NWO RULES
THE RULES
Standard Diplomacy rules apply unless contradicted below.

1. The Map:
1.1 Wrap-around world map
Arrows indicate those areas that are split and straddle both the east and west sides of the map. Units can be placed on either side of the map, so pay attention!
1.2 Territorial Features
1.2.1 Multiple Coasts
Multiple-coast territories, land bridges and canals work the same way as in the standard map. Fleets occupying a territory with multiple coasts are considered to occupy the whole territory, but may only move or support territories directly adjacent to the coast they are on.
1.2.2 Land Bridges
Land bridges work the same way as in the standard map. Any unit may travel from one territory to another via the land bridge.
1.2.3 Canals
Canals work the same way as in the standard map. They allow access from one sea zone to another, but any units passing through must stop at the canal first. For example, if a fleet wishes to travel from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, they must first pass through Sinai.
1.2.4 Island Territories
Island territories are sea zones with pieces of land within them (ex. Diego Garcia, New Caledonia). These territories can be occupied by any unit. Fleets can occupy the zone and convoy through it. Note that these territories differ from actual islands (ex. Jamaica, Madagascar, Taiwan), which you cannot convoy through.
1.3 The poles
The North Pole and South Pole territories can be occupied by wings or fleets. Fleets cannot remain in the territory during the autumn/winter season. If the fleet has not exited the pole by the end of the fall turn, it will be forced to retreat back to the space it entered from. If that space is occupied, the fleet is disbanded. Wings may remain in the territory through the winter season.
1.4 Neutral Supply Centers
Some neutral supply centers may start with a “garrison” unit. This unit behaves as would an army in civil disorder in a standard game. It requires support to dislodge; it may receive support, and if dislodged it retreats off the board. In some cases, there may be more than one neutral unit in adjacent territories. These units may support each other, requiring additional units to break their defenses.
1.5 Impassable Zones
The Caspian Sea and Himalayas are impassable zones. No units may pass through them except wings (see section 2.1.2).
1.6 Supply Centers
Supply centers are indicated on the map with a white or gray circle. White circles are owned centers. Light gray circles are neutral, unowned, or bombarded centers.
1.6.1 Bombarded Centers
Bombarded centers still count as being owned by the controlling nation, but they do not provide support for units. A supply center will be counted as "bombarded" if it is occupied by a hostile Wing unit in the Winter phase of that year.
1.7 Voting Centers
Supply centers designated by a star on the map are called Voting Centers. Each of these centers count as a supply center and adds one UN vote (see below) to the controlling nation. Nuked voting centers are still owned by the country but are no longer supply centers capable of supporting units.
1.7.1 Gold Stars
Capital cities are designated by a gold star. This vote is passed only upon the elimination of that capital’s original player. For example, if Mexico has lost all of its centers except for one in Galapagos, the Mexican player still retains their vote. The power that controls Mexico City does not get an extra vote in the UN until after Mexico is eliminated from the game.
1.7.2 Red stars
These centers are neutral at the beginning of the game. The power that controls the star during the winter phase controls the vote.
1.7.3 White stars
These stars have been nuked (see section 2.2.3). They count as votes but do not count as a supply center. At the discretion of the GM, white stars may be partially colored with either gold or red to indicate whether their vote transfers upon capturing. White-gold indicates a capital city whose vote does not yet transfer; white-red indicates a vote that transfers.
1.7.4 Gray stars
These stars are under bombardment (see section 1.6.1). Similar to nuked stars, these stars may be partially colored with Red or Gold to indicate vote transfer status. UN voting rights are not affected by the bombardment.
1.8 Game Information Tables
1.8.1 Vote Requirements Table
This table is displayed somewhere on the map, usually in the upper left corner, and indicates how many votes a certain coalition requires to win the game. See section 5 for more information on what this means.
1.8.2 Classification Table
This table is displayed somewhere on the map, usually in the upper right corner, and lists each nation in the game with information for each. This information includes, but may not be limited to, the following:

[Country] Country Name
[Cities] # of Supply/Voting Centers that country owns, including bombarded cities
[Votes] # of UN votes that country owns
[BB’s] # of Banked Builds that country owns
[Range] Nuclear missile range (if blank, country cannot build nukes)
[Adj.] Winter Adjustment count (after Fall/Autumn turns only)

