Coming Soon: Sovereignty - Brace For Impact

1. New Players will not have their first city seeded on a Sovereign square
   
   
2. Existing Players (except the Sovereignty holder) may not settle a new city on a Sovereign square
   
   
3. The Sovereignty holder may build Sovereign Structures on these squares that provide benefits to the owning city (more on these Structures below)
   
   
4. Different levels of Sovereignty on a square also provide defensive benefits to the player (and alliance) that holds Sovereignty.

• SOVEREIGNTY I
  Only the Sovereign city may settle a new city on the square
  Occupying, Blockading and Sieging (Hostile) Armies receive a 1% Penalty to Defense
  Sovereign Structures Level I may be built
  
  
• SOVEREIGNTY II
  Only the Sovereign city may settle a new city on the square
  Occupying, Blockading and Sieging (Hostile) Armies receive a 2% Penalty to Defense
  Sovereign Structures Level II may be built
  
  
• SOVEREIGNTY III
  Only the Sovereign city may settle a new city on the square
  Occupying, Blockading and Sieging (Hostile) Armies receive a 3% Penalty to Defense
  Sovereign Structures Level III may be built
  
  
• SOVEREIGNTY IV
  Only the Sovereign city may settle a new city on the square
  Occupying, Blockading and Sieging (Hostile) Armies receive a 4% Penalty to Defense
  Sovereign Structures Level IV may be built
  
  
• SOVEREIGNTY V
  Only the Sovereign city may settle a new city on the square
  Occupying, Blockading and Sieging (Hostile) Armies receive a 5% Penalty to Defense
  Sovereign Structures Level V may be built

• The level of Sovereignty you claim, and
  
• The distance of the Sovereign square from the claiming city

COST OF SOVEREIGNTY CLAIM 10 Research Points per Hour, and 100 Gold Per Hour Each number multiplied by Sovereignty Level being claimed Each number multiplied by Distance from the claiming City

EXAMPLE Claiming Sovereignty II on the square directly to the North of your City will cost the following: Research Points: 10 x Sovereignty Level: 2 x Distance: 1 Square = 20 Research Points per Hour Gold Cost: 100 x Sovereignty Level: 2 x Distance: 1 Square = 200 Gold per Hour Claiming Sovereignty IV on a square 2 squares North and one square West will cost: Research Points: 10 x Sovereignty Level: 4 x Distance: 2.23 Squares = 89.2 Research Points per Hour (Rounded to 89) Gold Cost: 100 x Sovereignty Level: 4 x Distance: 2.23 Squares = 892 Gold per Hour

Before you initiate a new Sovereignty claim or (an upgraded Sovereignty claim) on a square you will be informed of the hourly costs.

HOW DO I INITIATE A SOVEREIGNTY CLAIM?
Well, firstly you'll need to research some new Skills.

• Sovereignty
  Unlocks the Sovereignty skill tree. This Skill is a pre-requisite for any involvement in Sovereignty.

There are then 5 skills relating to how many Sovereign Squares you may claim from a particular city:

• Serfs
  Allows you to claim up to 3 Sovereign Squares per city
  
  
• Peasants
  Allows you to claim up to 6 Sovereign Squares per city
  
  
• Thralls
  Allows you to claim up to 10 Sovereign Squares per city
  
  
• Lieges
  Allows you to claim up to 15 Sovereign Squares per city
  
  
• Subjects
  Allows you to claim up to 20 Sovereign Squares per city

There are also new skills relating to the Level of Sovereignty you may claim:

• Landholding
  Allows you to Claim Sovereignty Level I
  
  
• Tenancy
  Allows you to Claim Sovereignty Level II
  
  
• Fiefdom
  Allows you to Claim Sovereignty Level III
  
  
• Vassalage
  Allows you to Claim Sovereignty Level IV
  
  
• Feudalism
  Allows you to Claim Sovereignty Level V

To start a claim for Sovereignty you will need to stamp your authority on a square - and this means sending an army to Occupy the square. 

The army does not need to remain on the square during the time it takes to claim sovereignty, it just needs to be there for the initial claim or Sovereignty upgrade.

However, if you leave the army on the square, the time it takes to claim Sovereignty is halved.

To start your claim, simply click on the Occupying Army and select "Claim Sovereignty".


HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CLAIM SOVEREIGNTY?
Sovereignty takes time to claim.

• Sov I: 24hrs
• Sov II: 48hrs
• Sov III: 72hrs
• Sov IV: 96hrs
• Sov V: 120hrs

These are additive, and you must complete the claim for Sovereignty I before you can claim for Sovereignty II. 

Therefore Sovereignty V will take 15 days to achieve if you are not occupying the square with an army, and 7.5 days to achieve if you are occupying the square with an army.

During this period your Sovereign Claim on the square will slowly increase from 0% to 100%.  Once 100% is reached, the square will take on the new Sovereignty level.


HOW CAN I SEE SOVEREIGNTY ON THE MAP?
Mousing over or clicking on a square on the World Map will display information about:

• Who owns (or is claiming/competing for) Sovereignty there
• What the Sovereignty level is (and progression towards a new level, if appropriate)
• What Sovereign Structures have been built there

The "Influence Borders" option on the World Map will also highlight claimed territory.

We are looking at putting icons onto Sovereign squares once structures have been built on them, although this is unlikely to be in place for the launch of Sovereignty.


HOW DO I GIVE UP SOVEREIGNTY/CANCEL A CLAIM?

1. Go to the New "Sovereignty" tab in your Castle
2. Select the square you wish to give up sovereignty on from the list
3. Select "Cease Claim"

Your Sovereign percentage will begin dropping (from 100% to 0%) at twice the speed it took to claim Sovereignty in the first place.

When it reaches 0%, the Sovereignty level will be lost, and any Sovereign Structures built on the square that relied on the Sovereignty level being in place will be levelled down as well.


HOW DO I COMPETE FOR SOVEREIGNTY WITH ANOTHER PLAYER?
If the player has Sovereignty on the square already you must remove their Sovereignty before you can claim your own.

You will need to match the Sovereignty Upkeep amount for that particular Sovereignty level, with - of course - your own Distance modifier applied, so players closer to the Sovereign square claim Sovereignty more cheaply.

In the event of 2 (or more) identical claims for Sovereignty on a square without anyone's army on the square, the Sovereign ownership %age is "blocked" and will remain unchanged. 

However, whilst an army from one of the claimants is occupying the square, their claim for Sovereignty will be paramount, and Sovereignty will be lost by the current player at twice the normal claim speed.

So, the procedure to sieze Sovereignty is:

• Park an army on the square
• Initiate your Sovereign counter-claim by clicking on the Army and choosing "Claim Sovereignty"
• You will see how much this claim will cost you to compete, if you wish to proceed, select "Claim Sovereignty"
  
• Hold the Square to remove your opponent's Current Sovereignty Level until the Square returns to being non-Sovereign again.  As your opponent's Sovereignty levels fall, it becomes cheaper to maintain your counter-claim
  
• Re-Initiate your own claim to build your own Sovereignty

WHAT OTHER EFFECTS ARE THERE FOR PLANTING A HOSTILE OR NEUTRAL ARMY ON A SOVEREIGN SQUARE?
We're also glad you asked.

Whilst a Hostile or Neutral Army is in Occupation of a Sovereign Square:

• The Sovereign Square holder will immediately cease to gain any Sovereign Structure Benefits from that square
  
  
• The Hostile or Neutral Army will siphon off the resources (being generated by a Resource Sovereign Structure) or the resources being pumped in (in the case of a Production Sovereign Structure) - see the post below for more details on Sovereign Structures.
  
  The Army will fill to its carrying capacity, after which the additional resources are simply lost.

So, planting an occupying hostile army on someone else's Sovereign Square is not only a method of siphoning substantial resources from the owning City, it can also be used to halt or reverse Sovereign claims.


WHAT NOTIFICATIONS DO I GET WHEN MY SOVEREIGN SQUARES ARE AFFECTED?
Players will receive email notifications regarding Sovereignty Claims that involve them, as well as when hostile armies take posession of Sovereign Squares.

Because the residents of that Sovereign Square are under your sway, they will also report the player name and town name that the hostile or neutral army belongs to, but they're not educated enough to make a guess at military numbers - for that you will still need to scout the army's location.





Edited by GM Stormcrow - 08 Jul 2010 at 20:00

No. No, you won't.

