Buufreak
2020-08-08, 01:25 PM
Let's face it. Sometimes you get a third party book, and it is great... except for, ya know, the lack of coherent text and editing. Some that's what I'm here for today! Posting a mega conglomeration of all the editing and rulings that I've made while flipping through Eden Studios' Fields of Blood: the Book of War.
(Insert here things I can only do from my computer and not mobile)
Preface: Before we go digging into the book at all, we have to discuss what each Nation starts with. The Nation will be given a single bare bones Regular Melee Unit (appropriate to your Race), a “Settler,” which is effectively a self contained “Village in a Can” that you can place during your first 2 turns, a zoomed in version of the game map that you can quickly explore before placing your Village, and 1000 RP for your Realm Banked (even if your Nation can not normally Bank resources).
You also have a Regent, a level 3 individual (Not a Unit) that is effectively your persona in game. For the vast majority, they will sit in your Capital (your first Population Center) and make political and governing decisions. Also, each Regent (and Hero, discussed below) have the Command Skill as a permanent Class Skill. As events continue to shape the map, your Regent can gain experience, and eventually join the battlefield as a unique solo Unit.
From there, you are 100% in control of your Nation. I will gladly answer questions as needed, but your Nation is your own to do with as you see fit.
If you are playing Nomad, you will start with a medium camp, not large. Mild balancing issue. It is still garrisoned.
Interest: the set rate is 4%. This number will not budge. Flaunt, use, and abuse it as you see fit.
Sources: we are using 3.5. Too much is unupdated from 3e, and I have no interest in backporting PF stuff. If it wasn't updated, it isn't in use.
Templates: appropriate templates can be applied, well, appropriately. There maybe be restrictions on these that you don't immediately see, based on what the templates are. It may be a stronger menagerie. It may be a guild you lack.
Religion: There is both absolutely and absolutely not gods present. You feel free to decipher that as you see fit.
Beginning play: Someone pointed out that somewhere in the book (though I haven't a clue where) lets Regents put down a thorpe if they have no population centers. This is not in play, at all.
Noble Nomads/Barbarians: Just because you recruit units at a reduced rate doesn't mean that declaring war gives you free indefinite units. You still get irregulars, and they still disappear at the end of appropriate seasons.
Nomads: Nomads do not get anything beyond camps and druid circles. This might impose issues when trying to muster specific units. There are ways to work around this, all you have to do is discover it. As it looks, that means they can't build garrisons. "So how do they muster units?" I'm ruling that camps, regardless of size, are treated as garrisoned for the purposes of mustering units.
XP: Regents definitely gain experience and are capable of leveling, same as any hero units you may have. I have not laid out hard and fast rulings as to how this is done for my own reasons.
Civilized players: The Civilized debuff is "building and upgrading anything smaller than a large town is doubled." This includes the initial cost of building a thorpe, it is increased to 1500RP. As stated before, it can be done as a standard regent, or a realm full season. Entirely your call on what you have available and are willing to spend.
Combat: Overkill rules are in effect. Enjoy your bloody combat!
The following is a link to a spreadsheet that covers playable no LA, no RHD, ECL 1 races, and how they interact with the individual tiles.
At the bottom of the resource sheet, you will see a row called Water Needs. This notates which resources the race can exploit WITHOUT a source of water. Yes, that means because of the vastly morphic nature of changelings, they can exploit everything, everywhere, ever. If you are attempting to pull resources and do not have access to water (ocean, river, lake, etc), you can not build assets on that tile. PROBABLY IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN CHOOSING WHICH HEX TO BUILD ON!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gJBta0cbvIzTXdJwkzH49gOMc6LnQFX7xGXAQU33IRY/edit#gid=0
Fields of Blood rule write up/errata
Page 9, Resource Points; The book establishes that 100 GP (Gold Pieces) translates into 1 RP (Resource Point). For the sake of Regents being able to spend their personal income from Taxes on weapons and items, we will be playing with a 10 GP : 1 RP ratio.
Page 13, Terrain; the amount of terrain tiles have been increased to 16. They are: Atoll, Coast, Desert, Forest, Grassland, Hill, Jungle, Lake, Marsh, Mountain, Oasis, Ocean, Plains, Snow, Tundra, and Underground.
Page 14, Wild Provinces; in order for a tile to return to wild, it must both be left ungoverned for 5 years, but also be exposed to another ungoverned and wild tile. By doing so, wild units from said wild tile will move into the newly re-wild tile. Both will then gradually return to their original population, each at a rate of ~500RP worth of units per season.
