Turn 20

896 - 900 a.d.

Greetings and salutations!

FEES & LEVIES:

BASE COST + PER BL POINT

$ 2 + $ 1

For example, if you have a BL of 3, it will cost you $5 a turn. The maximum cost is $5 a turn. Turns are bi-monthly.

NEWS

Longtime players in this game will probably remember a time wherein I had to adjust the trade factors -- that time may be coming upon us again soon, as I have been coming up with some very unsatifactory numbers, such as a few civilized nations who receive much more that 50% of their income from trade. Be aware that these changes will take place, but probably not until turn 21. Enjoy it while you can!

Many of you are aware that in some campaigns, technology can have a backsliding effect. Up to this point in time for this campaign, the backslide has been OFF. Starting with turn 21, it will be ON. What this means to you, is you probably will want to start investing HEAVILY into your University, or you may soon find yourself losing Tech Levels. There are a few of you who have been making a goodly amount of investments on a regular basis, but generally if you have less than a couple of hundred gold invested, then you’ll want to start investing more real soon.

Players, please be sure that if you send in an updated copy of your turn, that you somehow mark it as such. I recently had a player send in at least 2 (maybe 3) turns -- and then I processed the wrong one! Anytime you send a GM multiple turns, you are

asking for trouble. The player was eliminated this turn (well almost), so please be careful. And while I must shoulder part of the blame for that, I cannot (and will not) give a player much in compensation when this occurs, at least not in game terms (it would be game unbalancing).

On a related note, I must ask you all to be very specific, when giving the GM special orders. I had a player have some unfavorable results -- Leaders reacted and plunged a couple of nations into war this turn -- primarily because of orders written poorly.

I am still in the need for more players, so if any of you have a friend or two you want to get in, now’s the time. A few good nations (about 6) and there are a few (maybe 3) positions available right now that would normally be NPNs, but I will allow a player to play it at no cost. One less headache for me to deal with. Our player in Italia is running one of those. Generally, it’s any position with only 4 or less regions, and little or no hope of growing any larger.

CLARIFICATIONS

The Upgrade Troops (UT) rule is not available in this campaign. You cannot have elite units anywhere, except: the Palace Guard. Once these units have been lost, then they cannot be replaced.

The Re-equip Troops (RT) rule is in my game; pay 1 gp per unit to upgrade from light to regular or from regular to heavy.

One last thing, for all you newbies (and some of you longer term players, who are still missing the boat): NFP Total & Total Avail (Gold). These are the totals available for your empire. Do not apply your 10% Census to these figures -- it’s already there.

The next turn is due 28 February, 2002.