2. Special Units
2.1 Wings
2.1.1 Building
A wing unit may be built in the same manner as an army or fleet.
2.1.2 Movement
Wing units move and support in the same manner as armies and fleets. Wings may fly over land, water, the north and south poles, and over impassable areas such as the Himalayas and the Caspian Sea.
2.1.3 Bombardment
Wings cannot take control of foreign supply centers. Should a wing unit occupy an enemy supply center during a fall season, that SC is under bombardment. See section 1.6.1.
2.1.4 Airlifting
Wings may airlift armies or nukes. This functions the same as a fleet’s convoy ability. Any number of wings and fleets may combine to form a single convoy/airlift chain.
2.2 Nukes
2.2.1 Building
2.2.1.1 Nuke-In-Production
To build a nuke, one must issue a build nuke order for two consecutive winter seasons. It is not necessary to name the build location until the second winter, but that center must be empty when the nuke is placed. During the spring and fall seasons in between, this unit counts as a unit on the board for the purposes of determining how many units your supply centers can support.
2.2.1.2 Expedited Production
The building of a nuke may be expedited by spending a previously banked build (see below). Doing so allows the nuke to be built in one season. Note that if the build order indicates a supply center during the first season of nuke production, it is assumed by the GM that a banked build should be used to expedite the process if one is available unless otherwise noted in the orders.
2.2.2 Movement
Nukes may be moved or convoyed from the place where they are built in the same manner as armies. Nukes have zero offensive power when moving and may not be supported in their move. Nukes also have a defensive power of 0, and as they may not be supported, can be dislodged by any attacking force.
2.2.3 Firing
You may fire a nuke at any land or sea zone within range. Firing nukes at a target should be designated with one or more “!”. This attack occurs prior to any unit movement. As such, any units struck by nuke attack are immediately removed before other orders are followed. Any orders made by such units are void. A nuclear strike renders the target territory impassable for the duration of the season. Supply centers in the target area are destroyed, and may no longer support any units.
2.2.4 Range
2.2.4.1 Starting Range
From the start of the game, only selected powers can build nukes. These powers are listed below, along with the starting range:
USA = Unlimited range
Russia = Unlimited range
United Kingdom = 5 Spaces
France = 5 Spaces
China = 5 Spaces
North Korea = 4 Spaces
Israel = 3 Spaces
Pakistan = 3 Spaces
India = 3 spaces
2.2.4.2 Default Range
A power that acquires nuclear technology through a trade (see below) starts with a range of 3.
2.2.4.3 Extending Range
Powers may increase nuclear range by spending a banked build (see Section 3.2) during a winter season. For each banked build spent in this manner, the range increases by 1. Powers can pass a build and immediately spend that build on increasing range.Note: this is the only action which can be immediately done upon passing on a build.

3. Technology
3.1 Nuclear Technology
Some nations begin the game with the ability to build nukes. These nations are listed in section 2.2.4.1 along with their initial range.
3.1.1 Trading
Nuclear technology can be traded. When these secrets are traded to another, news that a nation received nuclear technology and the name of the donor will become public.

Recipient nations can offer anything and sending nations can demand anything for the technology, provided it meets the rules of the game. While a power could offer a supply center uncontested, which is a legal move, they cannot ask the GM to switch control of the supply center, as this would not be a legal move. Other options include trading banked builds, offering military or diplomatic support or agreeing to vote for various coalitions.
Both the sending and receiving nations must submit appropriate orders for the trade to occur (you can’t trade nuclear secrets unless both people show up to the meeting!). The GM will enforce the conditions of the trade ONLY IN THE CASE OF BANKED BUILDS.

FOR EXAMPLE:
Germany orders: Receive Nuclear Technology from the USA and does not mention sending 1 banked build in their orders.
USA orders: Send Nuclear Technology to the USA in exchange for 1 banked build.

In this scenario, Germany didn't order to send a Banked Build to the USA, which means that Germany will not receive the Nuclear Technology, and the USA will not receive the banked build.

Each donor nation can only make one trade per year. Trades can only occur during a spring season.