Page 15, Sovereign Regions; as with Sid Meier’s Civilization, a Population Center can only be built if the tile in question is at least 4 tiles away from any other Population Center. That is to say, there must be 3 unpopulated tiles between your new Sovereign Region and any other, be they yours or owned by someone else.
This may seem to impose an issue, being that lands within your Nation could potentially become wild while under your governing, while also not producing any RP. To that end, any tile that is adjacent to a Population Center that is of the same terrain as your Population Center has chosen to extract from the land (See Terrain), and the tile has been cleared of any wild mobs that are making it a Wild Region, increases that Population Center’s RP generation by 5% per season. For any tile that can not match the Population Center, it increases production by 2%. Further, Regions 2 tiles away will increase production by 3% and 1%, respectively.
In the event that a tile is 2 tiles away from 2 separate Population Centers, and said tile and Population Centers are all owned by the same Nation, that tile must be declared as contributing to one Population Center or the other. It does not increase production for both. Once chosen, this selection can be changed later as a Regent’s Free Action at the beginning of any season, before resources are collected and upkeeps are paid.
For further information on claiming tiles as part of your Nation, see Annex Land under Regent Actions, Page 35.
Page 15, Colonies Regions; this page, page 38 (Sever Ties), and page 40 (Build Road) leave the maximum population center available to a colony, as well as what happens to a sovereign city when it becomes severed and reduced to a colony, ambiguous. Thusly, a colony is allowed to build up to a Large Town. If for some reason a sovereign region is severed from its owner’s capital, and said region had a population center larger than a Large Town, its production modifier is reduced to 2.5 until it can be reconnected.
Page 16, Realm Improvements; Certain actions, units, and other realm improvements are now locked behind certain other realm improvements. Any such changes will specifically be called out in the following errata.
Page 19, Assets; the following are expansions on the currently existing assets, as well as new assets that can be used to improve other tiles.
Mines can now also be used in Deserts. The Glass Forge replaces the Smelter for Deserts. To construct the Glass Forge, a Nation must have at least a Level 1 Wizard’s Tower. However, having a Glass Forge not only increases production of the tile by 50%, but also increases your racial exploitation of that Desert by 1.
Logging Camps can now also be used in Jungles. The Ancient Civilization replaces the Sawmill for Jungles. The Ancient Civilization costs as much as other 50% improvement assets, but instead allow for various dinosaurs to be Mustered from a Garrisoned Population Center that has an appropriate Menagerie (CR cost included).
Crop Rotation can now also be used in Grasslands. The Plantation replaces Irrigation for Grasslands. To construct a Plantation, a Nation must have at least a Level 1 Wizard’s Tower or Druid Circle. However, having a Plantation not only increases production of the tile by 50%, but also reduces the upkeep of a single Menagerie by one half (1/2), selected at the time of construction. (For simplified math, the Menagerie now costs 1/8 of the base cost each season for upkeep.)
Fish Markets and Fishing Fleets can now also be used in Coasts, Lakes, and Oceans, as well as tiles adjacent to each. They do not operate any differently for each of these tiles.
Atolls can now have Coral Farms. They operate as the standard 25% upgrade assets. The Sea Corral operates as the standard 50% upgrade assets, however it also allows for the mustering of aquatic animal and magical beast units. In addition, it allows for the mustering of aquatic mounts for use with cavalry units.
Marshes can now have Bog Sifts. To Construct a Bog Sifts, a Nation must have at least a Level 1 Druid Circle or Church. They operate as the standard 25% upgrade assets, except they provide an additional 5% without increasing the cost of construction (effectively a 30% increase). The Polder operates as the standard 50% upgrade asset. To construct a Polder, a Nation must have a Level 1 Druid Circle or a Level 2 Church. In addition, having a Polder decreases the cost of your next Druid Circle construction or upgrade by one half (1/2).
Underground tiles can now have Fungal Farms (25%) and Slave Colonies (50%) as assets. However, a Nation must be of an Evil Alignment in order to construct a Slave Colony, and Slave Colonies increase production by an additional 10%, without increasing the cost of construction (effectively a 60% increase).
Further, Underground tiles will feature the same type of terrains that are available on the surface (Forest, Desert, etc). As with any other tile that features multiple resource types, you are to choose which type you are exploiting for purposes of RP generation.
