On the topic of siege and player incentive

[Decadent]

Hi, I'm pretty new to this game but I've been reading some forum posts about siege and I would like to brainstorm some sort of solution.

So some people like to siege and dominate. People also don't like for their village and characters to get destroyed. So there has to be both an incentive for the siege and for the village/characters not to be destroyed. There's already the fun incentive for the winning siege, but there isn't an incentive to spare the village/characters after you got in.

Why not be able to thrall villages/characters?

So the first mechanism that comes to mind is some sort of leaderboard system. Lets say there's a victory totem. If you or your village raises a victory totem, a 1 month countdown starts. at the end of that countdown, you win some sort of prize. If another village raises a victory totem as well, that countdown is either paused or it is paused/reset. You now have two competitors who have to dominate one another in order to win.

Lets say one of these village is successful over the other. The winning party should be able to interact with the losing villages totem or their victory totem to be able to thrall/capture their village, which should send some sort of politics window to the Lawmaker/ village members that gives them an option to be subordinate to the winning faction and whoever doesn't wish this could be able to back out. This will then place them in second place on the leaderboard to whatever the prize may be, should the superordinate win. That way, there is still incentive to play the game as a subordinate since they can still win if their superordinate wins, and it also increases the superordinates chance of winning by having more manpower.

This could also lead to a third situation; surrender. Right now there is no possibility of surrendering in this game. Its either win or complete destruction. You could negotiate a surrender in which you become the besieging party's subordinate without the need to have to waste resources, if you know you would lose.

I think something of this caliber could allow for a lot of interesting gameplay dynamics, more vibrant politics, and increased player retention.

Opinions? Thoughts? Criticisms?

[noindyfikator]

This game for sure need a leaderboard like solution, people will finally stop comparing dick sizes after every pvp.

Making siege easier and without possibility to destroy enemy base but to claim a victory token might work if devs add public leaderboard and prizes. There also need to be some sort of anti autism system. Tryhards will spawn 999999 villages around main village to raid it and claim victory totems. ​Also 1 month countdown is way too long in current state of the game when world is active for first 3-4 months. 1 week is imo long time to claim victory or defeat

[Decadent]

Right, it definitely needs a way to avoid cheese. That was part of the intention in the original suggestion; if there is another victory totem up in the world, the victory clock countdown is either paused, or it is paused and reset. I'm thinking of a mechanism similar to how Wonder victories work in games like Age of Empires, i.e. there has to be a singular victory totem on the map for the timer to start ticking down. As soon as another victory totem is built, the clock is reset and paused until 1 victory totem is left again.

The benefit from having more villages thralled should stem from the fact that you have more real human players that could potentially join a war to take out a competing victory totem. Spamming dummy villages shouldn't be incentivized, and they wouldn't with this mechanism. Creating a victory totem should be costly enough that you can't spam them or use them to delay another victory totem from winning, but you should also be able to put them up relatively quickly once you have the resources so that if the 1 week timer starts you'll be able to counter it with your own.

I think that putting up a victory totem should also create a beacon on the map to its location. It should be a very obvious and visible target that attracts people to it in either its defense or its destruction.

[Vantri]

Leaderboard is already present in game, though is/was implemented poorly.
In world 12, victory totem could be constructed by realm owners.
In world 13, victory totems are pregenerated in form of Thingwalls.
Capture as much as you can (and hold as long as you can, lol), this will get yourself into that glorious video, provided by developers themselves.
Fulfills "dominate" goal.

Another, more personal option is to challenge Altar of Ruin (again, provided by developers themselves) during World's Twilight stage, already implemented.
Could be reworked to appear earlier or anything.
Fulfills "epeen" goal.

Enjoy the good game and ride Odin’s horse.

[Decadent]

There's already the built in domination incentive. domination is fun. These two mechanisms aren't really about domination, its about giving the losing party an option other than complete destruction. Whenever another player is dominated its almost always the end for them. There is no incentive to spare their life or their village. Sieges are a binary option; you defend the siege or you lose everything in your village. That's why there is an issue with sieges in this game. Its not an issue with the siege mechanics, its an issue with the outcome. Until there is a change in possible outcomes, it is completely pointless to change how you get to those outcomes.