README

This is a web application for managing games of Empire V.

Empire V is a really old school set of wargaming rules for running Napoleonic era
wargames with miniatures.

Its a product of the 70s / 80s ... so there are stacks of charts, lots of maths, 
and huge number of very strict ifs, buts and  procedures in playing the game.

There is even a 2 page flowchart in the rules for working out what happens after 2 
groups of infantry come close to each other, after the defender has fired at the 
attacking troops, after casualties and morale checks, but before the attacking
troops close for the final contact.  2 pages of flowcharts just for that !

Thats just to give an idea of the depth and complexity of the rules.


Now, in the modern tabletop gaming era, there are some excellent new rules out
that are a lot easier to play, and provide fun games at levels from battalion to
Corps. The market is quite healthy.

So why bother with a 30+ year old rule set ?

Well, because at the end of the day, Empire remains very popular with the so called
hard core gamers, because it actually provides a highly realistic experience of
fighting battles in this period, and produces highly plausible results.

So much so, that the community of wargamers who enjoy this period remain quite 
loyal to this venerable masterpeice of a ruleset.

So here we have a modernization of this excellent system, in the form of an 
extremely easy to use computer moderated control system.

Hopefully this will serve the hard core gamers well, and also provide an 
exciting and innovative path to allow the new generation of gamers to enjoy 
the benefits of gaming Napoleonics in the beautiful old school way.

Art meets Science.


----oOo----

To run this, you need to set the system up on a web server, and then setup the data,
and then create user accounts for accessing the game for various players. 

The best way to do this is setup a linux machine with Apache/PHP/MySQL support
(all standard utilities that are part of a general linux install), and then simply
install this application.

That machine then runs the whole virtual world that the battle is fought in. Each
player then communicates with their troops in that battle via a web server.

Remember that ANYTHING with a web browser can access the system, so you could use a
bunch of laptops on a wireless LAN, ipads, smartphones, etc.

Its all standard HTML and javascript - NO Flash, NO activeX .. so that allows for
the use of ipads !!  


----oOo----

What this system does (or will do) :

General Game Setup and Management :
- Provides a web based application for running a set of games.
- The system will load and store a large database of detailed orders of battle
  for various armies.
- Create a large database of scenarios, that use subsets of the orders of battle.
- Spawn any number of games based on these scenarios. The system manages which games
  are in progress, and stores all state information related to each game move permanently.


Player Control :
- Manage multiple user accounts for access to the system with various different roles.
- Administrator can assign players to games in progress, allowing complicated
  setups of sub-commands.
- Manage access to information on the system .. each player is locked down to
  operating within only those units under their command, in the context of a given
  game that is running.
- Each game has at least 1 user setup as the umpire for that game. The umpire
  controls the flow of the game from one phase to the next, one turn to the next.

Running the Game (Player)
- Each player gets a limited view of the battle, and the degrading effects on their
  troops.
- The player uses the system to issue orders, review troop status, and receive
  computer generated dispatches with news from the battlefield.
- As each turn progresses under umpire control, the player is shown information
  on the screen about which actions each unit should perform on the tabletop this
  phase.  The player then does what they need to do on the tabletop, using the
  instructions as a guide.  (or law, depending on how you want to run the game)

  Remember - its still first and foremost a tabletop game !

- With each engagement, the players interact with the computer in a couple of
  ways to perform combat results calculations. Players can tell the computer which
  units are in which engagement. Umpire can override this prior to tactical movement
  round.
- All fiddly morale tests / ME determination / elan test / etc etc .. is handled
  automatically by the computer, with results sent to the player as dispatch
  messages.
- Information presented to the players on the actual state of each unit are
  deliberately vague. They are informed of situations where a whole base of troops
  needs to be removed, but detailed figure level or troop casualties are always
  unknown to them.

Running the Game (Umpire)
- The umpire can see all details for all units in the current game. This includes
  actual troop losses, actual fatigue levels, etc, etc.
- The umpire steps the game through the phases in the turn, opening up orders,
  locking down orders, etc.
- The umpire can intercept orders from players to units, deliberately delay them,
  modify them, or delete them if need be.
- The umpire defines which engagements are in progress, and which MEs are involved
  in each case.
  The players submit this data (to make the game quicker for the umpire)  but the
  umpire can override the fine details.


Combat Options 
- Combat calculations in the system are fully automated. The computer will require
  some basic information (type of combat, ranges, tactical factors), and will then
  do all the die rolling and other fun things to determine the full outcome. Results
  are then sent to each player as a dispatch message via courier, which may arrive
  immediately, or in a turn or 2 depending on conditions.
- The default is that only the umpire interacts with the computer for each combat,
  with the players calling out the details across the tabble.
- An option can be configured in a given game to allow the players to interact with
  the computer to run the combats ie - player enters the details on who is attacking
  what. This should speed up a big game with lots of players and too few umpires.
- An option can be configured in a given game to allow for full computer calculation,
  or go into OldSkool mode.  In OldSkool mode, the computer will display the various
  percentages needed for various things on the screen, and the players then have to
  do the die rolls, and enter the die results into the computer instead.


