery, you need to get approval from the admin for final costs to represent importing these arms, also to check plausibility.
- You do not have to pay upkeep on the forts or the weapons.
- You cannot dismount these weapons and use them in your army. That would circumvent the rules and costs that have been finely tuned for balance purposes.
- Your forts are stocked with the best guns you can make at that time. You will have to and should modernize these guns from time to time. A Coastal fort built in 1880 with rifled muzzleloader guns and old shot placement technology would be demolished by a battleship in 1895 with breechloading smokeless 12" guns and modern rangefinders.
- Your fort comes with a skeleton garrison that can operate the guns. If you are stocking it with infantry, you will have to do so from your regular army.