Enlightened Age Entertainment

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1 Enlightened Age Entertainment Fall of Rome Presents: Last Updated 10/29/04 Concept and Design: Chief Software Engineer: Senior Programmer: Web Site Manager: Cartography: Design Consultant: Rick McDowell Fletcher Dunn Matt Butler Jim Bauer Ralf Schemmann Phil McDowell ART: Frank Frazetta Brom Marco Hernandez Toby Mikle Ralf Schemmann Testing: Special Thanks to: Phil McDowell, John Moe and David Pitzel Alpha Testers: Marshall Brady, Martin Burlingame, Rick Ghan, Dave Kuykendall, Jim Nehls, Michael Simms, Michael Southard

2 Introduction 1) INTRODUCTION Fall of Rome is the premier web-based strategy game, set at the dawn of the Dark Ages in Europe. Each of twelve players assumes the role of King of a unique people, contesting for dominance by utilizing a broad array of forces including military, economic, political, covert, and diplomatic elements. As Atilla, you will lead your hordes of horse archers sweeping west across Europe, hoping to scatter all those before you. As Arthur, you will try to preserve and expand the legacy of the Celtic kings, and may be aided in this quest through recovery of Excalibur or other important artifacts. Each position faces different challenges and opportunities, and the clever player will form a strategy to accentuate his kingdom s strengths, while being flexible enough to adapt to changing circumstances brought about each turn by his eleven rivals. Fall of Rome offers the best virtues of the greatest strategy games ever and brings forward new strategic dimensions yet provides its players unprecedented convenience and ease of play. The Game Turn Cycle 2) THE GAME TURN CYCLE Imagine your favorite board game expanded to accommodate twelve players with perfect execution of each player s actions and with no waiting around for the other eleven to decide what to do. Using Fall of Rome s graphic user interface (GUI), you will issue more than a dozen commands to your forces each turn. At a pre-determined time and date, usually once every four days, the game server processes all commands for all players simultaneously according to a specific sequence of events shown in a separate chart. (For example, battles will be resolved first and later legions move.) This completes the turn cycle. You will then learn the results of your tactical and strategic decisions, including how your legions performed in battle, the success of your espionage efforts, the production and improvements to your economy, what new intelligence and reconnaissance have been collected, and whether the promises of other players diplomacy were honored. You are free to plan the moves of the next turn at a time of your choosing anytime before the next turn update, advancing your objectives through your own efforts as well as by allying with others who share a mutual interest. The Graphic User Interface 3) THE GRAPHIC USER INTERFACE (GUI) You play the game through a portal in the web site. Once you are signed up as a player, you will have password access to your personal My Kingdoms page on the site that allows you to choose to visit any of the Fall of Rome worlds in which you are active. Select one and you will be teleported to that particular game of Fall of Rome and its GUI. The main components of the GUI are: The Menu Bar A. The Menu Bar. Across the top of the GUI are a number of buttons with icons. Holding your mouse cursor over any of these will reveal its function. These are the Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 2

3 places where you will access most of the information you have accumulated, and make visible the world as you have thus far discovered it to be. Click (your mouse button) on any icon. You can view lists of the important characters of your kingdom and what they have been up to. You ll see all the communities that are either under your just rule, or have been discovered by your spies and legions. Your councilors will have their reports ready for you showing what transpired on the last turn. You can view the game map in various levels of detail, you may access reference materials such as charts, rules, and past turns. Additionally, you will wish to create messages for other players, hoping to form temporary alliances and exchange information, and to read such messages written by others and sent to you. The Map B. The Map. The map depicts a large part of 5th century Western Europe centered about Gaul and Germania. The map is visible in three levels of zoom, each available as a button on the top menu bar. The most zoomed out view of the map is called the strategic view, used to get the big picture. Players will spend most of their time in the operational view, where most commands are issued. In the operational view, the map displays a hex grid, which regulates movement. Each hex is also referred to as an area. The zoomed in view of the map is called the tactical view and shows a single area, thereby providing the most detail. All the various assets and pieces in play that you are aware of will be visible on the map, each with its unique icon. Holding your mouse cursor over a given asset causes a brief description of the asset to appear in the information panel at the bottom of the screen. In the operational and tactical view, players issue commands to their forces by right clicking on them, which will produce a pop-up menu of the various orders that they can attempt to carry out. Players then choose from these options, and frequently will then be asked to click on the target of the selected command. Left clicking on a hex in the operational view also causes the view to zoom to the tactical view for that area. Left clicking again returns the view to the operational view. The World and Regions 4) THE WORLD and REGIONS The world of Fall of Rome is divided into twelve regions of important political consequence. The names of these regions can be seen on the strategic view of the map, and they appear in the Kingdom screen from the top menu bar. Each region is comprised of a territory usually containing from fifty to seventy areas. Each area (hex) may contain at most one city, town, village, or Unusual Sighting. Each region contains one city, about five towns, seven villages, and one or two unusual sightings. At the beginning of the game, all players will know of the location of all twelve cities. You and the other players will only be aware of the location of the few towns and villages that begin under your control, as well as those within a two hex radius of your kingdom s capital town. You will not as yet have discovered the location of the other towns and villages, or know of the existence of any Unusual Sightings. These must be discovered through game play, and their location changes in each Fall of Rome game. Once discovered, the icon representing the type of community there will become part of your game map. Although you will need to send agents to stay current on various activities within those not under your control, you will be advised by your minions as to which kingdom controls them from that point forward. The banner of the kingdom controlling the PC will be displayed Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 3

