Treatise on the Rule Action

[Memnoch]

Adam Theo writes:
>rules: find some way to make ruling provinces take a longer amount of
>time than in the rulebook. by a *lot*. it is way too easy for someone
>to get lots of high provinces IMO. also think about TR rules, for
>guilders. maybe make it harder by a bit (not too much, but some) than
>in the rulebook.
>
There seems to be a popular misconception about the rule action, as most
believe that being able to rule a province by 1 level each domain turn is
way too fast. Personally, I disagree.
One thing to remember, is that each province is not in a void. Somehow,
this perception is the main arguement when dealing with changes to the rule
action. There is a whole continent of provinces where people can come from,
so the rule action is not strictly birth/death rates within just the
province itself. The rule action (province level) is part birth/death
rates, part populace re-location (from other existing provinces, not
necessarily the regent's own), and part creation/increasing infrastructure.

Example: One Province

Regent A establishes a province (0) and has no other sources of gold or
regency available (this is the "void arguement" in action)

On an average, Regent A will have enough gold to perform the rule action in
3 domain turns (1d3-2 taxation at severe). So, 1-3 Domain Turns (seasons)
later, he is able to attempt the rule action on his province with a 50%
success rate. On average, this will take 2 times to succeed. So,
considering the taxation amount, and success chance, Regent A will have a
level 1 province within a maximum of 6 domain turns. That's 1 and 1/2
years. These people do not necessarily come from just the newborns in the
province itself. They come from individuals moving from other neighboring
provinces, attempting to gain a better life in this "frontier land".

Next, with light taxation continuing (moderate or severe taxation results in
loss of loyalty by 1 or 2 points). So, Regent A decideds to establish a law
holding. With 50% success rate, and only 1 gold bar coming in on an average
of once per 3 domain turns, that is an additional 6 domain turns to
establish a level 0 law holding.
Ruling that level 0 law holding to level 1 will take an additional 6 domain
turns (on average rounded, with a 45% success rate). So, on an average, it
takes, 4.5 years to get a level 1 province with a level 1 law holding.

Now, since both province and law holdings are at level 1, we have regency to
consider as well as gold bar costs. With this added calculation, the regent
generates 2 RP per domain turn, and still has a reduced chance of succeeding
in ruling the province from level 1 to 2. It is faster than from level 0 to
1, speaking of generating enough gold and regency for the action itself,
however, the success chance is still worse than the previous rule action by
5% -- remember the success chance is increased by the target province level.

I could go on further, but I believe the point is made.

As you can see, it is not merely the fact that the Regent can perform the
rule action on a province once every domain turn, it is whether he is able
to generate enough gold and regency, and be lucky enough to beat
ever-increasing bad odds on succeeding in the action itself.

Now, if an entire realm is available, the ability to generate the gold and
regency to perform the action as well as increase the success chance is much
greater. However, one must remember that the regent in question is drawing
upon his entire realm's population/resources to perform this action.

It seems those that wish to restrict the Rule action to whatever increased
timeframe are using the void arguement while making the assumption that the
regent in question already has enough gold and regency available to perform
the action and make the chance of failure in the rule action almost
non-existant. This is not the case. This is attempting to use part of the
void arguement (population coming from one province only) with and aspect of
the "realm arguement" (having enough gold and regency to perform the action
and making the probability of failure basically non-existant). These two
arguements are mutually exclusive. The regent in question will either have
A) 1 province and it's holdings, or B) and Entire Realm and It's holdings.
They cannot mix.

Additionally, these same individuals seem to forget that our beloved Regent
A has neighbors. Well established neighbors that would just love to have
another province under their belt. So, while he is busily ruling up his
province, he is using all his regency in order to perform the rule action
itself. This does not go well towards keeping out those that would just
love a chance to take over a single province without any conflict.

So, Regent A would be extremely stupid to attempt to rule up his province
more than once per year. If he/she does it more often, then he/she deserves
to lose his/her throne to those that have the resources and/or are more
established.

Remember, it is a hostile world out there and there is no mercy for the
weak.

Hope this helps,

Memnoch


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[Olesens]

> Adam Theo writes:
> >rules: find some way to make ruling provinces take a longer amount of
> >time than in the rulebook. by a *lot*. it is way too easy for someone
> >to get lots of high provinces IMO. also think about TR rules, for
> >guilders. maybe make it harder by a bit (not too much, but some) than
> >in the rulebook.

I've posted this before but I recently found out that I had put in the wrong
subject.

I personally like the level-hinders-success varitation. If you read the BR
rulebook page right before the actions table (which comes right before the
action
descriptions) it speaks of using such a method. It may have been missed when
typing the action descriptions. I think that the playtesters would have noticed

the ease of ruling if it were that easy (assuming the level hinderance). One
problem may be the way we play Birthright. It is my opinion that many of a
regent's actions are spent in espionage or dealing with random events. By
taking
an espionage action every turn you really learn a lot about the world around
you.
I'd be willing to bet that a correctly played Roesone has to spend two actions a

turn dealing with Ghoere. One action to find out about troop movements and
another to deal with a Ghoerean espionage (which creates a random event) or keep

Ghoere busy with creating random events in thier territory. After I've finished

reading Debt of Honor (by Tom Clancy), I think we also let players get away with

too much direct diplomacy. In most PBeMs, players are too open. If you want to

form a non-agression treaty with another regent or you want to work out a
trade-route taxation deal, simple letters won't cut it. Taking the trade route
taxation example: Endier wants to trade in Diemed. The Duke wants money. But
in
real life, neither of them will say OK to just that. Diemed will want as much
money as possible, or maybe Diemed will want to gain a little land from Endier
and
will use the trade taxation as a level for that strip of land. Meanwhile,
Endier
wants to pay as little as possible and wants to buy several areas of land near
Diemed's major cities for building guilds. So they both do diplomacy and a
subtle
game of words takes place between ambassators. If you've read most any Tom
Clancy
type book you'll probably know what I mean. So anyway, that uses up most of a
realm's actions. For Roesone, after dealing with Ghoere, Diemed, the Straits of

Aerele Shipping, Rogr Aglondier, and High Mage Aelies; it's no wonder the realm
can't manage to rule up its few level (2) provinces. They only cost 2 GB and 6
RP
to rule with a 60% chance of success. But Roesone should be too busy to have
the
time for that. Provinces CAN grow from nothing to large cities in a matter of
seasons. But that takes tons of resources and more time, both of which are
usually too precious to waste on getting a few more plebs to live in your chunck

of rock.


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