Lords of the Earth, Campaign X - Rules
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Specific rule changes, options, and clarifications used in Campaign X.
 
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2.16 Merchant Shipping Allocations

• MSP from routes which are Over Capacity will probably be turned into Unused fleets in the port. Unused fleets still carry a troop support cost (for MCs), but are otherwise useless. Re-allocate them to some other fleet in a port with higher capacity, with the IMA action. Or use Conversion to Wartime Duty.
• Half of all Unused fleets will disappear at the end of each turn they began the turn Unused.
2.3 Economic Information

This game has a few Economic limiters in place that you may not be aware of. This is just FYI, so you won't be surprised.
• MaxTrade=2 Maximum InterNation Trade [See 2.3.9] (MCs are immune)
• MaxTax=1.5 A general Tax limit of 1.5. This means that the most that can be taken from a region is 150%. This is divided among most players who have some tax status in that region or city (SEs are immune). It effects Regional income as well as City and Public Works income. So, while a nation may have a tax status multiple of 2.0 for their homeland, the most that they will see from that is 1.5 times the GPV or PWB.
• There is a Trade Exponent in place. This introduces a Law of Limited Returns where higher trade values return incrementally less income than lower trade values. Using an exponent here attempts to reign in on the multiplicative nature of trade. A simplified example would be for two players with low trade values trading - 4 x 4 = 16. But higher trade values would return less, (but still more) income - 16 x 16 = 200.
• See 2.4.6.1 Voluntary Reduced Tax Rate
• See 5.3 No dumping gold and maximum investments
• See 10.1.6 The Imperial Treasury
• See 10.4.1 Transferring Gold

2.4.6 The Tax Rate
Lords X is currently using 3 years per turn. As soon as someone achieves TL 12, we will use 2 year turns.
2.4.6.1 Voluntary Reduced Tax Rate

Nations may voluntarily reduce their tax rate. For every 10% (modified by years/turn, for Lords X its 6%):
• An automatic successful Crush Revolt for a region or city.
• 10 years added to the YfC value for the region of your choice.
• If your nation is recovering from depression (tax rate less than 90%) you will see taxes naturally return at a rate of +10% per turn. Every increment of 10% voluntarily reduced tax will speed up the natural increase by an additional 10% as well as providing the other benefits. Take less income this turn in order to make more next.
2.14.6 Control Level

