Better Kingdom Policies

[Oxtocoatl]

Nice idea. Another way to expand on this would be that when visiting struggling villages, the player could be approached to flout the law and hunt some deer in the forest to give to the villagers, enhancing his reputation with that village and improving its food situation. There might then be a chance that this transgression is discovered, and depending on the village owner's (or king's) personality the player and/or the villagers might be punished in some way.

I would rather have this than the annoying "Can you bring us 11 Cows"- thing any day. For starters, this one has potential for conflict as poaching would be a serious offence.

 

[DreamySky]

- Limited warfare:  this policy forbids lords from raiding enemy villages or attacking enemy villagers in times of war; the only valid settlement targets are castles, caravans, and towns.  This would be popular (increase relations) with merciful / just / chivalrous lords, and reduce relations with ruthless / cruel lords.  Could also improve morale of enemy settlements captured during the war (+2 morale per day, for example).

I really like that idea. Actually I thought about making a thread about that. I would like to add some details:
- It's the marshal who decides that policy.
- Upstanding lords wouldn't attack villagers regardless of being allowed by the policy or not.
- Caravans are also counted as civilian, should not be attacked under that policy, unless they are trying to bring supplies to a settlement we are besieging.

The 1st and 2nd lines make it profitable to spare good enemy lords while execute dishonorable enemy lords. In Warband, I really hate that the so called upstanding lords who have good relation with me keep raiding my villages.

 

[84Slashes]

Summary of what's been proposed so far:

Warfare

• Limited warfare:  forbid lords from attacking enemy civilians in times of war; the only valid targets are armies, castles, and towns.  This would be popular (increase relations) with merciful / just / chivalrous lords, and reduce relations with ruthless / cruel lords.  Could also improve morale of enemy settlements captured during the war (+2 morale per day for settlements with different culture than ruler).

Settlement Dynamics

• Yeomanry: Lords collect lower / zero taxes from fiefs, but notables provide higher-tier / unique units for recruitment.
• Settle tribes: Fiefs will sometimes receive tribes fleeing from neighboring cultures asking to be settled in your village / town. If accepted, provide more population, notables with new troops of the neighboring culture to recruit, and more taxes, but the fief incurs a negative morale penalty due to the tension introduced. Refusing entry may spawn a small rebel warband of that culture that tries to sack the village (credit to Kentucky James and Dan Angleland for these two)

Kingdom Dynamics

• Reserve the commons: Forests and rivers are reserved for the exclusive use of the nobility. Makes nobles happy (+2 relations/day) but reduces village and town morale (-1/day) and prosperty (-1/day)
• Serfdom: peasants are tied to their village and feudal lord. Makes nobles and notables happy (+2 relations /day to each) but reduces village morale (-2 /day)
• Free Cities: Towns are granted extensive liberties and autonomy, empowering the local notables. +2 relations/day to notables, -10% taxes collected
• Old blood: Only characters of the same culture as the kingdom can become ruler of the kingdom.  +1 relations to lords of the same culture, -2 relations to lords of different culture. (credit to Oxtocoatl for these)

 

[Oxtocoatl]

Thanks for listing them at the top!

Now that I've seen the ones in the game, it seems that there is a massive disparity in how much effect they have on gameplay. I mean... 20% higher troop wages can really hurt your wallet in the early-mid game when you've just become a vassal. At the other end, the magistrates one has negligible effects considering you're establishing a state-wide royal bureaucracy.

Furthermore I was disappointed to see that most of them do really just tinker with the numbers slightly. None of them alters the mechanics of the game and most of them have pretty small effects in general.

 

[RoboSenshi]

I don't know what the **** I was thinking but I was hoping that different factions would actually have different politics and ruler Dynamics.

I actually thought oh one faction is going to have a Senate and Nobles could vote on things like whether to go to war. And one faction would be a straight up monarchy and one would be Nomadic and each one would have a unique feel.

But it's just a numbers game. I sure hope the games is as moddable as they claim because I expect some members of the modding community will embarrass the devs.

