Realms

[tigerlrg245]

Just gotta start this off saying realms is by far my favorite update of all time.

I really like the stat bonuses you get for settling inside the realm, and how it makes you feel like you're in a community (even as a hermit).
It also encourages more active discussion in locations like a discord group, and in general makes the game feel more alive, unlike how it
feels when sometimes when you're playing and not seeing anyone else.

There are a few improvements I would like to suggest, and one flaw that I believe you guys should make sure to find a solution to.

First the flaw; I don't think there is enough incentive for people to join smaller realms. There's no reason not to join a large one, especially as a hermit or
a few players setting up a new village, you just plainly get more stats. you don't really lose anything and you might even get more social action that way.
There might be a few mechanics I don't know of which would give more reason for players to join smaller realm, but if a player started out at a large realm
to start up their character faster, then relocating your base is a tedious thing and they would probably just stay where they are.
Not sure how to fix this, lowering the bonus as more players join the realm would kind of hurt the 'feel free to join' feeling, maybe other people have ideas
for this problem.

improvements: I feel like it would be nice to have more activities regarding contributing to your realm. maybe add quests that benefit one's realm in some way?
maybe even let the realm's officials declare some daily quest like gathering up some wood for the realm to use or something like that.
Also an idea I wrote down in another thread was to have more activities between realms, which don't necessarily involve killing each other.
Like a chess match between two kings, or the olympics in hnh (I heard there's a horse track being built in the north). obviously these are just examples,
and they might need to be adjusted to fit the game (although a pie eating contest would be dope).

My most realistic idea would be a capture the flag/king of the hill fight between two factions, maybe including some variation of the knockout to heartfire
idea, maybe causing people to only be able to fight once in it, or have a cooldown to join. It could even be a way to fight for border cairns, or maybe
just a game between two factions, where the winning side gets some buff for a time after winning, like extra stats inside their realm for the duration.

[LadyV]

Being in a group of people who can help you in many different ways is its own reward. The boons of various worked toward stats is quite generous as is. Special things based on size is a bit biased. I prefer there be benefits added that anyone can attain with enough time and work.

[NOOBY93]

tbh with how settlements and realms work now, most strong groups would rather make their own realm than get claimed by a bigger one in order to be able to use realm powers, and noobs don't really have anything to offer to the realm they live in other than the auth

[tigerlrg245]

Well, but then realms are just another extension for a village, and we didn't gain that much. I just think it could be more entertaining
for those inside a realm that aren't in the main village, and give some softcore players reason to stay in a realm for their playthrough.

[ven]

Well, but then realms are just another extension for a village

This is a recurring topic. If I'm remembering it right a couple of people who have very different playstyles, like kaios, ladygoo and maze, made threads arguing for more unique kingdoms, precisely because in practice they are simply larger village claims.

I think the fair realms update might have been a response to these ideas, but I don't think it worked that well because they focus on numbers and not so much on gameplay experience, like unique interactions within the same kingdom and between different ones.

[NOOBY93]

in practice they are simply larger village claims.

What? That's not how it is at all. Village claims are larger pclaims, but realms are not larger vclaims. Realms share nothing with vclaims. The goal of realms is claiming over as many villages as possible to be able to use the realm powers. You don't protect any stuff with realm claims (no theft, vandal, trespass permissions in realms), etc.

Not sure where you got this idea but it's wrong haha

[LadyGoo]

Well, but then realms are just another extension for a village

This is a recurring topic. If I'm remembering it right a couple of people who have very different playstyles, like kaios, ladygoo and maze, made threads arguing for more unique kingdoms, precisely because in practice they are simply larger village claims.

I think the fair realms update might have been a response to these ideas, but I don't think it worked that well because they focus on numbers and not so much on gameplay experience, like unique interactions within the same kingdom and between different ones.

Ideally, I would love to see people organizing their own duchies within kingdoms and having their own local blessings and own authority stash (50% of exp goes to the kingdom, 50% to the duchy. You can set the tax rates) maybe.

[NOOBY93]

Well, but then realms are just another extension for a village

This is a recurring topic. If I'm remembering it right a couple of people who have very different playstyles, like kaios, ladygoo and maze, made threads arguing for more unique kingdoms, precisely because in practice they are simply larger village claims.

I think the fair realms update might have been a response to these ideas, but I don't think it worked that well because they focus on numbers and not so much on gameplay experience, like unique interactions within the same kingdom and between different ones.

Ideally, I would love to see people organizing their own duchies within kingdoms and having their own local blessings and own authority stash (50% of exp goes to the kingdom, 50% to the duchy. You can set the tax rates) maybe.

tbh there's just not enough players for that. The duchies would just be village claims. World isn't densely populated enough

[LadyGoo]

So? Just do not work on sieges, combat and etc. bc there are not enough people? How broken is that logic lmao?

I'll outline the obvious reasoning:
- people want to have some level of independence, feel more important and involved. Work on your own duchy area, get more nabs, ask your ruler for more lands, have some internal politics for the fucks sake;
- have your own authority source that you can use for your own needs and manage it and etc. Manage your own minor duchy bonuses for the cost of your own authority and etc.

That is what makes it so much more different to just some villages. Kingdoms won't assign just any village as a dutchy since they will loose some of the authority.

[NOOBY93]

So? Just do not work on sieges, combat and etc. bc there are not enough people? How broken is that logic lmao?

I'll outline the obvious reasoning:
- people want to have some level of independence, feel more important and involved. Work on your own duchy area, get more nabs, ask your ruler for more lands, have some internal politics for the fucks sake;
- have your own authority source that you can use for your own needs and manage it and etc. Manage your own minor duchy bonuses for the cost of your own authority and etc.

That is what makes it so much more different to just some villages. Kingdoms won't assign just any village as a dutchy since they will loose some of the authority.

Again, you could also make elaborate authority ranking leadership systems with captains, lieutenants, generals, knights and whatever, but there only permission settings are "use realm powers" or "not use realm powers", etc. Why? Because there's not enough players to fuel the elaborate systems and the dev time would go to waste.

Also I never said "don't work on sieges, combat, etc." because there IS enough players for combat and sieges to happen. But duchies and other elaborate in-realm area-splitting mechanics would go to waste. What they should do instead, is give realm leaders incentive to "oath" smaller villages, and the smaller villagers get powers and stuff in general.