Page 20, Trade Fair; In order to construct a Trade Fair, a Nation must have met at least 2 other Civilizations; be they player or City State does not matter.
Page 28, Turn Sequence; In addition to the standard turn sequence, each civilization will be given the equivalent of 2 weeks’ worth of exploration upon spawn. After this, the first season (being Spring) will immediately start. As a result of this, during such exploration, no resource income can be collected, but equally units will not have any upkeep.
Page 32, Resources, Taxes, and Upkeep; The rules are good, as printed. The following will be presented as a simplification of the mathematics, in hopes that it can speed things up and reduce the amount of times I need to step in and help.
Step 1, Calculate all income in your Nation. This is the summation of all population centers, as well as any other sources of income you may have due to trade routes or deals made with other Nations. This is your GTP (Grosse Total Production).
Step 2, Determine all of your seasonal costs, your National Upkeep. This includes upkeep for Population Centers, Military and Civilian Units, and any Assets that may have an upkeep such as a Menagerie or Guild Halls.
Step 3, Count your Provinces that have Population Centers, and consult Table 3.9: Governing Style Upkeep, located on page 34. Determine what the upkeep for your Nation is, or GSU.
Step 4, Determine your taxes. You are welcome to roll your taxes, or declare what values you would like for your low, moderate, and high taxes. Low commonly has 20-29% taxes, and 30-39% and 40-49% for moderate and high taxes, respectively.
Step 5, Determine your Nations Surplus. This is determined as GTP – Taxes – National Upkeep, or Step 1, minus Step 2 and Step 4. This gives the sum of RP (Resource Points) that your Nation has to use on Realm Actions in the coming season.
Step 6, Pay your Governing Style Upkeep. This is subtracted directly from the Taxes you collect, so Taxes – GSU, or Step 4 minus Step 3. This leaves your Regent with their personal surplus, which they can use to spend on Regent Actions in the coming season.
After this, you are free to use your remaining pools of RP to complete your seasonal actions.
Page 35, Annex Land; It costs 0 RP to claim a piece of land that is surrounding your Nation. It only costs the single Standard Action.
Further, you are welcome to spend a Standard Action to claim a tile, and choose to build a Population Center on it later. This does cost a second Standard Action, in leu of the single action it would take to claim the tile and build on it at the same time.
Page 37, Forge Alliance; It is in the benefit of all Nations involved that Alliances are discussed beforehand in the Role Play of the game. Trust me, it just might save you a precious Regent Standard Action.
For the typo, ignore the “all.” The sentence should read “For this action to take effect, both Regents allying must declare it.”
That said, it is fully rules legal for more than 2 Nations to enter into a larger Alliance. It does require separate actions for each Nation you are allying with.
Page 38, Muster Troops; As a single Standard Action, a Regent is able to Muster a single Unit in each Garrison that they own (assuming they have enough resources to afford said Units).
Page 38, Sever Ties; I already discussed the ambiguity above. The action itself, however, shouldn’t exactly fall under Regent Actions. It is just a biproduct of a Military Action of destroying a Road. But I digress...
pg 38 (updated); As was pointed out for me, sever ties has an RP implication. Should you find that your nation has part of it that has become separate due to the flow of the game (but most likely war), and it no longer stands as feasible to keep it part of the whole, sever ties is the regent action to make that call. The way I had originally interpreted it was from the combat aspect of destroying roads and fortifications that split a nation in two.
Page 39, Trade; As with an Alliance, discussion in Role Play before attempting trade is a good idea. The Road (assuming a Road) that allows for the Trade Route can be constructed however the Nations find agreeable. It can be an old existing Road from a lost Nation, or can be constructed as part of the Trade Agreement. Additionally, any act of aggression by either Nation involved in a Trade Agreement ends the trading until such a time that both Nations are able to reach Peace again. To extrapolate, you are not able to establish Trade with a Nation you are currently at conflict or war with.
Also, Table 3.16: Trade Benefit, and the alternate Trade rules that it describes are in effect. You are on the Left, and what is being provided for you by your Trade partner is from the Top.
Insert, Attract Hero; This is a Regent Full Season Action. It is the action taken in order to gain an additional higher tier unit, similar to what your Regent represents. Upon finishing the action, a single individual, built by you, and of appropriate Race, Class, and of Level 3, joins your Nation. This unit can be used as a commander in the battlefield as well, and as such can be Seconded to a Unit or Formation. It costs 500 RP, and it costs 125 RP per season as a Unit Upkeep.
