Unlockable region specialities

[Eirikr]

Just because I'm brainstorming here, I'm not going to create a separate FR yet, but...

Working off of another idea I think from the new combat package (I skimmed it, so it's probably just a couple random words I remember), what about making each region type have some sort of specialty, unlocking more as more knights take residence? It should be something necessary for typical well-functioning realms, but not something that cripples realms without it. The benefits will accumulate rather than being exclusive per level.

So, for example ("resident" is either a lord or knight):
Region A: Rural, 1 resident - Scouts, 2 residents - Banners, 3 residents - Marketplace
Region B: Large city, 1 resident - Banners, 2 residents - Healers, 3 residents - Forge, 4 residents - Siege Engines, 5 residents - Efficient Academies

For ease of implementation (it'd be a pretty big change anyway), we'd want to look at making the rewards standard across region types, but we also need to develop some level of balance. As such, I've thrown in a little bit of a mixture of ideas just to get the wheels spinning... The reward concepts I just thought of are as follows, with some labels that overlap at the moment:

• Existing Rewards: Providing normally gold-based purchases (already available to the region type) makes it so there's a failsafe for no increase in player density. You can either get another knight or pay X gold. Realms that want to expand can, but should expect it to be more costly if they want the full compliment of a region's benefits. (This also mirrors realistic increases in cost for expanding a nation.)
• Bonus Rewards: Similar to Existing Rewards, but these rewards would not normally be available for purchase in that region type. Think of it like a family brings their own servants that make something new at their estate. Maybe they took up a cotton farm and put their personal bannermakers to work?
• Improvements: Increase the capabilities of an existing building. In my example, Efficient Academies would apply to the region's existing Academy, making it more likely (not by a lot, but something noticeable) that you'll increase a skill. The intended advantage here being that it's clearly an incentive, but it doesn't give larger or smaller realms a real edge. Other improvements could be slightly larger granary capacity or make a forge repair slightly more per hour or gold.

Thinking about it a little more, I'd actually probably have the rewards start at 2+ residents. It's all just an idea right now.

[Indirik]

Working off of another idea I think from the new combat package (I skimmed it, so it's probably just a couple random words I remember), what about making each region type have some sort of specialty, unlocking more as more knights take residence? It should be something necessary for typical well-functioning realms, but not something that cripples realms without it. The benefits will accumulate rather than being exclusive per level.

Something similar to this was planned as the heart of the old estate system, and still something that could be done with the new estate system. Knights could build buildings on their estate, each one having a certain effect. The buildings would only function if the estate was occupied. Larger estates could have more buildings. Buildings would be provided that benefited the region, or benefited the knight. (IOW - One building could gain the knight +2 prestige, another could increase morale in the region by 2%. No building could do more than one thing.) Unfortunately we never really nailed down exactly how it would work, let alone iron out all the details. Feel free to flesh out the details. They could be transferred over to the dev wiki, and archived for future use if it ever gets worked on.

[Eirikr]

Something similar to this was planned as the heart of the old estate system, and still something that could be done with the new estate system. Knights could build buildings on their estate, each one having a certain effect. The buildings would only function if the estate was occupied. Larger estates could have more buildings. Buildings would be provided that benefited the region, or benefited the knight. (IOW - One building could gain the knight +2 prestige, another could increase morale in the region by 2%. No building could do more than one thing.) Unfortunately we never really nailed down exactly how it would work, let alone iron out all the details. Feel free to flesh out the details. They could be transferred over to the dev wiki, and archived for future use if it ever gets worked on.

My idea's not quite the same (so good choice on the word "similar"  ). I've seen that FR and think it's a good concept, would definitely add something new, engaging, and unique to the game, giving knights something more meaningful yet not necessarily powerful. Here's the differences I envision:

• Most importantly, one building per estate. This promotes player density over player engagement. (Both are good, but only one was my intent here.)
• Player count rewards would be freebies. Knights don't always have a lot of gold, even after the rebalance; the player density benefit is gone if it's not easily accessible by simple player count.
• The rewards would be more realm-helpful rather than region- or noble-helpful. In the short-term, this promotes funneling people into regions where you can already feel a benefit. In the long run, making the rewards somewhat unique would entice realms to war to secure them (either to increase their number or collect unique benefits).

I thought I had a few more differences, but I'll let that rest for a moment.

On point 3, I would like to give an example:
Let's say Badlandia, a badlands region, gets a capability to make a single siege engine every few days at maximum (let's say 3) noble count. Siege engines, I know, are often in short supply, but are very useful in wars. Initially, this previously unattractive chunk of land would become enticing as a home and become a priority for its realm. Once it becomes known that this is the reward, it becomes a big ol' target for the enemy realm, either to secure it for themselves or to deny it.

Of course, the flaw there is that we're assuming another realm would really see production of a single siege engine as a threat or an opportunity, but I'm still working that out. My gut feeling is a tuning the rewards more, like making the siege engines slightly cheaper there as well... Something that develops a mystery, then a reputation, and then either fame or infamy, exactly like the "special powers" of SF.

Seeing as this is getting some positive comments, would a mod please make this its own thread?