Variable Scaling Support :
- Each game can be run at any scaling factor. By default it uses 1:60 figure scale
  and 1"=40y ground scale.  However the game scale can be set to any arbitary values
  in order to accomodate whatever fits the size of each battle. You can go play at
  1:47 scale, with 1" = 13 yards if you so choose. The game mechanics remain the
  same.  This only works because of the brilliant way that Empire calculates combat
  outcomes with deterministic maths.
- Information inside the system is calculated and stored in terms of actual troops.
  However, information presented back to the umpire in terms of figures, and
  information presented to the players is in terms of bases of troops.  Details on
  distances are presented in terms of inches. These calculations are all done on the
  fly based on the current scaling policies for each game.
- Scaling can be changed in mid-game if needed. ie - If a battle starts as a skirmish
  action at 1:15 scale between a couple of battalions ... and then escalates into a
  larger general battle ... the admin can decide to rescale the game in mid point to
  accomodate larger forces getting involved. Shuffle the scenery,  and rescale the
  formations ... so you have battalion groups on the field now instead of company
  groups. Even up to 1:120 scale you still have 2 base battalions
  (of 3 figs per base), so that works too.

Requirements :
- A standard web server with PHP support and mySQL support.
- Too easy ... just grab any old linux box and get it running. 
- A couple of GIG of RAM and a few 100MB of disk space will be way more than enough
  to run the system.
- An old P-III from the hard rubbish collection will have sufficient grunt to run a
  game with multiple players, no worries.


This allows games to be run in a number of different ways, really depending on how
many computers you can dig up. 

Some examples :

- 2 players - 1 controlling each side, plus an umpire to control the game. 
- 2 players at a table. One is running as the umpire/player for one side, the other
  is running as a player only for the other side.
- 2 players at a table. Both are up to scratch with the system, so they are both
  running as umpire / player.
- 1 player running a solo game, so he is logged in as administrator with access to
  both sides.

- A really big game with over 10 players a side. Commands allocated to various Corps,
  Divisions, or even Brigades to individual players. The system will ensure that each
  player can only access and control those units under their command structure.

- Monstrous convention, with a dozen games in progress on a number of tables, each
  table having a dozen players on each side. Huge !  The system will happily manage
  running multiple games at the same time. A pig to admin maybe, but technically the
  system can handle it from a single machine running a single web server.


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Future Path :

I know there are a number of decent computer moderated wargaming tools out 
there, but this one is aimed at being 100% faithful to the EmpireV rules -
warts and all.

There are many areas of the game that might be able to be improved and 
extended, but the intention with this project is to simply capture the
essennce of playing Empire, and nothing more or less than that.

No shortcuts, no optimisations on the gaming - just a faithful capture of
the rules in the all of their glorius details, with a computer interface on it.

Get as close to the original as is possible .. and thats it. 


However, it doesnt end there !!

Will be adding a campaign framework around this as a separate project
later on. More on that later.

Once this one is fully complete and polished up to perfection, it also
happens to provide an excellent framework for hacking together other 
systems around other rulesets.

I will probably look at forking this as a number of completely separate
projects that are customised to a number of other gaming rulesets.

Some ideal candidates are :

- Piquet ... having a computerised interface on the whole initiative and card system.
- IABSM, and all the other lardies products which use card activation.
- Big scale operational wargaming in 3mm/6mm scale for huge WW2 or modern battles.


Should be a fun ride.


----oOo----

Remote Wargaming

This will be cool to do, but I have not quite worked out the best way to handle it yet.

The idea is to have a game in progress at a table somewhere in the world, with a
webcam or 2 setup on the table, and then delegate some commander positions to users
who happen to be on the other side of the world.

The interaction with their units is all through the web interface anyway, so that
will work fine without any modification. Maybe having the webcams on the table with
live views of the tabletop will be good enough to allow those remote players to
experience 'being there' at the battle with their online mates.

I havent designed that aspect into the system yet, but its something I really want to
add at some point down the track. I dont see any technical obstacle to being able to
do this.

Its more a question of whether the remote player will really 'feel' part of the game,
and that comes downs to having really good fast communication, and possibly live
streamed audio as well.  Its not just the pretty pictures, bad die rolls, and
detailed AARs that make a game ... its the chit chat, jokes and laughter that all
need to happen in real time to make it work.

If I could stream the audio from both ends of the connection as well as the webcam
feed, then it would work brilliantly I think.