Page 39, Realm Actions; We will absolutely be using Table 3.17: Optional Realm Actions. This means that if you control enough Population Centers, your Realm has enough population to perform additional Realm Actions each Season.
Page 39, Bank Surplus: It is important to note that as a Nomadic or Barbaric Nation, the Realm can not Bank Surplus. The Regent, however, is able to Bank theirs.
Page 40, Build Thorpe; As it turns out, this can be done as either a Regent’s Standard Action, or a Realm’s Full Season Action. Totally your call.
Insert, Breaching; This is a Realm Standard Action. It is the action taken in order to create a pathway (though not a road, that needs built separately) from the above ground to the under ground, and/or vice versa. The action also requires a Combat Engineer to be in the same tile you wish to perform the Breach. It costs 500 RP, and it is possible that it does not produce the intended results.
Page 47, Units; I’ve already typed 4 pages. I’m tired of typing right now. I hope you can figure out Unit building on your own, but if you can’t, feel free to ask and I will help you individually. Once you have your first few made, it gets a lot easier.
However, we do have some rules about how big and beefy standard units can be. Irregular Units are composed of Level 1 Commoners (DMG page 109) of appropriate Race. They use the standard monster array (all 10s in ability scores). Regular Units, having some actual military training and not just being farmers that were handed sharp objects, can be either Level 1 or 2 Warriors (also DMG page 109) and use the nonelite array (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8). Elite Units can be Level 1, 2, or 3 Warriors or Adepts and use the elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). Heroes also use the elite array, however they spawn at level 5 and are not restricted to the NPC classes presented in the DMG.
These rules are in place to prevent dumping literally all resources into a single unit. Sorry Burt, no Elite Savage Ninja Tanks.
pg 53; The box describing leveled individuals being trained as a unit doesn't explicitly say that it is a variant rule, but it definitely is. Do not take it into factor when creating units. Not the lower stats, and not the higher costs.
Page 73, Secunding; Secunding is the term used for placing a commanding individual in charge of a Unit or Formation, for specific benefits. Because of the limitations of each Nation, this boils down to you either Secund yourself, or a Hero, should you have one available. Keep in mind, it is entirely possible for you to lose said self or Hero due to the Unit dying. This will impose obvious problems, if the former.
Page 74, Individual Actions; For the most part, only Heroes, Regents, and other particular Elite Units that you might find throughout your play will be capable of taking individual actions.
Page 86, Quick Combat; Forget quick combat. Combat isn’t quick. It is gritty and swingy, just like dice.
Page 110, Campaign Integration; This is the campaign. Nothing to build into and integrate.
Page 150, Monsters; Not every single monster that has ever been in print is in this book. If it comes up, and it is appropriate for the situation to be Mustered, and it isn’t listed here, we will figure it out together. Yes, that fully means that theoretically an Ancient Cobalt Dragon could appear as part as an army.
A settler unit: As with most units, it has 2 wound points, but that is where normal stops. They have, regardless of race, 20 MovePoints, 0 MAB, 0 RAB, 0 on both powers. They are entirely useless for combat, is what I am getting at. It is best to quickly find where you want to found your opening city, and use their special action to create a population center. You have 2 weeks worth of time, so effectively you can move your settler up to 40 MovePoints before incomes and upkeeps start.
You are being provided with a unit that is 10s in all ability scores (but appropriately modified by your racial modifiers, so calculate attack bonuses and toughness appropriately). It is a warrior (d8 hit dice) with 1 HD, regular medium infantry training, armed with light armor, light melee weapon, no shield, and of course, the scout subtype. Let me know if I am leaving anything out that would be important or pertaining specifically to your race and culture!
A note on units: don't forget they have feats that directly translate over! Weapon focus will fetch +1 to MAB or RAB. This is also true for many other feats, so feel free to experiment with and ask about various effects.
Ruling: unless it has been called out already, no variants are in play. This includes the ones for low charisma and morale bonus races
Reminder: there is, in general, a limit on population centers, world wide. It is imposed not by taxes, but by ruling and world size. No pop center can be within 3 tiles of another. If you should attempt to found one on a tile you are governing (see annex land action), i will inform you of the proximity limit and prevent the action (without charging you the action, of course).
