Sneak peek into the forthcoming Nations Feature
Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 1:49 pmGreetings everyone,
I will try here to summarize all the new elements that the new nations feature will bring to the game. I will not mention elements that are already in affect. I may miss some as the feature is still in development but I hope to give you the general idea.
A)Ranks for citizens of each nation
This is fundamental for the nations feature. This was the initial idea. Full details have been published about this for a long time now. You can find all the details here: http://s2.piratesglory.com/?page=help&action=titles
Ranks award will be based on a new value; Loyalty. Loyalty will be specific to the nation you belong. If you switch nations, Loyalty will be zeroed. Every citizen will begin with a standard amount of Loyalty. If your loyalty reaches 0, you will be declared a Pirate (like it already happens with Hostility when it reaches 50). More details on Loyalty will be given with the feature launch.
B)Nations Governance
Based on titles, players will be able to govern the nations. Decisions will be based on a system similar to Feudalism. Therefore, the decisions will be decided by a council combined of Dukes, Governors and King.
Nation councils will be refreshed every 3 days based on Influence, Loyalty and Nation ranks.
The council members will be advertised in various locations of the game, especially the King, in order for newcomers to be aware who they are and refer to them for their needs.
B.1) Decision Making
-Each governor and duke has 1 vote. The king has 2 votes.
-Governors, Dukes and King may propose a new decision which will be then put on voting. Votes will last 24hours unless a majority is met before the end of 24hours.
-In case of a tie in a voting, King's vote defines the outcome.
-The king may veto any decision unless it is a 2:1 in favor of the decision.
All open decisions that have not reached a majority within the council's lifetime, will be removed.
B.2)List of Decisions
There will be one available decision in the beginning. More will be added later. This is done in order to save time for the feature launch. It is also preferable to make smaller steps each time, for balancing issues.
-Treaties. The council will decide Allies, Naps and Wars for the nation. These treaties will be valid for any players bringing the nation flag and will have relevant side affects to your Loyalty (Loyalty will be affected only vs Players. Current hostility mechanism seems more than enough for NPC battles). In this sense, overlooking your nations decisions can drive you out of it or if you follow them, you will be able to get your loyalty improved.
We already got some other decisions in mind for the future, a simple reference will do no harm. They are however pretty primitive and vague right now:
-Privateer assignment. The council will be able to assign player-privateers that will act on behalf of the nation. A privateer will bring the Pirate flag and his identity will be hidden to all except of the the nation council. This will be valid for Plunder page and Battles which means that the Privateers will be able to strike anyone without revealing his true identification. Any vooodoo casting should preferably be visible (at least in the beginning). A longer set of special rules will be needed for privateers, but I am not going to discuss this further.
-Taxes. If a nation controls at least 1 port, it will be able to collect taxes. The council will decide the amount of taxes in each port which will in turn affect market prices for each port. There is a possibility that this will be decided solely by the port governor.
-Commission of NPC warfleets against specific players/nations. (A possible way to also spend tax money).
-Deportation and/or denial of nation citizenship for specific players.
-Governor targets for loyalty missions. These targets will be decided by the computer as a start, based on Hostility reports (like the Change nation missions already work). In the future, the council will be able to provide supplementary targets for this missions.
Info on how loyalty missions will be:
Loyalty Missions given by the Governor will be more strict in requirements and some will be only PvP. Especially for the higher ranks of Marquess, Count and Baron, the requirements will openly redirect you against one or more real players. The governor may even assist you in your task by:
-Giving you info on target player
-Revealing location of target player fleets
-Adding danger to target player fleets
-Casting voodoo against target player
(This list is not final, it may change)
For example, let's say that you are a Baron of England who wants to become a Count. You will be given a list of possible targets which will be real players. In the case of the final quest, you will be given only one target. These targets will be solely decided by hostility values, your power and hostile players power. So the Governor will probably tell you something like:
-Target Player has been a real pain for all English citizens lately. His plundering has been remarkably damaging for both our influence and economy. You MUST put an end to this!
He will then ask you for some milestones against this player and will also provide some support. The milestones will be Loyalty and ranks earnings (ranks are only earned by mission requirements, loyalty will be earned by both mission requirements and other actions, such as assisting your nation in its current war). The support will be in form of tokens which you will be able to use at anytime. Like 3 fleet danger tokens. The tokens will be mission specific only and will bring a lot of limitations in order to ensure proper usage (exploitation - free).
Other missions may need you to help the nation influence on a specific port or limit the player/nation influence on a specific port. It may also require you to enter top influence players etc.
Whenever you are required to use voodoo against another player or a mission that targets a specific player is created, the system will inform this player via news (the Governor will do this automatically). These messages will be threatening and offensive among rest as the governor will try to intimidate the players to stay out of its own nations interests. (these messages value will be important as they will ultimately reveal the cause of your attack to target player).