Nations are only allowed to have One (1) type of control status in a region or city. Open Nation status will supercede and destroy any other status (if the Non Open Nation has one).
3.7 Military Strength Index
The ISI table shows the rankings, but not the actual MSI values. The rankings are divided by the mean of all MSI's and the standard deviations (given at the bottom of the ISI list in the back of each fax). Note that your own actual MSI is listed on your stat sheet (see 2.2.8).
4.4.2.1 Rivers - Navigation
Navigable rivers are either river deltas or clear rivers (no dashes on the river). Sections of the rivers, dividing them into separate "river zones" for movement up/down river, are shown with a line on the river - and seeing the differences in the names of the river, such as Upper Ganges and Lower Ganges.
4.4.2.2 Rivers - Dashed
Un-navigable rivers are located at the upper portions of the river and are located on the map to denote the movement penalty and the need for bridging if Roads are built across the border. Some of these rivers may be dredged to MAKE them navigable. See Canals for cost.
4.4.2.3 Rivers - Deltas
River Deltas are denoted at the mouths of larger rivers to indicate the need for +2 on Bridge construction (level 3 for a Royal Road in most cases) and +2 on movement, rather than +1.
4.4.2.4 Rivers - Cataracts
Some rivers have large X's on them. These represent cataracts (rapids or waterfalls) which impede all river traffic completely. They require a Megalithic Construction, usually a dam and canal system, in order to remove this natural obstacle. The cost of that MC varies.
5.2 Trade and Mercantile Activities
• Unless specified, all nations have an implied "Trade with Anyone" policy so that only one nation is required to open a route. So if you don't want to trade, you must list the nations you don't want to trade with.
• If you feel you actually are able to operate MSP on a route that says No MSP, you have the option on any subsequent turn to note which anchors are to be used, as well as changing other aspects of the route. See 5.2.6 Hands-Off Trade.
5.2.1 Trading with Nations Overland
• All the land regions forming the Trade Route must be controlled (at Tributary or better status) by one or the other of the two trade partners (with the exception of the Land along the Silk Route and Land across the Sahara routes...).
5.2.4.3 New Sea Trade Routes
• If your proposed trade route includes a Conduit, you must list the sea zones, arrows, anchors, etc. used for your new route. Failure to do so may mean that the route won't be initiated.
5.3 Expenses - No dumping gold
• Gold/NFP/Agro can only be used to buy legitimate stuff, like bribes, units, cities, and stuff in the rulebook. Not on Leader pensions, donations to the poor, or throwing wild parties and the like.
5.3.2 Investments
• The most you can invest in anything is 9,999.9 GP.
• Investments happen at the beginning of the turn, so you can't conditionally invest in something based on stuff that happens, or doesn't happen, during the turn, like transfers for example.
5.4.13 Hiring Mercenaries
• Mercenaries will not garrison regions or cities.
6.1.7 Regional Cultivation
• Base Level is 2. There are no terrain modifiers for this MC, so cost to cultivate Wilderness, Steppe, or Jungle is 50nfp/100gp/10yrs. If your culture is Barbaric, Nomadic, or Seafaring this is modified by 1.5.
• As soon as all costs have been paid (including the 10-15 years), the region will be changed on the map and stats.
6.1.8 Intense Cultivation
Lists regions eligible for Intensive Agriculture in Medieval Era and beyond. Level 3 MCs are noted with (3). All regions must be converted to Cultivated before upgrading to IC. Here are additional regions:
The Yellow River Plain of China Composed of all those regions adjacent to the Huang Ho and the Grand Canal.
Japan The Island of Kyushu (Saga and Kagoshima) and the regions of Yamamoto and Kwanto - all (3).
Ganges River Valley The regions of Sursuti, Bihar, Maghada, Kamarupa, and Samatata.
Mekong Uplands The region of Khemer and all cultivated regions adjacent to it. Also the regions of Annam and Pegu. All (3)
Indonesia Both Pajajaran and Kediri on Java.
The Middle East The regions of Raqqah, Dulaym, Iraq, Abadan, and Egypt.
The Trans-Oxus The region of Khwarzim(3).
The Volga Basin Rezh, Khazar, Don, Donets.
Africa Songhai, Kanem-Bornu, Ife, Benin, and Kwararafa.
North America Miami, Erie, Illinois, Michigamea, Wenro, Potawatomi, Iowa, all regions except Quapaw around the Missouri River.
North America Gosiute, Paiute, Nydania, Asgard, Salinin, and Aesir. All (3)
Central America Texcoco, Totonac, Oaxaca, Popoluca, Maya, Yucatec, Chiapas, and Tarascan.
South America Ayachucho, Pucara, Guanacane, Uru, Querrandi, Chechete, Chana, and Minuane.
7.1.4 Full Allies
Horde nations might have Allies due to Horde Diplomacy (rumbling through the next steppe region shouting, I'm bigger than you are!). These are considered "bonus" leaders, not really allies.
7.1.9 Mercenary Commander
• Most useful in combat situations. National troops may not be given to a mercenary commander.
• Useful as diplomacy assistants, but won't conduct diplomacy alone.
• Not useful in actions requiring Charisma or Admin and have an assumed loyalty of zero.
7.2.4 Capital Actions
Several actions must be conducted in the national capital, or, if there is no capital, in the Homeland. These are:
ABD, AD, BOR, CC, HC, ILY, IMA, RET, Rule
7.2.4.19 Diplomacy
• DP + ALL does nothing. If you want the bonus, you'll need to calculate how much time you are spending there. It's not that hard.
• Only children or siblings of the ruler are eligible for diplomatic marriages.
7.2.4.22 Espionage
• Be sure to list exactly what the leader is trying to do. If you spend AP on this action, it will only help the leader conduct the Espionage action, it won't be a bonus to the intel action. Also, any gold spent in support of the action will be applied to the success of the Espionage action, not as a bonus to the intel action, unless you specify it as such. Also see Investigate Location notes.
• Alternatively, a leader may act as a bonus point toward an intel action if he is within AR of the operation (and putting it in his orders) and passing this Charisma check - no modifiers. The lucky bastard generates 2 bonus points if his Charisma is rolled exactly. Make a note that this is what you are attempting because this is an unusual order (it'll confuse the GM without the explanation).
• The effects of the Espionage action will only be felt when all of the action points have been used. So, if you're wanting to use a leader for ES (BA) and the attack happens before the leader is done with the action, no bonus.
• See 8.1.1 for gold bonus distribution.
7.2.4.26 Explore
• Its a good idea to send a lot of ships (warships and elite vessels, no transports), have a high Navigation rating, and a high charisma. You might not gain the rutter or navigational map fully, but if your leader survives you'll get some map points toward the goal.
• The success of a leader will be noted, and that leader will have a better chance to explore other routes.
• In addition to Exploring for additional Rutters yourself, you may trade Rutters with other Nations. To trade Rutters with another Empire, you must pen and ink enough Maps to spread throughout a Kingdom. This is done by constructing the 'Waterway Rutter' at a cost of 10 GP and 1 NFP. Once given or sold to another nation, these Waterway Rutters may be disbanded to add the Rutter to the receivers sheet. Rutters may be transferred along a Trade Route or delivered by a leader as if it were 1 NFP cargo. Transferred Rutters are automatically disbanded in the same turn unless noted otherwise by the receiving player.
7.2.4.28 Have Children