3.2 Banked Builds
Banked builds are earned by passing on a build.
3.2.1 Trading
Banked builds may be sent from one power to another. The sending nation may transfer up to the number of BB’s they own in any Spring season. They may send all or part to any one nation or split the BB’s among multiple nations. As long as it is not involved in a nuclear technology trade, only the sending nation needs to indicate the trade in their orders. Transfers of Banked Builds can only occur during a spring season.
3.2.2 Banked Builds and Units
Banked builds may *not* be used to build additional units beyond the number of Supply Centers a nation currently owns.

4. Adjudication Rules
4.1 Order of Adjudication
Nuclear strikes occur first in any season in which they are ordered. As such, any units within the target location of a nuclear strike is obliterated prior to any move or support orders they were given, voiding those orders.
4.2 Retreats
Retreats occur in the Summer and Autumn phases, typically 24 hours after a Spring or Fall turn. In the event of a missed retreat, default retreats will be made in the following order:
1) Owned supply center
2) Neutral supply center
3) Foreign supply center
4) Closest space to any owned supply center
Any ties above will be decided alphabetically.
4.2.1 Exception #1
During an Autumn retreat phase, if the retreating nation is to be eliminated during the following Winter phase, the GM may disband the unit by default instead.
4.2.2 Exception #2
If an NRR occurs immediately following an NMR, the GM may disband the unit by default instead.

4.3 Adjustments
4.3.1 Chaos builds
NWO uses chaos build procedures. Builds may be made on any owned and unoccupied center.
4.3.2 Default builds
Default builds will be used in the event of a missed build.

For years 1-4:
The default units are assumed to be armies except for those powers whose capital cities exist on an island. These nations will default to fleets. This list includes, but is not limited to Cuba, United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, and Philippines.
Players may change their default build to army, fleet or banked build at any time by notifying the GM.
Default builds will be made in the first available city by alphabetical order. In the case of fleet defaults, all available ports alphabetically, then armies in non-port centers should no ports be available.

Starting in year 6, and for all further years:
The default builds starting in year 6 will be all builds stored as banked builds, unless a player has previously specified a different default build.

4.3.3 Default disbands
Default disbands will be made in the following order:
1) Unit furthest from any owned supply center
2) Units furthest from any voting centers
3) Units furthest from foreign-owned supply centers
Any ties above will be decided alphabetically.
4.4 Elimination
A nation is eliminated when it no longer controls any units, supply centers or votes. If you own the nuked capital of a player not yet eliminated, you own neither the vote because the player is still in the game, nor the supply center, because it has been nuked.

5. End Game Procedures:
5.1 Nominations
After nine game years, each nation will be allowed to nominate a three-power coalition due at the time of the winter adjudication of the ninth year. These coalition may consist of any three nations still considered to be active within the game. Each nation may only nominate one coalition. Nominations are anonymous. The GM will post all coalitions nominated along with winter results.
5.2 Voting
Votes are due at the same time as spring orders following the winter nomination cycle. The GM will post voting results at the same time as, or prior to, the spring results but not before the spring deadline. All votes are revealed at this time, and are not anonymous.
The first voting season will coincide with Spring of Year 10.
5.2.1 Allocation
Players may vote yes or no to any number of proposals. All of the player’s votes are allocated to all coalitions to which the player voted yes. Players cannot allocate partial amounts of votes to a coalition; it is all or nothing.
5.2.2 Abstentions
Abstentions are not permitted. During the first two years of voting, a failure to vote will be considered “no” votes for all coalitions. Thereafter, abstentions become “yes” votes for all coalitions. During any voting season in which a nation only indicates “yes” votes in their orders will be considered to have voted “no” to any unnamed coalitions.
5.3 Classifications
Each nation is assigned a “power classification from “A” to “E”. This classification is based on the initial size of the power. Proposed coalitions will require a number of votes based on the combination of classifications in the coalition. Powers with a higher classification will need more votes to win. The total number of votes required for a given coalition is provided in the Votes Requirement Table (see section 1.8.1).
5.4 Winning
When a coalition receives the number of votes required, the game is over and that trio splits the win evenly. Should more than one trio have enough votes to end the game the following tie breakers will be used:
1) The Coalition that has won by the largest margin more than required.
2) The Coalition owning the most supply centers combined.
3) The Coalition holding the most UN votes between themselves.
4) The Coalition with the FEWEST nukes on the map plus nukes in production plus banked credits.
5) The Coalition nominated first.