4 on the map and on the listing of population centers available through that button on the top menu bar. Control of regions is an important part of game play and ultimately, victory. A player gains control of a region by having at least sixty percent of the people living in the region under the rule of his kingdom. Various significant benefits accrue a king who gains control of a region. Chief among these benefits is that all neutral population centers in the region sense the turn of the tide and raise the banner of the kingdom that has gained control of the region. Other benefits include increases to the King s Influence and Rulership, the availability of an additional legion, the emergence of a new loyal noble character, and an improvement in how the people of the region regard the kingdom. More on these topics will be discussed later in these rules. Assets 5) ASSETS. The various pieces that you control are collectively referred to as assets. There are three broad categories of assets, with each containing a range of classes or ranks within their category: population centers, characters, and warriors. Population Centers A. Population Centers. Population Centers (PC s) are the villages, towns and cities where most of the people in Fall of Rome live. Each PC has a name, a certain civilian population, defense strength, gold production, supply production, and the ability to build improvements to increase one or more of these values. Control of PC s is vital to prosperity and success and leads directly to the control of regions. Each PC is either controlled by one of the kingdoms in the game, or is neutral. i. Villages are the smallest of the PC s but are the breadbaskets and greatest providers of supplies and a modest amount of gold. They have relatively weak defenses, and generally have fewer than ten thousand souls. They are the most numerous of the three kinds of PC s with seven villages in each region. About two out of three villages are neutral at the beginning of a campaign. Towns ii. Towns typically produce fewer supplies than villages, but double or more the gold production. They generally have reasonable to strong defenses, depending on terrain and improvements. They can create most improvements and can become fortified towns. There usually are around twenty thousand or more people in most towns. Typically there are five towns per region, with a little more than half neutral at the start. Cities iii. Cities are the least common PC type with but one per region. They are always visible on every player s map and all players will know which kingdom, if any, controls each city, all of which begin neutral at the campaign s onset. Cities produce by far the most gold, generally close to triple that of the average town (as is also the case for population), but are usually net consumers of supplies. That is, cities give a negative supply production, so kingdoms must rely on their controlled towns and villages to supply their cities as well as to provide for the needs of the kingdom and its military. Cities have Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 4

5 strong defenses that can be made much stronger still through the Citadel improvement (other improvements also can increase defenses). The Capital iv. The Capital. Each kingdom always maintains one PC as its capital. At the beginning of the campaign, this will be the largest town under the kingdom s control. The capital begins the game already fortified and with a tavern in place, and is the location where reinforcements arrive, and where the kingdom s high priestess is always located. Capitals have higher values for defense, production, and census than most other towns. With the fortification improvement, Capitals begin with formidable defensive values. As the seat of power for a kingdom, a capital may never be usurped through political action. Important Note :If at the end of any turn, a player has no population centers under his control, and so no capital, the kingdom collapses and the player is eliminated from the game. Its legions are disbanded, and its characters are eliminated from the game. All players will be notified when a kingdom collapses. Characters B. Characters Individual personalities in the game are called Characters. Characters have a health status: Good, Light Wounds, Serious Wounds, Critical Wounds, or in the case of the High Priestess only, Weary or Exhausted. Characters improve their health status one level each turn (if in less than Good health). Thus a character who suffered serious wounds during a turn would heal to light wounds at the end of the turn, so would be unavailable for carrying out actions other than transfer the following turn, when at the end of that turn he will recover to Good health. Only characters in Good health or Weary in the case of the High Priestess, may undertake an order. In general, each character may undertake only one order per turn, although some actions do not count as the sole action a character can undertake, such as a King ordering a trade order, or a leader commanding troops in battle. Each character has a base of operations, which will be either a legion of his kingdom, or a PC controlled by his kingdom. The base is where the character is located. Most character types in the game can be hired, trained, or promoted, depending on their class. Characters are of one or more of the following classes: The King 1. The King. Each kingdom has one character which is King. The King is the most important character because he is the only character capable of executing a set of commands reserved for the king only, such as improving the reaction of the population of a region toward the kingdom. Additionally, Influence, the primary indicator of the power of a kingdom s nobles, is dependent on the king himself. The same is true for Rulership, which is the characteristic that determines how many commands a kingdom may issue each turn. If the King is slain, the highest-ranking noble becomes the new king, but he will have a percentage of the former king s influence according to his rank. For example, a prince who becomes king will have 80% of the former king s influence because a prince has 80% of the power of the king. Rulership likewise will be reduced upon the fall of the king. All players will be notified Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 5