• If the King or Heir attempting this action doesn't have a wife, your first HC attempt in the turn will be to marry and attempt to conceive. The results may be that the mother dies, in which case future HC actions in the turn are cancelled.
• Conditionally you may specify continued attempts to conduct the HC action if your wife dies during the turn.
• In the case of an unwed Queen, her new husband would now be considered Prince and will be generated as a leader type, if space allows. If she dies in childbirth, the same DF rolls will apply, except that her husband the "Prince" is the designated heir, but obviously, not by blood.
• Sanity is overrated - go ahead and let your Heir try to have a family, too.

7.2.4.33 Investigate Location
• The IL leader action is analogous to the intel operation Reveal Fact. In this case a leader pokes around for information, the nature of which may include enemy troops, the royal family, local politics/control status, and so on.
• Like the RF operation, you must actually form a question for what you're looking for.
• The IL action may be performed by a leader with units, though of course any secret actions may have a greater chance for discovery if troops are involved. Also, this is not an easy action to accomplish.
• High Charisma is almost mandatory if you want to make it out alive - its a dangerous action.
7.2.4.38 Movement
• Fleets not ending in a controlled port (port area or city) will lose 50% of their ships.
7.2.4.41 Raid
• Please note if you're gathering up all their Agro as well. May as well. Adds an extra AP.
7.2.4.46 Rule
• You cannot Rule and react (or defend) at the same time. A King ruling has a -1 modifier if the region he is in is attacked as he mobilizes his forces.
• HC action can (ought to) be used in conjunction with Rule.
7.3 How To Fill Out Leader Action Order

That Via line in the example is messy. Separate each region you are going to a little better - squishing all your orders into one line is a good way of getting the GM confused. You don't want that to happen. Use the spreadsheet, one line per region.