6. Player and GM Responsibilities
6.1 Writing Orders
When writing your orders, please create a new email and include the following information in the headline:
1. Game Name or Abbreviation (ie. Age of Darkness or AoD)
2. Your country
3. Season/year
4. Version number if applicable

Please note that any orders marked as FINAL orders will be treated as such, and the GM will not accept revisions after receiving an order set marked as FINAL orders. Basically, don't put "FINAL ORDERS" in your email subject to avoid the ire of the GM.

For example:
AoD China Spring 2010
or
AoD China Spring 2010 v2 (for second set of orders)
By following this procedure, your orders are far more likely to be seen by the GM. If you simply reply to an email sent by the GM, it may get lost in a slew of other emails.
The GM will attempt to reply to all orders with a “Received” message. This is not guaranteed.
Edited orders sent in a separate mail will be honored up until the deadline, and if a GM mistake is made where an email is missed, the orders will be revised. Please note that a reply to your previous orders may be caught by the GM and honored before the deadline, but that NO AFTER-THE FACT CORRECTIONS WILL BE MADE BASED ON A REPLY TO A MAIL. Send revised orders with an edited tagline or face the ire of the GM :).

The GM

6.2 Adjudication Schedule
The deadline for all phases will be provided by the GM. The deadlines for each phase can be moved at the GM's discretion, and the deadline for the next phase will be published at the top of each phases' results.

Typically, the deadline for movement phases (Spring and Fall) will occur on Wednesdays at 6pm Eastern/New York Time (EST/EDT depending on US daylight savings time). Retreat phases (Summer and Autumn) will be due 24 hours after the movement phases ARE PUBLISHED. Thursday 8pm Eastern/New York for example (this assumes that publishing the orders will take 2 hours). Adjustment phases (Winter) will be due 24 hours after the Autumn retreat phases are published or 48 hours after the Fall movement phase if there is no Autumn phase. Example: Friday 10pm Eastern/New York Time .

6.2.1 Delays
Deadlines may be extended or delayed at the discretion of the GM.

Please note that if a power NMR's (fails to submit move orders) in the first year of the game, they will be immediately replaced. Delays may take place in such a situation at the GM's discretion.

6.3 Adjudication Error Correction Rules
Each player has until the next adjudication or 48 hours, whichever comes first, to point out any errors on the map or country charts. Any errors not pointed out in that time frame become permanent.
6.4 Invalid Orders Rulings
Any unit that is submitted an invalid order will be treated as though the unit was given a "Hold" order. It is not the GM's responsibility to check for invalid orders.
6.5 Reply-All Rules
The only reply-all that is allowed for a season's result is if there is an error correction that you believe needs to done. If you have a witty quip that you would like to send out to the whole game in response to the season's happenings, please edit the subject line so that it is sent as a separate mail. This is to help the GM's inbox stay organized. This rule will not be enforced harshly.

7.Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD Orders)

A player with nukes may submit MAD orders, in which they may wait to fire their nukes yet respond should another nation fire first. It is essentially a dynamic form of the “Hold” command, except if you are nuked your own nukes are not wasted.

7.1. Formatting and Conditioning

7.1.1
MAD Orders are submitted in the form of “If-Then” statements.
-Valid “If” conditions are specific countries or “any” country fires nukes at specific countries or any country.
MAD orders are accepted in the following format. If [firing nation] nukes [target] [conditional]: [Nuclear orders]

7.1.2
The following MAD conditions orders will be accepted:
a) If [power] nukes me (will count a strike against either units or SC's)
b) If [power] nukes [other power] (likewise)
c) If [power] nukes any of [my/another power's] units
d) If [power] nukes any of [my/another power's] SC's
e) If [power] nukes [SPACE] - only one space may be listed.

Adding the Units/SC's/Space is considered the [conditional] section of the MAD orders, and is not required.

