This is the definitive map and the rules wwe will be playing under in Americas 2. It contains (I hope) all of the results of discussions posted earlier in this thread, but I am posting it at the top of the topic for ease of reference. It includes the map, the game rules, and my GM's House Rules, which are hopefully not too onerous! If anybody spots an error (ie it isn't what we've already discussed and I've ruled on) then please let me know and it will be changed.
(Start map is at viewtopic.php?f=345&t=13703)
Game rules (words in blue are the alterations we've made here; those in black are from Maracario Reyes' rules as quoted at the Variant Bank.)
1. Canals and waterways in Americas (apart from the Panama Canalthey all act like Kiel in Standard):
* New York City/New York State- the Erie Canal, allows passage from New York Bay to Eastern Great Lakes
* Panama - the Panama Canal, although it was not open until 1912 it is used in the game to cross between the Atlantic and Pacific areas. Fleets may move directly from MOS to GoP and vice versa with the explicit permission of the country occupying (or alternatively controlling) Panama
* Magallanes - Magallanes Strait, allows an extra passage between oceans at the bottom tip of South America.
* Montreal - St-Lawrence waterway, allows passage from Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Eastern Great Lakes
* Trinidad - These groups of islands are treated as a sea/land territories and movement of fleets is allowed from one side to the other, while armies can move through land from West Indies to Trinidad and from Trinidad to Delta.
2. Continuous coasts. Movement by fleets is allowed along the coasts of Toronto, Michigan and Delta as if they were canals, like Denmark in the standard variant. [i](This covers passage from EGL - WGL[/i]
3. Navigable Rivers. There are two:
* The Mississippi-Missouri. Which allows the passage of fleets from the Gulf of Mexico to the Western Great Lakes, passing through the provinces of New Orleans, Mississippi, Kentucky, Missouri, Chicago and Minnesota. Using this waterway, a fleet can move from the Great Lakes to the Ocean or viceversa in 4 turns ordering WGL-Min (or WGL-Chi), Min-Mso (or Chi-Mso), Mso-NOr and NOr-GOM.
* The Amazonas. Which allows the passage of fleets through he provinces of Para, Amazonia and Loreto.
4. Provinces that have two coasts: Cali, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Chiapas, Ontario and Washington. Chicago has three coasts
5. Misiones province in Argentina has access to the Rio de la Plata, therefore Buenos Aires and Uruguay are not adjacent by land.
6. Supply Centers. There are 61 supply centers, therefore victory is obtained by gaining control of 31 centers. Some of these are within the countries, but are considered unsettled or unstable areas that are yet to be conquered.
7. The game will begin with a Winter 00 build phase
8. The game will be Build Anywhere (ie in any owned and vacant SC)
House Rules
As promised, here are my house rules. The NMR rules are obviously important, but please also note my request about titles for your PMs to me and please don't mix orders and other comments/queries to me - otherwise your questions won't get answered in time.
OK, here goes!
Orders Please title your orders '19M - Japan - Spring 19000001 orders/retreats etc' (or something similar that I can recognise!) And send them to me by PM.
It's up to you to make sure they're accurate. Some GMs check orders as they come in and alert players if they think there's an error; I won't be doing that - I don't read orders until the deadline (this is so that if somebody else asks a question there's no chance of me betraying your secrets! - also because it's the way original Dip rules worked) If it's clear what they mean (eg minor mistake in a territory name which leaves no doubt) then no problem; but if they're at all ambiguous they're invalid.
Other messages Please title them something different, so I know which is which - otherwise I'll probably assume they're orders and not read them before the deadline!
Deadlines 72-24-24 from the time the new map goes up. I'll send a PM at the same time so there's no excuse for not noticing! but I recommend you subscribe to the new sub-Forum as soon as it's in place so there's no chance of you missing a new topic. And post provisional orders early, just in case!
For movement phases I'll also send a reminder about 24 hours before the deadline (give or take a few hours). This is because I'll then be strict about NMRs - see below
Speed deadlines Once I have orders from all players I will process them as soon as possible, unless they are marked 'Provisional' or similar. (I encourage provisional orders where appropriate to reduce the risk of NMRs.) But if you do send in provisionals, please let me know once you're happy to finalize them, just to move the game along. I may write to check if yours are the only orders waiting to be finalized, but if I do this is a reminder not a hassle! Don't feel pressurized into finalizing before you're ready!
Requests for delays Where there's a good reason I'm happy to accept a delay of deadline, but I don't want this to happen too often - one of the biggest reasons for games failing is that they don't move along quickly enough and players lose interest. But please give as much notice as possible for everybody's sake! In particular, extensions will not be granted at the last minute on 72-hour deadlines simply because access is difficult.
NMRs I will usually aim to process the orders fairly soon after the deadline, though there may be exceptions. I take the same view as the main site software - if you get orders in a few minutes late but before I begin, you'll get away with it. Once I start opening up orders, it's too late. No exceptions.
Then, three NMRs on movement phases and you're out. Two in succession you're out. For retreat and build phases I take the view if you don't submit it's your problem then you've missed the chance but that's all. (And an NMR on the first turn is immediate replacement!) If somebody's NMR leads to expulsion then there will be a pause while I try to replace them, and the new player gets a day to talk and post orders.
And an NMR on the opening Build or Spring phases will bring instant ejection - and the game will be on hold for a replacement. I want the game at least to start properly!
Errors in adjudication I'm only human, so check the map after orders to make sure I have it right! If there's a substantial error it will delay the deadline, so I'll try to be perfect!
Any questions, just ask. And finally, enjoy what should be a good game!