8.1 Intel targeting leaders
Let me repeat that - put in the Army Number, like P04 or L13 or A21. I don't know your leaders by name, but need the name for other reasons, like the newsfax where numbers are just silly.
8.1.1 Leaders Performing Intel Actions
When using bribes in this situation, be sure to specify what the bribe is targeting - the chance that the leader can attempt the operation, as a bonus to the operation he subsequently performs, or two separate bribes for both.
• Example, please note that all gold used here must be expensed in the builds area of the order form, whether successful or not. BTW, this is a very odd order, but may be the only way.
11:L695 - Lieutenant Zork (24 Action Points)
Saksiny, ES + 17gp [8ap]: SL + 1 + 65GP : Subvert the Khan of the Khazars.
Notes: Apply an Intel Bonus point to this SL operation.
8.2 ACTION RANGE
If you are using an army as your base of operations, please note this on the Op or it will fail automatically.
8.3.4 Counter Intelligence
• Counter Intel is NOT Counter Assassination.
8.3.5 Conceal Fact or Create Fact
YES! Attempt CF's to mislead and create false occurrences. Very cool (GMs love this). Boring CF (with no back story) are lame and often fail (GMs hate them).
8.3.6 Crush Revolt
• For a +2 bonus, target a specific leader number or region name.
8.3.8
8.3.9		 Destroy Assassin/Intel Base
• First destroys any investments before actually damaging stats.
• You must have an infiltration in their Intel service if you expect either of these ops to work.
8.3.20 Reveal Fact - differences from Investigate Location

• Allowing an RF to act as a blanket IL over your entire nation negates the use of IL at all. To keep things in balance, I feel I'd have to add a negative modifier for each additional location you are trying to Reveal. That's an extremely large negative to overcome.
• If you are going to use RF, you need to focus it down to things like:
Where did Kubla draw his supply line to when he raided <Region>?
Where did the Site in <Location> we discovered and attacked draw it's support from?
Is there any Saxonia activity in Zerma this turn?
From where did the Hidden Dragon launch the <Intel Op which affected me>?
• The more focused and regionalized you can make the question, the fewer negative modifiers you will face. These are the sorts of questions you'll want to get clues about stuff. Note, that even if you track something to a specific location with RF - you'll still need the IL action to find the actual physical location. (Though, you can receive a bonus based on the accuracy/completeness of your RF actions.)