In the future, player governors will be able to setup/edit these messages for missions given for their own country and through the port they control (in an attempt to make the game even more player - driven).
Ultimately, seeking power in a nation, will mean that you will need to go out there and compete with real players. NPC engagement will be only limited in your quest to nation glory.
Extra influence mechanism
We are also thiking to setup another influence maipulation mechanism. Right now you can only attack another player with voodoo cards. Since voodoo cards often create retaliation and influence is very important for the nation feature, the creation of such a feature is deemed important. We have not finalized our thoughts on this yet but here are the current details of this idea:
Name of mechanism: Provocation (Provocacia)
Player will spend gold + turns to reduce target player influence.
Affect will be relevant to target player total influence and rank in target port.
Foreseen game affects
As a final note, I will list some of the probable side affects that may trouble you directly or indirectly:
-Selection of your victims role will be upgraded. You will get to think more whether or not you will hit a player of a specific nation. This will primarily happen because you will have to take note of new players which may turn against you (through governor missions or nation treaties) if you have wronged citizens of their nation in the past (based on hostility).
-It will bolster nation diplomacy and may also create more nation-cored guilds.
-Strong players will have more to attend to, as the governors will redirect nation controller wannabes against them. This will lead in further balance of the game and more difficulty to stay on the top.
-Port control will become more difficult. Firstly because general interest in controlling a port will be increased due to bonuses awarded. Secondly, the implementation of 2 more ways to manipulate influence (Conspiracy card and Provocation mechanism); these 2 ways will make it easier for a weak player to affect influence on a port and this opening will shift the current balance (which is currently more beneficial for the strong players). Also the requirements for influence for top spots of a nation will mean that more people will give attention to port influence.
-Hit restrictions based on nation options may even completely negate (or at least limit) possible lengthy frictions.
-Piracy will become more challenging. This may lead to even less players deciding to take the piracy path. We expect to see fewer (but more daring) pirates in the ranking list and increased number of Pirate fleets in Plunder list (Privateers will keep nation flag but their fleets will bring Privateer flag).
As you see, the sneak peek is huge which may give you an idea on how huge the code is for this feature. This affects the time we will need to make all these possible. We ask for your patience and support while we work on this feature.
If you have anything to add/suggest feel free to discuss it here. I will be gladly replying to your concerns/ideas.
I will try here to summarize all the new elements that the new nations feature will bring to the game. I will not mention elements that are already in affect. I may miss some as the feature is still in development but I hope to give you the general idea.
A)Ranks for citizens of each nation
This is fundamental for the nations feature. This was the initial idea. Full details have been published about this for a long time now. You can find all the details here: http://s2.piratesglory.com/?page=help&action=titles
Ranks award will be based on a new value; Loyalty. Loyalty will be specific to the nation you belong. If you switch nations, Loyalty will be zeroed. Every citizen will begin with a standard amount of Loyalty. If your loyalty reaches 0, you will be declared a Pirate (like it already happens with Hostility when it reaches 50). More details on Loyalty will be given with the feature launch.
B)Nations Governance
Based on titles, players will be able to govern the nations. Decisions will be based on a system similar to Feudalism. Therefore, the decisions will be decided by a council combined of Dukes, Governors and King.
Nation councils will be refreshed every 3 days based on Influence, Loyalty and Nation ranks.
The council members will be advertised in various locations of the game, especially the King, in order for newcomers to be aware who they are and refer to them for their needs.
B.1) Decision Making
-Each governor and duke has 1 vote. The king has 2 votes.
-Governors, Dukes and King may propose a new decision which will be then put on voting. Votes will last 24hours unless a majority is met before the end of 24hours.
-In case of a tie in a voting, King's vote defines the outcome.
-The king may veto any decision unless it is a 2:1 in favor of the decision.
All open decisions that have not reached a majority within the council's lifetime, will be removed.
B.2)List of Decisions
There will be one available decision in the beginning. More will be added later. This is done in order to save time for the feature launch. It is also preferable to make smaller steps each time, for balancing issues.
-Treaties. The council will decide Allies, Naps and Wars for the nation. These treaties will be valid for any players bringing the nation flag and will have relevant side affects to your Loyalty (Loyalty will be affected only vs Players. Current hostility mechanism seems more than enough for NPC battles). In this sense, overlooking your nations decisions can drive you out of it or if you follow them, you will be able to get your loyalty improved.