A clarification: For an intended tile to increase the production of a population center, it must be part of your nation (aka, annexed). Clearing it of wild mobs isn't sufficient, it should also be part of your nation.
(Insert here things I can only do from my computer and not mobile)
Preface: Before we go digging into the book at all, we have to discuss what each Nation starts with. The Nation will be given a single bare bones Regular Melee Unit (appropriate to your Race), a “Settler,” which is effectively a self contained “Village in a Can” that you can place during your first 2 turns, a zoomed in version of the game map that you can quickly explore before placing your Village, and 1000 RP for your Realm Banked (even if your Nation can not normally Bank resources).
You also have a Regent, a level 3 individual (Not a Unit) that is effectively your persona in game. For the vast majority, they will sit in your Capital (your first Population Center) and make political and governing decisions. Also, each Regent (and Hero, discussed below) have the Command Skill as a permanent Class Skill. As events continue to shape the map, your Regent can gain experience, and eventually join the battlefield as a unique solo Unit.
From there, you are 100% in control of your Nation. I will gladly answer questions as needed, but your Nation is your own to do with as you see fit.
If you are playing Nomad, you will start with a medium camp, not large. Mild balancing issue. It is still garrisoned.
Interest: the set rate is 4%. This number will not budge. Flaunt, use, and abuse it as you see fit.
Sources: we are using 3.5. Too much is unupdated from 3e, and I have no interest in backporting PF stuff. If it wasn't updated, it isn't in use.
Templates: appropriate templates can be applied, well, appropriately. There maybe be restrictions on these that you don't immediately see, based on what the templates are. It may be a stronger menagerie. It may be a guild you lack.
Religion: There is both absolutely and absolutely not gods present. You feel free to decipher that as you see fit.
Beginning play: Someone pointed out that somewhere in the book (though I haven't a clue where) lets Regents put down a thorpe if they have no population centers. This is not in play, at all.
Noble Nomads/Barbarians: Just because you recruit units at a reduced rate doesn't mean that declaring war gives you free indefinite units. You still get irregulars, and they still disappear at the end of appropriate seasons.
Nomads: Nomads do not get anything beyond camps and druid circles. This might impose issues when trying to muster specific units. There are ways to work around this, all you have to do is discover it. As it looks, that means they can't build garrisons. "So how do they muster units?" I'm ruling that camps, regardless of size, are treated as garrisoned for the purposes of mustering units.
XP: Regents definitely gain experience and are capable of leveling, same as any hero units you may have. I have not laid out hard and fast rulings as to how this is done for my own reasons.
Civilized players: The Civilized debuff is "building and upgrading anything smaller than a large town is doubled." This includes the initial cost of building a thorpe, it is increased to 1500RP. As stated before, it can be done as a standard regent, or a realm full season. Entirely your call on what you have available and are willing to spend.
Combat: Overkill rules are in effect. Enjoy your bloody combat!
The following is a link to a spreadsheet that covers playable no LA, no RHD, ECL 1 races, and how they interact with the individual tiles.
At the bottom of the resource sheet, you will see a row called Water Needs. This notates which resources the race can exploit WITHOUT a source of water. Yes, that means because of the vastly morphic nature of changelings, they can exploit everything, everywhere, ever. If you are attempting to pull resources and do not have access to water (ocean, river, lake, etc), you can not build assets on that tile. PROBABLY IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN CHOOSING WHICH HEX TO BUILD ON!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gJBta0cbvIzTXdJwkzH49gOMc6LnQFX7xGXAQU33IRY/edit#gid=0
Fields of Blood rule write up/errata
Page 9, Resource Points; The book establishes that 100 GP (Gold Pieces) translates into 1 RP (Resource Point). For the sake of Regents being able to spend their personal income from Taxes on weapons and items, we will be playing with a 10 GP : 1 RP ratio.
Page 13, Terrain; the amount of terrain tiles have been increased to 16. They are: Atoll, Coast, Desert, Forest, Grassland, Hill, Jungle, Lake, Marsh, Mountain, Oasis, Ocean, Plains, Snow, Tundra, and Underground.
Page 14, Wild Provinces; in order for a tile to return to wild, it must both be left ungoverned for 5 years, but also be exposed to another ungoverned and wild tile. By doing so, wild units from said wild tile will move into the newly re-wild tile. Both will then gradually return to their original population, each at a rate of ~500RP worth of units per season.
