Nation Play Suggestions

[sXs]

Nation Play Suggestions

I have been a nation player from the first day I sailed the seas of Avonmora. It has always been my opinion that nation play needs to be enhanced. It seems 90-95% of nation play relies on Voodoo. Up until plantations I would have said 95-99%.
As I see it, the #1 issue with current nation system is there is no day to day nation play except maybe Governors negotiating and approving operating permission for plantations. Primarily, citizens simply check the nation forum once in a while, maybe cast a few Transport Immigrants or Charity Donations, and wait to propose their nation payouts. As King, I admit I fell into that routine as well.
So What are the issues you see that could use improvement.

Here is my list.
1. Diplomacy needs to have teeth. Right now hostility is the only penalty.
2. There are no daily or weekly functions other than voodoo that positively affect a nation.
3. Port control is almost entirely based on voodoo.
4. No defense against Black Death or Conspiracy cast. Yes there are cards that do exactly the opposite, but like all conflicts in PG, it relies almost entirely on voodoo.
5. Nation recruiting. Other than a top 10 list, new players have no information when they choose their first nation.
6. No nation engagement on the seas.
I am reading through a lot of the nation based suggestions, but they are scattered all over the forums like many other suggestions.

Please use this thread to post Ideas, suggestions, and issues that need improvement or need to be addressed.
If you already have a nation based suggestion posted in the forums, please post a link in this thread.

[William one eye]

Would be if you needed naval presence to attack a port.

Its been a while since I read the fort suggestion, and I think it was a bit more interactive than what I am suggesting here.
This is what i believe is a fairly simple interaction that could make port capture and control a bit more strategic.
So say forts operated in a very basic way. The nation builds a fort with treasury funds.
A fort protects your port from nation voodoo, each level up for a fort give you better resistance to damage from naval attack.
fortress levels are public knowledge. X number of hits from x number of cannons will damage a fort of a certain level to the point
where voodoo casts will pass. So to cast on a nation with no fort is the same as we experience now.
As you build a fort and level it up the more you need to damage it before casts will pass.

Forts battle ships that are in the port. Only large frigates, sotls, and mow can do damage to forts.

to cast on a port with a level 1 fort
you may need to attach 100 - 125 times with a fleet of 4 large frigates and a tail before the fort is fully damaged. you incur the danger
associated with those 100 attack, so if you bring 100 fleets the can all attack once or twice, if you bring 1 fleet it will need to attack 100 or more times

to cast on a port with a level 2 fort perhaps it will take 300 to 350 attacks and such things would continue in a similar pattern as the levels when up.

Forts do not do damage to attacking fleets. As ships attack the fort the fleets gain danger per attack.
To attack the fleets attacking your port you will need to bring in a naval presence or hire one.
As damage is done to a fort the more voodoo casts pass the barrier. Damage repair is not expensive but must be voted for approval by council

civic buildings or monuments could be built that yield a percentage of defense against voodoo casts.

health and welfare investment could be a percentage defense against black death and possibly add a natural population growth function (births)
at higher levels of investment.


Forts and Nation buildings have loyalty, if you lose a port and retake it, the buildings will restore their affect.
Forts and Nation buildings can be removed if a new group occupies the port for a set length of time.
Forts and Nation buildings can be occupied and used if a new group occupies the port for a set length of time, longer that removal window.



These suggestions make ports more defensible, so the damage inflicted by port damage cards that actually make it to the port, may need
to be adjusted to be quite a bit stronger.

[Stan Rogers]

I want cannons in a fort in a port.

A percentage of the port population runs those cannons.

Those cannons cost big money to a nation to build and support but are much more powerful than ship cannons.

The citizens who man the fort cannons do not pay tax to the nation coffers.

Make attacking a port with MoWs desirable to the attacker to enhance that aspect of play.

Allow ships to be damaged from return port fire.

Can it be done in a practical way ?

[Dmanwuzhere]

I want cannons in a fort in a port.

A percentage of the port population runs those cannons.

Those cannons cost big money to a nation to build and support but are much more powerful than ship cannons.

The citizens who man the fort cannons do not pay tax to the nation coffers.

Make attacking a port with MoWs desirable to the attacker to enhance that aspect of play.

Allow ships to be damaged from return port fire.

Can it be done in a practical way ?

if they are much more powerful than ships cannons it would not make attacking with mows desirable or practical of course thats just a preliminary observation based on no solid projection to review.... just pointing it out

[Stan Rogers]

I was spit-balling a basic idea that perhaps MoWs could do 25% more damage above and beyond what its increased cannon allotment allows. There are a number of ways it could be done and obviously I did not do into any details on how enticing MoW's into port battles could or should be achieved.
I think though it would be a good opportunity to give MoW's greater incentive to get out on the sea's even if it was only during port/nation wars. If I could do 2x as much damage as my next powerful ship (SOTL) yep, I'm going to get it out and blow off the cobwebs.
Any talk if it though is premature to say the least until we see how and when port battles/blockades become strongly considered as the next big feature.

[sXs]

I talked to Sir Henry about ideas to bring ships into nation play a few months ago. This is a good start Stan.

May SHM can chime in with ideas.

I like Wills general framework. Would need to come up with mechanisms. Maybe nation vote on investment similar to acreage expansions investment. The basic coding mechanic should be very similar.

Would need to come up with a “firepower” and damage calculator more than just a total number of hits. Maybe based on total number of cannons in the fleets attacking vs. defense investment level? How would port population be affected by attack and at what rates? Would nation loyalty of population be a factor? To the point of revolt?

I also like Wills idea of nations needing to rally fleets to counter attack instead of a fort cannon battery.

There is a lot that could go into this and it would definitely make port control a much more interactive game mechanic.

[sXs]

The MoW aspect is intriguing. I am always up for any suggestion that would dust of a MoW and put it to work.

[Stan Rogers]

As I briefly touched on in another thread, Flagships could also be given other roles as well above and beyond what regular ships can do.
For a quick example, perhaps a Pirate flagship could sail into ports that are currently under siege from a warring nation or do additional damage much like a MoW could ...perhaps target population or ferry in much needed supplies unmolested ?

We need the basic building block of port warfare first be able to build upon.

It could be a huge undertaking with hours of coding or it could be a simple format that allows further development as new, good ideas are brought forth.
Diplomacy and hostility, Blockades, new ways to reduce port population, New ways to bleed off GC and GB for a nation.
There is too much stuff that can be added to try to do a 1 shot does it all and call it finished.

[sXs]

I agree it is huge and best to do it incrementally. Need to find a good starting point from which to build upon and a good idea where we want it to go.

[Snowy McScruff]

Perhaps fleets could be stationed to defence to protect against attacking fleet for increased upkeep and chance of sinking.