I do not know how to convey this idea in a few words. So please hang with me.
I think the towns should have ties to the mainland continent kingdoms. As it currently stands in the lore, there are ties that exist. Further, we know that the kingdoms/gods have a desire for these gems of power, and all of them. We also realize that these mainland towns and civilizations are IMMENSELY more powerful than our dinky little towns on Illarion.
However, it is all very 'distant'. In an effort to bring that closer, and with the idea of dynamic events, we could begin to shift some of the smaller players action into having larger form effect. The towns should have to actively work to gain favor for the kingdoms.
What does that mean?
Well, let us use Galmair as an example. Galmair would probably first seek favor with Gynk, as it is more or less a colony or trade group underneath Gynk. The reason that the town continues to exist is partially through the support of the Gynkenese civilization having an invested interest in the gems of power, but also in what the colony can provide.
To ensure that favor, characters can give to the kingdom of Gynk, or perhaps do large scale quests for the name of Gynk. (Galmair has sent a large shipment of merinium to Gynk at their request, +10 favor to Galmair from Gynk.)
However, towns could also seek favor from rivaling nations as well, it just may not be as easy.
If a town begins to neglect this need for favor, it will decline. If it declines too far, towns could find themselves estranged. Which matters in terms of conflict.
See, after a certain point, perhaps Cadomyr has finally decided that they have had enough of Galmair. So they speak to the representative of Salkamar, and ask to hire a legion to attack Galmair.
The result of this could be "Alright, it will cost 2000 gold for you to hire a legion to attack Galmair." The town of Cadomyr then has a goal to pool their resources in order to strike against Galmair.
But maybe the Salkamar likes Galmair, because Galmair has actively been seeking their favor as well. Instead of the attack costing 2000 gold, maybe it now costs 4000.
Well Cadomyr won't stand for those prices, so they turn to the Albarian representative, who will attack Galmair for 1000 gold. However, their attack may be less effective.
But a defending town doesn't just have to lay down and take it. They are informed and are given three, maybe four, options: Defend, Hire allies and defend, or surrender. A fourth option may to be to launch a counter attack.
So, we have a gold/resource sink, but who cares?
Systematically, this could provide some form of benefit in the game. Those with high favor could recieve flat attribute benefits, or a bonus to their gem count. Those with low favor could result in dangerous situations, such as bandit attacks and the like.
Further, if a town 'loses' a battle, then there would be some form of consequence. Perhaps for Cadomyr and Galmair, they would lose immediate access to a mine. One a second loss, the mine is closed entirely, and has to be dug out.
Maybe Runewick would lose a field.
Further, this could operate on a sliding scale of cost based on active town participants (towns with 20 active players, players who logged in for more than an hour that week) would cost X amount, but if there is a town with only 5 people, it would cost less.
An alternative, is that this is a weekly report and the results of all of these things occur on Saturday. However, that does deliver an unfortunate situation where one day each week (and one of the most popular) is essentially reserved for these sorts of scenarios.
For this to work, I see a few needs:
-NPC's
-The ability for monsters to be set to attack certain factions, not neccisarily just spawned infront and hope they attack the right people, but actually ignore other targets unless provoked.
-More fleshed out benefits and costs of winning and losing battles
Please discuss.
Kingdom Favor, Towns, Battles
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