We already got some other decisions in mind for the future, a simple reference will do no harm. They are however pretty primitive and vague right now:
-Privateer assignment. The council will be able to assign player-privateers that will act on behalf of the nation. A privateer will bring the Pirate flag and his identity will be hidden to all except of the the nation council. This will be valid for Plunder page and Battles which means that the Privateers will be able to strike anyone without revealing his true identification. Any vooodoo casting should preferably be visible (at least in the beginning). A longer set of special rules will be needed for privateers, but I am not going to discuss this further.
-Taxes. If a nation controls at least 1 port, it will be able to collect taxes. The council will decide the amount of taxes in each port which will in turn affect market prices for each port. There is a possibility that this will be decided solely by the port governor.
-Commission of NPC warfleets against specific players/nations. (A possible way to also spend tax money).
-Deportation and/or denial of nation citizenship for specific players.
-Governor targets for loyalty missions. These targets will be decided by the computer as a start, based on Hostility reports (like the Change nation missions already work). In the future, the council will be able to provide supplementary targets for this missions.
Info on how loyalty missions will be:
Loyalty Missions given by the Governor will be more strict in requirements and some will be only PvP. Especially for the higher ranks of Marquess, Count and Baron, the requirements will openly redirect you against one or more real players. The governor may even assist you in your task by:
-Giving you info on target player
-Revealing location of target player fleets
-Adding danger to target player fleets
-Casting voodoo against target player
(This list is not final, it may change)
For example, let's say that you are a Baron of England who wants to become a Count. You will be given a list of possible targets which will be real players. In the case of the final quest, you will be given only one target. These targets will be solely decided by hostility values, your power and hostile players power. So the Governor will probably tell you something like:
-Target Player has been a real pain for all English citizens lately. His plundering has been remarkably damaging for both our influence and economy. You MUST put an end to this!
He will then ask you for some milestones against this player and will also provide some support. The milestones will be Loyalty and ranks earnings (ranks are only earned by mission requirements, loyalty will be earned by both mission requirements and other actions, such as assisting your nation in its current war). The support will be in form of tokens which you will be able to use at anytime. Like 3 fleet danger tokens. The tokens will be mission specific only and will bring a lot of limitations in order to ensure proper usage (exploitation - free).
Other missions may need you to help the nation influence on a specific port or limit the player/nation influence on a specific port. It may also require you to enter top influence players etc.
Whenever you are required to use voodoo against another player or a mission that targets a specific player is created, the system will inform this player via news (the Governor will do this automatically). These messages will be threatening and offensive among rest as the governor will try to intimidate the players to stay out of its own nations interests. (these messages value will be important as they will ultimately reveal the cause of your attack to target player).
In the future, player governors will be able to setup/edit these messages for missions given for their own country and through the port they control (in an attempt to make the game even more player - driven).
Ultimately, seeking power in a nation, will mean that you will need to go out there and compete with real players. NPC engagement will be only limited in your quest to nation glory.
Extra influence mechanism
We are also thiking to setup another influence maipulation mechanism. Right now you can only attack another player with voodoo cards. Since voodoo cards often create retaliation and influence is very important for the nation feature, the creation of such a feature is deemed important. We have not finalized our thoughts on this yet but here are the current details of this idea:
Name of mechanism: Provocation (Provocacia)
Player will spend gold + turns to reduce target player influence.
Affect will be relevant to target player total influence and rank in target port.
Foreseen game affects
As a final note, I will list some of the probable side affects that may trouble you directly or indirectly:
-Selection of your victims role will be upgraded. You will get to think more whether or not you will hit a player of a specific nation. This will primarily happen because you will have to take note of new players which may turn against you (through governor missions or nation treaties) if you have wronged citizens of their nation in the past (based on hostility).
-It will bolster nation diplomacy and may also create more nation-cored guilds.
-Strong players will have more to attend to, as the governors will redirect nation controller wannabes against them. This will lead in further balance of the game and more difficulty to stay on the top.
-Port control will become more difficult. Firstly because general interest in controlling a port will be increased due to bonuses awarded. Secondly, the implementation of 2 more ways to manipulate influence (Conspiracy card and Provocation mechanism); these 2 ways will make it easier for a weak player to affect influence on a port and this opening will shift the current balance (which is currently more beneficial for the strong players). Also the requirements for influence for top spots of a nation will mean that more people will give attention to port influence.
-Hit restrictions based on nation options may even completely negate (or at least limit) possible lengthy frictions.
-Piracy will become more challenging. This may lead to even less players deciding to take the piracy path. We expect to see fewer (but more daring) pirates in the ranking list and increased number of Pirate fleets in Plunder list (Privateers will keep nation flag but their fleets will bring Privateer flag).
As you see, the sneak peek is huge which may give you an idea on how huge the code is for this feature. This affects the time we will need to make all these possible. We ask for your patience and support while we work on this feature.
If you have anything to add/suggest feel free to discuss it here. I will be gladly replying to your concerns/ideas.