At this point my hopes and dreams are fully in the hands of mods 

 

[DreamySky]

New idea:

*Tolerate or punish fugitive criminals from enemy kingdoms

*Effect:

If tolerate:
(+) decrease neighboring enemy fiefs' wealth
(+) increase relationships with cunning lords

(-) decrease relationships with neighboring enemy fiefs and their lords
(-) decrease relationships with upstanding lords

If punish (basically the opposite):
(-) increase neighboring enemy fiefs' wealth
(-) decrease relationships with cunning lords

(+) increase relationships with neighboring enemy fiefs and their lords
(+) increase relationships with upstanding lords


*Long description:
Sometime there are criminals who commit crime in the enemy's territory and flee to our territory seeking cover. Cunning people would suggest encouraging those criminals to harm the enemy. Upstanding people would say that even if the crime was committed in the enemy's territory, crime must be punished not encouraged. This decision will affect the enemy's settlements wealth and how they think of our kingdom and ruler.

-------------
Comment:
This fits well with the "number game" style so it wouldn't mess things up. As a relatively simple feature, it adds to the policies regarding external relationship with other kingdoms, which are absent from the list of existing policies.

 

[LeChat]

I don't know what the **** I was thinking but I was hoping that different factions would actually have different politics and ruler Dynamics.

I actually thought oh one faction is going to have a Senate and Nobles could vote on things like whether to go to war. And one faction would be a straight up monarchy and one would be Nomadic and each one would have a unique feel.

But it's just a numbers game. I sure hope the games is as moddable as they claim because I expect some members of the modding community will embarrass the devs.

At this point my hopes and dreams are fully in the hands of mods 

It would be nice to have a "Medieval Conquests" mod where each country would have their corresponding government method !

 

[HUMMAN]

As i said i dont mind numeric policies since gives space for mods, but still some flavors would be nice.
Like castle,city policies (since villages are connected to them)
Raise Women Warriors
Depending on prosperity etc. of your villages, khuzait tribeswomen starts to arrive at your party. Villages get negative modifiers accordingly.
Khuzait tribeswomen: is a normal morale, cheap wage light cavalry with max tier 3 ( unlike 4 in common units)

隐藏

AI does when AI character is agressive or  if AI is at war and has less than %50 party limit.
AI revokes when AI character not agressive and at peace. Basically a khuazit party gets 'cool' reinceforcements when in hard times.

Event: After successful battles and high morale etc.; a tier 3 woman warriror represents herself as a hero and turns into a companion. Player accepts or rejects.

Holy Guards
At a city in imperial region, a unique guard team(better than any common infantry) protects tomb of the  founder of the empire. They have no wage, and garrison city with like 50-60 additional men, yet they're priviledged to collect their own taxes so city pays less tax to its owner. Revoked when an other culture captures the city.
They have a captain notable whom does not grant troops but acts as a merchant, selling unique items(royal civil cloth, family swords, ancient books, special armor etc.) as relations go high.  And grants few quests like:

隐藏

Lazy Guards
Captain is sad that in peace time guards get comfy and sleep in night shifts. Explore the city at night and find sleeping guards. He wants 4 of them. Yet there're 6-7 guards, but quest gets completed at 4. Bonus guards give additional reward, some of the guards offer bribe and 1 of them attacks if you insist on snitching. If quest completed captain pays money, if you find all guards, captain gives you an imperial brooch as bonus which grants extra charisma.
Basically advanced version of nervous man. I think it has a good design because has a challange for big prize(can fail when the strong guard beats you but still can complete quest without snitching him), has discovery element  that is up to player(that quest is completed at 4, and 6-7 is random; player must go outside of city walls, taverns to find sleeping guards), has multiple layers(at first plays player would just find 4 guards, after few plays will see additional guards as bonus money(they offer bribes) only after many trials player may try to reject all bribes and snitch all guards to earn the big reward.)

 

[NPC99]

I don't know what the **** I was thinking but I was hoping that different factions would actually have different politics and ruler Dynamics.

I actually thought oh one faction is going to have a Senate and Nobles could vote on things like whether to go to war. And one faction would be a straight up monarchy and one would be Nomadic and each one would have a unique feel.

But it's just a numbers game. I sure hope the games is as moddable as they claim because I expect some members of the modding community will embarrass the devs.

At this point my hopes and dreams are fully in the hands of mods 

The fact that polices can be voted on by clans doesn’t mean that all factions will start out the same. Hopefully, the polices we’ve seen in the encyclopaedia reflect the fact that certain factions will start out with widely differing policies, giving each faction a unique flavour. While it may be reduced to maths, I’d reserve judgement until we see how these seemingly minor tweaks effect game balance.