Page 15, Sovereign Regions; as with Sid Meier’s Civilization, a Population Center can only be built if the tile in question is at least 4 tiles away from any other Population Center. That is to say, there must be 3 unpopulated tiles between your new Sovereign Region and any other, be they yours or owned by someone else.
This may seem to impose an issue, being that lands within your Nation could potentially become wild while under your governing, while also not producing any RP. To that end, any tile that is adjacent to a Population Center that is of the same terrain as your Population Center has chosen to extract from the land (See Terrain), and the tile has been cleared of any wild mobs that are making it a Wild Region, increases that Population Center’s RP generation by 5% per season. For any tile that can not match the Population Center, it increases production by 2%. Further, Regions 2 tiles away will increase production by 3% and 1%, respectively.
In the event that a tile is 2 tiles away from 2 separate Population Centers, and said tile and Population Centers are all owned by the same Nation, that tile must be declared as contributing to one Population Center or the other. It does not increase production for both. Once chosen, this selection can be changed later as a Regent’s Free Action at the beginning of any season, before resources are collected and upkeeps are paid.
For further information on claiming tiles as part of your Nation, see Annex Land under Regent Actions, Page 35.
Page 15, Colonies Regions; this page, page 38 (Sever Ties), and page 40 (Build Road) leave the maximum population center available to a colony, as well as what happens to a sovereign city when it becomes severed and reduced to a colony, ambiguous. Thusly, a colony is allowed to build up to a Large Town. If for some reason a sovereign region is severed from its owner’s capital, and said region had a population center larger than a Large Town, its production modifier is reduced to 2.5 until it can be reconnected.
Page 16, Realm Improvements; Certain actions, units, and other realm improvements are now locked behind certain other realm improvements. Any such changes will specifically be called out in the following errata.
Page 19, Assets; the following are expansions on the currently existing assets, as well as new assets that can be used to improve other tiles.
Mines can now also be used in Deserts. The Glass Forge replaces the Smelter for Deserts. To construct the Glass Forge, a Nation must have at least a Level 1 Wizard’s Tower. However, having a Glass Forge not only increases production of the tile by 50%, but also increases your racial exploitation of that Desert by 1.
Logging Camps can now also be used in Jungles. The Ancient Civilization replaces the Sawmill for Jungles. The Ancient Civilization costs as much as other 50% improvement assets, but instead allow for various dinosaurs to be Mustered from a Garrisoned Population Center that has an appropriate Menagerie (CR cost included).
Crop Rotation can now also be used in Grasslands. The Plantation replaces Irrigation for Grasslands. To construct a Plantation, a Nation must have at least a Level 1 Wizard’s Tower or Druid Circle. However, having a Plantation not only increases production of the tile by 50%, but also reduces the upkeep of a single Menagerie by one half (1/2), selected at the time of construction. (For simplified math, the Menagerie now costs 1/8 of the base cost each season for upkeep.)
Fish Markets and Fishing Fleets can now also be used in Coasts, Lakes, and Oceans, as well as tiles adjacent to each. They do not operate any differently for each of these tiles.
Atolls can now have Coral Farms. They operate as the standard 25% upgrade assets. The Sea Corral operates as the standard 50% upgrade assets, however it also allows for the mustering of aquatic animal and magical beast units. In addition, it allows for the mustering of aquatic mounts for use with cavalry units.
Marshes can now have Bog Sifts. To Construct a Bog Sifts, a Nation must have at least a Level 1 Druid Circle or Church. They operate as the standard 25% upgrade assets, except they provide an additional 5% without increasing the cost of construction (effectively a 30% increase). The Polder operates as the standard 50% upgrade asset. To construct a Polder, a Nation must have a Level 1 Druid Circle or a Level 2 Church. In addition, having a Polder decreases the cost of your next Druid Circle construction or upgrade by one half (1/2).
Underground tiles can now have Fungal Farms (25%) and Slave Colonies (50%) as assets. However, a Nation must be of an Evil Alignment in order to construct a Slave Colony, and Slave Colonies increase production by an additional 10%, without increasing the cost of construction (effectively a 60% increase).
Further, Underground tiles will feature the same type of terrains that are available on the surface (Forest, Desert, etc). As with any other tile that features multiple resource types, you are to choose which type you are exploiting for purposes of RP generation.
Page 20, Trade Fair; In order to construct a Trade Fair, a Nation must have met at least 2 other Civilizations; be they player or City State does not matter.