8.3.28 Support Diplomacy
This operation targets the ARMY NUMBER, not the DP of a specific region (Do NOT list any region here). Thus, the leader can perform multiple DP actions, gaining support from this one SD operation on all regions attempted, assuming the operation succeeds. Failure and death are possibilities...
9.3.9 Missionaries
The higher your RS the better - otherwise, you're probably reinforcing the religion of the target.
• Please note the presence of nearby Monasteries or Cathedrals for a bonus.
9.6.1 Economic Aspects of the Primacy
• Yes, Primacies can trade.
• Primacies can be effected by famine even if they don't control a region/city with a regular control status. For instance if they have a lot of troops or stored up NFP; these eat, too. Best to store up some agro.
9.6.8.3 Exact Tithe
• Primacies can tithe freely up to the RS of the target Nation - anything over that cuts into their Tax rate. This could be more than 4%.
• The most you can possibly tithe is your Influence over that nation. If the Influence drops below the amount of the tithe, the tithe will go away.
9.6.8.9 Preach
• Similar to Espionage 7.2.4.22, if you spend AP on this action, it will only help the leader conduct the Preach action, it won't be a bonus to the Religious Op you are attempting.
• Also, like 8.1.1, any gold spent in support of the action will be applied to the success of the Preach action, not as a bonus to the Religious Op, unless you specify it as such.
9.6.9.3 Bishops
While Lieutenants are not created, the Bishop (B) leader is not a real "Bishop". Instead it is a leader loyal to your kingdom, freed up by the BL grant. They are not loyal to the Primacy in any way. Once a BL is granted, you may choose which of your leaders either becomes the new Bishop (B) or switches leader positions with him, in case the Primacy withdraws the BL grant.
10.1.6 The Imperial Treasury
The most a nation can safely save at the end of a turn is double Base Revenue (or double 100gp, whichever is greater). This is the limit of your treasury. Any saved over this amount will cut into your tax rate down to 0% at triple Base Revenue. Any saved over triple Base Revenue will lead to depression effects, similar to what happens in a famine.
To calculate this limit in a 3 year/turn campaign, take your Total Base Income and subtract your Trade Income, then multiply the result by 120% (or divide by 5, multiply by 3, and then multiply by 2).
10.2.1.1 Changing the Imperial Size Divisor
• Central Asia is all the contiguous land EAST of the Red Sea, The Gulf of Cyprus, The Aegean Sea, The Black Sea, and The Volga River.
• Controlled means any control status.
10.4.1 Transferring Gold
• Nations automatically reject transfers (or combination of transfers) that would push their treasury above its safe limits. They may conditionally accept these transfers.
• Rejected transfers are returned to their origins, which may be a treasury at its limit...
• Primacies may now transfer money to/from any nation they have a Tithe on.
10.5.1.1 Successor State Regional Allegiance
Capturing the Capital and/or University will transfer government/university points to the controlling faction, port cities capture trade routes and/or MSP based there. Usually there is only one turn for the Factions in the war to conclude it. There is a 20% chance that the war will continue - meaning 80% of the time the faction will be forced to choose one of their friendly regions as a their homeland on the following turn.
10.7.1 Horde Diplomacy and Warfare
• Yes, these two normal options are available, but hordes have a special version of diplomacy available to them. This is called Horde Diplomacy and it is not necessary to indicate that you are attempting it - it happens automatically and takes no extra action points (unless there is a battle).
• When an active horde moves into a Horde Block, Horde Diplomacy takes place - this is not an option. Both hordes total up their population value (not tribe points), add in leader Charisma stats, and add 1d10. The difference will lead to one of 5 results.
• The Active horde will be destroyed; The hordes fight a round of combat; The Active horde is merely allowed to pass; The Inactive horde joins the Active horde providing a leader (Full Ally); or the Inactive horde is absorbed by the Active horde, with no leader.
• Except for the first two cases, the Inactive hordes' regions will become NT to the Active horde, but will probably revolt at the end of the turn due to CCR limitations.
10.8 PRE-COLUMBIAN SOCIETIES
There are no Pre-Columbian Societies in Lords X.
10.8.1 The Cav Count
All areas except Madagascar have completed the Cav Count.
10.13 Guiding Foreign Armies
You must guide an army with a National Leader, not by simply noting permission in your orders.
11.1 Secret Empires
• Don't confuse the terminology of the Secret Empire actions to mean that SEs are always religious in nature. Organized Crime is essentially an SE, as well as terrorist organizations, and the Audubon Society.
11.1.6.5 Investigate Location
See 7.2.4.33
11.1.7 The War of Shadows
If this GM sees OPEN cooperation between an SEs and Open Nations, Primacies, MCs or another SE, that SE will surely be exposed, and probably wind up with a listing in the newsfax, like an Open Nation. Of course, no one would know exactly where the SE is located, just that it exists, or is it some CF/RF intel actions manipulating the newsfax? Hmmmm....
11.1.10 Suggested Reading
Most any good spy novel or gangster movie. And if you've read or seen a good one, let me know about it.
13-7 Religious Interaction Table
Lords X specific RI Table

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3.3.1 Construction: Colonies & Cities
• Note the second paragraph.
• There are no nations with those cultures in Lords X, except for Hordes possibly.
3.6.3 Control of Intrinsic Industrial Capacity
• In the second paragraph, Open status means Tributary or better, since you can't build in anything less.
• Direct control means Friendly status.
4.6 Overreaching
• If you are trying this with Technical Assistance, merely list this fact in the New Projects section of your orders (along with the project's location), but you can't invest GP/NFP yourself. On the next turn you can invest your own GP/NFP to the now existing project, assuming the Technical Assistance arrived at the proposed project site.
7.5.3 Open Branch Office
The cost is 10 gp and 1 nfp.
7.5.4 Found Cartel City
The cost is 25 gp and 3 nfp.