This web page contains a list of all changes to the NWOL rules (including rules of the modules) between NWOL-3 and NWOL-4, or during the course of NWOL-4 in the case of clarifications and delayed updates. The rulebooks will be updated as time permits; meantime, refer to this page for a definitive list of changes.

Non-rules changes:

1. PATE damage formula modified to produce more realistic results.
2. PATE escape chance formula modified to produce more realistic results, including dependence on broken lines.
3. Winning side of a naval battle always has at least one ship unsunk (no more Bonhomme Richard outcomes).
4. Major revisions to evasion and pursuit rules to produce clearer and more realistic behaviors.
5. Storm formulas modified to produce more storms, more blowing out to sea, and fewer founderings of unhulldamaged ships.
6. Austrian Netherlands removed from Holland, added to Germany.
7. Colony of Belem (Portuguese) added to Caribbean map.
8. Starting scores set equal to 1/2 of starting season income, rather than 500*number of cities and colonies.
9. NWOL rule 1.6 renumbered 1.4 and other rules numbers adjusted accordingly.

New rules added/existing rules modified:

NWOL Main Rules

1.7. Permanent ownership of a city in Germany or Italy can be acquired by a different frag of that nation if it holds the city for 15 turns or one peace/truce season.
3.1. All winter seasons are now peace or truce seasons, not campaign seasons, depending on whether anyone is at war or not. The first season of the game is always a fall season, so the second turn is a winter season, and the sixth, and so forth.
3.3. New rule describing build and deployment turns. (No changes, just more information.)
3.3. Initial amphibious phase now comes before combat, not afterwards (changes Wartime Turn Sequence).
4.2. Losses from units shattering or surrendering in battle count for laurel and casualty victory points. (Has been this way for a while, but the rules now mention it explicitly.)

GITM Rules

8.6. Fast units only move first tactically if strength is 500 or above for LC and MC, 100 or above for LA.
8.6. Movement is by initiative number, with fast units getting numbers 1-2 and other units getting 3-5. Units getting comms from FR1AQ tend to get lower numbers.
9.6. Units get a strength bonus of 20% for drawing communications from FR1AQ (also on strength modifiers chart).
12.2. Shattered units can fall back towards TRs on the beach if (only if) no city is available.

PATE Rules

4.7. New combat attitude option: Run Past. Similar to Accept, except that ships with this combat option will escape from battle at their first opportunity. [This is mostly useful for running into and out of blockaded ports.]
4.7. New combat order: Coastal retreat. Ships in battles in coastal waters may choose to retreat to harbor or to sea, or to take the best available retreat direction.
5.4. Automatic naval detection. This has always been in the code but wasn't in the rules - now it is.
6.3. Ships moving through chokepoint points will now be halted if enemy ships are present in the coastal waters.
6.12. Transport groups cannot move on peace/truce turns (including deploy turns).
7.1. Ships in Run Past combat mode move around ports before combat if possible, like ships in Accept and Evade modes (and unlike ships in Engage mode).
7.1. Frigates fight SLs when combat is in coastal waters and winds are onshore. This has been in the code for a while but not in the rules until now.
7.2. {Merged into rule 7.5; it was duplicative. Old rule 7.3 renumbered to 7.2, and so on.}
7.6. Ships in Run Past have combat strength reduced by 2/3.
7.7. Ships in Run Past have damage reduced by 1/3, chance of capture reduced by 75%. Ships with specific retreat orders (either harbor or sea area) have their chance of capture increased by 20% (ie, from 20% to 25%). Chance to capture enemy ships depends on the ratio of number of combatants; the more outnumbered, the higher chance to be captured.  Ships losing battles in harbors, with hostile ships in the coastal waters, are always captured if not sunk.{Retreat information split off to new rule 7.8.}
7.8. Ships with orders to retreat to the sea will always succeed if they started the turn at sea, if they started in harbor, they have a chance to succeed (40%, plus 30% if in Run Past combat mode, plus a small quality modifier). Ships with orders to retreat to harbor may or may not succeed. If they started at sea, the chance is 40% plus 30% for Run Past mode plus the quality modifier; if they started in harbor, 60% plus 20% for Run Past plus the quality modifier. Ships with orders to go to the best location will always go to sea if they started at sea and have a 35% chance to go to harbor (no modifications) if they started in harbor. Retreat rolls are made ship-by-ship for battles at close quarters; in battles at range, the fleet will normally (though not always) all get back to harbor or all be forced to sea, except that ships with Run Past orders may go one place and ships with other combat orders another place.
9.2. Garrison combat strengths modified; cavalry now counts 0.5*strength in all cases, and artillery units count -90% unless there are at least 800 infantry per battery present.
9.4. When loading/unloading takes place in a harbor, transports may move and units may march normally; they must hold still the whole turn only when loading/unloading is done from coastal waters.
9.4. Previous change to this rule applies only in ally-controlled harbors, not in neutral or hostile harbors.

RAR Rules

The changes to many rules that diplomatic activity is posted to the Guild website, not emailed to the GA and affected states, have been made permanent (rather than being special rules for NWOL-3).

SOW Rules

3.1. Frigates now take 250 crew, not 225, and the crew/Marines on newly built ships are stated explicitly.
3.3. The TR limit per port is now 2000 times the economic level of the city (thus, between 2000 and 10,000), not 8000.
4.3. Building units in frag nations depends on permanent ownership, not on original ownership.
4.8. Units may reinforce only if they have a line of contact to a home-city. The line can go through allied cities and from any unblockaded port to any other unblockaded port, but not over a beach landing.
4.8. Rebuild costs are now 20 for batteries. For artillery units, men and batteries are now broken out separately, 5 for 100 men (except 10 for LA) and 20 for the battery (except 25 for HA, 45 for SA).
4.9. Units may transfer men (which was possible before but not mentioned in the rulebook; the rules for this are unchanged).
4.10. Ships may transfer men (which was possible before but not mentioned in the rulebook; the rules for this are unchanged).
4.11. Units may merge (which was possible before but not mentioned in the rulebook; the rules for this are unchanged).
4.13. TRs with units aboard may not be disbanded.
Table of Build Costs: Costs to add batteries to infantry and cavalry units are now 20.