A faction lead by a god should have a powerful leading clan coupled with potential instability. I’d be interested to see how it plays out - hopefully gods get assassinated more frequently.

 

[GermanWall]

I agree with you. Policies should do more than just affect stats. I think about following things:

- Certain Policies create Quest-Lines, that make you face problems in case of town-castle-settlement management
- Benefits of policies should also affect ressources you may get, like horses, special armor and weapon, food etc.
- Policies should also bind you on expectations of villagers, that you have to fullfill


Ideas for Policies:

Refugee Policies: If you allow Refeguees to settle down in your Town/Settlement, you could gain more fighting prospects in exchange for a higher userate of food an other ressources
Rassism Policies: You avoid any other culture and races and deny all benefits from then (like trade etc.), but gain stronger troops, that will fight until death for their own empire.
Humanity Policies: Your kingdom will overcome discrimination. Men and Women can marriage each other, Gays are allowed. It could become harder to get new troops, because there are less babys born. But the freedom you allow your villagers may let them to think more outside the box and tries du experiment more with nature science. You Kingdom could get some unique techniques.

I think there are many many possibilities. I just don't like "just" affecting stats.

 

[84Slashes]

Summary of what's been proposed so far (new ideas in blue)

Warfare

• Limited warfare:  forbid lords from attacking enemy civilians in times of war; the only valid targets are armies, castles, and towns.  This would be popular (increase relations) with merciful / just / chivalrous lords, and reduce relations with ruthless / cruel lords.  Could also improve morale of enemy settlements captured during the war (+2 morale per day for settlements with different culture than ruler).

Settlement Dynamics

• Yeomanry: Lords collect lower / zero taxes from fiefs, but notables provide higher-tier / unique units for recruitment.
• Settle tribes: Fiefs will sometimes receive tribes fleeing from neighboring cultures asking to be settled in your village / town. If accepted, provide more population, notables with new troops of the neighboring culture to recruit, and more taxes, but the fief incurs a negative morale penalty due to the tension introduced. Refusing entry may spawn a small rebel warband of that culture that tries to sack the village (credit to Kentucky James and Dan Angleland for these two)

Kingdom Dynamics

• Highway patrols: The kingdom invests in guards to patrol the highways between major settlements, protecting caravans and villagers from bandits. -10% income, but every town and castle produces a 30-man patrol that scouts for bandits between the town/castle and its' bound villages (I really care about this one because I strive to protect villages in Warband and the bandit parties, especially among the Vaegirs, are nigh-impossible to eliminate)
• Holy Order: Specific settlements have unique locations of relevance (e.g. legendary father of the nation's tomb) with an order of warriors sworn to protect it.  Provides +25 unique troops to the settlement garrison and a notable from whom unique troops can be recruited, but reduces settlement taxes by 20% (credit to HUMMAN)
• Accept fugitives: Criminals from neighboring kingdoms are not returned to face the law in their motherland. -5% wealth to and -1 relations with neighboring kingdom settlements (credit to DreamySky)
• Reserve the commons: Forests and rivers are reserved for the exclusive use of the nobility. Makes nobles happy (+2 relations/day) but reduces village and town morale (-1/day) and prosperty (-1/day)
• Serfdom: peasants are tied to their village and feudal lord. Makes nobles and notables happy (+2 relations /day to each) but reduces village morale (-2 /day)
• Free Cities: Towns are granted extensive liberties and autonomy, empowering the local notables. +2 relations/day to notables, -10% taxes collected
• Old blood: Only characters of the same culture as the kingdom can become ruler of the kingdom.  +1 relations to lords of the same culture, -2 relations to lords of different culture. (credit to Oxtocoatl for these)

Raise Women Warriors Depending on prosperity etc. of your villages, khuzait tribeswomen starts to arrive at your party. Villages get negative modifiers accordingly.
Khuzait tribeswomen: is a normal morale, cheap wage light cavalry with max tier 3 ( unlike 4 in common units)
Event: After successful battles and high morale etc.; a tier 3 woman warriror represents herself as a hero and turns into a companion. Player accepts or rejects.

This sounds similar to the idea of migrating tribes presenting themselves at border towns/ villages, except for the companion idea.

