Buying a region versus taking it over

[Fuor Family]

This may be the wrong section, if so I apologize. However, since I'm being asked not to reopen a bug report which has gone unresolved, and my legitimate question has gone unanswered:

What is the actual difference between buying regions or taking them over that prevents one from being done to non-adjacent regions but not the other? Why should a realm be prevented from taking over non-adjacent regions, and yet be permitted to buy them? There are numerous valid reasons for preventing takeovers of non-adjacent regions, supply chain being one of them. Those same factors would also apply to bought regions, so why is a distinction made between the two, allowing one and denying the other?

The specific reference is to Arcaea's strange and ridiculous present control of Haul (a mountainous inland region far from their borders) on the Far East Island. However, the question would legitimately apply to any use of this 'mechanic'.

[Anaris]

Buying a region, by its very nature, circumvents various restrictions. It's not using military force through normal channels to convince people to abandon their current allegiance and accept your rule: it's bribing officials to proclaim that you were always the rightful Lord of the region, they just didn't realize it until then.

It also costs a huge amount of gold for any region worth buying. Off the top of my head, I would guess that buying Haul cost Velax in the neighbourhood of 4000-6000 family gold. That's the kind of thing that you can only do once, and if you do it in a situation where you're not going to be able to keep the region, you'd damn well better get some kind of situational benefit out of it, or all that gold is just thrown down the toilet.

If buying a region were something that anyone could do whenever they wanted, yes, it would have a lot more restrictions on it. As it stands, the power and flexibility of the option is counterbalanced by its very high cost.

[Fuor Family]

Then what actually prevents a realm from marching into the middle of another realm and beginning a takeover on one of their regions, or one driven rogue? Obviously, at present, the game mechanic. But if you can go in and buy a region simply for enough gold, what actually prevents going in and militarily taking it, provided you could hold off enemy forces long enough to do it?

I'm still not understanding the distinction.

[Anaris]

Then what actually prevents a realm from marching into the middle of another realm and beginning a takeover on one of their regions, or one driven rogue? Obviously, at present, the game mechanic. But if you can go in and buy a region simply for enough gold, what actually prevents going in and militarily taking it, provided you could hold off enemy forces long enough to do it?

I'm still not understanding the distinction.

One major distinction is that every noble with a unit has the option to start a takeover, and it costs nothing but time.

[Fuor Family]

So, what prevents them from taking non-adjacent regions then? If you can simply walk in and buy a non-adjacent region hundreds of miles outside your borders, clearly logistics are not a concern taken into account. Why then would the military be unable to take non-adjacent regions, provided they had the force and provisions to ensure survival during the attempt?

[Anaris]

So, what prevents them from taking non-adjacent regions then? If you can simply walk in and buy a non-adjacent region hundreds of miles outside your borders, clearly logistics are not a concern taken into account. Why then would the military be unable to take non-adjacent regions, provided they had the force and provisions to ensure survival during the attempt?

It's a game mechanic balance restriction, more than a realism restriction.

[Fuor Family]

Then I would posit that the 'buy a region' feature needs some adjustment. Regardless of its intended power, it shouldn't be possible to buy a region so far from your realm and having no history with your realm. I can't even imagine how one would explain such a thing IG, it's mind-boggling to imagine that officials would declare that their actual realm is hundreds of miles away. Clearly, somehow they were magically teleported into the south and brainwashed, I guess.

I'm not trying to be a confrontational ass or whatever, I'm just truly not understanding how this can be considered okay.

[Fuor Family]

For instance, when your character attempted to buy Ipsosez, it made sense. The region was on your borders, and was previously part of your realm anyways. I can't imagine any acceptable IG means of explaining Velax's purchase.

[Anaris]

I think you seem to be missing the part about it costing thousands upon thousands of family gold.

It's not about verisimilitude. It's about paying off the local officials.

They don't care how realistic it is to say that you own the region. They just care that the money is good, and there is a hell of a lot of it.

[Bael]

Hmm, I wonder why I thought this had been removed? I remember it was talked about, but can't remember where/why.

[Anaris]

Hmm, I wonder why I thought this had been removed? I remember it was talked about, but can't remember where/why.

Several years ago, the feature was changed to make it only possible for regions outside your realm.

[Tom]

They just care that the money is good, and there is a hell of a lot of it.

Understatement of the year.

I think the lore at one point said that a gold coin is about what a peasant makes in a year. So, very roughly speaking, 4000 gold equals about 100 million Euros or Dollars or whatever.