Page 28, Turn Sequence; In addition to the standard turn sequence, each civilization will be given the equivalent of 2 weeks’ worth of exploration upon spawn. After this, the first season (being Spring) will immediately start. As a result of this, during such exploration, no resource income can be collected, but equally units will not have any upkeep.
Page 32, Resources, Taxes, and Upkeep; The rules are good, as printed. The following will be presented as a simplification of the mathematics, in hopes that it can speed things up and reduce the amount of times I need to step in and help.
Step 1, Calculate all income in your Nation. This is the summation of all population centers, as well as any other sources of income you may have due to trade routes or deals made with other Nations. This is your GTP (Grosse Total Production).
Step 2, Determine all of your seasonal costs, your National Upkeep. This includes upkeep for Population Centers, Military and Civilian Units, and any Assets that may have an upkeep such as a Menagerie or Guild Halls.
Step 3, Count your Provinces that have Population Centers, and consult Table 3.9: Governing Style Upkeep, located on page 34. Determine what the upkeep for your Nation is, or GSU.
Step 4, Determine your taxes. You are welcome to roll your taxes, or declare what values you would like for your low, moderate, and high taxes. Low commonly has 20-29% taxes, and 30-39% and 40-49% for moderate and high taxes, respectively.
Step 5, Determine your Nations Surplus. This is determined as GTP – Taxes – National Upkeep, or Step 1, minus Step 2 and Step 4. This gives the sum of RP (Resource Points) that your Nation has to use on Realm Actions in the coming season.
Step 6, Pay your Governing Style Upkeep. This is subtracted directly from the Taxes you collect, so Taxes – GSU, or Step 4 minus Step 3. This leaves your Regent with their personal surplus, which they can use to spend on Regent Actions in the coming season.
After this, you are free to use your remaining pools of RP to complete your seasonal actions.
Page 35, Annex Land; It costs 0 RP to claim a piece of land that is surrounding your Nation. It only costs the single Standard Action.
Further, you are welcome to spend a Standard Action to claim a tile, and choose to build a Population Center on it later. This does cost a second Standard Action, in leu of the single action it would take to claim the tile and build on it at the same time.
Page 37, Forge Alliance; It is in the benefit of all Nations involved that Alliances are discussed beforehand in the Role Play of the game. Trust me, it just might save you a precious Regent Standard Action.
For the typo, ignore the “all.” The sentence should read “For this action to take effect, both Regents allying must declare it.”
That said, it is fully rules legal for more than 2 Nations to enter into a larger Alliance. It does require separate actions for each Nation you are allying with.
Page 38, Muster Troops; As a single Standard Action, a Regent is able to Muster a single Unit in each Garrison that they own (assuming they have enough resources to afford said Units).
Page 38, Sever Ties; I already discussed the ambiguity above. The action itself, however, shouldn’t exactly fall under Regent Actions. It is just a biproduct of a Military Action of destroying a Road. But I digress...
pg 38 (updated); As was pointed out for me, sever ties has an RP implication. Should you find that your nation has part of it that has become separate due to the flow of the game (but most likely war), and it no longer stands as feasible to keep it part of the whole, sever ties is the regent action to make that call. The way I had originally interpreted it was from the combat aspect of destroying roads and fortifications that split a nation in two.
Page 39, Trade; As with an Alliance, discussion in Role Play before attempting trade is a good idea. The Road (assuming a Road) that allows for the Trade Route can be constructed however the Nations find agreeable. It can be an old existing Road from a lost Nation, or can be constructed as part of the Trade Agreement. Additionally, any act of aggression by either Nation involved in a Trade Agreement ends the trading until such a time that both Nations are able to reach Peace again. To extrapolate, you are not able to establish Trade with a Nation you are currently at conflict or war with.
Also, Table 3.16: Trade Benefit, and the alternate Trade rules that it describes are in effect. You are on the Left, and what is being provided for you by your Trade partner is from the Top.
Insert, Attract Hero; This is a Regent Full Season Action. It is the action taken in order to gain an additional higher tier unit, similar to what your Regent represents. Upon finishing the action, a single individual, built by you, and of appropriate Race, Class, and of Level 3, joins your Nation. This unit can be used as a commander in the battlefield as well, and as such can be Seconded to a Unit or Formation. It costs 500 RP, and it costs 125 RP per season as a Unit Upkeep.