6 when any king is killed. The King is also a Leader, and in each kingdom begins with the leader rank of Marshal. Nobles 2. Nobles. These are individuals with considerable clout from well- regarded bloodlines. Nobles comprise the loyal court of each kingdom. In order of rank, from highest to lowest, the noble ranks are: Prince, Duke, Count, Baron, Provincial Governor, and Ambassador. The higher the rank, the more powerful the noble, but also the more expensive he is to use. (See Noble Chart). Nobles of Baron rank and above may not be hired, although they may be Titled to increase their rank. Proper use of nobles is often key to territorial gain and maintaining the loyalty of the people. Nobles in a single turn can either relocate within their seven hex range, or undertake a mission in the hex they are located in, but not both. Leaders 3. Leaders. Leaders are the military commanders of the legions, and can lend their command bonuses to kingdom controlled population centers as well. Any number of leaders can be assigned to a legion or PC, but only the three highestranking leaders in good health provide their command bonus in battle. The least experienced leaders are Centurions. New Centurions may emerge after a legion with fewer than three leaders engages in battle. A new leader emerging is more likely after victorious and hard fought battles. Leaders may also win promotion after battle, advancing their rank. All leaders risk death and wounds in battle. Leaders who are wounded provide no combat bonus until they are healed to normal health. Leaders move together with the legion they are attached to, or if assigned to a PC, stay in the hex of the PC. The leader ranks and the associated command bonus are as follows. Leader Rank: Command Bonus: Centurion 5% Captain 6% Captain Major 7% Tribune 10% General 11% Commander 12% Marshal 15% Marshal Victor 16% Imperator 17% Warlord 25% Leaders are also the characters capable of recruiting brigades of Heruli or Burgundian mercenaries, and very experienced leaders may train less experienced leaders, thereby increasing their rank. The leaders of a legion are excellent warriors themselves, and it is they that investigate Unusual Sightings, battling ferocious guardians protecting valuable artifacts and other loot. Leaders are the only class of characters who wield the artifacts of Fall of Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 6

7 Rome with effect. These powerful weapons, armor, or healing artifacts can have a profound effect on any battle. Agents 4. Agents. Agents undertake espionage, counter-espionage, and intelligence gathering missions. They are assassins and thieves as well. Agents are classified by their level of expertise, the higher the level, the better the agent. As a rule of thumb, each level of experience increases the agent s chance of succeeding in dangerous missions by 5 points, and decreases his chance of being captured by the same amount. Agents can execute missions in areas up to the limit of their seven hex range (exception: Counter- Espionage) from their base of operations, and return to their base at the end of the turn, or they can relocate their base. Level 1 agents can be hired. In subsequent turns, they may be trained to the next highest level as their action for that turn. Agents also may increase their level through succeeding in the more difficult covert actions, those where they face significant danger. Agents in Fall of Rome may be trained to a maximum of Level 11. If they succeed in dangerous missions, they may ultimately increase their skill to Level 14 becoming likely the most dangerous character in the world. In carrying out their missions, agents face two obstacles: the first is to succeed in their mission, for example, to steal gold, and the second to escape with their lives. These two are independent outcomes. Agents have minor persons as their accomplices, who can make off with gold or intelligence information even if the agent character himself cannot escape after succeeding in the mission. The exception to this is the mission to steal an artifact, where the agent character himself must both successfully steal the artifact and escape with his life. High Priestess 5. The High Priestess. All kingdoms begin the campaign with a High Priestess. The High Priestess is capable of divining information far beyond the capabilities of agents in the field. For example, a High Priestess can divine the location of all PC s within a three hex radius or Unusual Sightings within a four hex radius of a target area. The High Priestess puts her mind through incredible stress in undertaking divinations. A divination will cause a High Priestess to become Weary as her health status. In this health status, she may still undertake divinations, but then may become Exhausted which means she must rest to become Weary. A High Priestess which is Weary and rests (performs no actions) will return to Good health. Warriors C. Warriors. Warriors in Fall of Rome include infantry, missile troops, and cavalry. Those three major troop categories are themselves divided into at least four sub-types in each category. For example, within infantry, there are light, medium, heavy, and guards (the best) infantry. Generally, light troops move faster and have fewer weapons and armor than heavy Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 7

