9.2 KiB
Looking for an empire-building recommendation
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Author: u/renasma *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/8l0jme/looking_for_an_empirebuilding_recommendation/
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Score: 22
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Created: 2018-05-21T12:46:56
Post:
[removed]
Comments:
u/neondragonfire [+20] (7 hours later)
I suggest Dungeon Keeper Ami. It puts a character that fights for good and truth and all that and puts them in one of the most evil and hated roles in that setting, a Dungeon Keeper. Ami has to keep making compromises - like hiring minions and fighting off the good guys and the bad guys who keep attacking her - just to stay alive. While she's still trying (and mostly succeeding) to stay good.
And in true Dungeon Keeper fashion, a lot of it is building up dungeons (which keep getting destroyed), managing minions and so on.
There is also a hilarious amount of power creep, but it's well earned. This story is long. The current arc has Ami, by herself, accidentally taking over an entire city. She just wanted to negotiate for them to maybe stop attacking for once, but they kept fighting her, actually trapped her and things escalated.
u/jaghataikhan [+1] Primarch of the White Scars (6 days later)
Really enjoyed binging Dungeon Keeper Amy despite zero familiarity with either source fandom - only drawback is that it's still a WIP despite a decade in the writing and 850k word length
u/everything-narrative [+7] Coral, Abide with Rubicon! (5 hours later)
A Hero's War fits the bill, more or less.
u/aloofguy7 [+1] (5 days later)
A Hero's War is Awesome! :)
u/None [+6] (2 hours later)
I dont know how rational people consider this and it could be less rational than i remember, but i enjoyed reading common sense of a dukes daughter and it 100% fits the genre. If i remember right its about a modern accountant/economist who is super talented that gets sent to a medieval world and takes over the body of a noble girl. It is all about her trying to manage a medieval dukedom with the advantage of knowing modern technologies and economic principles.
u/JustForThis167 [+13] (3 hours later)
Piggybacking on this, If you don't mind reading less rational and Isekai works, I recommend:
About a Chinese engineer who gets sent back to fantasy Europe and recreating modern techniques to revolutionize their world. There's also witches, thus the name. Read it here as the qidian translations are trash.
Also if u haven't read or heard of A Heroes War then I also highly recommend it, however that's quite unlikely as it is quite popular on this subreddit.
u/ben_oni [+8] (7 hours later)
Or you could go for some of the more defining works of the sub-genre, like The Cross-Time Engineer. No, dammit, the defining works! How about A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court?
u/Revive_Revival [+5] (12 hours later)
Read it here as the qidian translations are trash.
Too bad that translation is dead, and the other translator that picked it up after that one also dropped it. Qidian is the only option if you want to read anything past 378 :/
u/k-k-KFC [+1] (17 hours later)
is it on LNMT? although those are even more headache inducing to start at least they are consistent
u/thrawnca [+1] Carbon-based biped (3 days later)
Working my way through RTW...feels like a mixture of A Hero's War and Saruman of Many Devices.
u/jaghataikhan [+1] Primarch of the White Scars (6 days later)
Release the witch is probably one of the better isekai I've read recently, but the harem ish setup still continued to annoy me despite reading it all haha. In particular the slow reveal of past humanity's history is one of the highlights
u/Ardvarkeating101 [+1] Father of Learning (a day later)
Is there a link?
u/None [+2] (a day later)
you can find it on [novel updates] (https://www.novelupdates.com/series/common-sense-of-a-dukes-daughter/) where they have links to translation releases.
u/megazver [+5] (4 hours later)
Release That Witch is very enjoyable, if you can see past the subpar translation quality.
u/mafidufa [+5] (a day later)
It's a rpgmaker game, not a serial, but The last sovereign actually fits what you're looking for pretty well. Lots of empire building, economy and logistics especially later on in the game. Plus you get to make decisions that have pretty well-thought out consequences later on. NSFW if that's a concern.
u/Cancelled_for_A [+1] (a month later)
The last sovereign
So, how many females does he have in his harem? I'm just guessing that this is a harem fiction.
u/Hard_Avid_Sir [+5] (a day later)
Cruel to be Kind might suit you. It's been a while since I read it, but from what I remember I would call it fairly rational (though not rationalist).
Plot-wise, it's a multicross/SI fic about a guy who ends up bonding with a bit of sufficiently-advanced xeno-tech that allows him to travel almost anywhere in the multiverse he can imagine, but never back to the dimension he was born in. So of course he does the obvious thing and uses it to create his own interdimensional empire. It definitely fits your criteria though, with a heavy focus on creating a society from scratch, securing technology, resources and manpower from different dimensions and all the trials and tribulations of running a growing sovereign nation.
It hasn't updated in about two years because of various personal problems in the author's life, but he is still around so he may still get back to it someday and there's quite a lot to read, just with what's there already.
u/ToaKraka [+3] https://i.imgur.com/OQGHleQ.png (3 hours later)
Look to the West (epub) is an alternate-history book framed as a series of excerpts from actual history books.
u/CouteauBleu [+2] We are the Empire. (24 minutes later)
The old Star Wars Extended Universe had some books on that theme post Star Wars VI. It was less "building the New Republic" and more "constantly keeping the Republic to collapse into bloody anarchy" though.
u/pixelz [+2] (4 hours later)
Perhaps Civilization-based fan fiction? For example ...
https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/paths-of-civilization.36410/reader
u/thrawnca [+1] Carbon-based biped (a day later)
That's arguably abandoned now, though.
u/Friedoobrain [+2] (a day later)
Actually just rebooted. The QM posted a series of summaries for a timeskip and made a new thread called paths of industrialization following the same civ in the industrial era. Pretty good.
u/thrawnca [+1] Carbon-based biped (a day later)
I know about PoI. Doesn't catch my interest the same way. Plus I was disappointed with how the old empire was broken through, essentially, author fiat.
u/farsan13 [+2] (19 hours later)
A recent one I have discovered is Genjitsushugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki (Alternate title "How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom"). Isekai genre, but focused on economics and logistics.
Have read the 10 chapters of the manga so far, and I am going to tackle the translated light novel.
u/JusticeBeak [+1] (5 hours later)
The main character has some great luck, but the otherwise rational book series Overlord just released its 13th volume, which was a fun read. The stated goal of the MC's faction is to conquer the world they've been transported to, and the MC himself is a lvl 100 skeleton king/magic caster. The series is known for its worldbuilding.
u/None [+1] (16 hours later)
the author uses a lot of dramatic irony which turns out hilarious.
u/None [+1] (11 hours later)
I'd recommend Dawn of Empire, a book about the first community to turn itself into a city in advance of a barbarian raid.
u/None [+1] (16 hours later)
The English translation of the Japanese Overlord series is focused on this.
https://www.reddit.com/r/overlord/comments/68149b/where_can_i_read_the_light_novel_newcomers_faq/