From: farrell@cherry.cis.ohio-state.edu (christopher k farrell)
Subject: Re: Republic of Rome: Vatinian Law, etc.
Organization: The Ohio State University, Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 16:07:20 GMT

In article <johnson.712253184@melon26> johnson@rtsg.mot.com (Brad Johnson) writes:
>farrell@cis.ohio-state.edu (christopher k farrell) writes:
>>	We also have a couple of "house rules" we play with, and I though I
>>might subject them to your scrutiny:  firstly, we don't give the temporary
>>consul +5 influence for doing nothing; he's going to get the censorship for
>>free anyway.  All it does is paint a target on his head.  Second, senators
>>loose popularity for doing badly in a war: 1 pop/2 legions lost in a disaster,
>>1 pop/3 legions lost otherwise (FRU in both cases, except in victory, where
>>FRD).  It only seems fair.  Lastly, victorious senators may keep some of the
>>spoils of war: none in the Early Republic, one dr/every 10T in the spoils of 
>>war (FRD) in the Middle Republic, and one DR/every 10T in the spoils of war 
>>(FRD) for the Late Republic.  What do you think?
>
>I like these rules, in general.  I'll comment one at a time...
>
>1) We use a house rule that requires a random draw for the first 
>temporary consul, which usually takes the immediate target off of
>Cornelius, who almost always seemed to end up with >=20 influence
>in the first couple of turns 
>(5[base] + 5[consul] + 5[censor] + ???[a lot from Punic War(s)])
>plus buckets of popularity.  Your rule may be even better than ours.

	Either would work fine.  Yours would be better for the Early Republic
where Cornelieus does have an extremely unfair advantage (or hideous 
disadvantage, depending on how you play); although if P.C. Scipio is out
from the start, it is a real drag not being able to elect him to the 
consulship on turn one because of that "no repeats" thing.  In that sense
yours is probably the better rule.  However, I would probably combine the
two; randomly determined temporary Rome Consul AND no influence gain.

>
>2) The popularity loss is a very good rule, reflecting reality nicely
>(at least as far as I can tell after having read _I, Claudius_).
>However, I must confess my momentary lapse.  What does FRD and FRU stand for?
>Also, what about Master of Horse, if present?

	Fractions rounded up or down.  Master of Horse would suffer no ill
effects, since he gains none of the advantages.  He was just following orders.

	BTW, it sounds like you've been playing too much Early Republic.  May
I recommend that the Middle and Late Republics are much better games.  At
least, a lot more fun (especially the Late Republic.  Lots of blood and guts).

>
>3) Keeping spoils also seems very interesting.  However, I would suggest
>one addition:  If any spoils are kept, the victorious general is open
>for [minor?] prosecution the turn following his return to Rome.  If I'm
>correct, a rebel general can keep all of the spoils from the war he has 
>just beaten.  Do you still keep that rule as is?

	Sorry, I meant to include that!  Keeping part of the spoils would make
him eligible for a minor prosecution.  A rebel could still keep all of the 
spoils.  The Field Consul is already subject to onw minor prosecution just for
being consul, so this isn't really a big deal.

	I don't have the rulebook handy now, but a quick question on that;
does a decision to keep the spoils come before or after legion bribery?  So,
does a commander have to decide to keep the spoils before or after he's seen
how many legions will follow him?  Since the spoils are added during the combat
phase, but the legion's loyalty isn't tested until the revolution phase, a
commander might have to declare rebellion before he tests legion loyalty if he
wants to keep the spoils.  Just a minor confusing point.

>
>Brad Johnson (johnson@ebony.rtsg.mot.com)

							Chris
-- 
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