8 troops, but the best class in each category have both reasonable mobility and superior armor, although these are never had in large numbers. Certain terrain types significantly reduce the effectiveness of cavalry and archers (infantry is never affected). Cavalry is only 50% as effective in forest, marsh, and roughly 50% effective when attacking population centers. Cavalry is only 25% effective in mountain terrain: wise commanders will not send legions with large cavalry contingents to end movement in mountains. Archers and other missile troops are only 50% as effective in forest or when attacking in mountain terrain, but unlike cavalry, are completely effective in marsh and against population centers. On the other hand, missile troops have a bonus of 50% when defending in mountains: they are presumed to be in superior higher ground positions. Brigades Brigades. The fundamental military unit in Fall of Rome is the brigade. Each kingdom has a unique mix of five or more of the various troop types, and in total a full-strength brigade will consist of 2000 warriors. Some such as the Thuringians or Ostrogoths will feature medium and heavy cavalry, the Franks and Norse may hold heavy infantry as its primary weapon system, while the Huns and Celts may make the greatest use of missile weapons. Brigades are attached either to legions (below) or to a PC controlled by their kingdom, where they add their strength to that of the PC s defense. Leaders as well can be attached either to legions or to population centers. In addition to its soldiers, brigades have four characteristics that are important. One is morale. Base, normal morale is 100. Victories that the brigade is involved in tend to increase morale, whereas defeats, forced marches, and ending movement in hostile regions reduce morale. Morale is a direct modifier of the brigade s strength. So a brigade with 110 morale would fight 10% better than it would with 100 morale. A second characteristic is strength, or its inverse, attrition. Attrition represents the percentage casualties the brigade has suffered. Once a brigade reaches 60% attrition, or is reduced to 40% strength, it is destroyed as a fighting force, and in the case of a brigade, its surviving soldiers are transferred to other brigades in the legion, if any. If the legion consisted of a single brigade or company, it is destroyed. The third is experience. Brigades range in experience from lowest to highest as follows: Experience Defense Modifier Green 85% Regular 100% Experienced 105% Veteran 110% Old Guard 120% Elite 130% Renowned 140% Legendary 150% Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 8

9 The fourth is speed. Lighter and mounted troops have higher speeds than heavy and foot troops. Speed is important in many tactics and in withdrawing from combat. Experience effects speed as well as defense. Generally, green troops may lose a speed rating (for example, an Average speed brigade with regular experience troops may drop to a Slow speed rating if its warriors are of green experience. Elite brigades generally will have increased its speed rating over that of the same kind of brigade with regular experience warriors. Legions Legions. Each player will field legions to defeat his foes in the field and to conquer population centers. Each kingdom begins the campaign with five legions it can field. During the campaign a kingdom which gains control of a region gains the use of an additional legion. So a kingdom gaining control of its first region would have a sixth legion available to it. If the kingdom gains control of a second region and now controls two regions, a seventh legion would become available. The smallest possible legion size is a patrol. This is a unit of only the leaders and wizards of a legion, together with a dozen hand picked warriors from the legion. Patrols are always considered to be on horseback. Here then are the legion sizes that are reported by most forms of reconnaissance that are not supplied by agents (agent recons are more detailed and accurate). In all cases they may include leaders and other characters. Patrol: up to about 20 warriors Brigade: one or two brigades (up to about 4000 warriors) Division: three to five brigades (up to about 10,000 warriors) Army: two divisions, so six to ten brigades (up to 20,000 warriors) Army Group eleven or more brigades Inactive legions are legions that are available to the player for use but currently not in play, i.e., it is empty, having no leaders or brigades. Inactive legions can be used to create a new legion by transferring leaders and/or brigades into it from an active legion or PC with the leaders and/or brigades inside it. Each legion also has the four qualities of brigades, listed above. The values for a legion are the average of all brigades within it. Legion morale is important for certain functions, including force- marching (must be at least 105), and execution of certain battle tactics. Unlike brigades, legions may never be inside population centers; they are always outside them in the same hex. Any military movement of brigades or leaders requires a legion. For example, a brigade and a general attached to a town could only move outside that town by becoming part of a legion by transferring to an existing legion of their kingdom in the hex, or by creating a new active legion in the area through the transfer order screen. Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 9

