[Discuss] Changing focus from Realm to Duchy

[Talita CS]

Sorry all, this is a repost on the proper thread. Mods, no need to
allow the wrongly placed ones. Sorry all if this got too long.

On Jan 14, 2008 5:15 PM, fodder <nlksfd324 at fastmail.fm> wrote:
> You don't really serve a region or a duchy until you've found yourself a
> real liege who is willing to pay you and give you an estate!

Though I agree with this, a warm welcome from a lord and delicate
explanation to why he can't take another knight might be a good way to
keep his knight in the same duchy, to say the least.

> perhaps there should be something that allow local lords to indicate how
> many extra new characters they'll be willing to take on as knights?
> (count them down when new characters do join the region!) no room in any
> region in the realm? then tell the game mechanics to tell new players
> that there is no room! don't complain when you desperately need knights
> though.

Though I like this idea reasonably, I also think this could *really*
*really* mess up the game. People could just put the standard of
getting 80 gold per tax day and start refusing knights above it. What
would the new players do? Where would they go? I think that
"desperately needing knights" is a downside, but not as big as it
should be for such a closing action.
I think that an indication on how many knights are needed is good for
the newbies, or even the game, to know, but should not be restrictive,
and probably should not be established by the region lord. Tom could
just pick a standard (this much authority control minimum, this much
production help min, this much gold min, whatever else min/max) and
let the game make a list for when someone needs to pick a new liege.

Talita

On Jan 14, 2008 2:47 PM, John P. Murphy <john.p.murphy at dartmouth.edu> wrote:
>
> I've got a couple suggestions.
>
> Show each new player the description for the region they've joined
> immediately on joining.

Good, and I support Kerry's idea for this.

> Don't start new players in regions without local lords (I think this
> is already the case, but I'm not sure) or in imperial regions.

Reasonable. Though Imperial Regions can be good, if the player is
presented in a way that he swears fealty to his liege, not the king.

> Don't let new players travel until they've sent a message to their
> liege (getting permission would be better, but that would cause
> problems if the commander is idle, wounded, or imprisoned)

"Players" or "Characters"?
Messaging the liege is important, but if it is for it to be *so*
crucial, we have to have a warning stating so. I would rather see new
players conditioned to get a mentor, though, before moving. New
characters, maybe, should message their liege.

> Allow each Duke/Duchess their own bulletin, which would be listed
> more prominently than the Ruler bulletin.

Fine for them to have Bulletins, but in a way that only people sworn
to their duchy can read. Not necessarily more proeminently, but just
to have it on the list would be fine.

> Add a few tasks to complete when setting up one's first estate (the
> family home) that would take up the player's first turn or so worth
> of hours, but never have to be done again.  (Buy property from the
> region lord, hire a scribe and steward, etc -- the gold would come
> out of the family coffers, not what's on hand)

Good idea, horrible examples. The family home is where your noble
family has dwelt for generations, so you shouldn't be setting it up
when you start the game. You have to spend your first day/night in
your family region, probably visiting your family home, saying
good-bye to your dog/horse/cat/whatever, and heading to your liege's
castle so you can arrange the bureaucracy of becoming a knight.

> Instead of the starting gold coming from the family, it explicitly
> comes from the coffers of their liege.  (Couple this with the
> previous suggestion so that, from the point of view of the liege,
> they come out ahead in total)

This can be very nice if combined to the idea of putting a counter for
accepting new knights or not. I'm not particularly fond of that idea
how it was presented, but... say we can get it to work: the Region
Lord can make a fund with the usual 50 gold or more for the new
knights that swear to him... No. People wouldn't take the risk of
paying a lot for a newbie that can leave in a week. Unless the lord
gets its gold and bonds when the character is deleted for inactivity.
The family can provide for the knight as it does today, the liege
would just give him an extra start.

Those ideas are a bit thrown out, but they deserve attention, I believe.

Talita


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