7.1.3
Each other power may only be listed once in the [aggressor] or [target] section

Examples

If USA nukes Japan [nuke orders]
If USA nukes me as [nuke orders]
This is an invalid order set

If Japan nukes USA [nuke orders]
If Russia nukes USA [nuke orders]
This is also an invalid order set

If Japan Nukes USA [nuke orders]
If USA nukes Russia [nuke orders]
This is a valid order set.

Two separate uses of the same nation in the [target] or [firing nation] sections will render both of those orders invalid.This is to avoid extra-complicated orders where you nest conditions using multiple conditional orders against the same set of powers.

7.1.4
Including yourself in the firing countries is an invalid condition.
“If I nuke Germany” is an invalid condition.

7.1.5
A foreign country NOT firing nukes is an invalid condition.
“If Germany does not fire nukes:
Then N LON ! BER”
...is an invalid MAD order.

7.1.6 You can use AND/OR to group sets of nations. (I encourage you to keep this simple. If you over-complicate this you may not get the result you want.)
“If USA or Germany nukes me:
Then N LON ! BER”
…is a valid MAD order.

However, grouping 2 nations in your ordersl means that will be counted as your 1 use each of them, either in the [target] or [firing nation] section of the orders.

7.1.7
It is not the burden of the admin to assess your alliances, public or otherwise. Therefore, formal alliances/enemies, even if made public through forum roleplaying, is an invalid condition.
“If USA nukes Axis of Africa:” is invalid.

7.1.8
MAD orders can not trigger on conventional unit movements.
“If A HAM -> HOL” is invalid.

7.1.9
Like all other commands, your responses must be specific to the unit.
“If Germany nukes me
Then nuke Germany” is invalid

“If Germany nukes me
Then N LON ! BER” is valid.


7.2 MAD Order Priority and Resolution
Players may submit multiple conditions/triggers, up to one for each other power that has a nuclear unit on the board. Nuke responses happen in the order they were triggered, from the top.

Example: A US player might submit MAD orders as:
"If UK nukes me
Then N WDC ! LON

If Germany nukes me
Then N WDC ! BER"

If both UK and Germany fired a nuke at the United States this turn, the nuke in DC would be fired at London, as the orders have it listed first, and thus is a higher response priority.

7.3 Action Vs Reaction
You cannot issue MAD orders to a unit that is ordered to manually fire at a target.

7.4 Public Relations
MAD orders that are not triggered are ALWAYS hidden from seasonal announcements!
Are the US and Germany teaming up against the UK but the US can't stand the idea Germany backstabbing with nuclear rain? The US can list Germany higher than the UK in the MAD orders, and if no nukes are fired, Germany would not know how mistrusting the US is.

7.5 Nuclear Cascade
MAD Orders can trigger MAD Orders
One nuke being manually fired can trigger MAD orders firing nukes which can trigger MAD orders firing nukes. MAD orders are checked at the launch of any nuke whether they were fired manually or not, until no more MAD orders are firing.

Combat of a season would resolve in this order:
1) Nukes that are manually fired are launched.
2) MAD orders are checked, and triggered responses launch.*
3) All nukes detonate.
4) Armies, Fleets and Wings clash.

Step two is repeated indefinitely until no further MAD orders trigger.

7.6 Presentation
There will be a special “Nuclear Warfare” area consolidating nuclear activity at the end of turn announcements. Should MAD orders be triggered they would look something like.

“Nuclear Warfare - Manual Fire:
USA N WDC ! LON

MAD Stage 1:
UK N LON ! BER

MAD Stage 2:
Germany N BER ! GBR
Italy N ROM ! LON”

7.7 Handling Invalid MAD Orders
If your MAD orders condition and/or response is invalid, it will merely be ignored and the lower priority orders will continue to be checked. If all of your MAD orders are invalid, then your nukes are essentially on Hold.

Example Germany has a range of 4 and submits:
“If USA nukes me
Then N BER ! WDC

If UK Nukes me
Then N BER ! LON”

If both the US and UK nuke Germany, the first response is invalid as WDC is out of range of the nuke in BER. However, rather than the nuke getting an invalid command and doing nothing, the lower priority MAD orders will be checked, triggered and carried out.

8. Code of Conduct
All players are expected to abide by the GM's code of conduct, which will be posted in this forum. Any violations of the code of conduct will response in the immediate and swift removal of the offending player at the GM's discretion.