10 Major Actions 6. MAJOR ACTIONS. This next section of the rules deals with the main categories of actions available to all players. The specifics of the commands themselves are detailed in a separate Commands document. This section is intended to describe the kinds of activities that are available. Military, Economic, Political, and Covert actions are all important and a wise player will ignore none of these aspects of play in Fall of Rome. Military A. Military. The main functions of the military are to achieve conquest and to protect your realm. Battles, legion movement, mercenaries and reinforcements, garrisons, and how transfers are accomplished are the main topics. Battles i. Battles. Fall of Rome features three distinct types of battles: Legion Vs. Legion, Legion Vs. PC, and Unusual Sighting Encounters. In all cases, only one order to attack (or defend in the case of Legion Vs. Legion battles) each given target may be made by any one legion. If two or more enemy legions are in the same hex, one attack (or defend) order can and should be given for each enemy legion. Important: legions that are attacked by another legion against which they issued no command to attack or defend are surprised this means they will fight at severe penalties. All battle types share certain common features, like battle phases, command bonuses, retreat criteria, and choosing a tactic. In any battle, each side will either be victorious, retreat, or be destroyed. Brigades may be destroyed (except in Unusual Sighting Encounters), or gain experience. Leaders may increase in rank, be wounded or killed, and new leaders may emerge. Tactics are described in detail in the addendum called (oddly) Tactics. Briefly, here is a bit more on each type of battle. Legion Vs Legion 1. Legion Vs. Legion battles occur when two legions from different kingdoms camp (end their move) in the same hex and then on the next turn at least one of them issues an Attack command. If neither player orders an attack, no battle will occur. A legion must have morale of at least 80 in order to attack, certain tactics have higher requirements. Legion battles proceed by engaging different troop types within each legion through various phases of battle. These phases are also detailed in the Tactics addendum, but essentially there are missile (archers, slingers, javelins, etc) phases, followed by cavalry phases, infantry phases, and if neither side has yet retreated, combined phases were all surviving troops melee as best they can. After each phase if either side reaches its retreat criteria, it attempts to withdraw, and will suffer additional losses in retreat. Terrain is a significant factor in how legion battles are decided, as is command bonus, and legion morale, experience, and strength. Legions which are given a defensive tactic (rather than attack tactic) gain 20% to the defensive value of all brigades. Legion Vs. PC 2. Legion Vs. PC battles occur when a legion camps in the same hex as a PC and on the next turn the player controlling that legion orders an attack against the PC. PC s do not require orders to defend: they do so automatically at the best of their ability. They may never issue attack orders. PC s which have leaders in good health within and/or garrisoned brigades have those assets assist and add to their intrinsic defense. Brigades Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 10

11 within PC s gain a 20% defense bonus. If the PC is a fortress or citadel, this defense bonus is increased to 40%. Cavalry is only 50% as effective in attack against a PC as it would be in battles against legions in the plains. Battles against PC s do not consider terrain each type of troop (e.g., medium cavalry) has a value vs. PC as well as a value in each type of terrain (used for legion vs. legion battles). Phases in PC battles are long range archery, short range archery, and then storm phases until either the attacking legion retreats or the PC is conquered. PC s may be breached in the midst of the storm phases, which reduces their defensive value significantly for the remainder of the battle. PC s which are conquered will receive damage, typically around 10-20% to production, defense, and census. Unusual Sighting Encounters 3. Unusual Sighting Encounters. At the beginning of a campaign in Fall of Rome there are 18 hexes, one or two in each of the twelve regions, that contains an Unusual Sighting. Unusual Sightings have a scene depiction, but they also contain two important features: a Guardian, and an Artifact. Brigades are useless in these encounters only the leaders of the legion and a dozen handpicked men enter the setting and engage in combat against the Guardian. However, any number of leaders can engage and contribute to the fight, unlike the other two battle types where only the top three leaders contribute their command bonus. The higher the leader rank, the more effective he is in encounters, equivalent to their command bonus. Guardians are of three classes and will be of the same class as the artifact they protect: the best are called Superior, the middle class is called Excellent, and the less powerful guardians and artifacts are called Fine. It should be noted that even the least powerful guardians can still be quite deadly. Artifacts 4. Artifacts. In addition to the status points they supply and their contribution to certain victory conditions, Artifacts provide bonuses in all three types of battles. Weapon artifacts provide attack bonuses and increase the chance to wound or kill opposing leaders or guardians. Armor artifacts protect the leader equipped with the artifact, substantially reducing his chance of being killed or wounded. Healing artifacts heal all leaders of the legion containing the artifact after each battle, although leaders who are killed rather than wounded are not restored to life. Any one leader may only be equipped with at most one artifact of each type. Although other character classes may have artifacts equipped, such as an Agent in the turn he steals one, they only provide their bonus when equipped with a leader. Legion Movement ii. Legion Movement. Any legion may be given one (only) movement command per turn (subject to the overall limit on commands given due to the King s Rulership). There are a variety of different movement commands to choose from, based on the objective. There is a standard March command that seeks to move the legion to a specific area up to the limit of the legion s movement points (mp) in distance away, or less. The Scout command slows movement, but reveals more previously unknown territory around the legion, removing the fog of war. A legion in the same area as an Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 11

