I went to the site but didn't really get a sense for what this is. Is this some kind of online game where grand strategy is carried out in an rpg or forum like game and then battles resolved in SoWG? Or is this something completely different than that?
It's not a forum RPG at all, it's difficult to really explain what this game is until you give it a try.
I would have to say that you have come close when you wrote "GRAND STRATEGY is carried out in an rpg".
This game you have to test your skills at being a diplomat, spy, warmonger, and the list just goes on.
Believe me it's one of the easiest games to play, but also takes time to master.
Here is a small list of what it is about...
Features That Ease The Playing Experience
Features That Aim For A Balanced Game
Attack for Food, Cash, or Land
Market commission: networth under 10 mil: 10%, under 20: 15%, under 50: 20%, under 100: 25%, all above: 30%
More stringent cap on Scout (ED)
Experience factors into attack strength
Declare War
Declare Peace (Ally)
Use turns: Train
Use turns: Write
Value of food decreased in networth
Races balanced more
Treasury can be Open/Closed
Market sales go into the Bank
Espionage: Report
Condense Turns option that remembers your selection
Execute multiple missions at once
Demolish: "safe" options
News Condensation
Military, Aid, Messages dropdown boxes added
Military dropdown boxes colorized
Aid, Bazaar, Market, and Bounty pages have Max/All checkboxes
Lite or Full Menus
Picking location at signup
News reports kills
Refresh link changed to javascript to resend form data
People can resurrect their old clan if they know the password for it
The statusbar's cash and food indicators turn yellow if you are losing cash/food, and red if the rate is critical
In-Game clan forums, integrated with main page
Game, Server, and Clan chats (using revolutionary low-bandwidth no-latency, pure HTML and JavaScript technology)
Messages, clan MOTD and crier, clan forums, all use bbcode parsing
New and advanced title-based PM system
Open Clans that can be joined on signup (clan leader can set this)
Login option to hide online-ness
Online attacks are marked by an asterisk
Market items are displayed using a visual bar for delay from market
Profile page with public information and recent news, as well as a user's private profile
Clan crier page with public information and recent news, as well as the clan's crier info
Status bar shows turns left in Protection
New Mail is loaded in JavaScript so you can read it fast
Clan Granary, Treasury, and Loft
Clan Market
Military, Aid, and Hawks auto-select your last target
View complete news history
Message Entire Clan option
10 message credits by default
No-Cookies login method
More clan diplomacy spots
pconnect() means using many turns is much faster
Private notepad
"Show All" on scores page
Condensation of market items
Option to leave protection early
On the scores page, clan leaders are distinguished with asterisks around their clan's tag
User-choosable news sorting
Miscellaneous Features
The Map
Raffle instead of Lottery
Source Viewer (in accordance with our policy of openness about development)
Removed validation; replaced with password generation
Rearranged status page (was illogical before)
Combo attack: Pincer Move: uses Hares and Otters
Combo attack: Sniper Assault: uses Squirrels and Otters
Stock Market (extensively tested to be realistic)
Heroes system
Bounty System
New mission: Heal
New mission: Recruit
New mission: Seppuku
New mission: Prod Market
New mission: Scout
Missions dropdown box shows missions in yellow or red (yellow: not enough runes / red: would fail)
News page by default shows the last 100 news items
Shorter URLs
Graveyard, Hall of Shame, Admin List
Top10 page skips vacation people
Option to change email
In-Game names
...And Much Much More...
Read the Guide...
