Once you meet a local aristocrat, you will now get an additional option to either investigate or stalk said aristocrat, depending on whether you are stalwart or influenced.
Each aristocrat, upon creation, will be assigned a random stalking difficulty that you'll only be able to guess through trial and error. To overcome these defenses, your unit will need to pass a Mobility test, much like when looking for enemy emplacements. I feel like this is more of an Intelligence thing, but I went along with Mobility in both cases for balance's sake. A stalking failure will result in an increase of Local Tension, while a success will yield one of many different results depending on both the stalking unit and the aristocrat.
There will be two outcomes possible for each target aristocrat and two more for each unit, for a total of four for each one combination. These will have their unique flavour lines and yield different results.
In addition to the usual results you already know such as fluctuations in population, wealth and merits, there can be 4 new exclusive, more politically oriented outcomes, allowing you to impoverish, humiliate, control and harm target aristocrats.
Your own player character will get two of these actions, so it'll make for a good example without spoiling any fun. The actions of stalwart and influenced avatars are different to provide a more varied feel to the game of each faction.
When a stalwart aristocrat investigates another aristocrat, they might frequently find technicalities and suspicious behaviour in their target that will allow them to denounce them and reduce the target's Merit. Sometimes they might even find solid evidence that will allow them to put the other aristocrat on trial and remove it from the game. This will give stalwart games a greater witch-hunting feeling.
On the other hand, an influenced aristocrat player will be able to impoverish other aristocrats by sharing nuggets of information obtained while stalking them. If influenced aristocrats find a secret important enough, they will be able to blackmail the target and take over control. This will provide the influenced political game a greater behind-the-curtain feel.
Of course, the variety between different target aristocrats and other employed units will blend these game styles. The potential yields for spying on a shoe-obsessed aristocrat are not the same as those of an oil tycoon, for example.
This will also be a good chance to give useless units a more interesting role, which is something that has often been suggested in the past. For now, I'll leave to your imagination the possible outcomes of sending barber surgeons or muleteers to stalk and investigate enemy aristocrats.
Really like this game, hope in future there is a sandbox (or new game +, after you win) that let you chose the Territories, so you can "build" your ideal Colony (and maybe chose [3 allies and 3 enemies] the Lobbies, personally i feel anticlimactic when main political power in colony end up begin Tsaeron's Fan Club, The Fellowship of Mealessea, and Birdwatchert Assosiation.)
ReplyDeleteI also did like if the maximum hostages get bigger (i like to "collect" them), maybe a "prison" project that increase the maximum hostages number?
There already a maximum number of projects that can be done at same time, so increase in maximum hostages should no affect game "balance".
I've actually been thinking for a while about something like that sandbox mode you propose, but I'd like to do that without spoiling any fun. It could either involve some sort of scenario builder allowing you to tailor your game with territories and lobbies you've already fully explored, or it could simply allow you to carry some of the elements of the previous game into the next one, kind of like relics.
DeleteAllowing players to collect more hostages could also be done, but it'd be unproductive. As you very well said greater numbers would have no positive effects, but it would actually give you negative ones, since presently hostages very slightly increase Local Tension.
There could be other ways though, such as turning hostages into something else. Maybe passive assets or something. I'll give it some though.
A way to destroy "Assets" you do not want anymore wound be good too.
ReplyDeleteThere will be actions for assets sometime in the future, some of them involving their direct or indirect destruction.
DeleteI don't know if that will be ready for the next version though, I'm already working on more stuff than I should at the moment.
Just want some info, in "Colony" window, "Foreign Relationsship", in what way Instability, Tension, Economic, Strength, Influenced Population, Overall Economic Rating, affect the game?
ReplyDeleteOutfit/Clothes do something or it's just fun/lore?
All the values under Foreign Relationships presently have a negligible effect inside the game unless you are engaged in maritime trade, they're mostly a placeholder for future versions. When you trade with oversea territories, the Instability of a territory disrupts such trade more often, the Tension increases costs, and you get better profits if that place's Economy is high.
DeleteA high Overall Economic Rating, however, increases your trade profits, each territory's weekly Arkhe production, and even the payment you get for different menial works.
The outfits and clothes have no effect whatsoever inside the game, they're just fun to have.
And what the "safeguarded by" item (near your transport item) in the Fortress do?
ReplyDeleteIt displays your current Defence "furniture". You can get defences for your home base from some territories and events. They act like the special attacks in any other territory, allowing units of a matching origin (Nivharian, Veshite, etc.) to employ these attacks if they deal more damage than their default ones.
DeleteIn the case of your homebase, its origin is always going to be the same as your character's.