12 enemy legion and with adequate speed may Pursue that legion, following its movement. A legion might choose to Intercept enemy legions within a certain radius of its current location, or to end movement when it enters the first area containing a PC. The amount of map s a legion has is based upon its size, its overall commander, and its speed rating. MP s are expended with each hex entered dependent upon the type of terrain. The details of the various movement commands are explained in the Commands document. Reinforcements and Mercenaries iii. Reinforcements and Mercenaries. At the end of every fourth turn, all kingdoms receive either two or three kingdom brigades as reinforcements. Reinforcements always arrive inside the kingdom capital and can be given no orders until the following turn. These brigades are of regular experience. Players should remember that these new brigades will begin consuming supplies and gold on the following turn so turn 4 reinforcements begin consuming resources on turn 5. Players may also recruit mercenary brigades with a leader who is in the same area as a town or city under his control that contains the Tavern improvement. In Fall of Rome, there are two types of mercenary brigades: Heruli and Burgundians. Heruli are infantry and missile troops, so are slow but well suited to attacking or garrisoning PC s, and do well in restrictive terrain. Burgundians have a generous cavalry contingent, so are fast, do well in open terrain, and are somewhat more expensive to maintain. Mercenary brigades are attached to the base of the leader that recruits them. So a leader that is in a legion recruiting mercenaries will have the mercenaries appear in that legion. If the leader is inside the PC, the mercenaries will be with him inside the PC. Note: mercenaries cannot be recruited inside a PC in its garrison unless the PC already has the Barracks improvement in place. If the leader relocates in the turn the mercenaries are hired, the mercenaries move with him. Garrisons iv. Garrisons. Brigades inside a PC are called the PC s garrison. Only towns and cities (including fortresses and citadels) with the Barracks improvement may have brigades in garrison. Towns are limited to a maximum of four brigades in garrison, fortified towns five brigades, cities six brigades, and citadels up to seven brigades. Leaders may always be assigned to (have as their base) a kingdom-controlled PC. When in garrison, brigades add their strength to that of the PC should it come under attack. Up to three leaders also add their command bonus to the PC. In addition, both brigades and leaders provide Status Quo points, making it more difficult for the PC to be influenced by political orders to Incite Rebellion or Usurp Control (see the Commands). Transfers v. Transfers. Players can move leaders and brigades from one legion to another in the same area or from a PC to a legion in the same area. Additionally, the transfer screen is how inactive legions are made active. The transfer screen is accessed in the tactical view. Just right click on open terrain in the tactical view and a menu choice to transfer will pop-up. Then drag the leaders and brigades you wish to transfer from their current base to their new base the choices will include any inactive legions you have. Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 12

13 Economic B. Economic. A kingdom must have a sound economy to support its military, to fund expansion, and to undertake the actions of a true kingdom supporting actions of its nobles in defense of its holdings and to finance the activities of its intelligence gathering and covert arm, as well as to placate its citizens and undermine the activities of its rival kingdoms. Often beginning players overlook the importance of their kingdom s economic needs, perhaps by recruiting too many mercenaries don t succumb to this strategic misstep. Resources, Production, PC Improvements, Supply, and Trade are the topics. Resources i. Resources. Gold and supply are the two economic resources. Gold is needed for most orders, and is the only resource required for Noble and Agent orders. King orders and PC Improvements are among those requiring both gold and supplies. Remember, villages produce the most supplies, cities the most gold, and towns a reasonable amount of each. Success in Unusual Sightings often brings a one time benefit of treasure that is converted to gold. Production ii. Production. Each turn after all battles for the turn are concluded, all PC s produce the gold and supplies they are capable of, and these amounts are added to the kingdom s treasury, i.e., its available balance. They may then be expended by supplying and paying the military and what is left may be spent in executing the remaining commands of the current and future turns. Whatever amounts are not consumed are carried forward to the next turn. Supply iii. Supply. Supply refers to both the gold and supplies consumed by each brigade each turn. Brigades with significant cavalry and/or well armored troops tend to consume more supplies and gold than do those with a greater proportion of infantry or lightly armed warriors. All brigades must be supplied each turn immediately following production. Large legions are harder to supply effectively. Brigades in army-sized legions cost 25% more supplies to maintain, and brigades in army group-sized legions cost 50% more than brigades in division or smaller legions. Kingdoms whose economies produce insufficient amounts of either gold or food will first lose the services of as many mercenary brigades as required to ensure the remaining brigades are supplied, and if there remains a shortage after all mercenary brigades are eliminated, then certain kingdom brigades, beginning with the least experienced will not be supplied. This results in their experiencing a morale drop and some desertion. Resource balances after supply are available for all other purposes and commands. Additionally in the category of supply is a minor abstract rule. Legions that are in relatively friendly regions and close to controlled population centers will gain a bit of morale each turn, while the reverse is also true: those in inhospitable lands and far from a base of supply (controlled PC) will suffer morale losses. Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 13