"I was disappointed to see that most of them do really just tinker with the numbers slightly. None of them alters the mechanics of the game and most of them have pretty small effects in general."

"I actually thought oh one faction is going to have a Senate and Nobles could vote on things like whether to go to war. And one faction would be a straight up monarchy and one would be Nomadic and each one would have a unique feel."

+1, I was envisioning (as someone else mentioned) Crusader Kings 2-style kingdom laws that would actually have significant gameplay impact.

 

[JuanNieve]

Some ideas:

Mandate of Heaven(Only for Khuzait)

This could be something similiar to Sacred Majesty, but with the plot twist that in the case other clan take power there's not be penalization and the other clans would acept the new ruler. Maybe only males could herety the throne.

Salic law

Only males could inheritance the throne, fiefs and other property. +1 to relations with lords and -1 with the relations with ladys per day.

Ius primae noctis

You would increase your relationship with the lords, but your relationship with the settlements where the law will apply will be disregarded.


Also, I was thinking that there could be global and regional policies. The global policies could be apply to all the kingdom, but regionals could be apply only in one region or citys with the respective villages. For example, you could apply a tax exemption for a recently conquer region to prevent rebolts or grant their more autonomy to make prosper their burguesi. In the other case, you coul remove rights or tax the cities of the lords that did not support you in the civil war.

 

[Oxtocoatl]

Some ideas:

Mandate of Heaven(Only for Khuzait)

This could be something similiar to Sacred Majesty, but with the plot twist that in the case other clan take power there's not be penalization and the other clans would acept the new ruler. Maybe only males could herety the throne.

Salic law

Only males could inheritance the throne, fiefs and other property. +1 to relations with lords and -1 with the relations with ladys per day.

Ius primae noctis

You would increase your relationship with the lords, but your relationship with the settlements where the law will apply will be disregarded.


Also, I was thinking that there could be global and regional policies. The global policies could be apply to all the kingdom, but regionals could be apply only in one region or citys with the respective villages. For example, you could apply a tax exemption for a recently conquer region to prevent rebolts or grant their more autonomy to make prosper their burguesi. In the other case, you coul remove rights or tax the cities of the lords that did not support you in the civil war.

I like having different solutions to inheritance. In fact, I kind of thought they would be in the game.
An interesting application of Salic Law would be the division of fiefs between the different heirs. It would help prevent huge empires and potentially lead to civil wars.
Isn't the Ius primae noctis almost certainly a renaissance myth? I think a marriage fine paid to the lord as compensation for the loss of a worker would be better. Peasants would hate having to pay it, lords would love it and there would be economic effects to compliment the relationship changes.

 

[Alvaro Nuñez de Lara]

"I was disappointed to see that most of them do really just tinker with the numbers slightly. None of them alters the mechanics of the game and most of them have pretty small effects in general."

"I actually thought oh one faction is going to have a Senate and Nobles could vote on things like whether to go to war. And one faction would be a straight up monarchy and one would be Nomadic and each one would have a unique feel."

+1, I was envisioning (as someone else mentioned) Crusader Kings 2-style kingdom laws that would actually have significant gameplay impact.

I think (and hope) this is what early access is for. If we played the game, and see policies are completely boring and underwhelming, and not affect much the game mechanics, and the community agress on it, I think its very likely that they'll implement something deeper along the lines you wrote, more CK-esque, for the official release when it comes out the open beta.

 

[Alvaro Nuñez de Lara]

I don't know what the **** I was thinking but I was hoping that different factions would actually have different politics and ruler Dynamics.

I actually thought oh one faction is going to have a Senate and Nobles could vote on things like whether to go to war. And one faction would be a straight up monarchy and one would be Nomadic and each one would have a unique feel.

But it's just a numbers game. I sure hope the games is as moddable as they claim because I expect some members of the modding community will embarrass the devs.

At this point my hopes and dreams are fully in the hands of mods 

I hoped this too. I mean, a senatorial Empire faction ruled by a senate, without a senate policy enacted? And even if so, without an actual senate, just a modifier to influence...Thats very lame. I envisioned too a system where all the nobles would decide everything, and the power of the emperor would be very limited. But as I said above, thats what the open alpha is for. To complete the game with the community. And if enough people think its lame and it should be deeper and actually tied to in game mechanics, they will probably add it for the official full release.