Area of influence

[The Wandering Knight]

There is a range of mountains in the south east of Caldera that separates Khgerit and Swadian lands.  You can go around them, but there is also a pass through them.  At the top of this pass is a castle.  While at war with the Khanate, I rode right through this pass without being confronted in the least.

I would like to suggest that each town, castle and or village exert some sort of "influence" based on the size of its garrison.  Going through this area (outlined or highlighted if the player wants) slows the party down (being careful), and there is a chance you are "discovered" based on the size of your party and distance to the entity in question, where a larger party is easier to discover, and being closer to the entity makes you easier to detect.

If discovered, you will be ignored if they're very friendly towards you, required to pay a tax and or questioned if they're neutral towards you, or confronted if they're not friendly towards you.  If they're only slightly miffed at you, it will be a heavy tax, but if they really dislike you, you may be attacked by some militia or something of that nature (there would have to be a method to give them some sort of advantage, perhaps a pre-battle "damage" simulating an ambush before pulling back away from you?)

This would prevent the player from being able to ride willy-nilly where ever s/he pleases, and give war parties an advantage in tracking you down in their own lands.  The player too can exert a tax and the like in his own player controlled lands.

 

[Zilberfrid]

Good idea. I like that as well.

 

[DamienZharkoff]

save for the random damage

"11 enemy recruits ambush you, 8 Nord Huscarls killed" (Sorry but auto calc made 2 of those out of 46 die against 8 looters)

I really like this idea. And also, it would be nice that neutral and enemy status means you, or the AI, must go AROUND the castle, town, or village icon on the map, while the enemy is forced to go around (Making chasing an enemy in his own territory much harder then in YOUR territory)

 

[progrox]

Good idea, yes. But I've already seen part of it in game. Namely that you ride really close past a castle and the lord in there decides that you deserve to get your ass kicked. He comes out and chases you down. It's rather realistic IMO. A castle is a defensive installation and not an offensive one. So I reckon that without a lord to plan an assault on a party coming past, they would not initiate a confrontation with them. He is in charge, after all, and in his absence things are usually "on hold". The only time when a castles forces would be mobilized without their Lord would be when word reaches them that the town connected to the castle is being raided.

With cities it may be a different thing. I would propose for simplicitys sake that when you ride close past a city, it will generate a "Military Commander" and take some of its garrison (under the condition that they exceed your # of men, otherwise they shut the city gates and hold on tight) to take up pursuit. A city is not as clear cut as a castle, it has lots of land and it usually has an outer ring which isn't protected so well.

Sorry that I'm already making counter-proposals in your thread, Wandering Knight. I think the "area of influence" is something that should be implemented. Just the thing with having troops available on the map that are "invisible" doesn't strike me as realistic, especially with how large these war-bands are if you're a little bit further in the game.

 

[DamienZharkoff]

umm, I've hung out with 20 recruits outside a castle with 600 men split between 5 lords, and no one ever came out at me even though I took out 4 of their castles, 1 city, and have -100 disposition with them. They omly come out to "kick your ass" by pure chance and you just happen to be there for their AI to chase as soon as they come out.

 

[progrox]

You're probably right, but it wouldn't take much to modify that so they'd be a little more protective about their lands. As opposed to implementing a whole new system with encounters outside of the party system.

 

[Archonsod]

umm, I've hung out with 20 recruits outside a castle with 600 men split between 5 lords, and no one ever came out at me even though I took out 4 of their castles, 1 city, and have -100 disposition with them. They omly come out to "kick your ass" by pure chance and you just happen to be there for their AI to chase as soon as they come out.

Note that you may see a message such as "You have been spotted by <Castle/Town name>". This alerts the AI to your presence, and any patrolling lords nearby will head for the location.

Although this requires a lord actually be on "patrol" rather than busy doing something else (like resting in a castle). They still obey the same rules for whether they fight or flee too.

 

[Moujik]

[...]
Although this requires a lord actually be on "patrol" rather than busy doing something else (like resting in a castle). [...]

I believe they should consider popping out when they are resting too. Especially with overwhelming odds in their favor

 

[Archonsod]

The only time you generally see them resting while they're at war with someone is when they've just had their arses handed to them. Unless you're a one man siege party I don't think they'll ever have the odds in their favour

 

[italiano]

Going through this area slows the party down

It should completely block movement in some cases, such as the top of the two mountain passes that are currently fortified.

 

[The Wandering Knight]

Agreed, Zaro; perhaps party Morale could have something to do with it -- a well-motivated party might be bold enough to try sneaking through.

 

[Moujik]

The only time you generally see them resting while they're at war with someone is when they've just had their arses handed to them. Unless you're a one man siege party I don't think they'll ever have the odds in their favour

Well in 0.960 I had often walked right next to enemy castles and cities which had lords sitting there with armies more than twice my size, not reacting despite having "been spotted".

Maybe this has changed ? Or maybe they were afraid of something else than the numbers (I did have a fair share of Knights in my party).

Also when several lords are sitting in a city, maybe they don't take their fellow lords' armies into consideration and they each individually decide that it's too dangerous to fight me and sit tight. This seems to be the most likely explanation now that I think of it...

 

[The Wandering Knight]

Hopefully EGII will consider this, or perhaps the realism mod.

 

[CountVonNuts]

In maintaining area of influence, I too would prefer if the lords or local commander would take a more active role in patrolling their territory.

The suggestion to "slow down the party when traveling through enemy lands" seems a bit unrealistic. Trees are not more dense and the mountains are not steeper in enemy land. True, you may be less familiar with the terrain in enemy lands and thus travel slower. If you really wanted to implement slowing down in unfamiliar territory, than I would suggest that the party moves slower if it hasn't visited the terrain before. That is a different suggestion however.

Ambushes though sound plausible. If ambushed, combat begins as normal except the player's party is surrounded. There is also a battle disadvantage (in terms of numbers) when ambushed. Perhaps this could occur if the local lord or commander is in ambush mode.

On a side note, the more I think about it, the better the idea of ambushes sounds. My suggestion would be to divide the territory by culture, Kherigit, Rhodok, Swadian, Vaegir, Nords, and wildlands. A party can enter "ambush" mode if it's in its culture's territory. An ambush takes 4-6 hours to prepare. During ambush mode, the party is fixed to one location on the map. They can than choose to ambush any other parties that enter the area.

All parties can ambush in the wildlands including bandits.

Of course, the player is likely to abuse this much more than the computer. Smart player will set up ambushes at bridges, overpasses, etc whereas the computer player is likely to be as dimwitted as usual when it comes to ambushing.

 

[italiano]

I think the only way to implement this idea is when the garrison is stronger, it assembles and chases you, but at the exact same time it releases a small party to catch you. If the distance to join battle is raised (I raised it myself to help campaigning parties reinforce each other) then it would simulate a small party perhaps harassing and slowing down an army enough for another army to catch it. I do like the idea behind it and I think it would work well in controlling the region.

 

[bladeofudun]

Thus forcing the other lords to not run across the map to take the castle on the far side of the enemy!

I love this idea.