14 PC Improvements iv. PC Improvements. The two main ways to improve your economy are to conquer more PC s and to build economic improvements in the PC s you already control. There are a variety of improvements available (detailed in a separate chart) that can effect, normally positively but sometimes negatively supply production, gold production, defense, census, status quo, counter espionage, and perhaps other elements. Most improvements affect more than one of these elements. Building improvements also increase modestly the kingdom s regional reaction in the region in which they are constructed. You build an improvement by right-clicking on the pc icon in either the operational view or tactical view and choosing the particular improvement you wish to construct on the menu provided. Doing so shows you exactly what the improvement does and how much it costs. Trade v. Trade. Sometimes a player will find his economy in imbalance between available supplies and available gold. When a shortfall in one resource is expected, the other can be traded on the open market to secure an adequate supply. The rate of exchange at the beginning of the campaign is equal. Thereafter, the rate of exchange changes to reflect the relative supply and demand for both resources. You may order a trade either by right clicking on the king icon, or through the Kingdom screen, where you will see the trade button. The Plan and The Ledger vi. The Plan and The Ledger. Two of the top menu bar buttons deal with economic issues. The Ledger shows every individual source and use of resources, with screens showing both actual amounts provided and consumed in the previous turn, and a forecast of expected production and consumption in the current turn. The Plan is an important screen players will refer to often each turn. Here all the commands so far issued are displayed in the sequence they will be executed (determined by the sequence of events, not the order in which they are issued by the player). At the bottom half of the screen, The Plan tracks resources available and consumed through necessary brigade supply and the commands issued in the turn, and then also showing how much gold and supply remains available. You may also cancel any order you have given in the Plan by clicking on it and choosing cancel. Note: events of the current turn, such as gaining or losing PC s in battle cannot be reflected in the Plan. Don t consider the Plan to be a guarantee of what you will receive in production it is what is expected to be received if nothing changes. The Rule of Law vii. The Rule of Law. When a king has met with such success that he can impose his will on an entire region, and has achieved those benefits associated with regional control, he must also secure the means to maintain order and justice. He hires magistrates and sheriffs, and pays informants within the region in order to see to these ends. This has a cost as follows: Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 14

15 One region controlled costs 10,000 gold and supplies each turn. Two regions controlled costs 25,000 gold and supplies each turn. If a king should have control of three regions for the turns required prior to winning as The Rex, he must pay 50,000 gold and supplies for those two turns. The cost is incurred before brigades are supplied and after open market trades. In the unlikely case he has insufficient gold and supplies for this cost in part, his Regional Reaction in the region(s) he controls is worsened by the percentage of the shortfall in the region Political C. Political. Fall of Rome has a thorough political model that many new players may not have expected. Successful use of the King s orders and keeping your Nobles busy is often the fastest and most efficient way to gain new PC s, and also to protect your own holdings from the intrusions of the Nobles of others. There are a number of important concepts for players to understand about the political model in the game including: Regional Reaction, Noble Power, Status Quo and its counterpart, Stir Unrest, PC Resistance, and Regional Control. Regional Reaction i. Regional Reaction. Regional Reaction (RR) is a value that measures the receptivity of the region s population to each king. Each player has a RR in each of the twelve regions in the game. At the onset of the campaign, your kingdom will typically have a RR of Familiar in the region of your capital, Neutral in most other regions, and possibly something different in the other region that contains a PC you begin in control of. As the campaign proceeds, Regional Reaction improves (is lowered) through Enamoring (a King order) and by building improvements in PC s in the region. It is worsened (raised) through Denigration (a King order) and by Plundering PC s in the region or using the Barbarism tactic. The best possible RR is 0.7 a RR can not be reduced below 0.7. The worst possible RR is 6.7 a RR cannot be raised higher than 6.7. Within the game, the RR will be related to you through the RR Description, not the number itself. You will be uncertain exactly where within that numerical range your kingdom is viewed by the citizens of the region. RR Value RR Description Loyal Warm Friendly Peaceful Receptive Familiar Neutral Indifferent Tolerant Cautious Guarded Suspicious Resentful Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 15

16 Enmity Hostile Hatred Noble Power ii. Noble Power. Nobles are capable of carrying out the political orders. By rank from most powerful to least powerful and the associated gold cost of using the Noble these are: Rank % of King s Influence Gold Cost Prince Duke Count Baron Provincial Governor Ambassador Noble Power is a simple calculation. It is the product of the King s Influence x the % of Influence the noble carries which is determined by his rank. So if the player s King has an influence of 120, which is the typical starting influence in Fall of Rome, a Baron of that king would have a Noble Power of 120 x 50% = 60. A Provincial Governor of that King would have a Noble Power of 120 x 30% = 36. A random luck factor adds or subtracts up to 10% of the Noble Power. This die roll is made just prior to resolving an order depending on Noble Power: Maintain Status Quo, Stir Unrest, Incite Rebellion, or Usurp Control. So the Provincial Governor mentioned above would have an effective Power of somewhere between 32.4 and No other factors affect Noble Power in Fall of Rome. Status Quo and Stir Unrest iii. Status Quo and Stir Unrest. Status Quo is the political effort to preserve the existing government within a PC. The opposite force from Status Quo is Stir Unrest, which is the political effort to prepare for the overthrow of the PC. Stir Unrest itself will not result in Rebellion or Usurping Control (two of the political orders found in the Commands document), but it facilitates those undertakings. There are two types of status quo effects in PC s: Intrinsic Status Quo and Dynamic Status Quo. Each point of status quo is a direct increase in the Resistance of the PC. Stir Unrest works opposite of Status Quo. Intrinsic Status Quo or Stir Unrest Intrinsic Status Quo or Stir Unrest. There are three ways status quo is attributed to a PC without issuing an order, i.e., intrinsic status quo. These are: 1. Several improvements to PC s provide ongoing Status Quo benefits to the owner of the PC. For example, a Temple in a PC provides 20 points of Status Quo each turn. Meanwhile, a Market generates10 points Stir Unrest. 2. Towns and Cities that have a Barracks improvement may have a garrison, that is, they may have friendly brigades inside the PC. Each Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 16

