For the last several months we've been working on a major update: Faction Warfare With this update, factions will spawn armies reflective of their wealth and strategic interests.
These armies attack settlements to expand their territory, and will patrol and defend their holdings, creating a living world of conflict and conquest.
You're not only a bystander in this world at war. Join battles to defend cherished locations or tip the balance in factional conflicts. Your participation will be rewarded with not just loot and experience but also a tangible impact on the game's evolving geopolitical landscape.
To get a closer look at these changes, also check out our previously released videos: https://youtu.be/bqjI2Q1zOYQ https://youtu.be/ncpyn8nvvL4 Our vision with this update is to breathe life into the game world. The world really is at war, regions and border actually matter and change over time, and you the player can influence the outcome. Furthermore, this system has been designed with modularity in mind. This means even after the initial update, new factions, complete with their own unique units and behavior can be seamlessly integrated into the game and will automatically behave according to their designed nature and alignment be they monstrous hordes or bandit clans (so to answer your question: yes, we plan to add magic-based factions & wizard armies).

Faction Wealth

At the heart of Faction Warfare is a strategic economic system where each faction has an amount of wealth they can use to purchase armies. The image below is from a prototype used to simulate faction behavior
Here's how the wealth system operates:

• Territorial Control: Wealth is gained based on the number of tiles controlled. The more tiles a faction controls, the faster its wealth accumulates.
• Upkeep Costs: Maintaining an army isn't without its costs. Each faction incurs an upkeep cost per turn to support its existing armies, necessitating a balance between expansion and sustainability.
• Army Recruitment: Factions use their accumulated wealth to purchase new armies. Each faction has unique costs and unit compositions for their armies, reflecting their individual strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Gremlins field numerous but weaker units at a lower cost.

Player Influence

You might be wondering how the player can affect this system. Initially, as a lone adventurer in a world embroiled in conflict your influence is understandably limited. Charging into armies alone would be ill-advised. However, as you grow in power and cunning, so too does your ability to impact the world. Undermining Faction Wealth One strategic approach is targeting the enemy factions where it hurts: their wealth. Defeated dungeons stop exerting influence. As a result, the faction's borders begin to recede and their ability to fund and maintain armies diminishes.
Joining the Fray Another way to sway the course of war is by joining battles alongside friendly factions. Engaging in these conflicts rewards you with loot, experience, and aids in defending vital territories.

Destroyed Towns???

The introduction of faction warfare brings with it a more immersive and engaging world, but it also introduces new design challenges. Our primary challenge is striking a balance: How do we ensure that faction armies are impactful, instilling a sense of urgency and consequence, while avoiding excessive penalties for the player? Consider the following dilemmas:

• What if you've invested in a home or stored treasures in a town that's been razed?
• If you're mid-quest in a town that suddenly falls, or if an essential quest-giver resides in a now-destroyed settlement, how does that affect your story and objectives?
• What of the distant conflicts? If a town you care about is under siege while you're leagues away, should you have the option to intervene, or must you accept the fortunes of war?

These questions guide us towards a new solution: the prosperity system...

Town Prosperity

Prosperity is a new system developed to address the challenges presented by faction warfare. It's the current focal point of our development efforts. (as it's under active development, details are subject to change) Upon entering settlements (villages, cities, and towns), you'll notice a new feature: prosperity. Visible on the location window, prosperity is represented with an indicator showing its current level and the trend of where it's heading.
Prosperity is a direct reflection of the economic health of a settlement, influencing the availability of goods, shop wealth, presence of adventurers and quests, frequency of traveling merchants, and the number of guards available.

Prosperity Ranks

Prosperity is categorized into several ranks:

• Destitute (0-10): Settlements are nearly abandoned.
• Impoverished (11-30): Towns struggle with limited resources and low morale.
• Stable (31-60): The average, everyday life of a settlement with basic amenities available.
• Prospering (61-85): A flourishing settlement with abundant resources.
• Wealthy (86-100): The pinnacle of prosperity, featuring the best goods and services available.

Influencing Factors

Several factors can influence a settlement's prosperity:

• Nearby Tile Influence: Proximity to enemy factions can decrease a settlement's prosperity. For example, if surrounded by enemy Bandits tiles, a town will see a gradual decline in prosperity.
• Player Actions: Completing quests or defeating nearby threats will boost a settlement's prosperity.
• Battle Outcomes: If a settlement falls in battle, its prosperity plummets, reflecting the devastation of war. It's then up to the resilient townsfolk and perhaps a helpful player to rebuild and restore what was lost.

Special Note on the Destitute Rank

Settlements at the Destitute rank find themselves in a state of significant hardship, a status that typically follows a defeat in battle. In this dire state, only essential structures like the Inn, your house, and quest-specific buildings remain operational. A destitute town is essentially off the map in terms of faction warfare: it poses no threat and thus is not a target for further attacks, nor does it exert any influence in the broader conflict. As time passes, these settlements will naturally progress towards recovery, albeit slowly. To expedite this process we are planning to introduce special quests which appear in nearby towns. Through these quests, you can accelerate the recovery by contributing gold or other resources.

Benefits of the Prosperity System

Where previously destroyed towns were completely inaccessible, the addition of the Prosperity system ensures that while such towns are still affected, the impact is less punishing. This feature not only integrates with the simulated world, enhancing the realism and dynamism, but also amplifies the impact of faction borders and armies on the game's mechanics. Looking ahead, we are also planning a separate update dedicated to enhancing town aesthetics. This future enhancement will see key town features dynamically change in line with the town's prosperity level. Imagine witnessing the physical transformation of a town as it progresses from destitute to wealthy...
That's it for now and thank you for reading.