You will, however, get an ingame mail when the army arrives at the location, and your denizens will report on which player and town the army belongs to.

By competing with that player for Sovereignty on the Square (see above).  For the avoidance of doubt, you cannot Siege or Blockade Sovereign structures.

An alternative route is to destroy the city that holds the Sovereignty.  When a Sovereignty-holding city is razed, all Sovereignty and Sovereign structures are lost. 

When it is captured, Sovereignty (and its benefits/costs) transfer to the player who captured the city.

They will be in your Inbox, and there will be a new filter category called "Sovereignty".  When we revamp the mail system in its entirety, these will be filterable by town, as well as have blanket rules applied to them (such as "I don't want emails regarding X").

Of course! To all intents and purposes it is just another square on the map, but with some special bits plugged on top.

Soon (tm), but after release of Sovereignty itself.

Yes.  Yes we are. Thank you for asking.

Although we should add that many of these additional skills are going to feed into the Crafting update which will follow along in the fullness of time.

Well, it does depend on a lot of variables.  We like variables. 

But a production speed increase of more than 250% in a particular production area is very (self-sustainably) achievable.

More so, if suitable supplies are made to the focused city.

Further opportunities to specialise cities will be forthcoming.

Yes indeed. It's the first book in a trilogy of books entitled "Whither Illyriad's Economy?".

This update addresses many (but not all) of the imbalances that currently affect Illyriad's economy, whilst simultaneously spurring additional opportunities for conflict via strategically important terrain squares, as well as providing additional requirements and incentives for players to specialise in particular areas - and therefore to also work together.

Part 2 will be the Trade overhaul, and Part 3 will be Crafting.

Gosh yes, we hope so.

Yes we are, as part of the Trade overhaul.

But City X might be unimpressed by your siphoning. And he'll know who you are.

Yes it does. 

Bear in mind, though, that - at the moment - the city would have to both produce and support the army as well, as there is currently no means of transferring soldiers from City to City and there are costs for producing soldiers (with the Gold cost for Sovereignty V).

This will change in the Trade overhaul where units will become a tradable commodity, and entirely military-upkeep-focused cities will become a reality.

You would be wise to keep this in mind when planning what Sovereign Structures to build.

In some ways it does, and in other ways it doesn't.

The penalty is relatively small, in that the cities in the Powerbloc cluster can't claim the cheapest Sovereignty on squares next to them, so they have to claim their Sovereignty further afield - which will cost them more to maintain.

We feel that the benefit of a Powerbloc (for siege/blockade defense, travel times, etc) more than compensates - and it is reality that there should be competition for scarce resources in an overpopulated area.  Plus the fact that a powerbloc is going to be able to *really* claim some chunky territory around it, even if it costs more.  This will become highly valuable in the fullness of time, especially when we introduce Fog of War / Visibility further down the road.

Yes, very much so.

These may range from new standalone structures for other production benefits such as Mana, Research & Gold, to crafting structures and - once we have Fog of War and Pathfinding in place - additive structures (such as roads) and military structures such as Watchtowers, Garrisons etc.

The long-promised new spell schools are next, followed by a focus on overhauling the Trade system.

During this period we will also take delivery of the fantastic new City Map graphics and design, plus put some new reports, bugfixes and updates in place for items that people have been clamouring for (further reducing clicks, unit arrival times, military strength summaries, mail system revamp etc).

When you run out of basic resources (wood, clay etc) the server will:

a) Choose the most recent Production Sovereign Structure built
b) Stop the bonus from it (and apply this lack of bonus to the remains of existing production orders)
c) Cancel your Sovereignty Claim on that square, and Sovereignty begins heading down
d) If this is insufficient to return your city to Positive resources, it moves onto the next most recently claimed Sovereign square and repeats

To get the building functioning again you'll need to put an army back on the square and reinitiate your sovereignty claim.  Once it gets back up to 100% and the correct level of Sovereignty is re-established, the Production Structure will provide its bonus again.

If you don't re-establish Sovereignty it will continue to drop, and when it reaches zero, sovereignty will level down entirely and the Sovereign Structure will also level down to the maximum supported level.  Sovereignty will continue to drop down through the levels, until re-established.

So, running out of resources is managable - but also potentially very dangerous.