17 kingdom brigade (i.e., an Alamanni brigade for the Alamanni king) provides 50 points of status quo within the PC. Each mercenary brigade, e.g., Heruli, provides 35 points of status quo. Brigades only impart their status quo IF their kingdom controls the PC. If a PC rebels and so is neutral, the brigades within provide no status quo. 3. Each leader in good health of the kingdom controlling the PC inside the PC increases status quo by the same number of points as the leader s command bonus. Therefore a Centurion adds 5 points of intrinsic status quo, and a Marshal adds 15 points. As with brigades, Leaders within a PC only impart their status quo IF the PC remains in the control of the kingdom that controls the leaders. Dynamic Status Quo or Stir Unrest Dynamic Status Quo or Stir Unrest. Nobles issuing Maintain Status Quo or Stir Unrest commands affect PC Resistance for that turn only. The amount of either is equal to the Noble s power, divided by his king s regional reaction in the region of the PC. The sum of all intrinsic and dynamic Status Quo is netted against all Stir Unrest to directly modify PC resistance by this total. PC Resistance iv. PC Resistance. The next important concept is PC Resistance. Base PC Resistance is determined by the type of PC: PC Type Base Resistance Village 13 Town 22 City 45 A PC that is controlled by the kingdom that controls the Region the PC is in gains a 15% bonus to resistance. Calculate PC Resistance and then multiply by 1.15 if the PC controller controls the Region. This provides the Final PC Resistance value. Base Resistance is modified to consider the Regional Reaction of the acting player, and cumulative Status Quo and Stir Unrest values present. PC Resistance is: (Base Resistance) x (RR of acting player) x (1 if region is not controlled by kingdom controlling PC, otherwise 1.15) + (Total Status Quo Total Stir Unrest). Here then are a couple sample PC Resistance Values. 1. A town in a region where the acting player has a RR of 3.0. The town has a temple constructed (temples add 20 points status quo) and there is an Ambassador of a king with 120 Influence also with RR of 3.0 maintaining status quo there. The controller of the PC also controls the region the PC is in. The PC Resistance is Base Resistance x RR of acting player x 1.15 if PC controlled by the Region Controller + All Status Quo All Stir Unrest. In this case, that is: Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 17

18 i. base resistance = 22 for a town ii. x RR which is 3.0 iii. multiply by 1.15 since the PC is controlled by the regional controller iv. So before Status Quo and Stir Unrest we have 22 x 3.0 x 1.15 = 75.9 v. Plus Status Quo + (20 temple + (120 x 0.2) / 3 Ambassador) = vi. Minus Stir Unrest = 0, for final resistance of A neutral village in a region where the acting player has a RR of 2.5. The village has no improvements. The acting player has a king with influence of 140 and a Provincial Governor in the village undertaking Stir Unrest. The PC Resistance is: i. base resistance = 13 for a village ii. x RR which is 2.5 iii. since the village is neutral it is not controlled by the regional controller iv. So before Status Quo and Stir Unrest we have 13 x 2.5 x 1.0 = 32.5 v. Plus Status Quo + (status quo = 0) vi. Minus Stir Unrest = (stir unrest = (140x0.3)/2.5) = Regional Control v. Regional Control. Within the concept of Regional Control is the measure of how much of a region s population is under the control of a kingdom, called Current Regional Influence (in the region). The Kingdom Screen displays this information: there is a section where the kingdom s Regional Reaction description called Popular Reaction and Current Regional Influence description are shown. The phrases and associated numerical ranges for Current Regional Influence are as follows: Percent Control Descriptive Phrase None Minor Significant Substantial Control Tight Control As with the Regional Reaction phrase, the player knows his descriptive phrase, but not the exact percentage of population he controls. Status points are awarded for regions in which a kingdom has at minimum Significant control, with many more provided for Control or Tight Control. A major objective in Fall of Rome is gaining control of regions, and keeping control of them. Gaining Control Gaining control of a region provides numerous benefits as shown below: 1. The King adds +1 to his Rulership, thereby allowing the player the ability to issue an additional command each turn. 2. The Influence of the King is increased by A new Provincial Governor noble joins the kingdom in the largest PC under the kingdom s control in the region. Copyright 2004 by Enlightened Age Entertainment 18