Developer Diary #9 - New Governments & Playable Mercenaries
- General
Hello and welcome to another developer diary of The Legend of Zendar! It's been along time since the last developer diary series for factions. Now it's suppose to be a mini-DD just like Tanner (tsf4) said but in the end, it became just a regular (that's what I say for long but not boring at all) diary
. Now today, we're going to show our new government systems in Calradia, along with the playable mercenary bands or as we called: Player Factions!
Let's start with the new governments!
- New Governments
In our developer chat group, we're brainstorming for almost everything for today's and the future develops. We thought having as many governments as possible is a lot better. It's also being a better gaming experience while making things interesting. We seven (7) custom made governments and many of our new governments are coming from the ideas in "Crusader Kings II - Suggestions" sub-forum we searched.
The government groups are hardcoded and we can't simply make our own groups. But they're enough for imagination to create our very own governments. Let's take a look what have we got here:
De Facto Governments:
Governments Including Vassals:
In Crusader Kings II, there are five main government groups and they're:
Feudal Governments; such as Feudal and Iqta.
Republic Governments; such as Merchant Republic and non-playable Republic.
Tribal Governments; for only Tribal.
Nomad Governments; for only Nomadic.
Theocracy Governments; for only Theocracy.
Warband (Feudal Group):
Let's start with that cool government system: Warband! Now, we're not using classical Feudal nor the Theocracy governments for Mercenaries and the Holy Orders. We have Warband government for them. This goverment system is also contains the landless rulers, if they are around. You can only get rid of that government only if you got a land and you don't have any kind of mercenary or holy order titles. Now, what is that mean? That means, we're using this government system especially for our playable mercenary "Player Faction" system. But let's move on to other governments.
Imperial (Feudal Group):
Calradia is simply means "Ruled By Council" in Slavic languages. And of course, we have a special government for that! From our last developer diary about Swadia, you know we have "Imperial" culture with early medieval clothes and that culture is directly descendants from the Calradian Empire's main culture. We're planning to add some kind of Senate like S.P.Q.R. and permanently empowering the council.
Confederation (Feudal Group):
Now, hypothetically say you're a duke, yay! But not a regular duke, your're an independant duke in Swadia with Lowlander or Iyenn culture. And again, hypothetically, there some independant Lowlander or Iyenn dukes around your borders, in your religion. What should you do to unify all over the Calradia? You can always make wars in old and boring way. But, with the Confederation government type, you can offer your equal rank of neighbors to "Unify Realms" if you have sufficient opinion of relation from them. And that will grant you a new dynamic kingdom while making your neighbor as a vassal. Only the counts and dukes in Confederation government system can use that system. We only have the government for now, not that "Unify Realms" system but we're planning to make it real in the near future.
City-State (Feudal Group):
I assume you all now the City-States from Ancient Greece, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. We're using that government for our Rhodok and Velucan cultures. Rhodoks are mainly Merchant Republics but there was some Feudal vassals and the whole Kingdom of Veluca. Now we know the Rhodoks are ruling by a "Rhodok Council" and they electing their Kings since from the Rhodok Rebellion. We're using Merchant Republics like I said but that's not enough for other Rhodok rulers. With the City-State government, all the pre-Feudal rulers now only have Elective types of succession laws and their primary holdings should be a City or Tribe.
Satrapy (Feudal Group):
Just like in Rhodoks, we had some Feudal rulers around the Zoroastrian Kingdom of Bariyye because they're not Iqta Muslims. In the deepest deserts of the great Sarrdak Desert, medieval Feudalism looks very strange to me. Satrapy, is actually a feudalism in Sarranids with the ancient ways. Only the Zoroastrian and Zunbil characters in Sarranid culture group can have that government. These religions will be the same but we will change simply their names within our very first open beta release.
Semi-Nomadic (Tribal Group):
The Great Seljuk Emprire was actually some kind of Semi-Nomadic. That means they were kind of Nomads but they may live in a sedentary life with the seasonal cycles. We had some "Tribes" within the Khergit culture group as vassals under the Nomadic and some Sarranid rulers. Now all the Khergits who settled in a Tribe (formerly they will become Tribal) and Castle (formerly Feudal) will become Semi-Nomadic rulers regardless of their religion. And they may both held Tribes and Castles as their primary holding.
Hunter-Gatherer (Nomad Group):
This picture for only representation but we may use that idea as well!
Hunter-Gatherer (or a.k.a. Forager) system is actually a dead government in our current 1257 bookmark. But we have that for the future prequel bookmarks. This government is actually for all the non-Horde and non-Khergit cultures. They can both held Tribes and Nomad holdings as their primary holding.
- Player Factions
Now you all here to see that, aren't you? Well, we don't have any custom events nor decision but this system is working like a charm! Actually, it's just a simple modding tricks and any modders can use that. We're just using a method which not used in vanilla nor any kind of mods as far as I see. Now, it's time to stop gibberish and tell you what Player Factions is...
First of all, term of Player Faction is coming from the Mount & Blade: Warband. Any kind of independent kingdoms are classifying as "Factions" and when you build your own kingdom it's calling as the "Player Faction" in systematically. In Warband, you're starting with building your own war band and then you can join a kingdom as mercenary regardless your starting point. This is a mercenary contract for only a month, and then you can both extend your contract with that kingdom or you can join another kingdom as mercenary. If you showed your bravery enough in battles you can pledge an oath of allegiance and become a vassal under a king.
When you choose your starting kingdom just like in Warband, you're starting as a mercenary band:
And starting to play our mod, you can choose a kingdom to play as a player faction just like this:
Now, like I said, we don't have events/decisions for now and this system can be improved. How's that happen? We can make some lore-friendly events at start to build up your own character. And then, we can make some events to fullfill a yearly mercenary contract (because in CK2 a month is really a short time) and then you can change your allegience or choose to continue working for current liege.
But even now, wait for it... you can also able to continue to play with non-dynastic heirs (even lowborns) without getting any Game Over screen! Yeah, I know! I think that's only a thing for mercenary and holy orders. Well, you're going to have a lot of fun with that!
- Wanna Join Our Team?
We need someone in our team to make these events real. If there are some experienced scripters, modders with a plenty of free time you can sign in up for joining our developer band! Or, we can release our mod with current stage and make all these events and things for the future updates.
That's all for now! Thank you for reading and all your support. We may release another and last diary for last changes before the big release. Until then, take care of yourselves!
