kampfbock
Recruit
What is the utility of castle, why are they in this game?
Of course this game is set in medieval times, so including castles seems a must, but what is their actual use in this game?
At the moment they are just another city minus all the manegorial work that is needed for cities. They just seem like somethign that was thrown in to fill space on the map and dont have any real use.
So first lets look at the historical use of castle and then try to come up with some points on how this could be reflected in this game.
1. Castles could be seen as a very secure house. A home of a wealthy landlord or farmer, who in times of weak state authority was interested of providing more security for his estate.
2. A castle provides a zone of controle. It establishes a lock-down of the region. You could not controle the region if you did not establish a fortified base of operation.
The 2nd aspect, which seems more important in game terms, is already in the game. Villages are bound to castles and even though you can raid them, you can never controle them, if you do not hold the respective castle. But as i said, in this sense it is no different from a city, so something more would be desireable.
One option could be to organize the 3 types of settlements we have in a tier system.
Vilage<Castle<City
If the player or the noteables succeed in managing their vilage and turning it prosperous enough, they could upgrade it to a castle and this could be upgraded to a city in the same manner. How this would be done with the currently unchangeable map i can not say, i just know, that a flexible map would probably be better to realize this. If such a flexible map would be implemented, there would eben be the possibility of creating new villages. It would probably even be a must, since you can not just rule villages as of right now.
Even then the question still remains, what would be the use of a castle in such a tier system, again we oculd just go from village to city, since the castles are just a boring version of cities.
Maybe castles could be couples with the ''noble units''. We all know the current problem with getting those fancy elite type units. It would make sense for these elite units to primarily be available from castles. Castle as the seat of the landed nobility and knight-class.
Or castles could hav a similiar mechanic as the villages right now. Villages spawn their little supply trains for cities. So could castles not spawn similiar stacks that would roam the surrounding area? They would kill looters and raiders, defend villages from being raided, defend caravans and village supplies. They could also be couples with a notification system. If they encounter an enemy army, the owner of the castle would be notified, maybe even of the hostile armies marching direction. So they would also serve as scouts. How big those stacks are or their composition could be dependent on various factors. Maybe a castle specific management system could be used. Maybe it could be couples with the party or clan system.
Another way easier to implement possibility would be movement speed penalty in the vicinity of a hostile castle.
Roads could also be an option to give castles meaning. If we had roads and villagers as well as caravans would be forced to travel on them, castles would pose an obsticle. First of all, it could provide the owner with additional revenue. Villagers and caravans would have to pay a toll, when passing the castle on their way. This could be dependent on kingdom or, if we ever get them, domain laws (bound to vassal domains). Furthermore with this castles would have strategic importance. You could not just conquer a city on the other side of the map or generally deep behind enemy lines. Because in that case the economy of that town would probably soon go down the gutter, since no effective suuply and trade is possible, because it is blocked by hostile castles on the way.
Of course this game is set in medieval times, so including castles seems a must, but what is their actual use in this game?
At the moment they are just another city minus all the manegorial work that is needed for cities. They just seem like somethign that was thrown in to fill space on the map and dont have any real use.
So first lets look at the historical use of castle and then try to come up with some points on how this could be reflected in this game.
1. Castles could be seen as a very secure house. A home of a wealthy landlord or farmer, who in times of weak state authority was interested of providing more security for his estate.
2. A castle provides a zone of controle. It establishes a lock-down of the region. You could not controle the region if you did not establish a fortified base of operation.
The 2nd aspect, which seems more important in game terms, is already in the game. Villages are bound to castles and even though you can raid them, you can never controle them, if you do not hold the respective castle. But as i said, in this sense it is no different from a city, so something more would be desireable.
One option could be to organize the 3 types of settlements we have in a tier system.
Vilage<Castle<City
If the player or the noteables succeed in managing their vilage and turning it prosperous enough, they could upgrade it to a castle and this could be upgraded to a city in the same manner. How this would be done with the currently unchangeable map i can not say, i just know, that a flexible map would probably be better to realize this. If such a flexible map would be implemented, there would eben be the possibility of creating new villages. It would probably even be a must, since you can not just rule villages as of right now.
Even then the question still remains, what would be the use of a castle in such a tier system, again we oculd just go from village to city, since the castles are just a boring version of cities.
Maybe castles could be couples with the ''noble units''. We all know the current problem with getting those fancy elite type units. It would make sense for these elite units to primarily be available from castles. Castle as the seat of the landed nobility and knight-class.
Or castles could hav a similiar mechanic as the villages right now. Villages spawn their little supply trains for cities. So could castles not spawn similiar stacks that would roam the surrounding area? They would kill looters and raiders, defend villages from being raided, defend caravans and village supplies. They could also be couples with a notification system. If they encounter an enemy army, the owner of the castle would be notified, maybe even of the hostile armies marching direction. So they would also serve as scouts. How big those stacks are or their composition could be dependent on various factors. Maybe a castle specific management system could be used. Maybe it could be couples with the party or clan system.
Another way easier to implement possibility would be movement speed penalty in the vicinity of a hostile castle.
Roads could also be an option to give castles meaning. If we had roads and villagers as well as caravans would be forced to travel on them, castles would pose an obsticle. First of all, it could provide the owner with additional revenue. Villagers and caravans would have to pay a toll, when passing the castle on their way. This could be dependent on kingdom or, if we ever get them, domain laws (bound to vassal domains). Furthermore with this castles would have strategic importance. You could not just conquer a city on the other side of the map or generally deep behind enemy lines. Because in that case the economy of that town would probably soon go down the gutter, since no effective suuply and trade is possible, because it is blocked by hostile castles on the way.