Page 39, Realm Actions; We will absolutely be using Table 3.17: Optional Realm Actions. This means that if you control enough Population Centers, your Realm has enough population to perform additional Realm Actions each Season.
Page 39, Bank Surplus: It is important to note that as a Nomadic or Barbaric Nation, the Realm can not Bank Surplus. The Regent, however, is able to Bank theirs.
Page 40, Build Thorpe; As it turns out, this can be done as either a Regent’s Standard Action, or a Realm’s Full Season Action. Totally your call.
Insert, Breaching; This is a Realm Standard Action. It is the action taken in order to create a pathway (though not a road, that needs built separately) from the above ground to the under ground, and/or vice versa. The action also requires a Combat Engineer to be in the same tile you wish to perform the Breach. It costs 500 RP, and it is possible that it does not produce the intended results.
Page 47, Units; I’ve already typed 4 pages. I’m tired of typing right now. I hope you can figure out Unit building on your own, but if you can’t, feel free to ask and I will help you individually. Once you have your first few made, it gets a lot easier.
However, we do have some rules about how big and beefy standard units can be. Irregular Units are composed of Level 1 Commoners (DMG page 109) of appropriate Race. They use the standard monster array (all 10s in ability scores). Regular Units, having some actual military training and not just being farmers that were handed sharp objects, can be either Level 1 or 2 Warriors (also DMG page 109) and use the nonelite array (13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8). Elite Units can be Level 1, 2, or 3 Warriors or Adepts and use the elite array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8). Heroes also use the elite array, however they spawn at level 5 and are not restricted to the NPC classes presented in the DMG.
These rules are in place to prevent dumping literally all resources into a single unit. Sorry Burt, no Elite Savage Ninja Tanks.
pg 53; The box describing leveled individuals being trained as a unit doesn't explicitly say that it is a variant rule, but it definitely is. Do not take it into factor when creating units. Not the lower stats, and not the higher costs.
Page 73, Secunding; Secunding is the term used for placing a commanding individual in charge of a Unit or Formation, for specific benefits. Because of the limitations of each Nation, this boils down to you either Secund yourself, or a Hero, should you have one available. Keep in mind, it is entirely possible for you to lose said self or Hero due to the Unit dying. This will impose obvious problems, if the former.
Page 74, Individual Actions; For the most part, only Heroes, Regents, and other particular Elite Units that you might find throughout your play will be capable of taking individual actions.
Page 86, Quick Combat; Forget quick combat. Combat isn’t quick. It is gritty and swingy, just like dice.
Page 110, Campaign Integration; This is the campaign. Nothing to build into and integrate.
Page 150, Monsters; Not every single monster that has ever been in print is in this book. If it comes up, and it is appropriate for the situation to be Mustered, and it isn’t listed here, we will figure it out together. Yes, that fully means that theoretically an Ancient Cobalt Dragon could appear as part as an army.
A settler unit: As with most units, it has 2 wound points, but that is where normal stops. They have, regardless of race, 20 MovePoints, 0 MAB, 0 RAB, 0 on both powers. They are entirely useless for combat, is what I am getting at. It is best to quickly find where you want to found your opening city, and use their special action to create a population center. You have 2 weeks worth of time, so effectively you can move your settler up to 40 MovePoints before incomes and upkeeps start.
You are being provided with a unit that is 10s in all ability scores (but appropriately modified by your racial modifiers, so calculate attack bonuses and toughness appropriately). It is a warrior (d8 hit dice) with 1 HD, regular medium infantry training, armed with light armor, light melee weapon, no shield, and of course, the scout subtype. Let me know if I am leaving anything out that would be important or pertaining specifically to your race and culture!
A note on units: don't forget they have feats that directly translate over! Weapon focus will fetch +1 to MAB or RAB. This is also true for many other feats, so feel free to experiment with and ask about various effects.
Ruling: unless it has been called out already, no variants are in play. This includes the ones for low charisma and morale bonus races
Reminder: there is, in general, a limit on population centers, world wide. It is imposed not by taxes, but by ruling and world size. No pop center can be within 3 tiles of another. If you should attempt to found one on a tile you are governing (see annex land action), i will inform you of the proximity limit and prevent the action (without charging you the action, of course).
A clarification: For an intended tile to increase the production of a population center, it must be part of your nation (aka, annexed). Clearing it of wild mobs isn't sufficient, it should also be part of your nation.