Fun rules to make the game better

[Drakken99]

Hi folks, just wanted to post some ideas about how to make ETW more involving, saw a post from ages ago about "House rules" that got me thinking.

Basically this setup establishes a main character: the Primarch (but name is irrelevant just means "first or most important", also nothing to do with WH40k!)as a leader to role play.

Rules are as follows:

1. The Primarch is the national leader (military dictator) any monarch or president is their puppet along with all ministers in government. The Primarch can travel to any theatre.
2. There is only one Primarch, if the Primarch is supplanted for any reason, the old Primarch is “retired” (disbanded).
3. Only the Primarch can be player controlled on the battle map, but they can auto-resolve battles if desired. The battle cannot be quit, but withdrawals are permitted. If the Primarch is a reinforcing army, the battle can be player controlled but as soon as the Primarch takes to the field he must not leave it. The crushing defeat and Primarch routing penalties described below still apply.
4. All armies consisting of at least 5 units must have a general, if one cannot be appointed due to lack of money, that army must march to and garrison the nearest city until a general can be appointed. Standard garrisons cannot have generals.
5. If the Primarch dies then a new one is selected from the top three “ranking generals”, based on
on the one nearest to the capital within their home theatre (Baluchistan counts as India). Generals embarked upon ships cannot participate unless there are less than three other eligible candidates and must return to the nearest port or accessible enemy port, from there they can compete in any contests or races.
6. Ranking generals are selected from generals leading field armies based on the general’s rank level. All generals “want” to be Primarch, any contests they are eligible for, they must compete in. Any unsuccessful ranking generals, that have an equal or higher rank than the new Primarch are “purged” (retired) and new generals appointed.
7. If ranking generals are of equal rank then selection to become a ranking general is based upon populist attributes.
8. If potential ranking generals have equal or no populist attributes (eg “darling of the gutter press” or “popular hero” etc) then based on whoever can get to the capital first (race to the capital: eligible generals selected from ranking generals as usual), using Auto-move as long as no general is under 50% of the number of troops (not units) under their command of any other individual ranking general, if they are under 50% of force numbers then they are replaced by an alternative ranking general based on rules 5, 6 and 7. concessions for enemy actions are given. Naval transport can be used, any admirals that assist a losing candidate are retired.
9. If a Primarch develops any attribute worse than “rumours of cowardice”, “drunk” (within those categories) or any form of insanity or suffers a crushing defeat then a race to capital ensues amongst the next three ranking generals. If this happen, once the race is completed, the old Primarch is retired. The Primarch cannot participate in this race.
10. If a Primarch dies, his successor (from highest ranked unit) is eligible to be a ranking General, provided they meet the criteria listed in rules 5, 6 and 7.
11. If a fallen Primarch’s army is attacked before a successor General is appointed (therefore within the same enemy turn) then the army can fight and if a heroic victory is attained then the victorious general is automatically a ranking general.
12. No reloads for any non CPU issues, whatsoever.
13. The Primarch must lead a field army (five units plus the general himself) , he can switch between armies but must always end the turn leading at least five units. If, through battle losses, the Primarch ends up with less than five units under his command he must moved into a settlement and remain there until he has at least five units under his command. If this cannot be achieved in less than two turns, the Primarch is retire and a new Primarch selected as per rules 5,6 and 7.
14. If another general shares a surname with the Primarch (family ties to old leader) then upon a contest they automatically become a ranking general provided they are in the European theatre. This general supplants the weakest ranking general based on rules 5, 6 and 7.
15. If the nation is bankrupt for 5 consecutive turns then a race to the capital ensues. The new Primarch faces retirement within 5 turns if the bankruptcy is not resolved.
16. If the Primarch routs in two different battles (since they become Primarch and over any length of time) then they are retired and a race to the capital is initiated.
17. If the capital falls, and general of equal or higher rank is nearer to the new capital, then they supplant the Primarch with no contest, if they are equal in rank then a race to the capital is initiated.
18. If a general wins a heroic victory in the capital province (and if the Primarch is outside of the capital province) and they have a higher rank and at least one populist trait they supplant the old Primarch as soon as the victorious general can enter the capital within the same turn, or the next turn if the victory was when defending against an AI attack.

It looks a little complicated, but it's quite simple. Makes for really involving game play through as you can be storming through the enemy armies, then one dude gets his head blown off by a cannonball and all of a sudden you can lose all momentum and this makes massively more difficult to win! Basically it makes your armies sudden act irrationally (from a military pov) in order to secure regime change.

I play using darthmod BTW (not that any of these rules are anything to do with Darthmod, and never fight sea battles (they just bore me unfortunately).

Anyway sorry for the long post, let me know what you think/any suggestions,always good to get feedback to enjoy the game more.

Drakken99.

[La♔De♔Da♔Brigadier Graham]

Hello great first post sir, I like some of your ideas,ever thought about becoming a modder? there are plenty of tutorials on how to mod, you could implement your ideas eh? PM and I can point you to the tutorials needed?

[Drakken99]

Thanks, it was just a few ideas I had and then was kinda fun thinking up rules. Empire is a great game, but as most people find it does get very easy, good to shake things up a bit. Always interesting to hear how different people play.
These rules are a good start I'm trying to create some more so that basically how you perform in battles basically cause random events that can really screw up your nation/armies to add more challenges to overcome.
I've dabbled in beginners modding on medieval, but not Empire, when I get a mo I'll send you a pm about those links ��.

[La♔De♔Da♔Brigadier Graham]

Thats all you need is a few ideas to get you going, the fun part is learning, testing and seeing the end product, before you know it, you are offering your mod for other people to enjoy.
And the best thing is our community on twc, your interested in modding medieval? look up a chap called Gigantus, he is an expert and is so helpful.
Stick around sir, there is a lot more to TWC than modding and your always welcome here.👍😊